To steal a phrase from President Kennedy, Tucsonans sought redress in the streets last week after a pharmacist refused to fill a rape victim’s prescription for emergency contraception because of moral objections.

Picket signs were unfurled in front of the Fry’s pharmacy where the woman was turned away, and one demonstrator was quoted in this newspaper as saying that the victim “was not only raped sexually, but raped by a pharmacist’s religious convictions.” [Read article]

President Bush’s choice Monday of Samuel Alito to fill the Supreme Court seat of the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor has drawn immediate praise from conservatives, and speculation that this nomination would increase the divide between the different factions of the Republican Party appears to be at an end.

Meanwhile, liberal groups have wasted no time in opposing the nomination, with such groups as Planned Parenthood and People for the American Way already calling for his rejection by the Senate, much like they unsuccessfully attempted with our recently nominated chief justice, John Roberts. [Read article]

Last fall, the UA and Alltel announced a seemingly perfect partnership. Alltel would become the official cell phone provider of the university in exchange for giving discounts to students and departments. This agreement benefits both parties, and the university would do well to pursue other agreements like it.

Under the terms of the agreement, students receive a 10 percent discount off Alltel services, and university departments receive a 20 percent discount. The discount even works for the student’s entire family. [Read article]

Cut classes, departments and programs. A veritable army of cheaply funded teaching assistants. Trash cans overflowing. Cost of employee benefits ever growing.

Add to that the loss of hundreds of faculty and staff and you’ve got a nearly $50 million budget shortfall that has proven music to state legislators’ ears.

As it stands now, the UA is one of the three largest casualties of gross negligence by a conservative [Read article]

Homecoming hardly an event solely for greeks

As alumni who are eagerly awaiting this year’s Homecoming (and participated in the past as royalty and a member of planning groups), we were dismayed by your recent editorial “Homecoming: It’s all greek to us.”

To make blanket statements like you do in your editorial does a disservice to students who are new to campus and place any value in what the Wildcat publishes. You convey a huge generalization that has many holes in it. [Read article]