No need for disjointed student section

As a member of the Zona Zoo since its inception in 2002, I have had quite the love/hate relationship with our McKale Center. I love the energetic feeling after leaving an awesome game - I'll certainly never forget Salim hitting the trey to beat UCLA. And yet I hated leaving games last year after losing to inferior Pac-10 teams. I love the fact that our alumni have succeeded in life and donated enough money to have courtside seats and yet hate the fact that it takes a dunk from Sauce to get them up and cheering. I love my fellow students in our enthusiasm and madness, and yet the fact that our consistently top-ranked basketball program does not have a true student section irks me enough to write this letter.

The focal point of the Zona Zoo should be the floor and loge sections one through six. This is the immediate area behind the benches where you currently see the calm and comfortably seated folks on television. We need that area to be a madhouse, truly representative of a zoo, with painted students shouting encouraging words to our opponent's bench and portraying a genuinely hostile environment through the television.

Floor and loge sections seven through 11 and 19 through 24 are the areas behind both baskets. That should be pretty self-explanatory. Here's the compromise: The floor, loge and middle sections 12 through 18 can be given to our alumni. This is the entire western area of McKale, and it's what you don't see on television. By having a consolidated mass of alumni, halftime shows and timeout performances can be directly marketed toward the west side of McKale. And who knows, perhaps by being together they may actually encourage each other to attempt to cheer louder than the Zona Zoo.

Organized cheers and taunts, Zookeepers with a purpose and a true student section is contingent on obtaining the space. The areas behind the benches and baskets should be the backbone of a student section and the rest of McKale can be split among students, alumni and the public any damn way the athletic department pleases. Yeah, the alumni will bicker a little and Wilbur's Wave may be reduced to a semi-circle, but I am confident that with some changes, McKale could be 10 times the "hostile" environment it is considered now.

Tae H. Kim
philosophy senior

Bush elected fairly by electoral and popular votes

Perhaps the term "sore losers" isn't the best way to address people protesting the inauguration of President Bush. As stated in Christine Hannum's letter to the editor Monday, it is true that this president probably has the least amount of public support of any president in history. The only number greater than the people against him is the number of people for him. President Bush did not only win by electoral votes, he won by popular vote as well. The problem with the Bush protesters is the fact that they think that if you don't think the same way that they do, you obviously just "don't get it."

I got this obnoxious flyer at school on Inauguration Day, encouraging me to call in sick, not to spend money, and walk out of class to protest the inauguration. This is a perfectly acceptable way to protest, but it will not solve anything. The president was elected, not only by more electoral votes, but by popular vote as well. So stick that in your back pocket.

Angelica Hancock
studio arts senior

Porn photo shows lack of privacy

I am writing to comment on Kylee Dawson's piece, "What's porn got to do with it?" Let me begin by saying that I understand that this is a student-run newspaper, and so students have the right to write about anything or express any opinion that he or she may have. However, I do not understand the need for the snapshot being included along with the article. First of all, there are numerous other people an this campus, for example kids on field trips, who are not adults and should not be subjected to seeing such things. Even if others may feel that kids see a lot of stuff anyway and therefore this should be allowed, no one has the right to say that they must see this, if they were to open up the Daily Wildcat, which if they did, they certainly would see the picture. Second, I know that many people in today's world regard sex as being something that everyone does and therefore should be something everyone should be willing to allow depictions of in public. Whatever happened to sexual privacy? It was a total shock to me to turn the page and see a snapshot of an orgy. Some may not care that such pictures are being allowed in our paper. I certainly do care and would prefer to have the option of whether or not I am exposed to such X-rated material myself.

Joseph Morgan
history senior

United States in an unprovoked war

Brian Danker yesterday suggested a close parallel between the unprovoked attack on Iraq by George W. Bush and the sending in of our troops, with our NATO allies, to create a demilitarized zone between warring factions in Bosnia. I fail to see the similarity between the situations. In one case, our country had been a prime motivator of working out a negotiated peace agreement between two groups that had been fighting each other for a long time. We were then committed to helping to make the peace process work by sending in our share of the NATO troops that would be required to help enforce the ceasefire. We did not start the civil war in Bosnia, but we did do what we could, albeit later than what many would have wanted, to help end the war and the ethnic cleansing that had been a result of it.

