Letters to the editor
Posted on September 13, 2007

Not so tasteful tactics

I have some qualms with this past Monday’s front page article, “Results of new study hard to swallow.”

I cannot help but feel the placement of the article reflects very negatively on JMU. Sexual topics are clearly important to young adults in college, but I believe for The Breeze to place the article as the primary news story is inappropriate. The article’s placement is suggestive that JMU is STD-infested and highly sexual. I believe if the article was put on another page, the information would get across the student body, yet also preserve JMU’s reputation as a primarily academic school.

Also, I can not help but feel that some students who were quoted in the article, as well as many I spoke to who had also read it, did not grasp the real issue being explained. The article described the contraction of HPV being the cause of the throat cancer, not just the acts of fellatio and cunnilingus. Endorphins are known to possibly prevent cancer, but they will more than likely not prevent HPV, which is what could cause cancer over time. Also, the different numbers of sexual partners increases your chances of contracting an STD unless you’re screening everyone prior to sexual activity.

 

Timothy Johnson
sophomore, justice studies

 

SGA has chance to redeem itself

In light of the controversy surrounding the integrity of Brandon Eickel’s campaign, I have opinions that are not so clear-cut among my peers.

If Eickel took his campaign ideas directly from another source and took credit for them, he should not be allowed to stay in office. Every senior in college knows about plagiarism, the severity of punishment for it, and how to avoid it. Ignorance of plagiarism is not an excuse. If somehow the similarities are a cosmic coincidence, then I think the student body deserves a better explanation from Eickel himself as well as refined election standards to deal with similar events in the future.

However, this controversy provides a unique opportunity for the Student Government Association to make itself more transparent and useful to the student body. There is a popular perception across campus that SGA operates to serve its own interests and pad its participants’ résumés. While I don’t think that, I believe that it is the responsibility of SGA to educate and inform students of its operations. If it doesn’t seem that students get it or care about it, SGA should try harder. Two years in a row of unopposed elections to SGA offices is not the fault of a disinterested student body, but an uninspired one.

SGA should invigorate this campus and inspire students to “be the change.” The only way to do this is to lead by example. The current example set is unremarkable, plagiarism and all.

Kevin Elliker
senior, ISS and history

 

Streamers are scared at games

With the beginning of the school year comes football, probably one of the best things about JMU in the fall. Everyone knows that us Dukes are known for our pride and enthusiasm when it comes to cheering on our team. There is one thing that makes every football game complete: a sea of purple and gold streamers. What many don’t know is that having these streamers is a privilege, not a right.

The streamers are a part of JMU tradition, dating back to glory days of basketball when toilet paper was thrown onto the floor after the first basket in Godwin Hall. Many years ago, that tradition was shut down and unfortunately, our purple and gold streamers could meet the same fate. Last year, the JMU administration received several official complaints from some opposing teams’ coaches about streamers being thrown at coaches and players. Our administration has an obligation to provide a safe environment to visiting teams and this could mean banning streamers from upcoming football games.

At Saturday’s game, I saw many streamers fly over the fence and now I’m asking that as a student body, we rise above and refrain from such conduct. I want to come back here in 10 years and see a sea of purple and gold streamers fill the sky as our Dukes take the field.

Meghan McCormick
senior, communications studies and music industry

 

Game transportation needed

As an alum who was invited back for my 25th reunion and the football game, I could not figure out where to park. I eventually dropped the wife and kids off near the stadium, and I waited in the R-3 parking lot for a bus to the stadium. After about 10 minutes, a bus came and dropped me off at Chandler Hall. The driver assured me that a return bus back up the hill to the R-3 lot would be available after the game.  

Unfortunately, that bus never showed and after some waiting students called a cab, I started hoofing it. By the way, when did Madison become the Manhattan of the south? The many cabbies trolling the streets makes the campus look creepy and unkempt.

Is there no JMU internal transportation system? Why is there no parking lot shuttle service for the football games? If I have to walk everywhere, they should not run out of bottled water for sale at the game. But that’s a gripe for another day.  

JMU certainly has changed over the past 30 years. Infrastructure and services have obviously failed to keep pace with the 15,000 students, alumni and members of the local community that may descend on the campus on any given weekend.  

Next time I come, and it won’t be anytime soon, I think I’ll take a cab.

Ed Nicely, alum ‘82

 

Bush administration’s actions

Although much of the foreign policy fanfare and media coverage has most recently been focused on the military situation in Iraq, the growing importance of the collaborative campaign in Afghanistan simply can not be sacrificed in the context of the Bush administration’s foreign policy prioritization. Highlighted by the alarming opium cultivation yields as evidenced in the most recent United Nations illicit narcotics report, Taliban resurgence in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces maintain an active presence, jeopardizes the stability of Afghanistan.

Having reached a pivotal point, the coordinated efforts between Afghanistan and the United States begs for effective strategies to deal with security issues that will have long-term, widespread consequences. Accordingly, it is impossible to overstate the fact that the Bush administration’s military excursion in Afghanistan ought not to be neglected as far as progressive, effective and scrutinous foreign policy decision-making goes.

Maseh Zarif, alum ‘05