Letters

Prevent apathy in youth

I read the editorial on apathy in Tuesday’s paper
(“Strike,” Viewpoint, May 8) and I couldn’t agree
more. Although I will not be attending the university until this
fall, I feel this kind of behavior and attitude is starting to
become more common in areas outside of UCLA as well, especially
among younger people.

I think it is possible to make people more aware of the need and
duty to vote and I believe that I can somehow help to do it. I am
considering a run at school government.

Before I even consider running or getting involved I need to
know the issues and learn a lot more about the school and the
various situations there. That is why I will continue to read the
Daily Bruin online and hopefully when I get there this fall I will
be able to know what is needed and work to get it done.

Matt Patterson Incoming student

Editorial board lacks understanding

I am a nurse and I’m responding to the Bruin’s
editorial (“Money tight for all; nurses no exception,”
Viewpoint, May 7).

The editorial board obviously does not understand the issues
being presented at the bargaining table at UCLA. If they spent some
time researching the issues fully, from both sides, and truly
understood what a nursing shortage is, they would not have
approached the article in the same manner.

Nurses are leaving the profession in growing numbers because the
stress they face on a daily basis would not be tolerated by most
people. This is a wake up call for the entire country. If we do not
decrease the workload for nurses they will leave the
profession.

Lets talk about nursing ratios for a moment. Comparing
nurse/patient ratios to teacher/student ratios further shows how
little the board knows about what nurses do every day. If a student
does not get individual attention, he may suffer in weeks,
months, or years. If a patient does not receive the attention he
needs in time, it can mean his life in a matter of moments. We are
very concerned about not properly caring for patients with the
present ratios. When nurses go home from a shift feeling like they
could not give the proper care for their patients because they were
pulled in so many directions, they may feel frustrated and
disappointed.

The university needs to do everything they can to keep good
nurses. As one of the top ten hospitals in the nation, we must
provide excellence in the care of our patients and to do this we
need to recruit and retain good nurses. In order to do this we
must remain competitive in our compensation. Hospital
administrators handed themselves a huge raise last year, one of the
largest ever. If the editorial board wants to go toe-to-toe about
tightening the UC budget belt, it might want to start with
administration and work its way down to nurses.

Colleen Wheeler, RN

Editorial distorts plight of nurses

I was very disappointed and surprised at the lack of
understanding expressed in Tuesday’s editorial regarding UC
administrations intransigence in their negotiations with the UC
nurses (“Money tight for all; nurses no exception,”
Viewpoint, May 7). It appears the editorial board was either
severely misinformed or a spokesman for the administration.

There are substantial distortions in the piece. Although the
editorial board purports to have the patients’ well-being as
a primary concern, it somehow conveniently overlooks the reality
that the nurse-to-patient ratios, which have been mandated by the
legislature, were established as a result of patient advocacy and
to ensure an appropriate level of care for the hospital patient. It
is remarkable that the board could possibly view ratios as being
anything but a safeguard to the welfare of patients.How, we must
ask, does providing good care as opposed to neglect lead to
patients being refused?

There is a national nursing crisis that is particularly dire in
California. The nursing profession has experienced attrition
because of the unfavorable working conditions and inadequate pay.
The average age of nurses is 47 with even fewer people entering the
profession.

The issue is not that nurses are dissatisfied with the
UC’s offer, but that this offer fails to address any of the
causes of nursing dissatisfaction. Let there be no mistake, the
nursing crisis affects every individual in this country. The time
is past for the kind of distortion presented in the Bruin’s
editorial.

Maxine Terk, RN

Finally, a fair Viewpoint column

Back in the 1970s when I was a UCLA student, I didn’t
expect much of the Daily Bruin. In those days, the prevailing
attitude was that if university administration demurred from
embracing controversy, who were Bruin staff to row against the
tide?

These days, as UCLA staff, I find the only thing that’s
changed is that now the pictures are in color. It seems as if
someone searches the net with the intention of finding articles
that merely irritate; then first-year political science undergrads
write articles based on that aesthetic and the Bruin devolves to
tabloid sensationalism. When did we forget that this is an
educational institution and just assume it’s all show biz
anyhow?

Finally, on Tuesday, the Bruin featured a well-written article
by Joel Schwartz (“Campus Left, Right guilty of petty
branding,” Viewpoint, May 7). Mr. Schwartz posited an idea,
then detailed arguments to support it. I don’t ascribe to his
point of view, but,because of his way of writing I could understand
it. He was fair; he was even-handed; he did not descend into jargon
or parboiled rhetoric.

Please, print more of this kind of writing.

Frances Goff Class of ’75 Current UCLA
staff