Letters

Wednesday, April 17, 1996Sell life?

Editor:

Shauna Robinson’s column, ("Some things in life just aren’t for
sale," April 9), really struck a nerve for me (and hit quite close
to home). Not too long ago, I was a UCLA undergraduate who worked
two jobs and barely got by. The ads in the Daily Bruin advertising
for egg donors sounded quite alluring. Just think, $2,500 for a
simple procedure!

Unfortunately, I was taken by this ad and worse yet, I failed to
think about all of the repercussions that could happen before and
after the procedure. The hormones which I injected twice daily
caused my abdomen to severely swell and cramp. The doctor told me
this was all normal ­ I just happened to be producing a large
amount of egg follicles.

A couple of days before the removal, I found myself on the
bathroom floor in tremendous pain. Again, I was told this was all
normal and nothing a few Midol couldn’t fix. Needless to say, the
egg removal was successful.

Did I make a desperate couple two very happy parents? I’m sure I
did. But really, what about me and what about those 30-something
eggs I donated for $2,500? Are we really equipped to moralize this
new technological wave?

I don’t think so. Unfortunately, the whole picture changed for
me after I made the donation. Girls, don’t make the horrible
mistake I did. Truly think about your decision to give life away
­ it is your body and you own every last cell of it.

Name Withheld

Go status quo

Editor:

This weekend, UCLA graduate students and others supporting the
unionization of the Student Association of Graduate Employees, or
SAGE followed Chancellor Young home. By taking a campus dispute to
a person’s private residence, they crossed the line of appropriate,
professional behavior.

Sunday’s noisy demonstration at the foot of a street leading
into the chancellor’s neighborhood will have no effect on the
administrative law judge who is currently weighing both sides of
this issue. I’d like to ask the leadership of SAGE what it truly
wants to accomplish.

Do SAGE leaders want the issue settled in a fair and orderly
manner based on its legal merits? Or do they want to turn the
dispute over unionization into a personal attack? If they are as
confident of their position as they claim, I’d suggest they await
the judge’s ruling.

And make no mistake about it: UCLA will take no action until
that judge makes a decision. The administration will maintain the
status quo regarding the non-union status of this university’s
teaching assistants, research assistants, tutors and readers. And
here’s why:

We sincerely feel that the special relationship between faculty
and academic apprentices would be harmed by a union such as SAGE’s
chosen United Auto Workers. Introducing a third party into the mix
would create an adversarial environment, replacing collegial and
consultative relationships. And this would have a negative impact
on the educational value of these positions.

Our academic apprentices are the cream of the crop. Teaching and
research assistants must maintain a minimum grade point average,
and appointments are merit based. Graduate students take these
positions to enhance their education at UCLA; many go on to be
faculty members themselves.

Academic apprentices work closely with their faculty mentors,
gaining valuable experience while providing assistance to
undergraduates. The assignments also provide opportunities for
additional financial support.

UCLA already has extensive procedures in place to help resolve
any problems or grievances. Graduate students have not come to the
administration with any major grievances. Their main desire is to
be recognized as a union.

We suggest they limit pursuit of that desire to the workplace.
Taking it to the chancellor’s home improperly and unfairly
personalizes a matter of disagreement of principle, especially when
that principle is pending before a judge.

Robin Fisher

Associate Dean, Graduate Division

Professor

Psychiatry and Neurobiology

Wasted whine

Editor:

For all of you in the UCLA community who are always whining
about increased fees and demanding more state and federal money so
that your precious (insert your favorite ethnicity here) studies
program won’t be cut, maybe it’s time to start whining to the
campus administrators instead of the governor and your
legislators.

Why? Here’s just one example: Upon opening my mailbox and
finding a letter from UCLA (department name withheld to protect the
guilty), I was stunned to find that the envelope, which should have
been stamped with 32 cents postage or whatever bulk rate the
university pays, was instead metered at $11.37.

I don’t know how many letters got stamped at this rate before
somebody realized it was improperly set, but at that rate, I’m sure
the meter ran out before anyone noticed.

Guess who ends up paying for this level of gross incompetence?
Get rid of waste like this, and maybe campus activists won’t have
to crawl back to the taxpayers that they hold in such contempt
after elections.

Mike Cooper

Fourth-year

Economics