October 1993 - Binghamton Review

1Sfngbamton Volume VI, No.2

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A Choice, Not an Echo

latbftbl October, 1993

Come See the Violence Inherent in the System!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ULED RACISM ON CAMPUS AMERICA'S 13TH GENERATION

Contents From the Editor ............. Page 3 The Right Side ............... Page 12 LeHers ........................... Page 20 For the Record ............. Page 24 Exclusive ULED Interview ........................ Page 4

by Cara Donlon Myths of "Diversity" ................................. Page 8

by Nathan Wurtzel Done Dirt Cheap .................................. Page 10 .by .Scott J. Epstein

Letters to the Editor should be addressed to: Bin hamton Review S~ Binghamton p. O. Box 6000

Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 Contributors: Juliet Shields, Brad Levine, Vimt Aita, Duane Farabaugh,

501 Blues: 1492-1993 ........................... Page 11

by Joseph Curran 13th Gen .................••..•..•••.•.•.•....•••.......•. Page 14

by Mitchell Berger Diversity Debacle ................................. Page 16 byMark Schmidt

Alumni Board: Brian Sullivan, Katrina Schwing, Kathryn Doherty, Mathew Carr, Peter Kaplan, Adam Bromberg, Paul Schnier, John Maggio, Dave I-6J Alexandra AuconeRichard Carr, Paul Scalese, Van Rusanovsky, Joseph Rosenthal, Billy Schor

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The Binglulmton Review is an inde~ndent journal of news, commental'}1, and analysis published monthly. Binghamton students receive the Review free of charge.

All submissions to the Review become the property of the Review. The Review reserves the right to edit and print any suDmlssion. All opinions expressed are those of the author's and do not necessarily represent that of the Review

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From the Editor

W

e didn't have to wait long this year for a spark to ignite the underlying racial tensions at Binghamton University. Even before classes began, the disgraceful stabbing of ULED officer Antonio Matos reintroduced the issue of arming campus public safety and, consequently, the racist reasoning behind the argument against giving ULED guns.

Flyers advertising the September 1" "Emergency Meeting for Students of Color" (translation: no whites need attend) were the first shock to the sensibilities. Since the assembly was held in the most public of places, the South Lounge of the University Union, Students Who Lack Color could hardly be prohibited from attending. However, the mysteriously anonymous leadership at the meeting instructed Whitey to keep to the back of the bus (excuse me, South Lounge) and mind his manners by remaining silent.

When one uppity Student of No Color dared disobey, the elitist leaders at the meeting became incensed. One of them blurted out that Students of Color need their own space to discuss matters that pertain (only?) to them, adding in a Pipe Dream column that whites just can't handle not being the center of attention. Where are the Sensitivity and Tolerance Monitors when the "other" side makes such blatantly bigoted accusations?

Consider also the premise of the most popular anti-gun argument espoused by Student of Color leaders: give the predominantly white police force guns, and they will undoubtedly abuse their power and victimize minorities. Have there ever been any reported incidents of racial harassment by ULED? In the Review's exclusive interview with ULED, managing editor Cara Donlon learns that there have been none. So what is the basis of this attack? Pure speculation based on racial stereotypes.

On a campus as politically correct as ours, where are zealous Thought Police when the Pigrnentally Challenged (whites) are being oppressed? (J use the term "oppression" loosely, but so does everyone else!) Our cowering administration and sleeping student body are apparently foolish enough to swallow the new slogan "REVERSE RACISM DOES NOT EXIST" that exempts all but whites from the guilt of being prejudiced. This warped logic reasons that only those in positions of power can be racist, and supposes that all these positions are occupied by whites. However, the Oxford English Dictionary defines racism as "the theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilitie~ are determined by race."

The sin of Racism is a human frailty, and its source is the individual, not the society.

Some Student of Color leaders contort the definition of racism to hide the blood on their own hands. But in truth intolerance exists in both camps-the People of Color and the People of No Color. The real injustice is that only one group is held accountable.~

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Just the Facts: ACf: 6 rapes, 80 bur glaries, two car thefts, and only 67 arrests are cited as the crime-breakdown figures by University officials for the previous school year.

FACf: During the 199192 school year, Binghamton University had 230 instances of criminal mischief, 327 petit larcenies, 227 harassments, 53 grand larcenies, 37 disorderly con-

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Cara Donlon

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STATE UNIVERSITY PUBLIC SAFETY

ducts, eighteen drug cases, 22 firearms and other dangerous weapons cases, and thirteen assaults that were

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not mentioned in a pamphlet touting the safety figures for the Binghamton campus.

FACf: During the 199293 school year, complaints of a criminal nature increased by 17.3% FACf: Officer Antonio Matos, an off-duty University Law Enforcement Department officer, was brutally attacked by a razorwielding mob while attendin g a campussponsored event.

FACf: As of now, the Public Safety officers on the Binghamton University campus a re not armed, nor do they have access to firearms" thus making them the only unarmed uni versity law enforcement department within the State University of New York system.

Binghamton, the pastoral left-wing utopia, is not the safe haven it is made out to be. Our security is one of a fa lse sense; our police have no means to protect themselves or the students they've been entrusted to guard. They are

expected to fend off the weapon-bearing deviants with a can of pepper spray (which reaches a whopping 4 feet) and a club used primarily for the restraint of tobe-handcuffed criminals.

The officers on our peaceful upstate college have been issued bulletproof vests because it is a distinct possibility that they'may be fired upon by the degenerates from which they are trying to protect us. They are virtually sitting targets, and we depend on these sitting targets to ensure our safety.

Slightly illogical? If you have not already learned, a typical administrative decision at this school usually is illogical.

Last week, I was granted an exclusive interview with the two investigators of the Public Safety force. Investigators John Gormley and Donald Chier were extremely grateful to finally be fairly represented by the press. It is time for the things I learned to be made public-not only for the benefit of the officers themselves, but for our benefit as well.

Contrary to popular belief, ULED is not comprised of a bunch of rent-a-cops.

They are not glorified security guards, nor are they trigger-happy racists. They are college-educated people who have successfully com-

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ULED Speaks pleted a grueling fifteenweek training stint at the Public Safety Academy of the State Police Academy in Albany. They are considered to be some of the most highly qualified officers in the state of New York, as their department has higher standards than any other law enforcement department in the state. They are mandated to take a class on the use of force once every year and there is a Firearms Instructor in the department who is certified by the FBI. The officers are qualified to, and in fact do, train the local police in various criminal justice and crime scene subjects. In order to be a Public Safety officer, each member of the force has had to undergo sensitivity training. This mandatory formal instruction is conducted at the Academy by the Urban League. There is also regular in-service training that is offered to the individual officers by their Multi-Cultural Director.

