Student Body President Controversy
Nick Bahl
Columnist

Nick Bahl

Last week, Student Body President Felicia Woodson took part in an event on campus in which the press release’s headline read, “Faculty, Students to Protest CO Right Wing Education Agenda During Horowitz.” Woodson’s name appears after her title on this and another press release. Our student body president should not be taking part in a protest if it doesn’t fairly represent the student body, and the far-left wing rhetoric that was preached at the protest does not even approach a fair representation of Metro’s student body.

Metro’s Student Government’s constitution says in its preamble that one of the roles of student government is to “ensure that we, the student body of MSCD, are justly recognized and represented with fairness and equity.” This sounds good to me, and the fact that the SGA Policy Manual has misconduct and disciplinary procedures to enforce this preamble makes it that much better.

Bill Vandenberg of the Colorado Progressive Coalition took the podium to introduce Woodson to the small crowd of students, faculty, and media. Vandenberg announced her, and later confirmed that he announced Woodson as “MSCD’s student body president.” From the get-go Woodson was acting as student body president, which means that she’s required to fairly represent the student body of Metro.

To Woodson’s belated and futile credit, for a brief moment, well into her speech, she told the crowd that she was “not speaking as student president at this point.” Woodson has every right to speak as a private citizen, but her tone was not that of a private citizen. When the tone of her lecture changed, briefly, Woodson had already gone 16 words too far, and soon the tone reverted to its former style. The deception of being announced and documented as “student body president” was already beyond damage control, and the damage progressively worsened as she continued to speak.

At one point, she referred to the working relationship described in the SGA constitution’s preamble, between the administration, faculty, and staff. She said that we as the SGA need to work with the faculty, and that “we must work together in order for this campus to strive.” Woodson did not adequately separate herself from her official position by continually using this “we.” This refusal continued throughout her speech, and afterward with reporters.

Woodson’s mouth foamed over with things such as, “we are a campus of open-minded students.” She said that David Horowitz was sending out erroneous messages. Somehow she managed to ridiculously combine these two statements with another to negate everything she claimed to stand for. When she asked the crowd why Horowitz’s message was even being allowed on campus, she made it clear to those perceptive members of the audience that she had a personal agenda up her sleeve. Horowitz’s message is allowed because our administration is trying to support diverse viewpoints by bringing diverse speakers to its diverse student body. Woodson is the one who’s close-minded. Don’t both sides of this strictly partisan issue see that they are demanding the exact same thing, and that by fighting, the left is only creating its own demise on this issue?

The Rocky Mountain News ran two articles quoting Woodson, and one large photo of her speaking at the protest. Every time her name appears, so does “Student Body President.” Woodson somehow forgot to personally mention that she was not acting as student body president to either of the reporters covering the story for The Rocky Mountain News, and yes, this has been confirmed.

The results of Woodson’s half-truths were a blatant misrepresentation of the Metro student body. Metro’s entire student body appears as if it agrees with Woodson on this topic in front of The Rocky Mountain News’ entire readership. Once again, Woodson continued to mislead, misrepresent, and miss the point.

According to an e-mail sent out by College Republican interim Chairman George Culpepper, Woodson “did not seek approval from student government.” For this reason the College Republican National Committee and the Colorado Federation of College Republicans have requested that Culpepper ask for Woodson’s resignation. Culpepper will formally request Woodson’s immediate resignation this week, and rightly so.

Woodson said that she has no intention of resigning because, according to her, she was not acting as student body president. How can we believe this in light of all the evidence stacked against her?

This bill only has ramifications because of people like Woodson who have taken it to the media. This has already done more harm than the bill ever could do by itself because it’s creating a chilling effect among our professors. I want this campus to be a place of open-minded learning, but with students such as Woodson it’s just not possible. Woodson is the one sending out erroneous messages about Metro to the mass public, and as such, she needs to do the right thing for the student body and step down. If she chooses not to do so, the SGA Policy Manual states that it only takes 5 percent of the student body’s population to recall her.

None of this should have to be said – I actually agree with Woodson on this issue – but Woodson put herself in this situation. Often- times it’s harder to do the right thing than the wrong thing, but in this situation Woodson lucked out, because it only takes one person to resign and it takes nearly 1,500 to take her out of office. I can’t wait for her next press conference!

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The fault of a preemptive defense policy
Justin Breuer
Opinion Editor

This past weekend, Israel executed a preemptive strike against Syria, targeting an alleged terrorist training camp for the Palestinian group Hamas. This would mark the first time in over 30 years that Israel has directly attacked another country.

