Scarpinato column inaccurate, reveals bias

Scarpinato's article, "Airing UA's real dirty laundry," requires several corrections. Students for Choice did not participate in the forum, as claimed by Mr. Scarpinato. The speaker who was talking about the abortion gag rule was clearly identified as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. At no time was she identified as speaking on behalf of Students for Choice and at no time was it claimed that Students for Choice was involved in the forum. Mr. Scarpinato also identified one of the participating organizations incorrectly. There is no organization called Students Against Racist Action. The group he was referring to is called Anti Racist Action. Such errors and misrepresentations are in keeping with the article as a whole. Mr. Scarpinato's column is a prime example of ideological blinders getting in the way of reality. The column he wrote had more to do with his own biases and assumptions than with anything expressed at the forum in question. To add insult to injury, the juxtaposition of the article's headline and the crude comic had the not-so-subtle effect of painting the groups in question as both dirty laundry and snakes. Scarpinato would apologize for this if he had any ethics, least of all because one of the groups he libeled wasn't even involved in the event.

Dustin McDaniel
political science junior

Anti-Defamation League right to hail Berlusconi

In his Oct. 3 letter, Giorgio Torrieri calls the Anti-Defamation League's credibility into question for honoring Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. ADL has repeatedly acknowledged Prime Minister Berlusconi as our "flawed friend." But at a time when the United States is leading the struggle against the greatest threat to the civilized world ÷ international terrorism ÷ and the State of Israel is a direct target of such terrorists, Mr. Berlusconi's leadership has been critical and outstanding. Italy's support for the United States when it was looking for friends in Europe's and Italy's leadership in getting the European Union to cut off all funding to the Islamic terrorist group Hamas are exemplary and deserving of commendation. Yes, Mr. Berlusconi is a "flawed friend," but a friend indeed ÷ to America, to Israel and to the Jewish people. I find it ironic that in charging ADL with lacking credibility, Mr. Torrieri defends showing the propagandistic film "Jenin Jenin" as a documentary, even though he "had no way of knowing how accurate it was."

Bill Straus
Arizona regional director
Anti-Defamation League

Suarez column based on ignorant stereotypes

It greatly saddened me to read Jessica Suarez's column, "So I'm a Pro-Semite." The column was dismaying in that it brought to light just how little many non-Jews really know about Judaism. There's a lot more to it than Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and kuegal. To pigeonhole several thousand years of vibrant history and culture into nothing more than a handful of stereotypes is deplorable. The Jewish-related things mentioned in "So I'm a Pro-Semite" have varying degrees of significance within Judaism, but none are essential to what it actually means to be a Jew. Instead of relying on the stereotypes in popular culture to define your perspective of Judaism, make an informed assessment actually based on the religion. Read a book on the subject or, even better, ask one of us. Ben Cook
environmental science sophomore

Poreda's bike remedy offers no real solution

I want to thank Jason Poreda for addressing the problem of on-campus bike theft. His solution, to remove all residence hall bikes by disallowing residence hall students to have them, is both simple and effective. In this age of terrorism, I am surprised by how the government does not implement more simple solutions such as: removing all jets from the sky so terrorists cannot hijack them, removing all narcotics so that drug addicts won't use them, removing all cars so that alcoholics won't drink and drive and, finally, removing all elections so that no fiascos such as what occurred in Florida will ever happen again. See, it's simple. Whenever liberty is threatened, let the government remove it so that no criminal will ever have it ÷ but, then again, neither will we. Thank you Mr. Poreda. I see that those four years of studying political science have paid off.

David Mack
biochemistry senior

Labeling undermines Scarpinato column

In his column, Mr. Scarpinato blindly labels all the participants of the "Airing UA's Dirty Laundry" forum as liberal. Starting out his column by obscuring the issue with a socially constructed ÷ not to mention hackneyed ÷ stereotype of liberals is not a practice that does justice to the issues or participants. Some very respectable conservative-minded people are out for their ideals. Mr. Scarpinato, however, is out for a kill. So many of the students at the UA are politically and, in a smaller sense, morally fallow; while most students worry about their busy day of classes, there are many who are meeting three to five times a week, organizing events, doing research and reaching out to the community to talk about social issues and university policy. You see, Mr. Scarpinato, that is what an activist does.

I've never seen many of you, the student population, at events before, liberal or conservative; how is it that all of you could possibly know enough about the issues that you could pass judgment on these hard-working, dedicated people? Everyone, please consider these questions: Have you seen the pictures of Kukdong and heard the stories of Matamoros? Did you attend any of the dozens of meetings ÷ organized by "liberals" ÷ that opposed what Mr. Scarpinato called "(an) unfair tuition increase that redistributes wealth?" Are your "Cat Shorts" made in a sweatshop? Is the university spending your tuition dollars to slander Native American communities? Did your university sell women's reproductive freedom for football? Is the university forfeiting your privacy through SEVIS?

