Oh, Emily Byers. You showed hope of staying on topic, but about halfway through your article, "PPFA hiding from ideas of its roots," you went from discussing the founder of Planned Parenthood to attacking the pro-choice position. This is not helping you look any less like a propagandist. Please, if you're going to write a column, be a journalist, not a crusader. Just for the record, I am pro-choice, but I recognize that to argue for it here would be to go off-topic.
Michael Harrison math grad student
I wanted to provide a realistic picture of what Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity is as a Jewish fraternity, in rebuttal to the Letter to the Editor written by Sina Zarei. If you look at the Web site www.sam.org, the "tagline" used by the fraternity, "Sigma Alpha Mu was founded in 1909 at the college of the city of New York as a fraternity of Jewish men" is one of the first things one sees. SAM like all fraternities is open to people outside of its target market of Jewish students, but the reality is that our fraternity, internationally, is predominately Jewish.
When I was the Hillel director on campus, SAMMY was founded at LSU by Jewish men who I knew from a Jewish high school youth group. Many of them decided to come to LSU instead of going out-of-state because they knew they were going to have a "home" at LSU. Many Jewish students since that first class have done the same thing, and in fact, next year looks like it will be one of the largest classes of Jewish students at LSU in years, in large part to SAM, which has been recruiting these students to come to campus for the last couple of years. Many of these students who have decided to stay in-state have become leaders on campus as well. Interestingly, the University was open to bringing SAM to campus, even though it was not looking to expand, because it wanted Jewish students to have a fraternal home on campus.
The LSU group is a majority Jewish, and at the same time, there are a fair number of non-Jewish members. Members are made aware of the fraternity's history and what the target market is before joining. SAM has partnerships on an international level with Jewish organizations such as Hillel. Sigma Alpha Mu is proud of its Jewish heritage, as are most of the members at LSU, and the LSU Greek, student and professional communities. I take pride in the fact that Sigma Alpha Mu has a positive identity on campus, and with the other Jewish-oriented organizations on campus, has built a positive awareness about the Jewish people. Matthew A. Witenstein Doctoral Candidate, ELRC Assistant Executive Director, Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity
What is going on at LSU? A College of Business Student Government senator referred to the chef that cooks for his fraternity as, "the negro woman who cooks the food for his fraternity." I have a few issues with the situation:
Issue one: The issue is not that how this comment became public, nor is it about the chef the comment was referring to. The issue is the thought process this senator had in using that word to describe a black woman. He is a duly elected student senator representing students from his college, including many blacks. This is not his first year here, so he should know what's proper and what's not. This is the issue, please don't forget that.
Issue Two: The senator's apology was half-hearted to say the least. He started it off by telling the audience how this chef had cooked chicken, and how they just talked it all over. The senator said he apologized for the comment, and that he was apologizing to the black community. Then the senator said he didn't understand how this word, used by presidents of the early 1900s and W.E.B. Dubois, could be so offensive. This let me know that he didn't have a clue about the real issue, and that he didn't really learn anything. You know, another word was used by past presidents to describe blacks even before the word negro, so would that word have been better to use since it's older.
Issue Three: When you join a fraternity, I believe you pay money, and I believe this money goes toward the fraternity's expenses. Part of those expenses is the fraternity house staff. If you follow my logic: I pay my money, then my money goes towards the staff, which means I am the boss. Now you are the employee, and an offensive statement, referring to you, is made by one of the bosses and it would make the rest of the bosses look bad. So what happens when they come up to you asking how you feel about the statement, and if you would write your feelings down on paper to be presented? Chances are the bosses are not going to like a negative statement. Do you A. Tell them everything is OK, all is forgiven and keep your job Or B. Tell them you were offended, refuse to write a positive statement and possibly make your bosses upset which could lead to you losing your job or make things so bad that you want to quit your job. What do you do?
Anonymous
The statements made by Rahim akir Alem (formerly known as Al Jones) have to be some of the most ignorant words ever spoken in the English language. I'm pretty sure Al Jones has no idea or firsthand experience of what he is talking about. I am a white student at LSU and have had no problem with blacks. To say "America will never except me" while enjoying a government-funded education he wouldn't get in Africa, a place he has never been, is idiotic. If anything he is doing the separating from America as well as white people by the things he says. I especially love the 504 tattoo which if I'm not mistaken represents an American area code. Finally, I'll close with my favorite quote of his, "It's hard being me around so many closed-minded people" immediately followed by a close-minded statement "But now I've come to the conclusion that white people are going to be white people." Talk about a hypocrite. Wow, thanks for labeling the entire white race. Wasn't that what you were upset with in the first place Al?
Anonymous
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