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Letters to the Editor

Staff do a great deal

To the editor,

I find the article written by Nick Zeckets to be disheartening! It is unfortunate that Mr. Zeckets simply doesn't understand what it is like to be in the "professional" workforce.

I would first like to help Mr. Zeckets out by providing him with correct job titles! They are not janitors, but custodians! If it wasn't for them this entire campus would be a disgrace to look at! Maybe you should take a moment to study their job responsibilities because they certainly do a lot more than push around a mop!

What the heck are personal assistants? Maybe you are referring to executive assistants or administrative professionals? They certainly do a lot more than make coffee. As a matter of fact, job descriptions including "making coffee" went out in the Ice Ages. Most people either make their own coffee or bring some in! Administrative professionals tend to support entire departments and programs. I also suggest you study their job descriptions so your eyes can be opened to the wide array of responsibilities these positions carry.

I do hope you realize that classified staff work hard at their jobs.

I don't know anyone who would stay with a job if it was "boring with menial tasks." Life is too short for that! Us "classified staffers" have numerous responsibilities with work, school, children, and home. I would hope, Mr. Zeckets, you would contact the Human Resources Department for the huge listing of classified staff jobs and their primary duties. By doing this you will understand that us "classified staffers" do a lot more than push around mops and make coffee (as you suggest).

Colleen Buttram

MIS Department

Administrative support

Gonzalez wasn't kidnapped

To the editor,

This letter is a response to the author of "Gonzalez 'kidnapping' upsetting," Gregory Schneider. Mr. Schneider is a living testament to mankind's uncanny ability to completely miss the point of any given issue, and to ignore all sides of an argument but his own. Not only that, but his position on this issue is utterly idiotic. Allow me to elaborate. It is Gregory's position that the government was wrong in taking Elian Gonzales from his Miami relatives to reunite him with his father. According to Gregory, this is an act of kidnapping. Since when, may I ask, is the use of police force to remove a child from a state of captivity and return him to his biological parents kidnapping? If anyone is guilty of kidnapping in this case, it is old Uncle Lazaro. If it weren't for his pigheadedness, none of this would have had to occur in the first place.

Mr. Schneider also believes that it would be wrong to return Elian to Cuba because there he would be indoctrinated into believing that his U.S. relatives are "traitors to the revolution." Are you trying to tell me, Greg, that if he were to remain in the U.S. he would not be indoctrinated into believing that his Cuban relatives are commie-scumbags? In fact, what are you but a brainwashed automaton programmed to spouts line after line of pro-U.S. propaganda? No matter where this boy is raised, he will be "indoctrinated" into believing something that is not necessarily true. Hence, Schneider's argument is invalid.

Finally, Mr. Schneider believes that Lazaro should be given custody of Elian and that Elian should remain in the U.S. Why you may ask? "Because it is in the child's best interest" according to Gregory.

Well, then, Schneider, why don't all the poor country folk just hand their younguns over to them rich city slickers? After all, it would be in the child's best interest to be raised in a city filled with opportunity rather than a country farm. I think you can see my point. The fact is, the U.S. has no right to forcibly remove a child from his biological parent just because we think that our country is the best. No, there shouldn't be any sort of legal hearing to decide the custody of Elian.

Neither Elian nor his father are U.S. citizens, so why should the U.S. presume to have legal power over them? We, Americans, already have enough of a reputation as world bullies, we don't need to add any more fuel to that particular fire.

Martin Short

Engineering-physics senior

Death coverage hurtful

To the editor,

As a UA Department, we wish to take issue with your April 5 front page article on the death of Melvin Perry.

While it is journalism's duty to report the facts, its ultimate goal is to report the truth. Sadly, your reporting of Melvin's death failed to reach that goal. Upon reading your article, most readers came to the conclusion that he died as the result of illegal drug addiction. As all of us who knew Melvin can attest, he was not a drug addict. He was a hard-working and conscientious team member. We are all struggling to accept his absence from our lives.

Secondly, as information gatekeepers, journalists have a responsibility to weigh the public's right to know vs. the emotional suffering their reporting will cause to those directly involved. In today's environment of media sensationalism, this responsibility is usually ignored. As members of the UA community, we expect better. Your article, while factually correct, added little to the public's knowledge beyond gossip and speculation. The emotional cost to Melvin's family, friends and colleagues has been unnecessary.

We feel that the Wildcat staff owes Melvin's family and the UA community an apology and a pledge to use better judgement in the future.

The Faculty and Staff of the Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology