Students don't deserve better seats\nHaving attended many of this season's men's basketball home games as a fairly recent IU graduate, I was very disturbed by what I heard in the Michigan game emanating largely from the main student sections. Whenever Mike Roberts or Sean Kline were about to get up from the bench and check in for the game, the students loudly sent cascades of boos down from the seats. This has happened in other games as well. \nThat's about as offensive of a display of home crowd behavior that I have witnessed. I do not understand how some students can boo their own team. Mike and Sean might not be having ideal seasons here, but they are IU basketball players who work very hard in the classroom and in the gym just to be able to run out there on the court and play. Sean is coming off of a major knee surgery, still does not have all of his mobility left, and was in the game for maybe four minutes. He got two rebounds in four minutes, which is a pretty fair pace. He was loudly booed any time he caught the ball. \nIf you ask me, this is a perfect reason why "lowering" the student section at Assembly Hall will not be happening anytime soon. There is no justifiable reasoning to get students lower seats at games with the displays I have witnessed. You don't even get to game (for the most part) until after it has already started. That's not exactly the fan standard. So next time when IU takes the court to play and Mike or Sean enter the game, how about giving them a loud cheer instead of embarrassing yourselves by booing your own team's players?\nPaul Roberts\nAlumnus
Booing will greatly discourage recruits\nI grew up in Bloomington and graduated some years ago. I have followed the Hoosier basketball program and other IU teams from afar for decades. I want to see the Indiana fans start cheering for their teams like they used to do. These present players, who are student-athletes, are giving their best effort to represent IU. \nKnight was a great coach, but it is time for these unhappy people to move on with their frustrated lives. They should take up a cause that helps instead of hurts IU. \nYour excellent column ("Fans disappoint with boos," Matt Glenesk, Jan. 21) in the IDS hopefully educated some of these spoiled, ignorant ingrates of their stupidity. Their cowardly impersonal attack on the Internet to criticize a player is very disturbing. Who would want to come to Indiana to play basketball knowing that they would be "dissed" on the Internet? \nThese people that boo are rude and are only making the situation worse at my beloved alma mater. If they do not like IU sports, they should transfer. Thank you for your article. Go Hoosiers!\nFrank W. Yoder, M.D.\nAlumnus
Make good use of basketball tickets\nWrite On! ("Fans disappoint with boos," Matt Glenesk, Jan. 21) I am a Hoosier alumus living in northern Indiana. I have had the fortunate opportunity to be a season ticket holder for about five years, but because of distance (about four hours each way), I can't attend as many games as I'd like. \nI was horrified to hear the boos as Kline approached the scorers table to check in. That kind of behavior embarrasses me to admit I'm an IU fan. The next time an "IU fan" boos one of our own, I strongly encourage the person sitting next to him to punch the heckler squarely in the mouth. \nLook where you're sitting. Look at those banners. I'm proud to state I helped the teams get some of those. If Bob Knight were still here, he'd have gone up into the stands and personally "escorted" the offenders out of the building. Anyone caught "booing" or worse, throwing something at someone or onto the court, should be ejected immediately and lose their privilege to attend games. And yes, it is a privilege.\nSometimes when I can't make it to the games, I send my tickets to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County. If the hecklers are so unhappy to look at IU players, I respectfully request they too send their tickets to BB/BS or some other worthy organization. Assembly Hall was built for people who know and love IU basketball -- not morons who boo our own players.\nDave McNitt\nAlumnus
Disappointed in omission of professor\nAs a research assistant and student of the India Studies Program at IU, I found it unfortunate that your coverage of Thursday, Jan. 20's Tsunami Forum failed to acknowledge professor Sumit Ganguly's contribution to the event. This was especially peculiar given that every other contributor and their affiliation received mention. Further, your coverage overlooked the discussion of India's relief efforts that were addressed by Professor Ganguly.\nI understand that there are limitations on space, but this commentary was a critical element of the evening's program. In the future I hope such significant factors are not omitted.\nJennifer Oetken\nResearch Assistant\nIndia Studies Program
Trust in voting process necessary\nWhile I usually agree with Leonard Pitts' insights, I think he has misunderstood John Kerry's comments about the election in Ohio. Kerry did "get over" the election -- too soon for many of his supporters -- when he conceded Nov. 3. His comments about problems in Ohio are not, as Pitts asserts, "sour grapes."\nThe point he is making is that we simply cannot abide, in a democracy, an election process which encourages either party to control the machinery in such a way that people are harassed, challenged and ultimately prevented from voting. \nThe right stance should be neither Democratic or Republican. It should be for the right of all Americans to cast a vote and trust that it will be fairly counted. That was not the case in Ohio this year, regardless of the outcome, nor was it in Florida in 2000. We must reform the election process, or we can't be entirely sure that we have a democracy.\nMichael Wilkerson\nStaff
