Flops to the floppers of A.S. senator

Editor:

Flops to the Guardian for singling out former A.S. Senator Jordan Rosenfeld.

Although the media have traditionally existed to hold government accountable to the people it represents, I see little reason for the Guardian to insult Rosenfeld’s personal decision to resign. I am appalled at the Guardian’s attitude toward those who choose to dedicate a great deal of their time, effort and emotion to student government. ASUCSD is a huge time commitment, and an individual’s decision to weigh academics over extracurricular activities should not be subject to the type of insensitive scrutiny exemplified in this blase comment. Rosenfeld’s resignation in no way negates the weeks during which he thoughtfully served his constituency and respectfully worked with his fellow senators.

Instead of contributing to the distrust and suspicion aroused by the representation of Associated Students as an elitist, unfair and now irresponsible institution, perhaps the editors should consider contributing to a campus where students feel welcome in their student council meetings, feel comfortable addressing their needs to student representatives, and are understanding of the pressures on students, academic or otherwise, that come into conflict with extracurricular commitments. Councilmembers beg the student body to provide input to their senators, attend meetings and become educated on the issues on a weekly basis; printing these exhortations rather than paying attention to the unusually high number of resignations this year would not only improve ASUCSD’s unwarranted negative image, it could conceivably increase the efficiency of student representation on campus.

— Kate Maull

Thurgood Marshall College junior senator

Diversity exists at Bob Jones University

Editor:

This is regarding Chris Taylor’s article, “Public universities should not indoctrinate students” (Feb. 23, 2004).

I am currently a junior in the political science program at Bob Jones University.

The teachers in my classes allow lively discussion, disagreement and even error.

While politically the faculty tend to be very conservative, they are more accurately “Christian” in their outlook. Their Christianity is based on the authority of the Bible instead of their own man-made philosophy. BJU’s purpose is different from public institutions. BJU intends to train good Christians, while public schools’ purpose is to provide a forum for all viewpoints.

Apparently the students who come to school here want the “indoctrination” of this school because they work long hours to pay a tuition that is not very well subsidized by scholarship money. Many families work together to put their children through school. The clientele of the school comes from lower- to upper-middle class backgrounds.

We have students from all 50 states and almost 40 foreign countries. Only about 20 percent of the students are from South Carolina. We are diverse ethnically. This morning I ate breakfast with a student from Haiti. We are similar to many other schools around the country, except that our purpose is more clearly defined than most.

— Shayne McAllister

Bob Jones University junior