Tuesday August 28, 2001 |

Dale column poorly researched, off base

The recent commentary by Shane Dale (Monday, Aug. 27) betrays a shallow understanding of both nature and politics. In discussing drilling in Alaska, Dale accepts the word of an ABC correspondent that 99.99 percent of the refuge would be untouched.

More careful research would have helped Dale understand that the "rules" were written in such a way that all the terrain touched by pipelines that are mounted on pylons counts as "unaffected" because the pylons don't literally "touch" much of the land surface. Only by such tricks was it possible to argue that less than 1% of the land surface is affected.

Dale refers to the drilling area as "ugly tundra uninhabited by living creatures." I wonder - has he ever been to such a place? Chances are the answer is no, since if he had I'm guessing he would feel somewhat differently about it. Especially since even the most generous estimates suggest that the Alaska field would cover our energy needs for only about 9 months, and various conservation schemes (mostly pooh-poohed by the current administration) would save a great deal more if properly implemented.

In discussing school vouchers, Dale refers to the program that would allow children to receive a "free private education." I wonder what version of the school voucher program he is reading - all the ones I read about offer partial payments to which parents would have to add considerable resources in order to afford that private education.

Finally, to say that it is the Democrats that have prevented bipartisan government is simply to ignore what happened in the six years that Clinton was President with the Republicans in charge of Congress. Dale should read a bit more thoroughly before commenting on important matters such as these.

Lynn Nadel

Psychology Department

Parking situation becoming critical

I read with particular interest your editorial that expounds upon the bicycle-parking problem around the Harvill Building. I am appalled and outraged by the offensive, discourteous shouting by a university bicycle safety officer to a student, who obviously was confronted with the dilemma of parking his bicycle wherever he could, or being late to class. Also, if there were no students and tuition payments at the university, the bicycle safety officer would not have employment here.

On Monday, August 20, I drove my vehicle to a 5 p.m. class in the Harvill building only to discover that the parking lot behind the Speech and Hearing Building (adjacent to Harvill) had been summarily changed to a 9095 lot-specific zone. This was done without any notification to students. During the 2001 spring semester, any level 1 or 2 permit could park there, since it was a regular Zone 1. My permit cost almost $400 and is a "disabled" level 2, and the disabled spaces in that lot are the closest to classes in the Harvill Building.

Indeed, during the spring semester, many of my colleagues also parked there every evening we had a class in the Harvill Building.

I own a bicycle and an automobile. This semester, I choose to drive my vehicle because of some symptoms from cancer. The parking situation here for both bikes and vehicles is absolutely horrendous and unconscionable. The university has not added any bike spaces, while at the same time it has significantly reduced vehicular spaces, particularly Zone 1 spaces.

For example, all of the spaces that used to be a large Zone 1 lot on Cherry Avenue behind the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house have been summarily reduced to a fenced-in construction site.

I have perceived a very high anger and stress level this semester by both bike riders and motorists. Some have even suggested an organized protest, since there seems to a general consensus of opinion that we have been ripped off by Parking & Transportation Services. Of course, it is ultimately the responsibility of the university president and administration to fix and oversee this horrendous problem.

While the university attempts to resolve this parking fiasco, the campus police, security, parking services and bicycle safety officers should strive to treat everybody in the campus community with civility and respect.

Malcolm "Mac" Little

Graduate, Gerontology Department