Can you answer these basic questions about the issues? Do you care? Many of us do care and many of us act on those concerns. Mr. Scarpinato, I have no doubt that a lot of our student population will agree with your blind liberal bashing. Congratulations on your kill, but as you celebrate, remember those of us who are working.

Shawn Nock
engineering physics sophomore

Rio Nuevo critical to city's cultural revival

In a framework of its own, Tucson has a unique history. One cannot deny the importance of its development, organization, contribution and influence on America. The Rio Nuevo Project is a huge gamble and, as columnist Daniel Scarpinato writes, it should be taken seriously. One of the biggest challenges this city faces is merging past with present. The natural expansion, growth and development of today's cities raise questions as to what we keep and what we do away with. Our community's conception of what a downtown "should be" has endangered its own historical construct.

We may not know, wish to hear or have compassion for Tucson's unique history. For many of us, downtown is "ghetto" ÷ we've made up our minds and are not open to reconsideration. However, we cannot deny Tucson's historical significance. The El Presidio and Barrio Historico districts, now protected and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are unique environments not found elsewhere, and must be preserved ÷ contextually. It is important we hold on to these imperative values.

The first urban renewal that was to integrate additional business commodities in Tucson was a partial success. It drove out the precarious environment brought on by the 60s. What it failed to do was preserve the natural evolutionary process of Tucson, demolishing many buildings dating back to the Mexican Conquest and American Revival. When this happened, Tucson was stripped of its social attributes.

Currently, downtown is home to a nine-to-five business working lifestyle. The social aspects of a "modern downtown" do not exist in Tucson. The future development of the Rio Nuevo Project ÷ the second urban renewal ÷ will be interesting. Will it be a success? Aside from bringing a social character to Tucson, the biggest challenge Rio Nuevo faces lies in successfully integrating the past and present.

Daniel Telles
architecture senior

Greeks do contribute positively to campus

This letter is to inform everybody of the positive effects fraternities have on this campus. It seems like only the bad news gets printed, which is understandable because no one wants to hear good news when it happens.

However, this past weekend, the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO) held a convention in Chicago in which the Omega Delta Phi Gamma Chapter, which is here at the UA, was awarded the best undergraduate chapter of the year. We have put countless hours of community service (not countless dollars) into the Tucson community and have also put on numerous fundraisers to help pay for such events ÷ not to mention the fact that we only have 20 members to do all of this with. We have also held successful social events with many greek organizations on campus. I'm sure there are other fraternities and sororities that have been awarded in similar fashion, but no one hears about these accomplishments because people would rather read about greeks that get kicked off campus than greeks that are doing positive things for the community. Hopefully this can be a starting point for good news to come regarding greeks on campus and we can begin to get away from the bad image that has been created because of a few "bad seeds."

Thomas Romero
Vice President
Omega Delta Phi Gamma Chapter

Students do not just ride bikes on campus

In response to Mr. Poreda's offering on the causes of bike theft, I would be interested to know if he managed to consider any of the possible uses of bicycles other than travel from residence halls to classes. His basic argument is that the distance between dormitories and classroom buildings is not too great to be overcome by walking and that students in residence halls should simply walk to class and not use their bikes. OK, but I think it is safe to say that students without cars need and even like to travel other places than classroom buildings on the UA campus. Alas, students without cars? Surely there are a few that need bikes to do things and go places. This campus and the Tucson metro area are very bike-friendly, though some may disagree if they have never spent time in a place where bike planning is only an afterthought. I say the more bikes you see, the fewer cars you smell, and I challenge the author to consider some of the everyday uses for bicycles beyond that of a vehicle for education.

Jason Welborn
geography graduate student

Scarpinato column has bias, lacks ethics

Daniel Scarpinato's column was a lazy and incompetent travesty, though space prevents detailing the lack of basic journalistic ethics and professional standards demonstrated by his column.

More fundamentally, his column makes it clear that he is a hypocrite unfamiliar with the concept of democracy. He claims that he is concerned about the lack of "diversity of thought" at the UA. Yet the whole point of his article is that a wide range of positions and voices are completely illegitimate and should be excluded from popular consciousness. In a similar vein, he ignores the point made at the forum that SEVIS has had the effect of intimidating and silencing international students. This is particularly important given that many of them belong to populations increasingly subject to hate crimes and systematic discrimination. For these and other reasons, they are exactly the people whose voices we should be hearing the most. Yet Scarpinato is silent about this, as he is about the other undemocratic silencing practices of the administration that the forum detailed.

Mr. Scarpinato's professed concern for diversity of thought is a sham. What he wants is more people like him: misinformed, arrogant and blind to abuses of power. He wants to exclude entire populations from political participation while granting ever-more-unaccountable authority to the rich and powerful. There is a word to describe such politics, and it isn't "democratic." And yes, it has everything to do with the policies coming out of the White House. People like Mr. Scarpinato and, at a slightly less petty level, Likins, are much more likely to follow through with their authoritarian impulses when national "leaders" are implementing increasingly repressive and anti-democratic policies. This is something people from a variety of political positions recognize and are deeply troubled by.

Greg Knehans
political science
graduate student