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Show ^ D A I L Y UTAH CHRONICLE O•PINION www.dailyutahchronicle.com Thursday, March 2, 2006 Obesity is not OK Editor: I rarely agree with anything The Chronicle says, but mad props for the recent editorial ("Just the fats, ma'am," March i). It's a sorry day when people's excuse for obesity is genetic predisposition or simply that they love to indulge, and that is OKI Obesity results in billions of dollars in health-care costs in the United States alone—look up any report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are costs shared by all Americans, obese or not. The simple fact that there are more obese people now than 20 years ago does not make it more socially acceptable, nor should it. Certainly there are cases when a person is overweight for reasons outside his or her own control. More often, however, it is the result of laziness and an inability to consciously decide to live a healthy lifestyle. No one likes to be called lazy, which is perhaps why all the "love the fat" talk goes on. Certainly no one can be expected to live up to the insane expectations of the skinny industry, and the American definition of "fit" tends to be highly selective; but this does not mean people shouldn't strive to get out to the gym more than once a year (or never). Obesity has no excuse—and you can love your body as much as you want, but that doesn't mean anyone else should have to. Sabrina King Freshman, Political Science and Economics Elections: the worst time of the year Editor: Can you feel it in the air? It's back againl What am I talking about? Why, the ASUU student body circus... er... elections, of course. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, I'll briefly explain. In the coming weeks, you will begin to see hordes of college students ah* over campus offering you fliers and a quarter of a bagel in an attempt to get you to vote for their party. Now, if you enjoy people in your face on a daily basis and having your entry or exit from all buildings on campus impeded, then you are sure to love the next few weeks. But for the rest of us, it is our annual return to hell. James Rost Senior, Film Studies Bring back cloth towel dispensers! Editor: I'm curious, was there a reason for swapping cloth towel dispensers with paper towel dispensers in campus bathrooms? Won't this create more trash, more labor (someone has to haul that stuff around) and generally more maintenance expenses? I don't get it. Erik Ratdiffe Senior, Graphic Design Mandatory '• health insurance is socially responsible "^THE'CHRONICLE'S VIEW Welcome changes in th#| ifgfc§r giate Readership Program [ hanges are being made to the Colle•'.: giate Readership Program, which offers 1 students a selection of national and local newspapers, so students will get more bang for t h e i r b u c k y-y^y-.^^-y^-ir;'':--KV ~""-;: ' ^ ; -; Currently, students are charged $5 per semester for this privilege, but next year that cost is going to be cut in half. Obviously, any reduction in student fees is a good thing, even a reduction this small. It is nice to see student fees being lowered this time, instead of being increased. At the same time that this student fee is being ; reduced, The Wall Street Journal is being added to the selection of papers available to students. This addition to the program will benefit star 4...^ dents and faculty by helping us learn about the world around us. ,:£;l-ln the past, The Chronicle has expressed concern about the Collegiate Readership Program because it hurts Chronicle readership, which is '." a U student's main outlet for campus news. Obviously, there are needs that The Chronicle fills for students that papers such as The New York Times—and even The Salt Lake Tribune—cannotfilL However, with newspapers all across the country reporting losses financially and declines in readership, anything to promote . ' awareness in college students will be beneficial to our society as a whole< Places of higher education are often where a society's citizens are trained. While in college, we need to learn to be aware of the world around us. These newspapers being made available with so little inconvenience to individual students supports and promotes that idea. The diversification of the newspapers being made available to students is important. No one should rely on any one news media outlet for all of his or her information about current events, politics and social trends—he or she should pay attention to a wide range of sources. . . This addition will also come as a welcomed "addition to some students in the business department. Many classes on campus require daily newspaper reading, and some of these classes want The Wall Street Journal specifically. It's nice to see that this prestigious newspaper will now be available to students on campus, without them having to buy subscriptions individually. Ultimately, the changes being made to the Collegiate Readership Program are to students' benefits, and while students shouldn't start reading The Chronicle less, they should start ; reading other newspapers more. 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, religion, creed, gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited or will not be published. All letters to the editor will now be published online at www.dailyutahchrpnlcle.com. Letters that the editor deems best represent those received will be printed in the newspaper as well as online. •:• -; . yy. ; - ' w- '.'-: \- '•':.{, :; v ;;/ ' ^ - ' f ' '?.