Vote on '.xxx' Internet address nears By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
Fri Mar 23, 6:31 PM ET
NEW YORK - Online pornographers and religious groups are in a rare alliance as a key Internet oversight agency nears a decision on creating a virtual red-light district through a ".xxx" Internet address. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which has already rejected similar proposals twice since 2000, planned to vote as early as next week on whether to approve the domain name for voluntary use by porn sites.
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The decision ultimately could hinge on whether ".xxx" has the support of the adult-entertainment industry — and many porn sites have been strongly opposed.
"One of the criteria is that it (must) have general support among the industry it's supposed to serve, and it does not," said Mark Kernes, a board member with the industry trade group Free Speech Coalition. "I have not met one single webmaster or adult video producer that is in favor of `.xxx,' and I've met a lot of them."
Porn sites are largely concerned that the domain name, while billed as voluntary, would make it easier for governments to later mandate its use and "essentially ghettoize sexual information on the Web," Kernes said.
ICM Registry Inc., the company behind the proposal, has vowed to fight any government efforts to compel its use and cited preregistrations of some 76,000 names as evidence of support. Kernes said many Web sites reserved names simply to prevent someone else from having it.
The Free Speech Coalition believes a domain name for kids-friendly sites would be more appropriate.
Given its voluntary nature, ".xxx" is unlikely to have much effect on parents' ability to block porn sites.
And because a domain name serves merely as an easy-to-remember moniker for a site's actual numeric Internet address, even if a government were to mandate its use, a child could simply punch in the numeric address of any blocked ".xxx" name.
Religious groups worry that ".xxx" would legitimize and expand the number of adults sites, which more than a third of U.S. Internet users visit each month, according to comScore Media Metrix. The Web site measurement firm said 4 percent of all Web traffic and 2 percent of all time spent Web surfing involved an adult site.
"They will keep their `.com' domains, and I have no doubt they will buy their `.xxx' as well," said Patrick Trueman, special counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian public-interest law firm. "There will be twice as much pornography on the Internet."
Trueman and other critics say ICM will be the only beneficiaries.
The startup, founded and funded by four entrepreneurs with backgrounds in domain names and U.K. Internet companies, plans to charge $60 to register a name — 10 times the fees for ".com." Ten dollars of it would go to a companion nonprofit group that would set policies for ".xxx" use and recommend business practices for combating child pornography and promoting child safety.
ICANN tabled and effectively rejected a similar proposal in 2000 out of fear the ".xxx" domain would force the body into content regulation.
ICM resubmitted its proposal in 2004, this time structuring it with a policy-setting organization to free ICANN of that task. But many board members worried that the language of the proposed contract was vague and could kick the task back to ICANN. The board rejected the 2004 proposal last May.
ICANN revived the proposal in January after ICM agreed to hire independent organizations to monitor porn sites' compliance with the new rules, which would be developed by a separate body called the International Foundation for Online Responsibility.
ICM revised it again a month later to clarify ICANN's enforcement abilities and to underscore the independence of the policy-making body.
Despite the vocal opposition, ICM Chairman Stuart Lawley said he preferred a quick vote, adding that the complaints come from "the same people saying the same things time and time again."
"ICM has done more to demonstrate the existence of a strong community than any other application the (ICANN) board has approved," Lawley said. "We have been singled out for special treatment. From the word `go,' ... we were put in the slow lane."
If approved, ICM would be required to help develop mechanisms for promoting child safety and preventing child pornography, and porn sites using ".xxx" would have to participate in a self-rating system, labeling sites based on such criteria as the presence of nudity and whether it is in an artistic or educational context.
ICANN already has discussed the proposal during three, closed-door teleconference meetings this year. It indicated it would be ready to vote at a public meeting next Friday in Lisbon, Portugal.
But delays are possible if ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee raises last-minute objections when it meets next week. Last March, the committee called for stronger language in ICANN's contract with ICM, and Lawley said those points have been addressed in the latest version of the contract.
ICM believes the domain would help the porn industry clean up its act, and Lawley said he has gone through great lengths to put its promises into writing.
"We are confident we have dotted every `i' and crossed every 't,'" he said, "and the contract deserves ratification."
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Showing posts with label debate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debate. Show all posts
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Harvard Club Says "Don't Do It"
Harvard club promotes abstinence By JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Mar 22, 2:39 PM ET
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Sometime between the founding of a student-run porn magazine and the day the campus health center advertised "Free Lube," Harvard University seniors Sarah Kinsella and Justin Murray decided to fight back against what they see as too much mindless sex at the Ivy League school.
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They founded a student group called True Love Revolution to promote abstinence on campus. The group, created earlier this school year, has more than 90 members on its Facebook.com page and drew about half that many to an ice cream social.
Harvard treats sex — or "hooking up" — so casually that "sometimes I wonder if sex is even a remotely serious thing," said Kinsella, who is dating Murray.
Other schools around the country have small groups devoted to abstinence. On most campuses, they are religious organizations. Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have Anscombe Societies, secular organizations named after an English philosopher and Roman Catholic. True Love Revolution is secular as well.
Some feminists, in particular, have criticized True Love Revolution's message.
Harvard student Rebecca Singh said she was offended by a valentine the group sent to the dormitory mailboxes of all freshmen. It read: "Why wait? Because you're worth it."
"I think they thought that we might not be `ruined' yet," Singh said. "It's a symptom of that culture we have that values a woman on her purity. It's a relic."
Others on campus have mocked the group. Murray said his friends take pleasure in loudly, and graphically, discussing their sex lives just to taunt him.
"On campus there is such a strong attitude of pluralism and acceptance, but then it doesn't extend to this," Kinsella said.
In the student paper, The Harvard Crimson, columnist Jessica C. Coggins praised the group's low-key approach and scolded Harvard students for their "laughter at the virgin." She said students on the campus, which has 6,700 undergraduates, should "find a different confidence booster than making fun of celibate peers."
True Love Revolution members say the problem starts with the university. They say Harvard has implicitly led students to believe that having sex at college is a foregone conclusion by requiring incoming freshman to attend a seminar on date-rape that does not mention abstinence, by placing condoms in freshmen dorms, and by hosting racy lecturers. (Harvard students have also launched H-Bomb, a magazine featuring racy photos of undergraduates.)
"Sometimes that voice on campus is so overwhelming that students committed to abstinence almost feel compelled to abandon their convictions," Murray said. He acknowledged he "slipped up" and had sex earlier in college but said he has returned to abstinence with Kinsella.
Dr. David Rosenthal, director of Harvard health services, disputed the notion that the university promotes sex.
He said students mistakenly think everyone on campus is having sex. The National College Health Assessment Survey, which included Harvard and hundreds of other campuses, found that about 29 percent of students reported not having sex in the past school year. For the 71 percent who are having sex, it is crucial to promote safety, Rosenthal said.
"Some students may have a feeling that acknowledgment is condoning," he said, "and it's not."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_re_us/harvard_abstinence
Thu Mar 22, 2:39 PM ET
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Sometime between the founding of a student-run porn magazine and the day the campus health center advertised "Free Lube," Harvard University seniors Sarah Kinsella and Justin Murray decided to fight back against what they see as too much mindless sex at the Ivy League school.
ADVERTISEMENT
They founded a student group called True Love Revolution to promote abstinence on campus. The group, created earlier this school year, has more than 90 members on its Facebook.com page and drew about half that many to an ice cream social.
Harvard treats sex — or "hooking up" — so casually that "sometimes I wonder if sex is even a remotely serious thing," said Kinsella, who is dating Murray.
Other schools around the country have small groups devoted to abstinence. On most campuses, they are religious organizations. Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have Anscombe Societies, secular organizations named after an English philosopher and Roman Catholic. True Love Revolution is secular as well.
Some feminists, in particular, have criticized True Love Revolution's message.
Harvard student Rebecca Singh said she was offended by a valentine the group sent to the dormitory mailboxes of all freshmen. It read: "Why wait? Because you're worth it."
"I think they thought that we might not be `ruined' yet," Singh said. "It's a symptom of that culture we have that values a woman on her purity. It's a relic."
Others on campus have mocked the group. Murray said his friends take pleasure in loudly, and graphically, discussing their sex lives just to taunt him.
"On campus there is such a strong attitude of pluralism and acceptance, but then it doesn't extend to this," Kinsella said.
In the student paper, The Harvard Crimson, columnist Jessica C. Coggins praised the group's low-key approach and scolded Harvard students for their "laughter at the virgin." She said students on the campus, which has 6,700 undergraduates, should "find a different confidence booster than making fun of celibate peers."
True Love Revolution members say the problem starts with the university. They say Harvard has implicitly led students to believe that having sex at college is a foregone conclusion by requiring incoming freshman to attend a seminar on date-rape that does not mention abstinence, by placing condoms in freshmen dorms, and by hosting racy lecturers. (Harvard students have also launched H-Bomb, a magazine featuring racy photos of undergraduates.)
"Sometimes that voice on campus is so overwhelming that students committed to abstinence almost feel compelled to abandon their convictions," Murray said. He acknowledged he "slipped up" and had sex earlier in college but said he has returned to abstinence with Kinsella.
Dr. David Rosenthal, director of Harvard health services, disputed the notion that the university promotes sex.
He said students mistakenly think everyone on campus is having sex. The National College Health Assessment Survey, which included Harvard and hundreds of other campuses, found that about 29 percent of students reported not having sex in the past school year. For the 71 percent who are having sex, it is crucial to promote safety, Rosenthal said.
"Some students may have a feeling that acknowledgment is condoning," he said, "and it's not."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_re_us/harvard_abstinence
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
CCNY Drops Lacrosse
By Michael Spinner
The City College of New York (CCNY) dropped its men's lacrosse program only weeks before its first game of this 2004 season.
