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Opinion
 

Letters to the Editor

College is a place to experiment

To the editor:

I respect Reid Midgett's opinion in Tuesday's "Freedom shouldn't trump faith" (Opinion). However, I grew up in a fundamentalist church in a city where 80 percent of the population was a different religion; yet, I have never seen so many so passionate in their faith as I have here at UH. The same freedom that instills fervor on campus drives many others away from faith, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

While it is nice to have a faith to fall back on, don't let it become a crutch. Use college as an opportunity to evaluate what you have been taught and decide whether it is right for you. There are far too many people in this world who hold rigid beliefs simply because they were taught to rather than deciding for themselves. After all, why would God endow man with intelligence and reason if he did not intend for them to use it?

Brandon Lawler
computer science junior

Speech not free of influence

To the editor:

Followers of every faith will appreciate the concerns expressed in Tuesday's editorial "Anger is certainly the appropriate response when your religious beliefs are mocked at an institutional level." Violence against embassies as a means of protest is downright wrong. But if fundamentalists have used their faith as an excuse for violence, then the media have used their freedom of speech as an excuse for provocation and spreading hatred. Satirizing Muhammad (peace be upon him) hurts and provokes anger, so it is important that such actions are condemned without qualifications. Any imagined or existing situation is irrelevant to the repulsive nature of such adventures.

AbdulBari Muhammad
graduate, pharmacology

Mini-busses need major repair

To the editor:

The mini-bus contract needs to be evaluated to ensure the contractors' obligations are being fulfilled. Reasons for this are:
 

1. They're becoming unsafe. Take a ride on one and experience riding with no shocks or springs. Enjoy being thrown vertically upward almost one foot while the bus makes it little journey. Enjoy being thrown sideways for the same reason. Maintenance is simply required.
2. Loose items in the back of some of the buses, loose safety belts, loose ‘door blockers' in the rear, etc, need to be dealt with.
3. Seats need cleaning
4. Signs indicating which bus route they are need attention.
5. During various rushes, busses are full to where students and others are standing not only in the aisle, also in the stairwells. When they make stops, all standing people must exit, then those exiting get off, then buses reload again and go on. Standing in aisles is one thing, but standing in the stairwells?

Kenneth D. Baratko 
BSChE, BSCIS, MSMathEd

Letters to the editor are welcome from all members of the UH community and should focus on issues, not personalities. Letters must be typed and must include the author's name, telephone number and affiliation with the University. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, language and space. Letters may be delivered in person to Room 151, Communication; e-mailed to dclettrs@mail.uh.edu ; or faxed to (713) 743-5384.