OCR Text |
Show The Daily Utah Chronicle TT T T TX MOnday, March THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW What tlAfPBis Crimson Nights ong Overdue Crimson Nights was Friday's levelsa huge success organizers put together activities students wanted to participate in, and students actually showed up to participate. The activities included live music from Tolchock Trio, performances by Quick Wits improv basketcomedy troupe, a ball tournament, pool, bowling, crafts, sumo wrestling and screenings of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "The Jungle n- Book." 2 0 0 3 BSH!ttl!fJ)WW)S'i'3SI81 w&e4 we us goes to was? Saints StuUt3h, the Latter-da- y dent Association, the Residence Halls Association and the Student Alumni Association pitched in to pay for some of the events, such as the sumo wrestling. Also, the greeks and other campus entities helped with the promotion of the evening, which brought in the large number of students Friday. Creating a free event for students to participate in gives those living on campus something to do on the weekends, and it gives those who live a reason to create a night life at the U. Organizers want the event to become a weekly occurrence, and they also want to coordinate the activities with the football schedule next fall. This is a great idea. Charging up school spirit before a game with a night of fun, free activities is a smart move, and continuing school spirit after a game is equally smart Friday night's activity made the U feel like an actual college campus, and not just a commuter school. Crimson Nights, and other similar ideas, need to continue at the U, and students need to keep attending these events. m j Q j, mA, mm) """'"i"'lW''naa Rm off-camp- us While organizers hoped for about 300 participants, they ended up with about 600, which they were overjoyed about, as well they should be. Frank Chacon, assistant director of the Union, attributed much of the success to organizers' marketing and to the fact that so many organizations pitched in for 10 the night. While the Union donated the $7,000 base fee for both Friday's activities and for another Crimson Nights to be held on April 4, and the Union Programming Council coordinated the night, groups such as the Associated Students of the University of LETTER 0 THE EDITOR igh School Shenanigans Return ; . Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, gender, appearance or sexual entation will be edited or will not be published. T out: ori- Editor: It's interesting to see ASUU campaign posters littering the campus this time of year. It's like going back to high school, witnessing a bunch of students vying for popularity rights. Generally, the candidates' qualifications arc that mommy and daddy gave them some money so that they can distribute ridiculous-lookin- g stickers, dress up vehicles and act like everybody's best friend for only two weeks. I received my undergraduate here at the U and am currently pursuing my master's. I have seen six different elections and campaigns. What did they all have in common? Once they win, they accomplish nothing while in office. Over the years, I have had opportunities to work with ASUU. I know many individuals elected in times past. I have personally witnessed that ASUU has no real power. Let's say for argument's sake that ASUU is important. Do these candidates actually think that an absurd party logo accompanied with doughnuts, expensive posters and basketball hoops actually qualify them to represent the student body? It is only a popularity contest, exactly like those in high school in which truly qualified candidates generally do not win. But I guess it isn't that different from real life. Nevertheless, I just hope that everyone realizes that, in the end, it doesn't matter who wins, the "elected" students do nothing. They can't, because they have no real authority. So why all the hoopla? Good question. I've been wondering that same thing every year since I started up here. lowevet, in the words of Dennis Miller, "That's just my opinion. I could be wrong." JUSTIN BAGLEY Master's of Accounting 1 Pvot ecung the Might to B eiieve in ' . " . " 'J JIM BERGSTEDT Chronicle Opinion 0.: In Columnist an attempt to appease the United States' atheist population, the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals recently refused to reconsider a ruling it handed down in California last June. The ruling held the Pledge of Allegiance to be "unconstitutional" because it makes reference to God and this, it claims, is a violation of the First Amendment. I respect a person's ability to choose not to recite the pledge. If one were forced to comply and recite the pledge in the classroom, in the courtroom or in other public settings, we would be nullifying the very principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness our founding fathers envisioned and provided for us. But there is a simple solution to this dilemma: If you don't believe in God or reference to him in the Pledge of Allegiance, then don't say the pledge! But don't take away the right of the vast majority, who believe in God, to express their belief in him and to recite the pledge with reference to him. street. Voltaire onee Respect is a "I said, may not agree with what you have to in the 2003 Legislative session, .supports Voltaire's moral philosophy. Although it calls for junior high and high school students across the state to recite the Pledge of Allegiance "once a week at the beginning of a school day" with reference to a "nation under God" it docs state that students have "the right not to participate in reciting the pledge." But schools and other government institutions in nine Western states are now barred from asking students and others to recite the Pledge of Allegiance with its reference to God. The court used the same old rationale of the "separation of church and state" to justify its decision. This argument has little, if any, histor- will defend with my life your right to ical and Constitutional validity. The First Amendment to the Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." No mention of the "separation of church and state" exists in the Constitution. In his "Jefferson's Beguiling book, Metaphor," Philip Hamburger, a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, explains that the phrase "separation of church and state" was first used in a letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. There was some concern at that time that the Federalists were receiving support from the Congregationalist clergy in sermons given from the pulpit. The Republicans, led by Jefferson, began to urge separation, meaning only that the clergy should stay clear State Senate Bill 105, which almost unanimously passed both the Senate and the House of politics. The "beguiling metaphor" referred to in the title of Hamburger's book is the "wall of separa two-wa- y say, but say it," 1 CHRONICLE OPINION EDITOR JOHN MORLEY tion" spoken of in Jefferson's letter. Hamburger feels it creates barriers that "portend ill for individuals who value their participation in religious as well as civil associations and who hope to flourish and even, perhaps find some truth in each." Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has expressed similar sentiments. He was outraged at the court's decision to refuse to reconsider the largely unpopular ruling that takes God out of the Pledge of Allegiance. He recently told the New York Times that "the purpose of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment was to proscribe the establishment of a particular religion and to prohibit government from discrimination against one religion by favoring anoth-er...- it was certainly never intended to mandate that government ban religious sentiment and culture from all aspects of public and civic life." "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." If that were the case, the Supreme Court of the United States would have to alter the phrase "God save the United States and this honorable court," which is recited at the beginning of each session of oral arguments. The Declaration of Independence would have to be rewritten it LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU refers to all men being created equal, "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights," and also mentions the "appeal to the Supreme Judge of the World" and "a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence." The fourth verse of the national anthem, which urges Americans to "praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation," would have to go. And we would have to destroy all of our currency and move to another country, because our money solemnly declares, "In God We Trust." But somehow I don't believe that Washington, Jefferson, Adams and other founding fathers would have wanted any of these things to happen. They trusted in God and openly declared their beliefs. George Washington said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." Jefferson once wrote, "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties arc from God?" Lven Patrick Henry, the man who said, "Give me liberty or give me death," argued for a government tax to support religion, saying the spread of Christianity would "correct the morals of men, restrain their vices, and preserve the peace of society." In the end, all of us are given the right to believe what we wish to believe and to openly express those beliefs. Whether or not that t ight is is up to individuals to decide, But it is up to each of us to "defend with our lives" others' tight to express those beliefs. Jim wvkonws fcedbiuk at jbcrgslcdt:.i Send letters to th? editor to letters (i chronicle.utah.edu. God-give- chrotti-tle.utah.edL- 581-639- 7 i. |