You heard me right. After nearly 120 years fielding a mediocre to bad varsity lacrosse program, CCNY finally decided to give it up this week. In their defense, CCNY probably had the worst winning percentage in the NCAA since the 1970's. Only a handful of CCNY laxers in recent memory had ever held a stick before joining the team, let alone played competitively. The fact that most opponents cleared their benches only minutes into each game alone might be justification for ending a tradition that was almost as old as college lacrosse itself.
But worse than all that, even worse than their team name, the Violets, was that it seemed to take the CCNY players forever to finally get out of school and get a job. Believe it or not, most members of this team took 5, 6, and 7 years to graduate. Sometimes more! With so many members of the team taking the better part of a decade to earn their degrees, the administration's call to "put down" this program would seem only logical. That is, if they weren't taking so long to graduate because they were BUSY BECOMING DOCTORS! They were studying to become Engineers. They were earning PhDs.
Let me back track for a moment: If you look into the annals of lacrosse history and the lacrosse Hall of Fame, you will locate the fact that the second oldest college lacrosse team in the United States was at the City College of New York, better known as CCNY. They started in 1888 (just after Stevens Tech I believe), and considering that lacrosse has as much of a following in New York City as Ice Hockey has in Guam, fielding a team there for so many years was quite an accomplishment.
In fact, for a better part of its earlier history, CCNY not only fielded a team but regularly played games against Army, Johns Hopkins, the Ivy League programs, and all of the other powerhouses - and if you don't believe me, the Media Guides of any major program who fielded a team before 1960 will show regular annual games against CCNY. CCNY played these programs for a better part of last century. They didn't win too many of these games, but the fact that they played such legendary programs shows that CCNY lacrosse meant something to many people.
Chief Leon A. Miller was one of those people. You can read all about Chief Miller at the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Chief Miller was the Head Coach at CCNY from 1932-1960 and was an early lacrosse legend, beating regularly the top teams like Navy and Mt. Washington between 1900 and 1905 as a star player at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Talk about tradition - this is a man who helped invent the modern game and he did much of it at CCNY.
George Baron is another one of those people. George was a First Team All-American goalie at CCNY in 1947 and played in the College North-South game that year before embarking on a lifelong dedication to lacrosse that continues to this day. He founded New York City's first program at Jamaica High School during the 1980s and coached there for many years. Now in his 80's, Coach Baron is still coaching as he helps out several High School programs and summer lacrosse camps. His speech on the history of the lacrosse stick is simply amazing to see and if you happen to have the pleasure to meet Coach Baron you would be amazed by what the guy knows. He has seen it all and I could listen to him talk lacrosse all day. Coach Baron is in the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame even though he did not play lacrosse on Long Island, and should be in the National Hall of Fame for his 60 years of dedication to our sport, but like everything else involving Long Island Lacrosse, there are brutal politics. There are many Division I Lacrosse programs to have First Team All-Americans in their history, but many more that do not. CCNY has one.
CCNY went through a lot of changes as an institution over the years. There was a time when CCNY was basically a Harvard for the working man and was considered about as fine of a college as existed at the time. Colin Powell is a CCNY grad. There are hundreds of PhDs, Doctors, Lawyers, Rhodes Scholars, etc., who have a CCNY diploma. Like the rest of the City University of New York system, CCNY's demographic changed considerably during the latter part of the last century, but its academic strength remained the same. People of all colors, religions and nationalities began to become doctors, lawyers and engineers at CCNY, and each year the team still played and represented the whole student body. To be blunt, in a sport that struggles to be less homogenous, CCNY was accomplishing more than anyone without lowering a single academic or athletic standard. To this day CCNY regularly draws the finest New York City kids who cannot afford to go to an expensive private school and offers them a top quality education for pennies on the dollar. Want more info - check out the Sophie Davis Medical Program there. It ranks with the world's elite.
During the latter part of the last century, CCNY's teams were pretty weak, but the program was strong. The lacrosse alumni were such a success as a group that they donated a beautiful Astroturf stadium to the college. The team regularly had 20-25 guys who were not lacrosse players, but they were athletes who played the game hard. They had a coach and volunteer webmaster, Hector Munoz, who was about as classy of a gentleman who ever walked the sidelines. In 1999, I had the opportunity to coach against CCNY, and even though the score was ugly in our favor, Hector was as upbeat as ever and talked about how proud he was of his team. They lost with class, they played hard, and all of them are going to get jobs better than the guys who played for my team because they were mainly Pre-med and Engineering at CCNY.
Not long ago, a new Athletic Director took over at CCNY. His name is Robert Coleman. I don't know Mr. Coleman personally, but I could tell you that his cranial capacity does not possess or allow much room for lacrosse knowledge because at the end of the 2003 season, he fired Hector Munoz after 17 years at the CCNY helm because he felt he needed a Coach who would recruit better players and win some more games. He never considered that a school with a 100% commuter population, located in a less-than-flattering area of New York City, where there are only a handful of High School teams has almost no chance of ever recruiting High School seniors to play lacrosse. Coleman needed only to browse the program's won-loss record before making his decision.
He must have thought, "This program does not win - we need a new coach." It didn't matter that the lacrosse alumni were so successful in life. He wanted wins. So, he hired a new Coach, Frank Romeo. Romeo was the Head Coach at New York Maritime during the mid 1990s … and we all know what a powerhouse NY Maritime was back then. Of course, he was "the right man for the job."
Barely six months on the job, Romeo had accomplished so much that two weeks before a full slate of 2004 games was to begin the program was dropped. Next year, they might be a club team, but maybe not.
So, let's look at the progress here. 116 years of producing men of character who were accomplishing in life well above what the average college lacrosse program was producing. 116 years of alumni who have utilized their overall experience at CCNY to become wealthy, successful, and proud of their institution - and anybody who ever attended a CCNY alumni game knows exactly what I am talking about. 116 years later, they fire a coach who was doing a great job and always fielded a team to hire a guy who could not accomplish as much and may have ruined the program.
Am I missing something here?
Detractors will say that the CCNY program absolutely stunk on the field and that is true. And, chances are that CCNY would have never fielded a top quality college lacrosse program. But, is that the point? Is this ALL about winning and losing? Is the sole purpose of fielding a college team of any kind to win? Or is it to provide a student-athlete with the opportunity to play a sport, represent the school and develop their bodies and minds in and out of a crowded New York City classroom?
If the purpose of college athletics, especially on the Division III level at an urban commuter campus with high academic standards, is less about winning and more about education, than the CCNY program for 116 years was about as successful as any program in the country even while losing so many times. And the fact that they had a coach for 17 years who preached dignity, class, and enthusiasm meant that the athletes were being educated even in losing. And now, the tradition is over because an administrator thought he knew best when he was simply ignorant. In a sport that values and honors tradition as lacrosse does, we all will feel some sense of loss when we learn of the program's demise, even though the sport itself will not be impacted by the lack of a program at CCNY. It will, however, impact the young men who, each year, won't be experiencing lacrosse's competitiveness, commitment, camaraderie, and loyalties on that turf field which represented 116 years of CCNY doing it right. Now it is over because of an administrator who could not have done things more wrong.
To what ends do they aspire? St. John's University, Baylor University, Iowa State University and the University of Colorado are all more accomplished on the courts, fields, television airways and ticket offices than CCNY teams could ever dream of being. Are they more successful programs?
St. John's basically had to end their season because a bunch of players decided to go to a strip club and then brought a woman back to their hotel and had a sex party. Underage players at a strip club after curfew meant big-time suspensions and even expulsions but the program will be back at full strength next season.
Iowa State University's Basketball Coach Larry Eustachy was fired a little more than a year ago because he was drinking with college kids, and not on only one occasion. He was the highest paid state employee in Iowa but could not find anybody to party with. The poor guy is gone but the program lives on.
The Colorado Football program has its own special prosecutor appointed by the Colorado State's Attorney's Office. The 4 year scandal, highlighted by six allegations of rape, an insensitive and sexist rant in public by the now-suspended coach Gary Barnett and many accusations of recruiting parties featuring paid strippers and prostitutes, will not stop the grand tradition of Buffaloes football. And, of course, the dollars are too attractive and addictive. The fact that most Colorado football players never actually earn a degree won't be considered for a moment and there is a pretty good chance that Barnett will be back on the sidelines in the fall with a damn good team.
While the Baylor University basketball team was beating Texas A&M this week, the schools independent investigation accused last year's already-fired coach of allowing improper payments to students, including a player who was killed last summer by a jealous teammate.
We have reached the point in college athletics where you can get away with everything even murder as long as your team wins, but if your team is losing or unprofitable, you are out - regardless of the educational value of the athletics experience. In the new college athletics culture, the kids do not matter. Integrity and education do not matter. Tradition does not matter. It's all about the W's and the dollars, even after 116 years of proving otherwise. CCNY's current administration inherited a great wealth that belonged to the sport and the state, but they did not value it or understand it. They entrusted it carelessly and then tossed it in the trash when they broke it. And they were ashamed of losing ball games?
Oh, and by the way, the members of the CCNY Lacrosse teams I watched over the years never lost a game no matter what the scoreboard said. They won at life and are very much enjoying victory to this day.
Team and Alumni photos from the CCNY Lax web site.
February 28, 2003
YOUR MAIL
First of all thanks for the article. The last two seasons at CCNY were the hardest for me, especially the last one. It was due mainly to the many battles my assistant (Brad Meetze, Oswego) and I had in order to field a team. Would you believe that Brad and I shoveled snow off the turf after the first snow storm in order to have a small area to practice on. When we were hit by the second snow storm there was too much snow for us to remove. The "03" team was least prepared team I have ever fielded at CCNY due to lack of quality practices. Practicing on a small side court for basketball does not teach a team, defense, offense, transition, riding and clearing for a game that is played on a field the size of a soccer field. We had no scrimmages because of the snow. So you can see why the team had difficulties.
