Tentropolis gives student better understanding of homelessness

I have been participating in a homeless simulation called Tentropolis put on by the Social Justice League at the UA since the simulation began Monday. I feel like this has been one of the most impactful events I have ever participated in. It’s been a great learning experience. I understand a lot better about how it is to be homeless and how it feels. It is not something to take lightly like some people do.

People have tried to find faults with what we are doing, whether it was about us having tents on the UA Mall and saying that homeless people don’t live in tents, or having problems with us being able to bring clothing and such or whatever.

But this event isn’t about finding fault with how we are showing homelessness. It is about showing people that homelessness is a big problem and not something to just ignore. With rising tuition, layoffs and our bad economy, there are going to be a lot more people going hungry without a home. Any of us could be homeless in the next couple of months. This is a serious problem and people need to see that.

I still don’t know exactly how it feels to be homeless, because I still have the safety of school around me and I know that I will be able to go home and eat all the food i want when it’s over, but just thinking that actual homelessness is 10 times more worse than how I’m feeling now makes me feel really sad for those people, and makes me want to do something to help. The speakers that we have had on the Mall every day at noon and 5 p.m. have really taught a lot to me about how to help. The biggest thing they’ve said is to just treat the homeless like our equals and try to keep them hopeful for the future. This event is impacting me in so many ways and I want to say that I am happy to be a part of it.

Julian Seidel

engineering sophomore

Students dissatisfied with ASUA

should try to make it better

In the poll today I noticed that 49 percent of the student body responded that they weren’t satisfied with the Associated Students of the University of Arizona’s work. I don’t have any problem with that at all. I take pride in the fact that my peers aren’t content with how things are, and I realize that this first Town Hall meeting had a low turnout. But I do hope that the vast majority of the people who aren’t satisfied with ASUA take a little initiative to voice their suggestions on what ASUA can do to provide the most enriching college experience possible. ASUA is definitely taking a step in the right direction, asking for direct feedback from the students in an open discussion forum. So it’s great that we aren’t satisfied and see lots of room for progress, but let’s start taking advantage of the opportunity they’re granting us. As Oscar Wilde said, “”Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.””

Sam Ellis

pre-business sophomore

UA police mistaken in confiscating student’s folding knife

An item in Thursday’s Police Beat detailed how officers searched a Graham-Greenlee dorm room for marijuana and ended up confiscating a “”four-inch folding knife”” that they found in the resident’s desk. However, the definitions given at the University of Arizona Police Department Web site concerning knives, classify only “”switchblade knives”” and “”knives with blades five inches or more long”” as weapons. As the knife confiscated by the officers does not fit either of these definitions, it would seem that its confiscation was improper. UAPD should apologize, return the knife and withdraw the referral made to the dean of students.

Wade James

chemical engineering junior

Explanation should not be required to understand comic’s point

I just have to respond to Maudree J. Callahan’s assertion that “”when publishing an editorial comic, having some sort of explanation is important.”” (“”Goal of diversity training intended to educate, not alienate Wildcat,”” Nov. 14, 2008) This is so incredibly not true that it’s disgusting. When an author writes a book, does he publish the correct interpretation along with it? When someone writes a poem, are there printed analyses in the back? No.

The point is for the reader to draw the conclusion from it, and I’ll bet 95 percent of the people who read the comic indeed got the author’s intended message and the people outraged about it and writing the Wildcat are simply the vocal 5 percent minority who saw the “”N-word”” and had a knee-jerk reaction, ignoring its context. Sure, the comic would have been slightly more timely if it was printed before the election, but what does it matter? It was still timely and not anachronistic.

David Knapp

electrical engineering senior