Crow has earned some respect
After his response to the proposed budget cuts, President Michael Crow has finally shown his harshest critics (the students) that he is the right man for the job. Long seen as a man who was merely focused on turning ASU into a large empire similar to a powerful corporation, Crow has stepped up to the plate in an assertive, intelligent and savvy manner.
I admit, as an undergraduate and student government representative at UA, I was constantly told that he was inaccessible, cold and had little regard for students. But in these tough times for education, Crow seems to be the person we need most.
Crow has been unafraid to be brutally honest about the consequences of such cuts, and understands the importance of calling all students to immediate action. He has been forceful and unrelenting in calling out the short-sightedness of many of Arizona’s legislators. And most importantly, he has shown that he is willing to compromise, but not sacrifice the important foundation of higher education.
Now, as a law student at ASU, I am proud to have Michael Crow as the University’s president and our “Bulldog on the Budget.” And it seems now, more then ever, Crow not only needs our support, but [also] deserves it.
Tyler Carrell
Graduate student
Debunking myths about Israel
(In response to Todd Phillips’ Friday column “Intolerance in Israel”)
Todd Phillips’ opinion essay, based on a Birthright tour, begins with an assertion that “Israel is an essentially Western nation” and “most of its citizens have family from the West.” This is a factual error.
The vast majority of the country’s citizens have no family from Western countries. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the most reliable data source, only about one-quarter of the county’s residents today have Euro-American family origins. Within the Jewish population, Mizrachim (Asian and Africans) surpassed Ashkenazim (Europeans) in number during the 1970s. U.S.-born Jews are one of the smallest population groups in the country.
The “Western-ness” of Israel is a persistent social myth. One must step off the tour bus route, into urban ethnic neighborhoods and small towns, to learn about the country’s highly diverse and syncretic cultures.
Joe Lockard
Faculty