I really want to write about one of the e-mails written to you by Brett Smith. In his e-mail he wrote, "In fact, Mr. Munoz had been disassociated with the program for a long time before Mr. Romeo accepted the position." The fact is that I was informed that I would not be re-signed in the middle of May. During the fall I was in contact with some of the players to find out how things were going with team and in contact with Doug Marino and George Baron, who have been involved with saving the program since my release. Just last week I was at City, met the new coach, spoke to the lacrosse players on helping the coach to recruit athletes on campus while he recruits off campus. I made it quite clear that the lacrosse alumni is working very hard for the team, but their help is needed. While I was there three young men showed up to speak to the coach about joining the team and one of them had played in high school. I feel that Mr. Smith is not aware that I am an alumnus of CCNY. So how can I disassociate myself from my alma mater. Maybe Mr. Smith should have done some research on his part before writing the above statement.
I have never met Mr. Frank Romeo and I have no idea what kind of a person he is. The one thing I can tell you about him, if he were the coach right now I would have done the same thing for him that I did for the new coach. I was there for the players and the program.
Once again thank you for the article,
Hector, Sr.
IN DEFENSE OF FRANK ROMEO
Michael,
I read with great dismay your article of February 28, 2004 regarding the CCNY lacrosse program. Not only is your derogatory tone overtly supercilious and unnecessary, you repetitively contradict yourself and make misinformed statements. I have followed many family members and close friends in the lacrosse world on e-lacrosse for years. Never have I found the site so lacking in class as I did upon reviewing your article.
Your respect and friendship for Coach Munoz is apparent and no reader can fault you for this. Surely, Coach Munoz did a wonderful job if was able to teach pride and diligence to his athletes. You stoop too low is your blatant defamation of Mr. Romeo, however. CCNY is certainly a difficult place to recruit given its "less-than-flattering area of New York City" and "100% commuter population" as you so respectfully state. What can one expect from ANY coach inheriting such a program in late August? I challenge you to turn the eye inward and seriously ponder if you are able to produce anything different given similar circumstances? Mr. Romeo was, in fact, only "six months on the job." How dare you make such an attack against anyone. Your implications are that a better coach could have produced more. Do you seriously believe this to be true? Perhaps one of the top-five D-I coaches would have been more suited for the challenge? Would they have been able to recruit more players in the FALL when 99.9% of the student population is attending a college of their choice?
You make no mention of the position being part-time. You make no mention of the lack of facilities and support athletics receive at the school. You make no mention of the FACT that Mr. Rome had SIX eligible players on his roster. You fail to mention the FACT that Mr. Romeo inherited a program with myriad problems and that he had NOTHING to do with the termination of Mr. Munoz. In fact, Mr. Munoz had been disassociated with the program for a long time before Mr. Romeo accepted the position. You do not mention Mr. Romeo's extensive knowledge of the game or passion to help young people grow and mature. No, these do not support your personal crusade to help a friend in a time of shame. Of course, this type of information requires speaking to Mr. Romeo. This you failed to do.
Michael, I cannot express enough my total disgust in your obvious defamation of perhaps the most honest, hard-working, genuine man I know. Perhaps if you took the time to COMPLETE your research and actually speak to ALL parties involved in the story, your journalism would be more representative of the truth. I hope you will realize your error in slandering Frank Romeo's name. I think many people expect you to correct this misrepresentation with a few words on your classy website. This is not too much to ask considering Mr. Romeo has done nothing but try to help a staggering program.
I wish you well in your future endeavors to present the truth to your readers. That is what journalism is about, right?
Brett Smith
p.s.- Your derogatory implication of Division III athletics did not go unnoticed.
Mike,
Just read your article regarding CCNY Lacrosse....I found it very informative and really liked the fact that you stood up for a program that never won (on the field). I do however question one part of the article, your accusation that Frank Romeo ran the program into the ground. I personally have known Frank since our freshman year at Roanoke College (played together for four years) ...the way it was explained to me from Frank a few weeks ago.... he was dealt a program in ruin and had little chance of getting enough kids to participate to field a team. I'm sure there are two sides to every story but I think Frank should have the right to defend himself before the story is posted on e-lacrosse. Like I said before I really did enjoy your article I just do not want this to affect Frank's ability to do something he trully cares for (staying involved in the sport of lacrosse).
Thanks,
Colin McGahren
Mike,
Hope all is well with you. Things here at Roanoke are fine except it is pouring down rain today and we have a game at 3:30! I guess it is better than snow!
I read your recent article about CCNY dropping lacrosse. Like you, I hate to see any program drop from varsity to club status. I was especially interested in your article because Frank Romeo, the CCNY coach, played for me here at Roanoke College.
It appears that you did a tremendous job investigating the events at CCNY except for your assertions that Frank Romeo may have somehow caused the program to be dropped from varsity status. I have spoken to Frank on several occasions about the situation at CCNY and you should have spoken to him yourself before writing the article. I don't know anyone at CCNY and cannot make assumptions or lay blame on anyone up there. I do however, know Frank Romeo and he is a fantastic person who only accepted the job at CCNY as a "labor of love" for lacrosse. He wanted to have a team in place and was prepared to do so but tremendous obstacles stand in his way. He is a great lacrosse person, willing to accept little pay for late nights, long hours and much heartache coaching, playing, teaching the game we love. From what Frank has told me, he did everything possible to have a team in place this Spring and in the future but was offered little assistance or encouragement.
I know that Frank is upset about some of your statements in the article and I am enclosing his email address in the event you want to reach out to him for some more information on the situation at CCNY.
Thanks for reading my note and see you soon.
Coach Pilat, Roanoke College
THE LATEST
E-Lacrosse,
I spoke with Mr. Coleman today and he informed me that the team is still playing only at a club level. I guess this is better then no team at all. He has received soo many emails regarding this issue.! I hope the team gets reinstated next year.
Thanks for all you do for lacrosse
Neil Solloway
VIOLET'S ARE BLUE…
I must congratulate you on your great article. (The team name, however, is the Beavers, (Violets are NYU). CCNY colors are Black & Lavendar).
I did read it with a trembling heart, though. It was the first I heard that my Lacrosse team had been ended!
I played at CCNY from 1965 to 1971. We fielded respectable teams (of course our record seems to improve over the years). My closest friends are my teammates from almost 40 years ago! We are in a variety of professions: medical, education, social services, business….. We have been in close contact with the lacrosse program throughout the years. Lacrosse alumni were the major contributors to the athletic field at the college. (A bit of ancient history: Felix Frankfurter, a former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court was a CCNY Lacrosse player.) Alumni have served as mentors to varsity players and have assisted them in starting their careers.
Being a member of a team made my attendance at this large university more personal. I had connections with teammates and coaches (George Baron and Sy Kalman). My fervor for the college kept me active in the Alumni Association and I served as its President for two years.
As an education administrator, I have been interviewed for a variety of positions. I always included the statement "As a member of a team, I know when to be a contributing part of a team and when to step forward to be the team leader". I learned this from my team participation. I hope that this program, filled with rich tradition, can be reinstated.
Jon DeLise, CCNY 1971
NICE JOB
Mike,
I want to thank you for the article on CCNY. This is what sports should be about in this day and age. It is not about the "W" in the win column but the fact that they come together each and every day as a team. I think that CCNY officials missed the boat on this program by dismantling it. They should have realized that they where graduating well rounded proud citizens into the community from this program. This is shown by the gift of the Astroturf field that the alumni purchased for the program. They might not have been the best skilled players but they had heart and dedication to a team and a game.
The administrators at this school and any school talk about how they stress academics over anything else. What they don't realize is that with out the focus of team building skills from sports they loose the well rounded aspect of the student athlete. I know this first hand being a past student athlete. I was part of the lacrosse program at Radford University which was also dismantled do to a college president's lack of understanding. I am proud to be Radford University lacrosse alum, and I am fighting to get a program back there. They have club but that is not good enough. I think people need to be aware that even though Lacrosse is not a money sport it still builds off of the same principles as well as ideals that are set forth by the NCAA. The bottom line is college president's need to be educated about the sports that build character, not the schools bank account.
Thanks again for the article
Chris Munz
E-Lacrosse,
What a fantastic story. As a native New Yorker who never saw a lacrosse game until I played baseball out on the Island and now a transplanted Marylander whose son played at Western Maryland under Coach Keith Reitenbach for 4 years, it hurts to see tradition die. College sports today have gone off the deep end. Teams recruiting using strippers. Teams with more criminals on the team then are in the local jail. If they want to maintain the credibility of the process they need to eliminate special preference to jocks and make them compete to get into school to prepare for life in the real world. Obviously CCNY does that everyday. This was a school whose basketball teams were incredible until they were rocked by a scandal. They now have things in the right perspective. Thank you for the story!
James F. Coleman
Mike,
That is indeed a wonderful article about CCNY! I do hope that the new AD Robert Coleman reads the article. You have touched on the many positives that lacrosse brings our student-athletes no matter the school, nor the season record!
Thank you!
Brooks Singer, Head Coach Catholic U (Men's D3, Washington, DC)
The latest Spin on E-Lacrosse: Past Columns
Spinner on 360 and Joining E-Lacrosse
Title IX After 30 Years
Are Camps Out Of Control?
Go west, Young Fan.
Promoting the Pros: A Major League Circus
Grades and Sports: Powell's Not The Problem.
Thoughts on September 11, 2002
Women's Lacrosse: Farewell to the Stall
2002 Yale Fall Tournament
A Good Year For "Timmy Mac"
Is Petro Gambling With the 2003 Schedule
The Landon Cheating Scandal
Red Storm Rising
2002 Review & 2003 Punditries and Predictions
Is Football the New Enemy?
