LETTERS and E-MAILS

Voter apathy concerning

To the editor:

As a professor of American politics and public policy, I am very concerned about political apathy among students. Your recent article [Kerry in lead, students unaware, Feb. 12] about the lack of awareness about politics suggested that students would participate in higher numbers if they could vote on campus. I agree.

For the past several months I, along with members of the Political Science Students Association, have been working on bringing a polling place to Santa Clara. PSSA members Rita Rodriguez and Emily Nguyen have been taking part in discussions with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters' office, where the voting precinct lines are drawn. It is our hope that a polling station will be brought to campus (probably in Benson) by the November election. Our efforts have the full support of the university administration.

However, while the convenience of a new polling place on campus will help increase political participation, it is only part of the solution. Students must also remember to re-register to vote every time they move (including moving from one dorm to another), and to do so by 15 days before election day (unfortunately, this means that the deadline for the March 2 primaries was Feb. 16). Only people who are registered to vote in this precinct will be permitted to cast ballots here. Voter registration forms are available in many places (including all U.S. Post offices and my office in the political science department), and online through the California Secretary of State's Web site (http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/votereg1.html) and RockTheVote.com.

As election time approaches, there will also be voter registration drives on campus. Alternatively, students may vote by absentee ballot if they remain registered at their permanent addresses.

Finally, a bigger challenge than registration and voting is creating an environment where students are informed and engaged about politics, especially when there are so many other interests and priorities competing for their time. Young people often feel that political candidates aren't interested in young people's concerns, but it's a vicious cycle: Politicians care about winning, and winning depends on votes. If you don't care and don't vote, political candidates won't feel the need to demonstrate concern about your interests! I hope that our students will realize that their own futures depend on political choices that are being made now, and take a little time to get informed, register and vote.

Elsa Chen

Political science department professor

Director, public sector studies program

Strengthening community values

To the editor:

Tuesday's forum sponsored by the Multicultural Center and the Associated Students of Santa Clara University was well attended and an important step in encouraging dialogue and understanding as a diverse learning community. While the issues and concerns that led to the forum had the potential for divisiveness, the forum represented the best of Santa Clara in that it created a respectful, positive and supportive environment for the sharing and understanding of different perspectives. I thank the organizers and those who participated.

I want to invite the community to the State of the University address I will give on Tuesday. I reaffirm the principle of respect for others that is essential to the kind of community Santa Clara pledges itself to be. Our diversity is one of the richest gifts we have for better academic quality and it offers the wonderful opportunity to learn from one another, to appreciate each others' talents, and to learn and live together.

The ongoing challenge will be to build on the dialogue in order to expand the conversation and strengthen the values that build community, especially among those who have strong opinions but are not engaged in the dialogue. The university will continue to work with students leaders to try and make that happen.

In my State of the University report, I will have more to say about this and other important topics, including my perspective or assessment of the university in the areas of student learning; the contributions of faculty and staff to the excellence of our academic programs; our distinctiveness as a Catholic, Jesuit university; budget and fund-raising; and engaged citizenship. The report will be given next Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the Mission Church.

Paul L. Locatelli, S.J.

President