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Letters to the Editor

Injuries exaggerated

To the editor,

I don't know what Sam Buzuleciu considers "getting the crap kicked out" of someone is but exaggerating to make himself a victim just adds insult to injury. I was one of the students running after Sam, and when I saw him, there weren't any visible scrapes or bruises on him. Sam was out of breath and clearly shaken up but how would you expect someone to be after being run down and restrained at three in the morning?

Saying that he got "the crap kicked out of him" is outrageous and insulting to those who ever have been victims of physical violence.

I don't understand why anyone would consider throwing stuff at sleeping students in the middle of the night as fun. Aren't there a million more interesting things to do?

I clearly don't understand Sam's mentality. Pretending to have been a victim is a childish attempt to divert attention from his unprovoked aggression. The main issue here is why Sam chose to stay up this late to disturb peaceful people sleeping in the administration lawn. I asked Sam that question as we were waiting for the police to arrive. I am still waiting for an answer ...

Angel Pineda

Math graduate student

Reason for smoking ban

To the editor,

In response to the dominant view that there is no sound reason for the proposed smoking ban, I would like to offer a viable argument. Although asthmatics constitute a small minority of no more than 5 to 10 percent of the university population, callous smokers seem oblivious to the fact that smoking is often the single worst trigger for those students with chronic asthma.

The ban, which forbids smoking within 25 feet of university buildings, goes a long way toward alleviating the discomfort that I and other asthmatics are subject to upon exposure to smoke. As well noted by smokers and their proponents, such legislation would severely mitigate opportunities to smoke, as a significant portion of the campus is within 25 feet of university buildings.

In a society that is ostensibly concerned with violating the rights of others, it seems to me rather hypocritical to allow smoking in public to the detriment of asthmatics and others with lung problems. And while the proposed smoking ban will by no means rectify the aforementioned hypocrisy, at least it is a step in the right direction.

Sean Cunningham

Sociology and psychology senior

Incident dramatized

To the editor,

As a member of Students Against Sweatshops, I was concerned to see the headline in Friday's Wildcat about the water balloon incident that occurred during our demonstration last week. First, I am concerned that the incident was over-sensationalized in the headline. The student who got arrested was not a member of SAS and he was arrested for throwing water balloons, not for fighting. I know that headlines are supposed to attract the eye of the reader, but I thought this particular one was misleading and did not accurately portray the situation. Second, I do not want the incident to overshadow the reason we were on the lawn of the Administration building.

We were there to raise awareness of worker rights and to urge President Likins to join the Worker Rights Consortium. I hope that the prank of a student does not cause people to lose sight of the larger, more important issue - worker rights.

Lydia Lester

Linguistics sophomore

Headline overboard

To the editor,

Please allow me to mention that, UA student arrested for assault in water balloon prank, Student arrested for throwing water balloon at sleeping protester, water balloon prankster caught and handed over to the police.

Those are some catchy headlines that closely portray the situation. Unlike the eye-grabbing and overly sensationalized headline used in Wildcat's Friday news story. The story was about the arrest of a prankster who threw water balloons at the sleeping members of Student Against Sweatshops who were camping, in protest, on the lawn in front of the Administration building.

It is surprising and quite disturbing to see that one of the above suggested headlines was actually used in the online version of the daily wildcat.

While the phrase "fight breaks out at SAS camp out" might have been more attractive than simply stating that a UA student was arrested for throwing water balloon at sleeping people, such sensationalism is a disservice to your readers especially the UA community, a great majority of whom read the printed version of the wildcat.

I believe that the record must be set aright here. There was no fight break out at the SAS camp out. Some students decided to pull a prank by egging the sleeping protesters. This egg shelling kept the SAS members worried and therefore up for about two and a half hours because they were not sure if the egg throwers were going to return later and if they are capable of throwing worse than eggs. Just shortly after they settled down to go back to sleep, they were struck with water balloons. Fortunately, one of the protester was able to chase and catch up with the pranksters, catching one of them and then another member called the police and the prankster was handed over to the police.

Please note here that my intent is not censure, but if the arrested prankster told reporters that he was beaten, then it should be reported as such, a quote from the arrested prankster; but the use of the word fight is rather far-fetched. I am appalled that it made its way on to the headline of a news story that appeared to have been well reported.

Nurdeen Lawal

Electrical & computer engineering graduate student