Bruin Walk tablers offensive, pathetic
While walking up Bruin Walk a few days ago, I became aware of a
very disappointing sign posted by a few people tabling. With this
display of distasteful remarks about President Bush and our
state’s governor, I felt it important to speak out.
I was very uncomfortable being approached by someone who snidely
asked questions such as who I think is smarter, President Bush or
my professor. Being inauguration day, I can understand that many
people are upset that a candidate they don’t support is being
sworn in for another term, but there is a limit to how far this
melancholy should go.
Plastering a word like “Schwarzenazi” on a poster on
Bruin Walk and standing there, proud of an analogy that compares
our governor to a group of murderers is terribly upsetting. As the
grandson of four Holocaust survivors, I can’t even say how
offensive and disturbing such remarks are and how pathetic it is
that students of higher education can take pride in such
statements.
Michael Moskovitz Second-year, undeclared
Diversity means thought, not color
In his submission “Homogenous faculty a pressing
problem” (Jan. 20), Eligio Martinez seems to completely miss
the main goal of attending an institution of higher education
““ the diversity of thought.
Martinez says that “diversity is about experiencing it in
order to learn and understand the realities of the world in which
we live.” But what he seems to overlook is that in our four
years here as Bruins, science majors take History of Modern Thought
and history majors struggle through Atmospheric Science. We have
diversity every day, in the people with whom we associate and the
fields that we study, not the skin color of those who guide us in
our pursuit of knowledge.
I don’t believe that the amount of melanin in one’s
skin accurately reflects the experience and talent they can bring
to UCLA. Although Martinez makes a point that “from 1984 to
2004, 72 percent of all faculty appointments at UCLA went to male
professors,” my most memorable classes have been those taught
by professors who care about their students and the material they
teach. Gender has nothing to do with it.
When I graduate in June, I hope to leave an institution that
prides itself not on a smorgasbord of skin colors and gender
preferences, but on pursuit of knowledge and openness of the
mind.
Stephanie Casey Fourth-year, microbiology, immunology
and molecular genetics