Chronicle should focus more on important issues

I find it very disheartening that at a time when there are countless letters being written calling for an end to the blatant anti-Semitism The Chronicle has displayed in recent weeks, the editors have decided to make the selection of head line monitor seem like an important issue.

I have called for an apology from Abdullah Al-Arian for his despicable comparison of the "plight" of Palestinians to the horrors of the Holocaust. In a time where the Middle East is on the brink of a war with serious global implications, I--and I would like to believe the majority of the student body--do not have the slightest care about who makes the rules for Krzyzewskiville, let alone if he or she has ever tented. For a supposedly Ivy League-caliber school to spend as much time debating issues involving grace periods and basketball games as Duke does is simply embarrassing.

I have never, nor will I ever, feel the need to sleep outside in freezing weather for a month, with a mere 40 minutes of college basketball as my "reward." But, for all those who waste their nights during January outside the Wilson Recreation Center, I would like to remind them that the world does not revolve around Duke basketball. There are more important matters going on in today's world, and, despite what letter writer Norm Bradley would love to believe, the position of head line monitor holds no respect, deserves no respect and is of little importance in the real world. So let's drop such petty issues and at least pretend to be the educated people that we all like to believe we are.

As for The Chronicle, it's this paper's duty to unfortunately serve as the primary source of real news for the future world leaders that grace Duke's campus. So, it should take that responsibility seriously, and instead of articles about tents and alleged masturbation, why doesn't The Chronicle try reporting something that has real world concerns? Placing generic Associated Press articles on anything but the front page is a weak attempt at journalism. For a newspaper that represents the University, I expect--and I demand--much more.

Tal Hirshberg

Trinity '04