Editor, I am a UNM student and the mother of two children under the age of 2. As any other student, at times I need help with my classes in order to get the grades I desire. CAPS is the best resource for help at UNM. Last week, I needed help with chemistry homework.
Editor, Let me say that while banning cell phones while driving and banning all tobacco products and skateboarding on campus is a good start, it's not enough. Let us consider cell phones. The dangerous factor is not limited to having only one hand available while driving, but also includes the distraction of talking.
Editor, Amadou Diallo, a young African immigrant, was killed by four New York Police officers in a hail of 41 bullets on Feb. 4, 1999. All the officers were cleared of the charges. Sean Bell, a young African-American, was killed by five New York Police officers in a hail of 50 bullets on Nov.
Editor, Perhaps it is the distinct click-clack of a skateboard riding over the seams on a sidewalk that reminds me of childhood summers. Or, perhaps it is the memory of that beat-up skateboard at the door that always meant my brother was home. Or, perhaps it is the surge of pride I felt when my daughter asked for a skateboard for her birthday - a gift I never would have asked for as a little girl.
Editor, I want to join track and field member Karl Kalm in mourning the resignations of track coaches Matt and Mark Henry. For five years, I have had the privilege of working with them as the academic adviser for the track team, and it has been a delightful experience.
Editor, Over the past few months, there has been a lot of talk about banning smoking outdoors. Not only am I referring to the proposal to ban it from campus, but some cities have actually made it illegal to smoke outside, too. While I am not a smoker, I feel as though someone should speak up.
Editor, I would like to offer a correction to Wednesday's article concerning the tobacco motion passed by the Staff Council. I am a staff councilor, and I voted against this motion, so it is not accurate to say it was passed unanimously. Since the surgeon general has advised there is no safe level of secondhand smoke, I would agree it is in the interest of staff, faculty and students to have a smoke-free campus.
Editor, On Monday at track practice, head coach Matt Henry informed his athletes that he will not be coming back to coach next year. The athletes were stunned by the candid resignation, unwilling to accept the reality of losing their longtime mentor and friend.
Editor, This is in response to the student who complained it was an "atrocity" when her car was booted while illegally parked at the UNM Hospital structure. I am in complete agreement with the student - a boot should not have been put on her car. She should have been towed.
Editor, Without knowing much about UNM, I could now tell anyone that its future is brighter because of the hiring of Oklahoma State's president David Schmidly. Schmidly has done wonderful things for OSU's entire student body, faculty and university system.
Editor, I'm not sure if Joe Buffaloe was being facetious in his rant about the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial in Wednesday's Daily Lobo, but he seems to be arguing that no one cares about the trial, and that the issues are confusing and unimportant. This could not be farther from the truth.
Editor, I am a master's student living in on-campus housing - the SRCs, to be specific. My apartment is on the ground floor of a building that houses more than 30 people. For all those folks, we have a total of three not-very-large garbage cans. These are placed right outside my front door.
The perjury trial of former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby is still underway. He might be found guilty; he might not. Who cares?
Editor, I deplore columnist Scott Darnell's characterization of the U.S. as an innocent bystander in a world of tyrannical bullies. He laments that "none of us asked for" the likes of Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il. While he correctly points out that the American people did not in fact ask for the threats we face today, he conveniently neglects to consider the active, if not definitive, role our government has played in creating and arming these threats.
Editor, As many people in the world are realizing, global warming and climate change are increasingly serious threats to the health and future well-being of human civilization. As an environmental science major, I sometimes wonder, how should the responsibility of caring for our environment fall upon the individual? Are we as humans really doing what is necessary to make the world a better place? Changes to help prevent this danger are being made on international, national, state and local levels.
Editor, While I consider skateboarders on the whole to be a nuisance, filling the world with more annoying sounds than are needed, they do not warrant being banned on campus. Knowing that James Burbank is an English professor here at UNM, dare I assert he has committed the association fallacy? He says that he used to find skateboarders "an amusing, albeit destructive, part of campus.
Editor, According to the University Business Policies and Procedures Manual, Section 2260, "Individuals using bicycles, skates, skateboards and other nonmotorized vehicles on campus must at all times yield to pedestrians, use due caution and exercise concern for the safety of self and others.
Editor, Recently, a local news show in Albuquerque questioned whether we as a community were any safer from drunken driving after all the legislation, tougher penalties and laws that we've adopted. Unfortunately, studies leaned heavily toward the fact that we are not safer.
I am grateful to the University's Board of Regents for choosing me as president of UNM, and I am humbled by the quality of my fellow finalists; each is uniquely qualified to serve. I wanted to take this opportunity to say hello and to extend to each of you an invitation.
Editor, Today is a great day in Stillwater, Okla. David Schmidly is now your problem. I feel sorry for UNM students. I hope your faculty has the guts to stand up to Schmidly and keep him in check. Ours could not or would not, and the school suffered as a result.
Solutions by The State News
