Letter to the Editor: Graduate says real diversity requires working together

To the editor:

As a recent graduate of Geneseo, I am upset by the events that have taken place in the community. Upset, but not so shocked.

I am currently a graduate student receiving my masters in social work at the University of Michigan. Privilege, oppression, discrimination and social justice are at the core of every course we take. Race, disability, sexual orientation, economic status and countless other issues that factor into privilege are discussed on a daily basis, both in and out of the classroom. However, despite all of the awareness and sensitivity in the school, there is still blatant racism and institutional racism that occurs regularly.

Two weeks ago, one of my classes evolved in to a three-hour discussion surrounding the racism that exists within our own community. If a community that focuses on privilege and oppression so intensely is experiencing racism, the task of combating it within Geneseo seems monumental.

Geneseo needs to focus on its strengths to make progress in its struggle for real diversity. Despite recent criticism of the administration, President Dahl's commitment to the university and diversity is unrelenting. When I was in school he would meet with the leaders of the special interest groups at least once a year, and actually listen to the concerns the groups had.

Groups like FARI are an incredibly valuable resource to the college. Actively engaging students to participate in their own community and increasing awareness to the general population are important steps toward change. Professors like Maria Lima and Gene Stelzig are an avid asset to the college, sharing opposing viewpoints and starting dialogue among students in a public forum.

It is the pooling of these resources and a commitment to change that allows dialogues like the one held on Nov. 16 to exist. In addition to combining forces to promote change, making the majority of students, the white population, aware of their privilege in a meaningful way is also incredibly important to the process.

Diversity doesn't happen overnight. It is something the entire university needs to commit to. Setting up workshops and creating dialogues are small steps on the long road towards change.

-Sarah Pinchoff

Class of 2007

Letter to the Editor: Wreath situation upsets staff member

To the editor:

On Monday, Nov. 12, I attended the small ceremony honoring the veterans who work at our college, and veterans who are alumni of Geneseo. I was greatly saddened to find out the wreath could not be left out after working hours because it has been defaced by students in the past, nor is it welcomed by President Dahl to have a place for a day or two in Erwin. I am afraid that this campus will never truly be a community if only a chosen few are worthy of our understanding or compassion.

-Joanne MenkeSecretaryForeign Language Department

Professor criticizes attorney general pick on torture stance

To the editor:

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer's vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as attorney general and the chief law enforcement officer of the U.S. Justice Department is sad, painful and quite ironic as it confirms that we are a country governed by the winks and nods of men, and not by law. What good is it to have an attorney general, but no law?

Many senators recognized the irony in trying to have it both ways and changed their position on Mukasey because of his refusal to state that waterboarding is torture. They recognized that this refusal was an attempt to protect Bush administration officials and their interrogators from possible war crimes prosecution. These senators chose to side with the principle of law rather than the practicalities of politics and I applaud them for it. It is important to understand that, from a logical point of view, it is not difficult to see the incongruity here.

Precedence indicates that the United States clearly considers waterboarding to be torture; in 1901, 1947 and 1968 respectively, we convicted Japanese and American soldiers of war crimes because of it. Since torture is cruel, it is, by virtue of the eighth amendment, unconstitutional and unlawful. Since waterboarding is torture, waterboarding is unconstitutional and unlawful. Since the 14th amendment extends equal protection of our laws to any person under the jurisdiction of the United States, the torture of anyone by the United States anywhere is unlawful. It is a simple exercise of logic to correctly reach this conclusion.

Mukasey's refusal to state that, "waterboarding is torture," even though he can't logically avoid this conclusion, shows that politics is not always logical or principled. With a wink and a nod, Schumer has agreed to go along with him and thus suspend our law and our constitution. For the last seven years we have been a country governed by winks and nods and maybe we have always been so. However, I don't think it was ever made so blatantly obvious. Are there no lines we won't cross?

