Speaking from a black woman’s perspective, I feel the column Carrie Hoover wrote was bogus and unjust (“Separation doesn’t promote unity”SN 10/25). Black people have been fighting for years to gain the same respect as whites, and we still haven’t gotten it.
In response to Terence Pitre’s letter to the editor “Williams’ dismissal had racial overtone” (SN 11/7), I would first like to say that I don’t see a separate set of rules existing for Bobby Williams’ firing. This doesn’t make me ignorant or racist.
I’m terrified of getting hardened. I became aware of this fear during one of my teacher education classes, which is full of optimistic, compassionate and strong-willed individuals entering the world of education.
With the GOP set to control both chambers of Congress, President Bush might be tempted to push his foreign policy issues involving Iraq and terrorism more heavily. The Republican conquest of Congress in Tuesday’s election is like a storm cloud brewing over current European allies, who might disagree with Bush’s approach to world affairs. Essentially, Bush should be careful about decisions made regarding use of American military force.
The University of Michigan came down with a heavy hand on its athletic department. The harsh punishment is a sad reminder of the embarrassment that comes when universities allow games to get out of hand. U-M announced Thursday it would forfeit all men’s basketball victories accumulated during the 1992-1993 season and from fall 1995 to spring 1999, return $450,000 to the NCAA for money earned by tournament appearances during those years, remove related championship banners from Crisler Arena and disqualify itself from the 2003 postseason.
It appears that, even now after Bobby Williams has been fired, he will not leave the news so quickly.
When some people ask themselves why an organization behaves the way it does, such as MSU in firing Bobby Williams, some people immediately consider personal malicious intents, such as race issues.
I have a suggestion for all of the politicians who thought it was reasonable to slap bumper stickers all over campus.
In August 1998, a Manistee woman spent four days in jail for making an anti-Hispanic slur outside of a Pepper Mill restaurant.
This is in reference to comments about the MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson and claims of racism. As an African-American student at MSU, I can understand the discrimination that minorities face.
Another election has passed us, and it has been another disappointment for all of America. Two similar parties with a ridiculous monopoly on our political system, preaching essentially the same things, have kept control of the country they seem to have little regard for. The economy weakens by the day, war is just around the corner and civil liberties are being threatened with regularity. One of the only true opposition parties, the Green Party, was again ignored by the media and therefore by the average voter.
Anyone who cannot see the separate and unequal set of rules that existed in the Bobby Williams’ situation is obviously ignorant or racist.
I was appalled to see Nate Allen’s cartoon in Tuesday’s edition of The State News. MSU quarterback Jeff Smoker might have made bad decisions, but that does not mean we shouldn’t support him on his road to recovery. But Allen chose to make fun of Smoker and make his journey to recovery that much more difficult. In the coming weeks, the MSU football program will come under much criticism.
With most of Michigan’s government set to be dominated by Republicans after Tuesday’s election, its seems the governor-elect will have a tough road ahead of her. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
First, I would like to say what a shame it is that Spartans jump off the band wagon as soon as it starts falling apart. A few years ago when Bobby Williams was named football head coach, his players stood behind him and worked hard to prove all of the naysayers wrong. Williams was put under a lot of pressure to change something in a blink of an eye when it normally takes weeks or months to turn teams around. Williams is not responsible for the personal lives of the athletes.
As a Hispanic MSU alumna, I have never felt I was treated unfair because I am a minority. It really upsets me that MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson would lash out at Athletics Director Ron Mason and basically call him a racist. Ferguson discusses the importance of diversity, but when he speaks of this, he only discusses one minority group. I have never heard him stand up for Hispanics, who are a larger minority than African Americans. It’s sad that this has to turn into a race issue.
Even though I really can’t stand Nate Allen’s cartoons - which obviously are pro-Democratic and pick on a president who is, in my opinion, doing the best damn job he can - I must say that when I opened Tuesday’s paper, I had a smile on my face accompanied by a childish giggle.
Let’s exclude for a moment the arguments about Bobby Williams’ performance and examine Athletics Director Ron Mason’s statements from around a month ago.
On Oct. 30, the article “Group pulls for larger campus venue” (SN 10/30) introduced ASMSU’s plan to build an outdoor plaza behind the Old Horticulture Building.
I was embarrassed reading MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson’s statement that the (inevitable) dismissal of Bobby Williams boiled down to a racial issue in the article “Trustee says race played role in dismissal” (SN 11/5). Shame on him. Where else in the Big Ten has another African-American coach had the opportunity that Williams had?