Students can make their voices heard through letters to the editor

One of the things I have noticed here, you will too for that matter, is that many of the young people who attend school are really apathetic. It leads to a problem because at The Exponent, I've learned that the letters to the editor are a great way to gain insight about the concerns students have.

It works, in theory, until you realize that there really aren't a lot of letters submitted by students. Sure there are some, but not as many as there should be, given the size of the student body.

There are a lot of important issues out there, and after reading this column, you should have no excuse for not letting the Purdue community know your viewpoint.

Letters are submitted to The Exponent by e-mail at opinions@purdueexponent.org or by being mailed or dropped off at 460 Northwestern Ave. They must be 300 words or less and must not be libelous, personal attacks or profane (There's enough of that in the newsroom already).

They also must include the author's name, year, school and phone number. We will not run a letter unless we have verified it, so no anonymous letters will be run. We will print only 10 letters for a given topic, so get the letters in right away if you want to be heard.

Our editorials and columns are obviously easy targets, but rather than causing an uproar because a columnist insulted boy bands, let us know what kind of job you think we are doing. Let us know if we are covering everything we need to, let us know if we are being objective when we cover these stories.

Now what to care about? The topic that received the largest amount of letters to the editor (more than abortion or gay rights) was the fencing of the fountains. In April the University announced the decision to place fences around the fountains to ensure safety. We hit the limit on letters almost immediately. The students complained so much that the administration postponed the decision and created a committee to look into it. The fountains have been turned off ever since.

The United Nations were poised to step into the matter but then realized there were more important things going on, such as persecution all over the world. Kids are starving in China and we're worried about our precious fountains. We need to get our priorities straight; I agree the fountains should not be fenced, but the fences will have no bearing on my life. So therefore, who cares?

Also, try to stay away from petty arguments about individuals' tastes. Keep in mind that people are entitled to their own views and beliefs, so please do not start any arguments about which is a better sport, hockey or basketball. Neither sport is better than the other — its status exists only in peoples' minds. There are kids dying of AIDS in Africa and we're worried about the epic battle between hockey and basketball. There is nothing wrong with someone else having an opinion other than your own, so don't write letters about it. When you have an urge to write such letters just ask yourself: "In the grand scheme of things, is proving basketball better than hockey high on the priority list?"

You may care about whatever issues you want; I'm not here to tell you how to think. Sure it was nice to know that the students had a pulse and cared about something, but there are more important things happening. A respectable topic would be the recent tuition increase, which could hurt the University's most valuable asset — out-of-state students.

Kurt Esposito is a sophomore in the School of Liberal Arts. He can be e-mailed at opinions@purdueexponent.org.

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