-Anthony J. Macula

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Greek Council apologizes for Halloween costume incident

To the editor:

Greek life at SUNY Geneseo has been around since the 1870s and has played a large role in the academic and social lives of not only its members, but also the Geneseo students with whom it is not affiliated with. The InterGreek Council here at SUNY Geneseo consists of elected members from the 21 different fraternities, sororities and multicultural organizations that make up Greek life at Geneseo. Each organization offers ample philanthropic and social opportunities for members of the Greek and college communities and takes pride in their core beliefs of academic stimulation, diversity of their members, and leadership development.

As many are aware, over the past Halloween weekend some individuals dressed in a manner that was offensive to the college community. The actions of these two or three members has saddened and disheartened the entire Greek community. The InterGreek Council wants it to be known that these actions went against everything that all 21 of the organizations stand for, and that the actions of those few individuals were not supported by any organization affiliated with IGC. We apologize to those whom their actions have offended and can assure you that IGC is taking steps to further educate our community in order to prevent anything of this nature from happening in the future.

-Executive Board

InterGreek Council

Letter to the Editor: Local candidates thank students and faculty and urge participation in upcoming election

To the editor:

The Democratic team of Bob Wilcox for town supervisor and Sally Wood and John Zmich for town council appreciates the interest shown by many students during the run-up to the Tuesday, Nov. 6 town election. We are grateful for the good work of Dr. Tom Matthews, Dr. Marilyn Klotz, and the members of the GOLD team in putting on the Candidate Forum on Oct. 18, as well as the large number of students who participated.

We are running to help protect and preserve the unique nature of this great college town. We plan to actively market the town to the kinds of businesses which offer career opportunities - not just short-term and part-time jobs - so that some of you may even want to stay here after graduation and help move the community ahead. There is much more to learn about us if you will check out www.geneseodemocrats.org.

If you are registered to vote here, we hope you will make the effort to go to the polls next Tuesday, Nov. 6. They are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you don't know where to vote, please contact the Livingston County Board of Elections at 243-7090.

You represent the future and need to weigh in on what the future will look like, not only for yourselves but also the students who follow you. Thank you for your citizenship.

Sincerely,

-Bob Wilcox, Sally Wood and John Zmich

Letter to the Editor: Stop painting racial issues as just black and white

This was a guest essay submitted by professor of English Eugene Stelzig.

I wish Maria Lima, with whom I have had a collegial relationship for many years, would refrain from using the inflammatory rhetoric she deploys in her Oct. 25 Lamron essay and which does our academic community more harm than good. As someone born in what was then Nazi Germany, I am extremely suspicious about and leery of inflammatory rhetoric, and especially that involving politics and race: after all, that country was run by a leader whose infamous stock-in-trade was precisely that kind of rhetoric.

No wonder the young white man who heard Dr. Lima say "this campus is god-forsaken white" was offended. By the same token a black student at a predominantly black institution such as Howard University would be offended by someone commenting that "this campus is god-forsaken black." The upshot of such a remark is to make that student feel unwanted and unwelcome. To make someone feel unwanted because of his or her race (or gender, nationality or sexual orientation) is really not kosher, even if it is done unintentionally, as I am sure was the case with Dr. Lima's remark to the offended young man.

Moreover, the appeal to such racial categories is both simplistic and problematic, because examined carefully or critically, "white" and "black" are shifting signifiers built on sand. For instance, Europe includes in the "white" category both very light-skinned Scandinavians at one end of the spectrum, and dark-complexioned Mediterraneans at the other. Conversely, light-skinned African-Americans have traditionally been and still are considered - and consider themselves - non-white, even though some of them are of a lighter complexion than some Italians and Greeks.

In the racially mixed and multicultural twenty-first century United States, such binaries are increasingly questionable if not irrelevant. Not only are they, like the continents, subject to drift, but they also tend to flow into each other. Indeed, if we are to believe what we hear from the scientific community, the concept of "race" has no scientific validity, but is principally a cultural construct.

