Coach Cameron deserved more time\nI was sorry to hear about the firing of IU football coach Cam Cameron.\nI thought he deserved more time but I understand the problems facing the football program.\nI live in New York City, 750 miles from Memorial Stadium and 250 miles from the nearest stadium in which IU plays, Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa.\nI attended 14 of the 55 games in Cameron's tenure, a little over 25 percent. The problem is, that's probably more than 90 percent of the in-state alumni, although I'm guessing that was the case long before Cameron was hired.\nIt's sad to think that wins and losses are what gets people to come to an IU football game. As an alumnus, I go to meet up with old friends and to enjoy a Saturday in Bloomington. As a student (BA 1981), I never missed a home football game, and the teams of 1976-80 weren't that much better than the past 5 years.\nI will continue to support the program in the same fashion. To all the students and alumni who haven't attended IU football games lately and may start once the team begins to win, it's a very roomy bandwagon on which you can jump.\nHowever, don't worry; we'll make sure you don't fall off.\nBarry Gellers\nPresident, IU Alumni Association \nof New York
Cutrera explains true meaning of Christmas\nI just want to thank Charles Cutrera for the article you wrote in the Dec. 4 issue of the IDS, "What child is this?" It was so good to hear what Christmas is truly about coming from the mouth (or hand) of a fellow student. You captured the true meaning of Christmas, one that so many people fail to grasp, or even realize. I know sometimes it's hard to step out and be bold in faith but that's exactly what you did. And, who knows, maybe that was the first time some people had ever heard what Christmas was about, or at least understood it. Thank you for your article and may God Bless you this Christmas season and throughout the rest of your year. \nLindsay G. Templeton\nFreshman
Students responsible for own drinking\nWhen will IU realize that it can't make decisions for its students regarding drinking? College students will abuse alcohol. "IU has a drinking problem," Dee Owens was quoted as saying. What a revelation. As long as there are universities, there will be parties. As long as there are parties, there will be alcohol use. The University, although it may try, will not be able to change this.\n This new proposal is ridiculous and makes me wonder if Chancellor Brehm was ever a college student herself. Increasing Friday classes so students won't drink on Thursday nights? That is an awfully slippery slope to slide on. Why not take away weekends all together? Saturday and Sunday classes will surely keep students hitting the books at the library instead of boozing at the bars those nights. Why not force all students to take 8 a.m.'s all week long? Grades would soar to new heights and alcohol abuse would virtually vanish. Why stop at abolishing drinking games and drink specials at bars? Just ban all bars within a 30-mile radius of the University. Liquor stores will be the next to go. I can just see the enrollment numbers climbing...at Purdue. Now THAT is the last thing we want.\n I'm sure the chancellor has the best intentions with her new plan, but at some point we have to revert back to simple logic. Students won't have these types of decisions made for them. The University's policy changes are dangerously close to trampling on basic freedoms students love about college: NOT having mommy and daddy breathing down their necks. Sleeping in on a Thursday morning because they don't have class until 2:30 p.m. Taking a long road trip because they don't have Friday class. Playing Sink the Bis at Nick's because they're 21 and they earned it. And for the males, rushing a fraternity in the fall freshman year because they got stuck in a single room in an honors dorm full of anti-socials.\nAnd what about all the non-drinkers who are being punished by these broad regulations? The University only sees the negative things happening on this campus because it's those events that make the news that affect IU's "image." So now, because a certain percentage (have we even established that alcohol "abusers" comprise a majority of the campus?) of students are drinking irresponsibly, the University punishes everyone.\nReminds me of those fourth-grade dilemmas when the teacher gives everyone detention because a student hurled a spit ball but the teacher doesn't know which student did it. But we aren't 11 anymore. We make mistakes, we break rules like everyone else. And we will continue to do so despite some policy. That's what (college) life is all about. So let us have ours. The only way to learn anything about anything is by making our own decisions and dealing with it. Yes, we will screw up. Deal with THAT.\nSuzanne Doberneck\nJunior
Pick your own Christmas celebration\nAh, by the warm, fuzzy, "peace on earth for one day of the year" editorials that have now officially begun to flood the opinion pages of newspapers, I suppose Christmas is approaching. Ok, so I already knew that (as an avid videogamer, and citizen of the 21st century with full access to calendars and clocks, it's hard not to be vaguely aware of one's place in the temporal plane; plus, it's getting cold outside). But it never really feels like the season of flashy UL listed lighting appliances until self-congratulatory speeches begin to roll into the public forums, and now the IDS has printed one, officially rousing me from my post-Halloween lull.\nHowever, one needs to have an understanding of a holiday to properly celebrate it, so I tried to take the time to properly examine Christmas this year. \n Christmas as a holiday has its origin in the fourth century, when what would become the modern Catholic church, in its infinite wisdom, decided to horn in on some pesky, distracting Pagan holidays; this was accomplished by picking a day pretty much at random and saying sacred stuff happened on it. They quickly lost control over the holiday, and it became more like Halloween than the testament to commercialism that it is today, replete with drunken revelry and the potential for "mischief", aka violence and vandalism. I know what you're thinking: "What happened? This sounds like fun, and an excuse for drinking under First Amendment exemptions to liquor laws!" Well I'll tell you what happened: Puritans. Yes, that's right; Puritans screwed things up, as usual. \n Things went from bad to worse over the years, and eventually Christmas was reinvented as we see it today (Christmas wasn't popular in early America, and didn't become a federal holiday until June 26, 1870). So please, go out and celebrate Christmas if you feel like it, but pick the Christmas that best suits you, and not necessarily the one that spurs the most "patriotic spending". Finally, after Dec. 25, please take those annoying lights down. Some of us happen to like darkness at night. Thanks.\nJohn Joseph Sears\nSophomore