$'•:'] ••£'. t '*'"''' *"' &i It's about time a woman ran for ASUU president Editor: As ASUU elections approach, it needs to be said that IT'S ABOUT TIME a woman ran for president. This year a woman is not just running for the Legislature or the usual position of senior class president, but for president of the Associated Students of the University of Utah. Every year there are hopes to change ASUU for the better. There is no question that women bring unique perspectives to these offices. A woman as president may just be the kind of change that ASUU needs. It has been over a decade since a woman was president at this university. It has been over a decade since a woman was vice president at this university. How can the student government really represent the students when half the U's population has been left out of the two highest offices for over ten years? I do not intend to suggest that voting purely on gender is a good idea. I am excited about this Editor: Is the question of mandatory student health insurance really a debate? Indiana, Georgia, Emory, Ohio State, Vermont and all UC schools (including Berkeley and UCLA) are just a few schools that require all students to have health insurance. About 90 percent of private schools have this requirement (BYU since 1989), and more and more public schools are requiring students to be covered. The Chronicle lauded the U's social responsibility for purchasing wind power, yet opposes a far more important social issue; health of the students. How irresponsible! Opponents argue that some students cannot afford health insurance. But students across the country are forced to drop out of college because of unforeseen medical incidents. Too many students believe they are invincible and appendicitis, a major accident, etc. will never happen to them. Coverage for Fall and Spring Semesters cost students $896 this year, and that cost would certainly decrease if more students were enrolled in the plan. UCLA's student insurance was S558 for the entire year last year. Is the U going to be a national leader in this important area of public health and social responsibility? Or will we lag behind and be one of the last universities in the country to adopt this policy? I am embarrassed that this question is even an issue. Rick Warne Graduate Student, Busmen Proponents of hard-waiver health insurance are communists Editor: I thought that I was studying at the U, not the freakin' Soviet Union! First, you want me to pay people to be gay. Now, you liberals want to force me to buy health insurance that I will never use! . • Last year, I seriously looked into the health insurance offered at the U. It sucks. In fact, it sucks so badly that it is going bankrupt. I would receive absolutely zero benefit from it. Now, you Stalin-ites get the genius idea that if people won't willingly pay for your crappy insurance, you will just force them to give you their money! Here's an idea: Instead of sitting around with all your communist buddies trying to think of ways to spend my money, why don't you figure out a way to eliminate the student fees (just another example of you communists/liberals stealing my money without me receiving any benefit). KeHcn Wilson junior. Finance and Spanish opportunity to have a qualified female presidential candidate, and possibly some female representation in the highest level of student • government. I suggest looking at the platforms and voting for change. As you go to the voting polls next week, vote for the party that is going Editor: to give us our money's worth. Our As an alumnus, I feel ashamed student fees are what add up to the that The Chronicle continuously • $1.4 million budget. Don't let your publishes bigotry from Kellen Wilvoice go unheard. son. I hope his child is born homo-" * Tiani Crowfoot sexual. Junior, Political Science Brian Newson Wilson should have-. '• a gay kid and Psychology If they're all idiots, why do we keep voting for them? We need to stop complaining about state government and start getting involved in the process E very spring, it seems that at least one complaint is on everyone's mind: the Utah Legislative session. The jokes about our representatives' intelligence—or lack thereof—run rampant, as every year it seems as though the folks up on the hill seem to come up with an even more ridiculous idea than the year before. Between bills trying to get Utah out of the UN. and bills defining marriage (again), following the doings of our elected officials is just a hoot-and-a-half. Well, the 45-day session is finally over, and there's nothing really to be done about what did, or didn't, happen—except perhaps learn for next year. The fact is that, even though it's a gigantic cliche, those who don't become involved in the political process don't have the right to complain. If we are ever going to improve the quality of our elected officials, we have got to stop complaining and start actually doing something. Why do we invariably have the same objections about state government every year? We complain that our representatives don't listen to constituents, that the governmental process isn't transparent enough, that lawmakers waste too much time and money, that lobbyists have too much power and influence and that our representatives are just outand-out idiotic. RuthAnne Frost The criticisms are never new, which doesn't really make sense. You would think that in a democracy, a dissatisfied electorate would result in political change. The problem is that, despite everyone's willingness to complain, very few are really willing to become educated about the process and hold their elected officials accountable for their actions. Today at noon, the Hinckley Institute of Politics is going to host a forum wrapping up the legislative session. Four legislators will be on campus to discuss the bills that passed, failed and died in committee in the last month-and-a-half. This is an amazing opportunity for students to meet their elected officials faceto-face and start understanding why certain things happened and others didn't—and an opportunity for these legislators to see that college students care about state politics. The 18-24 a 8 e demographic is notorious for its lackluster political involvement, especially at the local level. While we might want to ignore state government for roughly 10 months out of the year, the fact is that every spring we realize that state government really does have ;i big impact on our lives. The power legislators hold is proven when they decide to do things such as fund the Marriott Library renovation, as they did in 2005, or cut $300 million in higher education funding, as they did this year. This November is the 2006 midterm elections, which means some! of our local representatives are up f6r job review. Instead of spending next spring complaining, let's spend this fall getting decent representatives elected. letters@chronicle.utah,Lrdu |