‘Harlem Shake’ protest around Brother Jed a cry for attention

When I emerged from my classes this past Wednesday to find a mass of students assembled outside the Administration building, I must admit that I had high hopes. Very few times in my years at this school have I seen such a large, apparently organized, gathering. Finally something had managed to provoke our students — members of a generation of marked self-entitlement and unmatched complacency — into action.

Perhaps, after nearly two years, our students had finally become cognizant of our state slashing nearly $1.3 billion to its education budget, spurring subsequent spikes in tuition for Arizona universities. Perhaps they had finally heard the punch line to the joke that was our state’s 2012 election, in which winners were declared when nearly 500,000 ballots remained uncounted. Perhaps our university had finally become the tool for social change that is often supposed to be.

But then I saw the Jesus costumes. I saw the horse masks, the neon bodysuits, the keg.

This “protest,” as it was called by many students gathered around the hill, is as much an insult to the word as it is a public embarrassment to our university and what it is meant to be — to what it can be.

Do not misunderstand me; I dislike Brother Jed as much as the next sane person. I have watched him with disdain since my freshman year and recognize him as just as much a mockery to Christianity as these “protesters” are to our student body. But a fundamental characteristic of protest is a real desire to change that which you are protesting, something that Wednesday’s circus sorely lacked.

“Brother Jed is a troll,” is likely the most accurate, and indisputably the most eloquent, statement that I heard on the hill on Wednesday. Anyone astute enough to make such an observation, however, should know that there is only one way to deal with trolls: Starve them. Brother Jed feeds on the attention that he is given on our campus and this week’s scene is sure to keep him well-fed and coming back at the slightest pang of hunger. His god might be ever-present, but I assure you that we would see the last of Jed if we could only muster the self-restraint to ignore him for a week.

That is not what these students want, however. They are not protesters and are not in search of any actual change. They are, in a very real sense, the same as Brother Jed; just as irritating, just as offensive, and just as much starved for the spotlight.

I have never before today admitted that Jed was right, but after Wednesday I see that he is correct in saying that our campus is full of whores. And though we may have no particular interest in sex or in promiscuity, I now know that we will do just about anything for attention.

— John Kris

Newspaper design disrupts reading

I try to read every Daily Wildcat published. I receive it online as well as pick up a hard copy. I like the convenience of the online version but I get the hard copy for other entertainment such as the crossword puzzle. I haven’t learned to negotiate the online version to see all that is printed. But that is not what this email is about.

First of all I think the Daily Wildcat is a quality newspaper. I enjoy reading it. As a life-long Wildcat fan, I feel I get more in-touch information from this paper than the Arizona Daily Star or the Phoenix-biased Arizona Republic.

Here’s the gist of this email. Every once in a while the Wildcat comes out with a newspaper that has the front page a one-third to half-page wide. It also serves as the last page. This portion of a front page drives me nuts. It does nothing but cause irritation to me. The Arizona Daily Star does this at times and I really dislike it also. It is at best a nuisance and cumbersome.

I’m not so naive to think my solitary letter of complaint will cause this partial page to stop being published but my hope is that if enough people feel as I do they will write and tell you. So if you’re interested in taking a vote to continue this or no longer print a partial page, I vote “Get rid of it!”

Thank you for the opportunity to express myself.

— Ron Figueroa

Press helps drive election’s impact

My name is Anthony Carli, and I am running for student body president. ASUA elections are pivotal each year, whether one votes or does not; they offer an opportunity for students to maintain the status quo, or opt for a new direction of governance.

It is the responsibility of both the candidates, and the press on campus, to critically evaluate individuals running for office, and to inspire students to vote on Election Day. It is truly a disservice to the Wildcats on campus for this mutual effort not to exist. Without adequate coverage of all candidates, students are unable to make informed voting decisions in this brief campaign.

I invite the Daily Wildcat to cover this election, my campaign, and all candidates’ campaigns, in an effort to publicize the impact that elections can hold on campus; contact the candidates and hold interviews beyond the endorsement of the editorial board.

Students rely on both candidates and the press to make informed decisions, and this is the only way that the best person for the job is elected. Thank you in advance for your coverage, and feel free to review our ideas and platforms at elections.asua.arizona.edu.

— Anthony Carli
Candidate for student body president