Students should get meningitis vaccinations\nI just read the article about the cost effectiveness of meningitis vaccine and the risks. (Meningitis fears prompt rule change, Jan. 27)\nMy 20-year-old son, Edward Joseph, died on November 12, 2002 while attending college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. \nEddy contracted a form of meningitis, meningococcemia. He died overnight.\nStudents and parents need to know that this risk is out there. Eddy had not been vaccinated because we did not know the risks. Eddy was asked to apply for a Rhodes Scholarship this spring. All his dreams have vanished because of meningococcemia. As Eddy's mother, there is no cost-benefit ratio. A $70 vaccination would have saved my precious son's life. Please get vaccinated students! \nGail Frances Bailey\nJefferson, Wis.
A soldier's life is a proud choice\nI would like to respond to Scott Dillon's column on 27 Jan. I fully agree that he has a valid point. Just because someone is not in the military, or would not be enlisting if there was a war, does not mean that they can not be in support of it. To be in the military, and risk one's life is not a job that everyone can do. It takes a different type of person to be a soldier, Marine, seaman or airman. There are many that have answered the call to service, and they should be saluted.\nMaking the decision to be in the service is something that takes careful thought, and is much like being a police officer or firefighter. Servicemen/women, firefighters and police officers have all voluntarily chosen to put their lives on the line, in order for the average citizen to live as they want to. Those in the service of our country chose to be, and many feel a deep hurt because of the events of 2001. We in the service have chosen to risk our lives, so that normal American citizens don't have to, and so they won't be subjected to the pains and evils of war. The attacks of Sept. 11 will forever burn in the minds of servicemen, who will always want redemption, and always want a way to right such a wrong. We do not want useless and needless deaths, either among our own ranks, or of anyone in the world. However, there are times when such actions are necessary. If UN Weapons Inspectors should find such discrepancies as to warrant military action, your military will be there, ready and willing to help. But we will not go without just cause. Otherwise, we will be committing the same atrocities to Iraq that have been done to us. We in the service are actually quite reasonable. We will not be in favor of going gung-ho into a war without purpose or reasoning, but have no choice but to. We will follow our orders, because it is our duty; just like it is our duty to protect the freedom that allows many the rights to protest us, and our actions.\nSenior Airman Casimer J Kroll\nIndiana Air National Guard, Junior
Editorial missed Blix's condemning evidence\nI don't know which Blix you guys were listening to (Staff Editorial, Jan 28). The one I heard pointed out a lot of evidence. I guess if you want to give Hussein a "clean slate" starting today and ignore the past, then your arguments make sense.\nI just don't get why you are so generous with giving a mass murderer the benefit of a very tenuous doubt.\nWilliam Findlay\nBloomington
Joe falls short of 'Graceland'\nIf Joe Grace fancies himself to be some sort of "journalist," I would suggest he learn to write complete sentences. A propensity for sentence fragments does not a journalist make. I have no personal axe to grind with Mr. Grace, however his journalistic endeavors are consistently the least interesting within the Opinion section of your publication. Perhaps a brave soul on your staff suggest to Mr. Grace that he consider a switch to news reporting, as his attempts at being, "The Next Dave Barry" fall very short. Thank You.\nJoe Byrne\nChicago, Ill.
