Show Handicapped awareness hampered by disinterested selfish and ignomnt young adult population with functional legs by Choa Carver editorial editor There is an old Russian proverb that reminds us quite aptly of what it is like to be in another man's shoes It was a Russian culture1 pasttime to banish their elderly to the bam to live out the final days of their existence The story tells us that a Esther orders his young Russian son to take a blanket to his grandfather in the bam The young man dissap-peare- d for over an hour and when he returned he still had half of the blanket in his arms When the Esther says to his son "I told you to take that blanket to your grandfather” the boy replies ‘This half of the blanket is for when you loo win be banished to the bam" Unfortunately this story's focus in on the elderly and not the handicapped but the lesson learned is the same We are students on a campus whose doors are almost impossible to open if one is confined to a wheel chair When I first realized how ter ribly hard it is to get around here in a chair I was mad at CEU's administration but my attitude has changed President Michael A Petersen and the rest of the staff are not to blame You are If anyone is going to make a change on this campus it will have to be you According to President Petersen this campus does meet the federal rcquirments for state campuses however that docs not mean that we are truly accessible In fact Petersen agrees that we do not have “a safe and accessible campus’’ A few years ego we made some advances in making the campus handicapped accessible and that was with federal funds Any further changes however will require money approved by the Utah Board of Regents For these officials to act is going to have to be a priority on campus I suppose it is hard for those of us with functional legs to take into account the difficulty of those who do not This is because we are a primarily disinterested selfish ignorant group of young adults As long as the bathroom door is wide enough for us to get our bulls through then we are perfectly content Maybe we need someone close to us to struggle before we take notice I cannot tell you how proud this attitude makes me I have little space to talk though My sclf-ccntcr- ed attitude was just as ignorant until I had to spend a significant amount of time in a chair myself That amount of time consisted largely of strug gling to get into the library the dorm bathroom the bathroom in the library and every other place under the sun Petersen and James Schampel Phi) both shared this “wheeling" experience last year and we all agree this campus is a poor example of meeting federal regulations The good news is that the ball is already rolling According to Petersen some automatic doors costing Thousands of dollars" will be installed on the Main Building sometime in the next month or so and the new dorms have a unit specially constructed for wheel chair access I am extremely proud of this step taken by our administration but now you and I need to push for more CEU students need to push our adminstration to make all of the dorms accessible widen all of the doors to the bathrooms make the ramps more gradual and express more concern for the needs of our students and human beings who don't have it quite as easy as we do At one point I read a story about a college in California that was not handicap accessible The students in wheelchairs began to protest and they were soon joined by the rest of the student body Soon the administration agreed to make the changes neccessary to meet the student demands We do not have an overwhelming number of handicapped students on our campus so we must spark the fire in their stead Id-lo- w I never thought that I would say this but we need to follow the lead of the administration and get our butts in gear Just as the Russian proverb says the time may come when we too are banished to the barn and we can only hope that someone will come to our aid I sincerely hope that none of you ever end up in a wheelchair but if you do I sincerely hope you have people around you who are willing to help fight for your rights — in which case you may want to consider transferring So this is your editorialist Choa Carver signing off to you from terminal one in room 111 in scenic Price Utah reminding to you to "Always Do The Right Thing " Is the war fostering a new patriotism? Brad Gwyther editorialist In the midst of all the chaos of the war in the Gulf there seems to be something happening in the states that makes me feel good about where I come from Lately it seems that a new sense of value has been awakened within all of us The value of patriotism has been rekindled in the United Stales to a whole new spectrum With all the negative aspects of the war there seems to be this ray of optimism and it exists across the whole country Maybe because it hits every town in the same way young men leaving to defend a country against aggression It seemed that before when people would hear our national anthem it really didn't mean anything Now the flag and its song has grasped everyone's attention People even sing the anthem when it is played In fact I caught a man humming it to himself as he was walking down the hall I can't fully explain what is happening but maybe this conflict has lit a match under our scats to make us snap out of the consistant dnill that has hung over our heads for years since before the Vietnam conflict Songs are being played over the airwaves broadcasting proud feelings of being an American "God Bless the USA” Whitney Houston's version of the "Star Spangled Banner” and even a "Letter to Sadam” seem to be a catalyst to this growing awareness of patriotism Maybe America woke up and realized the things they look for granted petty things like freedom right to be who or what you want etc If someone were to lake these away from us we would be about as effective as a fish out of water Is it possible that maybe we as a country have taken what some people only dream of for granted? A sense of respect and value reaching deep down inside of us all reminding us of who we are and where we come from has been brought from the depths of stored away feelings I admit that this situation has made me realize how good we really have iL Sure people get upset at political decisions and life's unfairness I didn't see a contract where it stated that everything will go your way and all will be fair There will be people that say they think we should have a war every now and then to keep the feeling of patriotism alive Not true this is just an observation and if you do think I am an advocate for war then you are sorely mistaken But it would seem we have a responsibility to rise to the occasion and support what is going on because we are trying to gain for someone what we already possess Blood for oil? The only issue? Well if you think the reasons are as simple as that it makes me wonder what brain cell you used and where your sense of responsibility to the nation is If I am stepping on toes right now then good! How would it feel to say what you feel and you were punished for saying iL Think long and hard about what we have going for us and how good we have iL If you are truly unappreciative and have no respect for the US then I urge you to try and find a better country than the one we have Oh and good luck Foremost cause of fanataclsm religion I find it ironic that we have vanquished most disease with the so called miracle of modem medicine yet one disease that has been around since man still continues to claim lives at an alarming rate The common cold? No fanaticism That disease of the mind that drives twanf Has the Eagle become a tabloid? To the editor I recently read the latest issue of The Eagle and as a student ' here at the College of Eastern Utah I am appalled that a newspaper published by an "institution of higher learning” could allow an editorial lo be printed that not only insults the majority of female staff members faculty members and students on campus but also lacks any relevance to the issues that are of a major concern to the students that not only supply the funding for the newspaper but at whom the paper is directed As an editorialisL Brad Gwyther has the responsibility to express opinions that are both well thought out and knowledgeable about issues that are important to the majority of the students Instead he opted lo use The Eagle as a tod to express his ignorance about a subject he apparently knows nothing about and to make excuses for his inadequacies when dealing with women on an eaual basis Yes I do understand that we are talking about the first amendment lo the Constitution however we are also talking about a publication that (because of the people it serves) should be concerned about integrity responsibility and prejudice The printing of Brad Gwythers editorial "PM£ A Threat To Vital Body Parts" did nothing to establish The Eagle as a respected newspaper On the contrary it took The Eagle into the depths of TABLOIDISM I believe that the staff of The Eagle should decide what their journalistic goals are going to be Whether its going to be a responsible and informative newspaper to represent the College of Eastern Utah or the newspaper that is ridiculed throughout the state for its shallow subject matter Debbie Marchello Stereotyping journalists to war and to the commitment of such horrible atrocities as live burning and infanticide And what is the foremost cause of fanaticism? Why religion of course Dear Editor The Spanish Inquisition the Salem Witch Trials and the Reverend I am writing in response lo the Jim Jones all stand as examples of the damage religious fanaticism can letter written by Debbie do Marchello Thanks for showing Perhaps I am a bit idealistic but this is the 20th century almost the your concern about the PMS 2 1st and I feel that there is no room for the fear and ignorance caused by editorial However I am appalled blind adherence lo a particular faith Although we have entered the inall that anyone could stereo-typ- e formation age some people choose to five in ignorance and superstition journalists into one category in There was a time in the not so distant past that Halley's comet wis the same manner that Brad (continued on page I) (continued on page 8) |