Letters & Opinions

The Excalibur opinions section welcomes typed, double-spaced letters (no longer than 300 words). All submissions must be accompanied by the writer’s name, major, year and  telephone number/email address. Submissions longer than 300 words will be sent back to be shortened. All submissions will be edited for clarity, spelling and grammatical errors. All editing is up to the discretion of the editor.
Materials deemed libelous or discriminatory by Excalibur will not be printed. All opinions expressed in the opinions section are those of their authors and are not necessarily those of the Excalibur staff, editorial board or Board of Publishers.
Send submissions to our office at 420 Student Centre, fax to 416-736-5841 or email to letters@excal.on.ca. Please embed submissions in the body of the email.
“This is not a democracy”
editorial» march 9, 2011
Strong women
Last week, Excalibur decried the apathy of the student body during the York Federation of Students (YFS) elections…or lack thereof. There was no opposition slate, as there has been in years past, and many positions were acclaimed.
While I don’t disagree with the fact it is unfortunate students will not get to see a full-blown election this year, I found the initial coverage to be slightly sensational.
Excalibur was keen to point out that this is the first presidential acclamation since 1979. It is an eye-catching phrase that nonetheless overshadows something I believe to be far more amazing and incredible: Vanessa Hunt will be the first black-Latina female president in the history of the YFS.
On a campus as diverse as ours, I believe that this milestone was a long time coming. Now that it is here, regardless of the state of elections this year, I feel it should be cause for acknowledgment and celebration. It is a testament to the strong women of colour on this campus who are continually carving spaces for themselves in the campus community and student politics.
Opposing team or not, Vanessa Hunt should be commended for taking the initiative to run while making York University history while she’s at it.
Nour Fadol
“‘Nearly all YFS positions
acclaimed, not elected”
news» march 9, 2011
Ill-conceived plan
Unusually underwhelming YFS elections have probably caught many of us by surprise.
After years of heated and intense elections, this year’s acclamations seem lackluster. But if anyone thinks for a second that this was a chance occurrence, they haven’t been paying close enough attention to the not-so-subtle offensive by the campus’s right wing.
In all their howling for “accountability” and “transparency” the only thing that is more visible than ever is their intent to undermine the student union by abstaining from the elections. I suppose losing the elections twice by landslides is enough to make anyone bitter, but the reality is this: the absence of an organized opposition is in itself a form of organized opposition.
Tired of having students reject their vague and misleading platforms time and time again, the strategy is now to not organize a team at all and then make some overly simplistic and dishonest claim that speaks on behalf of all students. But students can speak for themselves, and for two years they did: they overwhelmingly voted for a team that they believed was dedicated, thoughtful and sincere.
The campus conservatives of the world think they have the right to go outside the foundation of democracy – an election – and still get what they want. It is a move that shows utter disrespect for the students they claim to speak for and exposes them as what they have always been: selfish, childish and completely out of touch.
Shawn Rizvi
“IAW rekindles conflicting views
on peace in the Middle East”
news» march 9, 2011
Margins of free speech
President Shoukri,
I am writing to communicate my outrage and sorrow at your recent decision to cancel the room booking for Students Against Israeli Apartheid @ York unless they pay “security fees.”
While safety considerations are very important, this attempt to impose the fees on a student club is unacceptable. It is more so when the university refuses to disclose the reasons for its assessment.
The university is meant to be a space of free debate and discussion. By imposing the fees, you are restricting the margins of free speech and limiting it to those who have the means to pay. This is contrary to the values on which the university is built.
This last minute cancellation is consistent with the recent pattern of Israel lobby groups pressuring educational institutions to raise the costs for holding Palestine advocacy events. Last month, Mohawk College administration presented a similar condition for allowing a lecture by Dr. Norman Finkelstein to proceed as planned on its campus. Unfortunately, by imposing the security fees and putting a price tag on freedom of speech and inquiry, you are showing that York University has little respect for values that are considered the basic tenets of academic work.