Ballantine elevator situation needs \nmodification\nA gentleman was here (Ballantine Hall) on Monday, Jan. 27, interviewing people about the elevator situation. I would like to give my opinion of the situation. Most of the students that have classes in this building use the elevator to go to the fourth floor and walk down to the floor they actually need. This is because you have to use a key on floors 1-3 where the classrooms are. For the people who work in this building, this is very inconvenient for several reasons. There are always at least 20 students waiting for the elevator. The elevators are usually full with students who are trying to get to class, which leaves us employees waiting twice as long as we should have to for an elevator to go to the floor we work on. I work on the fourth floor and the amount of traffic is unbelievable; 90 percent of the students get out on this floor, making our job on this floor more difficult. Designate one of the elevators for student use that stops on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors. Then have the other two elevators require a key for those 3 floors. This won't eliminate student use, but will reduce the traffic flow from the fourth floor.\nI applaud Elisha Sauers' insightful analysis of the stupidity of government-financed anti-drug propaganda (Six Degrees of al Qaeda, Jan. 28). Finally, someone writes about a practical drug solution. The one thing I had a problem with, however, was her placement of blame for these lame advertisements solely on the right wing. Most Democrats also support this country's ridiculous anti-drug stance. Her criticism must be directed to the middle of the political spectrum, where the Republicans and Democrats sit (face it, they're not all that different). Members of both parties voted to fund those advertisements. The Libertarians, which are further to the right than Republicans, are the people that most adamantly support the only realistic answer: drug legalization.\nTim Amlung\nSophomore
Sig Eps deserved their eviction\nDear Sig Eps:\nQuit your whining. As a former Alpha Sig, I know how bad it sucks to get kicked off campus. Especially since we had similar reasons: less than full occupancy, alcohol charges, etc. But, we only had seven days to find a new place. Of course, every other fraternity that has gotten kicked off gets plenty of time to find housing -- sometimes even a month. We had seven measly days to scramble to find places. And it is simple politics behind it all -- you have a better "reputation" on campus, and have stronger alumni support, so you get like a month to find places to live. And, do you really think anyone, except yourselves, cares about your poor $600? Nope. I don't think you should get it back -- that's what you get for destroying your house. Sure not everyone was involved -- but I guarantee you know who did what -- you are all "brothers" right? No need to lie and play innocent. As a last thought, why does the IDS have to run 4 articles on your fraternity about unimportant issues no one cares about? What a waste of space.\nQuit whining and get over it. If you need some tissues I have a whole box here for you.\nPeter Stewart\nSenior
Dr. King would have been pro-life\nLindsay Prater and Natasha Ruser made decent arguments for "reproductive choice" in their letters of January 21 and 28, but the picture the Indiana Daily Student published in its Region section on January 23 refocuses this reader's attention on what we are really dealing with when we think and read about abortion. That picture was of an IU student and a Bloomington resident holding signs in sub-freezing temperatures detailing the gruesome results of Roe v Wade's 30th anniversary. We are dealing with a procedure that violently ends a human life. Those who missed that day's IDS can view the signs for themselves at www.cbrinfo.org (Warning: This Web site contains graphic images.)\nWe celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday two days before we observed the 30th anniversary of a decision that legally sanctioned 42 million deaths at places like Planned Parenthood. While King's dream of ending oppression of racial minorities has made significant progress in his life and after his death, the Supreme Court began a new, much more horrible era of oppression in 1973 against another group of human beings: unborn children. How can one look at the pictures that were displayed on January 22 and not realize that this isn't an issue of one's control over one's own body, but an issue of the violent termination of a human life?\nMany people will read this letter and think, "Of course he's anti-abortion. He's male and won't ever be in that situation." But why would these words have more weight if a woman had written them? Are the exact same statements somehow more valid when written or spoken by a woman? And isn't that just a smokescreen to hide the fact that babies are really being killed every Thursday at Planned Parenthood, only a few blocks away from the Sample Gates?\nScott Tibbs\nIU Alumnus, Bloomington
