Letters to the Editor

Food stamp challenge opens student's eyes

Last week, from March 22 to 28, UConnPIRG sponsored an event to raise awareness of the difficulties of people who survive on food stamps. Several students went to their local grocery store to purchase only $28 worth of food to last them the entire week.

As one of those students, I thought it would be best to raise awareness by telling how my week went. Before even going to the store, I made a list of the foods I would need to survive the week and the foods I would like to have if there was leftover change. At the store I was shopping and picking out the food that was on sale - if it wasn't then I got cheapest option I could find.

Pasta, cereal, vegetables, soup, yogurt, and meat all made it into my cart along with a little extra. Finding the food was not too hard, what was difficult was actually going to the cash register. Along the way, I apparently did the math wrong and I was over my budget. It was rather embarrassing to ask the clerk to take things off my order such as the extra box of pasta and the candy bar I grabbed to ensure that I had some form of caffeine for the week; I didn't even have enough money to go to the gas station to grab some milk like I had hoped.

Speaking only of my week's worth of experience living off of a food stamp with no other form of support, arriving at the cash register had to be the worst part of the week, because, let's face it, no one wants to be told that they owe more money than they have. Through the week I realized that I did have enough food to last me; the difficulty of surviving only on this food came to me when it came to eat with my friends. I couldn't go out to eat with them, and when I joined them at the dining halls I could only watch, wishing I could just try a tiny piece of their pizza. Even watching the students around campus drink their $3 coffee, knowing that, on a food stamp diet, there was no way I could afford it. This experience is a great way of raising awareness of the hardships that people have to suffer living on food stamps with no other means for getting food to provide for their families. I was only purchasing food for just myself; I can only begin to imagine how difficult it must be for others to live like this and support their families.

- Kristyn Slason

4th-semester, criminal justice

Jim Calhoun is underpaid

In the wake of the post-game press conference jab by Ken Krayeske, there has been a great deal of chatter about the salary of the men's basketball team head coach Jim Calhoun. The truth is that in comparison to the salaries of other coaches with a similar resume, Jim Calhoun is underpaid. Last month's press conference made headlines across the nation and even evoked a negative response from Gov. M. Jodi Rell and a few state legislators. Nevertheless, Jim Calhoun's salary is an investment for the University of Connecticut and therefore the State of Connecticut. His very presence in the program brings in prized recruits who strengthen the basketball program and ultimately increases the revenue inflow for the university.

Calhoun is an asset to the state of Connecticut. His successful career makes him desirable to other institutions and broadcasting firms (i.e. Bob Knight) across the nation. Each of these would gladly pay the Hall of Famer at the very least the same salary, with no qualms about it. Kentucky men's basketball head coach Billy Gillispie (up until last week) makes more than $2 million a year. Calhoun has more than four times as many career wins and two more national championships than Gillispie. In comparison to Florida men's basketball head coach Billy Donovan, who makes $3.5 million a year, Calhoun has the same number of National Championships and more than doubles the amount of career wins.

In essence, Jim Calhoun's $1.6 million salary is rather modest considering the way his accomplishments stack up against his peers. It is also important to note that his salary is not all paid for by the state. In fact, a huge portion of that salary comes from private sources-endorsement deals that are guaranteed in the contract.

Calhoun's off-the-court accomplishments may outweigh those on the court. With his direct financial support, fundraising projects and time donations, Calhoun has been incredibly active in the community. Calhoun has done everything from supporting local politicians at political rallies, to holding charity golf tournaments. All of this while still battling life-threatening health problems himself.

Calhoun is also responsible for a whole range of community service initiatives: The Jim Calhoun Charity Classic Game, Calhoun Cardiology Research Fund, Jim Calhoun Holiday Food Drive, Coaches vs. Cancer and others.

Since the press conference there has been some debate on whether or not the $12 million in revenue Calhoun's program brings to the university is an accurate figure. The amount of positive publicity Jim Calhoun has manufactured for the University of Connecticut cannot be quantified. The Jim Calhoun brand is a walking marketing gold mine. Yes, at times he can be a hot head during games and occasionally arrogant in post game press conferences. Yes, at times his foul mouth may not be warranted. You would be hard pressed to find a successful coach that doesn't display a mean streak in the heart of competition. Let's not let his occasional unfavorable diction and egoism on the court overshadow the nature of the man off the court. Let's put aside this recession-generated class warfare and stop attacking the man for making a good living. Calhoun's salary is an undervalued investment for the State of Connecticut. The misconceptions must be put to rest and the facts must be viewed in a holistic perspective. We must understand, Jim Calhoun is underpaid.

-Emmett Condon

6th-semester, finance major

Global Warming speaker doesn't tell whole story

On Tuesday evening (March 31), Chris Horner, who is definitely a well qualified, non-partisan, super genius scientist with a degree in any kind of science whatsoever, came to campus to tell us the truth. Global Warming is not man-made. He works as a lawyer with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and organization that is definitely not funded by cigarette companies and the oil industry. CEI never received in excess of $325,000 from Phillip Morris during the 1990s, and that not happening had nothing to do with their claim that "we should even think of smoking [tobacco] as a civic duty." Likewise, they never received more than $2 million from Exxon Mobil itself, not to mention all the foundations, other oil companies etc. that have a clear economic stake in keeping the debate over global warming going.

No, all of the slick, masterful PR moves that Horner and the CEI have made over the past 20 years have been in the interest of the people: making sure we're all healthy, can live in a clean environment, and are well-informed citizens. They offer facts, not propaganda like the environmentalist movement. Horner's arguments were pure gold, and he definitely never contradicted himself: not once!

