Monday October 15, 2001

UA campus should be proud

On behalf of the University of Arizona SIFE team, I would like to thank the students, faculty, staff and members of the community for their generous donations to the Red Cross. We are happy to say that the university community donated $2,000! UA SIFE collected donations for the Red Cross in light of the tragedy last month. As a SIFE Scholar and as a college student, I felt rewarded knowing that so many people were willing to support a worthy cause.

It is important to acknowledge the positive support on our campus in the midst of our current situation overseas and on American soil. The donations were greatly appreciated, especially since it came from our giving community, the University of Arizona. Thank you!

Kristy Ruiz

retailing and consumer science senior

Patriotism is our right

As an immigrant, patriot and proud member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, I feel obligated to comment on Ms. Sarah Dreeha's letter of Oct. 12.

Ms. Dreeha stated that she cringed at the sight of flags waving everywhere and was sick and tired of hearing "God Bless America." In these hard and trying times, she referred to the "...blind patriotism" surging through the nation in response to the terrorist attacks.

Perhaps Ms. Dreeha would be happier in places like Mali, where women's genitals are mutilated as a measure against infidelity. Better yet, maybe Cuba would best suit her. I'd like to see if her "...non-straight, non-Christian Arab" letters would ever make it to the opinion page of the state-run newspaper.

I too cringe, Ms. Dreeha, at the sights I've been seeing lately. I am confused by college protestors who denounce capitalism, free enterprise and all that is American, yet wear brand-name clothes, stuff their faces at McDonald's, and attend a university funded in many ways by private corporations. I am confused by people who say that the attacks on Sept. 11 were our fault because we are a capitalist country. I wonder how they would explain that to the children whose parents died in the attacks.

Although Ms. Dreeha has a problem with flag waving and "God Bless America," and no matter how much I disagree with her, myself as well as thousands of young men and women stand ready to defend her right to her and everyone else's opinion.

Wave a flag or don't. Burn it, spit on it if you'd like. Protest and march. Don't sing "God Bless America" and write letters to the editor denouncing military action. Do me an honor by exercising the freedoms many American servicemen and women have died to give you.

Rick Ojeda

secondary education junior

staff sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve

Dale column right on

Dear Shane Dale, that may have been the best idea I heard about our sports program in a while. Selling out to a big corporation for the stadium would generate so much more money, and just get more things involved with our football program. This is a genuine idea that should be pursued to the fullest extent.

Matthew Sacharoff

undeclared freshman

UA needs to unite

It seems to me that some UA students feel the need to protest for the sake of protesting. Perhaps they want to follow in the footsteps of their hippie parents. The thing is, the war in Afghanistan is not Vietnam. We're not fighting and dying for a theory about a domino effect in Southeast Asia; we are fighting an evil monster that wants to end the Western World. I do not condone war, but there are times when it has to happen. It saddened me when I heard that innocent Afghans were killed in our bombings. I do believe, however, that if we do not take action, it would be a great mistake.

Bin Laden is comparable to Hitler. Bin Laden does not have the same resources or the same agenda, but there are similarities. Bin Laden hates Jews and he hates Americans. He will stop at nothing to rid the world of Jews and Americans. Like Hitler, bin Laden brainwashes people to take up his own sick ideas. It was necessary to fight Hitler, and it is necessary to fight bin Laden. I only wish the peace activists who are protesting the bombings realized this.

So I say to the students that feel the need to "fight the powers that be." Fight against something worth your time and effort, like the university budget cuts or· I don't know, bad local Tucson TV commercials. Many American soldiers are going to be in Afghanistan in the near future, and they need all of our support. This university must unify along with the country, against evil, just as the country united in WWII.

Casey Campbell

marketing senior

Pacifists offer no alternatives

That comic about the Taliban getting schooled was the shit! If there's one good thing about the Wildcat, it is its excellent choice of political cartoons. They're a hell of a lot better than the comics!