Syria has asked the United Nations to condemn the attack and has threatened that future attacks will be met with a retaliatory action. The United States has sided with Israel for the time being, defending the action as taking necessary steps to combat terrorism.

The Bush administration has yet to clarify the difference between terrorist activities and actions taken by freedom fighters. This is not to say that Hamas is not a terrorist entity, but to accentuate that they also contribute to Palestinian schools and economy. The confusing issue seems to be whether we, the United States, are willing to let another country, Israel, dictate our future military involvement in a region that is already volatile. If Israel picks a fight with an Arab nation, it will assuredly be the United States that comes to their aid, if any such aid is needed.

Israel continues to remain the only nuclear power in that region of the world. India and Pakistan are close by, but are obsessed with their cold war and shouldn’t pose a threat except indirectly by affecting the stability of their surrounding neighbors. Iran is slowly creeping up on becoming a nuclear power, with speculation that they may already be one. North Korea, a “rogue” state, is already a nuclear power and may, out of spite for the United States, spread the capability or the weapon itself to other countries.

Herein lies the problem: the only thing Israel achieved by attacking Syria was to ensure the frantic scrambling of the Arab nations to become nuclear powers as fast as possible. Israel will not stem the ebb of terrorism against it by inciting hate amongst an even greater population of a neighboring country. Israel has only added credence to concerns, paranoid though they may be, that it plans on invading other countries with the goal of expanding its land and resources. The concern is understandable since Israel has pursued an expansion policy evidenced by its growing number of settlements in the Palestinian territory.

It’s no longer a question of if, but when, the Arab nations against Israel reach nuclear potential. The world has just become more of an unsafe place to live. We should all be holding our breath right now, because given the Bush administration’s inability to fully commit to the Middle East Crisis, inevitable conflict will now be enhanced to doomsday proportions.

Although this horrific outcome has only just begun to take its first infant steps toward completion, it is unnerving to think that the Bush administration still maintains its current foreign policy strategy. Instead of meeting with these countries, or granting them simple concessions, like condemning the attack on Syria or agreeing to talk to North Korea, the Bush administration has remained unmoved in its apparent malice toward diplomacy. Worse still, the Bush administration continues to support its preemptive strike doctrine –– sorry, preemptive defense strategy. Once any of Israel’s neighbors become nuclear powers and are no longer intimidated by Israel’s nuclear deterrent, they will be able to legitimately use some preemptive defense on Israel seeing as how Israel has a history of attacking them.
If we, the United States, stay our current course in regard to our foreign policy, the worst possible scenarios become the most probable.

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Conflict over Christopher Columbus
Jerry Roys
Guest Columnist

“Let us, in the name of the Holy Trinity, go on sending all the slaves that can be sold. “ ––Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus is probably one of the best-known men in American history. North American cities, rivers, and a national holiday are named after him. As children, we were taught the history of his voyage and so-called discovery of a new world. We celebrated Columbus Day in October with holiday parades. Nowadays Sons of Italy file for the permit for the parade in Denver, thereby keeping the celebration alive.

Italian-Americans celebrate this day as a part of their heritage and pride, much like the Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the Irish-Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and African-Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Day.

The parades have, however, become the center of controversy. Native Americans look on Columbus Day as an insult. From their point of view, Columbus was responsible for the disease and destruction of the early indigenous people of the Americas. To put it in perspective, it was about dominating a country that had an abundance of gold. Does this sound familiar?

Gold. Now there is the real culprit. Wherever gold was discovered in the Americas, Western Europeans and later the newly established U.S. government invaded to conquer the land, dignity and lives of the Native American people.

Why not protest the federal and state governments for still refusing to give the Black Hills back to the Lakota Sioux? This is land that was officially recognized as belonging to the Lakota in 1962 under Law 926, which allowed any native nation the right to sue the American government for lands taken illegally. Thirty billion dollars in law suits filed by Native Americans against the government for the confiscation of lands are still pending. The taking of the Black Hills was the most blatant offense.

Getting back to Columbus, he first spotted land in the Bahamas on Oct. 11, 1492. He had set sail to find a shorter route to the Indies and thought he had accomplished that goal.

According to his log, Columbus traveled to seven other islands including San Salvador, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

During the conquest of the native people of these islands, Columbus was directly responsible for the slavery, mutilation and murder of Arawak men, women and children until one-half of the entire population of Hispaniola was killed or committed suicide. Every Indian had to bring in an allotment of gold or cotton. If they failed, their arms were hacked off; they bled to death.

