Letters to the Editor

Photograph was in poor taste

To the Daily:

I would just like to comment on the utter disrespect the Daily demonstrated by having a photographer at the recent memorial service for Sarah Metzger and Celia Zwerdling. It was one of the most disruptive additions to the mourning ceremony and was totally uncalled for.

The purpose of the memorial service was to allow the friends and family of the two young women to gather and grieve - but the photographer was one of the most garish examples of disrespect. The noise of the camera going off in the middle of the traditional ceremony added nothing but annoyance to my experience. It is nice to include an article about the service in order to inform others about it ("Service marks loss of 2 LSA first-year students," 1/20/99), but the accompanying photograph is a terrible addition to the article.

Many of the friends of the two women are going through their own grieving period and did not need or appreciate being reminded of the tragedy every time they saw the front page of the newspaper.

Unfortunately the photo cannot be retracted, but I hope the Daily shows a little more tact if they have to report on similar situations in the future.

Laura Gluhanich

LSA first-year student

Language was offensive to deaf community

To the Daily:

In reviewing "At First Sight," Bryan Lark illuminates his own gross deficiencies in judgement ("'Sight' better left unseen," 1/19/99). By using the terms "deaf" and "dumb" in the same breath, Lark perpetuates stereotypes embraced by eugenic apologists such as Alexander Graham Bell. Yet the problem is not just the one writer. The Daily has editors, and they too should shoulder responsibility and immediately and unconditionally apologize to all deaf students, deaf employees and the deaf community of Ann Arbor.

Richard Eckert

Rackham

Parking lot needs to be kept up

To the Daily:

What may be a minor inconvenience to some is a disgruntling headache to many others. I pay $120 to park for one year in the inconspicuously small Fletcher Hall parking lot. But the price tag is laughable upon observing the conditions of the Fletcher lot and the roads surrounding it.

Although Jack Frost has been gnawing at our ears over the past few weeks, the lot has gone without repair. In addition to many drivers getting stuck in their spaces, no snow had been removed from the lot since the end of the gargantuan snowstorm. Yes, Parking Services cannot help the weather, but they could have sincerely prepared for it, years, months or even days in advance.

Here's an idea: Pave the road behind Fletcher Hall! It is possibly the only unpaved road on campus. Even farms in Niles have paved roads! Although there is nothing drastically wrong with the area, other than the mud, it seems an awful waste of $120 per car not to have a normal parking lot.

But instead of simply complaining about the problem, I have come up with a suggestion for Parking Services. Purchase bags of salt from Meijer -10 bags would cost about $30 - and plow the Fletcher lot. Once a year would suffice.

The day the University stops listening to its students is the demise of our how-much-worse-could-it-get parking lot.

Nikhil Kumar

LSA junior

Students need more choices when buying books

To the Daily:

I take pen to paper, or in this case electron to screen, to complain about a continuing problem here on the campus - the Shaman Drum Bookshop. As one of the forced members of its major customer base, I must lodge a public protest about the poor service and second hand status that University students receive at the hands of this business.

First, allow me to state that this is not primarily the fault of the store itself. Shaman Drum is a fine business and I recommend students go there for textbooks or general shopping. The fault of the poor service at Shaman Drum must be laid in the laps of the University's professors, who, in an effort to aid this business, have given it a monopoly on textbooks for many LSA courses.

How many students have stood freezing in long lines stretching around the block because their professors gave Shaman Drum an exclusive list of books? How many students have been forced by their professors to lose time and suffer considerable inconvenience because of a pet project by the faculty of this University to keep one particular bookstore alive. It must be preserved at all costs, and if that means funneling your textbook dollars into Shaman Drum, the professors are ready to make you do your part.

Professors, allow me to speak for the students of this University. We respect your interest in social issues and your desire to keep a lovely bookstore alive. But if you feel so strongly that this store needs to be saved, do so with your own resources. By giving Shaman Drum a monopoly you are forcing us to use our money against our will, and by eliminating choice, you use the same tactics as the "evil mega corporations" you oppose. More to the point, some of us on campus are tired of waiting in long lines, tired of freezing in the cold, and tired of having to shuffle through an area too tiny to handle the crowds.

If you want to keep Shaman Drum alive, fine. Give them textbook lists and encourage us to buy there. If you state your reasons, you might find that the students of this campus are willing to visit Shaman Drum on their own. By forcing us to do so, you only infuriate us and drive us away from future business with the store. I have no intention of ever buying books on my own in that store because I feel they have taken enough of my money for a lifetime. And if Shaman Drum cannot survive without forced student donations, perhaps a simpler tactic will work for everyone. On the first day of class, order all students to hand over a certain sum to keep Shaman Drum alive - or fail the course. If that sounds unethical, keep in mind that by forcing us to shop at Shaman Drum, that is precisely what you are doing anyway.

Edward Chusid

LSA senior

Letter was not funny

To the Daily:

I am a first-year student here at the University, and I want to share a list of reasons why I thought Adam Wilson's letter ("Reasons to enjoy winter," 1/19/99) was the stupidest thing that I had ever read in my life. He did "want to know what we think."

10. The only way people could have been warmed by your humor was to burn the paper it was printed on.

9. What the hell is trash-can-that-catches-water basketball?

8. If you didn't read his letter, thank the good Lord.

7. He said nothing warms people up like a good laugh, but I personally wanted to shoot myself in the head when I read his letter.

I am not going to suck the life-blood out of you with any more comments like Wilson's, but for the love of God, please never try to be funny again. Please spare us all.

Jerry Marogil

LSA first-year student

01-22-99