Senators speak out
To the editor:
I am not usually someone to complain in a public forum but your last issue has drawn me out and I cannot keep quiet on this any longer.
First, it was reported wrongly that both myself and Sen. Shaun Quinn objected to the language of the Pledge of Allegiance. I was one of the FOUNDING people on this motion (as was Quinn) “behind the scenes,” I SECONDED this motion on the floor, I spoke FOR the motion, and was quite PROUD to sponsor this and to SAY the pledge of allegiance. For what it matters, I am also PRO-WAR and PRO-U.S. TROOPS!
Second, it is both cowardly and unprofessional to launch the attack against the election process that you did from the safety of your “editorial position.” If no one knows about the election process it is because of a multitude of problems, top among them, a “University newspaper” that considers itself chiefly a glorified job-training program with NO responsibility to cover or examine university events, life, goings on, or scholarship of students or faculty; just what the purpose of The Free Press is, besides the weekly liner for my cat litter is still beyond me.
The Free Press has long been a socially-inclusive and standoffish entity, just as much as the Senate has been, though since via your media format you reach more students than the Senate does you should be far more ashamed of yourselves. Your lack of coverage on Senate elections, Senate issues, and the work of all student government formats is as much to blame for student apathy on this campus if not more than any act of the Student Senate. The Free Press is not involved in this University nor does, by its own admission, it feel responsible to be the voice of the students, nor help create an environment of a campus-wide spirit. Perhaps you should look at yourself and ask why there wasn’t an issue of The Free Press for the last three weeks to report on the upcoming elections? Or why you yourself complained about having to run the Senate election ads? Or why your reporters only show up for one-third of the Senate meetings and pretend to report on one hundred percent of it. And don’t sell me that journalistic freedom line, anyone with a moderate education can see through your use of that notion as a way to be unprofessional, unjournalistic, incompetent, and unconcerned.
Should the students who are running for Senate have posted information around campus? Definitely, but don’t put all the blame on them when you dropped the ball far more than they ever could. At least they are trying to get involved and do something for the students. But if it doesn’t fit your agenda than of course you blindly attack it. Is this journalism or moral cowardice?
Why doesn’t The Free Press run articles about its failings, loss of money, and interpersonal dynamics which would make the Senate look like the Girl Scouts on any day. This of course extends to The Free Press spending student’s money (which is what funds The Free Press’s very pages at a cost of sixty-seven cents per newspaper, times four thousand copies, times twenty-two weeks; do the math) to run a smear campaign like they did last year on a senator (the only Jewish senator last year, and the only one who protested the running of an anti-Semitic ad by the Free Press; coincidence?), or its misinformation campaign last year about a STUDENT LED referendum to make both The Free Press and WMPG financially responsible to the students. Or the fact that The Free Press’s person who levied charges against a student senator admitted to the Student Violations Inquiry committee that she lied about the situation?
Are there problems with the Student Senate? Yes! There is a battle within the Senate for its soul. You have senators like myself and others who are there to protect and expand students rights and opportunities, and another section of senators who are there to dabble in petty politics and self-aggrandizement; a third group stands pulled between both polls on a weekly basis. But the real truth here, Elise, and to any student who really cares is THIS IS YOUR STUDENT SENATE and it’s YOUR STUDENT ACTIVITY FEE. If you don’t like how things are being run or how money is being spent (like how one third of all student activity fee money goes to both WMPG and The Free Press every year, automatically and without question, while student-run entities and department contributions to student groups starve for funding) EITHER GET INVOLVED OR STOP COMPLAINING.
There are many great students (not to mention faculty and staff) on this campus involved in the Board of Student Organizations, Senate, Gorham Events Board, Portland Events Board, Greek Life, and Student Life who are responsible for almost all of the activities and events on this campus, creating academic and social opportunities for students. We do this on top of our academic, work, and family responsibilities.
You want things to change then do something about it, get involved, show up at meetings, start a referendum, make some fucking noise! Please, stop boring me with your nonsense, do something or stop taking up student funded space.
Daryl Douglas Morazzini
Board of Student Organizations President
Senator, Commuter Students Representative
Philosophy & History Major
Presidential Scholar
Graduating Senior
To the editor:
I agree with your article (The Free Press, March 17, “Election process perpetuates mediocre Student Senates”). As you stated “the intensely under-publicized Student Senate elections!”
I am running and I was not informed when the election was going to take place until the editor of The Free Press told me.
I have been to three of the last four Senate meetings. As a candidate I was never properly introduced to any of the Senators. This made me feel as if I was an outcast. Yet I will not let any complacency deter me.
When it came to campaigning, I went to friends and asked for donations.
I printed up flyers and palm cards. I hope my energy will allow me an opportunity to be a part of any positive reinforcement you speak of.
There is a definite lack of school spirit. I have seen a culture at USM that allows complacency within the student population. This is not to say students do not want to be involved. My observation has been the total responsibility is up to the students.
We come from various backgrounds and social cultures. Not one part is solely responsible for it’s culture only. As a group we need to take responsibility to coalition building between the faculty and students much more aggressively. Until then things will remain status quo.
I am willing to make every attempt as an independent student and if I am elected as a senator.
This is just an opinion
Moses Sawyer
Sophomore, political science
More thoughts on the war
To the editor:
This is a sort of funny correction to make but I do want to make an addition to your article on the professors and students from USM who were arrested for civil disobedience on March 19. I was the fourth USM faculty member arrested at the antiwar protest on March 19. (There were other USM folks involved too.)
