Mote’s refusal to intervene in Dining Services’ policies shows poor leadership
It does not matter if Dining Services is a few rungs down from the president’s office. Do you think President Bush is not concerned with the CIA director because the CIA falls a few rungs below him? I don’t care what concern is. You are supposed to be a university leader and representative. When you ignore the issues of your organization, your credibility as president declines. Stand up, Mote, and point this university in the direction you want to take it. You have that power as the president. Unfortunately for students, until the presidential selection process is changed, we will never be able to vote you out.
Matthew Kless
Senior
Aerospace engineering
Story on part-time mercenary ignored serious issues that real student veterans face
While reading Tuesday’s article “Part-time urban warfare,” I did not see any plausible way this story could be true. It sounds as if the reporter was duped by a kid who has played one too many Tom Clancy video games. I am certain no foreign country would enlist a 21-year-old college student to raise its army, nor would the United States need him to “amplify” its forces. Furthermore, Kuwait has not been a “hot spot” since the early 1990s, which would have put “Fred” in elementary school.
In order to work in the business in which Fred claims to work, prior experience in law enforcement or military is a prerequisite, as is obtaining security clearance. Somehow I doubt those boxes on his resume are checked off.
The interview at the end of the article really bothered me. When asked about “combat fatigue” and having to kill, this “weekend warrior” chuckles. In a story that sounds completely fabricated, this was the part that bothered me the most.
When our service members go to war, we ask of them not only to defend the U.S. Constitution, but to deal with the psychological effects of being shot at, of being wounded, of seeing friends killed in action and of killing enemy combatants. These very serious issues should not be trivialized.
It is the journalist’s job not only to report facts as he sees them, but also to evaluate sources for credibility. Another facet of journalism is to be able to predict your audience. If this story contained any verifiable facts, it would have been good to include them before ignoring the very real sacrifices of many student veterans.
James Conlon
Senior
Government and politics