The war didn't come soon enough\nI'm writing in response to the Jan. 14 article written by Mr. Warnke ("George W. Ahab's crusade") in regards to the lack of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq.\nTo begin, in Bill Gertz's book "Treachery," it's noted that many of America's so-called friends have been arming Iraq to the teeth as recent as weeks before the U.S. invasion. The U.S. troops found French vehicles, Roland Missiles which were used to shoot down U.S. planes, a variant of the Hydra missile that bombed an Iraq hotel killing nearly a dozen journalists and just missing a senior White house official. Germany sold plans for missiles as well as dual use equipment to enrich uranium. The list goes on. We didn't find nukes, but we got rid of a lot of other dangerous weapons as well.\nWhy did we go to Iraq, you ask? Because thanks to the various leaders of the United Nations, Saddam Hussein was living well off money made from his oil for food program, which has been reported to have generated more than $22 billion for Saddam. It's easily the most successful scandal in history. Saddam used that money to bribe countries like Germany, France, China and Russia to veto any resolution for the United States to invade. In return, Saddam gave kickbacks and promises for oil contracts once the sanctions were lifted from his country. He also bribed the United Nations to lift sanctions. The weapon inspection report showed that once the sanctions were lifted, Saddam would begin his weapons program. Within a few years he would have been armed with enough weapons to be a large threat. Instead of 1,500 dead troops, we would have 15,000.\nSept. 11 was caused because previous administrations treated terrorism as a petty law enforcement matter. We don't have the needed equipment in Iraq because the Clinton administration cut the military personnel by 16 percent and equipment (including vehicles) by 20 percent. Did you know it took us five years to rebuild Germany in World War II? They too said then we wouldn't win the peace.\nMy question is, why didn't we go into Iraq sooner?\nTodd Waugh\nSenior
Mixed visual message on editorial pages\nThe IDS's editorial board generally offers thoughtful commentary in the opinion section. However, running Shane Johnson's "Facebook" cartoon --in which a woman welcomes a stranger from www.thefacebook.com to her bedroom -- in Jan. 18's editorial pages was tasteless and offensive, since the same issue of the paper reports on the IU police department's use of that Web site to identify a student's alleged rapist.\nThe IDS should provide a higher level of public discourse to the community. A newspaper that mocks its own reporting and jeers at its audience demonstrates a lack of seriousness about its journalistic mission.\nAmy Manning\nAssociate Instructor\nEnglish Department
IUSA too quick to approve fee increases\nI'd like to express my distaste for IU Student Association's approval of the new transportation fee. I've come to accept the fact that IUSA will be happy to approve any fee increases for the student body regardless of actual impact on students. I don't see how having access to the campus bus system will help people trying to get to class from off campus -- none of the current weekday bus routes go more than a block off of campus. I'd also like to know how all these exemplary students who can't afford $.75 for one bus ride can cough up more than 25 times that per semester. If IUSA wants to subsidize the campus bus route, fine, at least don't try to present it as some sort of wonderful accomplishment. I find this part of an unnerving trend at this university implying that anything added on as a fee or billed to the bursar actually doesn't cost any money, when many students paying back thousands in loans will find out, in fact, that it does.\nMatt Gentry\nJunior
Fiscal conservatives must be confused\nFiscal conservatives elected Gov. Mitch Daniels to office. Fiscal conservatives had faith that he would radically cut spending in a last-ditch effort to repair the damage done by past Republican and Democratic administrations to the economic well-being of Indiana.\nDaniels did recommend a small dose of spending restraint, and I applaud him for this. It is a small step in the right direction. The state government is far too large and inefficient. Daniels also proposed a "temporary tax increase." I have never in my life seen a "temporary tax increase." I have had "temporary tax increases" imposed on me over the last twenty years, and I am still paying all of them.\nThe best local example is The Allen County Food and Beverage Tax; remember when we were promised that tax would end? Last time I checked we are all still paying that "temporary tax."\nFiscal conservatives only have one choice in Indiana: The Libertarian Party. We believe in balancing the budget by cutting government spending. \nMike Sylvester\nChairman, Libertarian party of Allen County\nFort Wayne
