Lee column ruined by personal bias

Once again, Jessica Lee allowed her personal biases to outweigh journalistic professionalism in her recent article regarding faith and school. Rather than comment on issues such as campaign finance reform, patients' bill of rights and UA construction, she decided to write a scathing commentary on students who rely on their faith to guide their lives.

Jessica, who gives you the right to comment on faith when you yourself have claimed to have none? Frankly, your ignorance of faith is annoying and you belong in the same ranks as the Mall preachers who browbeat students annually. Faith is more than asking for intercession when it is convenient or testing God to prove himself through the elusive "A." With all the proof in the world, many people would still fail to believe in God. Faith is acknowledging that we are not in control of our destiny. Sickness is not a result of God failing to love us, but more so another element to reveal his glory.

The way I see it is this: If there is no God, then when we die, that's it. Our carbons simply are recycled into the next conformation. But if there is a God, there's also the grace of eternal salvation. I choose to believe in a life of meaning and purpose rather then biding time till the end of my earthly existence. Next time Jessica, why don't you go write about something important, like malls killing cacti, American foreign policy warranting terrorist attacks or your boyfriend not being able to love you at the airport.

David Caretto
biochemistry junior

Wildcat should not glorify vandals

Skateboarders on our campus routinely destroy public property, and your decision to glorify their actions with a large color photo on the front page (Arizona Daily Wildcat, 11/28/01, page 1) doesn't help.

The photo depicts a young man with no protective gear, sliding down a handrail that is scraped clean of paint. The caption indicates that the skateboarder is "sponsored" by a company called Sector Nine. Since these skateboarders consider themselves immune from prosecution for their continuing destructive onslaught (whose fault is that?), perhaps the UA should seek financial recovery from these "sponsors" for the acts of these vandals.

I presume the sponsoring companies will also indemnify the university for the inevitable liability lawsuits that will arise when one of their young advertisers cracks open his skull on our premises. If anyone doubts the ability of these miscreants to destroy property, take a walk along the concrete benches around the Integrated Learning Center. Within days of the fences coming down, these benches were permanently stained with paraffin to make skateboards slide better, and the fresh new concrete was chipped and scarred in many places.

Almost $2,000 was added to the cost of this project to install devices to prevent board sliding, and skateboard vandals have already started prying these out, taking chunks of concrete with them. If you value the appearance and safety of your campus, do not tolerate this destruction. Report vandalism to UAPD immediately, even if you're just a Wildcat photographer.

Steve Holland
UA Director of Risk Management and Safety

America should celebrate cloning efforts

Enlightened Americans ought to congratulate Advanced Cell Technology for its human cloning research and thank them for their courage and independence in the pursuit of knowledge.

History is littered with stories of men like Darwin and Galileo, who used reason and challenged a faith-driven culture in their scientific endeavors. These men endured constant intellectual battle during their lifetimes, but their struggle brought us the high standard of living that we enjoy today. Our material wealth and comfort has always followed from the embrace of reason over faith. Advanced Cell Technology's research will show us this again, if they are not shut down by the "Witch Doctors" first.

Heather Stern
Marina del Rey, Calif.

Durrani column misses the point

In Mariam Durrani's debate about human cloning, she stated, "The souls of a man or woman is something that cannot be created by us because it cannot be captured by us." I don't think that it is an accurate statement to be mentioned. How do you define soul? If you mean soul as just merely an unseen being, something that is being dropped from heaven or hell, just an extraterrestrial object or is inserted in to you to give you life form, then you are wrong in the eyes of scientists.

They completely rule out the idea of soul existence or, to be precise, identifying a person with respect to his or her soul. Philosophers do think of soul existence and life after death to prove our personal identity, but to scientists it's just some crap. Yet, it is our own feelings and thinking, and they vary a lot. We are just some complex system, difficult to understand and probably much faster then any computer or any machine ever made. Human cloning is bad for us, but it is possible in the near future.

Deepak Jain
finance sophomore

Alumni Plaza concept borders on obscene

If you thought the idea of "tearing up open space, the Mall, to create open space, the Alumni Plaza," was ridiculous (as Silas Montgomery quite eloquently stated in a letter Wednesday) let's think this one step further. Did anyone notice the front-page headlines from the Wildcat on Nov. 21?

Above the fold sits a story about the 4 percent budget cuts because of the $13.9 million cut to the UA funds. Right below was a story about the Alumni Plaza that will cost $2.7 million. I only took two semesters of calculus but I'm pretty sure 13.9 minus 2.7 equals 11.2.

Call me crazy, but I think reducing the shortfall by nearly 20 percent is a little more important. I'd rather have classes offered and instructors retained.

I understand that the money comes from the alumni and is not part of the normal budget. Excuse me alumni, but what is the best way for you support your alma mater? By keeping the university strong by retaining teachers, opening more classes and buying needed equipment, or tearing up Mall space so you can park your butt on a $1,000 brick with your name on it?

With the budget crisis in mind, building the Alumni Plaza is not ridiculous - it borders on obscene.

Michael Badowski
non-degree graduate student

Wildcat does not understand greeks' 'true colors'

To the writers of the Wildcat: I'm writing in response to the recent articles printed by your newspaper. Time and time again I read the biased, stereotypical and the ridiculously opinionated articles that spill from your writers. After Tuesday's article, I became extremely upset at what I read.

You people had the tenacity to say that the greek community's "true colors" are the promotion of underage drinking and that we should be "punished." Who are you to say such ridiculous things? People of your newspaper fail to realize what are "true colors" are.

I do not see articles of how my fraternity, nationwide, raises hundreds of millions of dollars for the Children's Miracle Network yearly, which in turn saves the lives of thousands of kids who can't afford treatment. I do not see articles of how young men and women come to college from broken homes, never had a loving family before, join fraternities and sororities and gain nearly a hundred brothers and sisters who will support them when they need help, lift their spirits when they are down and return a love that they have never had before. Nor do I see articles about how out of the top 50 CEO's, 35 are from the greek community and make this country what it is.

All I see is a bunch of biased, opinionated articles from people who would rather spend the time finding numbers of every greek brother or sister who got a MIP at a social event, call them, and print on the front page the person that gives the dumbest comment, just to make the greek system look bad.

Rather than people who could just look on one of the greek houses' Web sites and see what we do to help the community around us or sit down and talk with a member of the greek organizations, and ask what their fraternity or sorority has done for them. It's about time writers of your paper sit back and take a look at yourselves before you bash a community that has given so much to so many young men and women. I just hope one day that those who do not belong in a greek will stop stereotyping us and smearing our names just because they have no idea what our "true colors" are.

Travis True
aerospace engineering freshman
Sigma Chi fraternity