Fear and Loathing in Lacrosse Retail
Division II Comes of Age
California Dreamin': Whittier Has To Win The Title
college Lacrosse: What's The Big Story of 2003?
Bergey for Tewaaraton & final-Four Observations
The Goggles Are Coming!
What In The World Is Going On At Duke?
A New Conference?
Pro Lax at Lacrosse Roads.
The DIII Debacle.
Does The Punishment Fit The Crime?
Philly Gets The Nod.
National Development Program
2004 Punditry & Predictions
CCNY Drops Lacrosse
http://www.e-lacrosse.com/2004/spin/28.html
The City College of New York (CCNY) dropped its men's lacrosse program only weeks before its first game of this 2004 season.
You heard me right. After nearly 120 years fielding a mediocre to bad varsity lacrosse program, CCNY finally decided to give it up this week. In their defense, CCNY probably had the worst winning percentage in the NCAA since the 1970's. Only a handful of CCNY laxers in recent memory had ever held a stick before joining the team, let alone played competitively. The fact that most opponents cleared their benches only minutes into each game alone might be justification for ending a tradition that was almost as old as college lacrosse itself.
But worse than all that, even worse than their team name, the Violets, was that it seemed to take the CCNY players forever to finally get out of school and get a job. Believe it or not, most members of this team took 5, 6, and 7 years to graduate. Sometimes more! With so many members of the team taking the better part of a decade to earn their degrees, the administration's call to "put down" this program would seem only logical. That is, if they weren't taking so long to graduate because they were BUSY BECOMING DOCTORS! They were studying to become Engineers. They were earning PhDs.
Let me back track for a moment: If you look into the annals of lacrosse history and the lacrosse Hall of Fame, you will locate the fact that the second oldest college lacrosse team in the United States was at the City College of New York, better known as CCNY. They started in 1888 (just after Stevens Tech I believe), and considering that lacrosse has as much of a following in New York City as Ice Hockey has in Guam, fielding a team there for so many years was quite an accomplishment.
In fact, for a better part of its earlier history, CCNY not only fielded a team but regularly played games against Army, Johns Hopkins, the Ivy League programs, and all of the other powerhouses - and if you don't believe me, the Media Guides of any major program who fielded a team before 1960 will show regular annual games against CCNY. CCNY played these programs for a better part of last century. They didn't win too many of these games, but the fact that they played such legendary programs shows that CCNY lacrosse meant something to many people.
Chief Leon A. Miller was one of those people. You can read all about Chief Miller at the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Chief Miller was the Head Coach at CCNY from 1932-1960 and was an early lacrosse legend, beating regularly the top teams like Navy and Mt. Washington between 1900 and 1905 as a star player at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Talk about tradition - this is a man who helped invent the modern game and he did much of it at CCNY.
George Baron is another one of those people. George was a First Team All-American goalie at CCNY in 1947 and played in the College North-South game that year before embarking on a lifelong dedication to lacrosse that continues to this day. He founded New York City's first program at Jamaica High School during the 1980s and coached there for many years. Now in his 80's, Coach Baron is still coaching as he helps out several High School programs and summer lacrosse camps. His speech on the history of the lacrosse stick is simply amazing to see and if you happen to have the pleasure to meet Coach Baron you would be amazed by what the guy knows. He has seen it all and I could listen to him talk lacrosse all day. Coach Baron is in the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame even though he did not play lacrosse on Long Island, and should be in the National Hall of Fame for his 60 years of dedication to our sport, but like everything else involving Long Island Lacrosse, there are brutal politics. There are many Division I Lacrosse programs to have First Team All-Americans in their history, but many more that do not. CCNY has one.
CCNY went through a lot of changes as an institution over the years. There was a time when CCNY was basically a Harvard for the working man and was considered about as fine of a college as existed at the time. Colin Powell is a CCNY grad. There are hundreds of PhDs, Doctors, Lawyers, Rhodes Scholars, etc., who have a CCNY diploma. Like the rest of the City University of New York system, CCNY's demographic changed considerably during the latter part of the last century, but its academic strength remained the same. People of all colors, religions and nationalities began to become doctors, lawyers and engineers at CCNY, and each year the team still played and represented the whole student body. To be blunt, in a sport that struggles to be less homogenous, CCNY was accomplishing more than anyone without lowering a single academic or athletic standard. To this day CCNY regularly draws the finest New York City kids who cannot afford to go to an expensive private school and offers them a top quality education for pennies on the dollar. Want more info - check out the Sophie Davis Medical Program there. It ranks with the world's elite.
During the latter part of the last century, CCNY's teams were pretty weak, but the program was strong. The lacrosse alumni were such a success as a group that they donated a beautiful Astroturf stadium to the college. The team regularly had 20-25 guys who were not lacrosse players, but they were athletes who played the game hard. They had a coach and volunteer webmaster, Hector Munoz, who was about as classy of a gentleman who ever walked the sidelines. In 1999, I had the opportunity to coach against CCNY, and even though the score was ugly in our favor, Hector was as upbeat as ever and talked about how proud he was of his team. They lost with class, they played hard, and all of them are going to get jobs better than the guys who played for my team because they were mainly Pre-med and Engineering at CCNY.
Not long ago, a new Athletic Director took over at CCNY. His name is Robert Coleman. I don't know Mr. Coleman personally, but I could tell you that his cranial capacity does not possess or allow much room for lacrosse knowledge because at the end of the 2003 season, he fired Hector Munoz after 17 years at the CCNY helm because he felt he needed a Coach who would recruit better players and win some more games. He never considered that a school with a 100% commuter population, located in a less-than-flattering area of New York City, where there are only a handful of High School teams has almost no chance of ever recruiting High School seniors to play lacrosse. Coleman needed only to browse the program's won-loss record before making his decision.
He must have thought, "This program does not win - we need a new coach." It didn't matter that the lacrosse alumni were so successful in life. He wanted wins. So, he hired a new Coach, Frank Romeo. Romeo was the Head Coach at New York Maritime during the mid 1990s … and we all know what a powerhouse NY Maritime was back then. Of course, he was "the right man for the job."
Barely six months on the job, Romeo had accomplished so much that two weeks before a full slate of 2004 games was to begin the program was dropped. Next year, they might be a club team, but maybe not.
So, let's look at the progress here. 116 years of producing men of character who were accomplishing in life well above what the average college lacrosse program was producing. 116 years of alumni who have utilized their overall experience at CCNY to become wealthy, successful, and proud of their institution - and anybody who ever attended a CCNY alumni game knows exactly what I am talking about. 116 years later, they fire a coach who was doing a great job and always fielded a team to hire a guy who could not accomplish as much and may have ruined the program.
Am I missing something here?
Detractors will say that the CCNY program absolutely stunk on the field and that is true. And, chances are that CCNY would have never fielded a top quality college lacrosse program. But, is that the point? Is this ALL about winning and losing? Is the sole purpose of fielding a college team of any kind to win? Or is it to provide a student-athlete with the opportunity to play a sport, represent the school and develop their bodies and minds in and out of a crowded New York City classroom?
If the purpose of college athletics, especially on the Division III level at an urban commuter campus with high academic standards, is less about winning and more about education, than the CCNY program for 116 years was about as successful as any program in the country even while losing so many times. And the fact that they had a coach for 17 years who preached dignity, class, and enthusiasm meant that the athletes were being educated even in losing. And now, the tradition is over because an administrator thought he knew best when he was simply ignorant. In a sport that values and honors tradition as lacrosse does, we all will feel some sense of loss when we learn of the program's demise, even though the sport itself will not be impacted by the lack of a program at CCNY. It will, however, impact the young men who, each year, won't be experiencing lacrosse's competitiveness, commitment, camaraderie, and loyalties on that turf field which represented 116 years of CCNY doing it right. Now it is over because of an administrator who could not have done things more wrong.
To what ends do they aspire? St. John's University, Baylor University, Iowa State University and the University of Colorado are all more accomplished on the courts, fields, television airways and ticket offices than CCNY teams could ever dream of being. Are they more successful programs?
St. John's basically had to end their season because a bunch of players decided to go to a strip club and then brought a woman back to their hotel and had a sex party. Underage players at a strip club after curfew meant big-time suspensions and even expulsions but the program will be back at full strength next season.
Iowa State University's Basketball Coach Larry Eustachy was fired a little more than a year ago because he was drinking with college kids, and not on only one occasion. He was the highest paid state employee in Iowa but could not find anybody to party with. The poor guy is gone but the program lives on.
The Colorado Football program has its own special prosecutor appointed by the Colorado State's Attorney's Office. The 4 year scandal, highlighted by six allegations of rape, an insensitive and sexist rant in public by the now-suspended coach Gary Barnett and many accusations of recruiting parties featuring paid strippers and prostitutes, will not stop the grand tradition of Buffaloes football. And, of course, the dollars are too attractive and addictive. The fact that most Colorado football players never actually earn a degree won't be considered for a moment and there is a pretty good chance that Barnett will be back on the sidelines in the fall with a damn good team.
While the Baylor University basketball team was beating Texas A&M this week, the schools independent investigation accused last year's already-fired coach of allowing improper payments to students, including a player who was killed last summer by a jealous teammate.
We have reached the point in college athletics where you can get away with everything even murder as long as your team wins, but if your team is losing or unprofitable, you are out - regardless of the educational value of the athletics experience. In the new college athletics culture, the kids do not matter. Integrity and education do not matter. Tradition does not matter. It's all about the W's and the dollars, even after 116 years of proving otherwise. CCNY's current administration inherited a great wealth that belonged to the sport and the state, but they did not value it or understand it. They entrusted it carelessly and then tossed it in the trash when they broke it. And they were ashamed of losing ball games?
Oh, and by the way, the members of the CCNY Lacrosse teams I watched over the years never lost a game no matter what the scoreboard said. They won at life and are very much enjoying victory to this day.
