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| Pictures are not enough |
To the Editor:
Pictures are not enough. I picked up Tuesday’s issue
of The Appalachian in hopes of informing myself of local
events and issues on campus and in the community. However,
when I saw a photo of protesters holding signs that read
“FTAA?” and slogans like “water is our
human right,” I expected to read an article, in addition
to a photo, that would inform and explain what exactly the
FTAA stands for and why students felt compelled to protest.
Instead I saw an image that only tells me students walked
“for fairness” and what groups participated in
the march. The acronym (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas)
is pretty intimidating and judging from the number of students
along the protest route who asked marchers “what the
FTAA was,” many students are unaware of the differences
between fair and free trade and why such trade agreements
like the FTAA will have social and environmental consequences
for both North Carolina and citizens of the world.
A newspaper is supposed to inform and educate students about
issues (i.e. free trade) and help students understand why
such policies are relevant to them as students. Since the
passage of NAFTA in 1994 (North American Free Trade Agreement)
the Economic Policy Institute indicates that North Carolina
alone has lost 31,909 trade related jobs.
I encourage the paper in the future to highlight such student
activities and issues and to treat them with deeper and more
thoughtful analysis in order to truly create an informed
democratic citizenry.
Mary Rogers
ASU Box 5757
First year graduate student
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| Response to editorial about abortion |
To the Editor:
I applaud the federal courts that have filed injunctions
against the ban on so-called “partial birth abortions”-
contrary to what Justin Boulmay thinks it was not just one
court, but three. These courts have serious concerns about
the legality of the ban and the ambiguity of the bill; it
does not specify a type of abortion nor trimester. If the
bill stands, it may result in efforts to ban all abortion
in the future. This has serious implications for a woman’s
right over her own body, a right we fought hard to win in
the past and continue to fight hard to keep.
When life begins is not a matter for the Bible to decide
(what happened to the separation of church and state?). It
is an issue that each individual must decide for him or herself.
Abortions have been around since the beginning of time; women
used herbs to abort their fetuses thousands of years ago.
The federal court granted women a safe alternative to the
clotheshanger when it sided with Roe in 1973 and it is unfortunate
that our current administration places less value on women’s
rights than the courts did 40 years ago. Choosing abortion
is never an easy decision. But it is an individual choice.
Mr. Boulmay will never know what it is like to have to make
that decision, and he will never know what it feels like
to have control over his own body stolen away after so many
have struggled to gain it.
Cate Shiles
ASU Box 9815
Senior, Sociology major
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| Response to editorial warning students
of the dangers of losing their AppCards |
To the Editor:
This is in response to Tiffany King‚s editorial warning
students of the dangers of losing their AppCards (The Appalachian
11/13/03). We understand that Ms. King was only trying to
help her fellow students by informing them of the dangers
of losing an AppCard; however, she inadvertently made ASU
Food Services look careless and incompetent. The situation
she used to begin her article happens all the time. A student
tells a friend to have a meal on them, but they won‚t
be joining their friend. Food service cashiers cannot step
in and tell a student that they do not have the right to
use a friend‚s card, we do not have the authority to
do so. Checking ID‚s would not help this situation
because if someone has a friend‚s card, how do they
prove they have permission to use it? ! The only way that
the cashiers can help students when they lose a card is if
the student reports it. Ms. King was inaccurate when she
said that students can report a missing card only until the
Food Court closes, reports can be made with the university
police after that. There is somewhere to report a missing
card 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Once you report a card
missing and someone tries to use it, then the cashier has
the authority to take the card from whoever is trying to
use it, but it is your responsibility to make sure that it
is reported as soon as possible. If you wait even one day,
someone could go through your money and the cashiers cannot
stop them without proof that the card is missing. To report
a missing card, go to any food services location or call
the university police.