And all officers have access to the Law Enforcement Television Network (LElN), which runs various types of multi-cultural instruction throughout its programs. It is not as if uninformed, untrained, unqualified, and insensitive people are asking to play with gunsthese are people who are specifically trained to deal

In an attempt to be fair, with urban violence in a college environment, and who DeFleur's administration notified the Public Safety merely want to be able to do their dangerous jobs prop- officers of her decision not erly. to arm them before it was But, no matter how made public. Despite the trained and qualified these amount of violence that ocofficers are, there is always curs on this campus and the that group of twenty people extensive training that the officers have, it was deemed who will march around the that firearms were not necMini-Mall and chant, "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Racist Cops essary for this campus. UnHaveGotToGo." Thereare fortunately the campus is always those few who insist that ULED exists for the sole purpose of harassing minorities, and that once they are Fact: During the 1992armed they will go 93 school ye'ar, comaround and shoot all the People of Color. plaints of criminal naGranted, this is an unture increased by 17.3% founded and ridiculous notion, bu t a rowdy demonstration somehow always manages to sway President DeFleur's mind. When she not a fortress; we do not have barriers to keep the made her decision last year bad guys out. The bad guys not to arm ULED, she did not consult with the actual came in already and slashed officers. Their input, appar- Officer Matos. The bad entl y, was not needed in a guys walked onto this campus and fired gunshots into decision that would directly the air at the same party Ofaffect them. The Adminisficer Matos attended. The tration of this university met with the director of the bad guys have high SAT department who, unlike the scores and ID cards. They civil servant officers, has not steal things from your dorm been granted tenure. This rooms, attack you in your residence halls, deal drugs basically means that his job from the next door, and is in jeopardy if he does not have various weapons. The conform to the wishes of his bad guys are RAs with arsuperiors. No wonder why he conceded to the decision.

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Continued from page 5 senaIs in their rooms. These are the people who laugh in the faces of ULED officers because they know there is nothing that they can do if fhey were placed in an emergency situation.

The administration of this campus has instructed Public Safety that they are not to enter a dangerous

"I don'tgo to the Chemistry Department and tell them what books to use; why should they tell me what equipment I should use?" situation alone, meaning without armed backup.

Two problems: first, how is one to know when a routine situation may fum dangerous, and secondly, in an instance when every second counts, how will waiting for armed backup help the situation, the officer, or the victim?

FACT: According to FBI statistics, most police officers are killed in this country during routine traffic stops.

How is a ULED officer supposed to know who is speeding around the brain and which choice of weapon he's got in his lap? Does this fact make every traffic

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stop a potentially dangerous situation? It is not as if this campus is only inhabited by students and faculty; anyone can drive onto this campus during the day.

And at night, you only need one ID for a cab-load of people. Who knows what dregs of humanity are coming onto campus? Not to mention the actual students ... This is the real world, and in the real world even the smart ones can be bad. Remember Ted Bundy?

This rule, handed down

by DeFleur and Company, covers their backs, but what would happen if good 01' Lois was being held hostage at gunpoint in her office? I'm sure she'd be happy to wait the extra 45 minutes while ULED called Vestal Police for backup, and then Vestal called within their department to request armed backup because even the "real police" refuse to enter a situation alone. But, then again, if that were to happen it would merely be considered yet another "isolated" incident. There are no need for hypotheticals anyway, we already have real cases. Does anyone remember the sorority knife fights last year? Or what about the Newing robberies, or the attempted rape, or the abduction of the sorority pledges from the Science Library? Officer Matos

must be old news now, along with the attempted kidnapping near the Newman House. The RA with the arsenal, the guy who was randomly shooting arrows into the woods, and the parking lot sniper are nothing to be worried about-at least they aren't trained Public Safety officers with guns. What could be worse than that? Let's just hope the next victim can understand why they will be considered to be an isolated incident and why it took so long for someone to come to their aid.

The argument has been made that $13,000 is too much to spend to arm ULED. What most people aren't aware of is that an armed guard of some sort is needed on campus at least every day-one who doesn't come cheap. A tremendous amount of monetary transactions go on every day here: the bank, the credit union, Escape ticket sales, concert ticket sales, etc.-all of which require an armed officer. (Although the bank does not have an armed guard, they do have a panic bu tton that will enable them to start the "backup needed" process and hope Vestal will only take twenty minutes to get here.) Every day the Brinks Armored Car Service comes on campus, and this campus hires a neighboring police officer to assist. Every

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time Escape sells tickets, a member of the Broome County sheriff's department is needed. Every Thursday, the Credit Union refuses to trans port its money unless either a Vestal officer or a B.c. sheriff is present. Does anyone ever take this cost into account?

At the Emergency Meeting for People of Color, it was stressed that arming ULED would be detrimental to the minority population on campus. It is automatically assumed that officers with guns will have a field day killing minorities.

One girl even said that the minorities are constantly harassed by Public Safety, despite the fact that not one single claim of racist behavior or instance of harassment has ever been reported. The attitude that ULED is composed of an all white male faction of the KKK is a misguided and down-right stupid assumption that manufactures fear on this campus. A fear based on myth. In fact, over 25% of the ULED officers are considered to be minorities . . Investigator John Gormley put it best, when he said, "I don't want to shoot anybody.. .! don't want to ever be put in that situation."

There is never any publicity given to the fact that eight to ten hours a day, the ULED investigators are out on the streets of Binghamton. They are conducting investigations and surveillance pertinent to their cam-

pus cases. They are dealing with suspects who have lengthy lists of prior arrests and a wide variety of weaponry. These men are in plain clothes, armed with nothing but a bulletproof vest. Obviously, this administration does not think too highly of the safety of its officers.

W hen DeFleur buckled under terrorist pressure from the students who threatened to disrupt classes and interfere with the daily actions of the university, she allowed political correctness to jeopardize security. There is no excuse for the officers' lives to be put in this absurd amount of danger. Antonio Matos is contemplating not returning to his posi tion because he would not be armed-he feels that the job is too dangerous to face unprotected.

Public Safety is not given the credit that it deserves. The great technical ability in their department is amaZing. They function like a regular police station; processing criminals, taking mug shots, evaluating crime scenes, processing their own fingerprints, and even assisting the local police in doing so. They are involved in regular death examinations and are not

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immune to the evils of the outside world. They are dedicated individuals who only want to keep our campus safe and be safe themselves. What gives the ignorant on this campus and in the administration the right to prevent them from

doing their jobs in the safest, most effective way? Investigator Don Chier has a great analogy: "I don't go down to the Chemistry Department and tell them what books to use; why should they tell me what equipment I should use?"