Team and Alumni photos from the CCNY Lax web site.
February 28, 2003
YOUR MAIL
First of all thanks for the article. The last two seasons at CCNY were the hardest for me, especially the last one. It was due mainly to the many battles my assistant (Brad Meetze, Oswego) and I had in order to field a team. Would you believe that Brad and I shoveled snow off the turf after the first snow storm in order to have a small area to practice on. When we were hit by the second snow storm there was too much snow for us to remove. The "03" team was least prepared team I have ever fielded at CCNY due to lack of quality practices. Practicing on a small side court for basketball does not teach a team, defense, offense, transition, riding and clearing for a game that is played on a field the size of a soccer field. We had no scrimmages because of the snow. So you can see why the team had difficulties.
I really want to write about one of the e-mails written to you by Brett Smith. In his e-mail he wrote, "In fact, Mr. Munoz had been disassociated with the program for a long time before Mr. Romeo accepted the position." The fact is that I was informed that I would not be re-signed in the middle of May. During the fall I was in contact with some of the players to find out how things were going with team and in contact with Doug Marino and George Baron, who have been involved with saving the program since my release. Just last week I was at City, met the new coach, spoke to the lacrosse players on helping the coach to recruit athletes on campus while he recruits off campus. I made it quite clear that the lacrosse alumni is working very hard for the team, but their help is needed. While I was there three young men showed up to speak to the coach about joining the team and one of them had played in high school. I feel that Mr. Smith is not aware that I am an alumnus of CCNY. So how can I disassociate myself from my alma mater. Maybe Mr. Smith should have done some research on his part before writing the above statement.
I have never met Mr. Frank Romeo and I have no idea what kind of a person he is. The one thing I can tell you about him, if he were the coach right now I would have done the same thing for him that I did for the new coach. I was there for the players and the program.
Once again thank you for the article,
Hector, Sr.
IN DEFENSE OF FRANK ROMEO
Michael,
I read with great dismay your article of February 28, 2004 regarding the CCNY lacrosse program. Not only is your derogatory tone overtly supercilious and unnecessary, you repetitively contradict yourself and make misinformed statements. I have followed many family members and close friends in the lacrosse world on e-lacrosse for years. Never have I found the site so lacking in class as I did upon reviewing your article.
Your respect and friendship for Coach Munoz is apparent and no reader can fault you for this. Surely, Coach Munoz did a wonderful job if was able to teach pride and diligence to his athletes. You stoop too low is your blatant defamation of Mr. Romeo, however. CCNY is certainly a difficult place to recruit given its "less-than-flattering area of New York City" and "100% commuter population" as you so respectfully state. What can one expect from ANY coach inheriting such a program in late August? I challenge you to turn the eye inward and seriously ponder if you are able to produce anything different given similar circumstances? Mr. Romeo was, in fact, only "six months on the job." How dare you make such an attack against anyone. Your implications are that a better coach could have produced more. Do you seriously believe this to be true? Perhaps one of the top-five D-I coaches would have been more suited for the challenge? Would they have been able to recruit more players in the FALL when 99.9% of the student population is attending a college of their choice?
You make no mention of the position being part-time. You make no mention of the lack of facilities and support athletics receive at the school. You make no mention of the FACT that Mr. Rome had SIX eligible players on his roster. You fail to mention the FACT that Mr. Romeo inherited a program with myriad problems and that he had NOTHING to do with the termination of Mr. Munoz. In fact, Mr. Munoz had been disassociated with the program for a long time before Mr. Romeo accepted the position. You do not mention Mr. Romeo's extensive knowledge of the game or passion to help young people grow and mature. No, these do not support your personal crusade to help a friend in a time of shame. Of course, this type of information requires speaking to Mr. Romeo. This you failed to do.
Michael, I cannot express enough my total disgust in your obvious defamation of perhaps the most honest, hard-working, genuine man I know. Perhaps if you took the time to COMPLETE your research and actually speak to ALL parties involved in the story, your journalism would be more representative of the truth. I hope you will realize your error in slandering Frank Romeo's name. I think many people expect you to correct this misrepresentation with a few words on your classy website. This is not too much to ask considering Mr. Romeo has done nothing but try to help a staggering program.
I wish you well in your future endeavors to present the truth to your readers. That is what journalism is about, right?
Brett Smith
p.s.- Your derogatory implication of Division III athletics did not go unnoticed.
Mike,
Just read your article regarding CCNY Lacrosse....I found it very informative and really liked the fact that you stood up for a program that never won (on the field). I do however question one part of the article, your accusation that Frank Romeo ran the program into the ground. I personally have known Frank since our freshman year at Roanoke College (played together for four years) ...the way it was explained to me from Frank a few weeks ago.... he was dealt a program in ruin and had little chance of getting enough kids to participate to field a team. I'm sure there are two sides to every story but I think Frank should have the right to defend himself before the story is posted on e-lacrosse. Like I said before I really did enjoy your article I just do not want this to affect Frank's ability to do something he trully cares for (staying involved in the sport of lacrosse).
Thanks,
Colin McGahren
Mike,
Hope all is well with you. Things here at Roanoke are fine except it is pouring down rain today and we have a game at 3:30! I guess it is better than snow!
I read your recent article about CCNY dropping lacrosse. Like you, I hate to see any program drop from varsity to club status. I was especially interested in your article because Frank Romeo, the CCNY coach, played for me here at Roanoke College.
It appears that you did a tremendous job investigating the events at CCNY except for your assertions that Frank Romeo may have somehow caused the program to be dropped from varsity status. I have spoken to Frank on several occasions about the situation at CCNY and you should have spoken to him yourself before writing the article. I don't know anyone at CCNY and cannot make assumptions or lay blame on anyone up there. I do however, know Frank Romeo and he is a fantastic person who only accepted the job at CCNY as a "labor of love" for lacrosse. He wanted to have a team in place and was prepared to do so but tremendous obstacles stand in his way. He is a great lacrosse person, willing to accept little pay for late nights, long hours and much heartache coaching, playing, teaching the game we love. From what Frank has told me, he did everything possible to have a team in place this Spring and in the future but was offered little assistance or encouragement.
I know that Frank is upset about some of your statements in the article and I am enclosing his email address in the event you want to reach out to him for some more information on the situation at CCNY.
Thanks for reading my note and see you soon.
Coach Pilat, Roanoke College
THE LATEST
E-Lacrosse,
I spoke with Mr. Coleman today and he informed me that the team is still playing only at a club level. I guess this is better then no team at all. He has received soo many emails regarding this issue.! I hope the team gets reinstated next year.
Thanks for all you do for lacrosse
Neil Solloway
VIOLET'S ARE BLUE…
I must congratulate you on your great article. (The team name, however, is the Beavers, (Violets are NYU). CCNY colors are Black & Lavendar).
I did read it with a trembling heart, though. It was the first I heard that my Lacrosse team had been ended!
I played at CCNY from 1965 to 1971. We fielded respectable teams (of course our record seems to improve over the years). My closest friends are my teammates from almost 40 years ago! We are in a variety of professions: medical, education, social services, business….. We have been in close contact with the lacrosse program throughout the years. Lacrosse alumni were the major contributors to the athletic field at the college. (A bit of ancient history: Felix Frankfurter, a former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court was a CCNY Lacrosse player.) Alumni have served as mentors to varsity players and have assisted them in starting their careers.
Being a member of a team made my attendance at this large university more personal. I had connections with teammates and coaches (George Baron and Sy Kalman). My fervor for the college kept me active in the Alumni Association and I served as its President for two years.
As an education administrator, I have been interviewed for a variety of positions. I always included the statement "As a member of a team, I know when to be a contributing part of a team and when to step forward to be the team leader". I learned this from my team participation. I hope that this program, filled with rich tradition, can be reinstated.
Jon DeLise, CCNY 1971
NICE JOB
Mike,
I want to thank you for the article on CCNY. This is what sports should be about in this day and age. It is not about the "W" in the win column but the fact that they come together each and every day as a team. I think that CCNY officials missed the boat on this program by dismantling it. They should have realized that they where graduating well rounded proud citizens into the community from this program. This is shown by the gift of the Astroturf field that the alumni purchased for the program. They might not have been the best skilled players but they had heart and dedication to a team and a game.
The administrators at this school and any school talk about how they stress academics over anything else. What they don't realize is that with out the focus of team building skills from sports they loose the well rounded aspect of the student athlete. I know this first hand being a past student athlete. I was part of the lacrosse program at Radford University which was also dismantled do to a college president's lack of understanding. I am proud to be Radford University lacrosse alum, and I am fighting to get a program back there. They have club but that is not good enough. I think people need to be aware that even though Lacrosse is not a money sport it still builds off of the same principles as well as ideals that are set forth by the NCAA. The bottom line is college president's need to be educated about the sports that build character, not the schools bank account.
Thanks again for the article
Chris Munz
E-Lacrosse,
What a fantastic story. As a native New Yorker who never saw a lacrosse game until I played baseball out on the Island and now a transplanted Marylander whose son played at Western Maryland under Coach Keith Reitenbach for 4 years, it hurts to see tradition die. College sports today have gone off the deep end. Teams recruiting using strippers. Teams with more criminals on the team then are in the local jail. If they want to maintain the credibility of the process they need to eliminate special preference to jocks and make them compete to get into school to prepare for life in the real world. Obviously CCNY does that everyday. This was a school whose basketball teams were incredible until they were rocked by a scandal. They now have things in the right perspective. Thank you for the story!
James F. Coleman
Mike,
That is indeed a wonderful article about CCNY! I do hope that the new AD Robert Coleman reads the article. You have touched on the many positives that lacrosse brings our student-athletes no matter the school, nor the season record!
Thank you!
