Students should be involved

I recently read a letter to the editor that claimed that students shouldn’t get involved in local politics. I think that is the mentality that has gotten BYU students in the predicament they are in today. For too long students here have let other people make decisions for them and now we are paying for past students mistakes.

We have to get a permit to have a party, policemen target roads that mostly students drive on to give speeding tickets, we have to live in housing that is overpriced and poorly maintained, and the list goes on and on. As huge economic contributors to Provo and Orem, I think we have a duty to stand up for ourselves and vote people in that will serve us and the students that will follow us while in office and stand up to make changes at BYU to policies that are unfair to students. Its time for us to stop being pushed around.

Danny Harris

Provo Student Alliance, President

Don't support Walgreens

Some students may have heard about the Gay Games. Basically, it is a week-long event in which 10,000 so-called “athletes” compete during the day, and take part in unrestrained homosexual activity off the field.

What is really disturbing about this event is that a pharmacy that my family, friends and I have done business with is the number one corporate sponsor of the Gay Games.

Walgreens Pharmacy has made the largest corporate contribution to the Gay Games with a donation of $100,000! This donation is made under the guise of promoting AIDS awareness, as this event will be a breeding ground for the transmission of diseases.

The strategy is that after the Gay Games, the infected participants will turn to their number one corporate sponsor for medication, and Walgreens will cash in on the event.

However, if the vast majority of the public decides to do business elsewhere, Walgreens will be forced to make a decision. Either they will withdraw their support of the Gay Games, or lose customers and profits. As consumers, we have power to promote a wholesome lifestyle by choosing another pharmacy until Walgreens ceases to promote homosexual activity.

Marcor Platt

St. Johns, Ariz.

No Feminine products

I have noticed a definite problem in the women’s bathrooms across campus. Every “feminine product” machine lacks “products.” When found in a desperate situation I have often hurried to the bathroom hoping to buy something to help me. “Empty, empty, empty” every machine in every bathroom seems to scream at me.

Sure, it would be ideal if a busy and forgetful girl like me could just remember to carry “extras” in case of an emergency, but I must admit I have not remembered yet. Never would BYU allow us to go without toilet paper, soap or paper towel in the bathrooms, so why do they allow this? Is it because the custodians are mostly male and they do not realize how important it is to have these machines stocked?

I am calling on the women of BYU to do something about this problem. Call custodial, call the vendors, write complaints, but do not stand idly by watching these injustices take place! If we are loud enough, our complaints will be heard!

Bonnie Blackburn

Price

Improve exercise facilities

The flabby butts and back fat seen on campus may be due to the pathetic work-out facility open to the students of this university. The Smith Fieldhouse weight room has about five old treadmills, four ellipticals and four stair-steppers for almost 30,000 students! The inconvenient hours and minimal number of machines forces students to go elsewhere and pay to work out. Many don’t work out at all because of the expense.

Students at many of the other universities across the country are provided with a decent place to work off their school stress. We understand that the athletes bring in the majority of the money to campus so they should have a nice place to practice and work out, but what about the students?

All we are asking for is a place to exercise; without concrete, gray walls and old sweaty machines that are never cleaned. We could all use a little exercise and it would be nice if the university could find it in their budget to make some changes.

Katherine Fajen

Cincinnati, Ohio

Didn't like cartoon

This may be a bit of a contradiction, but I take serious issue with the Dan McClellan’s cartoon posted Tuesday in The Daily Universe. I may be wrong but I don’t believe either the honor code or the rules of the gospel require that folks conform to a matching set of hair cuts and proscribed uniforms to qualify as worthy individuals and legitimate members of BYU’s community. Instead, why don’t we try strengthening ourselves by facing and even encouraging diversity? Homogeneity weakens communities. One need only read history or even the newspaper to see that.

I think as BYU students we need to be much more careful about alienating our brothers and sisters both inside and outside of the gospel; the loss will be more ours than theirs, and we will be held responsible for it.

Anna Jensen

Salt Lake City

Oil price gouging

In response to Tuesday’s “Leave the Oil Companies Alone,” I agree with the fact that we shouldn’t tell oil companies what to do with their money. But I do think if they have essentially stolen money by ripping off consumers, they should face the law and pay for damages like everyone else. And it’s not only the consumer that is being let down. Thousands upon thousands of airline employees (my parents included) have suffered pay cuts and the pulling of retirement plans due to the high oil prices and the struggle to keep ticket prices as low as possible. We can’t have one law for the middle class and another law for the rich (who can afford to hide behind politicians and lawyers). Twenty-nine major oil companies are expected to earn a record breaking $96 billion this year. What happened to the oil crisis? Hmm … price gouging anyone?

Larissa Estes

Frisco

Park City style lodges?

As I turned to the last page of the Daily Universe, I had to laugh at the full-page advertisement for the “Lodges at Glenwood.” The Glenwood has been around as long as I can remember. Many of our older siblings and possibly our parents may have lived there during their tenure at BYU. It has a reputation for being inexpensive and close to campus, as well as one of the last places sought out by students in their search for an apartment.

This brings me to the real issue here: apartment management.

I don’t know how much they spent in building the “Lodge” style façade on each apartment building, but I imagine that money could have been spent in better ways. The renovation of the actual apartment units would seem to be a logical start. How about we quit the frontin’ and manage things a little better.

What’s next? Will they dump white sand around the pool at the Riviera and advertise it as a “Cancun Style, All-inclusive Resort?” Describing the Glenwood as “Park City Style Lodges” requires a rather loose interpretation of the English language and quite a bit of irony.

Layne Latham

Salt Lake City

Wilkinson did it

I enjoyed Jacob Terry’s story on BYU during the 1960s, including meeting my old friend Doug Wixom in print again. I should clarify one point, however. It was not a student who announced that a “Communist” would be speaking at the weekly forum, but President Wilkinson himself.

Lavina Fielding Anderson

Salt Lake City

Tips for fans

This letter goes out to all those who are struggling to understand the essence of what BYU football is all about. Bronco has brought back tradition and honor to the program (as Mr. Zobell explained last Tuesday, and yes Brett, we should storm the field). Apparently, some fans are confused as to what that means.

First, BYU’s colors are blue and white. Therefore, the appropriate thing to wear to games would be blue or white. That tip is free for all you fellas who think wearing your pink shirt with your collar popped is appropriate. It is not.

Second, football games are not social events. If you want a social event, go to ward prayer. Yes, you’re there to have fun, but the purpose of the game is not to “hang out.”

This brings me to my final point: cheering. If you want to quietly watch a football game, stay at home. You show up to the stadium to cheer. As the sign on the stadium says, “Be Heard.” So for the Utah game, I hope to see a wave of blue and white storm the field as CB (Curtis Brown) leads the Cougs to victory. Rise and shout!

Trevor Winn

Albany, Ore.



Copyright Brigham Young University 17 Nov 2005