Kerry McGuire
Linda Isaacs
Melissa Vanover
Cathy Wilkerson
Park Place Cashiers, Trivette Hall
ASU Food Services |
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| Response to editorial about abortion |
To the Editor:
While I don't have the obvious religious beliefs to help
define my opinions, I can't help but wholeheartedly agree
with Justin Boulmay's article on the new partial-birth abortion
bill. The act of aborting a fetus is murder, regardless of
what the bible says, and any attempts to define when something
is 'alive' is an excuse, plain and simple. Now, I realize
that second trimester abortions are almost always only allowed
when the health of the mother is at risk... but maybe that
mother, who has already had a life full of experiences, should
let her child be born and risk her own health? If there was
a fire in your house and you could save only yourself or
your newborn baby, hopefully you'd save the baby... so why
make that sacrifice after birth but not before? Heck, burning
to death surely can't be much less enjoyable than having
a needle shoved through your skull.
Furthermore, by attaching a value to the rights of a living
creature you open the floodgates for that same argument to
be used across the board. If the mother's rights are more
important than the child's, who's to say that a heterosexual
doesn't have more right's than a homosexual, that a Native
American doesn't possess more rights than a Asian American,
that man doesn't have more rights than animal? By attaching
value to rights you're undermining the very idea of equality,
especially when you steamroll over the rights of a defenseless,
unborn child.
Jonathan Ogilvie
Senior, Creative Writing
Jo51340@appstate.edu |
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| Response to Tuition increases to pay faculty,
staff |
To the Editor:
In response to Leslie Rasimas' most recent FRONT PAGE article
titled "Tuition increases to pay faculty, staff,"
and all other staff at The App as well as my peers, who complain
about tuition and fees increases, I have a brief argument.
I have worked a full time job while attending classes full
time. I have paid for the better part of my tuition over
the years. With that in place, I completely support the proposed
tuition increases. Whether it is to compensate the lowest
paid employees at Appalachian, to pay the distinguished faculty,
or perhaps expand student programs and facilities, I am in
complete agreement. First of all, I am sick and tired of
needing a place to study at night, knowing that our 23-hour
computer lab is really only a 19-hour lab, our student union
completely shuts down at 2:00am, and our library hours (at
a major university) are a joke. What is worse about this
situation is our student body is not exploring options for
these problems, but rather complain about money that is most
likely coming out of their parents pockets, which schools
do not have school spirit, what to do about the already planned
and budgeted constructions, and the most recent quarrel between
The APP and SGA. Please, if you are going to complain about
a tuition increase, have a reason. Perhaps an increase would
help pay wages to employ our faculty and staff in the previously
stated examples. I am ready to start feeling like attend
a real university.
Nick Albu
Na47968@appstate.edu
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| Response to Neo-hippies relax in nostalgia,
parents ideas |
To the Editor:
After reading Kevin DeLury‚s piece “Neo-hippies
relax in nostalgia, parents‚ ideas,” there was
one thing obvious to me: Kevin is just as misled in his ideas
about Rave culture as his friend Skip Stone.
The idea that people in the electronic music community have
ever had, or purported to have, a unified platform or some
political message is nonsense. The only problems you find
these people “crusading against,” as Mr. DeLury
likes to put it, are measures aimed to deny them their rights
to dance together.
Mr. DeLury goes on to state that the dance music community
is “a culture who’s backbone is substance abuse.”
Sounds like someone has been watching to many Dateline NBC
“scare the parents” pieces. Sure, there has been
an influx of people at raves that are preoccupied with drugs,
but rest assured that these people don‚t last in the
scene, nor do they represent it as a whole. They stick around
for a few months, maybe even six, then tire of the drugs
and leave the scene and it’s music behind. The true
representatives of the culture will still be out there, you
just have to look past the e-tards and trendy kiddies to
find them.
At heart the scene has always been, and will always be, about
the music, and of course, dancing. And yes, dance music can
bring people of all types together in a sometimes mystical
and awe-inspiring ways that’s what we call the vibe,
Kevin. Are drugs required to feel it? No. Can it cure the
world’s ills? No. Did it ever claim to? Definitely
not.
Michael Towne
Senior, Secondary Education
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| Faculty Senate |
To the Editor:
In reference to your recent articles and editorials on the
Faculty Senate and its recommendations:
1. The Faculty Senate is the legally-constituted and democratically-elected
representative of the Faculty. Your derision of that does
not change the facts. In any case, faculty does not vote
for SGA, students do not vote for Faculty Senate, and nobody
votes for The Appalachian.
