Tuition hike an ideal Christmas present for students

A sincere thanks to President Robert Shelton and the Board of Regents for screwing me and all other non-resident students by raising our tuition. We so do greatly love you for it; it’s what we absolutely were desiring for Christmas this year.

We understand: we’re just so proud and brain-dead loyal to the UA that we don’t mind dumping another couple thousand, along with the extra thousands we are spending already, into your lap. Really, it’s nothing at all. Our families can live off a tighter, smaller budget and our siblings can make do with cheap colleges, wherever those are. Truly, this is the best Christmas gift ever!

We understand: the economy is so bad right now, so you want to spare the residents. After all, what they do pay is such a huge amount, really we’re blessed to be getting a 14 percent percent increase compared to their 9.5 percent that I believe is the hardship they will have to suffer through. I mean, the extra $2500 we have to pay, on top of what we are paying now, is nothing compared to the $500 or so they will have to pay. I’m worried for them; how ever will they manage? I mean, all of us non-residents deal in this alternative economy where this is no problem for us.

Merry Christmas, Shelton and the Board of Regents. Hope Santa is extra good to you and not too many non-residents transfer out of here.

Megan Williamson
biology freshman

Muslims have denounced India attacks, despite columnist’s claim

In response to Sarah Rosenberg’s column on Friday (“”Muslim groups must decry attacks to prove ‘Islamophobes’ wrong,”” Dec. 5, 2008), I’d like to point out that many Muslims have, in fact, decried these acts of terror. Perhaps people like Ms. Rosenberg haven’t been listening.

CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, immediately released the following statement after the attacks: “”We condemn these cowardly attacks and demand that all hostages taken by the attackers be released immediately and unconditionally. We offer sincere condolences to the loved ones of those killed or injured in these senseless and inexcusable acts of violence against innocent civilians. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens of all faiths in repudiating acts of terror wherever they take place and whomever they target.”” Muslims everywhere were shocked and very saddened by this attack – for me this hit home (literally), as my family is from India, and we were just as taken aback by this as anyone else.

As for bringing up Jews, Islam is very similar to Judaism in terms of religious beliefs, and these horrible attacks are politically, not religiously motivated (the people who carried out the attacks even bring up the issue of Kashmir and Palestine themselves as their inexcusable way of trying to justify their actions). Such brutal attacks shouldn’t be considered religious by anyone, as they completely go against what religion stands for. Muslims do work to define our religion, but unfortunately, negative portrayals are what make headlines; I hope that people know better than to only turn to media as a means of defining Islam.

You brought up the “”rare occasion of Jewish terrorism,”” which isn’t really rare at all if you’re a Palestinian subjugated to oppression every day. I don’t consider Jewish terrorists acting a certain way because of religion, because I understand that they don’t stand for the majority Jews when acting this way. I also don’t expect you, Sarah, to have to apologize on someone else’s behalf half a world away because I don’t consider you guilty by association.

Ms. Rosenberg, hear me loud and clear when I say that I stand with many Muslims who condemn attacks such as these, which were carried out on innocent civilians. We are just as horrified about all of this as you are.

Miriam Hoda
UA alumna

Letter-writer misses complexity of abortion issue

While I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Fournier’s concern about Gov. Brewer’s abortion stance (“”Government should not seek to deny citizens of abortion rights,”” printed Nov. 4, in reaction to “”Gov. Brewer may veto AZ abortion,”” printed Nov. 2), I feel that, unfortunately, parts of his response serve only to perpetuate the misinformation plaguing both sides of the abortion debate.

The issue of fetal pain, brought up both in the article and in Mr. Fournier’s response, was especially disturbing to me. The fact is that fetuses don’t self-report on the issue of pain, and it is unclear when a fetus may begin to feel pain during development. To declare unequivocally that a fetus does or does not feel pain is to unjustly impose one’s own feelings on a question that remains unresolved on a number of levels, and certainly depends on the age of the fetus and the maturation of its nervous system. This is only one of many misunderstandings that allow pro-life and pro-choice supporters to distort reality in emphasizing their chosen stances. The facets of this debate are manifold, and all sides have both legitimate and illegitimate arguments. And this issue will remain a moral stalemate until all sides can agree about whether a fetus is or is not a living human, and thus whether abortion is or is not murder. Those who see the abortion debate as simple or black-and-white are frankly blinding themselves to the concerns of the other side, or simply haven’t considered the issue carefully enough.