Brooks Singer, Head Coach Catholic U (Men's D3, Washington, DC)
The latest Spin on E-Lacrosse: Past Columns
Spinner on 360 and Joining E-Lacrosse
Title IX After 30 Years
Are Camps Out Of Control?
Go west, Young Fan.
Promoting the Pros: A Major League Circus
Grades and Sports: Powell's Not The Problem.
Thoughts on September 11, 2002
Women's Lacrosse: Farewell to the Stall
2002 Yale Fall Tournament
A Good Year For "Timmy Mac"
Is Petro Gambling With the 2003 Schedule
The Landon Cheating Scandal
Red Storm Rising
2002 Review & 2003 Punditries and Predictions
Is Football the New Enemy?
Fear and Loathing in Lacrosse Retail
Division II Comes of Age
California Dreamin': Whittier Has To Win The Title
college Lacrosse: What's The Big Story of 2003?
Bergey for Tewaaraton & final-Four Observations
The Goggles Are Coming!
What In The World Is Going On At Duke?
A New Conference?
Pro Lax at Lacrosse Roads.
The DIII Debacle.
Does The Punishment Fit The Crime?
Philly Gets The Nod.
National Development Program
2004 Punditry & Predictions
CCNY Drops Lacrosse
http://www.e-lacrosse.com/2004/spin/28.html
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Expert Debate on Solution for Darfur
Head-to-head: Darfur situation
Gamal Nkrumah and Eric Reeves debated Darfur's complex issuesGamal Nkrumah, the foreign editor of leading Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram, and Eric Reeves, professor at Smith College (Massachusetts) and a Sudan researcher and analyst, debate what action the international community should take over the worsening conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
In the face of rapidly accelerating genocidal destruction in Darfur, and given the ongoing collapse of humanitarian operations in vast areas of this devastated region, the international community should issue an ultimatum to the National Islamic Front (National Congress Party) regime in Khartoum: Immediately accept the robust force stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (31 August, 2006) or face non-consensual deployment of the forces required to protect civilians and humanitarians.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The phrase "international community" is often used as a euphemism for the United States and other Western powers' political agendas. Non-consensual deployment of foreign, non-African troops, is a non-starter.
It is an act of aggression that infringes on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan.
About 7,000 African Union troops are deployed in Darfur
As stipulated by Resolution 1706, the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops must have prior and explicit approval of the Sudanese authorities. Previous US-led military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq have aggravated the situation in the respective countries. The worse scenario is for Darfur to denigrate further into an Iraqi or Afghan quagmire.
The only way forward is to strengthen the African Union peacekeeping contingency in Darfur in both financial and logistical terms.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
The international community, as represented in Resolution 1706, has implicitly but clearly recognised the radical inability of the African Union force in Darfur.
No conceivable augmentation of the AU can possibly staunch the flow of genocidal violence in Darfur
Eric ReevesSudan researcher and analyst
Q&A: Sudan's Darfur conflict
No conceivable augmentation of the AU can possibly staunch the flow of genocidal violence in Darfur, protect the more than four million conflict-affected persons in this vast region (including eastern Chad), or provide the protection necessary for the humanitarian operations upon which this desperate population depends - operations that are now collapsing ("in free fall" was how they were described by UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland a month ago).
Although 1706 "invites" Khartoum's consent, it does not require it.
While 1706 explicitly guarantees the Sudan's national sovereignty, it was passed under Chapter VII authority and confers enforcement authority upon a deploying force. What is required is not Khartoum's consent but the international will to accept unambiguously the "responsibility to protect" civilians threatened by genocide, ethnic cleansing, or crimes against humanity - a responsibility unanimously accepted by the UN at its World Summit in September 2005 and explicitly reaffirmed by the unanimous passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1674 (April 2006).
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
More than two million people have been displaced during the conflict
The international community would serve the interests of the people of Darfur if wealthier countries - oil-rich Gulf Arab, Western and Japan - treble humanitarian relief assistance, development aid and step up medical and relief supplies in the short term.
In the longer term, trade and development aid, including investments in medical and educational services, would be vital.
Also of paramount importance is improved logistical and financial support for African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
There can be no doubt that when violence finally ends, the people of Darfur - particularly the targeted non-Arab or African tribal populations - will need immense financial resources to rebuild their lives and communities after three-and-a-half years of genocidal destruction orchestrated by the Khartoum regime.
See which parts of Darfur are too dangerous for aid workers
Enlarge MapThis destruction has included the burning of thousands of villages, deliberate poisoning of water wells with human and animal corpses, destruction of food- and seed-stocks, and looting of cattle (representing generations of wealth).
But while international assistance will be required, most of this reconstruction financing should come from Khartoum, which is overwhelmingly responsible for the deliberate, ethnically-targeted destruction of lives and livelihoods throughout Darfur.
International mechanisms, with effective enforcement mechanism, should be devised so that Sudan's massive oil revenues (Sudan is now the third largest oil producer in Africa) are directed equitably and efficiently to Darfur.
Other international aid will be required; but the genocidaires must be forced to accept responsibility for the economically devastating consequences of their brutality and savage conduct of the war.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The flurry of diplomatic activity concerning Darfur shows that Sudan is already attracting world attention. British international cooperation minister Hilary Benn and US Sudan envoy Andrew Natsios's recent trips to Sudan, for example.
It is Sudan's oil, like Iraq's oil, which fuels American interest in Sudan
Gamal NkrumahAl-Ahram Foreign Editor
I suspect, though, that oil and not human rights are the main motivation behind the heightened interest of US President George W Bush in Sudan.
It is Sudan's oil, like Iraq's oil, which fuels American interest in Sudan.
Moreover, it is oil which is strengthening Sudan's international position. UN Security Council permanent member China, for example, which imports 6% of its oil from Sudan, will veto any anti-Sudan sanctions.
The Sudanese authorities capitalise upon Chinese support.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
Critical to understanding the issues of oil development and revenues in Sudan is the country's geography: all current oil development, exploration, and production occurs in southern Sudan or along the traditional North/South border.
There is no evidence of oil in Darfur
Eric ReevesSudan researcher and analyst
Moreover, the concession rights for oil development are virtually all sewn up by Asian companies and TotalFinaElf of France. The effort to suggest that oil interests in Darfur - where there is no present oil production or exploration - are what lie behind Western diplomacy is deeply misleading.
In fact, there is no credible evidence that Darfur has significant oil reserves.
As has been suggested, what is of real significance is that China, Khartoum's primary diplomatic ally at the UN, dominates the two major producing consortia in southern Sudan and southern Kordofan province.
If we want to understand why the National Islamic Front (National Congress Party) feels so emboldened in defying the international community, and in pursuing its genocidal counter-insurgency warfare in Darfur, we should look not to Western but to Chinese oil interests.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
Chad, Darfur's neighbour to the immediate West has huge oil reserves, there is no doubt that there are oil reserves in Darfur itself. The Chinese and TotalFinaElf of France know all too well that the potential for exploiting Darfur's oil in commercial quantities is tremendous.
The US is most concerned about the Chinese, other Asian and French monopoly of Sudanese oil.
Darfur is of great strategic importance it straddles Libya, Egypt, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
Sudan has accepted African Union peacekeeping troops in Darfur. So it is best for all concerned if AU troops are deployed to keep the peace in Darfur.
The AU troops, however, must have financial and logistical support from the UN and Western powers as well as oil-rich Gulf Arab countries. Only then will peace prevail in Darfur.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
There is no evidence of oil in Darfur.
Reserves in more westerly parts of Chad tell us nothing about Darfur; there is no geologic evidence, no seismic data - nothing that indicates there is oil in Darfur.
But there is a terrifyingly great deal of evidence about the scale of human destruction that will ensue if we do not respond urgently to the acute lack of human security.
Four million people have been affected by the conflict in Darfur
With or without Khartoum's consent, the international community must uphold its "responsibility to protect civilians" in Darfur - civilians not simply unprotected by the National Islamic Front/National Congress regime - but targets of an ongoing genocidal campaign orchestrated in Khartoum.
Such "responsibility to protect" supersedes claims of national sovereignty. This principle was the explicit conclusion of the UN World Summit Outcome Document, paragraph 139, unanimously adopted in September 2005.
The AU is simply incapable of being transformed into a force that can take up this responsibility with sufficient urgency; it cannot possibly become the force contemplated in UN Security Council Resolution 1706.
To pretend otherwise is the treat with a scandalous moral carelessness the lives of more than four million conflict-affected Darfuris.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The interests of the US should not be confused with the interests of the international community. It is clear that the aggression against Iraq was a pretext to control the vast oil reserves of that country.
The US must stay out of Darfur
Gamal NkrumahAl-Ahram Foreign Editor
Western pressure fails to move Sudan
Human rights and democratisation had nothing to do with the Bush administration's aims.
Abu Ghraib and numerous other atrocities committed against the people of Iraq clearly demonstrated that the US is not interested in the welfare of the people of Iraq. Neither is the Bush administration interested in the welfare of the people of Darfur.
The main goal of the Bush administration, with its extensive oil interests, is to challenge Chinese oil interests and economic clout in Sudan.
The so-called "international peacekeeping force" is a euphemism for foreign military intervention which is destined to have disastrous repercussions for the people of Darfur and Sudan as a whole.
The US must stay out of Darfur.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
To invoke Iraq and Abu Ghraib when the issue clearly is saving lives in Darfur is disingenuous.
That Iraq was a terribly misconceived debacle that will haunt US foreign policy for years could not be clearer; but this doesn't diminish in the slightest the extraordinarily urgent need for international protection of the more than four million human beings the UN estimates are affected by genocidal conflict in Darfur and eastern Chad.
Just as urgent is the protection of those aid operations upon which this vast population grows increasingly dependent: humanitarian access shrinks almost daily, with many hundreds of thousands of Darfuris completely beyond the reach of food and medical assistance, living without adequate clean water or shelter.
