LAS majors defend department

To the Editor:

We are writing this letter in response to the April 5 front page article “Latin American Studies Overhaul Awaits Final Approval.” As senior LAS majors we found that although the article exposed certain “deficiencies” of our department, it failed to recognize some salient details. To begin with, we’d like to acknowledge the time and effort that Professor Teresita Martinez has put forth over the years as both program coordinator of Latin American Studies and as chair of the History department. Professor Martinez has played an integral role in building the major and enhancing the experience of students interested in studying the discipline. She acts as an advisor to the majority of the students in our department in both an official and unofficial capacity. Although over the last two years she has not acted as the coordinator of LAS, she continues to be the strong backbone of this major.

Secondly, the part of the article that we found particularly lacking was its concentration on the negative aspects of LAS. The author’s use of Jim Stewart’s quotation, which claimed our major to be “‘academically deficient,”’ minimized our individual accomplishments and efforts over the last four years at Macalester. Although we have been frustrated at times over the lack of available Latin American focused courses and the absence of facilitation of a LAS major community, we feel we have consistently been academically challenged. We whole-heartedly support proposed changes to the major, and we strongly urge the Curriculum Committee to make every effort to expedite this process. Hard-working students and innovative professors have continually proven the relevance and academic integrity of LAS. As a discipline, Latin America Studies, with its interdisciplinary focus and the vital role it plays in the understanding of world politics, has the potential to be a strong major at Macalester.

Shaina Aber ’02
Jenny Epstein ’02
Jordan Pender ’02
Jordan Engler ’02
Emily Ryan ’02
Katie Nelson ’02

Cartoon shows U.S. media bias

To the Editor:

An offensive cartoon was printed in the Opinion section of the April 12 Mac Weekly. In the cartoon, a Palestinian girl is throwing a tantrum, begging her mother for a doll that glorifies suicide bombings. Exasperated, the mother responds that the girl already has six.

Contrary to what this cartoon suggests, Palestinian women do not raise their children to blow themselves and others up. Implying this strips Palestinian women of their humanity. As Ms. Rafeef Ziadah noted last Friday at her lecture on the Mideast conflict, Palestinian and Israeli mothers are actually the forerunners in the peace movement.

This cartoon is just one example of the bias in mainstream American media against Palestinians. Please be wary of the subtle ways news reporters and other commentators can manipulate their audiences; these include citing only selective facts and perspectives and using emotionally loaded terms.

For coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that you rarely hear in mainstream America, you might try any of the following websites: alternativenews.org (Jerusalem’s alternative information center), commondreams.org (an all-purpose alternative news source), indymedia.org (another all-purpose alternative news source), or btselem.org (an Israeli human rights organization).

Rania Suidan ’04

Cartoon misrepresents conflict

To the Editor:

I was appalled and disgusted by last week’s cartoon showing a Palestinian girl asking her mother for another “suicide bomber martyr Barbie.” First, this cartoon was a piece of cheap propaganda as it leaves the uninformed with a simplistic understanding of the events in the Middle East. Second, that Mac Weekly issue contained nothing else about Palestine/Israel and so, the cartoon seems to pop out of nowhere. Third, the cartoon was published in the issue following the end of the “Mid-East Violence” symposium. The symposium was supposed to educate people about the complexity of the conflict and refute black and white depictions of the kind that the selective placement of the cartoon suggests. Finally, a mother is a mother, whether she is Palestinian or Israeli. When her child dies, she mourns. Please do not assume that you have right to insult motherhood. Thank you.

Ghaith Hiary ’02

Van Policy irrational, unfair

To the Editor:

In the article about the new van policy, Terry Gorman stated that all Macalester really is concerned about is safety. While those intentions are surely genuine, they are misdirected. The school acknowledges that the van policy changed due to the report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission that says 15 passenger vans tip easily. But is that at all it said? I would think the report gave certain other conditions for tipping, most notably speed. To go to practice each day the Crew Team drives approximately two miles each way, through residential areas where our speeds are minimal. How likely is it for a van to tip at 30 miles an hour? The forced use of additional vans has us spending our limited resources on vans instead of much needed new equipment.

The amount of passengers is not the most abrasive part of the new policy. From our perspective, the worst part of it is the mileage limit arbitrarily decided by the administration. What did the NHTSC’s report say about the probability that vans would tip when they were more than 800 miles from their destination? Are we truly more likely to tip on I-35 in Austin, Texas versus I-35 in Iowa? Assuming the answer is no, why would the administration change the rules? Further, if we are truly concerned about safety, wouldn’t Macalester want its students to be traveling in school vans and therefore under school guidelines? Is it really better for the team to simply rent vans on its own, and therefore have to follow no Macalester rules, such as driving not between midnight and 5:00 a.m.?

Despite Gorman’s memory, the Crew Team got absolutely no response to an alternative proposal made Jan. 20, a full two months before break, as well as a series of follow up inquiries. We waited and waited to the point where we had no reasonable alternative to our trip. Next year that will not happen; we will resume our spring training trip, which is crucial to the team. Wouldn’t the school administration prefer to have some oversight in that? If so, the arbitrary limits of total miles driven must be abolished.

Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg ’03
President, Mac Crew