Letters to the Editor

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.
Lack of respect Lewis Chaitov
I’m a proud U.S.-Canadian dual citizen and United States veteran, and this past weekend while covering the York Lions volleyball game for the Excalibur, I saw something that should never have happened. The staff of the York University radio station CHRY, sitting in public view with the rest of us, never stood for Canada’s national anthem, despite the fact an announcement asked everyone to please rise and remove their hats for it.
I have attended many professional and amateur games in my lifetime, in the roles of both writer and spectator, and I have never seen this lack of respect from a professional on a job. You don’t have to be a citizen of that country or even like that country, but respect is due. The radio station needs to put a bulletin out to their staff advising them of the proper proce- dures; or even better, they should take out an ad in the Excalibur apologizing for their lack of respect in this matter.
Save democracy Shelley Abadi; William Dykeman; Greg Malyk; Eric Redinger; Royi Shelef
I would like to thank you and the administration for your efforts in ensuring the York Federation of Students has democratic, orderly and responsible conduct of elections.
As a York University student, I strongly believe that transparency, fairness and integrity in the election process, as well as the possibility of orderly and democratic change, must be ensured for the benefit of all of our students. This is why the report by university ombudsperson John McCamus was an integral first step in ensuring that YFS elections are in adherence with Presidential Regulation 4.
The report recommended 22 election procedures, processes and practices that should be implemented in future elections in order to ensure transparency, fairness and the avoidance of conflicts of interests. We believe it is in the best interest of all York students that these measures be adopted.
Unfortunately, it appears as though the YFS executives are of a different opinion. Although the YFS claimed the ombudsperson’s recommendations were implemented, most of them were not. In fact the newly proposed bylaws were regressive in some aspects.
I believe it is imperative the elections process be transparent, fair and democratic. I therefore urge the administration to insist all of the recommendations made by the ombudsman be implemented in the spirit of ensuring a fair and democratic election process with no new clauses added to subvert these recommendations.
Democracy at York Vanessa Hunt, YFS v-p student life; Robert Cerjanec, Founders College Council president; Sam Heaton, Carleton Uni- versity Students Association v-p students services; Jagat Jasani [aka DJ Knoxx]; Subangan Bama- kanthan; Denis Campbell; Anu Chandrakumar; Garfield Garwood; Afshan Golriz; Sahabthan Jesuthasan; Mateen Khalid; Sarah Khan; Andrea Mazzochi; Gayle McFadden; Esomchukwu Ok- para; Travis Pereira; Jenny Sellathurai; Saibrun- tha Subramaniam; Aloysius Sychangco; Babitha Thampinathan; Natalia Weiss; Jesse Zimmerman
I am writing to you in support of the new YFS election by-laws that were recently voted upon at our last Annual General Meeting and to ask that the York administration respect the democratic will of undergraduate students at York University.
Over the past several years, participation in the student union’s democratic process has been extremely high. However, a small number of individuals who are unsatisfied with the democratic decisions of students on this campus are attempting to make you believe that there is widespread disenfranchisement occurring. I, along with the more than 8,000 students that vote every year, disagree.
Democratic renewal is alive and vibrant within the YFS. Students are regularly consulted and participate in all levels of decision-making, recently voting to implement 40 new changes to the elections by-laws of the YFS. Students have the right to determine the rules that govern their own student union. In fact, it is participation in developing and adopting these by-laws that truly showcases the democratic renewal of the student union.
The YFS has gone over and beyond the principles behind Presidential Regulation 4 to ensure democratic renewal. I encourage the senior administration to respect the autonomy of students to organize themselves and to work cooperatively with the students’ union and to not be distracted by the political agenda of a handful of students who were unsuccessful candidates in previous elections.
“Hypocrisy Mobs”
opinions» jan.12, 2011
Controversial content Jake Goldstein
I am disappointed by Excalibur’s decision to publish Jesse Zimmerman’s cartoon “Hypocrisy Mobs.” It is quite clear Zimmerman has either never been to a pro-Israel rally at York, or is intentionally misconstruing the facts. After attending such rallies myself, I can assure you no one is shouting “Die Gaza!” or anything of the like.
Excal has covered rallies such as the protest against the Galloway event, and knows that Zimmerman’s depiction of them is false, yet Excal published the cartoon anyhow.
The Excal editorial board has a responsibility to employ greater discretion and publish only tasteful, relevant and factually accurate letters, instead of simply the most controversial content.