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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2002)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com Wednesday, May 29,2002 Editor in Chief: Jessica Blanchard Managing Editor: Jeremy Lang Editorial Editor: Julie Lauderbaugh Assistant Editorial Editor: Jacquelyn Lewis Letters to the editor University needs to fight racism in sports I recently read in the online edition of the Emerald that my beloved alma mater was approached by the law school’s Sports and Entertainment Law Forum to consider refusing to schedule games with teams using racist mascots. Although I am not aware of any racist mascots in the Pacific-10 — a remark able thing, indeed — I believe this reso lution will send a strong message. It’s the job of educators to encourage tolerance, to work to prevent the teaching of racism and to open students’ minds to the pos sibilities of living with diverse cultures. No other ethnic group is singled out, their heritage mocked, their facial fea tures distorted like American Indians. When I see the mascot for the Portland Winter Hawks, I am physically sickened. It isn’t just an unappealing image painted on bleachers that bothers me. The U.S. Department of Justice found that American Indians suffer more vio lence than all Americans combined twice. More than 70 percent of crimes against Native Americans are commit ted by non-American Indians, com pared to 25 percent among whites. I can’t prove that these statistics are because of racist mascots. But I’m dis turbed to think that encouraging the crowd to do a “tomahawk chop” can somehow encourage brutality against American Indians. I am proud of my education. I’m proud of the teams at the University. The University is a great school, a well known school. Use this visibility to make a statement against the racism that has plagued sports for 200 years. Aabra Jaggard Class of ’96 Denver, Colo. Judaic Studies delivers objectivity George Beres recently criticized the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Ju daic Studies for co-sponsoring a talk by Israeli speaker David Harris, (“Middle East discussion in need of solid Univer sity curriculum,” ODE May 22). In fact, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies was not a co-sponsor of this student-initiated event, although we were mistakenly mentioned in some publicity. 1 am glad to clear up this misappre hension, and I would like to challenge several of Beres’ other remarks, as well. Beres suggests that Judaic studies cours es serve only a small minority of stu dents. This is not die case. Like any oth er University department or program, Judaic Studies courses, and our major Editorial Board Members and minor, attract students from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. We do not expect that any of our students have prior knowledge of any aspect of the Jewish experience. Rather the pro gram is based on the assumption that acquiring such information in an aca demic context will be a positive and powerful educational event. I am also surprised that Beres ques tions the credibility of Judaic Studies on the subject of the Middle East. We re cently offered a course, “Israelis and Palestinians,” taught by anthropologist Dr. Diane Baxter, that is a model of ob jectivity in its multidisciplinary and par ticipatory approach to this most tortured and complex of international dilemmas. Judith R. Baskin professor of religious studies director, Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies Ruthlessly crush terrorist states Contrary to what FBI Director Robert Mueller says, we don’t have to “live with terrorism.” That kind of mindset invites passive acceptance. Unless there is a huge pub lic outcry about Mueller’s statement, we’ve sealed our fate and encouraged terrorists to immolate us on an increas ingly larger scale. Instead we must ruthlessly crush ter rorist states, by whatever means neces sary. The public must demand that President George W. Bush live up to his stated principles post-Sept. 11. He must move decisively against Iran, the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism, stop treating the enabling Saudis with kid gloves and allow Israel to destroy Yasser Arafat and the PLO. We’re fighting for our lives. Tym Parsons Seattle, Wash. Incumbent politicians should be canned Many states now have major prob lems with their budgets. None of the in cumbent governors and legislators have taken responsibility for their failure to do their jobs. In many instances, they have spent and wasted money with no regard for the consequences, hi the real world, you and I would be fired from our job for failure to perform. The Amer ican people can resolve this problem by voting these politicians out of office. Most have been in office for years and have forgotten why they were put there. This would send a message to each and every politician on the local, state and national level that they have been elected by the people to work for the peo ple — and that performance will be dealt with. They are not there for a lifetime ca reer of looking out for themselves. Vernon Hill Atlantic Beach, N.C. Letters to the Editor and Guest Commentaries CV I Tters st commentaries to 550 words. Please : for space, grammarand style. Judging people by the color of their skin Two weeks ago, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld the Uni versity of Michigan law school’s policy of considering race for admissions. In a swarm of support statements by University of Michi gan leaders, the court was praised for recogniz ing the importance of diversity in a well rounded education. “I am pleased the court recognized that diver sity brings educational benefits to all students — minority and majority alike,” said University of Michigan interim President B. Joseph White in one such statement. “We must prepare our students to learn and to lead in the world’s most di verse democracy.” White and the University of Michigan are absolutely correct, in that diversity does improve the quality of education, and of life in gen eral. It is how the word “di versity” is defined that cre ates the controversy. My Webster’s dictionary defines “diversity” as “a point or respect in which things differ.” Of course, if I’m in a class room and I’m a white American sitting next to a native of Japan, then right there, according to the definition of the word, diversity has oc curred. If we just sit there, though, having the color of our skin be the deciding difference, then that is not promoting the ideals of an edu cation enhanced by diversity. As the definition reads, diversity is all about differences, and it is those differences that strengthen our knowledge. But differences come from experiences. The guiding principle of a diverse campus stems from having individ uals with a wide array of experiences. Just because a student checks a different box Oliver Columnist on their application form doesn’t mean she has experiences any more valuable then anyone else’s. What makes a diverse education is what students can individually contribute to the community, not what box they check. The University also has difficulty defining this buzzword. The University prides itself on having one of the greatest international student populations in the country. This is wonderful, and what those students bring to the University falls right in line with the purpose of creating diversity among the population. The problem is that the University thinks the answer to creat ing diversity is to increase the number of stu dents that check any box other than “white.” Diversity is not something that can be meas ured through fact sheets or statistical profiles. We assume that by clumping students of the same race into student groups like the Black Student Union, the Native American Student Union and the Asian-Pacific American Student Union, then somehow diversity occurs. If the University were truly diverse, then these groups wouldn’t exist. We would all be seen as individuals with our individual merits, experi ences and contributions. To be honest, as a middle-class white student who grew up on a cul-de-sac in the Midwest, I can list just as many ways I bring diversity to a campus on the West Coast as anyone else. It is because of the color of my skin, though, that people assume I’m just like everyone else. If you want to learn something based on my experiences, then you need to talk to me. Star ing at my skin isn’t going to get you too far. I know that the same is true for myself. When I leave the University and enter the “real world,” I can’t judge people based on the color of their skin and expect to succeed — unless, of course, I become an admissions officer at the Universi ty of Michigan. E-mail columnist Jeff. Oliver at jeffoliver@dailyemerald.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.
