Pro-choice movement shows 'lucky' ones

As it is "extremely important for young people to speak out for issues that are important to them and will impact the future," I would like to express surprise that the UA is apparently pro-choice.

We college students tend to oppose the status quo and are usually in favor of equal rights.

I didn't think we'd support a sexist practice that absolutely denies a father's right to his child.

Furthermore, I find it interesting that a "March for Women's Lives" is rallying around a practice after which 62 percent of women suffer suicidal tendencies.

Why does a "pro-choice" movement oppose choices? It will support a woman who wants her child dead, but not a woman who wants her child to live.

Nor does it support any sexual decision except for the mythical consequence-free sex.

Its reported "pro-child" position supports dead children but not adoption programs or orphanages or unmarried mothers.

Isn't it "backwards" that 500,000-800,000 grown-up fetuses are marching in favor of a practice that has killed a third of their peers? They were so lucky.

Yes, it is "time to change the social landscape of the U.S." "Change" is the operative word.

Mary Byram
linguistics sophomore

UA is not exclusively pro-choice campus

In Monday's front-page article on the pro-choice rally in D.C., Kelly Kraus said she was "proud to show the nation that the UA is pro-choice." If I'm not mistaken, weren't there a grand total of 30 UA students who attended that rally?

In what way is that all of "the UA," when there are over 37,000 students enrolled, according to the 2003-2004 Fact Book?

To claim the UA is pro-choice is not only bad for the university, but bad for its students. I don't recall a student ever being in the position to make claims like that about the university.

I have no doubt that there are plenty of pro-choice students here on campus, but there are also plenty of pro-life students, as well as those who do not affiliate themselves with either side of the issue.

Is it acceptable to say that the UA is Republican or white or Muslim? Of course not. Thus, claims about the UA's position on political, moral and religious issues should not be made.

The UA has a diverse student body, which could not possibly be accurately represented by 30 pro-choice students.

Karen Schwerin
religious studies freshman

Wildcat sex columns aren't funny or helpful

The Wildcat sex column needs to end. I realize that Carrie Bradshaw of "Sex in the City" is so revered and respected that imitators would abound, but honestly this attempt has been horrible.

Both Caitlin Hall and Eliza Tebo may feel that they used innuendo in a clever and creative way, but both of them tell stories like drunken guys bragging about their wild escapades at spring break.

The "Sex Talk" advice column is the only instance of useable knowledge regarding sexuality in the Daily Wildcat and supplies more than enough humor in the questions themselves.

Basically, "Under Covers" and "Staying on Top" are wastes of recycled paper.

I'm sure both writers put in lots of hours of research in the subject, but let's face it, they have not transferred any knowledge worth knowing to anyone. So if their columns are lacking in humor and in factual information, what's the point?

Just make Police Beat a larger section, add more questions to Sex Talk, and humor and sexual information will be available for the masses, while saving Eliza Tebo the five minutes it takes to write her articles.

Phillip Denton
microbiology senior

Library needs to be saved from budget cuts

Got library cuts? Why with enrollment at record levels and hence an influx of headcount funds and recent large increases in tuition is the library, an essential service and a recruiting point facing budget cuts?

This does not jibe with UA claims to be a Research I institution, and Arizona's flagship school. With exponential growth in knowledge and increasing diversity in our institution, it should be growing to mirror the expansion of views and knowledge.

Given the trend to market-

controlled publishing, journals that voice dissent and minority opinion may be silenced as the library makes cuts.

Let's find a way to keep books and journals accessible and in their place the library. Because when they are gone, we will never know just how much we are missing. However, everybody else in academia and research funding review will know UA what does not.

Steve Marks
family studies and human development graduate student

Israeli event on Mall was 'celebration' not rally

In reference to their protest of an Israeli Independence Day celebration (note: not a rally, but a celebration; they were protesting a celebration), APJME Vice President Jessica Weinberg said that by supporting Israel, participants were also supporting what she called the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. This is absolute nonsense.

If you believe this, then you also have to believe that anybody who supports America also supports America's occupation of Iraq, and that anybody who celebrates the Fourth of July implicitly supports all government policy, but some of the most patriotic Americans are in constant disagreement with the government.

When this country was founded, dissent with the government and patriotism were one and the same. Never forget that.

John Pierce
computer engineering senior