In 1496, after the gold had been depleted, the Spaniards took the land for themselves. The same setup was repeated in succeeding Spanish settlements. This massacre and conquest of land compares to the early settlement of Colorado.

If protesting the Columbus Day parade is reasonable considering the destruction that stemmed from the man and his descendants, then perhaps Native Americans should protest the town of Chivington, named after John Chivington, the monster responsible for the Sand Creek massacre. His message “kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice” was given to the Colorado Militia 3rd Regiment, who attacked the peaceful Cheyenne camp that flew the American flag with the white flag, a sign that they were not hostile.

Similarly, the U. S. Army led by Gen. James H. Carlton forced the 400 mile death march of the Navajo in what has become known as “The Long Walk.” Carlton was under orders to remove the obstacles that prohibited the search for precious metals in the West. These obstacles were the native people. So when is the U.S. Army going to be held responsible for the destruction of the North American Indian? The Navajo were forced to march from sunup to sundown. If any happened to fall to the side of the road, they were killed. Their hunger was so great at times, they resorted to eating their own moccasins. When they arrived at Bosque Redondo, the new reservation, they had to build a fort for the Army.

My great great grandmother was one of the unfortunate Navajo who was brutalized during this period in American history. History does repeat itself: the massacre at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the Big Hole in Montana where 90 women and children of the Nez Perez nation were massacred in their nation’s flight for freedom, and the Trail of Tears, where the native people were forced to march from the East to Oklahoma.

The list goes on and on.

Not until recent years has this part of history been told. The Native American occupation of Wounded Knee brought awareness about the true history of the American Indian, a history that most Americans had not been taught.

Part of that history is how the Native Americans were forced to assimilate into the white culture through the destruction of their spiritual beliefs and heritage. Native Americans, who have had so much stolen from them, should fight for the right of any culture to celebrate their heritage even if it is through a man named Columbus. It is their right, but not at the exclusion of the truth.

The truth is that Columbus was far from a good example of Italtian heritage, let alone a decent human being.

And, the truth might be that Columbus wasn’t even Italian. Salvador de Madaraga and Simon Wiesenthal have provided overwhelming evidence that Columbus was part Jewish. This was not an ancestry that was popular in the 15th Century, the time of the Inquisition.

The mystery of Columbus was hidden from many, including his sons. He lived his own life in obscurity. History is often just as obscure, often written from the perspective of the dominant people in power.

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The image of the United States as a big bully
Bryan Goodland
Columnist

Bryan Goodland

Weapons inspectors continue to scour Iraq for proof of the existence of weapons of mass destruction, yet none have been found. This is little consolation to those who supported the war and had hoped the inspection team would have recovered something by now. After all, a costly war has been fought and a country has been thrown into even further chaos and disorder, but these weapons still remain elusive.

By now you’re probably thinking that there was more to this war than just eliminating weapons from Iraq’s arsenal, and I would agree, to an extent. Everyone realizes that Hussein is a terrible dictator who has abused his people, but he has still not been conclusively linked to the attacks on 9/11. Furthermore, countries around the world vastly opposed the war and there was a rising discontent by many here in America as the war proceeded. There are those who would have felt vindicated had the inspectors found huge stockpiles of weapons, thus giving meaning to their war. This vindication, however, must wait. Of course, there is still the possibility that there is a secret arsenal hidden in Iraq, but the timetable seems to be running out.

Once again, the United States is starting to look like the big bully on the block that everyone hates. We bang the war drum and ask anyone who hears it to join in on our charge against the evils of the world. We even challenge those who do not enter our fight to beware, because our sights may turn toward them as potential enemies. The problem is, even though we know Hussein is an evil man, there is no proof that he has been building an arsenal and planning to use it. Once again, the US has its credibility on the line, and the CIA is being questioned as to their reliability. This hurts the United States not only internally, but also on a global scale.

What will happen if we were wrong all along? We will be seen as the tyrant who rushes in and takes vengeance on anyone who has even the slightest potential to hurt us, now or in the future. This is the back- alley mentality of hit first and hard so the other guy doesn’t get back up. Well, we hit first and hard, but the questions still remains, why? Do we really want to become the police force for the entire world? Will we involve ourselves, like we have done so often in the past, and replace dictators and leaders at will? When will we ever learn to proceed with extreme caution?

The United States is unparalleled in history by being the only true superpower in existence. With this power comes a great deal of responsibility and thus far we have yielded it like a small child with his latest toy. America needs to work on spreading democracy and peace, not war. We still have a chance to make things right in Iraq, and hopefully during the re-building of this country we can influence them with something other than our overwhelming might.

