Editor, This is in response to Mark D. Erasmus's letter published in the Daily Lobo on April 18. First, it is incredibly disrespectful to use such hateful commentary during Islam Awareness Week. This is when Muslims are taking time to educate and inspire the uninformed in a peaceful, nonintrusive way.
Editor, I love a good debate in the Daily Lobo. I've been an undergraduate, graduate student and staff member at UNM for 28 years, and I always like to see students get worked up over a good cause. Of course, I wish Agora Crisis Center wasn't the target, but that's OK, as it gives us an opportunity to be in the public eye and remind people of what we do.
Editor, I have to say that after reading Andres Saenz's letter in Thursday's Daily Lobo, there are a few contentions I have. Many have deeper philosophical inferences and require more elaboration space than I can use, but I'll try to touch on the basics. My first question is, what mandates that when two people have sex, they be bound emotionally and spiritually to each other for the rest of their lives? I'm not sure if he meant it literally, but there are many people who get divorces, end relationships or are in abusive relationships.
Editor, Last week's three-part series on disabilities was very good. The online video was excellent. Kudos to Xavier Mascareñas and Joey Trisolini for a great editing job on the video story. Originally, two people in wheelchairs were interviewed for the wheelchair accessibility article published on Thursday.
Editor, Graduate and professional students face significant challenges regarding the use of our organization and its funds. This electoral season allows us an opportunity to debate issues and decide the direction in which we want to grow. I call on the candidates for Graduate and Professional Student Association president to champion the following issues: The regents pay little more than lip service to student recommendations for allocation of student fees.
Editor, My decision to run for Graduate and Professional Student Association president is a personal investment not only in myself but also other students, the University and New Mexico, as I believe in the power of "us" to come together and work for change.
Editor, My name is Danny Hernandez. I am a Community and Regional Planning and Public Administration combined master's degree student, and I am running for the position of Graduate and Professional Student Association president. My qualifications are my professional experience, my long record of making positive changes and my distinct vision for GPSA.
Editor, We would like to clarify some statements made in Jeremy Jaramillo's letter in Wednesday's Daily Lobo. RHA and the entire residence hall community recognize the need for Agora Crisis Center as a student support center, and we respect the work that they do.
Editor, I'd like to take this opportunity to share with the UNM community an event happening this evening on Johnson Field. Take Back The Night is an event to shatter the silence surrounding rape, sexual assault and domestic violence. This event will include speakers from many Albuquerque-based agencies and organizations, a candlelight vigil as well as the Clothesline Project.
Every Monday morning, I receive an e-mail from President David Schmidly - the entire University does. This is good. He is the first UNM president to engage in a regular communication with all of us, including retired farts like myself. The letters are like a 21st-century version of Roosevelt's fireside chats.
Editor, Last week, former President Jimmy Carter began a self-appointed diplomacy mission on what he refers to as the road to peace. Carter's private Middle East peace process was criticized by the U.S. administration, and Israeli officials chose not to be included.
Editor, As much as Spring Storm offers an opportunity for students to volunteer their time, it also has negative impacts upon the UNM community. We live in one of the SRCs alongside Johnson Field, and the music from Spring Storm was so loud Saturday that it was impossible to concentrate on schoolwork.
Editor, The world's population was 1 billion in 1850, 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1986 and 6 billion in 1999. More than 6 billion of us are alive today, six times as many people now as were living less than 200 years ago.
Editor, I would like to give a brief response to James Post's letter in Monday's Daily Lobo about how polygamy should be legal to any religious group. I say a loud, resounding no to polygamy. The human being is comprised of three parts: body, soul and spirit.
Editor, Brian Fejer's letter in Tuesday's Daily Lobo is on target, as usual. The need for American reform to 21st-century thinking is like flaming writing on the wall. A large capitalist economy based principally on credit and consumption is not sustainable in today's world.
Editor, Christopher Sanchez's article, "Preacher reaches out from an unlikely pulpit," in Monday's Daily Lobo seems too reverent. First, the Rev. Michael Venyah's choice of venue is hardly unlikely, as many people visit campus to preach God's word. One who preached from the exact same spot caused even more of a ruckus.
Editor, An article in Wednesday's Daily Lobo detailed a dormitory association's plight for a lounge space. The space is also one of the many possible future spaces of the Agora Crisis Center. We at Agora felt compelled to make clear some misunderstandings in that article.
Editor, In Friday's Daily Lobo, Mark D. Erasmus suggests that efforts taken by Muslim students at UNM to introduce a moderate and gentle interpretation of Islam to their non-Muslim peers via free food and open discussion amounted to a dangerous plot by multiculturalists and those Muslim students alike to "equivocate the nature of Islam.
Editor, The Rev. Michael Venyah and his family's story is a very intriguing one. He is a man traveling around in an RV, preaching his opinion of Christianity and getting much criticism along the way. Why is he doing all of this? Well, it is hard to believe that someone would dedicate his life to intentionally making people pissed off.
Editor, Yes to polygamy. Why not other forms of marriage? I agree with the '60s author Robert Rimmer that the law demanding that all marriage be defined as one man and one woman in sexual monogamy is unrealistic, unimaginative and typical of the hypocrisy of post-Victorian Puritanism, not to mention as an enforced tenet of the prevailing U.
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