ÎPride' needs to take a lesson from USC band

As much as I would like to say how great the Pride of Arizona is, I must disagree with Ms. Avrahami in her assessment of the "energy and animation" that the band shows. I attended the USC football game and was blown away by how our band allowed the Trojan band to essentially take over our own stadium!

I was literally sitting right in the middle between both bands and USC consistently drowned out the UA band despite having only half the number of members in attendance!

I was also surprised to see how the UA band members treated the halftime show. They marched onto the field with discipline and order, and played a great show with the traditional dance at the end. But instead of marching off the field with the same order and discipline, they walked off the field in random directions as if to say that, now that the show was over, it didn't matter how they exited the field!

Not only that, but shortly thereafter, the UA football team came back onto the field to cheerleaders, a banner and a diminished crowd ÷ but no sounds from the UA band! Meanwhile, the Trojans entered to a very enthusiastic band showing its support. At that game, I saw a Trojan away band outplay the UA band and take over UA stadium while the Pride was off on a snack break at the concession stands. I can appreciate that this band takes great pride in its show selections for the season, and I can also appreciate that they work hard on these selections. However, the main goal at a football game should be to get the energy of the stadium up for the football team ÷ if I wanted to hear selections from "Star Wars," I'd buy the soundtrack.

Toni Wright
UA alumnus

Plans to diversify campus an Îopenly racist agenda'

Erin Schmidt's article, "Binge drinking linked to white men" states that "The UA is in the process of increasing diversity on campus, and is aiming to become a Hispanic serving institution, where 25 percent of the student body is Hispanic" and "decreasing the number of white young males would decrease the number of students who fit the statistical criteria of a binge drinker." This is an openly racist agenda. The university's priorities should be centered on education, wisdom, knowledge and preparation for a career, not collectivist racial quotas or being concerned with arbitrary moral convictions such as the issue of binge drinking. Binge drinking is not against the law and is a personal choice. The article also failed to mention any correlation between binge drinking habits and academic performance. Underage drinking should not even be of concern in the dorms, where 18-20 year old ADULTS are having their civil liberties stripped. Quoting Michael S. Berliner and Gary Hull from their article, "Diversity and Multiculturalism: The New Racism," "The Îdiversity' movement claims that its goal is to extinguish racism and build tolerance of differences. This is a complete sham. One cannot simultaneously teach students that their identity is determined by skin color and then expect them to become colorblind." The university needs to focus on the principles and goals on which it was founded ÷ being an educational institution and concentrating on admitting students based on merit. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. famously proclaimed "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." If only the university officials felt the same way. See you at the bars.

Grant Harrison
entrepreneurship and marketing senior

Recent criticism of Islam creates Îdouble standard'

Recently I read a letter submitted to the Wildcat that criticized the Islamic students on campus for publicly celebrating Ramadan. The claim, as I recall, was that these students were "pressing their beliefs upon others" through such displays, and that this was disrespectful and had no place in a public forum like the Wildcat. When I read this, I was astonished. I could not for a moment believe the glaring oversight made, nor the double standard that it clearly represents. Am I the only student who has wandered towards the Mall at lunchtime only to lose my appetite to the din of campus preachers and the cacophony of gospel music? Am I the only one on campus who feels that someone is trying to force-feed Christianity down my throat every other day of the school week? I mean, I have issue enough with the fact that it is next to impossible to get any kind of academic work done on campus at midday thanks to the various musical performances that undermine lunchtime productivity, but the fact that a good half of that is religious propaganda makes it that much worse. In four-and-a-half years of schooling here I have almost never seen a religious display of any kind that wasn't Christian. Not only do the campus preachers (whom I know we all love dearly) feel the right to question my moral fiber based on their pretentious notions of "objective" metaphysical truth as they stand upon their podium of free speech (please don't mistake this for a criticism of free speech, which I fully support), but even the music on the Mall, which is supported by the UA through its provision of the Mall stage, is now a grounds for religiously-bigoted propaganda. From prayers to gospel, I feel on a regular basis that I do not belong and am not welcome if I don t subscribe to one special interest group's beliefs about how the world "ought to be." I wonder what kind of a reaction would be raised if I tried to get a group of Satanic friends of mine to join me on stage in order to sing songs of Satanic worship. Don't kid yourself; people would raise Hell (no pun intended), and it is this blatant double standard that I feel needs to be called into question. I would first and foremost like to see an end to the lunchtime music in general since I think that it detracts from the study-focused environment that universities have traditionally been a haven for; presently, this university seems bent on eliminating any such environment (we are, after all, the "Zona Zoo," a name almost more befitting than the "University of Arizona"). I realize, however, that there is probably a large portion of the student population that enjoys the music, and so secondly I would like to urge all of the other religious groups on campus to vie for time on the Mall stage to share their beliefs, as well (though I sincerely appreciate that they have not felt the need to do so prior to this point). In closing I would like to make a disclaimer and say that (1) I have no religious orientation (including atheism) and I do not support or hold contempt for any religion over another (including Christianity and Satanism), (2) I have many friends of almost every religion (including many Christians, most of whom share my views on this issue of a double standard and feel that it gives their community a bad name) and I respect the views of anyone who will show respect for mine (this includes not proselytizing me based on his or her subjective beliefs).

Ravi Arora
psychology senior