It is necessary for the Department of Public Safety to be armed on this campus.

If we wait for isolated incident after isolated incident to build up to the point when all-out chaos erupts, we will all be responsible for our lack of action. In the interest of the officers, their families, and those who live on this campus or in the University leased housing-open your eyes.~

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e ttng ot. t seems that "diversity" ology. Therefore, the Cabi- limped into the White House with a tenuous pluis the critical term in net reflects a largely homorality of support. geneous political orientapolitics these days. The The problems for trouble is that "diversity" is tion that represents only a Clinton began in the first an ambiguous word which fraction of Americans.

In retrospect, however, week of his presidency, as can be used to fit any numgay-rights activists immedithis is not surprising. ber of standards. For example, President Clinton Clinton had sold his presi- ately called for an executive was able to malign the idea dency to the special inter- order rescinding the ban on of "diversity" so as to cre- ests as early as February homosexual military serate a "diverse" Cabinet that 1992, when the Gennifer vice. In the weeks followsupposedly "looks like Flowers and draft-dodging ing, we saw a seemingly endless parade of dubiously America." Unfortunately, revelations nearly finished his campaign.

In return for qualified women nomiover half of the men and nated for Attorney General, women appointed are mil- their support, which was more likely to have gone to the Lani Guinier debacle, lionaires, all except Treasury Jerry Brown, Clinton promand the sharp turnaround Secretary Lloyd Bentsen are for Stephen Breyer extreme egalitarian to Ruth Bader liberals, and few Ginsberg as Suhave ever held jobs preme Court in the private secnominee. The spetor (including, not We are not collection of cial interest paysurprisingly, the President himself). people who belong to offs proved politically costly for the This hardly reflects groups, but nation of President, as he the current compowas thoroughly sition of the free-thinking individuals rid icu led for the America. process by which What the Presithese events undent tried to do, of folded. Clinton's course, was to superficially create the appear- ised a large role for their huffy verbal assault onABC ance of diversity by basing self-appointed representa- correspondent Brit Hume tives in his administration. indicated that the President his decisions on race and himself was displeased with gender, reasoning that The positions that had made Clinton a powerful this situation.

Donna Shalala and Janet member of the Democratic Although the media Reno would represent Leadership Council were and academia may suggest women, Ron Brown and otherwise, most AmeriJesse Brown would speak compromised to ;lllow for cans-regardless of race, for blacks, Henry Cisneros these accommodations. would represent Hispanics, With the special interests gender, or sexual orientation- are more concerned and so forth. Nowhere in firmly in tow, candidate this decision-making pro- Clinton tossed the bone of about common problems than special interest posicess was the question of di- a middle-class tax cut to the Reagan Democrats and tions. The events that have versity of thought and ide-

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Nathan Wurtzel

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taken place this past summer are a clear indication of the direction in which this country is moving. Generally, people do not believe that their Representative or Senator must be of the same demographic segment as they are in order to represent their interests. Special interest groups do not understand this and are not learning from the elections of Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, Jersey City mayor Bret Schundler, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas). They will be devastated when New York City mayoral candidate Rudy Giuliani picks up a substantial portion of the black and Hispanic vote this November.

Liberals who flatly refuse to believe this shou Id examine the Jersey City election closely.

Schundler became the first Republican to win the mayor's job since 1917 by running a campaign that focused on issues that all Jersey City residents were concerned about. While his opponents griped about race, representation, and discrimination, Schundler promised an immediate property-tax cut and downsizing of city government, which he has already delivered. Schundler also proposed expanding the reduced-tax enterprise zones in the inner city, and is a proponent of school choice. He has been so in-

fluential in this area that he has the commitment of both the state legislature and future Governor Christine Todd Whitman to allow a Jersey City-only voucher arrangement. Schundler defeated no fewer than sixteen opponents in the general election, and easily won the run-off in a city where only six percent of registered voters are Republican! In Los Angeles and New York, Riordan and Giuliani have followed a similar formula, and one can expect that Jack Kemp will do the same (most of these ideas were modeled after his positions) when running for President in 1996.

To show how far removed special interest groups are from the electorate, one need only point to

colleague, Phil Gramm. She almost entirely avoided gender issues and thus was opposed by NOW, NARAL, and other radical feminist organizations. In fact, Gloria Steinem went so far as to call Senator Hutchinson, who is pro-choice, a "female impersonator" for daring to mention that certain restrictions should be placed on abortion (the nerve of her).

Despite massive feminist support for her opponent, incumbent Sen. Bob Krueger, Ms. Hutchinson won a landslide victory, carrying 66% of the vote. .

These points are all potent examples of common interests winning out over special interests. However, a more in(iicative statement of how the special interest groups operate can be seen

LETIER BOMB

the Texas Senate election in June. Kay Baily Hutchinson ran on a platform espousing issues similar to those of her

from the way they react to diversity of thought within the groups they claim to

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Done Dirt Cheap

T

Scott J. Epstein

he potential privatization of Binghamton University is something of a hot topic these days. Most of the students who've enunciated an opinion on privatization have been opposed to it. There are several reasons given for this opinion, although none of them seem to address the central point. Most of the activists incensed by the idea begin spou bing rhetoric about the "right" to education, or about how privatization is a conspiracy by "whitey" to evict students of color from this university (this last theory was publicly announced at the emergency "meeting" last month).

These theories proceed from the assumption, often u

n

named, that the p:iv<fuful

of Binghamton Universit Y wou Id result in an explosive increase in fees and tuition.

This assu m ption is

further founded on the assumption-factually inaccurate-that all private institutions are o,utrageously expensive-as expensive, for instance, as our neighbor in Ithaca.

According to the College Entrance Examination Board, the average tuition and fees for private universities is around $815,818 per year. (this was for the academic year 1993-1994.) This is despite the fact that many schools now cost well over $25,000 per year. Considering the price of these schools, for costs to average around $15,000 means that at least half of all private institutions cost less than $15,000. This proves, on the most basic level, that "private" does not necessarily mean a tuition in five figures.