Abortion is – and absolutely should be – a sensitive and ethically difficult issue. It should not be one that we avoid because people can “”get touchy”” about it. A lack of debate, and the persistence of rumors, lies and biases that pervade this particular issue especially, can only polarize the ignorantly vocal among us.

Kaitlin Bergfield
neuroscience graduate

Student union restaurants’ hours inconvenient for late-working students

At the UA we have a variety of places to choose from to eat. These places may be limited but there are a semi-decent amount, ranging from Burger King, Core, Cactus Grill, IQ, Panda Express, On Deck Deli, and the famous Chic-Fil-A. We all have our favorite place we like the best and places we won’t even bother with. However, the restaurants aren’t always open when we would like them to be.

Usually the restaurants – such as Burger King and Panda Express – open at 7 a.m. and stay open till 7 p.m. The problem with this schedule is that there are some individuals who have classes till 7:15 p.m. and even 8 p.m. What if they are hungry, but don’t have the chance to eat because it’s already closed by the time they get to the studient union? Yes, Subway may stay open 24 hours and Jack in the Box may stay open later than other restaurants, but who really wants to walk that far -ÿespecially at night?

Not only do the restaurants close early, but such restaurants like the Cactus Grill and Sonora Café are not even open during the weekends. Why? A fellow employer of mine who works at the UA made a commentary saying “”I wish the school would open up Cactus and Sonora, which would give me the hours I need.”” Why not open these restaurants on the weekends? It gives people more hours and extends students’ choices of food – not like we have many to choose from already. Limiting what is already limited doesn’t do us any good. Plus not all of the students go out on the weekend, maybe because they have no car or just because they choose not to do anything. It’s not fair to these select students, because they live here on campus and if they can’t get food late then what is the point of even living on campus in the first place?

Elizabeth Uribe
pre-business freshman

American reaction to Mumbai carnage risible

Armed men from Pakistan, a country known to have incubated cross-border terrorists, come to the only thriving democracy in that part of the world and massacre innocent people indiscriminately. The men were well trained, perhaps over many years, and well armed. This could not have been possible without massive financial support and a government that turned a blind eye, intentionally or otherwise.

American governments since the Eisenhower administration injected vast amounts of cash and weapons and propped up successive Pakistani governments. In that sense America is a victim of this terrorism and, sadly, also its patron.

What is the American government’s reaction to the Mumbai massacre? It is to send Secretary Rice to the region as if she has to settle a dispute between two cricket teams. Even after the Pakistani military overruled the elected government’s wish to cooperate by sending its security chief to India, Secretary Rice utters banalities like “”cooperate transparently.””

The ridiculous part of the story is that we supported and keep supporting the Pakistani army and the rogue elements incorporated into it with massive infusions of cash. And yet we have acted helpless when that army created terrorist organizations and massacred a million or more people in what is now Bangladesh. We are acting helpless again as that army is interfering with the legitimate investigation of a crime. This will not help the Pakistani people or increase the chances for peace.

G. K. Vemulapalli
associate (emeritus) professor of chemistry

Pedestrians deserve more respect from drivers on campus

Lately I have noticed that many individuals driving around campus are refusing to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. I, myself, am a pedestrian more than half of the time while attending the UA.

I am very worried about the individual safety of everyone on the UA campus as well as myself. There are a great number of speeders and stop sign-runners here at the university and it needs to end. I believe the best way to resolve this problem is for the university police to be informed and aware of this ongoing dilemma. I have almost been run over by several vehicles in this past semester alone.

I know that I am not the only one who has faced this same danger. I have watched as cars fail to stop at stop signs and cut right in front of pedestrians as they are crossing the road. This is especially a problem on the intersection of Park and Second Street. I wait my turn to cross the street so I would think that people driving would give me, a pedestrian, the same respect.

Too many people, including bicyclists, have been getting killed or injured because of these careless drivers breaking the simplest of rules. This is a serious problem and needs to be brought to the attention of others.

Ivy Welch
undeclared freshman