Campus dining should be closed for game\nOn Monday, IU Residential Programs and Services Dining Service Director Sandra Fowler ordered the Read Center Hoosier Cafe open during the men's basketball NCAA title game. As a student supervisor to the cafe, I respected Ms. Fowler's decision by working my regular shift during the game. However, I completely disagree with the decision, due to the rarity and massive student following of this remarkable event. This is only the sixth time Indiana has made the title game and all students should have the opportunity to follow their team, even if they are workers of the university's dining system.\nThis decision makes me wonder if student workers are still considered students before workers. Students have a responsibility to their academics before the duties of their position if they choose to work on campus. But student also means that workers should have the opportunity to take part in a few of the very special university events such as Little 500 and the Homecoming parade along with the students they serve. Although student dining services are a vital part of the university, it should never become so important that it denies workers the opportunity to experience some forms of campus life.\nTo those students who argue that dining services should remain open during the game, I ask that you hold back your criticism and look at the numerous items and services RPS and its workers do for you. For example, when my father attended classes at IU in the 1970s, no on-campus dining hall was open on Sundays or Friday nights. This was because Sunday was considered a day of rest and reflection for students. But, because of the requests of students over the years, the university has at least one dining center open all day 'till midnight all seven days a week. Thus, student workers have had to sacrifice more of their academic and social time for their duties to their fellow students. This effort deserves some respect by the RPS by occasionally closing services to allow student workers to take part in some great IU events with their fellow students.\nBrian Flueckiger\nRead Center Dining Student Supervisor
Changes in SRSC parking announced \nEfram Simon said in his letter ("Fill parking booth at SRSC," March 5) that users of the Student Recreational Sports Center regularly encounter a line of cars waiting for spots at the SRSC parking lot. To address this, last summer the Division of Recreational Sports worked with IU to add an extra 55 spots on the east side of the SRSC and constructed a parking control booth for future use.\nDuring the mid-fall and early spring semesters, the Division tracked parking waiting time and our data showed the 55 additional spots did indeed reduce the parking congestion at the SRSC. But this trend changed when the weather turned cold in November. We will therefore be implementing the following parking operation policy with effect from Fall 2002:\nAll cars will receive a parking ticket when entering the SRSC parking lot. The ticket allows those with A,C,D,E or F parking passes two hours of free parking. Additional time after two hours will be charge at $1.50 per half hour.\nThe parking lot hours will be 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. \nSRSC users can also park at the Memorial Stadium white lot. IU Transportation provides a free shuttle service every 15 minutes, Monday through Thursday, 5:30-10 p.m. between the white lot and the SRSC.\nWe thank Efram Simon for his feedback and for supporting the Division's plan to charge extended users of the SRSC parking lot to increase parking turnover and provide adequate parking for SRSC users. The goal of IU RecSports is to provide the most comprehensive, inclusive and progressive Recreational Sports program in the country and we always welcome feedback that will help us meet our objectives. For more information, visit IU Transportation or IU Division of Recreational Sports Web sites: www.iubus.indiana.edu or www.recsports.indiana.edu .\nDebbie Goh\nIU Division of Recreational Sports
Miss Gay IU fun event, coverage questioned\nOnce again I had the pleasure of being a part of the Miss Gay IU contest. This is a time each year I look forward to returning to Bloomington. I remember when I attended my first of these contests in 1990 or 1991. Each year they have grown and been taken more seriously. I hope that we have started a lasting event. I just want to express my thanks to the Out Board for their support and continued efforts in providing such a fun evening. Mostly I want to say thank you to the student body for always making me feel so at home with them. I truly enjoy you all and love you, even if I cannot remember "ALL" the names.\nNow this year the IDS reported that the contest dragged on in places. Yes it did, as most contests do! Remember the Oscars? WELL… I am not one to be out done! (insert smirky face here. In defense of myself and Co-hostess Brandi Ice, we are only given a matter of a few weeks to prepare and each year something new comes up. Some of which the audience is not aware of and the job of the M.C. is to try and pull those loose ends together. Remember if someone is not in their place at the right time someone else has to cover for them…And that leads to dragging it out. I assure you the idle chatter of the hostesses is much more entertaining then sitting and waiting in boredom. \nI do commend the IDS for its coverage on this contest. But there was no mention of Staci Stevens in your article as the outgoing Miss Gay IU. Staci has been a three time state title holder as well as a regional title holder and was one of the loveliest Miss IU's I have known or worked with. She is an example of a true professional entertainer.\nWell kids, play nice and play safe. Mama will see you all next year.\nVicki St. James\nFormer Miss Gay IU
IU Bookstore should stick to IU, not Texas Tech\nI just read an article by Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post and was surprised and dismayed to read that the Indiana bookstore is selling Texas Tech merchandise. Please say it isn't so. What does that say about IU and it's loyalties? That dog has died. Time to bury it and support the current IU basketball team and coach Davis.\nThanks, team and coach for a great year. It's fun to be watching IU basketball again.\nRenee Hollenbeck\nFort Wayne
Myles Brand's trip to Atlanta an act of hypocrisy\nIsn't it ironic that Myles Brand, who wants to de-emphasize college athletics, is spending this week in Atlanta watching the basketball team? Myles, you're a hypocrite and you sicken me. Make up your mind. Don't just jump on the bandwagon when it has public relations benefits for you. Oh, and that game ball you got after the Duke game. Give it back to the team -- they deserve it. Not you. I'm sure the money being spent to send you to Atlanta could have been used for the academic pursuits that you hold so dear to your heart.\nKevin Gray\nAlumnus
