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Opinion
 

Letters to the Editor

Article gave inaccurate coverage of fair trade debate

To the editor:

The Daily Cougar's coverage of the fair trade debate during the March 21 Student Government Association meeting in the article "Fair-trade coffee proposal sparks debate" (March 22, News) did not accurately portray the meeting.

It should be noted that SGA Sen. Brian Ambridge not only disagreed with the term "slavery" being used but claimed UH Students for Fair Trade is a "left-wing fringe group" and also said UH is a "conservative university ... and it's going to stay that way."

Another important point commented on during the SGA meeting by Tim O'Brien was that many other first-tier universities, such as Rice, The University of California, Berkley, and Yale, only sell fair trade-certified coffee. While only selling fair trade-certified coffee does not make a university first-tier, it is a symptom of responsible consumption that is practiced by many first-tier schools.

Readers may come away from the story thinking that O'Brien and I were the only ones who spoke on behalf of SFT. This is not the case.

I realize there are large time constraints when writing for The Daily Cougar, and hope this was the reason for the biased coverage of the SGA meeting.

Ross Barnard
English junior, UH Students for Fair Trade officer

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 Anonymous letters will not be published.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 151C, Communication; e-mailed to dclettrs@mail.uh.edu ; or faxed to (713) 743-5384.