Now players should miss fewer classes

Last week, readers of The Diamondback learned of the intense interest the Athletics Department has in making sure its athletes attend class. Yet, this doesn’t stop the department from scheduling midweek basketball and football games or making up a baseball schedule that forces a player in my class to miss nine out of 14 Friday classes.

Recently, Coach Williams, following the party line, stated that in his program, academics is the first priority. It saddened me that Williams, who is, as far as I can tell, a decent and honorable man, was forced to make a statement which anyone with half a brain knows is bulls–t. If we take him at his word, he is now rejoicing that his team will not make the tournament. This means the players will miss fewer classes.

Peter Wolfe

Professor

Mathematics

In-class debate important to education

Regarding the Feb. 23 column, “Censoring the liberal cadre”: In arguing for the “Academic Bill of Restrictions,” David Horowitz and his followers claim to be protecting students from indoctrination and intimidation. Come on! Is Horowitz trying to claim I won’t be able to understand geography because a professor makes a joke about politics? Is he claiming I’ll be so intimidated by a professor telling me whom they vote for that I’ll drop economics? Is he claiming I’ll become an atheist simply because my government professor is?

We’re smarter than ABOR’s proponents will give us credit for. I came to this university because I wanted an education, not fact regurgitation. That means getting into debates, learning a lot about many topics and learning how to deal with someone who disagrees with me. College is about a free exchange of ideas and the “Academic Bill of Restrictions” would stop that exchange from happening.

Jamie Rowe

Sophomore

Environmental science and policy

University should value social justice

I would like to applaud Andrew Rose’s suggestion that Dining Services reallocate the “extra” money it planned to use to provide decorated polystrene cups to support Fair Trade coffee in the dining halls instead.

Why has Fair Trade become such a point of contention? Regardless of cost, plenty of other campuses have embraced Fair Trade coffee because it represents a commitment to social justice and the alleviation of worldwide poverty. Instead, this school has argued over an extra $2 on the meal plan for three years, while expensive trash baring the almighty Testudo suddenly appears at the checkout line.

Universities should be the models of progression and achievement in our society. As students of a university and as members of the global community, we must ask how our choices reflect upon the ideals of our generation. If Dining Services continues to make decisions in this vein, we must consider the message we send – that The University of Maryland values cartoons, not social justice.

Alice Waters

Junior

English

Women’s sports deserve credit

Kunal Mahajan, you are not a sexist. You just need to be enlightened about a few things concerning women’s sports (“Student finds women sports boring,” Feb. 22).

You emphatically state no one cares about women’s basketball. Well, no one does, except for all the athletes’ families, friends and some interspersed alumni and students. In fact, the national polls think much more highly of our women’s team (No. 4 ranking) than our unranked men’s team.

As for your point about the team not deserving coverage for lack of interest, you might as well extend this policy to all of our women’s teams. Then we would never hear about our championship-contending field hockey and lacrosse teams. It is clearly reasonable that our newspaper should cover our women’s teams, which are real to us and a part of our storied sports tradition.

I am very proud of my sister, who is on our competitive cheerleading team. Any doubt that this team’s athletes do not put in hard physical labor is dead wrong. Maybe you and your friends should witness their intensity and amazing physical skills at a practice sometime. Then, and only then, will you come to appreciate the well-earned respect desired by these female athletes and their supporters.

Ricky Grow

Sophomore

Meteorology