So please, Geneseo's polemical Dr. Lima, speak from your higher self in addressing issues of race and racism on our campus, and resist the temptation of permitting your intense political and ideological commitments to make inflammatory statements that can easily be construed as cheap shots. After all, Geneseo is not the white supremacist pre-Apartheid South Africa or the pre-Civil Rights segregated South of half a century ago, but a community open to dialogue on controversial issues and seeking diversity in our students and faculty - as well as in our viewpoints and beliefs - and even in our thinking and our teaching styles.

Yes, racism is still very much a problem in our nation and world, and yes, there have been incidents of it on our campus and in the surrounding area, as pointed out by FARI, but is the college community not making a genuine effort to be aware of and address this problem? No doubt we could do better, as FARI reminds us, but isn't it counterproductive to dismissively describe our college as "god-forsaken white"? Aren't such polemics designed more to shut down dialogue than to start it? I challenge all of us to resist inflammatory rhetoric, and to think, speak, and write from our best and least dogmatic and demagogic selves.

White supremacy alive and well in Geneseo

This is a guest essay that was submitted to The Lamron by professor of English Maria Lima.

White supremacy is a belief system rooted in European and U.S. imperialism, existing at the heart of their social system and laws. White supremacy is not just a series of practices or privileges, but a system of domination that overly values and rewards what is racialized as white. Even when white people have been oppressed by various forms of labor exploitation, classism, heterosexism and homophobia, they have been able to find some comfort in the fact that they are not non-white, what W.B. DuBois calls "the psychological wage of whiteness" in Black Reconstruction. Nowhere is white supremacy more evident than in university settings.

For when liberal whites fail to understand how they can and/or do embody white-supremacist values and beliefs, as bell hooks writes, "even though they may not embrace racism as prejudice or domination, they cannot recognize the ways their actions support and affirm the very structure of racist domination and oppression that they profess to wish to see eradicated." (Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black). The example bell hooks offers rings unfortunately familiar - of white professors who want to have "a" black person in "their" department "as long as that person thinks and acts like them, shares their values and beliefs," teaches like them, preferably without an accent. Since 1992, I've seen too many non-white faculty members at Geneseo be denied tenure because they've refused to assimilate.

This is more or less what I told the young man who walked out of the Ballroom with me at the end of the "Being Black in Geneseo" forum, after he let me know how offended he was by my words. "As a white man who is not a racist," he said, he was "hurt" when he heard me say "this campus is god-forsaken white."

"White men have feelings too, you know," he said.

Geneseo-systemically-is unfortunately still reinforcing and perpetuating white supremacy despite its diversity goals. For we should ask ourselves what is our motivation in wanting more non-white people to come to Geneseo, and the answer should not just be to increase diversity, but the end of white supremacy.

As Robert Jensen writes, "Naming the United States as white supremacist, doesn't mean all white people run around in white sheets or join neo-Nazi militias. Instead, it marks the fact that racialized disparities in wealth and well-being endure - and in some cases have deepened - even 40 years after the major gains of the civil-rights movement. It marks the fact that many white people - maybe the majority? a significant majority? - still believe that what has come out of Europe is inherently superior. Maybe even many white liberals who celebrate diversity still secretly believe that the art, music, politics, and philosophy that come from white parts of the world are more sophisticated, more important, and simply better. So, we live in a world where we (1) speak of our commitment to racial justice yet accept a white-supremacist distribution of resources and (2) speak of our commitment to valuing all traditions, yet go to schools that reflect a white-supremacist ideology. ["Last Sunday: What to do with/about white folks?" ZNet February 24, 2007].

Until the Geneseo curriculum begins telling a different story, decentering Europe and Western knowledge, this campus will continue to be god-forsaken white. Is this what we want?

Geneseo alumnus congratulates Ice Knight on ascension to pro league

After watching the Geneseo Ice Knights ascension from an average SUNYAC team to a conference powerhouse over the past three years, one of my favorite players that I've grown to respect was Mitch Stephens, a forward who always had a penchant for scoring at just the right time (often shorthanded), while always playing a sound defensive game as well. Mitch graduated last year, but it was wonderful to hear that he signed a professional contract with the Reading Royals of the East Coast Hockey League earlier this month. The official release from the team can be found at their Web site, www.royalshockey.com. I write this letter as a congratulations to Mitch, and a thank you for all the great play during your time at Geneseo.

