UA basketball better off without Lute

Although I have only been at the University of Arizona for two years, I would consider myself a dedicated supporter of Arizona athletics. I was a student season ticket holder both last year and this year for college basketball. I don't have the loyalty that many Tucsonans have toward Lute Olsen; however, I believe that he truly needs to retire. Sure, he may have the ability to recruit players, but that doesn't mean much if you can't do anything with that talent. Who's to say that the solid recruiting year after year isn't a result of our fine University facilities, Tucson's warm climate and Lute's dedicated recruiting staff? New leadership at head coach will stop the transfers and discipline issues we have had in the past. In addition, we may be able to be national champs once again. After a disappointing season last year, and the loss against Virginia, I think Lute should call it quits. I will give Lute one thing: he has had a successful tenure as head coach for the university and I have a lot of respect for him. However, he doesn't have the energy to get us another national championship.

Joseph Quintana
graduate student

Sick of 'red states' vs. 'blue states'

I'm sick of "red state" vs. "blue state" rhetoric. On average, 46 percent of voters in every red and blue state voted for the other party's presidential candidate. When you denigrate red-staters or blue-staters, you are insulting your own neighbors and family members, not distant strangers. Our nation is colored shades of purple, despite the stark results of the Electoral College. Even most individual voters are purple; many of us cross party lines for candidates we admire.

The invidious red-vs.-blue political shorthand focuses only upon our differences, and ignores our much greater common interests. It assumes there are always two sides, and only two sides, to every issue. And it elevates the value of group solidarity above that of individual reasoning and conscience.

We were never meant to be a nation led by parties. Most of America's Founding Fathers hated political parties, dismissing them as quarrelsome "factions" more interested in contending with each other than in working for the common good. They wanted individual citizens to vote for individual candidates, without parties acting as middlemen - but that was not to be.

The fact remains, however, that Americans are not, in the main, an ideological people, and this red-vs.-blue rhetoric is just the latest way for the political class to pit us against one another for political gain. We mustn't let our domestic politics, or our international relations, devolve into a mindless "us versus them" struggle. The result would surely be the failure of the American experiment.

Michael D. Bryan, J.D.
UA alumnus

Attendance should not determine grades

In regards to Thursday's editorial, "Leave attendance out of grading," I wanted to relate my own personal, sad story.

A year ago I was working 40 hours a week on night shifts in a local hospital, trying to fluff my résumé for medical school and pay my way through sophomore year. During this semester, one of my classes was an Italian class in the mornings with an attendance policy that stated every day you are absent after three equated to a one drop in your letter grade. Due to extreme exhaustion from the night shift, social activities and other homework, I missed seven days of class that semester. I had the highest point total in the class at the end of the semester, which normally indicates an "A" grade.

However, due to this policy, I was served a big heaping pile of "D." I

didn't deserve this grade; I successfully learned all things taught in that class, and the final grade should have been awarded for academic achievement and not for my ability to attend class. This grade cost me my scholarship and maybe even my acceptance to medical school. The UA is an academic institution and should thus test academics, not attendance!

Ben Joslin
science education senior