Khartoum continues its large military offensives in North and West Darfur, and in such a context the African Union force currently deployed, even if augmented, is simply incapable of providing protection to the civilian and humanitarian populations.
UN Security Council Resolution 1706, which Khartoum defiantly rejects, provides an appropriate international force of 22,500 troops and civilian police, as well as a strong civilian protection mandate.
This force must deploy with or without Khartoum's consent, with whatever additional forces are required if consent is denied.
The alternative is to watch from afar as - in the words of UN humanitarian aid chief Jan Egeland, "the lives of hundreds of thousands could be needlessly lost."
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The ongoing aggression of the Sudanese authorities against innocent civilians is deplorable. However, a Western, US and Nato-led military intervention to end the Darfur crisis would have the opposite and extremely negative impact on a volatile region.
Co-operation between Arabs and indigenous non-Arab communities is the only way forward
Gamal NkrumahAl-Ahram Foreign Editor
The fighting in Darfur cannot be seen in isolation of the wider regional context.
The arid Sahel region of Africa, and Darfur is very much a part of the Sahel, has witnessed a scramble over meagre resources especially between nomadic, mainly but not exclusively, Arab tribes and pastoralists with non-Arab agriculturalists, and has become endemic in the area.
The crisis-ridden region of the Sahel is a political powder-keg.
Western intervention would exacerbate matters.
In Niger ethnic Arabs, known as the Mahamid, have recently been threatened with deportation. In neighbouring Chad, the authorities have accused Khartoum of supporting the armed opposition groups including the Union of forces for Democracy and Development.
The only way forward is to strengthen the AU forces by logistical and financial support on a massive scale.
Oil-rich Arab countries, Western nations and Asian trade partners of Khartoum must step up aid and trade with Sudan in order to reinvigorate the Sudanese economy, and especially the Darfur economy shattered by years of war.
The international community must multiply humanitarian and development assistance to Darfur instead of sending in troops and instigating more fighting.
Peace must prevail in Darfur and the entire Sahel region.
Co-operation between Arabs and indigenous non-Arab communities is the only way forward, but it must be buttressed with international development aid.
What do you think? Do you agree with Eric Reeves or Gamal Nkrumah? What should the international community do?
I agree primarily with Eric Reeves. While a cursory, Google-powered investigation of the natural resources in Darfur suggests to me that there may in fact be commercial quantities of oil in the region, I do not believe that the concern of the thousands of people agitating internationally for UN intervention in Darfur is neither commercial nor imperial. Resolution 1706 stipulates that a multinational force should use force to prevent and intervene in acts of violence against civilians and, as in southern Sudan, this intervention in the context of an effective political settlement has the potential to bring at least a tentative peace to the region. Isaac Rowlett, Milwaukee, WI (USA)
Since Darfur has been declared as a place where genocide is committed, the Sudanese govt has no right to dictate what forces intl community will bring to restore peace. I agree with Mr Gamal because he has first hand knowledge of what western intervention will bring. The downfall of Khartoum govt. It happened to his father - the champion of African cause.BAKRI KENNA, phoenix, usa
I strongly agree with Eric Reeves. I think what the international community should do is to apply the UN resolution 1706 immediately. The lives of the civilians are very important. The case of Darfur is only to be solved by international community. AU or Arab community can not and will never do it. It is beyond their power and control.
US is not interested in the oil of any nation as Cairo think. Instead Cairo wants Southern Sudan and Darfur to surfer and remain poor and if possible all must die because of the water of the Nile. God of Heaven has entrusted American Nation and UN to solve the problems of the oppressed people as well of the whole world. According to my opinion, US and UN should use force as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq for sake of children and women in Darfur.
And I am also appealing to US and UN to protect the CPA between the South and the North Sudan so that no one should play with the agreement. Until we vote on 9.01.2010 for the independence of the Southern Sudanese people. Long live George Bush and long live American people and long live UN. Francis Oryem Oyet Anakleto, Newcastle, Australia
I'm quite disturbed at Nkrumah's arguments - in the face of what is by any measure a genocidal crime by Khartoum; I fail to understand why anyone would hide behind anti-western propaganda to let the people of Darfur suffer. I agree with Reeves - there is utterly no need for any consent from Khartoum. Every day the international community fails to act, I become more convinced that the life of a black Africa is seen as dispensable. Is there any morality in international politics? I wonder.Justice Tankebe, Cambridge, UK
Mr Nkrumah predictably blames the USA and the west whereas Mr Reeves is entirely naive. These problems have 2 causes: 1. British and French colonialist mindset when between the two of them they created dozens of 'artificial' countries completely ignoring tribal and ethnic make-up of the region. 2. Islam's drive for expansion at non-Muslims expense (because that's what it is).Marcel, The Hague
The best solution for Darfur's on going conflict is to support the AU forces that already in Sudan. The paranoia way of thinking of Sudan govt. and majority of Sudanese people towards UN keeping force is based on countless evidences of UN partiality and mysterious agenda in post conflict environments in many parts of the world. Just look to the gross partiality that exercised on daily bases by the UN peace keeping force in the tiny state of Eritrea. The UN peace keeping force there is always working in favour of the USA's ally "Ethiopia" although Eritrea has win the award of the international arbitrary court to their disputed territory.
Regrettably, there is no a clear definition between the UN and USA. This ambiguity is supported by the endless interference of US administration in the work of UN. Please leave the Sudan for the Sudanese. We are capable of solving our own created problems by our own will. Ahmed Qasm Elbari, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6058920.stm
Gamal Nkrumah and Eric Reeves debated Darfur's complex issuesGamal Nkrumah, the foreign editor of leading Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram, and Eric Reeves, professor at Smith College (Massachusetts) and a Sudan researcher and analyst, debate what action the international community should take over the worsening conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
In the face of rapidly accelerating genocidal destruction in Darfur, and given the ongoing collapse of humanitarian operations in vast areas of this devastated region, the international community should issue an ultimatum to the National Islamic Front (National Congress Party) regime in Khartoum: Immediately accept the robust force stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (31 August, 2006) or face non-consensual deployment of the forces required to protect civilians and humanitarians.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The phrase "international community" is often used as a euphemism for the United States and other Western powers' political agendas. Non-consensual deployment of foreign, non-African troops, is a non-starter.
It is an act of aggression that infringes on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan.
About 7,000 African Union troops are deployed in Darfur
As stipulated by Resolution 1706, the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops must have prior and explicit approval of the Sudanese authorities. Previous US-led military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq have aggravated the situation in the respective countries. The worse scenario is for Darfur to denigrate further into an Iraqi or Afghan quagmire.
The only way forward is to strengthen the African Union peacekeeping contingency in Darfur in both financial and logistical terms.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
The international community, as represented in Resolution 1706, has implicitly but clearly recognised the radical inability of the African Union force in Darfur.
No conceivable augmentation of the AU can possibly staunch the flow of genocidal violence in Darfur
Eric ReevesSudan researcher and analyst
Q&A: Sudan's Darfur conflict
No conceivable augmentation of the AU can possibly staunch the flow of genocidal violence in Darfur, protect the more than four million conflict-affected persons in this vast region (including eastern Chad), or provide the protection necessary for the humanitarian operations upon which this desperate population depends - operations that are now collapsing ("in free fall" was how they were described by UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland a month ago).
Although 1706 "invites" Khartoum's consent, it does not require it.
While 1706 explicitly guarantees the Sudan's national sovereignty, it was passed under Chapter VII authority and confers enforcement authority upon a deploying force. What is required is not Khartoum's consent but the international will to accept unambiguously the "responsibility to protect" civilians threatened by genocide, ethnic cleansing, or crimes against humanity - a responsibility unanimously accepted by the UN at its World Summit in September 2005 and explicitly reaffirmed by the unanimous passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1674 (April 2006).
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
More than two million people have been displaced during the conflict
The international community would serve the interests of the people of Darfur if wealthier countries - oil-rich Gulf Arab, Western and Japan - treble humanitarian relief assistance, development aid and step up medical and relief supplies in the short term.
In the longer term, trade and development aid, including investments in medical and educational services, would be vital.
Also of paramount importance is improved logistical and financial support for African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
There can be no doubt that when violence finally ends, the people of Darfur - particularly the targeted non-Arab or African tribal populations - will need immense financial resources to rebuild their lives and communities after three-and-a-half years of genocidal destruction orchestrated by the Khartoum regime.
See which parts of Darfur are too dangerous for aid workers
Enlarge MapThis destruction has included the burning of thousands of villages, deliberate poisoning of water wells with human and animal corpses, destruction of food- and seed-stocks, and looting of cattle (representing generations of wealth).
But while international assistance will be required, most of this reconstruction financing should come from Khartoum, which is overwhelmingly responsible for the deliberate, ethnically-targeted destruction of lives and livelihoods throughout Darfur.
International mechanisms, with effective enforcement mechanism, should be devised so that Sudan's massive oil revenues (Sudan is now the third largest oil producer in Africa) are directed equitably and efficiently to Darfur.
Other international aid will be required; but the genocidaires must be forced to accept responsibility for the economically devastating consequences of their brutality and savage conduct of the war.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The flurry of diplomatic activity concerning Darfur shows that Sudan is already attracting world attention. British international cooperation minister Hilary Benn and US Sudan envoy Andrew Natsios's recent trips to Sudan, for example.
It is Sudan's oil, like Iraq's oil, which fuels American interest in Sudan
Gamal NkrumahAl-Ahram Foreign Editor
I suspect, though, that oil and not human rights are the main motivation behind the heightened interest of US President George W Bush in Sudan.
It is Sudan's oil, like Iraq's oil, which fuels American interest in Sudan.
