1991_02 The Daily Collegian February 1991

              Letters to the Editor ^eCone^w.:Feb^.13:.l991A.
Former students
send word on war
We just received a Daily Col¬
legian in Saudi Arabia today,
and read many artjclesconcem-
ingrhePersianGulf. Wewould
like to share pur concern over
this matter also. After being
stationed here for over twoand
one half months, it is now 14
Jan. 91, theday before thedead-
line for Saddam to leave Ku¬
wait.
We're sitting here in our tent,
next toa small heater, with two
candles for lights. Ifs difficult
to sleep, especially tonight,
knowing the threat of war is
fast approaching and we're in
the middle of it. Although we
don't agree with the President's
decision to use force, it is our
duty to carry out any orders he
gives.
We support the demonstra¬
tors and protesters, but they
must realize aggression cannot
go unanswered. We feel
strongly that this situation will
not rum into another Vietman,
if war should break out. the
American people will not al¬
low that to happen, we pray-
We hope, upon our return, that
we will not be treated the same
way the Vietnam vets were
treated when they returned
home. We're part of a multi¬
national force, which means
we're not in this alone. The
President has support from
many countries, and he should
also have the support from his
own people. We may not like
living under these dreadful
conditions, or feeling the threat
of being killed, but we're over
here, and will serve as long as
we're needed.
We were both Fresno State
students, and enrolled in the
ROTC Program. We plan on
continuing with our military
training upon our return. Our
experience, which we've gained
from this crisis, will help us tre¬
mendously in beingfuture lead¬
ers whether itbecivilian or mili-
tary.
On the lighter side — Saudi
Arabia isnota hot vacationspot,
especially now. For all of us
beer drinkers, Saudi Arabia isa
non-alcoholic country. Ha!
You're better off staying at The
Bucket! As for driving tech¬
niques, the natives are badlyin
need of some drivers training.
Accidents are very frequent.
And for those of you who think
it doesn't rain here or isalways
hot; wrong answer. We're
huddled by a stove in a leaky
tent; we have to move our cots
to dodge the drops. There are
some that have it worse and
there are some who have it
better, but we're thankful we
have each other.
Take care Fresno State,
We'll be back soon!
Sgt Dana F. Fidinger
Sgt Theresa M. Howland
Collegian casts haze
over fraternity issues
Bad news is al way s fron t page
newsit seems. There have been
exceptions but, for the most
part, this remains to be true.
Over the past week we have
had two articles about fraterni¬
ties on the front page of The
Collegian.
Both were written to inform
you,thereader,aboutproblems
that two different houses have
had recently. I appreciate the
news the Collegian offers us. It
gives us a view into our lives
around campus and provides
us with information that we all
should know.
Why is it though, that The
Collegian, like most newspa¬
pers, fails to give as much good
news as it does bad. You don't
often see that the fraternities
give money tocharities, time to
the (American) Lung Associa¬
tion, or organize blood contri¬
butions to the Red Cross. These
are just a few of the donations
that the fraternities provide.
Please don't get me wrong, I
know that bad news sells. I
would just like to see more ar¬
ticles written that do not refer
to fraternities as drunk, wom¬
anizing, hazing groups of men.
In case you didn't know, there
are good things thatcome from
these fraternal organizations.
These include job opportuni-
ties, a competitive attitude, and
friendships that last a lifetime.
Job opportuni ties come from
a strong national chapter. Two
of the houses on camus each
have over 400,000 members
internationally. This provides
a great opportunity for mem¬
bers in the job-seeking world.
The members also develop a
strong, competitive attitude.
This can be attributed to rival¬
ries between the houses. This
rivalry can be seen from the
playing field to the unity of
individual houses. Each house
is always striving to better it¬
self in the local fraternity lime¬
light.
One of the things I noticed in
my first encounter with the
fraternities is the brotherhood.
I see members return from fi ve
to40 years after graduation and
offer themselvesand their serv¬
ices to their houses. It shows
me that brotherhood does in¬
deed last a lifetime. Some of my
closest friends have been de¬
veloped in the fraternity and I
know that these relationships
will last forever.
I hope this will shed a bit
more light onto what fraterni¬
ties are and what they hope to
achieve. After reading this let¬
ter, though, there are so many
things thatlhave not mentioned
that make fraternities great. It
has been a wonderful experi¬
ence so far for me and despite
all the bad press, I don't regret
it a bit.