2. Faculty Senate did not vote for a tuition increase.
3. Faculty Senate voted to reduce course loads from 12 hours
to 9 hours to bring Appalachian into conformance with other
good universities. It is always a wonder to me why members
of the university might wish for lower quality, with highschool
like teaching loads and less research. Research for teaching
and publishing is the core of our work. If you don’t
understand faculty work loads, I remind you that real newspapers
investigate before writing, as do faculty before they present
lectures and seminars. If you wish to attend an institution
where faculty do no research, return to high school.
4. Faculty Senate voted to reduce office hours, not to eliminate
them. Welcome to the digital century where much advising
work is done outside office hours. Go see your physician,
dentist, lawyer, or other professional without an appointment.
Indeed, try an oil change at High Country Honda without an
appointment.
5. I think Faculty Senate should take a stronger stand on
higher faculty salaries. We could have lower salaries and
attract worse professors to provide you with a poorer and
outmoded education. Why would you want that? Would you prefer
that your degree carry the title "Mediocre State University?"
If Appalachian is to provide a competitive education, it
must pay competitive salaries to those who provide it: the
faculty.
Somewhat Sincerely,
Jeffrey Bortz
Dept. of History |
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| Faculty Senate |
To the Editor:
While the Faculty Senate does not expect you to agree with
us, and, indeed many of us would be surprised if you did,
we do expect you to be fair and accurate. In your Nov. 18
editorial you failed on both counts, starting with the headline
-- "Faculty Senate asks for more to do less."
Much like a class, we also expect you to pay attention to
what is going on when you cover a Senate meeting, but you
apparently failed there, too. Perhaps that is what led to
the error of neglecting to mention the content of the motion
on funding that was passed. That motion asked the state legislature
(not students) to aid the university's budget by increasing
the state appropriation by an additional $300 per student
for each of the next three years. The motion expressed no
opinion on how the money should be spent.
I had hoped that you would have noticed during the discussion
how many times we mentioned that the faculty regard tuition
increases as a last resort in desperate budgetary times and
that the state has primary responsibility -- mandated by
the constitution -- to fund the university adequately so
as to hold down the cost of an education for students.
The faculty are and have long been the students' allies regarding
tuition.
I had also hoped for a more candid appraisal of faculty responsibilities
at Appalachian and an appreciation for the nuances of the
many roles we fill on campus.
A change in office hour requirements and a nine-hour standard
teaching load would not, as you imply, amount to sending
us all on a virtual vacation. What it would do, primarily,
is address a long-standing inequity on campus and acknowledge
the reality of faculty-student interaction.
Most Appalachian faculty already teach nine hours per semester,
but many teach 12 every semester. As we move from a teacher's
college to a comprehensive university, demands for research
and publication increase. This is also true for faculty in
the arts, who undertake other forms of creative activity
-- which you snidely disparage. No one I know wants us to
be a Research I institution, but everyone does understand
that active scholars serve the students best, for this is
how faculty stay current in the field. If all faculty whose
departments have research expectations were given time to
pursue their professional interests, not only would that
be fair, but it would also enhance your education.
By the same token, slavishly holding the faculty to 10 posted
office hours neither respects our time nor reflects the reality
of how students meet and communicate with their professors.
No number of office hours could possibly meet the needs of
busy students and I rarely see them during those times. I
find that students drop by before, after or between classes
in the building and also during the times just before the
Appalcart starts its run up Bodenheimer Drive to the student
lot behind the Broyhill Inn. I also answer dozens of e-mail
messages a week responding to routine questions that don't
require a meeting. For those issues that can only be unraveled
face-to-face, we schedule a meeting time, which, more often
than not, is outside of office hours because of the student's
work schedule, athletic practice, or some other commitment.
The phone works well, too, and when I'm needed evenings and
weekends -- especially just before tests -- my home number
is in both the Boone phone book and the campus directory.
The upshot here is that the Senate, which is a small elected
body and actually does speak for the entire faculty, is not
asking to do less work, but only for the latitude to manage
our time effectively and for Raleigh's financial support
of the university so we can do our jobs well.
Paul H. Gates, Jr.
Chair, Faculty Senate |
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