Letters To The Editor

MSB Computer Room Valuable

On Jan. 25, University Information Technology Services announced in an e-mail that they were closing the 24-hour computer room on the ground floor of the MSB, citing lack of use and aging equipment as the primary reasons. I highly recommend they reconsider.

My experience has been that this room is frequently used during the day by students doing homework, especially as both the math and physics departments are switching to web based grading systems. I would urge UITS to work with its neighboring departments to explore alternatives to closing, such as replacing only half the computers, and leaving the other desks open for studying.

-Michael Kowalczyk

4th-semester

civil engineering major

Something Wrong With Football Recruiting

I'd like to congratulate [UConn football head coach Randy] Edsall and the Huskies for a great 2007 season. But they deserve to be trashed for another reason.

Achieving a Big East co-championship is great, but placing last in the conference academic rankings this year is embarrassing (based on the number of Huskies recognized on the Big East all-academic team). The State of Connecticut just gave Edsall a sweet five-year, $1.5M per year contract and the university has recently built one of the best training facilities in college football. These elements were aimed to help attract top recruits, but ranking dead last in the conference in academics and finishing in the bottom quarter in recruiting over the past four years will not result in consistent winning on the field.

If Edsall wants to recruit bottom-third recruits, they should at least excel in the classroom. Ranking last in recruiting and finishing last in the classroom does not translate into a true winning program.

-John Dupuis,

Class of 1984,

Hillsborough, N.J.

Blockade of

Gaza Nothing

But Effective

In response to a recent editorial ("Unjust Israeli Blockade Finally Ended," Feb. 4), the quiet town of Dimona, Israel is now home to the second suicide attack in the country since April 2006, thanks to the ineffectiveness of the Egyptian border patrol in restoring the wall that was blown up by members of Hamas. Information has made it quite clear that the suicide bombers were able to easily get into Israel through Egypt after Hamas blew up the wall and residents of Gaza were allowed into Egypt to stock up on supplies and, in this case, take advantage and abuse this freedom.

This incident in Dimona is exactly what the Israeli government has been trying to avoid in restricting the movement of those within Gaza. Certainly not an ideal method of securing safety and peace, but when leaders of the Palestinian Authority condone such suicide attacks, hope for peace is clearly not to be achieved through a simple signing of names on a peace agreement, especially when one of those signatures is a reflection of false promises.

In order to end such restriction on these people, of whom only a minority are acknowledged to be a terrorist threat, change needs to first occur within the Palestinian Territories before there is a legitimate cause to open all borders between Gaza and Israel. These restrictions are not trying to make life harder for the people living in Gaza. The goal is to protect the people of Israel from the far too frequent attacks from suicide bombers coming from within Gaza. If there have only been two suicide attacks within Israel in almost two years, since the restrictions were imposed, this is a clear sign that there is now more security within Israel.

The question of "abject poverty" being directly correlated to the restrictions imposed by Israel is ignoring the lack of the Palestinian Authority's efforts to provide better for their citizens. As far as I know, the majority of the Islamic Middle East would prefer that Israel didn't exist. Wouldn't it be in their best interest to support the cause of the Palestinians and fund their plight? Where is that assistance? Why is it being requested of Israel to assist those that are on a daily basis calling for the destruction of its very existence? Only when this question can be justifiably answered will there be any validation against the fact that in this situation, Israel is acting in self-defense in order to protect the safety of its citizens.

-Leslie Funk,

6th-semester,

communications major