Letters

Community service is far from slavery

I find the term “slavery” in Daniel
O’Conner’s letter (“UC shouldn’t force
community slavery,” Viewpoint, Oct. 24) an interesting word
applied to community service. It makes me wonder if he was ever
awake for his U.S. history classes or if he simply chooses to
ignore the stories told today about slavery in the world.

O’Conner needs to remember that slaves did not have any
rights.

I will admit, when I first found out about the community service
requirement for my small private school, I was not thrilled with
the idea.

Then I got involved.

I discovered that community service is not the monster I had
feared. Not only did the hours fly by, but I made new friends, I
gained incredible experiences, and I got to see my work immediately
and directly affect the lives of other people. Never once did I
feel enslaved.

I wish O’Conner was open-minded enough to see that
community service is a much-needed and highly beneficial program
regardless of one’s intentions. If you are so content with
your “prosperous middle-class American” lifestyle and
so determined to make every hour of your life belong to yourself
that you will go so far as to classify a requirement as slavery,
then I pity you when the real world comes knocking at your
door.

Melody Glaze First-year, astronomy

Who really pays for advertising?

I was surprised to find Durex Condom handbills littered all over
campus last week. I found that the ad was an insert to the
Daily Bruin as I grabbed my copy and the ad fell to the ground,
revealing the witty slogan “I Did It Here With Durex.”
How suggestive. When Daily Bruin Advertising negotiated the fee for
this ad, did it include the costs of picking up the hundreds of
flyers strewn about campus?

It seems to me the tax payers subsidized a Durex campaign.

Zachary J. Shepard School of Law