The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 2001 Page: 4 of 28
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1 v-
THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
-i i,.1». '
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2001
Guest column
servery to non-Hanszenites
On Wednesday, Sept. 12, the
Hanszen College servery closed
its doors to members of other
colleges (except athletes) for the
evening meal. The
Hanszen Cabinet is
currently debating
whether to transform
every Wednesday
night into a Hanszen-
only affair. This is, with-
out hyperbole, the
worst idea ever.
Some members of
Hanszen (many of
whom frequented the
Brown College servery
last year) feel that too
many people from
other colleges come to dine at our
servery. People complain this
depletes our food resources, lim-
its seating options and doesn't
give us a chance to meet other
members of our own college.
I personally don't see these
problems occurring regularly\ In
fact, I've managed to meet many
new students here, and I feel a
Hanszen community still exists.
True, on some occasions I do sit
down at a table with the intention
of meeting people, only to find
they aren't from Hanszen; how-
ever, at this point I do not curl up
in the fetal position, but rather act
the same way as I would had I had
sat at a table with other Hanszen
members I did not know.
Clearly, having one exclusive
dinner per week will not alleviate
the problem of running out of
prepared food during lunch. Nor
is it going to solve the problem of
seating during lunch. Theoreti-
cally. it could enable people to
meet Hanszenites previously un-
known to them, but in actuality
most people will sit with their
friends.
The only benefit of this plan is
that it may improve the attitude of
Chris
Sullivan
some people regarding the hard-
ships they must suffer. After all,
having a state-of-the-art dining fa-
cility with the best food on cam-
pus can become a bur-
den. I'd be willing to
wager a substantial
amount of money that
most Hanszenites pre-
fer this year's dining
situation to last year's.
I'd also bet most other
colleges would switch
dining facilities with us
in a second.
I view this call for
exclusion as selfish and
unjustified. Members
of other colleges pay
the same amount of money for
dining privileges each year as we
do and are entitled to the same
high-quality food. Segregation is
inherently wrong. In fact, this isn't
even a case of the morally repre-
hensible "separate but equal" con-
cept but an even more revolting
concept: "separate and superior."
I came to Rice because the
idea of the residential college sys-
tem excited me and I never wanted
to be involved with exclusive or-
ganizations like fraternities. We
have now created a situation that
undermines the fundamental con-
cepts upon which the residential
college system was founded.
My right to eat at my own col-
lege has been restricted because
I have friends from other colleges
with whom I enjoy consuming
food, and now we can't eat to-
gether at Hanszen. Other mem-
bers of the Rice community have
lost the option of choosing where
they dine. Hanszen should recog-
nize its actions run the risk of
alienating members of other col-
leges, as well as its own.
Chris Sullivan is a Hanszen Col-
lege sophomore.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
IDEAS from Page 2
Professor George Sher) nor were
we carrying weapons, as one appar-
ently hysterical student stated she
feared.
- We were armed, however, with
ideas. We believed that students and
faculty at Rice would welcome the
opportunity to discuss the events of
Sept. 11 and the reaction to them in
hopes that the rush to war might be
halted, replacing it with a reasoned
dialogue rather than cries for "re-
venge."
Apparently, the administration of
Rice fears that "unacceptable" ideas
might penetrate the hermetically
sealed walls of the ivory towers on
Main Street.
At present, the United States is
moving toward engagement in a war.
This war, declared against a shad-
owy enemy, is one that could easily
explode into a "clash of civilizations,"
pitting "western Christian" nations
against all Islamic and Arabic states
and peoples. This must be avoided.
Is this an inappropriate topic for
Rice students to discuss? Or is it
that the administration is willing to
tolerate discussion, but only from
pre-approved sources that will not
interrupt those who wish to run away
from realities in the real world?
Lyndon LaRouche's ideas are
being discussed worldwide, includ-
ing in the Russian Duma (the Parlia-
ment, where he testified this sum-
mer) , major international press, and
in state legislatures and on cam-
puses throughout the United States.