Mr. Danker also suggests that there were no protests about American troops being sent into harm's way by President Clinton. Obviously, he has a short memory or has failed to look back at newspaper articles of those times to see that the House of Representatives voted 315-103 on Oct. 30, 1995, for a non-binding resolution requiring Clinton to ask Congress for permission to send troops and 243-171 on Nov. 17, 1995, to forbid funding of a Bosnia deployment without congressional approval. Those figures hardly seem to represent a Congress that was ready to go blindly forth into an international conflict.

President Bush has taken this country into an unprovoked war, based on misinformation at best, and outright lies at the worst. We have killed and injured tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and have alienated many of our allies around the world. For some reason, Mr. Danker seems to think that Democrats are on welfare and do not work for a living. We work for a living, but unfortunately, the current Republican president seems bent on trying to take those jobs away from us and outsource them to other countries. He is the only president since Herbert Hoover (remember reading about the Great Depression that began under his watch) to have a net loss of jobs under his tenure. I hope Mr. Danker will see the light and realize that if he would like to continue working, he might switch teams to one that wants to see jobs stay in America, with an economy that isn't buried with debt incurred by giving tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy.

Tim Christiansen
associate professor retailing and consumer sciences

Voting is a great cultural experiment

Those that are not American, or are under 18 years of age or insane, must be prevented from voting as well as Americans registered to double-vote in other districts and/or other states. The current law doesn't go far enough!

This law is symbolic but clearly shows where our state's priorities are. Instead of solving budget problems, providing the poor with jobs and health care, providing money for public schools in poorer areas or working to reduce voter apathy, we create a redundant law.

When I became an American in 2000, everyone who gave an oath got a citizenship certificate, congrats from the presiding judge and a letter from President Clinton urging us to vote. Voting is indeed a privilege given to us by our Constitution but to me, my oath and my voter card is proof that I am part of a great experiment which has been in process for over two centuries.

For this great experiment to continue we must end voter apathy and I ask all of you Wildcats to go out and register to vote! Elections are over, but politicians have yet to see the concerns of students. When you register, you make yourself and your peers visible in the eyes of your politicians. You are the future leaders!

Ahmad Saad Nasim
former ASUA senator

As Lisa Barnes suggests, it seems impossible to care for children and study at the same time. But many of us do, and Kidz Korner is helpful!

Kidz Korner provides a refuge and resource on campus for student-parents who bring their infants and toddlers to campus, whether they do so because they cannot afford daycare, or because they choose to keep their child close to them throughout the day. While other colleges (including Pima Community College) have childcare facilities for children of students, the UA offers a $500 per semester childcare subsidy to student-parents who qualify for financial aid and enroll in a DES-certified daycare. Kidz Korner is open to all student-parents without restriction.

Kidz Korner is a calm indoor space in which student-parents can relax and focus on their child (breastfeeding or playing) between classes and library searches. Kidz Korner is a safe enclosed place where student-parents can review for class or meet with a study partner while they let their children play and explore. Kidz Korner is a clean space to have a friend watch your child for a moment while you run to the restroom, and it is a convenient space to interview a prospective babysitter, or to meet up with the babysitter you've hired to watch your child while you attend a class.

Personally, I do prefer to have my full and undivided attention for study, and prefer my children be home engaging in the full and undivided attention of their other parent. When that's not possible, I truly appreciate the efforts of the UA to support student-parents like me who care for children and study toward a college degree.

Shelly Adrian
anthropology graduate student

Andy Gaona's letter is another example of how one can be automatically branded a racist as a result of bringing up a topic that just happens to concern members of another race.

I am all for immigration; it makes this country great - my ancestors came here from Europe. Unlike our newest immigrants, however, they did not demand bilingual education and try to force their culture on everyone else. They did everything they could to act American, they spoke English and dressed like Americans.

As far as today goes, I'm sorry but Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, you don't get it off for school. If we want to fly an American flag in classrooms, so be it. Last time I checked, this is America. Also, this doesn't make me an evil Republican because I want to fly my country's flag.

The point is that when you come to this country, no matter where you are from, you are an American. When we teach people about American culture, we talk about the Super Bowl, not Dia de los Muertos.

Justin Kunzelmann
UA alumnus