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COMMENTARY Thursday, March 4,1999 - Page 7 Hate crimes and their Campus cliques oppose WMC's goal consequences .of family-oriented atmosphere Andrew Ryan discusses was stopped, and the student who After my time here at Western Hussein Samaser suggests All of the students here need to the "real world" and was writing slurs in Rouzer is no Maryland College, I've noticed a ways to bring the WMC be able to voice ideas and ask ques- racism. longer with us. So, naturally, we trend on campus. After orientation, community together. tions in an informal environment. might think that these are proper the picture of the school has com- Perhaps, WMC students should ex- Earlier this year racial slurs actions to take when dealing with pletely changed, and this change is ercise their rights to voice their were written on marker boards racists in public life. not particularly heartening. the fault of no person, for it is in- opinions through the SGA. hanging from doors on Rouzer's But WMC is a private institu- I am speaking of the unfortunate deed difficult to embrace a differ- Maybe a committee could be third floor. Recently, a racial slur tion. If you do not agree with their trend of the cliques that can clearly ent type of personality. formed within the SGA, or even was written on the wall of a donn policies, any of them, you are free be seen around campus. As said before, this is human any other group that was concerned room in ANW. Even more recently to not attend. However, this great This school preaches together- nature to hang around those of simi- with the well-being of students, a hate group was distributing their country of ours is not a private in- ness, proudly stating that it is a fam- lar tastes. This is not a bad thing in with the goal of creating more propaganda on campus. stitution, and most of us can not ily atmosphere. To a degree, I can and of itself. events. Thankfully, the school took pack up and move to Europe, even see a family in the campus around However, there are several By doing this, a sense oftogeth- quick action in each of these situa- if we wanted to do so. me. things I believe the college could do emess will arise through the new- tions, and thankfully, most of these So now we can see the biggest This is only true to a point, un- to meld the school together better. found sense of responsibility. We incidents did not involved WMC distinction between WMC and the fortunately. I have had no problems What is needed is an ice breaker, should have a volunteer community students. I am sure that most of us real world. People who don't like with other students or faculty. Ev- a way to form a common experi- service to benefit the students and agree that racists are bad people, WMC's rules can simply not come eryone is polite and respectful of ence, a common goal, or a common faculty or Westminster. and they are not the kind of people here, and thus WMC's rules can others' rights, concerns, and be- trait with all the students other than The school needs to take more we want in our community. only be as restrictive as students liefs. simply being a Western Maryland of an active part in issues. This will But that's not exactly what I attending will allow them to be, or College student. give students an outlet to gather want to talk about today. else WMC would lose all of its stu- There are several First Thursday is a step in the When we leave WMC. we will dents. right direction. Hopefully, it will have learned a great deal about The same is not true of the real things this college foster a feeling of togetherness. I This school community, and this is one of the world, because no matter what the hope to see it grow to the point preaches biggest benefits of a college edu- laws are, most of us are trapped could attempt to do, where it actually becomes a setting togetherness, .in addition to First of faculty and students come to- "When the government can deny basic Thursday, to find gether for the common goal of fix- proudly stating that rights to a group because of its beliefs ... similarities within ing common problems. it is a family There are several things this col- then none of us are safe. the school lege could attempt to do in addition atmosphere. to find similari- to First Thursday cation. here. community. ties within the school community. everyone's resources and strive for to promote First of all, programs However, what we learn here When the government can deny a more interactive atmosphere be- a common goal. about how to deal with racists is basic rights to a group because of However, since orientation tween faculty and the students This college is not a family, not off-the mark as far as how we its beliefs, or when it can add extra week, there has been a lack of ac- should be implemented. in the strictest sense. It is not ex- should deal with them in public punishment for a crime because of tivities which focused on bringing This idea of first year students pected to be either. life. the beliefs of the guilty party, then this diverse college together. eating lunch with Dean Barb It is a group of people with one In public life, people have tried none of us are safe. The same ra- It seems that a magnetic aver- Horneff is good but should be thing in common, the school. many different ways of stopping tionale that can be used to ban Nazi sion has taken into effect and broadened to the point where it is Something more is needed to bond racists from spreading their mes- propaganda could someday be used cliques have been formed and are more than simply one dean. Teach- the campus into a true family. sage. The Jewish residents of to ban an organization of which alienating certain individuals from ers should be brought to a level By creating a strong bond, the Skokie, Illinois, tried to stop neo- you may be a member. others. where students can converse freely school of Western Maryland Col- Nazis from marching through the The same rationale used to give A few of the groups included in with them. lege will become successful in ev- town. "Hate Crimes" extra punishment the situation are the sports groups The multicultural attempts are ery sense of the word- academi- Today many states have so- ·can be used to tum your beliefs and sorority and fraternity groups. also a positive step. The activities cally, socially, and culturally. called "Hate Crime" legislation against you. When the government These groups have nothing wrong. for Black History were both infor- The future is ours, and by bind- which gives more jail time to of- can shut up and lock up the Nazis, It is a natural tendency. But, the list mative and entertaining. These ing together, we make a difference, fenders whose crimes were deter- just because they are Nazis, then could be constantly expanded. types of ideas should be expanded and dare to think differently. mined to be racially motivated. the government can shut you up This no-man's-land has been upon in any way possible. Similarly at WMC, the racist and lock you up, just because of group distributing its propaganda ' who you are and what you believe, The many faces ofAmerican patriotism in the 1990's As a child, how many of us can stated to me when he learned of my James Gasparo discusses done something more disgracing. love your country as I do. I am ask- remember hearing the war recol- decision to join ROTC: "The the varying sentiments And most of all, our country is ing that you not hate it so. lections of our grandfathers? armed forces are not the same as on American patriotism run by us, the people. Any of you I am asking you to be more tol- How many of us have not heard they used to be, the system has who find faults with the ways our erant of these issues which could them because our grandfathers changed." . today. government acts, and prove their be viewed as petty compared to found it too painful to describe the It seemed the man who vio- corruption, then, you would be able those that are being waged by other horrors of war? lently fought with my father over I cannot see the Dr. Evil sitting to end the injustice. countries abroad. These battles are How many of us know the ones Vietnam and defending our flag in any of our congressional seats. I The American people would much more severe. who still haven't returned from our had lost his conviction in do not see many, if any, politicians never stand by to see a country A friend said the flag stood for police action in Southeast Asia? America's greatness. He seems to who are there for money and power. raped and pillaged by American nothing to him. Well it stood for How many of us remember the have lost his faith in a country born War with Iraq was waged because soldiers because this would be in something for the millions of men videos of the Gulf War? on the concept of freedom. of ail, but what of the lives we took conflict with the fundamental rights who fought under it and the hun- I am sure that every person has Many ask what do you see as into account? on which the country was founded. dreds of thousands who died for it. answered yes to one of these ques- great in the good old US of A? To Whereas we could have de- Of course not. President I find it ignorant and rude that tions if not all of them. that I cannot answer with as many stroyed every structure and object Clinton's trial proved that the presi- the people who abide by the law So may I ask why it seems so words as you can to tell me why bearing Iraqi nationalism, we did dent is not a monarch. The core of easy for many of us too condemn America is weak and evil. My rea- not. Instead, we waged a war to our system is the checks and bal- and profit from our society say that only. it is convenience the actions of our country? I can- sons are both naive and complex. ensure a threat we perceived was ances which has survived 200 years. Our system may not be the best not count-the times friends and foes I love my country because of eliminated. No more no less. Although is has had its turbulent in many areas, but i feel that it truly alike have spitefully insulted their what it strives to be and because of I am honored and feel confident time, when one sees an United tries to be just, which is all I ask. J country. how it has gotten to where it is now. that if we could put our glorious States flag, the immediate interpre- just hope that American patriotism This however pained me far I see our government as a govern- President on such a debatable topic tation is of freedom. is not something that is lost forever. less than what my own grandfather ment that wants to do the just thing. we could oust a President who had 1 am not pleading with you to