Letters

Collective sorrow

Editor:

The religious communities represented at the University
Religious Conference at UCLA mourn the tragic deaths of civilians
in Israel and decry the use of terror for political purposes by
elements of Hamas.

Rev. George Grose

Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic studies

Rev. Giles Asbury

Canterbury Westwood

Rev. David Myler

Clinical Pastoral Education

Michelle Rosen

Hillel Jewish Student Organization

Ahmed El-Gabalawy

Islamic Center of Southern California

Rev. Soon Chung

University Presbyterian Church

Rev. Heidi Singh

University Buddhist Association

Fr. Paul Dechant, C.S.P.

University Catholic Center

Rev. Timothy Seals

University Lutheran Chapel

Rev. Fran Matera

Wesley Foundation

Making amends

Editor:

The purpose of this Viewpoint letter is to apologize to
Bernadette Agaton, as well as anyone else who may have been
offended by the Ackerman Gameroom’s antics the Saturday evening two
weeks ago ("Not everyone is laughing," March 7). The attempt at
humor by the staff that evening missed the mark completely and
could not have been more insensitive.

The Gameroom offers its apologies to those visiting Ackerman
Union that evening to attend the annual Pilipino Cultural Night,
and extends an invitation to participate in a private party in the
Gameroom for the Samahang Pilipino organization. Please let us know
if you’d like to attend. Our phone number is 206-0829, or come by
and visit us on A-Level.

Eric Chang

Gameroom coordinator

Jay Goss

Student union division manager

Listen to activism

Editor:

Princeton Kim’s latest diatribe ("Lack of pride tears apart
Bruin unity," March 6) simplistically attacks recent student
activism at UCLA as leading to divisiveness and serving to disrupt
students’ educational opportunity. Nothing could be further from
the truth.

This year’s two major affirmative action protests have brought
together a diverse set of students from many backgrounds and
political perspectives. If Kim had taken the time to examine the
composition of the protesters, he would have noticed a good
representative sample of a diverse campus community.

It appears that the central tenet underlying Kim’s demagogic
sermon is that any sort of outspoken political action is disruptive
and counterproductive. Not surprisingly, Kim never defines
"intelligent action," perhaps because he has seemingly designated
nearly all forms of student activism as "political terrorism and
publicity stunts."

Kim should understand that throughout history, various forms of
peaceful political activism have resulted in some of the greatest
advances in our society. Would Kim have considered the bus boycotts
of the l950s in Montgomery, Ala. "juvenile and misguided"? Would he
have labeled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil disobedience
"political terrorism"?

The implications of Kim’s arguments are disturbing, particularly
in light of continuing threats to education. Kim envisions a campus
where students are silent as educational opportunity is diminished,
where ignorance rules supreme as access is denied.

But I would ask each student to think about whether the type of
educational environment which Princeton Kim envisions is a
productive one. Or should students take an active pride in the
issues which affect not only them individually, but the generations
of future college students who will someday hopefully have the same
opportunities that each of us had? And what better a role for
student government than to serve as an advocate and leader in
fighting for the issues which affect students?

No, these acts of protest don’t take away from the educational
well-being of anyone; nor do they take away the pride which each of
us holds in being a UCLA student. Rather, activism can and should
bring together students, faculty and staff who believe that our
voice in the political process should be heard and who care about
the future of this university. Now that’s something to be proud
of.

Darrin Hurwitz

External vice president

Bruin Democrats

Drug danger

Editor:

Thank you for printing the article on the "date rape" drug,
Rohypnol ("Abundance of new drug concerns officials," March 7).
This drug has already contributed more to the problem of date rape
than statistics can verify.

A close friend of mine from high school, who now lives in
Wisconsin, was a victim of date rape due to this drug. She was at a
party with co-workers who slipped a tablet into her glass of wine.
She doesn’t remember anything until the next morning when she woke
up in bed with a co-worker who claimed that they had slept
together.

Unfortunately, no one in the small town in which she lives had
even heard of the drug or its connection to date rape. And since it
is nearly impossible to trace, the police would not press charges.
She could only have the perpetrator removed from the school where
she was working on the basis of sexual misconduct.

I hope the students of UCLA will learn from my friend’s
misfortune. Please be careful when you’re out with acquaintances or
strangers, and don’t underestimate the power of this drug.

Melissa Vogel

UCLA alumna

Class of 1995

Staff member

Office of Residential Life

Tax debate flat

Editor:

In her March 8 column, Sherry Hartel critiqued Forbes’s flat tax
proposal ("Forbes’ tax fair for heirs, but closes door for poor").
I’m not a fan of the flat tax. In fact, I agree with Hartel’s basic
premise that the flat tax is regressive.

However, I think her lack of facts is embarrassing to our shared
position. Under Forbes’ flat tax plan, the hypothetical
minimum-wage worker would pay NO income tax, except maybe the 32
cents for postage to mail in his or her tax return, astronomically
less than the $1, 400 Hartel suggested.

This is because the Forbes plan has a deduction of at least $12,
800 from taxable income (for single people) and $25, 600 exempt for
a married couple filing jointly.

It is disappointing that in three years at this fine
institution, a student has not learned to do minimal research to
back up her views. It took me three minutes on the World Wide Web
to find out the deductions; it’s a shame that she couldn’t do that
as well.

The Chinese sage Sun Tzu gives us relevant advice: "Know your
enemy as you know yourself and in a thousand battles you will never
be defeated." Not knowing basic principles of your opponent’s
ideals ensures that we adherents of a progressive tax structure
will see defeat.

Gabriel Rossman

First-year

SociologyComments to [email protected]