Thanks for the patience, support

After my training period on Aug. 9, I was surprised and shocked at some of the major changes at Grillworks this year for both breakfast and lunch. I wanted to thank all of you for coping with us as we are trying to adapt to these changes as well.

Seeing the upperclassmen has brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart. Thank you for the hugs and greetings. To you freshmen, please introduce yourself to me when you come to Grillworks (to get the best burger ever, I might add). I want to get to know all of you.

Charita Moyers

front line supervisor

Garrett Food Court?????????????????

Backing SGA president Bradley

This letter is in response to the Greek Village debate. For the first time in four years, the students have a representative, John Bradley, who actually cares about the long-term interests of the students. Bradley cares so much, in fact, that he is willing to take an unpopular stance on an issue that is important to many of the people who put him in his office. I am not saying that Bradley never had dealings with Greeks. However, that experience affords him the insight to know who is really to benefit from this proposed deal.

Brittney Long said that our SGA President is “taking a one-dimensional, superficial stance on this complex issue.” After reading Long’s letter, I believe that she is doing what she accuses Bradley of doing.

I agree that this is not a simple issue. Western needs all of the adjacent land it can acquire to keep the main campus from collapsing under its own overpopulation. President Ransdell seems convinced that relocating the Greeks would be a solution since, to paraphrase, the Greek houses are falling apart and unsafe. Perhaps he is right. No one faces the threat of eviction lightly.

However, has it occurred to Dr. Ransdell that the residents of Jonesville faced a similar circumstance during the last century? Who was there to bail them out?

These situations demonstrate that good intentions should never be an excuse to choose a course of action that we know is wrong for the long term.

Sam Stinson

Bowling Green senior

Buy your own houses

I’m no Greek. I’m an American. And in the America I grew up in, if you want a nice house to live in, that’s great, but you pay for it yourself. Heck, my grandfather built his own house. And I think a Greek Village is a great idea. Two reasons: Most of the people who like the Greeks are Greeks, so let them be as together and communal as they want to be. Second: Most of the people who aren’t Greeks don’t much care for them. Reasons vary. I fall into the group that doesn’t care for the party lifestyle that characterizes Greek life.

Still there are others who find it comic to pay for friends. Also there is a faction of people who take offense when the see the T-shirt slogan “We aren’t cocky. We’re just better than you.” But none of the people who don’t like Greeks want to be around the Greeks all the time. We’d rather the Greeks stay in a Greek Village.

Far more than 30 percent of students at Western live in a dorm at one time or another. The $40 million to fix up dorms helps every student who doesn’t commute every year. And this is a vast majority of freshmen, hence a vast majority of the student body.

If they want Western to pay for their housing then they should adhere to Western rules concerning things like alcohol, checking guests in to their living quarters, room checks, parking passes, etc. Wrong is the only word to describe it. And if the proposal goes through, it will be because our president, who usually does a good job, is a former SAE who wants to give his “brothers” a big gift – bought and paid for by you and me.

Nathan Smith

Franklin sophomore

Exposing ignorance in statement

“We can’t constantly adjust the world to suit each individual’s tolerance level. At the same time we can’t shrug off tenets like the separation of church and state.” I cannot blame Daniel Pike, writer of this statement, for his fault. He was simply regurgitating an incorrect thought that has been melted into the great American pot of ignorance.

Thomas Jefferson coined the “separation” phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, who feared the reincarnation of a state-sponsored church in the newly assembled United States. Jefferson claimed that the wall of separation should be one-directional lest governmental corruption overtake the church, as had occurred in England, but that the influence of the Christian church in government should be encouraged.

The distortion of this principle came in 1947. Supreme Court Justice Black used the phrase but claimed the wall of separation should be “high and impregnable,” state out of church, church out of state. An incorrect paraphrase of one man determined the verdict of the Everson vs. Ewing Township Board of Education case and countless other religion-affiliated cases since.

The phrase “separation of church and state” cannot be accepted as a “tenet,” Mr. Pike, because it is, in current form, the opinion of one man, and it is not even in the Constitution. Search the entire document thoroughly; you will never find it. I promise. Where is our country headed when laws are based on individual distorted opinion and the nation believes the opinion was law to begin with?

Joshua Gilreath

Glasgow freshman

Schneider was in bad shape

In Thursday’s “Tops and Bottoms” section, the Schneider Hall closing was “boo-ed.” Three years ago I was a desk clerk at Schneider, and this plan to bring in high school academy students is no new thing. Even though I do not particularly agree with the university on this decision, I understand why it has been decided. Schneider was not closed because “some jerk was trying to burn it down.” I have seen the reports of the status of all the residence halls on campus. Schneider was by far the worst – but I didn’t need a report to tell me that the carpet was over 30 years old, the rooms hadn’t been painted in over 15 years, not to mention the plaster from the ceilings falling down in almost every room, huge water damage, a large mold population in every room and exposed asbestos in various parts of the building, particularly the third floor. So, why doesn’t the university just fix it up like all the other dorms – like McLean? Western can’t afford it. Evidently Schneider is the only residence hall on campus that the university completely owns. The idea is that we can get the funding to renovate Schneider by hosting this high school academy program, then after a few years we can say, “Sorry, this whole thing’s not working…” and have a newly renovated Schneider back to being a university residence hall. Everyone knows that high schoolers don’t belong on a college campus and that this program won’t work – the only reason Western is doing this is for financial reasons … of course.

Angie Trumbo

Chicago junior