Letters to the editor

OCHC should be commended

I was pleased to read Jessica Chung’s article,
“Postcard campaign to address housing issues” (News,
Feb. 5). The article states that the On-Campus Housing Council
plans to pass out pre-stamped postcards to students so that
students can send in their opinions on rising housing costs to a
state official. In today’s world where students are often
said to be apathetic and uncaring, it is refreshing to see students
taking a stance against an issue that influences not only their
daily lives but also there pocketbooks.

Current and future students at UCLA face many financial
difficulties. Not only are housing fees increasing but tuition fees
are as well. Textbook prices are also at an all time high, and
resale value is often very low because publishers produce new
editions frequently. I commend groups such as CALPIRG and OCHC who
are working with students to try to help students decrease
debt.

Jolene Mitchell First-year, applied
mathematics

Students deserve political diversity

In regard to the editorial, “Professor bias doesn’t
always hinder learning” (Feb. 4), I, too, believe it is both
unrealistic and counterproductive for professors to feign
neutrality in their teaching. However, the student body benefits
much more when they are exposed to a breadth of diverse viewpoints
and ideas rather than simply being limited to the exposure of one
side of the political spectrum. When 90 percent of academia espouse
the same political views, students encounter these limitations.

Until some sort of concerted effort is made to attract
professors with views that diverge from the academic mainstream,
the only regular exposure to differing and unpopular views for UCLA
students will be the Viewpoint section.

Mark Punzalan Class of 2001

Psychological Services overburdened

I commend Rachel Shasha for writing about the problems with
Student Psychological Services in her column “Psychological
Services needs some therapy” (Feb. 4). I’m a first-year
here from San Francisco, so I obviously had to leave my therapist
back home. Adjusting to UCLA with all my emotional baggage proved
something that I couldn’t handle on my own, and I was
directed to SPS.

I know that the professionals at SPS are concerned about the
students, but they are just too overburdened to offer any
consistent help. I was told right away that they couldn’t
provide any long-term help for me, but they weren’t able to
refer me to any therapists in the area.

Confronting my emotional instability and seeking help is
stressful all in its own. Being disappointed by the unsatisfactory
services at such a prestigious university only exacerbated my
situation.

Allison Mistica First-year, English

Johnson ignores history’s lessons

Chris Johnson’s criticism of anti-war protesters,
“U.S. history shows war can lead to better world” (Feb.
5) displays elegant language that masks his apparent
misunderstanding of history. The most unfortunate of
Johnson’s comments relate to his equating anti-war protesters
with those espousing anti-United States feelings. He assumes that
U.S. policy will always be correct and that questioning our
leadership will only lead to ruin. But if we go to war with Iraq,
we will be throwing the first punch. If only more populations of
the past had shown restraint before supporting the attack of a
foreign land, some of history’s bloodiest conflicts may not
have occurred at all.

Nathan Gonzalez Fourth-year, political
science