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Letters to the Editor

SGA writes about errors

Aspiring writers appreciate a critique and future politicians prepare for controversy. As both students and politicians, the Student Government Assembly (SGA) strives for balance. Tim Dunbar of the Metropolitan, in his editorial “Letter to the Editor addressing the writings of the SGA,” condemns the SGA and claims that the student body has elected incompetent officers.

Although mistakes have been made, we challenge the notion that we are all idiots. On the contrary, this SGA administration has made a full time investment into the future of the students, the college and preserving the integrity of higher education. We assure the student body that they are receiving competent representation to the Board of Trustees, the Provost Council, the BASE Committee, Grade Appeals Committee, Student Court, Student Services, Student Affairs Board, SACAB and Tri-Institutional matters. Our dedication and responsibilities extend far beyond the excerpts that are published or hearsay from the proverbial grapevine.

However significant one may find the grammatical, syntactical or punctuation errors in student media is a matter of opinion. It is unlikely that all student publications are flawless. The SGA has revised all of its policies including the adoption of a policy for publications. We encourage students to attend our meetings and provide feedback in an appropriate forum. An open discussion welcomed by the Student Government Assembly promotes an environment for the reciprocal exchange of ideas but an editorial column does not. With all due respect, Mr. Dunbar, we expect that the same level of scrutiny be applied to all Metropolitan publications, including your own.

We recognize that academic excellence is what students are striving for and learning is what we are here to do. There is a learning curve attached to all unfamiliar tasks we endeavor and there is room in this world to make corrections to our errors. Thankfully, we can give and receive critical feedback to our peers and still support their vision for the student body. In the spirit of cooperation and in light of significant causes on this campus, we should work together to champion them as students. We invite Mr. Dunbar and the Metropolitan to join us in working toward a positive future for students at Metro State.

Respectfully Submitted,

Krista Kaufmann
Vice President for Academic Affairs

Rustin Tonn
SGA Attorney General

Protest over Horowitz’s ‘hogwash’ speech

Dear Editor,
 I sat through the wild wild world of trash politics and extreme partisan hate speech delivered by Mr. HORRORwitz Wednesday at the DU Newman Center and came away feeling I had just watched a Warner Bros. Tasmanian Devil cartoon, with Mr. Horowitz wildly spinning out of control slobbering and spitting, beating the drum on a liberal conspiracy theory going on in our nation’s colleges. He’s claiming fascists, Marxists corrupted and perverted administrations and professors are dominating education and keeping him and his ?right wing? brothers and sisters from participating in the education of college students. HOGWASH!

Yes, Mr. Horowitz represents the extreme right wing, not conservatives, and is making an issue without solid empirical evidence on the accusations his organization claims is so pervasive in our schools. He is relying on anecdotal evidence from personal interviews with students and the political affiliations of faculty and staff.  A faculty or staff persons  party affiliation does not automatically make them suspect of indoctrination and black listing in employment, and in the same context, not all personal interviews are reliable because of  the possible bias of the person interviewed.

I believe our administrations are very conscious of following state and federal employment laws and can be trusted. Many points in the A.B.O.R. are already state and federal law and completely unnecessary double legislation. This campaign is distributive and harms higher education and is purely partisan in its nature and should be protested on American college campuses and legislatures around the Nation.
 
John Trompeter
UCD Senior
College of Liberal Arts/ Political
Science

Gun control concerns centered on peace of mind

This is in response to Mr. Martinez’ remarks about Elena Brown’s Sept.18 article. When Mr. Martinez said Elena Brown “left out a few facts,” I, being a college student, took those “facts” as givens.

It’s a given that high-schoolers are not legally allowed possession of firearms.

It’s a given that when you apply for a concealed weapons permit that you are legally able to own a firearm.

It’s a given that a background check is done when you apply for a concealed weapon permit.

It’s a given that no law is going to stop someone from breaking the law if that is their intent.
The fact that Mr. Martinez has to have the “givens” pointed out makes me worry about his GPA.

The article’s focus is getting the opinion of Mr. Castaldo who has first-hand knowledge of what guns can do in the hands of unstable individuals, and how that knowledge has changed his life –– forever.

The article’s secondary focus is the meeting of the Auraria Board to consider the passing of a policy to ban concealed weapons on campus.