Don't drink while foreign in U.S.\nTo all Middle Eastern and South Asian classmates who entered the United States legally: I issue a warning to heed to after reading the "Ivy Tech student to face deportation" article (Jan. 24). From my understanding of the article, I would ask that you do not get drunk and do not use fake ID's. Yes, that's correct.\nStudents do many bad things in college, and no, I do not recommend them at all. But because of the sensitivity of your origin, these specific behaviors will get you into a lot of trouble. Apparently, because of your ethnicity, you cannot be doing same stupid things that other students of the majority ethnicity have the privilege of doing without getting you reported to Homeland Security. \nIf you were a student of the majority, getting intoxicated in public would get you punishment by local police, but no one would suspect you of being a terrorist. After all, being publicly intoxicated, something that college students are accused of being very often, is considered for Mohammed Alam "suspicious behavior," and for that, "officers patted him down." After being found with fake IDs, all the terrorist alerts must have gone off the roof. \nWhile this person was a criminal, I wonder how many people will be patted down after this. So please do be careful, profiling is up and running in America.\nChristopher Chan\nAlumnus
Wake up -- the people voted for action\nRegarding "The moral hypocrisy" (Chris Collins, Jan. 21): Wake up. The world will never be a better place if people just sit around dreaming and smoking funny cigarettes. The people voted for action.\nTodd Posze\nSophomore
Librarian concerned about changes\nThe editorial concerning the Main Library ("Library need not be luxurious" Jan. 24) could not be better. The fact that I happen to agree with the Indiana Daily Student's general viewpoint is not as important, however, as is the effective expression of student opinion on the right directions for the library. \nIn the 30-plus years I served the IUB Libraries, retiring as head of the Main Library Reference Department last spring, I was consistently disappointed by the unwillingness of students and faculty to speak openly and thoughtfully about the direction of the library. \nThe years immediately ahead will see profound change for the IU Libraries (and all libraries). Formal library advisory committees have, more often than not, served to validate administrative choices rather than challenge them. The independent voice of student journalists is more important than ever.\nAnn Bristow\nLibrarian Emeritus\nSeattle, WA
Ask administrators to pay out, too\nIU, through poor planning, shortsighted hiring practices and a general lack of understanding of the process of budgeting, finds itself in a deep financial hole. If that shortfall is so serious, why does the University fire two coaches only to finish paying the contracts? This seems to be a part of the planned process. No wonder the athletics department is in a hole! If you want to fill part of that hole, keep the coaches on the job until their contract expires before you send them packing.\nIf, as IU board of trustees President Fred Eichhorn states, he feels that an increased fee in appropriate areas is called for, why not take a proportional amount from the entire University community? I make $12,000 and owe $30. Those faculty and staff who make $120,000 should owe $300. Of course, faculty and administration have more disposable income from their salaries, so perhaps their payments should be increased. There's a great idea: Why not take it out of the salary of those who mismanaged the money from the athletics department? \nIncreasing the fees of the student body to pay for fiscal mismanagement is unconscionable. Rectify this problem and ask every administrator to contribute $1,000 apiece, and then I'll gladly pay my $30. At least that way the entire IUB community will share in the support of our mismanaged athletic department.\nKurt B. Richter\nGraduate student
Freshman fed up with overpriced food\n"Hey, it's just meal points."\nSuch are the sentiments of many first-year IU students, who are required by the University to pay for any of four meal points programs. Yes, you read that correctly -- you are required to have a meal plan. This was A-OK with me -- that is until about the third week of school, when it hit me: A "meal point" is equivalent to $1! \nWhile it takes a mere six George Washington's to enjoy a scrumptious, all-you-can-eat meal at the local Mongolian Grill, a visit to any of the fine dining localities on the IU campus is liable to set you back upwards of nine meal points -- that is, nine of your own or your parents' hard-earned dollar bills. \nMoreover, while it should be a given that such popular campus locations as the Main Library or Indiana Memorial Union would accept meal points, you and your meal points will be sent away in favor of an entirely separate meal program known as Union Plus. \nBut the real travesty is the C-Store. It is certainly convenient for hapless first-year students, who have limited time and limited food options and are offered a limited selection of groceries at absolutely obscene prices.\nA 3.65 oz. bag of Jack-Links beef jerky is $2.97 at Wal-Mart. The seemingly same bag of beef jerky at the C-Store is a steal at $8.15. A container of Soup at Hand bears a $3.15 price tag in the C-Store, shaming its $1.32 Wal-Mart cousin. A 12-pack of Coca-Cola is $7.99 at the C-Store, while Wal-Mart lets its customers escape with only $3.98. After exhaustively examining the cans in my C-Store purchase, I determined that in fact, no, the cans were not gold-plated. \nSo why don't I just rely on Wal-Mart or Marsh for my shopping needs? First, time and convenience. Second, any unspent meal points disappear into thin air at the conclusion of the school year -- no rollover points on this plan! Spend 'em or lose 'em.\nThe solution is simple. Lower the prices in the C-Store. Nothing can justify these stratospheric prices. Expand the selection. And put all meal points on CampusAccess. \nThe world (or at least the IU campus) will be a better, happier place.\nAri Driessem\nFreshman
