Refusal to sing anthem reflects poorly on
Samahang
I opened Friday’s newspaper and was immediately stunned to
see that Samahang Pilipino was refusing to sing the U.S. national
anthem at their annual Pilipino Culture Night (“PCN to have
moment of silence, not U.S. anthem,” News, May 17).
I believe that the whiners and complainers, chief among them
Jonah Lalas, who head that student organization should know that
their petty actions only make them look unpatriotic and downright
ridiculous. They should know that by placing themselves and their
opinions above the ideals and the sense of unity enshrined in our
national anthem, they are only hurting the Pilipino
community’s image among the population at large. I’m
sure this is not Samahang Pilipino’s stated goal, but under
their current leadership, it is the student group’s largest
effect. I truly feel for those left in that organization, like Mark
Lagrimas, who have the overall interest of both the Pilipino
community and the nation to which it belongs in mind.
A quick note to Jonah Lalas and the Samahang Pilipino
leadership: No one cares that you feel America shouldn’t
properly defend itself after it was savagely attacked on Sept. 11,
and don’t tarnish the very people you purport to serve by
voicing your uninformed opinion in their name.
Max Roberts Third-year Aerospace
engineering
Dahle takes credit for Empowerment!’s
work
It’s interesting to see David Dahle write about the work
of USAC when he’s played an adversarial role in many of this
year’s council issues (“55 percent slash of
USAC’s student funds unacceptable,” Viewpoint, May 20)
. He’s written about needing to save BruinGo!, yet has put no
work into assisting general representative Theo Apostol who has
been the most vocal advocate to save BruinGo!. He wrote about the
budget crisis USAC may be experiencing without ever articulating
his own views and sharing his own analysis of the situation. What
our president-elect failed to mention in his Viewpoint piece is
that he urged the council to pass the budget despite the dramatic
cuts. He was willing to approve a budget that was slashed over 55
percent. According to him, we should have passed the budget because
it was the worst-case scenario and students should prepare for it.
What students should really prepare for is a president who cannot
think critically enough to fight for students.
It was Student Empowerment! council members who vocally
advocated against passing the budget. The arguments Dahle presented
in his Viewpoint piece are all arguments presented by Student
Empowerment!, not SURE or Dahle. It continues to be Student
Empowerment! that is negotiating with ASUCLA and the administration
about how to guarantee students a better bottom line than $57,000,
not SURE or Dahle. Dahle has a very clever way of making you think
he’s working for you. He’s not yet president, yet
he’s taking credit for all the work of Student Empowerment!
and current president Karren Lane. Look through the USAC minutes,
come to a USAC meeting, review the work of this year’s
council that never got press, and see who’s truly serving the
student body. Student Empowerment! initiated and is leading the
fight to ensure that 13 USAC offices, over 20 student advocacy
groups, and hundreds of officially recognized student organizations
have more than $57,000 to work with next year. I hope Dahle and the
current council remember that our work is not finished, that we do
more than just write Viewpoint submissions.
Cindy Mosqueda USAC general representative Fourth-year
Sociology and Chicana/o studies