A ruse by any other name?(Re: “What’s the difference,” 18 March 2002)While your coverage of the SAC election campaign has thus far been, by and large, fair and accurate, I must take issue with your implicit characterization of the Take Back SAC movement as a Tory ticket. While Noel Semple is indeed a member of the Progressive Conservative party, Take Back SAC is in fact a multi-partisan effort. Its directorship candidates and volunteers represent every colour on the political spectrum and include card-carrying members of the Liberal, Canadian Alliance and New Democratic Parties. It is unfair to comment only on Mr. Semple’s political affiliation while addressing neither the multi-partisan nature of the Take Back SAC campaign nor the political affiliations of Mr. Semple’s opponents.Stating that Take Back SAC’s promise of a 10 percent reduction of the SAC fee is “equivalent to a tax cut” also unfairly associates the movement with external political developments. Given that the SAC fee is a mandatory student ancillary fee, couldn’t you just as easily have characterized this Take Back SAC promise as a reduction in tuition?Forrest PassWhat does the LGBTOUT think about abortion?(Re: “Pro-life journalist speaks on campus,” 7 March 2002)I applaud Sasha Walek and the Varsity for reporting an event and point of view that is too often ignored, but I’m dismayed at what seems like a gratuitous plug for LGBTOUT. I am curious as to how a news story on a pro-life discussion can turn into a forum for LGBTOUT’s views on the character of Michael Coren. Does this group have anything to add to the discussion on abortion?I question the rhetoric used by Mark Riczu (the group’s “political action coordinator”) when he is quoted as saying that the Students for Life [have presented speakers that are “notoriously homophobic/transphobic”] and that the “love espoused by Coren does not include LGBTQ people.” I have heard otherwise, so it seems as if everyone must agree with everything LGBTOUT says and does, or risk being labelled “homophobic/transphobic,” which I find quite disturbing on a campus that is supposedly a forum of free speech and open discussion. I would like to ask the representatives from LGBTOUT what their views are on abortion, and specifically on what Mr. Coren said about abortion at this event.Robert RusacNo to the Varsity Centre levy and Graditude(Re: “For those of us…” 18 March 2002)I agree wholeheartedly with Stephen Glazer’s eloquent letter, in which he challenges participants of the Middle East conflict, Israelis and Arabs alike, to throw off the shackles of hatred for a chance at peace. As it turns out, many Arab educators and clerics, as well as the Arab media, do not share my sentiments.On any given morning, a 14-year-old Palestinian will go to school and read in his grade-nine textbook that “Treachery and disloyalty are character traits of the Jews (Islamic Education for Ninth Grade, pg. 79).” After classes, while watching official Palestinian Authority television, he will see the preacher explain, “All weapons must be aimed at the Jews, Allah’s enemies, the cursed nation in the Koran, who Allah describes as monkeys and pigs (Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi, 3/8/01).” Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, a nation is reading a local professor’s assertion in a government newspaper that Jews use Muslim and Christian blood to celebrate Purim (Al-Riyadh, 14/3/02).No matter how far Israel withdraws and no matter how many peace accords are signed, until the Arab elite ceases provoking their populations to hate and inciting their children to kill, peace will elude us all.Adam CutlerNo to the Varsity Centre levy and GraditudeI’m really glad to hear that others feel similarly about the new Varsity Centre and Graditude. What is the logic here? After four years of tuition fees in which many of us have had to take out student loans, or juggle work, family and academics in the pursuit of our degrees, we are then asked to turn around and find more cash for a glittery new athletic centre and a graduating gift to the university? It is my understanding that the university can afford to foot the bill on this snazzy athletic centre [a substantial endowment fund], so why aren’t they? Tuition has been and is continuing to increase. Shouldn’t the university be using this blood money to provide the very same “gifts” (couches, computers, benches) that Graditude asks us to donate cash for?As students attending U of T, we need to send our university a message—say no to the Varsity Centre levy and no to Graditude.Renée FergusonWith few people voting, individual students can make a differenceThe U of T International Health Programme (UTIHP) is asking for your help in the upcoming levy vote to increase the scope of our efforts next year in our overseas development work. As one of U of T’s largest inter-disciplinary student groups, UTIHP acts as a base for students who want to launch projects to improve health services in developing countries, and also provides excellent opportunities for international volunteer placements. Although the impact of UTIHP’s work is intended for the improvement of health services in far-off countries like Ethiopia and Nepal, your contribution to UTIHP through the levy will be felt right here on campus as well. More funding for UTIHP means more opportunity for U of T students to become involved in our volunteering placements, and more resources available for students to expand their overseas projects.In past years voter turnout has been pitifully low, and levy issues have often been determined by less than 10 votes, so please do not think the student body is so large that your vote will not make a difference. Your Yes vote on ROSI or at a ballot box will help secure the support we need to increase the impact of our work in some of the world’s poorest countries.David Anchel
