Letters to the editor

Cheerleaders look beyond election issues

I felt the Nov. 4 article didn’t explain my — or any of our — reasons for performing anti-voting cheers.
I’m not another apathetic youth, age 18 to 29. I don’t vote because I care. I care so much that I work every day to make the world a better place — not once every year or every four years. I urge people to live every day as a vote.

At the polls, we kept chanting, "Our dreams do not fit in their ballot boxes."

I dream of a world where I can walk home late at night without worrying every stranger on the street may rape me. I dream of a world where I can laugh with friends without the government listening. I dream of a world where corporate grocery stores — and privileged college kids — stop throwing away food; a world where a warm meal is a right — not a privilege. I dream of a world where I won’t worry about getting sick, because everybody will have health care. I dream of a world where Palestinian children don’t live in terror of being murdered by Israeli soldiers. I dream of a world where Iraqis can live free from an invading army from a foreign country halfway around the world.

I dream of a world filled with peace, community, laughter and joy. I will never dream of a world that contains injustices, racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, fear or rulers. My dreams will never fit in their ballot boxes, and I don’t want them to.

Suzane Garrett
member, Rocktown Radical Cheerleaders

Right to vote should not be protested

I can’t even describe the words that came to my mind upon seeing the front page on Nov. 4. Four JMU female students given the privilege of being on the front page for telling people not to vote? Instead of putting a picture of the people who were exercising their right to vote, we put four girls promoting anarchy on the front page? It makes me so angry to see where our country has gone. The right to vote wasn’t just handed to us so that we could throw it back in the government’s face. Of course, white men always had the right to vote, but women weren’t given that right until 1920, and they fought tooth and nail to gain that right. Women such as Lucy Burn, Dora Lewis, Alice Cosu and about 30 more women were taken to a Virginia prison because they picketed Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote. They were imprisoned for weeks and subjected to beatings from prison guards. They were tortured for weeks until word leaked out to the press. In the 2000 election, more than 40 million women didn’t vote. Even if 10 percent of them had voted, that’s enough to make a difference. Have some respect for the fact that these women fought hard for your right to vote — don’t throw it in the trash. Respect the fact that they risked their lives and choose to vote. This election is over, but there are many more to come.

Emily Cook
senior, international affairs

For better or worse, president only serves four years

I woke up this morning and found that my hall had been vandalized sometime during the night of Nov. 3 with crudely worded signs calling for the assassination of President Bush. In my lifetime, I have never seen so much virulent hatred directed at one man for so little cause. In the past year, the spiteful attacks on our president have ranged from books encouraging his murder to movies and rap songs filled with outrageous propaganda depicting the president as a warmongering robber baron, to Web sites likening Bush to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

It is certainly understandable to be upset that your candidate lost. As a young conservative, I know that I was crushed when President Clinton won a second term in 1996. It is not acceptable, however, for people to go around calling for the assassination of our elected leader. We live in a country that allows us to battle in the arena of ideas. If you do not like the president and his policies, then go and persuade the American people that your ideas are better.

Your happiness in life should not be determined by who wins an election. Only you can bring out the best in yourself, not some bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. I was disappointed by Clinton’s reelection, but it was only for four years. While I disagreed with most of his policies, I lived a happy and successful four years and was ready to fight back through the ballot box when election time came around.

Mark Ehlers
senior, history major

Retirement home thanks volunteers

JMU students are a big help as volunteers to Sunnyside Retirement Community and other Valley Volunteer Forum members. They do such a tremendous job in Harrisonburg that there is a big void when they go home.

There are numerous volunteers who come to Sunnyside and help. They exemplify good manners and respect whenever they are here. They ask for more to do and then thank me for the opportunity.

I am proud of the new young adults who show the spirit of volunteerism and serving others. Some come for community service-learning hours that a teacher requires as part of their grade, but they end up wanting to do more after their 15 hours are done. Others come just because they want to reach out and they’ve heard that they can do that at Sunnyside. They learn from the residents, and the residents benefit greatly from their energy. It is a win-win situation for all, and I would like to thank them for their efforts.

Maria Bridgewater
Volunteer coordinator
Sunnyside Retirement Community

Place should be made for post-game festivities

We have a problem, JMU: Our goal posts aren’t detachable.

As a school, we are stepping into new territory for which we prove unprepared. After years of having national championship archery teams and the world-class Marching Royal Dukes, we now have a team bringing thousands of students together to watch a game at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Now I will open a challenge to the Administration, the Athletics Marketing Team and our entire student body. Since we can’t remove the goal posts, what tradition can we create at JMU to celebrate our hard-earned wins?

I propose we have space on Godwin field or several other places on campus to set up some music and festivities for a post-game celebration at least once a year, not including Homecoming. It’s insurance that we don’t have a mob get out of hand on the field, it’s insurance we don’t destroy part of the stadium and it’s an investment into our school spirit.

Kevyn Adams
senior, physics/marketing

‘Crusade’ name carries weight of tradition

Jeff Stottlemyer’s letter on Nov. 4 raised an interesting question concerning the choice of name for ‘Campus Crusade for Christ.’ Indeed, the name itself has almost become taboo, taking on forms such as ‘Cru’ or ‘Crusade,’ very seldom being spoken of by its full title. But what we lose with the use of these idioms in the sense that ‘Campus Crusade for Christ’ is not just a small local group of evangelical Christians, but rather is an international organization with over 50 years of history. The point here is that we can now see clearer that the word ‘crusade’ itself carried a far different connotation in 1951 than it does today, and so we cannot place the blame on founders Bill and Vonette Bright.

We should be happy to know the organization has since debated the possibility of a name change. But I would like for Stottlemyer to consider the great loss of continued support and association if a worldwide organization, with 25,000 staff witnessing in 196 different countries, were to change its name. We are so blessed in this country to freely read, share and believe in the word of God that simply changing the name of our organization would have little effect, but this is not the case in many of these other 196 countries. Many of these ministries exist in very hostile parts of the world and this identity is crucial to their success that they "may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith" (Romans 1:12).

Walter Thomas
junior, philosophy major