Racism is Safer Skies

Apparently Patrick Cummings is not a very vigilant traveler. He stated (in yesterday's letter to the editor), "Not one person of a Caucasian descent was checked." Could this really be true? I have seen, and first handedly experienced, otherwise. However, he does not stop here, he goes on to state, "...every, and I mean every single person of an 'Arabic' descent was checked." This is obviously an immense exaggeration. I mean seriously, how many Arabs is he trying to say were getting on this flight? And if it were that many that it would be such a travesty to check them all, given the current circumstances, I don't think it would be wise to board that flight anyway. Mr. Cummings then continues to bitch about how we, as a society, can turn our heads and allow this type of "racial profiling." It seems to me that Mr. Cummings, the one witnessing this purported incident, is the only one standing by and watching. Why didn't he stand up and take a more active position? Why didn't he immediately confront the airline, airport security or anyone with any sort of authority?

Possibly the reason is simple, this "racial profiling" was not as horrendous a thing as he has attempted to make it seem, or even a more probable explanation, he knew - just like the rest of us - that this "racial profiling" is the best, and most efficient, way to insure the safety of all Americans, by attacking the problem directly. Furthermore, Mr. Cummings has an extremely warped perspective on what racial profiling actually is. The version of racial profiling he refers to is a light case, if any at all. Airport security is targeting the passengers that, due to past and, even more so, recent occurrences, are most likely to commit acts of terrorism. And even if airline security was using extreme racial profiling, what is wrong with that? It is a reasonable request to ask that Americans be willing to give up this right so that future attacks on the United States of America can be prevented. I hope that Patrick Cummings and others like him will take a serious look at their beliefs and consider what is best for America rather then screaming RACISM.

Come on,wise up.

Mathew DeMartini
liberal arts freshman

Campus libraries need to help conserve energy

I love the Wilbur conservation stickers, which now grace the light switches in our building, reminding us to turn out the lights when they're not needed. Every time I stumble over something in the dark I know that I'm not only helping the university save money, but also helping the environment stay healthy through less fossil fuel use and less pollution from generating stations. I want to say thank you for reminding us that together, we can save money and the environment.

Although the progress is great, could you please put stickers on the computer monitors in the libraries, reminding people to turn them off when they're not needed? The monitors in the Science and Engineering Library were all brightly flashing their screen savers while the library was closed Friday evening, Dec. 14 to Monday morning, Dec. 16. Let's see, there are 62 monitors in just the public areas on the ground floor, plus private offices, plus all the other floors, and, oh dear, the Main Library, too. Yikes! That's like having 200-plus television sets on with no one watching for sixty-two hours · ouch! I asked the library about this over a year ago, but I haven't heard anything from them yet.

I hope that pressure from the student body will persuade the libraries to join the battle to conserve energy.

Cindy Salo
school of renewable natural resources

Random searches exaggerated

This letter is in response to Patrick Cummings. I read your sad, teary-eyed letter on Wednesday morning. The first word that came to mind was exaggeration. Since Sept. 11, I have been to many international airports and all the "random" searched that Cummings finds fault in are exactly that: random. Individuals from every background, skin color, age, and gender were being searched the last few times I flew, not just people of Arab decent as Cummings so misinforms.

Secondly, liberals fail to grasp that it was indeed people of Arab decent that attacked us; if this needs to be proven then please refer to the list of terrorists that used our own airliners as bombs. When airport security searches individuals that look Arabic they do it out of fear, not racism. People do not want what happened last summer to happen again. Sorry if that doesn't jive with your left wing, political correctness, Mr. Cummings. Safety first.

Charles A. Peterson
history sophomore

Advertisement advocates murder

That is a very nice advertisement you have right at the beginning of your Web page. Today was my first visit to your page. Right off the bat I know where I can find the abortion services. Thank you very much. It's good to see where you priorities are. I suppose it is best to get the unwanted children out of the way quickly. Only 1.5 million abortions per year occur in this country.

I am glad you are doing your share to help that number grow. I will pray for your organization.

Thomas Messe, M.D.
family physician