Letters to the editor

Career Center misperceptions

As Director of the Career Center, I would like to respond to the "Professor Profile" article published in the Feb. 26 issue. The Career Center greatly appreciates articles that highlight the aspects and importance of career-related efforts, and we value and need the skills of our campus partners. However, some of the assumptions in the article indicate a possible misperception about the Career Center services and staff.

I want to specifically address the assumption that we provide only "tips," and that we might not have "real-world experience." Each of our six career counselors has at least one Master's degree in counseling or a related field and have many years -- over 83 -- of career coaching and counseling experience in academia, corporate settings, non-profits and government agencies.

Four counselors have had careers in business before coming to academic career counseling, and they have provided career development and job-search skills to thousands of employees in Silicon Valley. I am proud to say that the Career Center staff is one of the most experienced of any schools in our national association.

In addition to one-on-one career counseling, we offer over 75 events per year, through panel presentations, workshops, career fairs, on-campus interviewing, for-credit classes and collaborations with most departments. These events help students learn more about the world after Santa Clara and to find the place where, as F. Buechner said, their "deep gladness meets the world's deep need."

We truly value what the Santa Clara community does to support students in their careers. For our part, the Career Center counselors will continue to use their passion and skills, grounded in career development theory, research and practical application, to shape students of conscience, competence and compassion.

Kathy Potter

Career Center Director

Making us all look bad

I am an alumnus of the class of 2006 and an avid Santa Clara basketball fan. I've personally witnessed numerous close losses to Gonzaga at home and away, including last season's heartbreaker at home.

When I was watching the game -- unfortunately not in person -- what I saw made me hopeful for the years ahead. I saw a very young college basketball team who, despite losing to Gonzaga by 42 points in Spokane, was playing hard with one of the best teams in the country.

Even when our super senior John Bryant was sitting due to foul trouble and Josh Heytvelt was playing one of the best games of his career, our young team -- most notably, the incomparable Kevin Foster -- played hard and even with a tough Gonzaga team.

Thinking about this year's freshman class and how good they are and then thinking about how good our incoming recruits are supposed to beâ?¦ Yeah, it's exciting.

When the bottle was thrown on the court I thought, "Man, are you serious? That's not cool at all." When that little ball of foil was thrown on the court, after Coach Keating -- to overwhelming applause -- explicitly told the fans to be civil, I was simultaneously incredibly angry, shocked and ashamed.

Being loud or heckling is one thing. Throwing objects on the court when your basketball team is playing their guts out and leaving all they have on the floor is quite another.

Those actions reflect poorly on you, reflect poorly on the rest of the student body, reflect poorly on the university as a whole and reflect poorly on me as an alumnus. I hope that the students who threw those objects on the court realize the gravity of their actions.

Colin Wood

History and political science '06

Competing with Pac-10

It's disappointing to sleep walk into the office at 6:30 a.m. on a Friday and to have the first thing someone says to me be, "So, you Broncos throw bottles at basketball players now?" I had no idea what this was in reference to.

Well, it turns out our nationally-televised matchup with Gonzaga was highlighted by some of our own students throwing things on the court, not once, but twice. Out of respect for the school you all attend, this is completely unnecessary.

Keep in mind the basketball players who work very hard. They don't need their opponents to be given four free points. Lastly and most importantly, think about the perception of our school, one that is rarely on ESPN, and now has an entire nation of basketball fans who think of Santa Clara as the school with the fans that throw objects on the court.

If I was Coach Keating, I'd find those students and make them run suicides with the rest of the team at practice. If for nothing else, he should do it for the sake of us alums who work with all the Pac-10 graduates that brag and boast about their basketball teams. Let's not give them anything else to fire at us.

Peter Carolan

Finance '08