Tomorrow’s football game guidelines ‘inappropriate’

Yesterday, an article in the Arizona Daily Star remarked that President Shelton “”encouraged UA students and staff … to leave campus by 3 p.m. (tomorrow) to accommodate the crowd for the rare weeknight football game.”” Football events are popular parts of campus life in just about any university, and the sports organizers are entitled to hold games whenever they wish. They may hold a game during the week rather than the weekend, if they so desire, they may host a tailgate party before the event, and those who want to attend the game may certainly do so.

The primary purpose of a university, however, is – or should be – education. Students leave their homes, come to campus and attend classes to learn something, to prepare for a career, to think for themselves and to explore the world around them and their role in it. It is inappropriate and a poor example to ask students and their professors, and the administration that supports both, to leave campus in the middle of the week because they are in the way of a recreational activity. Where does this university set its priorities? Tomorrow, at least, it does not appear to be academic studies or the students pursuing them.

Sam Wager
senior majoring in creative writing and English

Being ‘green’ not that important

The university got a “”C+”” on its “”environmental report card”” (“”Report card: UA a ‘C+’ in sustainability,”” yesterday)! That is great – we are just a smidge above average. But, seriously, this isn’t that bad. According to Al Gore’s carbon calculator, I produce three times the amount of CO2 emissions as the average American. This is not bad. It just means that some of us choose not to fall into the global warming hype that the founder of The Weather Channel has described as “”the greatest scam in history.”” Many of us choose not to stress out over living “”green,”” and nature nuts will just have to learn to be tolerant of our life choices.

Alex Hoogasian
political science senior