Best wishes for newly engaged basketball coach Lute Olson

Living in the spotlight has to be way stressful. I am happy that coach Olson has found a helpmate. I want to wish him all the best.

Cletis Harry Beegle
Tucsonan

Hall's women's rights column right on, yet title a little off

Thanks to Caitlin Hall for writing such a fine ode to feminism in yesterday's Wildcat ("How Îfeminism' is destroying the women's movement"). I completely agree with her plea to "bring down the barriers" of gender roles and restrictions. I would also like to second the kudos given to Students for Choice and those who made the performance of Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" possible.

I do, however, wonder if the title of the piece does Ms. Hall and others a disservice. Despite the use of quotation marks, the title suggests to the reader that feminists in general are destroying the women's movement, which is clearly not what the writer has in mind. Ms. Hall is scolding what she calls Îpseudo-feminists' (by definition not feminists) for attempting to place women into boxes that are perhaps only slightly more encompassing than the roles men have for centuries been imposing on their counterparts. Though I do not claim to know Ms. Hall's personal feelings on the matter, nowhere in her commentary does she imply that feminists in general are responsible for this ironic twist. I would ask that in the future, the Wildcat headline writers give more consideration to the potential connotations of their bold print.

To note a further comment, and this is directed at the author herself, I would ask, who, exactly, are these pseudo-feminists Ms. Hall speaks of? I do not deny that some may in fact exist, but in all honesty I have never met one in real life. That is, I have never met one who existed outside of media (mis)portrayals of feminists. Yes, we often see high-strung women on television shows proclaiming their feminist beliefs and then taking extreme measures to demand that all women throw down their kitchen utensils to liberate themselves from male tyranny. Further, news media stories often misrepresent (either out of ignorance or intentionally) feminists as cold-hearted, power-hungry, insensitive and intolerant.

In reality (at least in my experience), such claims about feminism and feminists are just plain false. Feminists are human beings just like you who understand that every person has her own hopes, dreams and desires, and that no one should stand in the way of the realization of any person's identity.

Now, that's a radical idea!

F. G. Elias Walsh
SALT Center tutor

ÎApple-eating incident' still has women fighting for rights

I have never seen more ignorance displayed in a column than this one, except maybe by Kendrick Wilson. Sweetie, if it weren't for feminism, you wouldn't be able to print your mindless dribble. Women have been oppressed since the beginning of the apple-eating incident and have been paying for it ever since.

Look around your world and appreciate that some feminist in America decided enough was enough and did something about it, beginning with the power of the vote. I suggest, Ms. Hall, you go back to your history class in high school and reread your two pages of the women's rights movement. You cannot possibly have enough knowledge of what women have sacrificed for your ignorance on the subject of feminism. You are young, and everything is all ready for you to go out into the big world to tackle problems in a male-centered business world. This only happened for you because feminists made that place possible for you, Ms. Hall. Know your facts before you misinform the public. Thanks to feminists, you are able to smile so pretty on the opinions page today.

Cristine Sardina
junior majoring in education and Spanish

Feminists should hardly praise Spears, promoter of inequality

While Caitlin Hall offered very few relevant points about feminism and the women's movement, Ms. Hall failed to mention the progress made by other women besides Britney Spears; and most importantly what damaging effects Spears has had on society's view of women in the world today, more precisely women in America today. Feminism is a movement for equality amongst men and women. Where is the equality when women are treated and viewed as sex objects? Where is the equality when society places emphasis on women only as sex symbols and nothing more?

If you think about it, where have women come in the movement toward equality and freedom? Not very far! And why not? It's because of women-bashing people like Ms. Hall who oppose feminism in any form other than the one she views! What about those women who have done a lot for our world? What about Mother Teresa? Has she not made an impact on the views of women? And what impact has Britney Spears made? She proved the point that if you dress slutty enough and make money from the horny little teenagers that idolize her, she can choose "to pay for her own boobs." She can prove to the perverts out there that all women will dress like sluts if you pay us enough? No! Why should we "praise" Spears for the crap that she's done? Why can't we focus on the good women of the world today and look at what positive impacts they have had on society?