But $15,000 per year is a lot more than the current cost, and more than some students can afford to pay, the argument would then go. But consider the piece of news released last week-Money magaZine rated Binghamton University the ninth best college buy in the nation (first in the Northeast). Pick up any of the promotional literature published by the University, from Inside to the various recruitment brochures the University distributes to prospective students. In

almost every one of them, President DeFleur trumpets what might be her only achievementBinghamton's status on that college buy list. That status is the University'S principle selling point, its chief virtue, from the Administration's point of view. And that status is based, among other things, on price. If tuition goes up too far too fast, Binghamton will slip off that list, and will become either just another SUNY, if it stays public, or just another expensive school, and, in this case, likely not worth the price. The DeFleur Administration appears to recognize the importance of this "best buy" status, and therefore cOl)cerns of tuition price would be foremost in any decision made about privatization.

When concerns about price are dismissed, the opponents of privatization tum to conspiracy theories to fight for statism. They claim that money which comes from corporate sponsors comes with strings attached, and that the university becomes a pawn of the "evil" corporate interests. Underlying this concept is the idea that "corporate America," or "international corporations" or "big business" is

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Binghamton Review

501B lues :1492-1993 arly on in our educa tion, most of us learned that Christopher Columbus courageously sailed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a water passage to the Orient. Today, however, it seems to be the trend to teach that Columbus was an imperialist dog who was intent on raping, robbing, plundering, and murdering the peaceful indigenous peoples of the New World. This revision of history is a direct result of the efforts of the muIticulturalists, and it is a distortion of truth at best.

In truth, Christopher Columbus was a great explorer who possessed infinite faith, patience, persistence, and belief in his own destiny. If Columbus had any intentions before setting off from Europe, they were solely of discovering a profitable all-water route to the Orient. Clearly, he doesn't deserve the character assaults he has received in the past few years.

Columbus' proposal was to sail west around the world (a distance he incorrectly calculated to be 3,000 miles) en route to the Orient. He made many attempts to find a sponsor for his voyage. Portugal was the logical choice to sponsor such a proposal, since it possessed the greatest naval fleet of the time and had

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great investments in sea exploration. The King of Por-

a commission which rejected Columbus' idea (after

tugal appointed a commission of experts which studied Columbus' idea for two years, and then rejected it.

While the idea of the world being round was widely accepted during Columbus' time, most of the panel felt it was much larger than 3,000 miles in circumference. Some cited ancient Greekca1culations based on observations of the stars to place the circumference of the earth at a more realistic 23,000 miles.

Undaunted by this setback, Columbus traveled to England with his pitch. The King of England also set up

a year of review). But Columbus believed that it was his destiny to find an ocean passage to the Orient, and su bsequentl y traveled on to Spain, where he made his famous proposa I to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. They also set up a commission which examined the idea for two years, and at the end recommended that funding not be granted. However, the King provided a caveat that if the Moors (who had been in Granada for 800 years) were ever pushed out, he would be happy to sponsor the

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Right The new administration at the University of Pennsylvania recently acquitted the members of the Black Student League who stole and destroyed 14,000 copies of the school paper because of their displeasure with the paper's conservative columnist.

Looks like leftist vandalism is protected speech but a conservative column is not. Fight the Power!

Top Ten Reasons ULED Should Have Guns 10. Take some of the strain off the Vestal Police.

9. Guns don't kill people, bullets do.

8. Guns work better than spears.

7. So those Dickinson floor kegs don't get out of hand.

6. Sometimes those birds in the Nature Preserve chirp just a little too loud.

5. Eliminate the need for "Take Back .the Night" marches.

4. Give Harpur's Ferry and the infirmiry something to do.

3. Bambi.

2. Just so we can see the Leftist reaction.

And number one...

1. Nothing turns the chics on more than a man in uniform with a loaded gun.

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Question: What's the difference between a "Person of Color" and a "Colored Person"?

Wanted: Secret Service Agents. According to a sheet posted on the Review office door, the qualifications for the Secret Service include: being white, fat, racist, conservative and stupid.

Remember, "Equal Oppotunity is the law."

Binghamton Review

Side Thank You, Ma'am, May I Have Another?

Antioch College in Ohio recently instituted a sexual harrasment policy which requires verbal affirmation for each sexual act. Does one need permission for each, ub, specific act? They just don't get it... or should we say, any?

Recent Sightings: John Choe cavorting around campus in a three-piece suit lobbying the administration on behalf of Marriot Corp.

Jon Gottlieb, sans dreadlocks, selling MasterCard accounts outside the bookstore. ...NOT!

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Recently some detractors of Rush Limbaugh have be~.~fll~ O\~~rit.tJ'gun discussing invoking the Fairness Doctrine to push .t:"~9 '~>le(f>C- r.J. ~, ~L~,~"(. him off the air. The argument goes like this-forcing -A!f,tt' ~\~u\.~~"(9.f,~ D"-r the stations which carry the Rush Limbaugh Show to ~,t,'A\.?:r ,,,,,,"~\"~~'- o,_,~t,:~\.\t-~ ~~vt-~~~~'! .

'-----.. ~~~~ ~~f,t.fo. , ~ ~ ~~,,~ carry an equal-time rebuttal for free would make it ~~,,~ ~ ~f; W fi.'l.... ~~. vve~t' "~,;;r~' ."c.9:~~1 ~ ~t ~'f~"f~.,.r' too expensive for any station to continue to carry the ~~~.':~fl:;'f~' :t~'&PJ."~~~ ~~~r. show. We wonder why the Fairness Doctrine can't ~/ ..Jt¥P. '\~~6 q:--~1;Dl ',II\9iV. '\\>'~~0."!

•_ .... ~----apply across networks-in that case, MTVNews would ~~~' . \,. ."" ~~ ~ already more than qualify as equal time. t'!!:,;c:" ''\~~t~t , 5Hcrrso¥1HEGREpcr"AMER1CAN FAMILY

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Binghamton Review

Things We'd Like to See - President Bill Clinton receiving care under his own health plan.

-All Binghamton students lining up at the NYPIRG office for their three dollar refund.

-Widespread Norplant use among the Cognitively Challenged.

- What President Lois DeFleur really does.

-The Sun. - A campus-wide ban on Hackey-Sak. -The course schedule and transcipt of the guy banging on the congos outside the Fine Arts building.

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th

13 Gen 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

By Neil Howe and Bill Strauss Vintage Books, 230pps. $10.00

Mitchell Berger

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o one who has read 13th Gen : Abort, Re try, Ignore, Fail? will ever accuse au thors Neil Howe and Bill Strauss of lacking ambition.

Not since Will and Ariel Durant compiled their vast encyclopedic histories ha ve two authors attempted to define an age so completely. And age, in fact, is the subject of this book; Howe and Strauss contend that the 80,000,000 people born from 1961-81 (i.e. us) comprise a generation with similar experiences, values, attitudes and .challenges.