Letter to the Editor: Medications, not gun issues should be examined

To the Editor:

It's important to look at many factors when considering situations like the Virginia Tech shooting, especially when they have such rapid response from the public. The moment of the tragedy, everyone was very fast to see that the only problem lay in handguns and a madman.

Perhaps the murderer was a little more than just angry or broken hearted though. He was, after all, on Prozac, a powerful psychotropic medication meant to treat depression which has been documented and proven to increase suicidal and violent tendencies in its subjects.

It has found its way into a lot of shootings, actually. Columbine, the fellow in the clock tower, and a few others. Instead of chasing after gun control and putting the second amendment in jeopardy, we should look into the very serious ramifications of medications that alter the brain's chemistry. People seem crazy enough without any help!

-Matt Girtler

Letter to the Editor: UP with guns will not solve campus violence

To the Editor:

I received the campus-wide e-mail from President Dahl's office last Friday about the decision to allow Campus Police to wear firearms at all times on campus. The e-mail was meant to be a notification and reassurance towards my security on campus. I was not reassured, but was more concerned than ever. Understand that what I am about to say is in not a reflection on the quality of the Geneseo University police. My experience has been that they are professionals. However, I am still wary of the change of policy.

In a town with two police departments less than a block away from campus, is it necessary to increase the armed presence around town? I doubt that the local police and sheriff's department would be immediately involved in any security threat to the students. The reason many of us students chose to come to such a small campus was the feeling of warm community. That feeling did not include the need for firearms in our lecture halls. If three police departments cannot defend a campus population of fewer than 5,000 students, I doubt that anyone can. Guns beget guns, and a preponderance of side-arms in our small community verges on lunacy.

Of greater concern than the change in firearms policy is that I have not heard a single reassurance since the Virginia Tech shooting that the student body's mental health is being guarded. While more guns are going to be present on campus, I am not aware of any efforts to lessen the likelihood of shooters. The massacre at Virginia Tech happened not because of too few police with guns, but because one mentally unhealthy individual went ignored. For me to be reassured about my personal security, I need be told what is being done for those students who have disagreements with our campus life. There is already a healthy sense of community on campus, but what is being done for those who cannot enjoy it? Shouldn't aiding them be the most important part of our security plan?

I hope that many share my convictions on this issue and will join me in asking President Dahl to enlighten us further about our new campus security policy. He was correct that after the Virginia Tech shootings, we would be concerned about our safety, but wrong in assuming more guns after the recent senseless massacre at the end of a barrel would make us feel comfortable.

Marc Hudson

Letter to the Editor: Supreme Court decision infringes on women's rights

To the Editor:

The Supreme Court's decision to uphold a ban on so-called partial birth abortions is a disgraceful and deadly infringement of a woman's right to her life and liberty.

Neither Congress nor the Supreme Court has any business determining what procedures are medically appropriate in performing abortions. Doctors, not politicians or judges, should make this determination, and women should be free to consider and accept their doctors' advice.

An individual's right to life and liberty includes a woman's right to end her pregnancy - and to do it by whatever medical procedure she believes will lessen the risks to her health and her life.

The precedent set by this Supreme Court's decision has established that the right of a woman to an abortion is not absolute, even if her health is at risk. And that violation of individual rights is a very, very dangerous precedent.

-David Holcberg

Ayn Rand Institute

Letter to the Editor: College is not the time for the "Relationship Guy"

To the editor:

I would like to respond to the March 29 edition of Sex and the 'Seo, as I think it is an unfair representation of men's mentality. College-age guys, meaning those in the age of 18-22 years, are at a considerable landmark in their lives. They have just left home and have found a world of responsibility thrust upon them.

This is overbearing for many due to immaturity and so they follow a care-free "Hollywood" lifestyle which allows escape from responsibility. This includes not dating, as it always leads to more responsibility whether you want it or not. This lifestyle comes in many degrees, but for many men, it always avoids some types of responsibility for the sake of other kinds.

