Editor, In the April 23 letter, Jean Aragon states that UNM Police being issued AR-15s is a step in the right direction, but is merely "a Band-Aid on a bullet wound." Aragon argues further that the real solution to campus violence is that persons with a concealed-carry weapon permit be allowed their arms on campus.
Editor, I am writing this letter in response to numerous published editorials perpetuating the spread of misinformation on campus regarding the building of another recreation center. As it currently stands, Johnson Center is inadequate for just about any form of physical exercise outside of basketball.
In printing the results of the April 13-20 poll asking if you supported UNM building another recreation center, the results were flipped. The results should have read 71 percent said no and 29 percent said yes. The error was made in layout.
Editor, In response to Jean Aragon's letter in Thursday's Daily Lobo, I could not agree more, and I would like to commend Aragon. The fact of the matter is, if there were an active shooter on campus, it would take precious minutes to notify the police and even more time for them to respond.
The Nanny State, the government that wants us to avoid alcohol and drugs and wear a seat belt and be nice to one another, has come to UNM. Beginning with the fall semester, all smoking will be banned from campus, except in designated areas. Actually, liquor has long been banned from the University, but such is due to the administration's fear of lawsuits, not the Nanny goal of protecting us from ourselves.
Editor, The Israel Alliance was invited to set up a table representing Israel at the annual International Festival, held by the Office of International Programs and Studies. The festival is always fun and interesting, and people work hard to have the event be successful and worthwhile.
Spring has sprung. The sun is shining, flowers are blooming and birds are singing. Outside there are happy sounds and sights galore. But inside some people, it is still a bleak winter - cold, gray and eternal. When you are very depressed, it feels like winter will never turn to spring.
Editor, "Gov. Bill Richardson established a task force to establish best practices for colleges and universities in New Mexico," UNMPD officials said in Wednesday's Daily Lobo. As usual, we are asked to place our lives in the hands of the police, rather than investigate what would truly be the best practice for New Mexico campuses: arming the citizens.
Editor, I've juggled academics and my professional life for 25 years now and, for better or worse, consider UNM to be my final resting place where I hope to finish a graduate degree this decade. Over those years, I've seen all the complaints and responses one could ever hope to see regarding the lack of communication between the undergraduate and graduate student bodies, their elected leaders, faculty and the administration with none of them ever actually making a meaningful move to change the situation.
Editor, Last week, the CIA paid a visit to campus in an event sponsored by Inspire Anderson Marketing. A student club sponsoring a top terrorist organization? What a shame. It is sad that ignorance has again come to stain the floor of our University. Do these UNM students know that the organization they brought to campus has a history that, for more than 60 years, includes planning and carrying out coups d'état and supporting dictators? Do they know that this organization is behind the killing of students, teachers and workers? Were they told that many children and mothers never saw their relatives again because they simply disappeared? Do they know that this organization trained some of the most sick-minded terrorists of the 21st century? Well, perhaps they should know.
Editor, "Counterculture"? Seems to me marijuana usage is more mainstream these days. There are lots of people who indulge in the green, not saying any names, but governors, professors, M.D.s, organization officials, law graduates, undergraduates, etc. Hell, there's even a restaurant designed to tap the pot-smoker market: Cheba Hut.
Editor, A recent ad in the Daily Lobo asserts that the extermination of Jews in World War II was a hoax and challenges "professors" to provide proof of the extermination. Since when is it OK to advance a proposition and then shift the burden of proof to others? The extermination of Jews by the Nazis was first reported in the New York Times on July 3, 1944, and was therefore a contemporaneous account.
Last fall when I announced my intention to vote for Ralph Nader for the fourth time, I was told by a number of Democrats that a vote for Nader was essentially a vote for four more years of Bush. I disagreed with them at the time, but it turns out they were right.
Editor, The U.S. Congress established the Days of Remembrance as this country's annual commemoration of Holocaust victims. These victims include not only 6 million Jews, but also millions of others killed by the Nazi regime including the mentally and physically handicapped, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma (Gypsies), non-Jewish Polish citizens, socialists, trade unionists and political dissidents.
Solutions by The State News
