OPINION & EDITORIAL
Letters to the editor 4/23/02
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by :
- Support our troops: protest (April 16, 2003)
- Blair's approval rating up since war (April 16, 2003)
- Anti-semitism by another name (April 24, 2003)
- Santorum deserves relief (April 29, 2003)
- All the fits that are news to print (June 3, 2003)
Related Stories:
- Mayor speaks out on mayoral conference (April 19, 2002)
- Mayors in Madison (April 16, 2002)
- Letters to the Editor: April 19, 2002 (April 19, 2002)
- Stop racial profiling (April 25, 2002)
- Opinion page needs more guest feedback (March 30, 2006)
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
In last week’s guest editorial (“Madison Proud to Host Conference,” April 19, 2002), Mayor Sue Bauman misrepresented the goals of the upcoming U.S. Conference of Mayors, along with her record and the city’s record in regard to race relations and affordable housing.
Bauman touts the conference, which Madison hosts in June, as an “opportunity to showcase Madison to mayors from across the country” in a forum that helps develop an agenda “that reflects the goals of the cities and their residents.”
The truth is that the conference is not a public forum for developing progressive movements. It is designed for corporate lobbyists and monied interests to set the agenda for our nation’s cities. This is why organizations like Creative People’s Resistance are planning to protest the conference. If the conference were organized to showcase progressive movements, they would be inside participating, not outside protesting.
While grassroots activists have worked hard to fight for affordable housing, Bauman and conservative members of City Council worked to stall measures aimed at eliminating discriminatory rental practices.
Recipients of Section 8 housing assistance vouchers can legally be discriminated against by landlords solely because they receive public assistance, even though that assistance is what enables them to pay the cost of often exorbitant rental prices.
As long as this discrimination continues, and as long as the mayor’s other actions indicate an administration that doesn’t have much to brag about, protesters are well within their rights to criticize this summer’s Mayors Conference as anything but a progressive showcase.
Megan Walsh
UW-Junior
I was astonished to read the “Earth Day Battle: Editor vs Editor” debate on your Opinion page yesterday. The contributing authors, Alexander Conant and Kristin Wieben, seem to have stumbled upon that rare species of “fact” which, instead of having a focused existence as evidentiary tool, enjoys, like a bad penny, a two-sided and contradictory existence.
Conant’s discovery of the apparently self-evident truth that “the environment isn’t going anywhere” seems to be slightly confused insofar as the general trend for a number of centuries — and certainly since widespread industrialization — has been one of the environment going somewhere very noticeably.
That is to say, the “environment,” at least in the conception of it as a network of ecosystems composed of living beings that are able to flourish and have a “good” (even if you will deny that they have a “good” of their own), has been going in the general direction toward a very real non-existence.
A few other points deserve brief mention. In his first argument, Conant stresses drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a sound idea. Later, he says “the Kyoto treaty … would lock America into the status quo” and “to the extent pollution should be reduced, it should be done in a way that rewards innovation.” These three claims cannot exist in support of each other. One need not be an expert on energy technologies to realize drilling for oil in a nature preserve is not terribly innovative. Indeed, we might say that to do so — unlike accepting a progressive energy treaty — would be to “lock America into the status quo” of convenient and unoriginal production practices yet again.
I would suggest if we are to talk of innovation, we ought to turn our attention to improving fuel efficiency, or simply abandoning the “common sense” idea that as Americans we have a right to consume what we want, when we want to. If that kind of innovation is “anti-American,” then it seems reasonable to believe that more of us ought to strive to be as “anti-American” as we possibly can be.
Morgan Bottner
UW-Junior
The state budget crisis this year shows how important it is to have a person in the governor’s office who strongly believes in the same ideology as the voters. Currently, the governor of Wisconsin is allowed to do line item vetoes, which means he or she can cross out whatever he or she decides is unnecessary or unwanted — even single letters or numbers. A bill’s meaning can completely be changed as the “‘t” in “can’t” can be crossed out to mean can, or numbers deleted to change 35.6 percent to 3.6 percent. This is a lot of power.
Voters, who also hold the power, need to be informed when they pick up the pen and vote. That is why it is imperative students attend the gubernatorial debate this Wednesday, April 24, at Memorial Union Theater at 7 p.m. Six of the gubernatorial candidates, or their representatives, will be there, including Katherine Falk, Jim Doyle, Ed Thompson, Tom Barrett, Jim Young and Gary George.
Come and listen to get an early idea of where they all stand, so when November gets here you will have a clear view of who each candidate is, and how they stand on important student issues such as financial aid, drug inquiries on federal financial aid forms and diversity on campus.
Stephanie Bruce
UW freshman
Last week’s weather had Library Mall crawling with sunbathers, musicians and even student organizations. When I graduate this May, I will miss the daily exposure to various views, issues and events these student groups bring to my attention.
This exposure is precisely what should be expected of institutions of higher education. Student organizations provide services that facilitate learning inside and outside the classroom, giving us a more complete worldview so we can make well-informed choices. UW-Madison has long recognized this; that is why we have things like student fees — to create a campus environment where all ideas can develop and circulate.
As someone who lives a good 40-minute walk from campus, I can thoroughly appreciate the Student Bus Pass program. More importantly, I appreciate the power students have to make decisions about things directly affecting us.
We, as students, are in the best position to identify our needs concerning SAFERIDE/SAFEWALK, the Distinguished Lecture Series and other student organizations. These organizations enhance our education, whether it’s studying late and getting home safely or meeting with amazing figures like Elie Wiesel.
Students constitute the campus community and therefore should have a hand in creating it. Student fees enable us to do this. It is imperative we preserve a student-controlled fee system.
Jessica L. Garrels
UW senior