However, this isn't the end of the story. College is also a time of growth for all students and especially guys. You're going to find that as guys grow older and acquire the title of men, many will turn to face reality. This is when more of "The Relationship Guy" shows up. The key to remember is that guys always mature slower than women, and as maturity grows, so does a sense that its time to start finding a partner. However, for the most part, you won't find this unless you're looking at older men. If you're patient, maybe that young guy down the hall will grow up into something you would like to date.

-Charles Bueche

Letter to the Editor: The Lamron staff are doing an excellent job

To the editor:

I am grateful to veteran physical plant staffer John "Toat" LaGeorge who handed me a copy of the April 5 edition of The Lamron while I was enjoying a cup of coffee at the Bank Street Bagel Shop. I was most impressed by the sheer volume of content in the paper. The lead story on Geneseo's Main Street was excellent. We are very fortunate to have a Main Street that is likely the most healthy in all of Livingston County. SUNY Geneseo students and staff continue to help keep Main Street businesses very viable, to be sure.

I also very much enjoyed the Arts and Entertainment sections as well as the Sports section. Both sections had very informative and well-written stories authored by some very talented writers.

The late SUNY Geneseo professor of English and Lamron advisor, and former college administrator BJ Keller would be very pleased with the work being done at the Lamron. She would be very proud of everyone working at the paper. May I add my own kudos to the fine work being done by The Lamron staff.

-David J. Dwyer

Class of 1973

Letter to the Editor: Art gallery article inaccuracies in The Lamron are unprofessional

To the editor:

I am writing to express some concerns about the review entitled "Senior Works Showcased in Kinetic" in the April 5 edition. For the students in the show, it represents the culmination of four years of hard work. We take it very seriously. It is a shame that The Lamron does not.

The photo of the work entitled "Harmony" credits the piece to Olivia Yang, when it is in fact the creation of Mayumi Kikuchi. We work for four years to develop our art only to have it misidentified in our final show. This is not only insulting, it speaks to an appalling lack of professionalism on The Lamron's part. If you are going to do something, do it right, or don't bother doing it at all.

As for the article, it is clear that the reviewer is far more interested in displaying his own vocabulary than in sincerely investigating and evaluating art. The work of Megan Webb gets a respectable two paragraphs but she is criticized because she does not display more than one piece.

It is a very good thing that Megan did not have multiple pieces because, based on what followed, inadaquate attention was given to displays with more than one work. Mayumi has her many works reduced to a one tiny paragraph which does not contain a single reference to a specific piece. My own display was of three pieces which together investigated a theme. Only one element of the trio juxtaposed with the first line of the art statement was commented on.To borrow from the review itself, the article was "lacking in comprehensiveness."

We art students do not mind criticism. We live with it throughout our undergraduate years and grow to appreciate it. But, like I said, we work hard, and we expect our critics to work just as hard. If The Lamron and its staff are not prepared or not able to produce well-crafted, accurate, and thorough reviews, then next year, please, stay home.

-Olivia Yang

Letter to the Editor: The Honors Committee is only in place to implement the provost's plans

To the editor:

Being Honors students at Geneseo, we can directly speak to the impact the changes addressed in the previous article will have upon the students. The Honors students sent a letter to the provost on Feb. 20 outlining our concerns with the proposed freshmen-sophomore ratio change.

We received a response on March 30, the day after the publication of the article that addressed the provost's disregard for our letter. The article quoted Provost Conway-Turner as saying, "It is important for every member of our community to have a voice." What is unfortunate, though, is that if one examines the situation, it is obvious that many voices were not heard. Arguably they were ignored because the agenda of the provost supersedes the quality of the Honors Program. We want to ensure that we are heard loud and clear.

