Recognizing good money thrown after bad ends doesn't require rocket science. UA has repeatedly denied project viability without seven telescopes. Yet after almost 20 years, three are still not completed. Seven will never be built. Fiscal solvency will never be realized.

Bear Down, Arizona! Pay up! Or maybe recognize when someone is merely bearing down on you.

Robin Silver
Center for Biological Diversity

Sabino mountain lions shouldn't be put down

I'm writing in response to recent developments in the Sabino Canyon mountain lion story, which I find, quite frankly, incredulous. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, I have been to Sabino Canyon and agree that it is wonderful to have such a beautiful place for the public to enjoy. However, that does not give us the right to invade this wildlife habitat and claim it as our own. The mountain lions were there long before we were, and it is ridiculous that we should even consider "destroying" them, as the officials from Arizona Game and Fish have been quoted as saying. According to the Mountain Lion Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society, the subspecies of cougar that lives in Tucson's mountains is the Yuma Puma, which Arizona Game and Fish itself considers endangered.

While I realize that we can't have dangerous cougars attacking humans, there haven't been any attacks yet and there are no signs that there will be. We humans are just mad because "the mountain lions have lost their fear of humans," (as quoted in the Star). Arizona Game and Fish (and anyone who agrees with them) is simply succumbing to the archaic thought that everything in the world must be inferior to humans. Relocate them if you must, but try to remember that Sabino Canyon was the pumas' home before it was our playground, and for God's sake, don't "destroy" them.

Jenny Hunsperger
journalism senior

Nation's problems not due to Bush presidency

Brett Berry seems to say in his "Talking Back" column on Monday that he agrees with the views held by many that "Dubya" is responsible for all of America's problems. This is naive, and it's wrong. I don't agree with everything the president has said or done the past few years, but someone who blames him and his policies alone for any economic troubles or the budget deficit (like he's the only president to ever rack up a deficit) or the under-funded education system (which has been under-funded since long before Bush got into office) ignores the ups and downs of the economy and continuously changing and faulty policies under both Democratic and Republican administrations over the course of our nation's history.

Mr. Berry has it wrong on another point: We have forgotten Sept. 11, if not the events of the day, then the lessons we should have learned from them. One could easily argue that the police officers, firefighters and everyday people that were the heroes and victims of Sept. 11 died because President Clinton (a Democrat) didn't take down the Taliban and bin Laden after two of our embassies in Africa were bombed by al-Qaida on the same day in 1998. President Bush is using the events of Sept. 11 in his ads to show how he, a Republican president, saw us through those dark days and was willing to take decisive action to punish those who had attacked us and to prevent future attacks. Too many forget why that needs to be done · and in doing so they are only inviting more tragedies like that of Sept. 11, 2001.

Jeremy Slavin
political science senior

Diversity efforts upped at prestigious Harvard

Seth Frantzman thinks that as a society "we risk losing out on producing intelligent minds" if we value diversity in education. The truth is that we are already losing out on intelligent minds. The best and brightest students come from all facets of life. Unfortunately, some of these students aren't aware of the potential they have and don't get into the classrooms of higher education.

Sometimes they have to overcome severe disadvantages just to get to the same level and receive the same opportunities as more privileged students. The importance of having these students and students of all backgrounds is to have diverse viewpoints. People with differing perspectives can collaborate together and determine the best answer. Unlike Mr. Frantzman's hypothetical math class, there is no one right answer to most of the real world's challenges. Teamwork is a necessity to deal with those issues.

Even institutions such as Harvard University recognize the importance of diversity. Last week Harvard implemented a plan to make the elite college free to talented students from severely disadvantaged environments and increased recruiting efforts towards low-income families. If Harvard thinks a diverse education is important, hopefully others will think so too. Alex Dong
molecular and cellular biology and psychology sophomore