Is it the intention of administrators
at Rice to prevent you. the students
of /<ice, from encountering these
ideas?
Danny Bayer
Nick Walsh
Campaign organizers
LaRouche in 2004
America must grow
stronger and wiser
To the editor:
"No. I think we will always have
the edge because we're stronger
and smarter and have the weapons
to deal with this. But they do — they
will have the edge or they could
have the edge — if we would not
react. That's why I think there ...
will be attack-counterattack. Bui
what we have to do here is to exert
our will and make clear when the
I 'nited States is attacked, when our
people are taken out, we will stand
out unilaterally in self-defense and
really let the world know what we
believe in" (former U.S. Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright, "I>arry
King Live").
I have little doubt that America
will come out stronger from the hor-
rors that have been visited upon it.
And what is more, it will also come
out wiser. The United States of
America is the reigning super-
power. But the West and the United
States, I dare say, have never under-
stood the long-term effects of the
interplay of religious and social dy-
namics on the Asian continent.
Today, the United States vows to
lead the war on terrorism. Well, here
are a few facts the West has consis-
tently ignored: The United States,
Israel and India are the three chief
sources of Islamic fundamentalism.
India has suffered the most, but I
wonder whether the West really
cares about this brutal truth.
More Indians have died because
of terrorist attacks than have citi-
zens of any other nation. No, there
has never been anything as dramatic
as hijacked planes plunging into
world-famous landmarks. But you
can kill just as efficiently in smaller
numbers, if not as spectacularly.
Over 30,000 people have died in
Kashmir, a focal point of the activi-
ties of these Islamic militants. On
March 12, 1993, Bombay, the com-
mercial capital of India, was rocked
by a series of bomb explosions that
resulted in the deaths of about 2,000
people. The blasts were at presti-
gious and important buildings like
the Mumbai Stock Exchange, the
Air-India building and a few other
important sites, just like what hap-
pened at the World Trade Center.
The homily from the chanceller-
ies of Europe and America was,
"Make peace with the militants!" At
that time, of course, these develop-
ments were very far away from down-
town Manhattan —just distant Third
World events the developed world
did not dignify with notice.
The problem becomes even more
complex when we go into the gen-
esis of the trouble. Most of the ter-
rorist groups were raised, trained
and patronized by the West, led by
the United States, during the anti-
Soviet war in Afghanistan. Finances
were raised through narcotics culti-
vation and trafficking by these
groups.
The West never paid attention
except for some lip service here and
there. These places were both safe
havens and training camps for ter-
rorists who carried on their trade in
the name of Islam. But these poli-
cies were pursued without reckon-
ing for the possibility of this
Frankenstein's monster turning on
the West itself.
And that is precisely what has
happened. But while it took an at-
tack of the phenomenal dimensions
of Black Tuesday for the United
States to understand this, countries
like India have been victims of ter-
rorism for over a decade now. These
regional incidents should have been
contained and staunched at their
very onset, but were allowed to
spread.
This new war is not against a
state or a government. It is a cru-
sade that has to be fought on the
ground, and in the hearts and minds
of people everywhere. Countries and
people now have to make their
choices — are they with the good or
with the bad. with the right or wrong?
There is no middle road, no absten-
tions, no neutrality in this war.
Balaji Sitharaman
Chemistry graduate student
Negative images
of Islam inaccurate
To the editor:
In the wake of the recent tragedy
in New York. Muslims across the
country have been looked down
upon for the role their religion sup-
posedly played in the attack. Sad,
but true.
This only makes more victims;
Muslims have been victims of ridi-
cule, violence and discrimination,
all for their religion. None of the
persecutors are bothering to ask if
Islam really is at fault in any way.
