Letters to the Editor

The RHA represents me no longer

Monday's staff editorial, "The RHA exception," was dead-on, and I commend the editorial staff for publishing what has been on the minds of so many students here whose views are seldom represented by the elected officials. For Residence Halls Association "student" representatives to be guaranteed on-campus housing is to remove them completely from the plight of students seeking housing. Additionally, the only students left living on the campus next year will be sophomores and freshmen, yet juniors and seniors will remain on the RHA, despite the fact that their peers may be living miles away from the campus in a roach-infested room costing upwards of $800 a month. To claim that the RHA is a realistic portrayal of student residents is completely inaccurate given this reality, and granting upperclassmen an exception is negating the whole idea of representation. When questioned on the policies regarding commitment group exclusions from on-campus, South Campus Commons or University Courtyards housing, the administration often cites "student involvement in these decisions." No wonder these decisions are being passed by the RHA - if the policies don't affect the leaders, then the representatives are free to follow their private interests or, at the very least, lose sight of the public (student body) interest. Similar to my disenchantment with much of the leadership at the federal and state levels, I have now lost hope in the RHA to represent me and make decisions in a manner that follows the democratic principles that elected them in the first place.

Julia Burke Behavioral and social sciences senator University Senate

The tragedy must end

This letter is in regards to Mike O'Brien's editorial cartoon from Monday. I propose we do a similar calculation: U.S. casualties during the four years of World War II were 600,000, giving us 150,000 a year, and we still have military bases in Germany and Japan. With O'Brien's math, we would estimate 9,450,000 American soldiers have since died in Germany and Japan. This tragedy must end; write your congressman to bring the troops home from those meat grinders.

Matthew Graves Sophomore Economics and physics