Affirmative action column misinformed
The opinion of "Racism looks a lot like Benjamin Franklin" is one of the most ridiculous and misinformed opinions to have ever graced the pages of the State Press. While I agree with the general theme of the opinion piece, the author like most has missed the entire point of affirmative action. Affirmative action was implemented with the goal of equal opportunity. A college degree does not guarantee a higher income, it only increases the probability that poverty will be left behind.
Institutional racism can be addressed easily through affirmative action but de facto racism is a cultural problem that is instilled in the home. Affirmative action will never be able to address personal opinions that are legal to have. To state that Harvard does not accept African American students because of their wealth exhibits the authors gross ignorance of the endowment process. When it comes to issues of money and financing, private and public education institutions do not care about the color of a possible donor's skin but the number of zeros on the check.
Sincerely,
Seth A. Miller
Graduate Student
ASU shouldn't bully high schools
(This letter is a response to "Only one Sun Devil," which ran last Thursday.)
My school was mentioned in Thursday's article referring to the copyright allegation's of Virginia. I come from Mt. Carmel High, where I was proud to be a Sundevil. If you have the paper in front of you then you will see my school's mascot. An almost childish rendition of what Sparky might look like, but fairly close nonetheless. That beaten cousin of Sparky emblazoned my gym's exterior, greeting each new day with the same kind of vigor and energy our Sparky puts into every cheer at every game. Our school motto was, "A Sundevil Forever." Most people took it to heart, but I took it literally.
Now I hear that my former school is a thief. A liar and a cheat, they say, stealing and robbing the image that ASU has spent years to pound out. Sure our football team sucked, and we never did anything really exciting, but I never once thought that my high school was truly an evil institution. How dare my high school use the same symbol as a collegiate organization, as all high school's do. How dare they give free advertisement to a school. How dare they honor an academic institution with the use of their mascot. How absolutely dare they.
ASU has full right to control the use of their mascot, sure, but why muscle petty high school's? We ran on little more then the state funding granted to us for as long as the alumni voted republican, so we didn't make much money. All we are doing is adding to the image a "New American University" is supposed to be trying to defeat? Aren't we supposed to be upholding the fundamentals of an organization that contributes to the educational world rather then arm wrestling it? There's no use in trying to stop the legal avalanche that will fall upon the high school in Virginia, but they deserve as much of a right to be a SunDevil or Sundevil or Sun Devil or any other variation of Sun and Devil, as we do.
A college fighting a high school is like a body builder beating up a dead person, there is just no point.
John Philip Wheeler
Undergraduate
