Criticism of low game turn-out should be directed at UA football players, not the fans

Dear Mr. Lund: I was just reading your Tuesday column ("UA football needs you in the seats") online.

I agree that Arizona fans should support all UA teams, but do realize that it is so hard to get excited about a football team who often shows a lack of interest in themselves. I traveled to the Wisconsin game and I was honestly embarrassed for the UA.

I plan to travel again for Homecoming, but I am concerned that the football's team performance will again be just as effortless and embarrassing. You ask for Arizona fans and the Tucson community to fill up the stadium, but maybe your concerns should be directed toward the football team.

Elizabeth Jackson-Fields
Classes of '93 and '95

Democrats so busy criticizing Republicans that they fail to promote a better United States

After Tuesday's pathetic letter ("GOP's election tactics are incomparable to Napolitano") that only was full of personal attacks and did nothing to refute hard facts, I would like to take the time to defend Charles Peterson.

Charles Peterson is from Albuquerque and has only lived in Tucson for two years. However, he has been involved in politics since his freshman year in high school, not merely dealing with acne and what to do for the weekend as Joe Ellison describes.

Mr. Peterson's home state has been controlled by the Democratic Party for over 50 years and sees that their policies have done little to pull the state out of its impoverished existence. He is working on elections in Arizona for the third year now and I can safely say he knows more about the candidates running on both sides than the average voter.

Liberal Democrats like Kendrick Wilson have been writing about extreme conservatives since the primaries have been over. However, they all turn the other way when a real radical liberal like Raul Grijalva won the Democratic nomination for Congressional District 7. Joe Ellison also pulls out the gay/lesbian card. Charles is also an openly gay Republican. He joins a list only growing in the Republican Party who is tired of liberal gays and lesbians who continue to be one-issue voters and only care if the candidate will wave a rainbow flag.

Ellison keeps the myth alive that only the Republican Party has members that are racist and homophobic, but the Democrats are full of them as well. Examples of this are Senator Byrd of West Virginia who is a former KKK member, and the conservative southern Democrats.

Looking at the list of gay Republicans in elected office in Arizona (Jim Kolbe and Ed Poelstra to name a couple), it is hard to believe the party as a whole could hate homosexuals.

Finally, Charles was flattered at Ellison's comparison of him and Ann Coulter. He is proud of Republicans that voice the outrageous behaviors of the left wing.

The Republican cause is that of a better America and is not a message that leftists like Ellison will ever understand, because they are too busy criticizing our nation for not being liberal enough.

Pam Simpson
communications senior

There is an Îopen invitation' for every student to offer input on new UA direction

In his Sept. 23 letter to the Wildcat ("Likins, in failing to seek student input, reveals his Îelite' attitude"), graduate student Mark Rivera harshly criticized the UA administration for neglecting to solicit student opinion regarding "Focused Excellence."

This administration values student participation and input to such an extent that students are involved in almost every facet of university governance.

In my letter to the editor (Sept. 20, "ÎElite' oversimplifies efforts to reinvent UA by consensus"), I incorrectly assumed that the campus community knows that students (as well as classified staff, appointed personnel and faculty) are members of the various groups currently discussing this topic. Students should know that key councils, such as the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee, Campus Advisory Council, Faculty Senate, the Finance Committee and others include outstanding students who do not hesitate to represent student interests. Further, in an effort to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in this discussion, the "Focused Excellence" document sent to the campus community last week (and referenced by Rivera) specifically solicited campus-wide input. E-mail addresses for the president, provost and the vice president for executive operations were listed for this very purpose.

That is an open invitation for every student and member of our campus community to participate in this discussion. We are trying to make it clear that we want to hear from you.

Janet Bingham
Vice President,
University Advancement

Time for students to stop complaining and to start taking some responsibility

After reading several articles by Jessica Lee, I begin to wonder if there is anything that she does not want to complain about. Ms. Lee's Sept. 24 article titled "Student Lifeline left in emergency situation" serves to demonstrate the immaturity that is so often present in her articles.

In her article, Ms. Lee complains that a free service, Student Lifeline, is not up to her standards.

Those of us who live in the real world have a saying: "You get what you pay for." So if you don't pay anything, don't complain about what you get.

Young people, especially college students, are too often not held responsible for their own actions. We have come to expect something like Student Lifeline to bail us out of all our little "emergencies."

If a cab ride is likely to rescue us from an emergency (such as sitting outside of Chuy's on a Sunday night), then maybe we should keep the money needed for a cab ride on hand at all times.

Wait a minute, who am I really kidding? We can't be responsible for taking care of ourselves. That's everyone else's job. Our job is to complain about how they attempt to do it.

Brian Ellison
pre-architecture sophomore