The reasons we take issue with disproportionate freshmen-sophomore acceptance into the program are as follows:

1. High school measures of achievement vary according to district.

2. The best measure of success in the Honors Program, is evident from performance at this institution.

3. Direct interaction with faculty is essential in the selection process.

4. Students at Geneseo have the opportunity to be interviewed.

5. Entering as freshmen, students are unaware of the demands of classes and the expectations of professors.

6. A year of coursework at Geneseo prepares students for seminar-style classes.

7. Students are more likely to participate in an atmosphere with which they are familiar.

In her response, the provost simply defended her decision to expand the Honors Program, while ignoring our central concern.

Rather than providing meaningful input regarding the direction of the program, the Honors Committee has merely been used to implement the provost's predetermined decisions. As committee member Dr. Ronald Herzman conceded, "The Honors Program has always been a recruitment tool." We agree with Herzman, but is this the only purpose? The Honors Program seeks to enhance the critical thinking skills of its students through a curriculum that mimics the core. These courses demand active participation from their students. This experience is enriched by inclusion of students who have experienced the demands of college classes and have illustrated their desire to be involved through a personal interview.

We resent that the College expects less from its rising academics. If only 10 current students are worthy, compared to 30 students from anonymous high schools, then what does that suggest about the integrity of this institution?

-Stephanie Remick

-Christopher Browne

-John Disarro

-Jessica Macormic

Respect should be shown to dining hall employees

To the editor:

I am writing as a student who works in one of the many dining halls on campus in order to make a few extra bucks for gas. While most of the time the job and customers are tolerable, I find myself becoming increasingly irritated with the attitude of some students on campus.

So here it is: I am not a slave. I am not here because I want to flip burgers for the rest of my life, nor do I enjoy scrubbing the weird food combinations you made in your soup bowl out of boredom. I am not as stupid or clueless as you assume me to be. I am a student, just like you, and after my shift I have to go write 10 page papers and study useless Gen. Ed. information, just like you. Please do not bite my head off when you ask me a question I don't know the answer to (the halls are separated into different sections - people in the dishroom know little about the salad bar) and please be patient if it takes a few minutes to make your food - I'm doing the best I can.

And would it be too much to ask to dump your food in the garbages that are so close at hand before you send your tray through the window and splatter me with your leftovers? Most students are considerate and patient, and thank you to those people because you get me through the day, but there are those few who seem to forget that they are dealing with peers, not a sub-species.

I once vowed that I would never work in fast food - I have already cashed in my pride out of concern for my falling gas tank level. Please don't make my job any worse!

-Amanda Senft

Dance reviewers should be knowledgeable before criticizing

To the editor:

I am writing in response to the article, "Orchesis Impresses but Lacks Variety," published in your last issue. First and foremost I found the author's apparent lack of knowledge regarding dance extremely disappointing. Though I don't believe that an extensive technical dancing background is needed to critique a dance performance, I do feel that certain technical aspects should be taken into consideration, and that many critiques of the concert could have been avoided had the author viewed the performance with a more technical eye.

There was a theme throughout the article of a "lack of variety" and a tendency to repeat elements in multiple dances. Anyone with a background in dance, or any exposure at all would know that elements such as kick lines, pirouettes, and other steps are what constitute the dance vocabulary and are frequently drawn upon by even the most elite choreographers. To say that a certain movement shouldn't be repeated in more than one dance would make for an extremely short and uneventful dance performance - specifically in the style that Orchesis performs.

I also believe that the comment made about select dances being "well-hidden gems" is extremely offensive to the majority of the 180 members of the club who were not mentioned. Each dance in the show was choreographed by students, with a limited amount of rehearsal time, not to mention the varying skill levels throughout the club. Speaking for Orchesis's executive board we found this semester's show to be one of the best we have seen in our time here at Geneseo, rich with variety and excitement - both of which the critic failed to see.

I believe that the article presented some valid points which will be taken into consideration by choreographers in the future. However, ironically, the argument of the author was that the performance lacked variety, yet given the sheer number of dancers in the performance as well as the range of styles performed I feel that one would be hard-pressed to not witness the great deal of diversity, energy, individuality and especially talent that was portrayed in our last concert.

-Caitlyn Redmond