Dean "Dino" Russo
9ArflrvaroN
Tickets too expensive for students
This is regarding the letter to
the editor that was published
on Fcb.l2about basketball tick¬
ets.
Perhaps Mr. Avedesian has
forgotton what it is like to live
on a college budget. Most stu¬
dents are scrounging for every
dollar they have so they can
afford to buy things far more
necessary than recreation, like
food, housing and education.
It costs more than just the $85
to go to the games when you
include the cost of parking, gas
and refreshments. That may be
a drop in ttie bucket to most
people, but to college students
that is a hell of a lot of money. I
commend Mr. Avedesian's
loyalty to FSU athletics. But
considering he pays $1,000 for
his tickets, he shouldn't com¬
pare his budget to mine.
1 love basketball, but I live
four hoursaway and shouldn't
be expected todrivefourhours
to see NW [North West] Louisi¬
ana play. I agree some games
need to bo played during the
break, but two were played
Thanksgiving, and one was
played the last day of the se¬
mester. Tha t is 1 Ogames played
when studentsareoutof school.
Those games included the
two best scheduled games of
theyearforFresnoState:UNLV
and New Mexico State. Last
year UNLV and UCLA played
during Christmas break in
Fresno. The reason tha t student
attendance doesn't change
during Christmas break is be¬
cause those that have season
tickets live in Fresno, and there
are nosinglc game student tick¬
ets.
Regarding single game tick¬
ets: I commend the ASI for
trying to do the right thing, but
that isn't the ASI's job (what
is?). It is the job of the athletic
department to sell tickets to
students.
I've never heard of a school
that does not sell single game
tickets tostudentsata discount.
At San Jose State, the tickets
cost $5 each, and they have a
real small arena. Weber State
and UCSB both don't charge
students to go to games and
UCSB made the NCAA tourna¬
ment last year.
Students are not fair-weather
fans! Go to any Fresno State
baseball game and you will find
this out, or ask the opposing
third baseman. The third ■base
side is always the loudest at
Bciden Field. At $25 for season
tickets, the students are given a
bargain and they take advan¬
tage of the deal.
If basketball tickets where
that reasonably priced for stu¬
dents they would come to
games, too. If we combined an
on-campus arena with reason¬
able prices for tickets, who
knows? Perhaps some day we
could sound as loud as Duke's
Cameron IndoorStadium.
Mark Holtebeck
What are protesters out to prove?
Hell of a war we're in insn't
it?So many questionsare being
asked. Why are we there? Are
we doing the right thing?
Should we kill Saddam
Hussein? I have my own an¬
swers, as does everyone else, to
these question; bu t, there is one
thing that puzzles me — these
demonstrators.
What are they trying to say?
One group supports Bush, the
war and the troops; another
supports the troops, but not the
war. Still another groupdoesn't
support the troops or the war.
One group hates everyone and
one group is just upset that
women can't fly fighter planes.
My question is simply this:
What are they trying to prove?
I realize that we all have the
freedom of speech and assem¬
bly, but what do these people
think they're accomplishing?
George Bush and Saddam
Hussein aren't going to tune in
toCNN, see the demonstrators,
and say, "Hey, we had better
call this thing off!" The way 1
see it, the only thing they arc
accomplishing is to piss off
everybody else and start a
domestic war of their own (i.e.
the Oakland Bay Bridge block¬
ers).
My gut feeling (sorry, Demo¬
crats) is that we should all just
sit back, drink a few beers to¬
gether, and let George, Dan,
Colin, and Norman handle our
"Mid-East Conflict."
Woody Laughnan III
Bin removal a bad end to a good idea
I recently read the informa¬
tion about the removal of the
recycling bins. I was surprised
when confronted with the rea¬
soning involved with this re¬
moval decision. I do not feel
tha t aesthetics isa good enough
justification for this act. I sug¬
gest that the campus planning
committee enroll in Dr.
Morgan's Environmental Pol¬
lution course. I believe they
would change their minds.
I feel sorry for the CSUF
Ecology Society, the track club
and Pepsi Co., beca use they pu t
in a great effort to initiate this
program. (1 am not involved
with any of these groups.) A
good faith effort was handled
very rudely by the administra¬
tion. They did a quick, almost
sneaky, move while the major¬
ity of students were away over
the holidays.
Ihopethatacompromisecan
be reached so that this great
idea of a recycling effort must
begin without delay.
Just when we thought we
misplaced trash containers
were a problem, along comes
the iron fist of the Campus
Planning Committee.
Gary Waugaman