Letters

I read with great interest that Patrick Beisell wants the Judicial Board to disqualify Rudy Soto’s verification as president so that Patrick can “take back the office that should be his.”

Student election results shouldn’t be disqualified

I read with great interest that Patrick Beisell wants the Judicial Board to disqualify Rudy Soto’s verification as president so that Patrick can “take back the office that should be his.” It’s unfortunate that a plurality of PSU students didn’t feel the same way about Beisell’s effectiveness as a leader as he does about himself, otherwise that statement wouldn’t come across nearly as arrogant as it did.

It’s ironic that for a candidate who professes to be termed a “progressive” that the political model Beisell is following is one established by George W. Bush. Didn’t get enough votes to win the election? Why should that matter, when surely there is a technicality to exploit? I mean, far be it for the student body to be trusted with their decision for themselves, right? After all, we’re only talking college kids, why should they care who their student representative is? With the lackluster effort of the current administration, one can only imagine what the efforts would be of a president lacking a mandate from the student body.

And what is this technicality that is being exploited, that Soto didn’t have enough credits? Never mind the fact of the unprecedented actions that have interrupted and postponed this year’s elections. Never mind that when the elections were constitutionally required to be held last quarter, Soto was registered with the proper amount of credits. Never mind the game of revolving chairs being played at the Elections Board, with three heads within a span of three months, some of which were openly displaying Beisell/Ozimkowski materials in a campaign-free zone. Never mind that one of the Elections Board heads was arrested for assault after getting drunk and masturbating at a party. And never mind that Beisell’s running mate was arrested for breaking and entering said election chair’s apartment. No, never mind all that. Instead, Beisell wants to focus on the fact that Soto dropped a class in the first couple weeks of the term, an act being carried out by thousands of PSU students at the same time, and currently Soto is carrying 12 credits. It’s a tenuous claim at best, and an action akin to throwing a tantrum at worst.

It appears that Beisell would have preferred to have run for president uncontested, that way there would’ve been no threat to the “office that should have been his.” If the Judicial Board disqualifies the election results, then Beisell will have accomplished that goal of running unopposed. Which raises the question: Why the heck did we just go through the time, money, and energy spent in holding and carrying out elections, if the whiny moanings of a graceless loser are going to make a mockery of the whole proceedings?

Craig Ireneus

Who gives a shit about Jerry Glanville?

PSU is not now, nor will it ever be, a football school. As the Vanguard reported in September, the Vikings get paid to lose, and neither the students nor the rest of Portland would care if they were any good–which they aren’t.

If Portlanders cared one iota for football, then we might have a pro team. But we don’t. Because people here really don’t care. [What] the pro-sport citizens want to bring here is baseball. And there aren’t even enough supporters to make that happen. So why is this overpaid buffoon getting so much press?

Instead of talking up Glanville, we should be kicking his “I-got-these-boots-from-the-same-place-as-President-Bush” ass out of town, and using that $133,000 salary of his to pay teachers, since they’re currently getting paid among the lowest 10 percent of salaries in the nation, and Salem doesn’t seem to be interested in coughing up the dough to make up the difference.

Football offers nothing to PSU but organized violence, a reputation for inadequacy, and a distraction from academics-remember, this is a university. Jerry Glanville offers nothing but football. So why on earth should any of us care?

Josh Gross

Imus deserved to be fired

“People, use your heads. Use your voice and decide what is right and what is wrong for yourselves.”

If I’m not mistaken, this statement glosses over the weeks and weeks of public outcry and scorn that appeared in newspapers, radio programs and TV stations. No court or public office went after Don Imus. No one knocked on his door in the middle of the night. He was not thrown in jail. Don Imus was tried in the court of public opinion and it was there (and only there) that people said he had to go.

Freedom of speech is a great thing–no one is going to argue with that–but it doesn’t mean every point of view has to be specifically accommodated. Imus has been saying things like this for years. He’s more than welcome to find another venue. He’s more than welcome to continue saying bigoted things–just not on CBS’s time.

The article states he was just doing his job–to entertain and to move product. I agree with that–he was an employee of CBS who was rejected by the vast majority of the consumer market. Sure, he was only fired after public sponsorship was pulled, but public sponsorship was only pulled after those weeks of public backlash and after the Rutger’s basketball team called them on it. In a time when corporate engines really do hold too much sway over avenues of communication, it seems to me like people were using their voices and deciding what was right and wrong. People were shopping their politics. CBS and their sponsors’ actions were reactions.

With that said, if we want to talk about media wrongs and our rights, why don’t we talk about our right to know and this tacit blackout on newsworthy topics? What about how the evening news dares to waste time on the antics of a washed-up pop star over the impeachability of President Bush? People have let themselves get too distracted for too long about Don Imus. Don Imus? Who cares about Don Imus?

Samantha H.