Mourning without questioning not respectful to victims

What happened on Sept. 11, 2001, was a horrible attack on both our fellow Americans and our “”democratic”” system. But to resign yourself to just moping around and shedding a tear or two on its anniversary is a disgrace to the innocent people who died not only on that day, but also in years since as a result of the “”global war on terror.””

From the moment the towers were hit, the victims of 9/11 have been exploited. It only took minutes for Condoleezza Rice to call “”together the senior staff people of the National Security Council and (ask) them to think seriously about ‘how do you capitalize on these opportunities’ to fundamentally change American doctrine, and the shape of the world, in the wake of Sept. 11.”” The response, however, had been determined one year prior. In September 2000, Project for the New American Century released “”Rebuilding America’s Defenses,”” a 90-page report detailing an agenda “”from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces.”” The process of enacting this agenda is stated to be very long absent a “”catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”” Why does this matter? Because the list of PNAC members reads like a directory for Bush’s administration, and in the aftermath of 9/11, the PNAC agenda has been implemented nearly verbatim.

In the name of those who died on Sept. 11, the Patriot Act was passed, stripping away our rights. Thousands more innocents have been killed in Afghanistan while searching for the one man no one can seem to find, and in the most despicable act thus far, our nation has been bogged down in an illegal war with Iraq costing the lives of thousands of U.S. troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. At the Alumni Plaza event on 9/11, the College Republicans justifiably felt no need to present their position; it’s the current U.S. policy. Those who organized the event, however, do not believe the dead should continue to be exploited for neoconservative, neoliberal or similarly destructive agendas. Instead, their lives should be honored through a continuous struggle to make the world a better, more democratic place through peaceful means, not bombs. We should always remember those who have died, but don’t mourn, organize!

Geoffrey White
pre-business senior

More professors should be highest priority

Before the UA goes off on a Hispanic outreach crusade, it should start recruiting some professors. Every semester I go through hell and back trying to get a full schedule, much less a decent one, and some of the university’s budget would be better spent bringing in professors. Without enough professors, it won’t matter how demographically diverse the student body is if no one has classes to attend.

Alex Hoogasian
political science senior

Hard to relate puppy training to campus security

While I respect opinions based on practical experience and fact, as I read every police report filed by my agency I find it difficult to relate puppy training and prevention education to our young men and women on campus. Campus security is a priority for our university. Our efforts are consistent and tireless in our attempt to educate our community. Statistics don’t lie. A party where alcohol is served, no matter how quiet and controlled the intent, has risks. The risks are great indeed when a party crasher brings a weapon. This is far from a typical scenario for underage drinking but always a dangerous and often tragic one. When a violent crime occurs, we focus our attention on medical attention for the victim and investigation of the crime to arrest a suspect. To say that the University of Arizona Police Department would focus on alcohol consumption by the victim rather than the crime is unfair and untrue.

Yes, we have expanded our communication with TPD and the Dean of Students Office in an attempt to identify and reduce risks to our students. This is our job, and red tagging is an important violence prevention tool. Hoping that we are not too late to prevent an occurrence of violent crime we will continue to inform our students with prevention strategies that will allow them to make the right decisions and keep our puppy training manuals for our puppies.

Sgt. Eugene V. Mejia
UAPD spokesman

Mixed feelings on Pope’s remarks

I am encouraged any time a public figure encourages academic and scientific communities to keep an open mind regarding the place of religion and theology in humanity’s search for greater knowledge and learning. In my opinion, scientists and religious scholars can enrich each others’ work significantly. This, it seems to me, was the main point of Pope Benedict’s talk recently to a group of scientists at the University of Regensburg and I applaud him for it (see www.vatican.va).

Why or how the pope included commentary on Islam and the Quran, however, is a mystery to me. His central goal, as I gather from the text, was to challenge “”radical skepticism,”” expose the pitfalls of pure empiricism in academics and argue for the “”rationality of faith.”” I welcome all of these points. But why does he introduce the controversial remarks on Islam by a Byzantine emperor of the 14th century?