I urge you to cancel the “security fees” and resist all political pressure to cancel or restrict student activities on campus. You need to protect freedom of expression and academic freedom and not make it too expensive to be heard and allow yourself to be used in such a shameful manner.
Edward Corrigan
“Students protest
Michael Coren’s York visit”
news» march 9, 2011
Equal vigour
It baffles me that some LGBT organizations and individuals like Jesse Zimmerman continually attempt to relate issues such as homophobia to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Zimmerman referencing “some of the more conservative settlements in the West Bank” and declaring Israel is not gay-friendly is akin to saying Canada is not gay-friendly after pointing to some of the more conservative areas of rural Alberta.
Do these anti-Israel critics in LGBT rights circles not realize their hypocrisy in ignoring the obvious fact that, unlike in Israel, Pride Parades simply do not exist in Palestine, Iran or Syria (or any Middle East country save Israel, for that matter)? It’s disappointing to think they consider homophobia in Gaza to be less revolting than homophobia in the West Bank. The truth is that both situations of homophobia are equally unacceptable and must be fought with equal vigour.
It is ultimately self-defeating to connect a uniting cause such as anti-homophobia to an extremely divisive cause such as anti-Israel protests. On that note, I commend Mandi Moyer for recognizing this distinction.
Kevin Leung
“Police escort student from pro-Israel guest lecture”
news» march 9, 2011
Wild disturbance
During Michael Coren’s “talk peace stop hate” guest lecture at York University on March 8, an aggressive protestor, Jesse Zimmerman, caused a wild disturbance.
Throughout the lecture, slurs were heard from Zimmerman in the back. Then all of a sudden, he   lost his cool and came running to the microphone that was set up to be used for a question and answer period at the end of the lecture. He insisted on debating Michael Coren and that it wasn’t “a fucking joke.” After some commotion, he was rightfully escorted out by police, while making sure to show the crowd how he felt by giving them the middle finger.
My question is: what was Zimmerman trying to accomplish? Does he really care about the conflict in the Middle East? Did he really want to engage in respectful debate? I think the answer is no. According to Coren’s blog, Zimmerman waited outside for him out of sight from police. Luckily, Coren happened to be with his friend who was a m  artial arts expert, and deterred Zimmerman from assaulting him. Zimmerman also allegedly swore and verbally abused Coren for about 10 minutes.
Does this sound like someone who is interested in finding the “truth” or rather is this person, pardon my language, just trying to stir up some shit? Zimmerman should be charged and this behaviour cannot continue to happen, especially in a university.
Daniel Klein
Modicum of respect
I would like to publicly address the inappropriate actions of Jesse Zimmerman last week. After his speech, Michael Coren allowed a large block of time in which he encouraged students to ask questions and was more than open to be challenged on issues of any kind.
Indeed, one student got up and had a very civil debate with Michael on his stance on gay marriage. If Jesse really wanted to debate, he would have waited for that question period, and I’m sure Michael would have given him a good run for his money. When Jesse first got up to the microphone in the middle of his speech to interfere, Michael said he would be happy to hear from him during the question period.
Unfortunately Jesse’s actions showed he was not really interested in debate. He refused to wait, and proceeded to hurl profanities at Michael and was so disruptive that he had to be removed by several police officers; then, as he was leaving he took the time to flip off the crowd.
After the speech, several people witnessed another incident. Michael gave his first-hand account on Facebook: “Zimmerman waited for me last night, out of sight of the police. He then followed me for 10 minutes – swore, abused, screamed and tried to run at me several times. There were three witnesses. Only the gentle intervention of my good friend prevented a physical attack. The authorities have been informed.”
Jesse, the Israeli-Arab conflict is a very important issue with much suffering on both sides. In the future, I hope that you will treat it with a modicum of respect and tolerance as opposed to trying to quell those with opinions different than yourself with disruptions, profanities and intimidation.
John Oliver