Christina D. Garcia
secondary education junior and sorority member

Columnists have inaccurate understanding of greek life

In response to the Wildcat's Issue of the Week, I want to be the first to say that I am appalled at the statements made by some of your writers. Contrary to the popular belief of the Wildcat staff, fraternities (and sororities) are much more than a reckless, desperate attempt to buy ones' friends with money, alcohol, and astonishing feats of self-loathing. Rather, fraternities, and the greek system in general, serve a much greater end than your staff gives them credit for. It would be interesting to calculate how many thousands of dollars are raised for local charities, and how many hours of community service greeks involve themselves in every semester. One thing I am confident of, though, is that the collective service efforts of fraternities and sororities outweigh that of any other organization on campus.

Furthermore, the Issue of the Week seems to be nothing more than a harsh battle for geek of the week, in which the candidates (Wildcat writers) take out their jealousies and own shortcomings on that of fraternities, which, in turn, reflects poorly on the greek system as a whole. My advice to these writers, and those who share their concerns, would be to leave their safe routines of going to class and rushing to sit in their homes, imagining how much fun college could be, and attempt to learn, or better yet, experience what the greek system is truly about. However, for those stuck in their ways, I am sorry that you may never be able to fully take advantage of our university environment; but in the future, please refrain from publishing your misinformed beliefs in such a degrading way.

Justin Fisher
political science junior

If U.N. does not stop war, it will fail as a peacekeeper

Responding to Steve Campbell's Tuesday column, "U.N. following path of League of Nations": Mr. Campbell calls for the USA to show the "anti-American" world that the United States no longer needs the United Nations, and in fact never did. First of all, I wonder what, or who represents the "anti-American" world. Why the polarization?

To Mr. Campbell, the differences between an American and, say, an Iraqi, seem to boil down to the fact that one is not American. That's a pretty succinct view of somebody else's culture, especially for a Spanish major. Campbell's flaccid prose does little to convince me that the collateral damage implied by a war in Iraq will ever chalk up to "liberty or freedom for all people." I do, however, stand by one of his arguments, which says that the League of Nations became obsolete when it did nothing to prevent the invasions of Manchuria, Ethiopia and Poland.

I'd like to extrapolate this point and propose, though it seems obvious, that any peacekeeping organization becomes obsolete when it fails to prevent hostile aggression. If we consider the U.N. obsolete in the future, it will be because it has failed as a mediating body and allowed a stronger nation to attack a weaker one while peace was still an option. If the U.N. buckles, then the nations are no longer united.

If this occurs, then yes, the U.N. will be obsolete.

Brian Gruters
Senior majoring in Spanish

Wildcat film critics missed the boat with "Old School"

I am just writing in to ask the Wildcat to get some new film critics because the two that you have really suck ass. I have decided this fact after going to see the movie "Old School," which was absolutely hilarious.

The two critics, Mark Betancourt and Lindsay Utz, got me bummed out with their last Thursday review of only one star for the movie that was so obviously better than what was stated in the review. Maybe they didn't go see the same movie that the rest of us did because Will Ferrell, who's a genius, and Vince Vaughn were hilarious and the movie as a whole was sweet. It was a comedic masterpiece that had everything anyone would want in a comedy, and it will be added to my collection when it comes out.

All I have to say to your critics is that it's a movie made for entertainment and not for the awards show, so if you two are looking for some kind of emotional depth, or a story line that appeals to the heart, go write a fucking poem and leave the movie-watching to college students who want to be entertained!

Matt Mckinney
undecided freshman

Pakistan hides terrorists, simply playing U.S. for aid

The capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ("Architect of 9/11 plan arrested," March 3) once again proved the web of terrorist links operating in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan is playing a double standard in the so-called United States-led war on terrorism. The purpose is very clear: getting more funds and U.S. support on international issues. I am sure the same man could have been caught much earlier if Pakistan really wanted.

All of us know that many international terrorists are hiding in that region. Abdul Qadoos, a member of Jamaat-e-Islami (religious party), who was caught with Mohammed, proved that there is a huge link between his party and the Sept. 11 attack. It's very obvious that these parties are breathing on the funds received by the United States on humanitarian grounds or whatever else.

Coincidently, several members of the same party are on the "most wanted" list in India for killing innocent people in Kashmir. Jim Wilkinson said "there's still a lot of work to do." The first step would be to stop funding all tainted countries. Secondly, reconsider the United States' list of terrorist countries. Wisely acting, declare Pakistan as a terrorist country without any further delay ÷ or is the United States waiting for another Sept. 11?

Prashant Rajgarhia
engineering management sophomore