Linking groups to terrorists wrong
As a former editor of The Bruin in 1997-1998, I am puzzled and
frustrated by an article I read attempting to connect a student
group to accused terrorist organizations. This exhibits very little
foresight and responsibility, two qualities I always trusted The
Bruin to carry forward.
The article (“Reports
link terrorist, student organizations,” News, Jan. 8)
refers to uncited media reports which called into question
Al-Talib’s publication of ads for two relief organizations,
the assets of which were frozen by President George W. Bush in
recent months.
As journalists, you know very well that advertisers do not
represent the views of the publication ““ they are paying
customers. To suggest that Al-Talib (and the national MSA by
association) carries the burden of supposed “terrorist
links” is degrading, when no newspaper’s loyalties
would be questioned if they printed an ad from any groups with
questionable intentions (as recently occurred when ads denouncing
reparations were printed in student newspapers throughout the
country).
Despite your clear attempt to allow these students to
“defend” themselves against such allegations, printing
a prominent article on the subject lends it unnecessary credibility
and fosters an environment of fear and distrust.
UCLA’s Muslim students should not have to prove their
loyalties to the United States, their own country. We didn’t
force all white Americans to prove their loyalties when Timothy
McVeigh committed a terrorist act. We should not ask Muslims to do
so now.
Edina Lekovic Alumna Class of 1999
Groups also give humanitarian aid
Rachel Makabi’s news story “Reports
link terrorist, student organizations“ (Daily Bruin,
News, Jan. 8) misses one key fact. Organizations deemed
“terrorist” by the State Department also provide vital
humanitarian services that do need funding.
For example, a man from Michigan was deported for donating money
to an orphanage to cover the expenses of two young relatives whose
family died in Israel’s 1996 bombing of the Qana refugee
camp. The orphanage was run by Hezbollah. Since they are on the
State Department’s list, he was charged with supporting
terrorism.
This shows the inadequacy of the State Department’s
methodology in determining the list of terrorist organizations.
Surely, we should be sophisticated enough to know that donating
money to state services that provide for the survivors and
victims’ families of Sept. 11 is not a donation to the
government’s war efforts in Afghanistan. Until there are
other sufficient provisions for the suffering people many of these
organizations take care of, American policy is
anti-humanitarian.
People may argue that a donation to the humanitarian branch
frees up money for the militant branch. This fails to prove,
however, that individuals who give money to an orphanage support or
intend to support their militancy. There is no basis for
punishment. For many people there, money from abroad is their key
source of subsistence.
American policy must take into account the failures of social
services in places such as the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and the
important role of such organizations in filling those voids.
Will Youmans Boalt School of Law, UC
Berkeley
Life challenges can prepare students for future
success
I have one question for the people who constantly complain about
the use of affirmative action and comprehensive review programs
(“New
policy hides public school failures“ Viewpoint, Jan. 7).
Many of the big name private schools like Stanford, Harvard and
Princeton have always used systems similar to the proposed
comprehensive review, and many continue to use affirmative action
procedures. If these things spell the imminent doom of an
institution ““ or at least its high quality of education
““ how do these universities remain so excellent?
College admissions are not a reward for past performance, but
rather a guess at future performance. The “purely
objective” measures often fail to identify potential that may
be recognized in a comprehensive review. Students who achieve
strong academic results while working against many life challenges,
such as poverty, uneducated parents, or coming from a different
culture than the one from which the test is written, often show
more potential than students with stronger academic performance,
but without the life challenges.
Time and again these private schools have found that students
taken from challenging situations and given the extra opportunities
that the best schools can offer quickly close whatever academic gap
existed, excel in their fields, and return more to their school
than those with the stronger numbers who thought a top-level
education was something they earned with their prior academics.
GPA and test scores are at least as flawed as comprehensive
review because they’re highly dependent on individual schools
and opportunities and have repeatedly been shown to have very
little correlation with future academic performance. Comprehensive
review simply recognizes this and tries to include other indicators
of potential.
These indicators may seem ill defined, but if you look at the
actual evaluation forms and procedures, which have been published
in this newspaper, they are surprisingly well defined and
objective. The system has worked for other even more prestigious
school than the UC’s. It can work here too.
Lee Loveridge Graduate student Physics