OPINION & EDITORIAL
Letters to the Editor: Feb. 25, 2002
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Monday, February 25, 2002
I am a UW-Madison student and consumer who was shocked to discover Pepsi is spending millions of dollars to oppose bottle bills.
Bottle bills are laws that require small, refundable deposits on beverage containers in order to increase recycling rates. Seven states have reduced beverage-container litter anywhere from 70 percent to 83 percent due to implementing bottle-bill legislation.
Pepsi, with 31 percent of the market share, reneged on its 1990 promise to use 25 percent recycled plastic in their bottles — it currently uses 0 percent recycled plastic. Coke has promised to use 10 percent recycled plastic. If Pepsi feels recycled plastic brings “no value” to the company, then Pepsi will never be as good as Coke.
Crystal C. Hughes, UW senior
Republicans and Democrats love to talk about campaign-finance reform. It gives them a chance to denounce money in politics, even though it is how they thrive. The watered-down legislation on which they compromise benefits incumbents instead of encouraging fair and competitive elections.
There is another way to clean up politics: Elect better candidates. Ed Thompson represents students, not special interests. It is time students have a voice in Wisconsin politics.
When offered PAC money, Ed Thompson turned it down, saying, “I’d be right in the same boat as the rest of them. Once they give you the money, they feel that they own you. When I am elected governor, special interests can keep their money and walk right out the door.”
Ed Thompson supports efforts to limit tuition hikes and to maintain affordable higher education in Wisconsin. He wants to make education a higher priority than building more prisons and stuffing them with nonviolent offenders.
Tim Wesely, Students for Ed Thompson, UW junior
James Kent’s analysis of the Israel-Palestine situation is sadly misinformed.
“Taking over all the Israeli land” might have been a goal in 1948, but polls today show the vast majority of Palestinians have accepted partition — they ask for Israeli withdrawal only from territories that Israel invaded and occupied in 1967. These areas constitute less than half of what the Palestinians were originally given in the 1947 UN partition plan, which itself was less than half of what used to be all Palestinian land
Kent is also misinformed about Arafat’s role. Arafat’s not my hero either, but he does not have the power to create peace — the ball is in Israel’s court. Arafat’s historic Dec. 16 speech called for a unilateral cessation of violence; his people complied for three weeks, but Israel continued to pummel them.
Only Israel has the power to create peace in the region by withdrawing from the occupied territories and returning the land to the Palestinians.
Virginia Ravenscroft-Scott, UW special student
Once again, the so-called ?representatives? of students on this campus and in the university system have dropped the ball. They are asking students and taxpayers to fork over megabucks in student fees and tax revenues while ignoring signs of potential disaster.
Gov. Scott McCallum has once again shown he is a strong friend of higher education and students at campuses across the state. The governor?s recent Budget Reform Act ensures students will not see the exorbitant tuition hikes our neighboring states and Big Ten schools have had to endure.
Gov. McCallum capped tuition at a level far below the 18 percent increase the University of Iowa students will see and far below the 30 percent tuition increase Ohio State University students will see. Tuition is already affordable in our state ? we have one of the best bargains in the nation. Governor McCallum has ensured tuition will only increase at a reasonable amount.
Gov. McCallum has also increased financial aid for the students who struggle most with any tuition increase. The governor has increased funds for the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant by about $1 million. These funds will allow more students to take advantage of the education at the universities.
United Council and ASM have failed to embrace the governor?s plan for students in our state. Without their extra push, the legislature will certainly capture the increased financial aid money and will make further, deeper cuts to the university system.
As students, we must accept Gov. McCallum’s challenge. We should thank the governor and join him in his attempt to protect students during these tough times.
Ryan Nichols, UW grad student in Engineering