At the beginning, while discussing Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" in a totally unbiased, non-partisan way, never once lowering himself to the level of preaching to a choir of conservatives, he explained that "correlation does not imply causation." Forever disproving the link between carbon dioxide emissions and increases in temperature. Then he went on to say that the correlates he saw in Al Gore's famous carbon dioxide vs Temperature graph proved that carbon dioxide concentrations increase after temperatures rise. As even the clinically retarded can see, the correlation, in fact, proves the opposite causation!

To make sure everything was fact based, and not idiotic liberal propaganda sciencey-stuff, there were tons of pretty pictures of polar bears and global warming protesters looking stupid. Then he showed us pictures of three of the temperature monitoring stations that were in poor locations. Tsk tsk global warming alarmists! If three of your boxes are in bad locations, that proves all of them are.

Next, Horner went after the International Panel on Climate Change. You see, environmental activists went after, and discredited, many of the opponents of global warming (signatories of the Oregon Petition). So, in a brilliant move, he discredited a handful of IPCC scientists, thereby winning the argument.

I have to remark on the thoroughness of his PowerPoint presentation. There was not a single quote out of context. And Horner absolutely destroyed the IPCC's report, apparently without even reading it! He claims that variations in solar output were not taken into account. Well those evil alarmists are at it again! They must have found some kind of Jean Claude Van Damme "Time-cop" to go back in time and change history...with LIES! The IPCC report does claim to include solar forcing on climate, and tries to back it up with all sorts of numbers and graphs, but what do those even mean?

Thank goodness we have great people and institutions like CFACT, CEI and Chris Horner to save us from junk science!

I'd also like to commend CFACT for promoting a diversity of viewpoints on campus. Their one viewpoint is just peachy keen and the one all hardworking Americans need! They should definitely get student funding, because they've never gotten $582,000 from ExxonMobil, (funny how that name keeps not popping up) $60,500 from Chevron and $710,000 from various conservative foundations with roots in the oil, uranium mining and banking sectors! I applaud CFACT for not endorsing only tired conservative cliches about how the magical hand of the free market will save us all. Also, everyone will have a unicorn.

-Richard Tracey

Newtown

Decriminalization will lower use of harder drugs

Another reason to decriminalize or completely re-legalize cannabis (marijuana) that doesn't get mentioned ("Conference emphasizes marijuana law reform," March 30) is because it will lower deadly hard drug addiction rates.

DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) will have to stop brainwashing youth into believing lies, half-truths and propaganda concerning cannabis, which creates grave future problems.

How many citizens try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful as taught in DARE-type government environments? Then they think other substances must not be so bad either, only to become addicted to deadly drugs. The old lessons make cannabis out to be among the worst substances in the world, even though it's less addictive than coffee and has never killed a single person.

The federal government even classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance along with heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. For the health and welfare of America's children and adults that dangerous and irresponsible message absolutely must change.

-Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

Financial Aid staff do work hard, communicate

I was appalled at the lack of respect for the Financial Aid office in Megan Lynch's column ("Bursar, Financial Aid Should Be in Constant Contact," April 1). I am an employee of the Financial Aid office and I was offended when I read Lynch's statements that our office "screwed [her] over ... about five times" and our office is "out to get [her]." We have an excellent, capable staff who work hard to make sure the process runs smoothly and efficiently for every student. However, with thousands of undergraduates, graduates, and incoming freshmen, we do not have time to hold the hand of every student here. It would be great if we could have someone combing through every student file, looking for problems, but unfortunately we have neither time nor resources for that. Lynch filed to change her residency status; why didn't she follow up on that? Why didn't she notice that she was charged out-of-state tuition?

Also, I was shocked when I read her complaint, "I handle all of my finances ... I don't just have my mommy to do it for me; she is simply too busy. And trust me, it's a lot harder to get these offices to listen to you when you don't have your parents to call and yell at them."

I feel this is a somewhat common misconception: have your parents be nasty to the client services representative, and you can get more money faster. I would like to dispel this rumor. When I receive a call from a student who is courteous to me, I respect them and do everything I can to help. However, when a student is having an issue and has mommy call in and disrespect me, it is only grudgingly that I help. I assure you that courtesy is the best, easiest, and most pleasant way to enlist the assistance of a Financial Aid staff member. I do not appreciate being treated poorly, and I am sure my coworkers would agree. We log countless hours in the office, see a vast amount of different issues and speak to thousands of students. We are well-trained, experienced employees of the university. Please show us the respect we deserve.

If students have any confusion about the financial aid process, I suggest they visit our financial literacy page at financialaid.uconn.edu/literacy or contact our office.

-Emily Kibbler

2nd-semester molecular & cell biology

Staff, Office of Student Financial Aid Services

DC not sensitive enough about student death

I would like to comment on the outrageous insensitivity of the article about Joseph Curley's passing, ("UConn freshman found dead in dorm room," April 2) The headline is absolutely disgusting.

In Kate Monohan's article, Curley is remembered for his affiliations and involvement in extracurricular activities, spoken of by people who did not know him well.

I find it atrocious that his death is memorialized in a flashy tabloid headline. The university has no business knowing the circumstances of Joseph's death unless it involved a danger to the community, which according to the police, there was "no suspicion of foul play." The nature of a person's passing is knowledge that should be shared with family and close friends. I am so disappointed in The Daily Campus for printing such a story, and not respecting Curley and his family's privacy.

-Amanda Friedman

10th-semester,

secondary English education major