Letters

Letters to the Editor

Eye for an eye?

Editor:

On Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996, tragedy struck the State of Israel. At
6:30 a.m., a suicide bomb blew up bus No. 18 near the Central Bus
Station in Jerusalem, killing 24 people and injuring 51.
Approximately an hour and a half later, a second suicide bomb blew
up in the city of Ashkelon, killing one and injuring 37.

These heartless acts of terrorism place me in a situation where
appropriate words are difficult to find. Actually, there are no
words that can either describe the intensity of my pain or the
difficulty of comprehending the acts that ended the lives of
dozens. It is as though each word represents a score of tears.

I wonder where to direct my energy at this time, and each path I
take seems to turn me in a different direction – it’s as if my
emotions take me north and my logic takes me south.

Condemning these violent crimes does not seem to be enough. For
they are not just violent crimes; they are lives lost – one, two,
three, four, … 25 – 25 lives lost in one disastrous event. We
must recognize, understand and remember that each number has a
name, and each name had a life.

Hamas, the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks,
tries to justify its crime by claiming retaliation for the
assassination of Yihye Ayyash two months ago. I have a hard time
understanding the comparison. Ayyash was a known terrorist and
master bomb maker who was directly responsible for the deaths of
multitudes of Israelis.

Baruch Goldstein’s disgusting act of terror two years ago was
also referred to by Hamas. His crime reaped the Jewish community
with grief, and he was publicly condemned by the Israeli government
and others for his outburst of violence. The lesson Hamas is
teaching, that one violent act should be returned by another, is
one that I have yet to learn.

What I have learned are the names of the victims killed without
reason on Sunday. Today at noon, we will gather at the top of Janss
Steps to commemorate the lives lost.

Kelly Baxter

Jewish Student Union

Vice President

Fourth-year

Jewish studies

History rewritten

Editor:

In your coverage of the Bunche Hall protest (Protesters storm
Murphy, Bunche," Feb. 22), you wrote: "History department Dean
Ronald Mellor called 911 several times, claiming that protesters
had assaulted him, police said."

I would like to publicly say that I am not, and never have been,
a dean.

I did call 911 several times, but not to claim I was being
assaulted. I wanted to complain about the banging on the large
windows of the history department office. If they had broken, they
would have endangered staff working there (and, in fact, the
protesters, also).

When I went out to tell the protesters to stop banging on the
windows, there was some gesticulating, and someone else in the
office called 911 saying that I was being assaulted. When I spoke
to the police, I said (as Chief Chapman reported) there was just
jostling and no reason to press charges.

I might add that the history department seemed a peculiar place
to "send a message" on affirmative action. The department has had a
long commitment to affirmative action, and we are proud that a
recent study of graduate education shows that the UCLA history
department gives a larger number and a higher percentage of history
doctorates to underrepresented minorities than any other university
in the nation.

It seems a peculiar tactic to disrupt the work of such a
department.

Ronald Mellor

Chair

History department

Voters beware

Editor:

I would like to issue an FYI to all Bruins regarding voter
registration on campus. On Oct. 3, 1995, I filled out a voter
registration card at a table manned by representatives from the
UCLA external vice president’s office. I was then asked to sign a
petition pledging my support for affirmative action, and I
declined. I did not sign the petition, but I sure as hell wanted to
register to vote.

I waited for months and my voter registration card did not
arrive. Lo and behold, I called the County Registrar’s Office on
Monday to confirm that I was registered, and I was not. I had to
run to the post office in order to fill out an additional form so
that I could register myself.

I sincerely hope this was a genuine mistake on the part of the
external vice president’s office and the supporters of affirmative
action who were registering people that day.

It is too late for this letter to affect other Bruins who may
find themselves in a similar situation, but remember: If a third
party operates a voter registration table, they MUST register ALL
people. Not doing so is a violation of a person’s civil rights. I
plan on pursuing the matter with the Registrar’s Office to
determine if any criminal action occurred, and I encourage all
other Bruins similarly affected to do the same.

Andrew J. Sokolowski

Third-year

History

Music, anyone?

Editor:

On Feb. 23 at noon, a Henry Bruman chamber music concert took
place in Schoenberg Hall. These concerts are free and Bruman
sponsors them to expose students to chamber music.

The pianist played some great works by Bach and Brahms that have
stood the test of time. I was astonished to realize that in the
whole concert hall, I could find only three people who were under
age 30, including myself!

Can anyone explain this to me? Was everyone in the line for Taco
Bell?

Adam King

Graduate student

Computer science

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Students demonstrate inside Bunche Hall, disrupting the history
department office, during the Feb. 21 affirmative action
protest.

Comments to [email protected]