Alongside eloquent and humorous commentary the authors field an intimidating arsenal of "factoids"from surveys or government studies and comments by adults and our fellow "13ers" -to illustrate how we relate to other genera-

tions and the problems we must now confront.

"Adults," note Howe and Strauss, "are by now of the settled opinion that 13ers are front-to-back a disappointing bunch." But most 13ers have a similar opinion, voiced or unvoiced, of our society' s older generations. The GI (born 1901-24), Silent (192542) and Baby Boom (1943-

61) generations are all shown to have merited criticism.

Thirty million strong, the GI's are the "most politically powerful (generation) since Thomas Jefferson's."

On th e plus side GI's crushed the Nazis in Europe, halted communism

in Korea and gave us Ronald Reagan, a courageous, patriotic and decent man who epitomizes the American Life for his generation. Growing up, many GI's sacrificed their time, youth, even lives to preserve this nation.

But as Howe and Strauss show, GI attitudes changed after clashing with seditious hippie Boomers in the "generation gap" of the '60s. Any truth behind the stereotyped elderly crimevictim dissipated, replaced by the assertive, dedicated and politically astute citizen unafraid to challenge her legislators and committed to her social securi ty. And health care And retirement. And senior citizens discounts everywhere from cruise ships to Denny's restaurants to movie theaters.

These privileges have come at the expense of our generation.

Since 1960, Howe and Strauss prove, the GI generations' seven presidents (Kennedy to Bush) have allowed America to "liv[e] beyond current income and raid the future to make up the difference." Expensive American Association of

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Retired Persons-sponsored retirement programs may have been an unconscious swipe at the drugged-out, protesting Boomers, but we, and not Jane Fonda's generation are paying for them.

Left-wingers often maintain that government programs are "free", that they can greatly assist some groups without severely shortchanging others. This is rarely true. In illustrating how GI-prosperity has hurt 13-ers, Howe and Strauss show a blatant example of how grandiose social spending can damage society.

Facts show that living standards are rising for the elderly in terms of household income, horne ownership, worker pay, and wealth. These indicators are stable for Silents and Boomers. For 13ers, however, living standards have declined, while the poverty rate for those under thirty has doubled. Yet a House Ways and Means Committee report cited by the authors reveals that a couple in their 20's with one worker, a child, and a $30,OQO income paid five times more taxes in 1990 than an elderly couple receiving the same income from pensions or social security!

Take another example: over fourteen million people age 18-34 are without health care or insurance, according to another study cited by the authors. Yet where does Clinton go to

win support for his health care plan? Not to colleges or youth groups, but to AARP meetings where he promises the elderly (only 0.3% of whom lack care) that their benefits won't be cut. (Press and Sun Bulletin, Sept. 19, Al) For 13er.s at least, elderly benefits are not "free" -they take money from paychecks and schools, discourage pension and health-care-burdened businesses from hiring, and shift society's focus to groups that are doing just fine without it.

If GI's have damaged the economy for 13ers, then the forty million member Silent Generation bears a large responsibility for allowing the collapse of the family and our traditional American values. Silents grew up between WWlI and Vietnam as quiet, prosperous "conformists." Reaching mid-life in the 60s and 70s, they turned against the institutions and values that raised and nourished them, setting the tone for the rebellious Boomers.

During the 60s and 70s as parents, teachers, politicians, and writers, Silents created what Howe and Strauss identify as a "society-wide hostility towards children ." This was expressed in "anti-institutional cynicism, let-it-allhang-out realism, do-yourown-thing pluralism, and I'm ok-you're ok values neutralism." Feeling guilty, lazy, or hostile the Silent Generation lived up to its

name as divorces and abortions sky-rocketed and the disease of "ethical relativism" pervaded our nation.

In fact, far from fighting the collapse of morality, Silent authors like Judy Blume and Kyle Pruett suggested that divorces and other symptoms of moral disintegration might be beneficial to childrel). Others discovered the glories of radical feminism which they passed on to the Boomers. Surveys in the 70s revealed autos were ranked above children as "necessary for the good life." Certainly, then, Silents set the tone for the immoral Boomers that followed.

Still, it is difficult to evaluate the authors' argument that the Silent generation was the most influential on 13ers growing up. For many 13ers, the seventy million Boomers have been by far the biggest shapers of their generation. Boomers as a generation are a symbol of what happens when people become left-wingers. "Every phase of life," admit Boomer authors Howe and Strauss, "has been fine, even terrific, when Boomers entered it and a wasteland when they left." Boomers were the first generation to symbolize the moral decline they now blame us for. The rise in crime and decline in morality and culture and SAT scores started with younger Boomers.

Yet Boomer authors like Allan Bloom (The Closing of

Continued on page 19

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15

Diversity De ac e ast year, after pre ciously little debate, Binghamton University's administration decided to ensconce its once-optional "Di versi ty Requirement" within the canons of Harpur College's undergradua"te program of study. The University, never slow to react to the latest fads in academia, could now boast in the 1993-94 Orientation Handbook that

L

Mark Schmidt

i

used to fulfill the Diversity Requirement. Credit the administration for actually selecting a wide range of classes, thereby not obligating every undergraduate student to suffer through a course such as SOC 324 "Women's Work".

Thankfully, the debate about the relevance of Westem Culture in the curriculum appears to have faded a bit. We will see, however,

t

would give to stu den t s

OK. C\11lDR~ â&#x20AC;˘ GeT OUT YO OR. ON iOleRA>-lceo I>.>-lD Dl"E.R~liY'

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"under-

standing of the nat u r e and meaning of human variation, engaging ideas of rae e, ethnidty, culture, religion, gender, lifestyles, languages, and class."

Upon conSidering the magnitude of Political Correctness on this campus, it is truly surprising to find classes such as "European Law From Justinian to Blackstone" and "German Culture and Civilization"

16

American imperialism.

Having put the quandary of Western Culture aside, the real question that arises is whether or not a Diversity Requirement was the most pressing academic issue facing the UniverSity.

All visible signs indicate it was not.

We students need to be honest with ourselves. If you are a " Humanities Man", it is likely that you have f u I filled your Science R e quiremen t by taki

if the social engineers

within the administration can resist the temptation to slide into the "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Western Culture's Got to Go!" mode and start a new wave of protest and controversy on the campus, in an effort 10 drive out the monolithic forces of Euro-

n

g

PSYCH 111 imd ASTR 11 3 .

Language?

Mathema tics? If you have taken them in high school, you're free to be on your way and can fill your schedule with classes like ENG 114-K, "Lesbian Literature".

