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Letters to the Editor
Butts on ground too much
I participated in the Earth Day Cleanup on Saturday with a friend. We were assigned to clean up three blocks (both sides), and it took us almost two hours to clean them.
What concerned me about the experience was not the intense pain that I felt in my lower back and knees afterwards, but the number of cigarette butts that I picked up and counted on these three blocks (and, mind you, that I only counted on my side of the street). I picked up 2000 cigarette butts from one side of three city blocks, and my friend picked up at least the same amount on her side.
Do the math, folks at home: we picked up 4000+ cigarette butts in three blocks. Even though I am a smoker too, I now feel disgust when I even think of smoking when I remember the 2000 butts that I picked up. Folks, please put the butts in a cigarette receptacle when you are done. No one wants to see thousands of cigarette butts on campus, nor does anyone want to pick them up after you. The next time you are finished with that cigarette, please think of what you are contributing to: a campus full of garbage. You and I pay a lot of tuition and fees to keep campus clean; let's all do our part to help out.
Gwen T. Rosha
Graduate student, English
Taxes pay our tuition
I find it ironic that someone who would criticize the current tax system in our country is attending a public university (Tax withholding masks injustice, April 14). After all, it is taxes for the most part that pay for our education. While it is quite easy to blame our tax system for taking away our hard-earned dollars, we need to keep things in perspective.
The American Revolution was about taxation and the lack of representation. Revolutionists knew the importance of taxation, but felt they were being taxed unfairly. It wasn't necessarily the taxes that upset colonialists; it had more to do with no representation.
I also feel the need to comment on the theory that if we give people more of their hard-earned tax dollars, they would spend it and create jobs. That's almost laughable. Rich people would see the biggest return, and the only reason they are rich is that they are extremely cheap. If you cut the top tax rates in the country, you create a bunch of richer individuals, with the middle class left in middle. How much good can a family of four do with an extra $400 a year? Create more jobs? Hardly...
The bottom line is that we will always have taxes as long as we live in a civilized world. Has any large, civilized society ever been as rich or successful as the United States without taxes? We should focus more on electing representatives who know the meaning of fiscal responsibility; not someone who simply promises tax cuts.
Jake Anderson
Senior, BCIS
Library users lack courtesy
For the past two years, I have noticed a disturbing trend that, out of common courtesy, needs to be brought to public attention. The older we get, the less courteous we become. As finals are fast approaching, stress is getting higher and so is library usage.
But this is important: the library is not a place to socialize. Every time that I go there to study, I hear cell phones ringing, and then the people actually talk on them! Can you believe it? But even more annoying is that going there to do group work, four or five people sit and talk at the tables, and not, I repeat not, quietly.
So, what does one do? A single student - me - goes to check out a group study room. A single person checks out a room that seats something like fifteen just because the people/situations that the rooms are set up for are too discourteous, or perhaps too stupid, to check them out for themselves. How much sense does that make? Quite obviously, none, especially since the rooms wouldn't cost these little groups of three or four a thing. They are a college kid's dream; they are free. I know that I am not the only one that goes to the Miller Center to study, but maybe I am the only one who is bothered enough to write a letter to point out that the campus community has more than just "diversity issues" (not that I am making light of them). Yet, the solution to this problem is so easy I am surprised that it hasn't been implemented more often.
Deanna Yoder
Senior, Linguistics and Communication Disorders
Voter turnout disappointing
How many of you reading this editorial right now, are concerned with the anticipated budget crisis here at St. Cloud State University? I can say with confidence, that if asked this question, the majority of you would answer, "Yes, I am."
Now here's another question: How many of you voted on Monday and Tuesday (April 21 & 22) for student government elections? The answer to this question: less than 700 (out of 16,000).
The most upsetting thing about this election to me was not that I lost, but that so few people showed up to vote and support those who will be helping you in the future. I find it extremely depressing that with all that is going on here right now, very few of you really care about this aspect of your own future.
For those of you with lame excuses such as a lack of time, I have two things to say. When voting, you would have to spend about one minute filling out the ballot, while those representing you will put in numerous hours a week doing things to benefit SCSU as a whole. There was a total of 18 hours within the two-day period in which to vote. You cannot convince me that you couldn't find one minute in 18 hours in which to vote. But hey, it's only your future that will be impacted.
Congratulations to Cory and Rachael for their newly elected positions, and the best of luck to them in this upcoming year. Congratulations also to the newly elected 16 senators at-large. I am confident that they will all do an extraordinary job representing us. Maybe the rest of you should take time out of your "busy lives" to stop by and thank them beforehand for all the time, effort and hard work they will be putting in this coming year to improve your educational experience, and to benefit you - the entire campus of 16,000 SCSU students.
Taylor Olson
Junior, Accounting
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