Oh, and in response to that person bitching about the cartoon that had the pacifists in the crosshairs, I think that cartoon exemplified how ridiculous the cause of the peace protestors is. The thing that makes them look as stupid as they do in that cartoon is that they really are offering no viable alternative. "Peace" is not a plan, it is an end! ÁViva la Guerra!

Michael Galhouse

political science freshman

Preceptors can help budget crisis

Lately I have seen in the newspaper many ways to help the budget crisis here at the UA. Likins is shutting down a college, the communication department is making it harder to get in, and even Shane Dale is suggesting we sell out the football stadium (which is the best idea he's probably ever had). But what I don't see is any talk of utilizing one of the best programs at the UA: the preceptor program.

Preceptors are undergraduate students who lessen the burden of professors and TAs by helping out the students they go to class with. They are paid only in class credits and so are the opposite of a financial strain. They can help with labs, papers and tests with the study sessions and office hours they hold, and allow the professors to get more done in their classes.

This helps the preceptors themselves by giving them more credits, which is especially true for honors students who want to graduate with honors in departments like political science or English where this is hard to do.

The preceptor program is a financially and academically wonderful program and could do nothing but help the university if it were expanded to suffering departments.

Sara Paige

political science and religion senior

There is no reason to trust the Taliban

Kate Mahady brought up one interesting and valid point in her letter to the Wildcat on Thursday. It isn't tasteful to "hold up peace workers as a subject of ridicule." I will agree with this hands down.

Where she is wrong, and she is extremely off target here, is in stating that protesters of the air strikes against Afghanistan know more about the situation than the rest of the "blind" citizens in the country.

We are a threat to the Taliban's way of life because we have something they don't: freedom. We have the freedom to worship a god freely. The women of this country have the freedom to wear as little (or as much) as they please in public places. We have the ability to speak out against the government without being exiled or shot.

We have no reason to trust the Taliban when they say they will turn over bin Laden upon receiving evidence that he was responsible. Unfortunately, our last (and only) resort in this situation is to bomb the Taliban regime and terrorist training structure.

Erik Finkelnburg

aerospace engineering freshman

New ticket must change

As a "true die-hard" basketball fan who travels to the Bay Area away games, has attended Thanksgiving tournaments in Hawaii, is a member of the Wildcat Club, and has been among the seemingly radical few to paint her face at home games, I strongly differ with Jake Simoneaux's opinion regarding the new ticket system.

This system unfairly eliminates any student with specific work or school commitments who is not able to wait in line during the one time that tickets are offered. In contrast, the old system allowed for any student, regardless of schedule, to sign up for the lottery during a weeklong period and then, if selected, purchase the tickets over another similar time span. Additionally, it had the added benefit of not encouraging students to skip class or work to obtain tickets.

Sorry to say, the length of time you are willing to wait in line probably correlates to your GPA more closely than your support of either the basketball team or UA athletics. I hope the McKale Ticket Office and the athletic department reconsider this change in the system.

Agatha J. Tauber

computer science senior

Decision to close AIC poor

My name is Rochelle Perper, and I am a sophomore at the Arizona International College at the University of Arizona. As you may have known, AIC is being dissolved as a program at the UA.

I, like many students at AIC, am very disappointed and discouraged to hear this news. Not only is AIC the best education that you can find in Arizona, but it also provides students with career experience while teaching them to explore new realms of thinking.

President Likins described AIC as a "sinking ship," and referred to our faculty as being less valuable than tenured professors on the main campus.

These kinds of words are harsh and uncalled for. Professors at AIC specifically decided not to use a tenure program because they are more concerned with students' education and advisement, rather than their own personal development and publication. These are the principles that AIC is based upon.

I chose AIC because of the learning community, the more innovative approach to teaching, and the wide variety of global issue classes. I have learned so much from my classes at AIC, and have broadened by horizons. I am certain that I would not have the same personal and academic growth on main campus that I have found at AIC.

President Likin's decision to dissolve AIC was a poor decision. The type of negative publicity that AIC is receiving only strengthens his choice.

Rochelle Perper

AIC sophomore