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Show Chronicle Editorial Sociology Professors Fight Better Than They Lecture CTDhe professors in the sociology department are having a hard time getting along. U The tenured faculty are denying the younger professors tenure, based on what seem to be personality conflicts. Though popular with students, Theresa Martinez had to fight a tough battle to get tenure last quarter, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Former Assistant Professor Charles Hunt was denied tenure by senior professors, even though he won the university teacher of the year award last year. The Graduate Council has put the department on probation and forbidden any new graduate students from being admitted for two years. In that time, if the department hasn't met die administration's criteria, it will be restructured. In other words, heads will roll. The number of students choosing to major in Sociology has , increased steadily since the 1980s. This is not the time to ignore the students' need for steady, mature professors. Why is it so hard for professors supposedly professionals as well to support an environment of learning and tolerance in the department? Because egos and scholarly independence, so often built into academia, prevent them from cooperating. The Daily Utah Chronicle believes the professors' behavior is hog-was: These people are adults. They should act like adults. When professors can't cooperate, students suffer. Rather than providing a rich education, good quality research and a community for students and faculty to discuss theories, they create suspicion. - If the older, tenured faculty are denying new professors tenure based on personal issues, they ought to step back and look at recent scholarship and teaching without their critical eyes. The Chronicle sincerely hopes they are not too old to learn. The Graduate School of Social Work is one of the best in the nation. The sociology department ought to scramble to prepare its students for illustrious careers as sociologists and social workers. Instead, its faculty members have actually used threats of physical violence against each other according to former assistant Sociology professor, Charles Hunt (The Salt Lake Tribune). That kind of behavior belongs in junior high, not the academy. Because the administration has generously left faculty governance up to the sociology department, The Chronicle suggests the department hire a mediator to attend meetings and help them to get along. Faculty members must look at their own behavior and ask themselves, 'What have I done to prevent this department from working cohesively?' They cannot expect success by blindly blaming the next person. It's embarrassing that the sociology department publishes good quality research and can't use it to its advantage within its own walls. The very respectability of the university is called into question by their bickering. The Daily Utah Chronicle is an independent student newspaI I h. . Letters Utah Shalt Not Combine Church and State Editor: The campaign by Utah public school officials to sneak religious indoctrination in the back door continues. In May, West Jordan High School officials flatly broke state and federal law by conducting Church of Latter-da- y Saints (LDS) seminary classes in the school, reasoning they could get away with it for two days. Then, the Richfield High School graduation ceremony was held in the LDS tabernacle. Weeks earlier LDS Church leaders had declared their tabernacles to be churches, and thus led the St. George City Council to deny a liquor license to a restaurant 700 yards away, but that didn't stop ivy-chok-ed , per. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Editorial Board. The above editorial was ratified by a unanimous vote. in Richfield. In Salt Lake, the scheme by West High School officials to intrude prayer into graduation ceremonies by singing but our school leaden couldn't care school administrators it continued when the school choir again sang "Friends." That song has now become an anthem for Mormon domination of schools in Utah. Each of these incidents is a new precedent for weakening the separation of state and church. Each is an exercise in intolerance, and the public is right to be concerned. Two years ago the majority of Utahns signaled their desire for statechurch separation in schools when they rejected the Nonsectarian Study of Religion amendment to the state constitution, so-call- less. As conservative as our federal . courts have become, they still appreciate the social value of statechurch separation, especially in our schools. Just this month, a federal judge in Mississippi struck down student-leschool prayer as unconstitutional. In Utah, too many of our school officials d us into another divisive legal confrontation. Their endless crusading at our expense is a serious indictment of the current top leadership in our schools. Chris Allen Senior - Rrychology Bacon Tastes Good, but not Worth Mistreatment of Animals Jeremiah Johnston Opinion Columnist t a family gathering a cou- V Q pie of weeks ago, I found fAmyself content with eating potato salad as my aunts and uncles chowed down on ribs and chicken. That was until someone in my family asked why I wasn't participating somewhat in the fleshy feast-Witof a smile I let them all in on the little secret of my vegetarianism. Their mouths dropped open and I could see the barbecue sauce dripping from their bottom g hps. I have a believe and family, they the redder the better. It came as quite a shock h meat-eatin- when they learned of my epiphany. .Vi'i- 'I became vegetarian about four months ago and my ideology has changed quite a bit in that time. I lived with two vegans and I scoffed at their animal- - I was your typical meat eater, and I figured animals to try out a vegetarian diet The were there for our use as a resource. I regarded them with disrespect and ily were friendly lifestyles. contempt I spent many a night staying up with my other companions trying to think up fun, new ways to trick my roommates into eating some sort of animal What I found was that they had more conviction towards their beliefs than anything I had ever believed in. What developed was a respect for the difficult lifestyle they devoted themselves to day in and day out As my vegan friends enlightened my conscience, I learned of all the atrocities in the meat industry and came to the conclusion that I wanted nothing to do with it This choice was not easy for me since I loved meat To me, there was nothing like a good steak. As much as I arguments from my friends and fam- instantaneous. They argued, nuai 2 meat-eatin- g m n . . chain Humans are at the top of it, . and they need to stay there." I will concede to that We art at the top of the food chain and we are the most : intelligent animals on this planet et that doesn't change the fact that we arc still animals. loved eating meat, I decided I could no longer support an industry that treated the other life on this " f planet with such disrespect Although I couldn't see myself becoming vegan, I made the choice n about the food ; to survive. We can make almost anything out of the simple soybean; and if I have that choice, I would rather, avoid supporting a meat industry that acts with such disregard for the lives from which they are making their millions. Life should be respect- ed in all forms - and the meat industry has made disrespect an art form. As a society, we could learn a lot from the way Native Americans valued the lives they relied on to sur- vive. They ate meat, but they respected the meat they ate. They thanked the animals for sacrificing their lives so the Native Americans could live. Most people who argue against going vegetarian simply question the Human kind is unbelievably cocky in that we think everything on this planet is here for our use and exploitation. We share this planet with other living beings. It is our point. contend that, one person responsibility to protect other life forms, not exploit them. We will soon learn that if we exploit everything, it will disappear someday, then we may become the exploited. Humans are meat eaters that I believe. However, with today's technology, substitutes have been formulated to give us everything we need O going to affect 1 the way the meat 57 X. industry operates. You know, they are complete ly right But if a million individuals choose to stop, eating meat, the results will be felt What it comes - 1 hey to is those people who choose vegetarian or vegan lifestyles don't expect their actions to change the world. Personally, I won't have anything to do with an industry that down makes money off disrespect . If we are going to be a meat eating society, which I know will never change, we need to alter the ways we obtain our meat When a pig never gets to leave the pen in which it is born, and is never allowed to have anything, resembling a life, that is disrespectful When baby cows can't move around because their meat will be more tender if they stagnate in a cage, that is disrespectful. w ., . u i ever eat meat again -it will , which I hope I can J r .J - be when my conscience is clean about the lives sacrificed for mine. ' You can make a choice though. Don't buy meat from large slaughterhouses that only r care about how much they get per pound of meat Instead, buy. e from ranches that use animals. These are animals who get to have lives. If you're going to eat a cow, make sure it had a chance to spend a lazy day out in the pas . ' . choosing to stop eating meat isn't M J C(w free-rang- ture. : r, J .U |