Letters to the Editor (Editorial Policies)
Posted on October 2, 2006

Sport cuts dismiss disappointed Dukes

Perhaps it’s how poorly administration went about informing athletes about the decision they made. Or perhaps it’s the decision itself that is leaving JMU stunned. It shows the amount of respect the leaders of this university have for those who work hard to represent the purple and gold.

On Friday afternoon, athletic director Jeff Bourne announced the elimination of 10 athletic teams but failed to be present when the announcement came to the student athletes. Furthermore, a mass e-mail was sent to the school before all athletes were even informed. Imagine being at a cross-country race in Pennsylvania, excited that an administrator is there cheering you on, parents are decked out in JMU apparel, and every guy on the team runs a best time. You load the bus excited, only to be told by that administrator that he wasn’t there to cheer you on. He was the bearer of bad news. Your hard work means nothing to them; as of next year, you don’t exist.

It’s unacceptable for our administration to make a decision like this. It is unacceptable for our outstanding coaches to be told that a program they worked so hard to build is gone. It is unacceptable that administration can look down on certain sports and say the 5 a.m. workouts, followed by class then another workout, just isn’t enough. Many of these athletes do it for free and for the love of the sport. This decision reflects poorly on the university. For the first time in my four years at JMU, I am embarrassed to say I’m a Duke. Please let the university know they are making a big mistake. Maybe our administration doesn’t know how to show support for its entire program, but we can!

Jennifer Chapman, senior SMAD major, Student Athlete Advisory Council president

Confederate flag symbolizes a way of life

I am writing in response to the letter printed last Monday that defended the Confederate flag. The authors of the letter felt that the Confederate flag was unfairly compared to the Nazi swastika. They blamed the Ku Klux Klan for giving it racist connotations; however, the Confederate flag was associated with racial inequality long before the KKK existed. Millions of enslaved African-Americans worked and died in the states that would later adopt the Confederate flag as their symbol. The flag represented a society that thrived on the suffering of one ethnic group, which Confederate soldiers fought to preserve. The writers also mentioned that making a comparison between the Confederate flag and the swastika was insulting to descendents of Holocaust victims. I don’t know if Mr. Clarkson or Mr. Braswell are Jewish, but I can say, as a descendent of persecuted Jews, I find both the swastika and the Confederate flag to be offensive, because they are symbols of the same kind of ethnic intolerance and hatred.

Michael Miragliotta, sophomore music education major