Do Muslims really hate Chris-
tians and Jews? The Quran says:
"God forbids you not, with regards
to those who fight you not for (your)
faith nor drive you out of your homes,
from dealing kindly and justly with
them; for God loveth those who are
just" (Quran 60:8).
It is one function of Islamic law to
protect the privileged status of mi-
norities, and this is why non-Mus-
lim places of worship have flour-
ished all over the Islamic world. His-
tory provides many examples of
Muslim tolerance towards other
faiths:
When the caliph Omar entered
Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam
granted freedom of worship to all
religious communities in the city.
Islamic law also permits non-Mus-
lim minorities to set up their own
courts, which implement family laws
drawn up by the minorities them-
selves.
Examples of the Prophet's say-
ings: "God has no mercy on one who
has no mercy for others."
"None of you truly believes until
he wishes for his brother what he
wishes for himself."
"He who eats his fill while his
neighbor goes without food is not a
believer."
"Powerful is not he who knocks
the other down indeed powerful is
he who controls himself in a fit of
anger."
"God does not judge according
to your bodies and appearances but
He scans your hearts and looks into
your deeds."
'"A man walking along a path felt
very thirsty. Reaching a well he de-
scended into it. drank his fill and
came up. Then he saw a dog with its
tongue hanging out, trying to lick up
mud to quench its thirst. The man
saw that the dog was feeling the
same thirst as he had felt so he went
down into the well again and filled
his shoe with water and gave the
dog a drink. God forgave his sins for
this action.'The Prophet was asked:
'Messenger of God, are we rewarded
for kindness towards animals?' He
said. 'There is a reward for kindness
to every living thing.'" (From the
Hadith collections of Bukhari, Mus-
lim, Tirmidhi and Bayhaqi.)
Clearly, the image of this major
world religion, which has some 1.2-
billion followers, as some demon
faith filled with hatred and anger is
nothing more than a distortion. If we
are not careful, Islam could become
the next victim of American bigotry.
Have we as a nation progressed be-
yond the point where we dislike
people for their faith? If so, let's
prove it and continue to love our
Muslim friends and neighbors, es-
pecially now.
Jared Andrews
Sid sophomore
Understanding as
important as justice
To the editor:
In the wake of the recent terror-
ist attacks, it is more important than
ever that the American public and
its leaders come to a deeper under-
standing of the Middle East. Clearly,
there are quite a number of people
in this world who hate Americans
implacably, but if we do not make
the effort to understand why, we
risk widening the gulf that sepa-
rates us from them rather than com-
ing to a true solution that brings a
lasting peace for all sides.
This is not to say that the hate or
the attacks it produced are in any
way justified. They are not. The
people who planned the attacks or
supported them in any way must be
brought to justice. However, it would
be naive of us to think that all av-
enues for pursuing justice are
equally expedient. If there is any-
thing we can learn from the ongoing
conflicts in Israel, surely it is that.
The Israelis' attempts to stop the
terrorism targeted at them by assas-
sinating the people they believe arc
sponsoring that terrorism lias cer
tainly not helped bring them peace.
It is clear that seeking justice alone
is not enough.
I do not mean by this that we
should not seriously consider try-
ing to kill those who plotted the
attack. But if and when we pursue
that course of action (because we
are fully convinced that it will bring
true justice), we absolutely must do
it with a full understanding of how
the society of the guilty parties will
react. That level of understanding
will give us the ability to try to man-
age those reactions and be prepared
for them.
It was recently reported that
President Malcolm Gillis said the
attacks are "beyond human compre-
hension" and that we shouldn't waste
our energy trying to understand.
I wasdismayed. I very much hope
that Rice students are smarter than
he is. It is of tremendous impor-
tance that we make the effort to
understand. How can we prevent
this from happening again? I do not
have a sure answer. But it is certain
that we will never reach the answer
unless we reach understanding first.
Jacy Grannis
Baker '99
m
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Liu, Leslie & Reichle, Robert. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 2001, newspaper, September 28, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443118/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.