As a recent graduate of Utah State University and also an alumnus of Weber State University, I would like to help clarify a misconception (?Tired of paying for sports,? Sept. 13) about the cost of athletics at state-run schools. Every semester I attended at USU and WSU, I paid approximately $250 in student fees - in addition to tuition. A portion of the student fees was allocated to fund the athletic department. Every student was required to pay the fees, whether they attended athletic events or not.
Upon enrolling as a graduate student at BYU, I was pleased to pay only $85 each for myself and my wife to attend an entire year of athletics. We have had a blast at the first two BYU football games, and look forward to basketball and other sports.
Tyler Pendleton
Roy
Congratulations are in order for the Brigham Young University football team. They played an excellent game and earned the victory received.
But what happens when the BYU football team loses? Suddenly failure and victory are what determine whether or not the team deserves our support. At a place like BYU, the students should have more love than to turn their back on the athletes who represent them. The team represents BYU, and they deserve one hundred percent of our support.
We should be proud that we have a team that tries so hard to do well, even if they are not always victorious. When parents love and support through the failure of their child, the child is more willing to work hard to succeed in the future. Imagine how much harder our football team would work if they knew they had our unconditional pride and support.
The team and the players are not perfect. And neither are the people they represent. But we should love and forgive the way we have been taught and set aside our own pride to do what is right. Let us stand together as one.
Go Cougars.
Eric H. McDonald
Sacramento, Calif.
This letter is partly in response to a Sept. 9 article on suspending the gas tax, and partly because I know people are fed up with the high price of gas. First off, we all need to be reminded that gas crises have happened many times in the past. The point is, if this is a continuing problem, why haven?t substantial changes been made to our current fuel situation? Apparently, realizing the potential for a huge problem isn?t reason enough to act (as evidenced by the failure to build higher levees that could have prevented the destruction of Katrina).
Many of us were too young to appreciate past fuel crises. But now that we are directly affected during this one, we can be responsible and decrease our own fuel consumption. Carpools, bikes, scooters and public transportation are all effective means of achieving this.
The suspension of the gas tax would help, but in the end wouldn?t we all just go back to our wasteful ways once gas prices go back down? Right now, people in Amsterdam pay $7 a gallon. I submit that if we here in America never want to pay that much, it is in our power to change. This is not just the government?s problem ? it is everyone?s. So forget about the Escalade rollin? on 24? DUBS and be content with the Saturn that gets 38 mpg. You can always buy those sweet plastic spinners and still roll with finesse.
Gregory K. DeLong
Anoka, Minn.
Does anyone need more proof that those who make decisions in the housing office here at BYU are out of touch reality? I don't. Every policy implemented in the past year indicates this. Shame on them for not listening to the students.
Michael Stanfill
Boston
If the library is going to refuse services to patrons indiscriminately for not complying with the honor code's dress and grooming standards, will other services around campus be denied for the same violations? What about the bookstore? We know non-BYU students and visitors use the library and are not required to honor the Honor Code. We also see non-BYU students and visitors using the bookstore. Will they have to be Honor Code compliant to purchase goods or use Zion's Bank? Of course not. It is clear that the bookstore will not turn away a paying customer because of a beard.
Anyway, to avoid that double standard, the library should just keep on keeping on. I see one library patron out of 100 with a beard, (or any other grooming violation). So what? His dress and grooming do not keep me from studying or take the spirit away from anyone. Nothing is broke here, so don't fix it with endless policy debates and amendments.
Matthew Harris
Henderson, Nev.
Carri Jenkins said, ?Married students don't have to live in approved housing, so there are many options open to them.?
Has she looked at the ?housing? available in Provo? The disclaimer, ?The BYU Off-Campus Housing Office does not inspect, investigate, or endorse the rentals listed in this section (off-campus family housing)? is all too true. Because married students can live anywhere, they get the dregs of what is left in Provo. Problems experienced by us or friends with non-BYU family housing include: a front door with 1-inch gaps on the top and bottom, inadequate heating, leaking roofs, no place for kids to play outside, etc. One friend was told by a doctor not to return to her apartment after her daughter was coughing up blood due to mold in the apartment. There IS NOT an adequate amount of housing for families in the area without Wyview.
Single students who hope to get married while in college should take action, as it affects them more than us. Many of us will be moving before being evicted. But those who get married and follow church leaders? counsel to start families will realize, if not now, too late, what turning Wyview into single student housing will do to their prospects for finding clean, safe housing for their family.
Amanda Mallett
Portland, Ore.
I do not understand why so many people complain about the 'high' cost of BYU tuition or about the fees students have to pay for other BYU services. I too would rather not pay to go to BYU sporting events, but $85 is a small price to pay considering most of us are paying only $3400 a year for a quality private university education. NO ONE here is paying for every penny of their college experience. What we pay is only a small portion of our actual college costs. The average tuition for a private college is now $19,710, students at the University of Notre Dame (a school sponsored by another religious denomination) are paying over $30,000. We are so lucky at BYU to have our tuition highly subsidized by the church; our tuition is dirt cheap. Until that stops I'm more than willing to pay $85 to go to sporting events, after all, no one is forcing me to go to them anyways.
Alan Peters
Oak Lawn, Ill.
Clearly BYU has failed to learn from some of the finest professors it has hired to teach its students. Professor Mike Saito?s recent article criticizing this year?s new parking policy is a perfect example. Did the committee responsible for the new policy ever consider consulting with BYU?s very own traffic experts, such as Mike Saito, or at very least with a student focus group, before making such a major change to campus policy?
An even more pressing question is whether the university will have learned enough from its mistake with the parking situation to keep it from making similarly uninformed changes to other critical campus components such as Wyview Park. We can only hope that in the future, BYU will seek advice from the brilliant professors it has hired and the students it enrolls before it declares new ?solutions? to crucial campus issues.
Allan Broadbent
Sunnyvale, Calif.