The writing requirements designed to enhance the literary expertise of science majors are a bit more demanding, but beyond

Binghamton Review

these simple aforementioned requirements, students are set out awash in a sea of ridiculous unnecessary classes. Yes, the romantic ideal of a stuc;ient being able to immerse himself in the realm of many disciplines while at the university survives, but anyone who has stood in a registration line only to see a course close directly before he is about to register for it knows that he will most likely dabble in something fri volous, like "Peace Studies".

One marvels at this phenomenon : the university builds new athletic fields, wires dorms for cable, and buys new gimmicky furniture for the dorms; all this occurs while students taking Introductory Chemistry are having class in Watters Theater because there is only one professor for 600 students. The administration obviously is more interested in selling this school than in providing a legitimate education to its students. They can brag about what nice

accoutrements they offer to their students, and if, Heaven forbid, a question about academics is ever introduced, B.U.'s representatives will be saved by the loftiness of their admissions standards and highly touted Diversity Requirement. One wonders if the new Diversity Requirement isn't in itself part of the sales pitch. Diversity sells these days, and does serve as a boon to certain groups, albeit not most students.~

Dinesh D'Souza?

The saddest case of all occurred in July, when the Congressional Black Caucus attempted to expel Rep. Gary Franks (R-Connecticut), its only conservative member, form group meetings. For an organization that uses the word "diversity" in every other sentence, this is downright embarrassing. Civil rights organizations ask for tolerance of their members, which is certainly a legitimate request, but they apparently have flO tolerance for differences in ideology.

Fortunately, public outcry forced Caucus leader Kweisi Mfume (D-Maryland) to back down and keep Rep. Franks on as a member. Needless to say, the mainstrea m m edia made little of this controversy. They are, after all, the biggest specia l interest

around.

This great nation was founded and conceived on the wide diversity of ideas and philosophies that make democracy possible. We are not a collection of people who belong to groups, but a nation of free-thinking individuals who collectively mold our government's policies. Special interests will remain special interests until they realize that true di versity rests on differences in philosophy, ideology, and opinion. These differences are not determined by race, gender, or sexual orientation, but by cultural and personal factors too numerous to mention. Until politicians such as Bill Clinton accept this fact and move to encourage multipartisan dialogue, they will continue to receive their current low approval ratings.~

Continued from page 9 represent. Sens. Hutchinson and Nancy Kassebaum (RKansas) are vilified by NOW and their ilk because of their relatively conservative politics, while radical feminist Senators Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Patty Murray of Washington, card-carrying members of these organizations, are promoted as the true representatives of women.

Clarence Thomas received precious little support from the NAACP and other black organizations which have no problem defending the views of Sister Souljah and Leonard Jeffries. Why doesn't Thomas Sowell have a USA Today column as does Barbara Reynolds?

Why does the Press and SunBulletin print Mary McGrory and Ellen Goodman, but not Mona Charen? Why is Toni Morrison a celebrity, but not

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17

Continued from page 10 some sort of monoliththat all companies and corporations have identical interests. The idea that, for instance, IBM and GEtwo companies that either compete in different markets, or are in direct competition with each other in the same market-would have identical interests seems obviously invalid.

Further, a private university draws its funds from many sources-from many

corporations and private donors; from tuition. If no one source dominates, then no one donor can control university policy with threats of eliminating those grants. Unlike a public university, which receives the majority of its funding directly from the state. And we know how little petty politicking effects state budgets.

But then again, perhaps

state control of education is their entire purpose. Perhaps they believe they can force policy on a private university through the government that they could not force on a private university.

Whenever the left talks about "power structures," keep in mind that the only power structure everyone agrees exists is the govern-

Isabella, Columbus describes the natives as "very gentle", and says that they "do not know what it is to be wicked, or to kill others, or to steal..." These are hardly the words of a man who considered indigenous Americans bloodthirsty savages and consciously began their genocide. Columbus loaded his ships with gold and headed back to Europe.

Pigeonholing an entire race of people is a favorite tool of the multiculturalist.

While it is true that subsequent explorers, particularly Cortez and Pizarro, conquered and enslaved many natives, this practice was not unique to Europeans. Consider that up until that point in history it was the practice of nearly every conquering nation or tribe everywhere in the world to murder the men, rape the

women, and enslave the children of those they conquered. The formidableAztec and Inca Empires not only practiced slavery and barbarism, but they also performed human sacrifices. Spainards were actually able to win over many of the tribes subjected to Aztec tyranny by promising to end these barbaric rituals.

Columbus deserves to be judged in the context of his own time and not through the twenty-twenty hindsight and revision of the multiculturalist. He at no point sought the genocide of the natives, and cannot be held responsible for the action of later explorers.

Though obviously not perfeet, if one considers Columbus as an individual in his time, he certainly appears an admirable and courageous man.~

ment.~

Continued from page 11

voyage. Several months later the Moors were exiled from Spain, and Columbus was on his way.

Columbus'abilities and instincts as a leader and as a sailor proved invaluable during the expedition.

While it was his intention to travel west, he decided to spend the first weeks of the voyage traveling south before heading west. It is now known that the trade winds are such that if he had traveled due west from Spain, disaster would have resulted. Several months into . the voyage, the crew was mutinous and wished to turn around. Columbus persuaded them to continue for one more day. On that next day (October 12, 1492) Columbus made his now (in)famous landing at San Salvador.

In his journal to King Ferdinand and Queen

18

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Continued from page 15

the American Mind) write entire books dedicated to showing how evil or immoral our genera tion is. "A generation of animals," growls conservative William Raspberry. "Ill-educated, illiterate ...lazy, drugaddicted slobs," barks liberal Ben Wattenberg. "Racist" and "sexist" snarl PC-profs across the country.

These types of attacks, which would be quickly denounced if directed at any other group except straight white males, have left us with the "lowest collective self-esteem of any generation in living memory," explain the authors. Such acid remarks by Boomers are wrong for at least two reasons: they are untrue or ex, aggerated and they reveal a large degree of hypocrisy.

Howe and Strauss prove, for example, that 13ers are the "least racist" and "least sexist of any living generation." While PC-profs lecture us on 400 years of oppression we had nothing to do with, 13ers of all backgrounds are interacting in the work-place, extracurricular activities and classrooms on a level Boomers can't even begin to match, as Howe and Strauss readily concede. This is also true where sexism is concerned.

When 13er women "outpace men in higher education and make 80% of 13er

men in the workplace (as opposed to 60% of Silent men), and when 13er men routinely work harmoniously for female bosses and with female co-workers, charges of sexism seem misplaced.