Moreover, it is oil which is strengthening Sudan's international position. UN Security Council permanent member China, for example, which imports 6% of its oil from Sudan, will veto any anti-Sudan sanctions.
The Sudanese authorities capitalise upon Chinese support.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
Critical to understanding the issues of oil development and revenues in Sudan is the country's geography: all current oil development, exploration, and production occurs in southern Sudan or along the traditional North/South border.
There is no evidence of oil in Darfur
Eric ReevesSudan researcher and analyst
Moreover, the concession rights for oil development are virtually all sewn up by Asian companies and TotalFinaElf of France. The effort to suggest that oil interests in Darfur - where there is no present oil production or exploration - are what lie behind Western diplomacy is deeply misleading.
In fact, there is no credible evidence that Darfur has significant oil reserves.
As has been suggested, what is of real significance is that China, Khartoum's primary diplomatic ally at the UN, dominates the two major producing consortia in southern Sudan and southern Kordofan province.
If we want to understand why the National Islamic Front (National Congress Party) feels so emboldened in defying the international community, and in pursuing its genocidal counter-insurgency warfare in Darfur, we should look not to Western but to Chinese oil interests.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
Chad, Darfur's neighbour to the immediate West has huge oil reserves, there is no doubt that there are oil reserves in Darfur itself. The Chinese and TotalFinaElf of France know all too well that the potential for exploiting Darfur's oil in commercial quantities is tremendous.
The US is most concerned about the Chinese, other Asian and French monopoly of Sudanese oil.
Darfur is of great strategic importance it straddles Libya, Egypt, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
Sudan has accepted African Union peacekeeping troops in Darfur. So it is best for all concerned if AU troops are deployed to keep the peace in Darfur.
The AU troops, however, must have financial and logistical support from the UN and Western powers as well as oil-rich Gulf Arab countries. Only then will peace prevail in Darfur.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
There is no evidence of oil in Darfur.
Reserves in more westerly parts of Chad tell us nothing about Darfur; there is no geologic evidence, no seismic data - nothing that indicates there is oil in Darfur.
But there is a terrifyingly great deal of evidence about the scale of human destruction that will ensue if we do not respond urgently to the acute lack of human security.
Four million people have been affected by the conflict in Darfur
With or without Khartoum's consent, the international community must uphold its "responsibility to protect civilians" in Darfur - civilians not simply unprotected by the National Islamic Front/National Congress regime - but targets of an ongoing genocidal campaign orchestrated in Khartoum.
Such "responsibility to protect" supersedes claims of national sovereignty. This principle was the explicit conclusion of the UN World Summit Outcome Document, paragraph 139, unanimously adopted in September 2005.
The AU is simply incapable of being transformed into a force that can take up this responsibility with sufficient urgency; it cannot possibly become the force contemplated in UN Security Council Resolution 1706.
To pretend otherwise is the treat with a scandalous moral carelessness the lives of more than four million conflict-affected Darfuris.
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The interests of the US should not be confused with the interests of the international community. It is clear that the aggression against Iraq was a pretext to control the vast oil reserves of that country.
The US must stay out of Darfur
Gamal NkrumahAl-Ahram Foreign Editor
Western pressure fails to move Sudan
Human rights and democratisation had nothing to do with the Bush administration's aims.
Abu Ghraib and numerous other atrocities committed against the people of Iraq clearly demonstrated that the US is not interested in the welfare of the people of Iraq. Neither is the Bush administration interested in the welfare of the people of Darfur.
The main goal of the Bush administration, with its extensive oil interests, is to challenge Chinese oil interests and economic clout in Sudan.
The so-called "international peacekeeping force" is a euphemism for foreign military intervention which is destined to have disastrous repercussions for the people of Darfur and Sudan as a whole.
The US must stay out of Darfur.
Eric Reeves, Massachusetts, US
To invoke Iraq and Abu Ghraib when the issue clearly is saving lives in Darfur is disingenuous.
That Iraq was a terribly misconceived debacle that will haunt US foreign policy for years could not be clearer; but this doesn't diminish in the slightest the extraordinarily urgent need for international protection of the more than four million human beings the UN estimates are affected by genocidal conflict in Darfur and eastern Chad.
Just as urgent is the protection of those aid operations upon which this vast population grows increasingly dependent: humanitarian access shrinks almost daily, with many hundreds of thousands of Darfuris completely beyond the reach of food and medical assistance, living without adequate clean water or shelter.
Khartoum continues its large military offensives in North and West Darfur, and in such a context the African Union force currently deployed, even if augmented, is simply incapable of providing protection to the civilian and humanitarian populations.
UN Security Council Resolution 1706, which Khartoum defiantly rejects, provides an appropriate international force of 22,500 troops and civilian police, as well as a strong civilian protection mandate.
This force must deploy with or without Khartoum's consent, with whatever additional forces are required if consent is denied.
The alternative is to watch from afar as - in the words of UN humanitarian aid chief Jan Egeland, "the lives of hundreds of thousands could be needlessly lost."
Gamal Nkrumah, Cairo, Egypt
The ongoing aggression of the Sudanese authorities against innocent civilians is deplorable. However, a Western, US and Nato-led military intervention to end the Darfur crisis would have the opposite and extremely negative impact on a volatile region.
Co-operation between Arabs and indigenous non-Arab communities is the only way forward
Gamal NkrumahAl-Ahram Foreign Editor
The fighting in Darfur cannot be seen in isolation of the wider regional context.
The arid Sahel region of Africa, and Darfur is very much a part of the Sahel, has witnessed a scramble over meagre resources especially between nomadic, mainly but not exclusively, Arab tribes and pastoralists with non-Arab agriculturalists, and has become endemic in the area.
The crisis-ridden region of the Sahel is a political powder-keg.
Western intervention would exacerbate matters.
In Niger ethnic Arabs, known as the Mahamid, have recently been threatened with deportation. In neighbouring Chad, the authorities have accused Khartoum of supporting the armed opposition groups including the Union of forces for Democracy and Development.
The only way forward is to strengthen the AU forces by logistical and financial support on a massive scale.
Oil-rich Arab countries, Western nations and Asian trade partners of Khartoum must step up aid and trade with Sudan in order to reinvigorate the Sudanese economy, and especially the Darfur economy shattered by years of war.
The international community must multiply humanitarian and development assistance to Darfur instead of sending in troops and instigating more fighting.
Peace must prevail in Darfur and the entire Sahel region.
Co-operation between Arabs and indigenous non-Arab communities is the only way forward, but it must be buttressed with international development aid.
What do you think? Do you agree with Eric Reeves or Gamal Nkrumah? What should the international community do?
I agree primarily with Eric Reeves. While a cursory, Google-powered investigation of the natural resources in Darfur suggests to me that there may in fact be commercial quantities of oil in the region, I do not believe that the concern of the thousands of people agitating internationally for UN intervention in Darfur is neither commercial nor imperial. Resolution 1706 stipulates that a multinational force should use force to prevent and intervene in acts of violence against civilians and, as in southern Sudan, this intervention in the context of an effective political settlement has the potential to bring at least a tentative peace to the region. Isaac Rowlett, Milwaukee, WI (USA)
Since Darfur has been declared as a place where genocide is committed, the Sudanese govt has no right to dictate what forces intl community will bring to restore peace. I agree with Mr Gamal because he has first hand knowledge of what western intervention will bring. The downfall of Khartoum govt. It happened to his father - the champion of African cause.BAKRI KENNA, phoenix, usa
I strongly agree with Eric Reeves. I think what the international community should do is to apply the UN resolution 1706 immediately. The lives of the civilians are very important. The case of Darfur is only to be solved by international community. AU or Arab community can not and will never do it. It is beyond their power and control.
US is not interested in the oil of any nation as Cairo think. Instead Cairo wants Southern Sudan and Darfur to surfer and remain poor and if possible all must die because of the water of the Nile. God of Heaven has entrusted American Nation and UN to solve the problems of the oppressed people as well of the whole world. According to my opinion, US and UN should use force as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq for sake of children and women in Darfur.
And I am also appealing to US and UN to protect the CPA between the South and the North Sudan so that no one should play with the agreement. Until we vote on 9.01.2010 for the independence of the Southern Sudanese people. Long live George Bush and long live American people and long live UN. Francis Oryem Oyet Anakleto, Newcastle, Australia
I'm quite disturbed at Nkrumah's arguments - in the face of what is by any measure a genocidal crime by Khartoum; I fail to understand why anyone would hide behind anti-western propaganda to let the people of Darfur suffer. I agree with Reeves - there is utterly no need for any consent from Khartoum. Every day the international community fails to act, I become more convinced that the life of a black Africa is seen as dispensable. Is there any morality in international politics? I wonder.Justice Tankebe, Cambridge, UK
Mr Nkrumah predictably blames the USA and the west whereas Mr Reeves is entirely naive. These problems have 2 causes: 1. British and French colonialist mindset when between the two of them they created dozens of 'artificial' countries completely ignoring tribal and ethnic make-up of the region. 2. Islam's drive for expansion at non-Muslims expense (because that's what it is).Marcel, The Hague
The best solution for Darfur's on going conflict is to support the AU forces that already in Sudan. The paranoia way of thinking of Sudan govt. and majority of Sudanese people towards UN keeping force is based on countless evidences of UN partiality and mysterious agenda in post conflict environments in many parts of the world. Just look to the gross partiality that exercised on daily bases by the UN peace keeping force in the tiny state of Eritrea. The UN peace keeping force there is always working in favour of the USA's ally "Ethiopia" although Eritrea has win the award of the international arbitrary court to their disputed territory.
Regrettably, there is no a clear definition between the UN and USA. This ambiguity is supported by the endless interference of US administration in the work of UN. Please leave the Sudan for the Sudanese. We are capable of solving our own created problems by our own will. Ahmed Qasm Elbari, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6058920.stm
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