Letters and e-mails

Tuition hikes make senseTo the editor:In response to the two editorials regarding tuition hikes and professors salaries, I must say I have to disagree.

Students come to Santa Clara for a reason. Some come for the small classes, some for the professors, some for the student services provided, and some for the "feel of the campus."

None of those things come cheaply, as our tuition bills show. Students cannot expect to have the caliber of professors that we do at a small cost. Yes, professor salaries are expensive but well worth it.

If you want different professors and larger classes (which translates into less individual attention), go to a larger state school. The Santa Clara experience is not cheap, but as a senior I can tell you its well worth it.

I do not receive any form of financial aid, but my tuition helps pay for other student's scholarships.

My tuition helps to pay living wages for campus workers, a plethora of programs on campus including events such as Global Village, services such as the Career Center, and for professors I have found to be fantastic.

My experiences have been worth every penny.

If yours have not been, I suggest you take some time to look around and see all that Santa Clara is offering you.

Take advantage of programs and services. You're paying for them, so get your money's worth.

Colleen McCullough

History and Spanish, '04

Arrupe placements worthwhile

To the editor,I would like to thank the staff of the Arrupe Center for contributing to the Jesuit education offered here at Santa Clara. Like other campus organizations, the Arrupe Center facilitates community based learning.Without such organizations higher education can easily become individualistic. For if we focus solely on learning facts and making distinctions, we fail to see the bigger picture. Arrupe placements have helped me to see that my education is much bigger than just me. My education is about other people.

There are many marginalized people in the world, people who live with the problems that I only read about in class. These people have been my teachers and I have tried to learn from their lives.

Just to name a couple: there is Raul, a bilingual, third grader with a first grade reading level; there's Nathan, a developmentally disabled adult who is learning life skills like proper hand washing and how to take the bus.Striving for the Jesuit ideal of becoming "women and men for others" is impossible if we do not enter into relationships with others, especially those who are often overlooked by society.

I thank the Arrupe Center for facilitating relationships with people from diverse walks of life.

As participants in Arrupe placements we may imagine ourselves as "forced volunteers," or as students receiving a Jesuit education. The choice is ours.

Vince PriettoPhilosophy and Spanish '04

Iraqi news is one-sided

To the editor:When will we see the conflict in Iraq from a different lense? The latest travesty in the Abu Ghraib prison has been the focus of the media, instead of the continued violence in Fallujah.

Or the horrible traffic in Baghdad (the subject of a Peter Jennings' special some months ago); or the poor color choice of the Iraqi flag; or the civilians who get caught in the crossfire.

I could go on.

But what about the amazing turnaround of Iraqi lifestyles? Consider the 2,500 rehabilitated/new schools and the millions of vaccinated Iraqi children.

Or the fact that more Iraqis own cars and telephones than before Saddam was ousted.

Iraqi Olympians are no longer under Uday Hussein's sadistic eye and are now training for the summer Olympics in Greece.

What of the mass graves holding the bodies of over 400,000 people?

The vile, violent reign of Saddam is over and the Iraqi people no longer need to worry about being put through a wood shredder.

Yet, when I turn on the television or open a newspaper, all I see or read is negativity.

While it is important to provide Americans with facts, media outlets are certainly being selective on what truths are presented.

If Kerry is elected, will the tone of the Iraqi stories change? If Bush is re-elected, will the negative coverage continue?

Far be it for me to accuse the media of being biased. Please consider both sides to every story so the student body is exposed to the whole truth.

Michael SelfMarketing '05

Low wages unfair for Bon Appetit workers

To the editor:Capitalism has brought our nation vast wealth, unsurpassed power, and lavish lifestyles that people in other countries only dream about.

Yet, those who are receiving the short end of the monetary stick are the ones who are actually working to inflate the pockets of our nation's executives.

The "equity inequity" in America is disheartening, and the inequalities that corporate greed produces point to many problems within our society. And Santa Clara is no exception.

Recently, there was an article published on May 13 in The Santa Clara attempting to justify Bon Appetit's outlandish prices.

In short, Bon Appetit managers claimed that the prices reflected the generous $17 or more hourly pay given to its average worker and the "high" quality of their food.

I was approached by outraged workers who read this article. According to them, not all workers make $17 per hour.

Some barely make $10. One woman, who has been employed by Bon Appetit for eight years now, doesn't even make $11 per hour!

And family benefits? Zero. In order to place a family member on a worker's insurance, it costs an extra $400 per month. And with $10 for every hour that a worker might make, $400 is out of the question.Workers could strike and demand more money, but other unemployed people would snatch up the new openings, taking whatever money is currently being offered.

They might even work for less.

Santa Clara, a university that prides itself on the "Three Cs"- competence, conscience, and compassion- should never endorse or turn a blind eye to this type of misinformation.

Shouldn't Santa Clara set the standard as a top tier university where ethics trump all else, where compassion is practiced and not preached?

People cannot treat one another as a means to an end. Bon Appetit should recognize this; so should Santa Clara, and so should all of us.

Harry BeckwithPolitical science '06