Like the others involved in the protest, I oppose the U.S. war in Iraq on legal, pragmatic and moral grounds. I don’t see any justification in international law for a “pre-emptive,” more or less unilateral attack on another country without considerable more evidence that it is in fact an imminent threat. In terms of U.S. law the U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress, not the President, the authority to declare war. There might be circumstances when a quick decision might need to be made, but events so far certainly don’t provide evidence that Iraq was just about to attack to United States. Finally I think whatever good reason there might be to intervene to overthrow a dictatorship, it is likely that more harm than good will come from the United States and Britain, two countries with histories of intervention and imperialism, being the force that intervenes.
My history classes deal with the role of the United States in the world and the complex reasons for U.S. policy. There is a long history of U.S. citizens opposing U.S. intervention abroad and U.S. wars–from the War of 1812 to the Mexican War to the U.S. war in the Philippines to the long war in Vietnam, and Laos and Cambodia, to this current war. That doesn’t mean that the protestors have always been right in terms of outcome, but it does mean that protesting is in fact part of our American heritage.
From the ideas of the Declaration of Independence, to the famous essay by Thoreau, to the writings and actions of Martin Luther King and the Catholic radicalism of Dorothy Day and the Berrigans, in the actions of labor activists Eugene V. Debs and Kate Richards O’Hare who went to jail for opposing the first world war as a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight, ” and through thousands of acts of conscience, Americans have reminded their government that we have the right and duty to peaceably break laws if we is necessary to try to stop injustice and protect life.
Those of us who were arrested for protesting this war believed civil disobedience was necessary. Nothing that has happened since has made the war seem any less mistaken or more just.
Eileen Eagan
Associate Professor of History
To the editor
Whether you’re a peace activist or a war supporter, one thing I think we all agree on is, It’s a good thing “Chemical Ali” (Saddam Hussein’s cousin) is dead. This creature was responsible for gassing 5,000 Kurds to death (possibly more).
In this modern age of nuclear & biological weapons, it is dangerous to allow regimes like the Iraqi government to continue unchecked. What if Hitler had remained in power as long as Saddam Hussein has (almost 25 years): every non-white ethic group would have been enslaved or sent to concentration camps to be exterminated.
For the sake of humanity and global civilization, Saddam Hussein and his thugs must be removed from power–as soon as possible.
Cindy Merrill
Junior, History Major
USM Commuter Student
What Count Me OUT is all about
To the editor:
This letter is in regard to the letter to the editor, “This Guy has Issues,” published in last week’s Free Press (April 7, 2003). I would like to address Joe Aldoupolis’ issue about having too much gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) visibility on campus. He says that he would like to be able to read The Free Press “without a story from someone spouting off about being gay, lesbian, bi or whatever.” He uses the term “whatever,” disregarding that he is talking about people’s specific identities.
The GLBTQA Resource Center’s weekly column “Count Me OUT” does not intend to advertise the sexual relations of non-heterosexual people. Instead, it tries to acknowledge and honor ALL sexualities and gender identities as an important part of USM’s diversity. The University of Southern Maine is expected to value all types of diversity, whether in race, ethnicity, class, sex, religion, age, ability, HIV/AIDS status, political affiliation, etc., as well as the equally important identities of gender and sexual orientation. The point of having this visibility on campus is to teach about diversity and to help people better understand those around them.
If Aldoupolis had read some of the “Count Me OUT” articles, then maybe he could have learned something from them. In recent issues of “Count Me OUT,” the term “genderqueer” has been explained and defined. If he were still confused, then perhaps he should have stopped by the GLBTQA Resource Center where people are always happy to answer questions. He also talks about the article on intersexuality, which is not a sexuality or gender identity. Intersexuality is a medical condition that many people are born with, giving them ambiguous genitalia as a result of their chromosomes.
Another thing that I would like to point out about last week’s letter to the editor is that Aldoupolis writes about GLBT people, saying, “So you dress differently and enjoy different lifestyles…” My response to that is this: by saying that a certain group of people dress differently, he is reinforcing the stereotypes that the GLBT community tries to abolish. Also, it is not that GLBT people choose to “enjoy” different lifestyles. It is not a choice, or a preference for that matter, but rather an inherent orientation. For this reason, The Free Press changed its editorial policy from sexual preference to sexual orientation at the beginning of this school year.
In conclusion to this letter, I feel that Aldouplis’ letter to the editor is a perfect example of why the GLBT community needs to continue to spread visibility. Education is obviously needed to end the ignorance here at USM, where all people should feel comfortable and accepted.
Gina Capra
Women’s Studies, junior
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the article, “Word & Image’s expansion unveiled,” by Christy McKinnon, in last week’s edition. I am very pleased by the article’s positive publicity for Words & Images and the remarks I have heard from others about our 2003 book release party. I am, however, concerned that only three of our staff members we referred to as “the core of the Words & Images team,” when there are several others on our staff who were not mentioned. We all worked diligently on this edition, putting in countless number of hours, hard work, and positive communication among each other.
The following W & I staff deserve recognition as well and they are:
Jennifer Thomas, literary editor; Lu Schulze, art director; Josh Cook, production director; Catherine Genitle, events coordinator; Kathleen Rich, submissions director; Matthew Woodside, Website coordinator; and our proofreaders and contributing staff writers.
The 2003 W & I edition is a success because of its entire staff, which worked together as a team. I feel this should be stressed, considering its importance to us and to the publication. Thank you.
Sarah E. Wentworth
Marketing Director, Words & Images
Senior media studies major