Friday, March 29, 2024

AdvertiseDonateSubmit
NewsSportsArtsOpinionThe QuadPhotoVideoIllustrationsCartoonsGraphicsThe StackPRIMEEnterpriseInteractivesPodcastsBruinwalkClassifieds

Letters

By Daily Bruin Staff

Dec. 6, 1995 9:00 p.m.

Letters

Out of Bosnia

Editor:

In Monday’s Dec. 4 editorial, "Despite risks, U.S.
intervention

necessary," you state that the reason for U.S. intervention into
Bosnia is

for humanitarian reasons. But while the reasons may be
humanitarian, its

effects won’t be.

There will be pillage, death, and screams of anger of why
American men

and women lost their lives in a conflict that neither Congress
or the

American people supported in the first place. So much for the
idea of

democracy.

Atrococities will continue whether America is there or not. And
why?

Because if Bosnia and Serbia couldn’t make peace before, do you
seriously

think there will suddenly be peace when American soldiers arrive
on the

scene? In fact, the situation will only get worse because now
American

lives will be lost. Peace will only be guaranteed in the region
if the

people who live in the region make peace themselves.

Like World War I, or Vietnam, the situation will only worsen as
more and

more countries get involved in a situation that didn’t begin
with them in

the first place.

We should get the hell out of there, before more lives are
lost.

And what is so "humanitarian" about lives being lost?

Frank Atwood

Junior

Civil and Environmental EngineeringAltering coverage

Editor:

G. Lynn Svensson expresses concern ("Better health care coverage
needed

by SAGE members," Nov. 29) that some academic student employees
do not have

the same range of choices regarding health insurance coverage as
do the

UCLA faculty, staff or even certain other classifications of
academic

student employees. To illustrate the result of this diminished
choice in

health coverage, Svensson notes several procedures and coverage
options

included in other insurance plans that are not available under
the

University’s Medical Insurance Program.

Without addressing the Students Association of Graduate
Employees and

unionization issue that is the bulk of the article, I would like
to inform

Svensson, SAGE and all students receiving Medical Insurance
Program

coverage that a mechanism does exist to alter the benefits
available under

that insurance program.

The Student Health Advisory Committee is composed of both
graduate and

undergraduate students who are appointed by the Graduate
Students

Association and the Undergraduate Students Association. One of
the

committee’s duties is to serve as the official student adjunct
during the

negotiating process, which leads to the adoption of the Medical
Insurance

Program insurance underwriter, as well as the coverage options
provided by

the Medical Insurance Program.

During the next eight to 10 weeks, advisory committee members
will

engage in discussion and negotiations regarding the very
coverage issues

that Svensson mentions: detox and rehabilitation, dependent
coverage,

domestic partner coverage and inclusion of birth control
prescriptions,

among other issues.

We invite all Medical Insurance Program enrollees, including
SAGE, to

contact us regarding Medical Insurance Program coverage issues
so that we

may adequately represent student concerns as we contract for
future-year

Medical Insurance Program coverage.

Comments may be left at the information desk in Student Health
Services,

on our voice-mail at 206-3369 or via e-mail at
[email protected].

Chuck Russell-Coons

Co-chair

Student Health Advisory CommitteePedal power

Editor:

The irony of UCLA’s most recent decision to crackdown on
cyclists is

that the administration has successfully pitted cyclist against
pedestrian

while keeping any criticism of UCLA’s autocentric policies at
bay.

We of the UCLA Cycling Club support the restriction of
bicyclists from

sidewalks and pedestrian paths. We believe as much in
nonpolluting foot

power as in pedal power. What we do not support, however, is the
creation

of a bicyclehostile campus in the midst of an autooriented
environment.

While UCLA pursues a policy to restrict bicycle parking on
campus to an

inadequate number of spaces in inconvenient locations, it
simultaneously

maintains 16,083 parking places for cars. Forty bicycles
(including racks)

could fit into the space allotted for one parking place.
Further, to

provide parking for these 40 bicycles would cost a lot less than
the

$23,600 it costs to build and maintain one auto parking place at
UCLA.

For those hundreds of students, staff and faculty that do arrive
by

bicycle each day to UCLA, however, the Cycling Club demands that
UCLA do

everything within its power to provide them with supportive
policy

decisions and infrastructure.

This shouldn’t include impoundment of bicycles or "crackdowns"
on

cyclists. The Cycling Club calls for the creation of a
bicyclefriendly

campus. We demand the immediate removal of any bicycle parking
restrictions

plus the provision of new rack spaces for bicycles.

We applaud UCLA for initiating the planning process for two bike
lanes,

but we feel this falls short of the need for an entire bike lane
network on

campus.

For those of us who cannot afford a car, auto insurance or a
parking

permit, bicycling, the bus or walking are our only available
alternatives.

UCLA needs to recognize our needs as much as it does its
car-dependent

constituency. While we support UCLA’s recent policy decision to
protect

pedestrians, we protest its unfriendly policies toward those of
us who

pedal to campus in an effort to keep the air a little cleaner
and the roads

a little less congested.

Virginia Parks

Representative

UCLA Cycling Club

Share this story:FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
COMMENTS
Featured Classifieds
More classifieds »
Related Posts