Crowd actions against UCLA showed Îa total lack of class'

I attended the UA basketball game on Feb. 13 against UCLA. The game was unbelievable, the fans' energy was at a season's high. It was one of the most complete performances by the UA b-ball team I've seen since the season opener against Western Kentucky. With all these highs there was one sobering moment in the game. In the second half with about 10 minutes left, the crowd started to chant "Fi-re La-vin." I have no problem with hounding the other team if it is a close game, but this was a 30-point blowout. This is the first time in my short career here at the U that I was disappointed and ashamed that I attended UA. I thought that this displayed a total lack of class by the Arizona fans. I'm not against cheering for UA, and not against heckling the other team, but stooping as low as the fans did was unacceptable. Besides if UCLA does fire Steve Lavin, which they will most likely do at the end of this season, UCLA will bring in a coach that has some clue how to coach a basketball team and this great rivalry will once again be ignited.

Darren Noel
pre-pharmacy freshman

Sex article takes biased tone; exemplary of bad journalism

I am writing in response to the article in Friday's newspaper titled "Sex lives can be casual for students." First off, let's address the title. It effectively says nothing. Sex lives can be casual for anyone. Secondly, the statistic stating that 70 percent of UA students have had sex is ridiculous in an article of this sort. For one thing, in a student body ranging approximately from 18 years of age to 60, it is expected that most of them have had sex. If this were an article written in a high school newspaper, it might have more shock value, but in a college newspaper, it's no big news. Thirdly, the tone of the article was very conservatively alarmist. It made it seem like all of the 70 percent of sexually active students have been involved in a one-night stand.

The one-sentence qualifier doesn't change the tone, as it is only one sentence, and it's followed by a statement from Campus Health Services about letters that students have written about one-night stands. Here's the real deal: sex is no crime. In fact, let's think about this, if no one ever had sex, none of us would be here to read the newspaper and write letters about it. Not all sexually active people engage in casual sex, and even if they did, as long as they were safe about it (i.e. condoms, contraceptives, etc.) it shouldn't be a big deal.

Our decisions about sex are our own. Who really cares what other people are doing in the sack? Lastly: this article really seemed to jump from one issue to another. It started out as something trying to make casual sex seem evil, evil, evil, and went on to genetics, ending in a statement about abstinence. How about focusing on one issue, or at least trying to tie the rest in more effectively? All in all, not a very impressive piece of journalism from people who are supposedly educated individuals. I have to agree with Elizabeth Hazelwood's Friday letter when she wrote, "some basic journalism classes for all writers might be in order."

Libby Huntley
elementary education sophomore

Iraqi aim to destroy U.S. and Israel must be Îneutralized'

Kris Brown's Feb. 12 letter is a disgusting example of the manner of the average America-basher. Mr. Brown would be correct to think that Iraq's violations alone are not justification for war, but he is wrong if he overlooks the fact that Iraq has done much more than violate resolutions, and that they are a justification for action when they are added to the mile high list of offenses, moral transgressions, and crimes against humanity that Hussein has perpetrated.

Mr. Brown states that America has a double standard for itself and Iraq. But that statement is dead wrong. The norm here in America is one that loves peace and freedom (things worth fighting for). America should never be equated with terrorist nations and those who are against human rights. Iraq has never done anything out of a "perceived self-defense need" as the United States has; Hussein, like the tyrant he is, has personally violated the world because he does not care for the welfare of other people, or the freedoms of other people, or the lives of other people. And if Hussein does not care even for the lives of his own people, then America has a duty, as the most powerful nation on Earth, to take care of the situation. If the problem could be resolved through peaceful diplomacy, then it would have been solved already. But Iraq has proven, time and time again that there can be no peaceful solution.

As for the United Nations ÷ that bastion of self-interest ÷ one has to be from another planet not to know the depths of their hatred for America. Did it ever occur to you that Israel and the United States are the only dissenters on policy because we are the only civilized nations in a world of anti-America thugs?

Mr. Brown cannot gloss over the fact that Iraq is a terrorist nation bent on obliterating him, us, and the Israelis. Its main purpose is to instill fear in the hearts of people everywhere. Unless America neutralizes the problem, no one is safe.

Miguel Garcia
freshman majoring in English