ASUA provides unique campus experience

Election season is upon us for ASUA positions and I would like to inform you about a unique opportunity. Our original eligibility deadline was Jan. 23, but we have decided to extend the deadline this year for a number of reasons. We initially pushed the deadline forward in hopes of giving students more time over winter break to consider running. We realize that this earlier deadline may have placed additional pressure on our candidates. We have also increased our outreach and personal communication this year, to ensure that we get candidates who are aware of the responsibility of holding office in ASUA. We also realize that due to the early deadline for elections packets, students may have found it difficult to obtain the necessary number of student signatures required in order to be placed on the ballot. It's for these reasons that we have extended our deadline for petitions to Friday.

ASUA has been a great organization for me to not only serve the UA in different leadership roles, but has allowed me to learn, grow and experience aspects of the university that most students don't get an opportunity to do. This is why I am so adamant that we give all students an opportunity to participate. With a student body of nearly 40,000, many students interested in ASUA were simply unaware of the opportunities to become involved. The extension of our candidate petitioning process will hopefully encourage more students to run.

Elections are open to both undergraduate and graduate students who want to serve in the roles of administrative vice president, executive vice president or student body president. Undergraduate students are also welcome to run for one of 10 senate positions. The campaign season will take place with a primary election in late February, followed by a general election in early March. Candidates don't necessarily need any experience, but rather a sincere concern for the well-being of the student body. If you know someone, or are someone who would like to be a part of this process, please inquire.

Elections are always an exciting time of the year, enhancing awareness for student issues and heightening campus spirit. It is my hope that those of you interested in getting involved and making a difference on campus will take this opportunity now to do so. Please come into the ASUA office as soon as possible if you have any interest. It is truly an amazing experience.

J.P. Benedict
marketing senior, ASUA student body president

Tuition hike should be linked to Excellence

If President Likins can promise us our money's worth as surely as he promises how much we'll be paying in two years, I would be far less inclined to question his intentions. However, I haven't even once heard him link Focused Excellence to his tuition proposal. It scares me that the president of the UA would be more concerned with leaving a tuition ranking as his legacy than an educational ranking for our institution.

Gary Davidson
creative writing and media arts junior

Later last call would curb power-drinking

Great, I just graduated, moved back to California and now the state of Arizona talks about a 2 a.m. last call! First off, I just want to say that I'm in favor of the bill, and if it passes, it won't encourage "power drinking," although I do. Power-drinking is a style I embraced during my 4 1/2- year stay in good old Tucson, and I felt I had to because of the early 1 a.m. cutoff. I can't count how many times I was ushered out the door at Dirtbag's at 1 a.m. trying to sneak a pitcher out behind my back. If I had another hour, I could quaff my nectar of the gods at a slower pace, and maybe, just maybe, call a cab or SafeRide. Ian Krieg
UA alumnus

Legislators offensive, juvenile in session

I wish to draw attention to how some state legislators are spending their time to strategically offend many Arizonans and waste time while pandering to religious zealots and bigots. Of course this received no press coverage, as many of the stupid citizens of this country and state are more interested in disgusting things like Michael Jackson's sex life than what our elected officials, the basis of our democracy, are doing with their time, which is really our time.

Last Monday, while a delegation from the Arizona Human Rights Fund was present in the gallery as part of their annual Lobby Day, Rep. Doug Quelland (Republican of District 10) of northern Phoenix used the opening prayer of the session to utter a hate speech masked as a prayer.

His speech directly made the following, among other accusations: People on welfare are lazy, the lottery exploits the poor, gays are perverts, women who receive abortion are murderers, multiculturalism is worshiping a false God and children with self-esteem are undisciplined.

Besides being strategically derogatory and insulting, this inappropriate action by Rep. Quelland has no place in a legislative body and is a pandering waste of time and energy. And I for one have reached my limit of toleration of the fusion of church and state that is occurring in this country, as millions are sick, hungry and unemployed. We are fast becoming a Second World country and will soon be Third World, except for the privileged white Anglo-Saxon Protestant males. And this kind of nonsense in the heart of Arizona state government will only accelerate the process here.

If you have an opinion on this, I encourage you to reverse the trend of idiocy and apathy in the U.S., get off your couch and write some letters to your representatives.

Patrick Leach
soil, water and environmental science graduate student