Korkor’s IFC endorsement is an abuse of his authority
Associated Student Government presidential candidate Bassel Korkor’s response to the Progressive Alliance endorsements in Thursday’s Daily demonstrates Korkor’s tactlessness and two-faced campaigning. After promising to represent the alliance’s interests at its debates, he decries its nine member groups, claiming that they destroy community and fail to participate in ASG.
Korkor’s comments are completely false, vicious and politically idiotic. Many alliance member groups have had ASG representation for a long time. Others have worked with ASG to advance student agendas.
After losing the endorsement, Korkor’s expression of bitterness only alienates the many students who respect groups like Students for Environmental and Ecological Development, Rainbow Alliance, Northwestern Students Against Sweatshops and Mayfest.
Korkor’s affiliation with the Interfraternity Council, which called a last-minute debate in response to the alliance endorsements, only harms his campaign more by demonstrating his willingness to use positions of authority to manipulate public opinion.
A person does not have to agree with the alliance’s endorsements or agenda to see that Korkor’s attitude would hurt ASG.
Neel Ahuja
Weinberg senior
Office of SSVP requires a variety of annual initiatives
While The Daily is certainly free to endorse whatever candidate it chooses for office, I was extremely disappointed with the paper’s dismissal of my entire platform as “a laundry list of ideas.” When constructing my platform, I drew on my experience on the committee and attempted to create a document that reflected the current needs and desires of the student body. I could have offered a much more vague document, simply dumping all of my ideas for the next years into catchy categories. That would have saved me a lot of time and would have made campaigning much easier. Unfortunately, such a campaign does not reflect the true responsibilities of the student services vice president.
The student services vice president must deal with a variety of different, highly specific issues. While concentrating on a few concerns would make the job much easier, doing so would ultimately hurt the student body. My platform reflects the diverse issues facing campus today. Those are the issues that anyone elected to the position will have to address, and I felt that the student body had a right to know what I planned to do if elected.
If The Daily does not like my positions on the issues, I can accept that. But to dismiss them would be a mistake. The student services vice president is expected to handle numerous issues and offer concrete plans for action. To expect anything less in the campaign would be ridiculous.
Eileen Keeley
Weinberg junior and
candidate for student services vice president
Suicide bombers take bold action to advance beliefs
I applaud Joseph Bubman’s Friday column for discussing anti-Semitic violence as something other than indescribable. The discourse over the Holocaust and genocide should not be allowed to slip into dehumanization of its perpetrators or its victims. Calling ghastly acts “indescribable” does nothing to help anyone’s understanding.
That said, I must disagree with Bubman’s use of President Bush’s conception of suicide bombers. Ever since the kamikaze attacks on New York and Washington, suicide bombers have been correctly described as murderers and incorrectly described as cowards. Suicide bombers are not cowards. They are taking bold action. Sept. 11 reinforces the opportunity that suicide bombing provides the dedicated few who wish to make a statement.
Suicide bombing, like genocide, is another human action that is repugnant to our modern conception of life as a universal value. It is too important to pass off as cowardly. Suicide bombing is much more than a cowardly act. It is a powerful tool that can be used by minority groups who lack the power to act in the formal political system. Asymmetrical war is the war of the future.
Stephen Clark
Speech junior