Coach Davis' donation says homosexuality sinful\nIU basketball coach Mike Davis donated his $25,000 Final Four bonus to his church, the Eastern Star Church of Indianapolis. His generosity deserves praise. I am proud that IU can project an image of support and caring, rather than abuse and disrespect.\nYet the Eastern Star Church teaches that homosexuality is a sin.\nEach of us has an obligation to support the values we cherish. Thus, while I think Coach Davis' gesture is a kind, generous action, I can't condone it because it supports the propagation of homophobia and heterocentrism.\nThere are 14 men on our basketball team, plus six staffers, including the assistant coaches and administrators. Some of them are racial minorities, some of them grew up poor and statistically, two of these 20 men are gay.\nRegardless, all of them are human beings who deserve caring and support.\nSaturday night could bring coach Davis another bonus, with which he can again show his support for the underprivileged youth of Indiana. Given that gay adolescents are at greater risk of violence, suicide and homelessness than any other group of young people in America, may I suggest IYG, Indiana's advocate for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender youth?\nOr he could choose IU's own GLBT Student Support Services, which will host the Sexual Minority Youth in the Heartland conference this summer, to help all youth-serving professionals learn appropriate, supportive ways to talk to kids about sexual identity.\nWhatever happens next with IU basketball, I hope it brings together all community members in mutual excitement and celebration.\nEmily Nagoski\nGLBT Student Support Services
Trade tariffs not the enemy\nIn a conventional war with ships and tanks, no one questions the necessity of the domestic steel industry. Bush is correct to say the life of American steel is a matter of national security. Who is to say those same "free trade" countries will keep their steel at low prices? Our military, automotive, appliance and construction industries would be left at the mercy of foreign countries, which will have detrimental effects on our economy. If American steel companies are allowed to go out of business, we can expect to see foreign countries dramatically raising their prices, maybe 100, maybe 500 percent...Who knows?\nThe fact is this: We will have no choice but to buy the steel at inflated prices if we allow the American steel industry to go under.\nOther U.S. industries will ask for help, as Benjamin Schults, KSB lecturer, wrote in a recent letter. Why? Because these industries also have been harmed by dumping from overseas. Bush realizes that the time to enforce our trade laws and to address the problems is now.\nI was born and raised in Northwest Indiana, the Steel Capital of Indiana and the USA; I have seen the Big Steel Companies paying over $100,000,000 a year in property taxes. No steel company in the world pays these amounts. We attend a state university.\nIf the five largest American steel plants, which just so happen all reside in Indiana, fail, can the state of Indiana afford to keep our school funded? With recent cuts from Governor Frank O'Bannon of over $12 million, Indiana will need the steel industry to help fund our economy, especially education.\nTariffs are not the enemy here. Tariffs in the past have provided relief and encouraged reform. The tariff will lead to serious talks about the steel industry, and also set in motion negotiations of other trade problems between Europe and the U.S. If Bush's hard nose policy and temporary tariff get our trading partners to the negotiating table, we will have succeeded, and the benefit of implementing our trade laws will become clear to all.\nKelly Kurzawinski\nJunior\nOffended by assumption counselors force college on students\nI am responding to Rachel Miller's assumption about school counselors ("Pressure not necessary; 4-year college life not for everyone," March 26). Because I am in the graduate program for school counseling in the School of Education, I thought I should set the record straight. School counselors offer much more than relationship advice to high school students. I suggest that you, Rachel come sit in on some of our counseling courses so that you can become enlightened as to what really goes on. Most licensed, qualified school counselors work very hard to meet the unique needs of each of their students and I find it difficult to believe that school counselors pressure all of their students into going to college. \nAs a masters student in school counseling, I am required to take a full semester course just in career counseling alone. If all we did was say to high school students, "Your only option is to go to college," I think it would not take a semester to learn that. Perhaps you had the unfortunate experience of having a high school counselor who offered such limited services. Perhaps you were making a joke about school counselors and maybe I am just taking your statement way too seriously. Nonetheless, you ought to be careful making such generalizations about a field you obviously have limited knowledge about. Frankly, I found it offensive that you compared my graduate program to something that one could learn by reading a few issues of Cosmo.\nBrenda Robertson\nGraduate Student
Roly Poly belongs in the Gables location\nI was not surprised to read that the IDS is against the opening of Roly Poly in the spot of the former Gables restaurant. In a "staff editorial," as to which no author is identified, the IDS staff voted 6-4 that the IU Foundation should have leased the spot to a place that contains some "local flavor." Their argument is that the IU Foundation had no reason not to invest more energy into partnering with a business that would exhibit local talent and "Hoosier flavor."\nThe foundation absolutely had a reason -- Roly Poly offered the most money. If a place of local flavor offered more money for the location, then the Foundation would have leased the property to it. \nThis principle, that the IDS Editorial Board doesn't seem to understand, is the most basic and reliable aspect among business practices.\nThe editorial speaks of Roly Poly replacing the Gables as if someone were taking away their birthplace or childhood. Apparently the IDS Editorial Board didn't spend that much time in their beloved Gables or it wouldn't have had to close down. Perhaps, instead of going to their holy land of the Gables, the IDS staff was busy protesting the closing of the Von Lee Theatre.\nThis same mentality occurred after Starbucks moved in last year. Though I do not frequent Starbucks, I admire their business for sticking through the constant vandalism of their storefront by these single-minded extremists that are the run of the mill in Bloomington.\nI am going to visit Roly Poly as much as possible and cheer for the expansion of national chains in Bloomington. With a bit of luck, maybe Target will eventually replace the drug abusers of "Peoples Park." I ask the IDS to stick to writing its usual biased articles and leave business decisions to the wise.\nGlen Carson \nSenior
