Wildcat editorial insensitive to gay rights

I am troubled by the lack of awareness of the realities for the campus LGBT community that underlies the Wildcat editorial (“”LGBT center shouldn’t draw from UA funds””) arguing that the UA should not support an LGBT center on campus. I suggest that the editors substitute “”African-American”” or “”Chicano”” for “”LGBT”” to gain a sense of the limitations of their perspective.

According to Tucson Police Department Detective Tim Rupel, homophobia is the number one motivation for hate crimes and hate violence in the Tucson metropolitan area, exceeding racial prejudices. The Wildcat editorial constitutes a denial of the University’s critical role in addressing the causes of that violence.

The suggestion that an LGBT center would limit Pride Alliance or any campus LGBT group in pursuing their goals is astonishing. Again, the substitution of any other disadvantaged group is instructive: Does the existence of a campus center for African-Americans limit the opportunities available to African-American student groups?

Finally, the suggestion that the UA must choose between an LGBT center and class availability reveals a serious lack of understanding of the university’s budgetary process. And the suggestion that the university look to private or corporate resources to fund such a center reveals insensitivity to the depth of anti-gay sentiment in society in general and in the corporate sector in particular.

The timing of the editorial, prior to the Martin Luther King holiday, is especially poignant. Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, was a longtime and vocal supporter of LGBT rights, and I am certain that she would share my reaction.

Fenton Johnson
associate professor, Creative Writing Program

Basketball line policy needs refining

“”Line starts 4 hours prior to the game”” is painted boldly on a sign above the Zona Zoo student entrance at McKale Center. But to most, this is ignored. For the last two years, or since they implemented the new ticket policies, many fans have realized that in reality, the line starts when you want it to. This is because of the fact that the first people in line get the best seats.

So sometimes, kids show up 5 hours, 6 hours, 10 hours early to games, and there has never been a problem. The students who hang out in the line respect each other, respect those who arrived first, and there has never been a fight, an altercation ofnote, or anything. And when the security and police show up four hours prior to tip-off, nothing changes regarding the line except that there are now some hired people to look out for trouble.

However, it seems that now, police and security will be hired to watch the line starting up to seven hours prior to tip off. “”Great, what’s bad about that?”” most would ask.

Well, here’s the catch. In a ridiculous bureaucratic move that could only come from Arizona Athletics, these early-arriving police will not be there to look out for the safety of the students in line, but instead to kick them out of line and not let them back in until four hours prior.

This was first applied at the Oregon game, and the 20 or so kids who got kicked out simply moved up the stairs, and mingled on the grass and concrete five feet away. Then, at the four-hour mark, they all assumed their previous place in line. However, with the UNC game looming, and this rule in place, it is not at all an exaggeration to think that upwards of 300 students could be waiting in that area five feet away from the line. And with such a large number of students all ready to charge in to line and get the best spot possible, the four-hour mark could signal a stampede of 2001 basketball ticket riot proportions.

Any person who cannot see the hypocrisy of kicking kids out of an organized line, and into a mob of anxious fans on the basis of safety concerns, needs to re-evaluate how they think. I, and many other fans a like, for see one or more people getting hurt at the University of North Carloina game because of this policy.

It needs to be changed, and it needs to be changed fast. Otherwise, I think this town’s media outlets are going to have quite a field day with the “”Student gets trampled at McKale”” headline.

Nick Van Slyke
media arts sophomore

Give me bonds or give me debt

Minimum wage increase will cause prices to rise (Letter to the editor, “”Minimum wage hike leads to higher prices””)? No, I would never have guessed (note the sarcasm).

If even a custodial manager can figure it out, why can’t government officials with combined millions of years in education figure it out? Not only will prices rise for business owners to run their business, but more people with more money will cause inflation.

When the new minimum wage takes effect many workers will probably be fired or laid off to compensate for the wage increase for the workers that get to keep their jobs, and the prices of goods will increase with inflation. It is a crying shame that the Democratic Party has a vested interest in tanking our economy before the next presidential election roles around (blame it on Bush).

I know not what course others may take, but as for me give me international bonds or give me debt.

Alex Hoogasian
political science senior

Organic foods can’t hurt

I would like to offer an alternative view to Matt Stone’s column highlighting the dangers of buying and consuming organic foods (“”Organic nonsense””). In the column, it was argued that organic foods are harmful to both the consumer and the environment, and I must disagree with this.

For one, organic foods are oftentimes fair trade foods as well, and this fair trade distinction helps to improve human rights and social situations in the regions where these foods are produced.

The “”Organic Revolution”” is not about hippies trying to change all farming practices to be organic and attempting to feed all six and a half billion of us with organic food; it’s about creating balance in our world that is quickly becoming over-populated and stripped of its resources and our very life source. It is meant to wean developed nations like ours from our insatiable appetites and our unsustainable practices.

Eating organic foods can’t hurt (natural toxins found in plants, such as tannins, are responsible for the bitter taste you’ll find in some vegetables, but it won’t kill you, or an entire ecosystem), but it can help restore the balance that our planet so desperately needs.

The issue of food production is one that will increase in importance in coming years, and as free, educated, young citizens of this world, we need to start making decisions to help improve our own future. Even if those decisions are as simple as what you eat.

Don’t take Stone’s word for it, and don’t take mine. I urge you to educate yourselves. Do some research and make your own decisions and don’t let such negative views dissuade you without doing some questioning of your own.

Ashley Campbell
sophomore majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology

UA basketball not worthy of ‘blind faith’

I am writing to denounce the blind faith the student body has in its basketball team despite the fact that UA basketball disappoints year after year. My question is, “”Why?”” What have they done for you lately?

Let me play out the scenario for your precious Wildcats this year: They will dominate in the tournament until the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 and then blow it to a team that has nowhere near the talent level.

UA basketball has always, and will always lack the necessary moxie to win it all. So I urge the student body to do itself a favor and lower its expectations. Losing to the University of Oregon and Washington State University are just two losses in a long line of future embarrassments.

I, for one, hopped off the bandwagon a long time ago and I suggest that everyone at the UA purchase a University of California at Los AngelesT-shirt because this is going to get ugly.

Niall O’Connor
UA alumnus