A closer look at the maldistribution \nof wealth\nWhen I came to IU for my undergraduate education and when I chose to stay at IU to pursue a graduate degree, I based my choice on the faculty and their supporting staff.\nThey are the ones that provide the leadership and pose challenges to the students here at IU. They are the ones that choose to pursue world-class research and to involve the students in their research. They are the ones that have challenged us to exceed our personal expectations to succeed in our careers.\nWithout the faculty and their staff, IU would not be where it is today. It is them, not the administration, that deserve financial support. From the first day I stepped on this campus in 1996, President Brand has always espoused how IU strives to attract world class scholars to fill its lecture halls, yet there is always the problem of funding. I always remember seeing and hearing how IU is fairly low on how much state support this institution receives. By accepting such a high salary while professors leave for higher paying jobs, what is the message that we are supposed to interpret? \nI challenge President Brand and the administration to freeze their salaries and not accept increases until the faculty and staff are on the same pay scales as other institutions. There is no excuse for the President or any other administrator to say we need more funding or that we must raise tuition to keep faculty salaries anywhere near the top of the Big Ten when they are being payed so well.\nThis is Bloomington, not New York. I am sure living off of close to $300,000 a year makes him pretty comfortable. If it is too hard to live on the same salary until the rest of IU's employees see increases, maybe it is time for the Board of Trustees to seek someone who is a visionary and will be creative in seeking funds and cutting costs in ways that don't layoff the "little man" while allow the administration to be so well off. \nKevin Shade\nGraduate student
Nice job, Hoosiers\nI would like to add my name to the list of IU fans glad to have been a part of this year's season. Although a bowl game wasn't in our cards, we can enjoy the heart, soul, and mental toughness this team showed in climbing out of its initial problems. I felt like there really were 11 Rudy Reuttigers out on the field in the last half of this season. To the departing seniors, thank you so much for showing the desire and willpower to never say quit. To the remaining players and incoming recruits, now you know how much effort to bring EVERY single game you play. To you IU football detractors, you missed out on a truly inspiring transformation.\nMatt Uhl\nSenior
Seat belt laws one step closer to Big Brother\nInstead of using a negative argument against the seatbelt law, I would like to approach it from a positive veiw. I believe the law is an outstanding achievement and benefit to society. In the spirit of the law, I would like to offer some further advice to help society even more. Introduce a law requiring evidence of condom use when one acquires any STD, especially AIDS. If no proof can be provided, fine the culprit. Further, ban beef. Think of the lives not only extended but saved. Perhaps more realistically, a large tax on all beef sales similar to taxes on cigarettes. Those beef eaters owe us for all the Medicare costs. Ban sitcoms to rid people of destroying themselves by becoming couch potatoes. Sounds ridiculous, but be open minded, the benefits would be great. Wear your seatbelt, people. It may save your life, but lets keep an eye on Big Brother before it becomes big Momma.\nFrank Sorenson\nSophomore
No argument for harming life\nStem cell research, cloning wrong no matter purpose\nIn her Nov. 29 column on stem cell research, Amy Orringer misses the point of why pro-life Americans oppose stem cell research and cloning. Whether cloning is for reproductive purposes or "research" purposes is irrelevant to why it should be banned.\nFirst of all, Orringer makes a patently false statement that stem cells can only be harvested from embryos. The fact is that potentially very useful stem cells can be harvested from an umbilical cord after birth, or even from adults. \nWhy are the practices of cloning and stem cell research wrong? Life begins at fertilization, when a new life, complete with a new DNA code and all the building blocks needed to grow and develop, is formed. This is true whether the life is created in a laboratory or a mother's womb. An embryo, cloned or not, is a developing human being, just as we are all developing human beings. That human being should have the right to bodily integrity, and should not be killed or experimented on by a scientist doing "research."\nOne would think that with the experiments on black men in this country and other gross violations of human rights globally over the last several decades, we would have learned our lesson that we should not be experimenting on other human beings. Sadly, we have not.\n The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in the summer banning cloning and President Bush has promised to sign it, but the Democratically controlled Senate has failed to act. Pro-life Congressmen like John Hostettler and Mike Pence have called on the Senate to act. Pro-life Hoosiers should write Senators Lugar and Bayh and encourage them to support this ban.\nScott Tibbs\n1998 IU Alumnus