If the focus of the pope’s talk was inter-religious relations, as some claim, I cannot say I am impressed. Inter-religious dialogue requires graciousness and humility. One may even wish to begin with a recognition of the failings and missteps in the history one’s own religious tradition. As a Catholic, I am aware of many such examples. Let us hope that Pope Benedict will be more clear, humble and diplomatic in future remarks about non-Christian religions.

Tom Donlan
history graduate student

Underage drinking is a crime

Wow, Samuel Feldman’s article on the unlikelihood of students reporting serious crimes to the police because they’re scared they’ll get busted for underage drinking was way off base. Was he drinking when he wrote it? Feldman far overmixes his metaphors in comparing under-aged undergrads to scared puppies that pee on the couch and the UA police to gun-wielding dog trainers. Feldman actually implies that a party host may think twice about calling the police to report an uninvited guest wielding a gun because the host is worried about being fined for drinking underage. Feldman also misinterprets statistics to argue that one of the main reasons rape victims do not report the crime is because they were drinking illegally when it occurred. His conclusion essentially blames the Tucson and campus police for rapes and shootings that go on at parties where minors drink. He says that the “”logic is simple””: people don’t report big crime because they’re committing a small crime and don’t want to get caught. Ironically, Feldman also states, “”Essentially, laws are passed to ensure social order and prevent some members of society from exploiting or harming others.”” If Feldman is serious in these opinions, my advice is as follows: If someone waves a gun in your face or rapes you or someone you know, call the police, regardless of whether you’ve been serving alcohol to minors. When you drink as a minor, you choose to break the law. If you take the time to read the Police Beat, you’ll find that the many of the undergrads fined for alcohol violations are so sick from overindulging that they are vomiting, passed out or otherwise endangering themselves. Maybe underage drinking should be decriminalized, but don’t blame your choice to engage in an illegal activity on the police. Their job is to enforce the law. If you don’t like it, take it up with your elected representatives.

Lucy Blaney
graduate student majoring in Spanish

Grijalva does have community interests at heart

If Congressman Raul Grijalva did “”not have Arizona’s best interests at heart,”” why do you think he has continued to be elected to Congress two years in a row? If you educated yourself about the issues he has come up against, such as opposition to the president’s dismantling of Social Security – something that all people of the United States rely on – voting against efforts to underfund education and cut student loan programs. He is also very assiduous in the efforts to protect the environment that big business loves to destroy. So what if he was a Mechista, so what if he still supports our mission today?

I can almost guarantee that you have never attended a MECHA meeting before, so surely you can’t always believe what the media tells you about us. Since some people don’t know what MECHA is, why don’t I take a little bit of my study time to “”educate”” because I find ignorance to be a very destructive thing. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlǭn is a student organization dedicated to the celebration of our diversity on campus. We involve all students, no matter your race, sex, creed, gender, culture, background or anything above, below or in between. We work to develop leaders on campus through community involvement and political awareness in Tucson and in the nation. We also provide a bridge of communication between the community and the university primarily for the youth in Tucson.

We want students from the outlying Tucson community to attend and graduate from college and we are models of success from past years. “”Hispanics”” are underrepresented at the UA; even President Robert Shelton knows it. If not for MECHA, the Mexican-American Studies and Research Center and the Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, I, along with many other students, probably wouldn’t have lasted a year here at the UA. I take pride in being a part of this organization because MECHA and its past leaders, such as Raul Grijalva, fought so these resources would exist and be available to students. So please, before you prejudge a person or an organization, do your homework and know the facts. I am thankful to be able to support Grijalva for Congress and look forward to his future involvement with MECHA. “”Of the community, for the community. Por La Raza habla el espiritu.””

Sophia Saucedo
public administration junior, co-chair UA MECHA