But they are useful in illustrating how asinine the PC movement has become.

Boomer PC-ers are outraged because 13ers see "sexual harassment as simply unjust not as a symbol of some metaphysical war between the sexes." They hit the roofs when surveys by leftwing grou ps like a 1991 "people for the American way" show "an identical 19% of blacks and whites 'agree strongly' and a further 36% of whites and 26% of blacks 'agree somewhat'" that "blacks create many of their own problems but make excuses by blaming them on discrimination."

This is the same generation, of course, that has produced such paragons of racial harmony and cooperation as David Duke and Al Sharpton.

Such hypocrisy also surrounds Boomer charges of immorality and stupidity.

"Kids today are dumb, really, really dumb ... "writes Roger Simon in the LA Times. At the same time, 13ers are attacked by Boomers for "rampant materialism" and "turning

Binghamton Review

away from philosophical and intellectual concerns."

Never mind that recent reports have called into question adult literary and numerical skills. Never mind that most of us suffered through culturallyrelative "open-education" that emphasized "feelings" and "sensitivity" more than logic, intellectual skills or ethics. Never mind that nihilistic, PC-profs have chewed apart the traditional "Eurocentric" humanities and philosophy and replaced them with PC sludge. Or that Boomers who accuse us of greed grew up alongside Donald Trump and Michael Milken.

Straightforward, factual, politicall y unbiased, and interesting, 13th Gen is a book everyone has a reason to read and something to learn from . CI's can learn that their entitlements are costing our generation dearly, Silents that they need to help 13ers rebuild our institutions and values, and Boomers that their criticism is largely misplaced and inappropriate. 13ers can learn about their own background and the problems they as a generation must confront. Finally, on behalf of all generations, the authors have identified a "bias against youth so blatant that no one bothers to comment on it." It's time we did .~

19

Letters In Defense of Christianity To: The Editor of the Binghamton Review To: Brian Taylor, EMO This is in response to an article in the Guillotine column of the Augus t, 1993 Coup de Tete. The article is entitled "JESUS LOVES YOu. .. everyone else thinks you're an asshole". The column purports to be a slice of reality.

My first question to author Brian Taylor is, simply, " Wrre rea Ii ty? !" Mr. Taylor's article rants about tortures which a book he apparently ow ns claims were used during th e MiddleAges to superficially "convert" people to Christianity.

The book is published by the Ameritan Atheist Press.

This is the first d eparture from reality, since people who argue that there is no God-for them, nor anyone else-are rightly called antitheists. They are "evangelical" in their hatred of God, because it is not enough for them to simply reject God all by themselves. So a book about Chris tian his to ry, printed by a group that hates God , is not exactly an example of unbiased journalism. Saying that it is would be like calling Bill Clinton a "moderate". But, that's another issue.

Perhaps it has not oc-

20

curred to Mr. Taylor, first of all, that these methods of torture were u sed against Christians the beginnings of our Faith. The history of the Saints is fu ll of such examples. In fact, even before Jesus' time, Jewish tradition holds th a t the Prophet Jeremiah was sawn in two fo r confronting the violent pagans of his time. Samson had his eyes gouged out by th e Philistines for not renouncing the Lord . His last ac t on Earth was to pull down the temple of their idol.

Secondly, it also seems not to ha ve occurred to the author that th ose who emp10yed torture against nonChristians were fa r outside Christian morality in their deeds . Mr. Tay lor should read Jesus' pa rable about the "wheat and weeds" found in Ma tthew 13:24-30. It gives a practica l illustration of the well-known Scriptu re that "vengea nce belongs to the Lord" . The horrors inflicted on the victims of those tortures are mild compared to the eternity that awaits those who committed these actspresuming, of course, that they never repented of them.

Mr. Tay lor a ccus es Christia ns of having "institutiona li zed sexism, subjugating women fo r centuries." The use of this big lie in the med ia has even confused some Christians. Here is th e truth: women were

considered property in virtually ever culture in the world, until the Christian faith pOinted out the value of women. Saint Paul, in his letter to the church in Galatia (Chapter 3, Verse 28), wrote, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in ChristJesus." This particular Scripture was the real start of women's "liberation". It was only when some wanted to rebel against the Judeo-Christian moral code that they hid behind the term '1iberation" in the Sixties. What they want to be free from are the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic La w, and the teachings ofJesus. The Scripture cited above is the power that gave w omen the vote, and sparked theAbolition Movemen t (which followed the "Great Awakening" to the Gospel). Women got the vote under four-hundred years after men got it upon coming to America; less than the amount of time it took for God to free the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. All in His time.

Mr. Taylor rants against "zero tolerance Christian bigots", then turns around and calls teaching Creationism in school "obscene". If he is so secure in his belief in evolution-which Darwin himself renounced before dying-why does he

Binghamton Review

not want Creation (it's not an "ism") taught alongside the theory of evolution?

When handing out condoms to kids in schools, the excuse is that we have to give them freedom to "choose" concerning sex. If "choice" (a popular liberal buzzword) is so important as to override religion, morality, parental authority, centuries of experience, and volumes of medical evidence concerning teenage promiscuity; then, why can't kids be given both sides of the "How the world began" argumen t, and rna ke their own IIchoice"?

Another broad-brushed accusation in the article goes like this: "A powerful Christian/ conservative coalition, sanctioned by the Department of Defense, allocates millions of dollars to spy on and evict homosexuals from military service. Gay [his word, not mine] sailors are brutally ,P!'!'!.ten to death by those chanting 'Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!'"

In making this emotionally-charged implication, the author starts off with what is known as a "spurious assumption" - one for which there is no known basis in fact. Having spent sixteen years in a military uniform, most of that time in law enforcement, I can assure you that the military does not allocate millions od dollars to such a trivial pursuit (pardon the pun). Furthermore, since a friend of mine was hounded out of the Marine Corps for not hiding his

Christian faith, I can also reasonably state that there is no coalition between us and the Pentagon. There was only one such beating as Mr. Taylor describes. His implication is tha t it was somehow officially sanctioned; it was not. The perpetrator was tried in a court-martial, and convicted of the killing of a fellow sailor. Even if he referred to "Adam and Eve", that does not necessarily "convict" him of being a Christian. Having said these things, every element of Mr. Taylor's highly irrational series of accusa tions has now been debunked .

Mr. Taylor concludes his article with his own recruiting pitch: "Let's try and stop this rock from rolling." Notice that he doesn't say "resist their message", nor does he simply say, "I have examined Christianity, and find that it makes no sense to me." Nope. In order to stop a rock from rolling, active force must be applied to it.

This, then, is a hate message.

Those who preach messages on "freedom" and " tolerance" find great difficulty practicing what they preach when it comes to dealing "fairly" (lI{airness" is an-

other trendy liberal buzzword) with Christians.

I'd like to see whether this anti-Christian hate message will receive the same treatment as the grammaticallya nd-poli tica By-incorrect "water buffalo" remarks at Penn State. If not, then it would seem to answer another question that Mr. Tay-

lor asks in his article: "Has religious persecution stopped, or simply adapted to its new environment?"

My own conclusion is this: hate literature has appeared on the Binghamton campus. The hate literature was directed at a specific, identifiable, religious group.

The author has poured out blame for the world's problems on Christians, but without the aid of either facts or lOgic.

I would be willing to supply some of those facts, or to more closely examine the logic. Mr. Taylor, this is an open chaBenge to publically debate the merits of your "beliefs" (Or lack thereof) versus mine. This is not an effort to appear "holier than thou". Psalm 53:3 says, " ... there is no one who does good, not even one."

Rather, it is merely a chance for anyone interested in hearing whether Christianity makes enough sense to stand up to scrutiny. In my opinion, it does.

(One other note is worth mentioning. By using the language about stopping the "rock" from rolling, Mr. Taylor has insulted not only Christians, but also Jews.

You see, God is often called "The Rock" [Deut. 32:15, 2 Sam 22:2, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 19:4,and Isaiah 8:14]).

Thomas F. Kovach (Thomas Kovach is the Spokes-

man of th e Broome County Conservative Party. Watch for Guillotine's response in their October issue.)

21

Binghamton Review

,

Bigotry: A Bad Excuse To the Editor: After attending the "Emergency Meeting for People of Color" I am concerned for our future, not only as a community of students, but as citizens of the United States of America.

Today the feeling that we are a united people is a very weak one. We 'no longer acknowledge that, 'despite all of our differences, we are one community. Many of us instead seem preoccupied with the various injustices which we perceive that others have inflicted upon our various groups.

This is not to deny the reality of bigotry in our society nor the obstacles that minorities often face. As an Orthodox Jew, I live in a SOciety where many cultures and habits are very different from my own. My holidays are Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot - not Christmas or even Thanksgiving. Being a Torah-observant Jew, I often feel alienated from the surrounding community. The concept that Jews are " ... a nation apart. .. " is very much a part of my daily life. This feeling of separateness is not due solely to cultural differences. Because 1 am an observant Jew, I ha ve been threatened both verba 11 y

and physically. I live in a society that watched silently as a pogrom swept through Crown Heights for three days. And afterwards, convicted no one of a crime.

At its core, racism and bigotry are not about power but dehumanization. We are all descendants of Adam, the first human. All individuals are equally created in G-d's image. Racists deny these eternal truths. They reduce people to the level of animals by describing them solely with terms such as white or black. What I will not do is to use the racism of others to condemn all non-Jews. Indeed were I to dehumanize gentiles as spme have dehumanized me, I would be as much of a bigot as those who have attacked me.

In the September 7 issue of "Pipe Dream" ,Alejandro Moya attacked me for speaking out at the "Emergency Meeting". He did not criticize me for the things I said, but for being a "white male". By doing this, he reduced me to nothing more than my skin color and gender, thus dehumanizing me as effectively as any bigot.

I find it amazing that in the name of fighting bigotry certain people assume that all "people of color" are of

Correction:

ney by an incorrect first name.

Our Orientation Editorial referred to Sheldon Hack-

22

one mind with regard to political and social issues.

By denying the individuality of others, they deny their own humanity. Defining people solely on the basis of their skin color is the essence of bigotry.

Jewish tradition teaches that it was to remind us of our essential humanity that G-d chose to make us all children of one being. The only thing that truly differentiates us is how we, as individuals, fulfill the potential we were given. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to communicate this message when he dreamed of a day when his people would be judged, not "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Rather than condemn abstractions, such as "the racism of society", we should confront specific instances of discrimination.

My view, my dream, is that we unite as one community to deal with our problems. Incidents such as the stabbing of Officer Matos are not black problems or white problems, but problems for the who le community. We cannot afford to allow these problems to di vide us.

M. Horawitz

Binghamton Review

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23

For t e Recor Beware anger, fear, aggression .

The Dark Side are they. Once you start down the Dark Path, foreuerwill it dominate your destiny.

-Yoda

Brahms.

-Ayn Rand You can pay Uncle Sam with the overtime.

Is that all you get for your money?

-Billy Joel

It was intended that when

Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heret ical thought-that is; a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc---should be literally unthinkable.

-George Orwell Graduate students are narrowly focused on some rather unimportant problems, and they just don't seem to enjoy life very muck -Freeman J. Dyson A genius is a genius, regardless of the number of morons who belong to the same race---1lnd a moron is a moron, regardless of the number of geniuses who share his racial origin. It is hard to say which is the more outrageous injustice: the claim of Southern racists that a Negro genius should be treated as an inferior because his race has "produced" some brutes-{)r the claim of a German brute to the status of a superior because his race has "produced" Goethe, Schiller and

So when at times the mob is swayed To carry praise or blame too far, We may take something like a star To stay our minds on and be staid.

-Robert Frost

Our feeling for beauty is inspired by the harmoniolls arrangement of order and disorder as it occurs in natural objects-in clouds, trees, mountain ranges and snow cnJstals .

-Gert Eilenberger Before the invention of the telephone, you had to lie to people to their faces.

-Callagher In the hot big bang model ... there was not enough time in the early universe for heat to have flowed from one region to another. This means that the initial state of the universe would have to have had exactly the same temperature euerywhere in order toaccount for the fact that the microwave background has the same temperature

in every direction we look. The initial rate of expansion also would have.had to be chosen very precisely for the rate of expansion still to be so close to the critical rate needed to avoid recollapse.

This means that the initial state of the universe must have been very carefully chosen indeed if the hot big bang model was correct right back to the beginning of time. It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.

-Stephen Hawking The way your heart beats makes all the difference In learning to live.

Spread before you is your sou l So foreuer hold the dreams within our hearts.

Through nature's inflexible grace I'm learning to live.

-John Myung Leave ou t the fictionThe fact is, this friction Will on ly be worn by persistence.

Leave out conditionsCourageous convictions Will drag the dream to existence.

-Neil Peart If you're [driving) in the fast lane, your ass better be on rock and roll.

-Callagher

-1..-...