Financial aid slash has upside ““ or
not
I can’t believe people are getting mad about their
financial aid being cut (“Financial
aid may face reduction in allocations,“ News, Jan.
28).
I, too, depend on grants and scholarships to attend school, but
I place my utmost trust in our pro-business president to do
what’s right and proper with our country’s money
““ like help sponsor billion-dollar rebates for companies like
Enron, Boeing and United, or even give it back to hardworking
Americans like CEO’s and U.S. vice-presidents through tax
breaks.
I don’t know about everyone else, but when I think that my
being unable to pay for college might help poor former Enron CEO
Kenneth Lay add to his meager collection of Aspen houses, I feel
all warm and fuzzy inside.
Corey Chapman Third-year English and
history
Basketball seating should be revised
I have never read a more poorly researched or poorly written
opinion than Greg Schain’s “Only
lunatics camp outside; there are other alternatives“
(Sports, Jan. 28).
The first thing that needs to be stated is people who camp out
do have lives: UCLA basketball. But we also work hard in school
““ gates 10 and 15 provide distraction-free studying
environments.
It is apparent that Schain has never attended a UCLA basketball
game in his life, or he’d realize that his ground-breaking
lottery system is already in effect.
Despite what Schain misses, I do agree the seating system needs
to change. I think if you want to sit in the lower section you
should audition to show the following qualities: the stamina to
jump and scream during every defensive stand, the common sense to
wear blue (not white, not gray and definitely not red), the ability
to sing our fight songs and the lungs to belt out the eight clap
like no other.
Schain is also right about the alumni. They don’t cheer.
So it is much more important for the proven-fan students to sit
close to the players to make up for it. The new athletic director
should give seats back to the real fans.
But as far as Schain’s claims are concerned, to be a part
of the game, and do your part in helping our Bruins win games, you
must be of a rare breed. It takes those people who are willing to
sleep out in the cold for a few nights to do it.
Dean baluch Fourth-year Computer science and
engineering
Spiegel rhetoric not convincing
David Horowitz is a lot of things, but to label him an apologist
for slavery as Lital Spiegel does in Tuesday’s paper
(“Intimidation
efforts of Horowitz, D’Souza fail,” Viewpoint, Jan.
29) is not merely a lie, but also pure libel, akin to the
“all blacks are criminals” kind of generalization.
Spiegel only writes in broad statements, spitting out the same
old simplistic left-speak without a drop of proof to back it up:
“The truth is America is a racist society for blacks and
minorities to live in … “ Is it? As a Jew, I don’t
feel that way! (Of course, we all know Jews aren’t really
minorities ““ we’re just like Asians, right?).
Spiegel also says: “U.S. imperialist military adventures
are always accompanied by domestic repression, particularly
targeting labor, blacks and immigrants.” Yes, since we know
Israel, President Bush and the CIA orchestrated the Sept. 11
attacks, I guess you could call the crushing of the Taliban an
imperialistic war to pipe oil through Afghanistan. That, or you
could say Spiegel resorts to easy answers and ready-made sound
bites, complete with unoriginal rage and appeals to class
uprising.
Jeffrey Abelson New York City