Alumni should redirect contributions

I read with great interest two stories featured on your front page: "IU rejects alum's offer" and "United Way celebrates start of campaign year" (IDS, Sept. 29). While in the first story, Internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban's kindly offer of $540,000 to defray the cost of bandwidth for using Napster had been rebuked, the second story noted United Way of Monroe County struggled to raise the same amount during last year's charity drive.\nThe two stories give a curious juxtaposition, especially in the reading of IU's Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations Chris Simpson's comments in the United Way story: "We are committed very simply to do whatever it takes to reach our goals this year … We believe in the United Way."\nPerhaps Simpson should "believe" in the redial button on his phone, as I'm sure Mr. Cuban would be interested in donating to this obviously worthy cause. If Cuban were to donate the same amount of money to the United Way, their fund-raising campaign would be halfway to this year's goal of $1.8 million -- only one week into the campaign. Further, with the Lilly Endowment's generous matching program and other Monroe County donors, Cuban's donation would allow the United Way to far exceed this year's goal.\nIf Simpson really wants to "do what it takes" to help United Way's campaign, perhaps he could guide Cuban's philanthropic inclinations to a more appropriate recipient.\nMark W. Bina\nSenior