Letters to the editor
Career fair headlines
To the editor:
I would like to address the misleading and inaccurate headline and subheading of the April 21 article, "Career fair crashed by unaffiliated students," and the possible impact of such misleading headings. In doing the interview for the article, I and my assistant director made it clear to the reporter who referred to the Career Fair as being "crashed" by non-Santa Clara students that the word did not apply. A few students from other schools attended the fair, not an uncommon occurrence at campuses with open access to the areas where fairs occur. And, while the rest of the article presented a more accurate picture of the actual event and the Career Center responses in the interview, the newspaper decided to use an inaccurate headline for the article. The subheading also implied that jobs for Santa Clara students are jeopardized by these outsiders getting to see employers, but the content indicated another point of view.
As readers and writers very well know, words can be inflammatory, and I believe these headlines are not what the story is actually about and they do not accurately portray the story's emphasis. Of more concern is that they imply that the Career Center has a major problem with career fairs and that students are losing jobs to those "outside student attendees." These implications are completely erroneous.
Much of your readership remains unclear about the work of the Career Center and when they read words such as "crashed," which is not an accurate descriptor, followed by "job positions jeopardized," they can respond with a strong negative reaction to our efforts. The headline draws the reader in with a bold negative statement to a different (and more positive) story. I suggest you develop headlines that are accurate, less sensational and more "news-worthy."
Kathy Potter
Director, Career Center
Campus dining-point system 'convoluted'
To the editor:
This is in response to the "Forlorn food pricing" editorial April 21 and the article printed on April 14 about the markup of as much as 25 percent at The Cellar Market compared to Safeway and 7-Eleven.
If one pays cash for on-campus dining services the numbers in the articles are accurate, but due to the convoluted "point" system, the markup is an additional 10 percent more than reported. Based on the housing options posted on a Santa Clara Web site for the next year (www.scu.edu/housing/ugrad/rates.cfm), I took the difference in cost for each of the dining plans and divided it by difference in "points" credited to a students account. If we do this for all plans and take the mean, it turns out that 1 "point" = $1.10. That means chicken tenders ($7.29) in Benson are costing us $8.02.
These price hikes bother me because there is a requirement to purchase a dining plan if you live on campus (a minimum 1050 points for freshmen/sophomore and 700 points for juniors/seniors). Even though there is the convenience factor, I personally wouldn't eat on campus if I were not forced to purchase a dining plan. Also, on the dining services Web site they boast that the dining plan is "a great value" because we don't have to pay sales tax, when in reality it is 2.75 percent greater than if we paid cash.
I understand that it is important for Bon Appetite to make a profit. Heck, I even like most of the food on campus. I am just tired of being misled. Our generation has enough things to worry about, and our dining plan here at Santa Clara should not be one of them.
Kevin Dyer
Computer science/math '06
Global Village success
To the editor:
As director and assistant director of the multicultural center, we are proud to applaud this year's MCC executive board and our nine cultural clubs on a job well done. On Sunday, April 10, we held our annual spring festival, Global Village, on the corner of Market Street.
The event was a huge success attracting hundreds of people throughout the day, and many thanks go to the dedicated individuals who organized all the event planning. One vendor reported pulling in over $600 in revenue. We were also proud to have 40 Watt Hype, the second opening act for The Roots concert, wrap up the day's festivities.
Whether you were just following your nose to the aromatic foods, depleting your college budget visiting the many merchandise tables, or envying the models in Salon Blu's flashy hair show, we would like to thank all our MCC supporters for coming out and spending the afternoon with us.
Thanks again to all of those involved. The MCC would not have been able to bring such a colorful event to the Santa Clara community without you. We hope to see all of you and your friends again next year!
Mayka Mei,
MCC director, communication '06;
Michelle Rodriguez,
MCC assistant director, sociology '06
Inapplicable sales taxes
To the editor:
I'm writing in response to your article on "Campus Food Prices" in the April 14 issue. The last time I shopped there a few months ago they charged sales tax on a candy bar that I bought. Many years ago, California had a "snack tax" which was a sales tax on candy, chips, etc., but this tax was repealed in 1992 by Prop. 163. The Cellar Market should be made aware that sales tax is not applicable to food items and bottled water.
Nathaniel Reyes
Computer Science '05