Abortion not a tool, but an injustice\nI am writing this letter in response to the letter submitted by Natasha Ruser. Ms. Ruser hailed proudly the monumental victory of Roe v. Wade, explaining that "it has come to symbolize recognition of women as equal shareholders of power." This "sharehold of power" refers to terminating at will that is unseen, unheard and apparently inconvenient. Power indeed. The statement "Few women in many cultures have laws that recognize them as existing outside of their roles serving others … to me, Roe v. Wade embodies the idea that I and my opinion are valued," logically shows that the only way a woman can be really valued by her society is by serving herself, and it implies that a woman who lives her life serving others is second rate. What could be more noble than a woman (or anyone, for that matter) who promotes the welfare of others and looks to the best interests of those around her? \n(It is perhaps fortunate, Ms. Ruser, that during your conception and gestation period, that nobody's real value was in question and this "sharehold of power" was not employed directly, lest you would not be here today to share your valued opinions.)\nFurthermore, I find it poor logic when one uses the "right to govern my own body" argument when addressing the abortion issue. An abortion involves two living entities -- the mother and the baby. \nThe baby is a separate entity. At the moment of conception, there is DNA -- a blueprint -- of what the child will look like. At the embryonic stage, the baby makes its own blood. At eight weeks old, according to "Maternal Child Care Nursing" (Wong, Perry and Hockenberry, 2002 … a textbook used here at IU), "all organ systems, internal and external, are present." Upon abortion, a separate life is terminated. \nFinally, Ms. Ruser, though you revel in the idea that Roe v. Wade is "proof that you are not legally subordinate to others' opinions," take note that 30-40 million young men and women have lost their lives since 1973 because they have become legally subordinate to others' opinions due to the monstrosity of your beloved Roe v. Wade.\nRebecca Ball\nGraduate student
Matt Murray sees world through rose colored glasses\nI must say that your title "Class Warfare?" was intriguing. Do you actually believe that there is no class struggle going on in America? Do you actually believe that everyone is given an equal chance to succeed in America? Do you truly have no problem with the fact that Bush's tax cut on dividends only benefits the richest people in America since they own the vast majority of stock? I don't know if you are an economics major in the Kelley School of Business or in the College of Arts and Sciences but I suggest that you take some liberal arts classes in history and sociology that deal with issues such as race relations, social structure and poverty so you don't spend the rest of your life believing this:\n" ... one would tend to think the progress we've made in improving the standard of living for all Americans would certainly appease those that believe they're oppressed by the rich."\nChris Carter\nJunior
IU basketball needs a student section\nIndiana, truly one of the great traditions in college basketball, has absolutely no excuse for not having a designated student section. Especially when playing in a conference as tough as the Big Ten, the sixth man advantage of an on-court student section cannot be underestimated. Just look at the last three games ... It's about time that the IU student body call on Mike Davis to make the necessary requests to establishing a loud, voracious, vociferous student section at Assembly Hall. I personally am sick of the line, "The alumni won't like giving up some of their seats." Well that's B.S. -- because they wanted the same thing when they were students. Did the alumni like the creations of the "Gene pool," "Maize Craze" or "Izzone" to name a few? Well after a couple of seasons of blowout home victories against some pretty good teams I can guarantee you that they do now. \nCoach Davis, IU students are counting on you -- let's create what is long overdue. \nPhil Stawski\nWarren, Mich.
Columbia tragedy editorial struck \na chord\nI just wanted to let you know that your staff editorial regarding the Columbia Shuttle tragedy was right on the mark (The Cost of Exploration, Feb. 3). Thank you for writing such a poignant opinion.\nMichelle Hochstetler\nBeaverton, Ore.
IU needs more improvement than just new buildings\nNow that the campus is considering strategic directions, how about working to improve the quality of education on all IU campuses? The University Faculty Council has given this almost no attention in the ten years I've served on it, and most IU faculty members I know send their kids elsewhere for college, despite the higher cost. That may show you what we really think about the value of the IU degree. Here are ten ideas to improve IUB education:\n1. Supervise and train the AI's who conduct a lot of the lower-level courses. Only a few departments do this now.\n2 Non-tenured track instructors are often excellent. But list the rank of all instructors in the course bulletin so students can choose professors if they wish. (Students choose courses mostly by the time and requirements.) This I call "truth in scheduling."\n3. Have peer review of all instructors, regardless of rank.\n4. Promote excellent associate professors based on teaching, as is done on other IU campuses.\n5. Review periodically all syllabi, not just new courses. Exclude or reinforce weak or trivial courses. Academic freedom does not cover competing for enrollments by watering down the curriculum.\n6. Require students to live on campus for the first two years at IUB to build loyalty, self-discipline and group study habits.\n7. Expel drunks after one warning.\n8. Refuse to play intercollegiate athletic events after 7 p.m. on weekdays.\n9. Increase diversity of opinion on campus -- the most valuable form of diversity. \n10. Prevent early pre-professionalism by encouraging students to remain uncommitted during their first two years on campus. Students should not be penalized for exploring their options during this time.\nMartin C. Spechler\nProfessor of Economics, IUPUI
