More humus, less hubris
Re: Middle East showdown gets ugly (Nov. 27)
Am I the only one who can’t understand this obsession among the self-righteous for protesting? Your recent cover story made me laugh. I happened to walk right through the protest last Wednesday and I couldn’t help but marvel at the futility of it all.
I know I’m going to be butchered for writing this, but until someone can give me a rational explanation as to what either protest accomplished I don’t even know why these folk wasted their breath. How do people help their side in this conflict by yelling at someone who supports the other side of the conflict in a city thousands of kilometres away?
As far I can see they don’t. Of course I probably can’t see because I’m a racist or a terrorist or an anti-Semite or any of the other terrible terms these people love to throw around. I guess what I’m trying to say is… leave your conflicts where they belong, people.
You aren’t changing anything by spreading hatred even further. Your yelling in Toronto won’t stop a tank in Gaza or a suicide bomber in Haifa. All you are really doing is blocking the entrance to the bookstore. What does my protesting accomplish? All you’ve really done is turned Toronto into a front for someone else’s war. A pointless, very minor front with no outcome on the war at all. If you want to fight, go to Israel/Palestine. If not, please, just relax.
Peter Hynd
Ill times over Wellness Centre
QSS is the Quality Service to Students Committee, held once a month on the Mississauga Campus. Last week a vote was held to pass a proposed motion of a wording change of a new wellness centre facility. EPUS (a division of APUS) took this opportunity to re-educate the students on the wellness centre, the design, conveniences, and the increases in incidental fees: $150 for full time students, and $30 for part-time students.
One hundred and twenty classes were notified by EPUS through class representatives. The majority of students voted “no” to the motion through an informal vote. They were referred to the wellness centre website before the vote, in order to be made aware of the issue.
Repeated attempts were made by EPUS and SAC-UTM to have the issue go to a referendum, so the entire student body could participate in the vote. The administration and a few other student governments voted against a referendum without consulting students.
Regardless, EPUS and SAC lost the vote for the wellness centre at last week’s QSS meeting. The administratives that had a vote voted “yes,” obviously. ECSU, UTMAC, and Residence voted “yes” as well. But EPUS and SAC voted “no” after consulting as many students as they could. Overall, the majority of the student body at UTM feels that the vote for the wellness centre was part of an undemocratic process.
The next step is the Governing Council. I really hope that the voters of GC take into account the undemocratic process that occurred at the Mississauga campus: student leaders of some organizations voted “yes” for a wellness centre without consulting their student bodies.
Shaila Kibria
EPUS President
My sincere apology
Re: Our Mistake (Nov. 24)
I wish to apologize for a mistake I made in my recent review of the women’s hockey game between the Chinese national team and the Blues. I wrongly stated that a “boatload” of Chinese supporters were at the game. This was an honest mistake and was not meant to be a racial slur or a racist joke. I was simply trying to convey the fact that the Chinese team had a large number of supporters at the game and failed to consider that using the term “boatload” was offensive.
I sincerely apologize for this bad choice of phrasing. I did not mean to offend anyone or further propagate a stupid racist stereotype. I myself have ancestors from Hong Kong and China and realize that I should have known better than to call a large number of Chinese fans a “boatload.”
I will make sure I consider my word choice more carefully in the future, and I am truly sorry to anyone who may have found that line in my article offensive. I will make sure this type of error does not occur in the future.
Matt Somers
Varsity Staff
Cancellation unfair
Re: Palestinian conference killed, (Nov. 24)
It is outrageous that the U of T administration withdrew the booking for a conference organized by Palestinian students because their basis of unity included unconditional support of a right of return for Palestinians and opposition to any two-state “solution” as a viable option for the Palestinian people. We all know U of T would never ban a Zionist conference committed to those two points. All Zionists are agreed on an unconditional “right of return” for Jews to Israel, and many-including, until recently, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon-emphatically oppose any two-state deal.
Danny Goldstick
Professor of Philosophy