My concern, as an Auraria campus student, is the fact that the person next to me in class is carrying a concealed weapon or my instructor is carrying a concealed weapon. I’m not coming to college to worry about a student who didn’t like the grade and takes a shot at the instructor; or the instructor who can’t control his class and fires a warning shot.

I like the idea of coming to school, with other law-abiding students, knowing that I don’t have to worry about who has a concealed weapon. I like the idea that people who are not supposed to have a weapon will be found out by the Auraria Police.

Viola B. Nathan

Unclear implemintation of the Academic Bill of Rights
  
  Re:  David Horowitz and the “Academic Bill of Rights.”  Let us not be disingenuous.  Mr. Horowitz and his allies in this affair are adamant that they strive to remove ideology from higher education campuses.  Their opponents reply with equal vehemence that it is precisely Mr. Horowitz and his faction who would ensconce ideology there.  Both sides could perhaps do themselves, the students, and the public a service by coming clean on this score.
   
Mr. Horowitz and his Students for Academic Freedom target especially educators in the humanities and the arts (my own particular field - glad you noticed!!).  Yet the truth of the matter is that all serious pedagogy has an agenda:  The material is taught with a view toward student retention of that material.  For all the suspicions about indoctrination in the humanities and the arts, it is there that the discerning student will find the most credence devoted to the all-important tool of critical engagement.
   
When speaking at Auraria on September 30th, Mr. Horowitz asserted, by way of comparison, that “(we) all trust our doctors to take care of us, whatever our politics.”  I must here caution him that he chose an unfortunate example.  If he thinks that higher eduction is unduly politicized, he should visit the trenches of health care.  The struggles for health care, the struggles for knowledge, and the struggles for cultural and even bodily survival are all, in these murderous and exploitive times, political struggles.
   
To call for an end to campus ideologies (whatever the caller’s own might be) under these conditions is to cry for the moon.  To demand ideological “balance” (in favor of reaction) is to ignore that colleges and universities compete with infotainment, the propaganda of office holders, corporate discourse, and commodity fetishism.  Terry Eagleton (admittedly, a scholar Mr. Horowitz would not like) describes the situation thusly:  “Within this turmoil of competing creeds, any particular belief system will find itself wedged cheek by jowl with unwelcome competitors; and its own frontiers will thus be thrown into sharp relief.  The stage is then set for the growth of philosophical skepticism and relativism--for the conviction that, within the unseemly hubbub of the intellectual marketplace, no single way of thinking can claim more validity than any other.  If all thought is partial and partisan, then all thought is ‘ideological.’”
 
Terry Burnsed
1915 Sherman St. #14
Denver, Colorado 80203
(303) 832-2554, (303) 352-3630
T.Burnsed@Earthlink.net

War on Drugs is war against some drugs

The war against drugs should, in all honesty, be called a war against some drugs. Our government’s thirty-year long war against drugs has really come to be a fight to keep the general American populace on edge so much that the only legal “drugs” in the country are things like: Caffeine, Sugar, Nicotine, and Alcohol. Of these, only the last brings the body down from an excited state (and it would be illegal if the entire country hadn’t threatened to fall apart during prohibition). The others are drugs (both man-made and natural) which cause the body to become overly excited and can cause other medical problems as well. As well, even though the government says that cocaine is the number one killer drug on the streets of America, it will still stop a shipment of marijuana from entering the country than a shipment of coke. Once again, a drug, which excites the body and puts you on-edge, is preferred over the drug which allows you to come down. I don’t know the real reason for this attitude in the drug war, but I would pose that a population is easier to control if it is kept on edge.

A population can be controlled if it is made to be afraid of a perceived threat, or if it is kept in a state of weariness, which is what happens when a person is run at full speed for most of his life and not able to step down and relax. So I would suggest that the next time you hear of our “War against Drugs” you remember that it is really a war against SOME drugs, and that it is meant to control the population.

Just as the “War against Drugs” would make some sense if they honestly called it a “war against Some Drugs,” the “War against Terrorists” should be regarded as a “War against Some Terrorists.” I may remain wed to that horrid heresy until we blow up CIA headquarters in Langley.

An example, I turned on CNN a few months ago and a White House robot announced that the rebels in Chechnya “were” no longer freedom fighters but “are” now terrorists with “clear” links to Osama bin Laden. CNN provided no details about whether the transformation occurred in a sudden miraculous flash like the transubstantiation of the host in a Catholic mass, or happened slowly and gradually like Darwinian evolution. In a related bulletin, Russia pledged its support in the “War against Some Terrorists,” and will presumably start with those bastards in Chechnya.

James Shipley
CCD Student

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