Bernsen assertion misleading, inappropriate

I am writing in response to yesterday's article "GPSC wants in on pres. search." In the caption paired with the accompanying picture, and according to Cade Bernsen, the GPSC is a "club."

As the president of the GPSC I find this assertion ridiculous considering that the GPSC was once a part of ASUA and was formally and permanently given a portion of ASUA's budget in 1997 in order to serve as the graduate- and professional student-specific branch of student government because ASUA had been doing such a poor job of it.

Since that time, the GPSC has independently, without any input from ASUA, secured health insurance and tuition remission for graduate RAs and TAs on this campus, worked to fund stipends for low-income student families and improved the child care vouchers program.

A portion of our budget allows us to award funding to graduate clubs, just as ASUA funds undergraduate clubs. Additionally, I, or a member of the GPSC, serve on all the same campuswide committees that ASUA members serve on, including the Faculty Senate and its standing committees, student affairs policy committee, finance committees and more.

Last year only 60 graduate students voted in the ASUA election, less than 1 percent of graduate students and only 1.5 percent of voters, while more than 640 voted in the GPSC election. It is clear who serves the needs of graduate students on this campus, and who they and the administration consider their representative body to be. I think in fact that Mr. Bernsen is the one who has a "fundamental misunderstanding to how this is set up."

Elaine Ulrich
GPSC president

Not all affluent students lazy

I am writing in response to Allisyn Keyser's Monday column ("If I was a rich girl, I probably still wouldn't care"). While I agree with Allisyn that there are a fair amount of students at the UA who have little regard for their academics, their professors and the invaluable opportunity they have been given to attend college, I do not believe it is OK to somehow equate those behaviors to a person who most may consider well off. There are many hard-working students at this school, and simply because they do not work full-time jobs or take a full class load, that does not mean they do not care about their education.

She mentions that in her experience, it seems like many students attending the UA are still being financially supported by parents or other relatives. This may be true, but as long as those people are taking the time, which many do, to study hard and get further in life, then I see no problem with such financial support.

She continues, saying that while many have jobs or scholarships to help cover some of the costs, they are not completely on their own and therefore do not wholly understand the importance of hard work.

If these people didn't understand the meaning of hard work, they would be sitting around watching TV, eating junk food and buying stuff off of the Internet with their parents' money. Rather, they are working and studying to maintain their scholarships. If they didn't know the value of working hard, chances are they wouldn't have received the scholarship in the first place.

I would hope that in the future Allisyn would make the effort to prove her point without making such sweeping generalizations. In doing so, she may manage not to alienate her readers by insulting them.

Sonali Sen
molecular and cellular biology junior

Grad committee has true commitment to university

This letter is in response to "GPSC wants in on pres. search." I honestly think that not only does GPSC deserve this "right," but they are more capable than anyone in ASUA. The UA is a research-focused university, and who is involved in research?

GPSC had their last meeting in La Aldea, and watching their meeting and agendas, I think they are more focused on graduate student issues than student politics. Please do not tell me that GPSC is "kind of like a club." Maybe ASUA has a constitution, but GPSC has commitment - commitment to the university, commitment to research and commitment to community.

Prashant Raj
engineering management senior

ASUA wrong to fund religious clubs

ASUA should not have used student fees to pay for religious events. If they begin by funding Christian religious events where is the stopping point? Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, American Indian, Catholic, Baptist and Mormon student groups start asking for funds, which leaves atheists and agnostics and skeptics out of the funding possibilities.

ASUA should reconsider this poor decision and not fund any religious organizations on campus. Clubs can seek funding for these events from supporting churches and/or fund themselves. Using student funds to pay for religious events is disrespectful to students of other or no religion and makes a bad precedent for future requests.

In today's political situation many believe Christian fundamentalism in this country is just as dangerous as other religious and political around the globe. ASUA made the wrong decision.

Jared Hautamaki
second-year law student