KSU making even more money off of students

Dear Editor,

I could not agree more with Sarah Bowers about many of her points on keeping some of the paper Schedule of Classes books. I shared my complaints with the Registrar’s office and an employee told me very shrewdly that I was one of the “rare people” who actually miss the paper version of the Schedule of Classes. So what is Kent State doing with all this money they are saving? Sarah is right on when it costs us money to print up our own schedule of classes. Kent State is genius, they already make seven cents per copy on student printing, why not make more? They have a monopoly on everything here. I’m getting sick of it and the attitude I get from the Registrar’s office for voicing my complaint.

David Sinko

Senior industrial technology major

Shepard didn’t choose to be murdered

Dear Editor,

Mr. Fisher’s letter to the Stater was too disorganized to really make much of a point, but he made one point that I felt was highly offensive.

His description of the coverage of Matthew Shepard’s death suggests that certain facts were “suppressed” by the liberal media. But his facts – Shepard’s class and the criminal histories of the men who killed him – are largely irrelevant. He goes on to point out that while Shepard had a choice, unborn fetuses don’t. This is true – fetuses usually get rides home from the bar with their moms – but Shepard’s choice wasn’t to decide to be murdered, it was to get a ride home with some guys from the bar.

It’s entirely possible that Shepard wanted to have sex with the men, but to suggest that Shepard caused his own murder is reprehensible. It’s a classic case of blaming the victim for somehow “wanting” whatever crime was committed on them, and remarkably hypocritical for somebody who claims to be pro-life.

Darren MacLennan

Graduate student, library and information science

May 4 Task Force needs commemoration funds

Dear Editor,

I was disturbed to read in the Oct. 18 Stater that the May 4 Task Force once again faces the removal of block funding for its annual commemoration. For those of us familiar with the work of the Task Force over the past 30 years, this latest challenge is sad; even sadder, it’s not surprising.

The May 4 Task Force has been, at times, the sole caretaker of the memory of May 4, 1970. When the administration adopted a misguided public relations strategy in the 1970s of simply pretending that the shootings never happened (fearing that acknowledging the shootings would hurt enrollment), the Task Force served as the University’s conscience. Year after year the Task Force has provided thought-provoking, heartfelt commemorations and is a valuable source of education about the tragic events at both Kent State and Jackson State.

Removing block funding would seriously dilute the Task Force’s ability to meet its mission. Kevin Folk suggests that no student organization is above any other; I would respectfully disagree. The Task Force is unlike any other student organization, rather, it is a gatekeeper of American history. Nearly two generations of Americans today were not alive on May 4, 1970. A vibrant and funded May 4 Task Force is needed now today more than ever.

Mike Sorohan

Class of ’81, Co-chairman, May 4 Task Force 1977-78