Tuesday, May 14, 1996Fix the plumbing
Editor:
I am annoyed by the recent announcement of increased on-campus
housing fees, most of which will be used to cover expenses for
future housing projects. I’d like to ask Business Enterprises to
show a little more concern for the service of its current customers
and the problems in existing buildings.
In Hershey Hall, the availability of hot water has become
unpredictable. Business Enterprises has been aware of the major
plumbing problems here for years, but they have chosen to rely on
temporary solutions. Meanwhile, residents have endured the
inconvenience of sudden shut-downs of the water supply while
maintenance crews come up with temporary repairs. I recently
learned that if additional temporary repairs become necessary, food
service could be threatened.
We pay approximately $640 a month for a shared room. That is an
excessive amount of money to pay for living quarters where you
might not find hot water on a particular day! And now Business
Enterprises is asking residents to pay more  an amount of
$680 per month  in order to fund future housing and an
international center? Talk about a drop in value for the money
spent.
Business Enterprises, how about some attention to basics, like
plumbing for your existing buildings?
Denise Pinon
Graduate student
Psychology
Stuck-up survey
Editor:
Although the concept of the "Bruin Choice Awards" is laudable,
it is impossible to condone the meanness of spirit and misplaced
arrogance that inspires much of it. Were I publicly to demand of
the questionnaire compilers, "You breathe. Why?," you, the Daily
Bruin staff, and the entire campus community would, very properly,
be offended by the rudeness. Yet, this question is framed precisely
in the terms of the questionnaire.
Some of its categories take cheap shots at child actors and
others in early adolescence. It hubristically invites students
about to embark on careers to take pleasure in the possible
collapse of other people’s careers. It openly insults Marlon
Brando, an actor of considerable stature with decades of good
performances to his credit.
It ridicules Keanu Reeves with an implication that facts cannot
support, there being not a single Ted-like moment in any of his
period characterizations. His Siddhartha is perfectly judged to
reflect the film’s point of view. Who would deny the complexity of
creating for an adult audience a character as imagined by a
9-year-old child from a totally different culture?
Keanu’s Don John in "Much Ado About Nothing" is faithful to
Shakespeare, his critics generally betraying ignorance of the text
or failure to comprehend it. In "Tune in Tomorrow" and "A Walk in
the Clouds," he brings the characters to life with admirable
accuracy. The only disappointment is his performance in "Dracula"
(arguably, the only one in his career so far). Of course, the
typical Keanu performance  understated, sensitive and
unselfish  may not readily appeal to coarser tastes, but that
is no excuse for linking his name with the "Worst Performance"
award.
The questionnaire compilers are simply repeating the stale and
stinking opinions (already rotten when they were fresh) of critics
who would be better employed clearing away the detrital heaps of
hack journalism than contributing to them. It is a great pity to
see them reappear in the Daily Bruin. One expects the student
newspaper of a renowned university to aspire in all things to a
level above the depths. Unhappily, in carrying this garbage, the
word "bruin" is compromised into becoming the latest synonym for
"low."
The attainments of the condemned child actors, of Keanu’s decade
in film and of any decade you care to name of Brando’s long career,
almost certainly represent more than most of us are going to
achieve in a lifetime. Your journalists are no exception to this
general rule. They have no right whatsoever to insult those who are
demonstrably their betters. In my opinion, The Bruin owes a public
apology to a number of people. I hope we shall soon see it in
print.
Christopher Coleman
Preservation Officer
Library Preservation Office
Reporting skills
Editor:
The Daily Bruin has received several letters in the past few
weeks concerning the quality of its news reporting. The
anti-illegal immigration rally organizers, the Armenian Genocide
memorial organizers and the Mideast peace rally organizers have all
written letters disputing the facts as presented by Daily Bruin
reporters. Their complaints are not limited to subjective matters;
rather, they concern pretty basic things like, Who organized the
event? and Who was in attendance?
Are your reporters so inept? How does the Daily Bruin editorial
staff respond to pretty basic challenges to their ability to
report? Why should we even read the Daily Bruin if reporters are so
sloppy? I would like to see a thoughtful response to these many
charges before I can even take the Daily Bruin seriously.
Christine Morton
Staff
Mathematics Department
Vicious oil
Editor:
The American people are very angry at the large increases in
gasoline prices. As bad as price gouging by the large oil companies
is, it is far from their worst actions.
Shell and other oil companies support the brutal dictatorship of
Sony Abacha in Nigeria, which executed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and
many other activists. Shell has caused terrible environmental
devastation in the homeland of the Ogoni people; sometimes running
pipelines right through people’s yards.
Unocal and others support the brutal military dictatorship in
Burma.
Phillips, Texaco, Shell and many other oil companies have long
been involved in Indonesia and support the regime of Suharto, which
slaughtered a million of its own people in 1965, and in 1975
invaded East Timor, killing 200,000 East Timorese and imprisoning
thousands of others (including women and children) in concentration
camps where they often died of starvation. This atrocity is still
occurring and the oil companies are over there exploring for oil in
the Timor gap between Australia and East Timor.
These are the real crimes of oil companies! Price gouging of
American consumers is of small consequence in comparison.
Gary Sudborough
Bellflower, Calif.