Fair trade letter incorrectly described situation
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the letter to the editor, "SGA ignores student demands" (Thursday, Opinion). The letter, written by Tiffany Le, portrays a complete misrepresentation of the facts regarding the fair trade bill passed by the Student Government Association Senate.
I have, from day one, opposed the compromise Fair Trade Bill that was passed in the previous SGA administration in 2007. No consultation was made with library officials to discuss possible space allocations and no consultation was made with coffee vendors to discuss securing a vendor who would sell only 100 percent fair-trade coffee.
Le continues her misrepresentation of the facts when she further said that I "wanted 100 percent fair-trade coffee business in Shasta’s instead of the library."
The Shasta’s location was offered as a separate proposal from the SGA bill proposing a 100 percent fair-trade coffee venue in the library; the proposal was offered as an immediate start-up for a fair-trade coffee location and not meant to replace the proposal made by the SGA Senate calling for the installation of one at the library.†
As a student representative body, the SGA is endowed with the power to control certain student service fees as well as amend student life policies. However, when dealing with issues that affect the campus community, it is imperative that we first make sure it is feasible, and secondly make sure that it meets all the needs of our campus community.
I am proud to serve and represent my fellow students and will gladly take on their issues. However, if you believe that I do not or have not served you in some way, maybe you should ask yourself whether your issue is in the best interest of the student body at this University, because that is the only way I will support it.
Sam Dike
SGA president
News Radio gives listeners what they expect to hear
To the editor:
What Aaron Majors fails to remember, or perhaps know in "Radio station a source of misinfo" (Sept. 10, Opinion), is that News Radio 740 KTRH is not a publicly owned radio station.
Being a privately owned station allows certain benefits and rights, such as giving its customers that which they desire and choosing the content of their programs and advertisements. This has been known for many decades as capitalism. KTRH is a free-market radio station that gives the majority of its listeners that which they want to hear. If there was a desire for it to provide more diverse programming, I am sure that they would oblige.
I would love to remind Majors that 740 KTRH is owned by Clear Channel, which has no reputation for being conservatively biased. Clear Channel simply does what is profitable, and putting on liberal shows to please a minority of talk-radio listeners has not proven to be it.
To address his complaints about the actual advertisement itself, I will remind Majors that not only is Sen. Barack Obama a public figure running for office and is therefore inherently a subject of investigation, criticism and consequences, be they in his favor or negative.
The only real change I’ve noted since the start of the Obama campaign has been his downward fall from eloquent speech delivery into juvenile, baseless ad hominem assaults, as well as his increasing lack of focus on the actual topics at hand.
It strikes me as odd that Obama and his supporters cannot take what they dish out. But then again, that is typical with those "open-minded" liberals.
Melissa Grosse
communication junior
