Graduate student group refutes misrepresentation\nIn an IDS article on Sept. 17 about the Graduate and Professional Student Organization, the IDS misrepresented our organization and misquoted our officers. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify who we are and what our organization does.\nThe GPSO is the student government for all graduate and professional students at IU. Our fundamental mission is to serve and advocate for graduate student interests and function as a united voice when presenting issues to IU's administration, student body and the Bloomington community.\nOur organization operates on a consensus model, which is why the GPSO has a moderator instead of a president. (The IDS incorrectly listed me as the former moderator.) The GPSO is made up of student representatives from each department, many who additionally assist by filling our leadership positions. Our Office Coordinator and Publicity director are student academic appointees, supported by the University Graduate School.\nFinding dedicated representatives from each department is always a challenge in a demanding academic environment, such as is found at IU. Certainly, this situation is compounded at the beginning of the school year, when many departments elect new representatives only after our first meeting. The data reported by the IDS were long out of date.\nRight now, only 14 departments out of 62, excluding the School of Music, lack representation. The School of Music is underrepresented due in part to its lack of departmental graduate student associations. One of our primary goals this year is to increase representation from the programs at that school.\nThese challenges notwithstanding, the GPSO successfully provides a wide range of services to the graduate student body. Our standing committees work continuously on issues that directly and materially affect our constituents, such as working conditions, academic careers, social and family lives. We host an annual New Graduate and Professional Student Orientation in August, an academic and professional lecture series (CoffeeTalks) throughout the school year and an online housing board. We also provide a Web site (www.indiana.edu/~gpso) rich with academic, social, legal, professional and community resources for current and future graduate students.\nIf you are a graduate or professional student at IU and you would like to work with the GPSO, or if your organization would like to collaborate on a project, please contact us at gpso@indiana.edu.\nMatt Hottell\nGPSO moderator
Tax column ignores simple facts\nVincent Carr's recent editorial on the benefits of tax cuts for those in the upper tax brackets ignores a few basic facts ("Tax cuts for whom?" IDS, Monday). First, charitable contributions are generally deductible under federal tax law. Therefore, lowering tax rates has the effect of reducing the financial benefits of charitable giving. This is especially true with estate taxes. Relatively high estate taxes give a strong incentive for the extremely wealthy to give a significant percentage of their estate to charitable organizations. Eliminating these taxes is not likely to increase charitable giving.\nSecond, the majority of government spending is not in the form of transfer payments to the poor. Federal and state taxes pay for a huge variety of public goods and services, including significant support for state universities. While the current administration considers itself conservative, government spending has not shrunk over the last two years. The effect of lowering the highest tax levels is not, as Carr suggests, a shift from state-sponsored charity to private charity. It is, instead, a shift from paying for our government services now, or borrowing money and paying for those services in the future. I would rather we kept tax rates high instead of letting our children pay for the bombs we are using right now.\nLinda S. Hunt\nStaff
Article conjures nostalgic romance\nI thought the IDS article "A degree of love" (Monday) was so sweet, and it certainly brought back memories of the romantic spaces associated with the "degrees of love" my husband, Timothy M. Morrison, and I obtained in the early '70s. I'll add to the list: Metz Carillon and the Ruter House Door at Wright Quad.\nSu Cowling\nBloomington resident
Religious reason and logic unfounded\nJack Silverstein, your column ("What Would the Jewish God Do?" IDS, Friday) certainly seemed reasonable enough to me in its presentation and its conclusion. However, for whatever it might be worth to you and "Forum" readers, consider: Gods and religions are fraught with emotional beliefs but, in my opinion, tend to be rather shy on reason and logic. \nI assume that it is the emotional intensity of their belief that can lead religionists, not only toward an ownership of their preferred god, as you indicate, but also toward an intense need for the ownership of America in the name of that God and their religion.\nYou concluded your column by quite reasonably stating that, "If you need religion to tell you that murder, violence, betrayal and adultery are wrong, then I feel sorry for you." This, however, fails to understand that there are those religionists in our country who dogmatically maintain that one cannot be moral without a belief in a god or religion and cannot see their own failing.\nSo, if we express regret for anything regarding religion, shouldn't it be for the murder, violence, betrayal, torture and rape that have been -- and still are being -- perpetrated in our world in the name of someone's god and religion?\nEmanuel Klien\nBloomington resident
Consider renters' rights when voting\nRenters, if you intend to vote in November, check out the Renters' Rights Project Web site at home.bluemarble.net/~sfcowling. I e-mailed each city council candidate asking whether he or she would support a change to the Property Maintenance Code that would help renters get fairer treatment in the damage deposit issue. At Renters' Rights Project, you can find out who decided to reply and what they had to say.
Kyle Anderson\nDoctoral Student
Support Middle Way House\nAs we get ready to register for classes, we begin to encounter some big decisions. Some decisions might include, "Which class should I take?" "How many credits do I need to graduate?" or "Which class has the best grade distribution?"\nBut this semester, I'd like to encourage IU students to consider one last question: "Why would I not want to support the $3 Middle Way House Rape Crisis Fund during spring semester registration?"\nFor years, IUSA, in conjunction with Middle Way House, has provided this inexpensive, yet invaluable option to students.\nBy checking off a box during registration, IU students are able to help support a place where women and children can go when they fall victims to domestic violence. We all probably know someone or have a connection to a friend who has been domestically abused. It's something you never thought would happen, and you're in awe when it does.\nAs a student, I'd like to see the rest of the campus join me in letting Middle Way know that we're behind its efforts 100 percent, and we thank the House for the service to both the students and the Bloomington community. Thank you, Middle Way.\nJonathan Deck\nJunior, IUSA Health and Safety Director
IU football tickets too expensive\nOne of the main reasons IU football attendance is so poor is the exorbitant ticket prices for such a mediocre, and at times, terrible product. I know the athletics department is having financial troubles right now, but I was shocked when I showed up at the ticket window for the game against Kentucky and the cheapest ticket was $20. No wonder no one goes to the games anymore. You can go to a Colts or Pacers game for far less, and you can watch a good, if not great, team at least compete for the entire game. The biggest crime is that for the Ohio State and Purdue game, the cheapest seat is $40. The athletics department clearly is looking to make a quick buck with all the OSU and Purdue fans that will attend. I'd much rather go tailgating and listen from the grassy area south of the stadium and enjoy time with friends.\nIU's excuse is that this recent ticket price increase puts IU in the middle of the pack as far as Big Ten ticket-pricing is concerned. To that I say, until IU puts out a middle-of-the-pack football squad, keep the ticket prices reasonable.\nPatrick Burton \nIU Alumnus
