Letters to the Editor - OU Magazine

Welcome to OU Magazine’s Letters to the Editor section. One reader offered praise for the selfless work performed by Oakland students as they educate people about the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Another reader wrote offering his congratulations on the design and content of the Summer 2003 issue. While another reader wrote in response to a letter that appeared in the winter issue regarding racial profiling and the concept of “black areas” and “white areas.”

We hope to hear from you. Send a Letter to the Editor by submitting the online form.

Helping AIDS Victims
The article entitled “AIDS: Please don’t forget about us” was inspiring. As a registered nurse, I was pleased to read that OU students are participating in activities that bring these medical crises to light. The author succeeded in motivating me (and hopefully others) to find ways to help those afflicted with this dreaded disease. I applaud Oakland University for providing their students with opportunities to aid others.

Alison Reardon RN, BSN, SON ‘95
Utilization Manager, VHA Consulting
Macomb Township, Mich.

Summer issue turns heads
So little time, so much to read. With newspapers, magazines, and the latest must-read best sellers stacking up around me, how will I find a few moments to spend with an alumni magazine?

Your Summer 2003 issue of the Oakland University Magazine compelled me to make time to read it.

The design, color scheme, high-quality photo reproduction and two-page story format combined to make this issue the best to date. I especially enjoyed Liz Lent's article about the campus visit by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough. I was fortunate to attend several of McCullough's lectures, and Liz captured their essence (let us give thanks to Gretchen and Ed Adler for endowing this lecture series in the humanities).

The summer issue sat on a coffee table in our house for several weeks and won the attention of several guests who found it difficult to believe this was a university publication — any university. Good job to all!

Garry Gilbert
CAS '95, MA History '02
Executive Editor
The Daily Oakland Press
Rochester Hills, Mich.

Racial Profiling
As an Oakland alumna who has lived in Virginia Beach for 12 years, I was blasted back to the past by David Marckini's letter in the summer issue of OU Magazine. I immediately asked myself, "When was the last time I have been in a "white" area or a "black" area? The answer: "Not since I left Michigan."

People who live outside of certain parts of the northern tier of states wouldn't understand the concept of a "white area" or a "black area." These places simply don't exist in many parts of the United States and overseas. In fact, Norfolk and Virginia Beach and several surrounding cities were recently found to be the most integrated area of the United States.

Sure, you’ll occasionally hear of an incident down here that is race-related. In any large city, a few interactions between people of different races are bound to go sour. But I far prefer that to growing up in a lily-white enclave in Michigan and not facing any racial incidents because I never knew any people of any other race.

So we are unable to relate to the issues that arose in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph this summer. I cannot name even one store or restaurant in my area that does not have an integrated staff across all of the races living here — Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Asian (especially Filipino), among others.

Mary Gardner Martin, CAS '81
Virginia Beach, Va.

Fall 2003 Issue