Editor:
I would like to point out some serious discrepancies found in A.S. President Jeff Dodge’s attack on Ryan Darby Feb.4, 2002. If he is trying to set the record straight, he has, unfortunately, only served to confuse the issue at hand.
First, Dodge resorted to scare tactics by referring to Darby as “”conservatively extreme.”” Darby is conservative, yes, but not extreme. Being conservative is no more extreme than being liberal, and Dodge should not try to discredit Darby solely because he is conservative.
Second, Dodge claims his only problem with the Pro-America Resolution was the title, because the A.S. Council tries to be “”as politically neutral and nonpartisan as possible.”” I have a hard time believing Democrats and Republicans in Congress and in Sacramento find the term “”Pro-America”” partisan in any way.
True, the Freedom Alliance hosted a Pro-America Rally, but the College Democrats were invited to take part in hosting the rally and declined. Furthermore, the rally remained politically neutral.
Dodge did not attend the rally, but he did attend the Affirmative Action Rally shortly after and, along with Vice President Internal Jenn Brown, wore T-shirts handed out by event organizers with pro-affirmative action maxims on them. Affirmative action is quite possibly one of the most partisan issues in California and has Democrats and Republicans highly split over the issue. I understand that Dodge and many UCSD students favor affirmative action, but that does not make it a nonpartisan issue.
Dodge contradicts himself by saying, “”Direct affiliation to a partisan effort, regardless of which side, is something that I will continue to fight against.””
Dodge also complains that Darby’s article frames him as “”un-American”” and compares him to communist and socialist leaders. Not once in the article does the phrase “”un-American”” appear, and there are no allusions to any leaders of the kind Dodge mentions. Did he actually even read the article?
Dodge has the audacity to bring up McCarthyism and insinuates that this is something Darby, the Guardian and the Freedom Alliance are working on together at UCSD. It looks to me that Dodge is provoking the extreme sensationalism of which he wrongly accuses Darby. Hypocrisy or irony: Take your pick.
Finally, Dodge speculates that the Freedom Alliance and the Guardian are in cahoots to defame Dodge and his A.S. Council buddies before election time at the end of this quarter. Of course, that is ridiculous.
I personally cannot help speculate that Dodge is engaged in vicious and deceitful name-calling to detract from his sketchy involvement in the Sept. 11 resolution. And yes, with A.S. Council elections “”pending so closely in the future.””
— Terrence Morrissey
Editor, California Review