Cyclists and pedestrians both at fault for their never-ending war

I notice a string of articles lately that appear to target cyclists. I will agree there are a lot of dangerous people riding around on campus, and awareness or lack thereof is a contributing factor, but I also see pedestrians committing unsafe acts. There are countless of examples of this. I hate to see pedestrians fail to look when walking into or across a street. Irresponsible walkers also step into the street or bike lane, and sometimes they do these things while talking on the phone or wearing ear buds. With this in mind, I believe that it is necessary to launch an awareness campaign, which I support, but it needs inclusion of pedestrians as well. Some people just didn’t listen to their parents’ “”look both ways before crossing the road”” rule.

Scott Morong

Undeclared sophomore

Spoiled athletes need to be grounded

This letter is response to the numerous articles covering the outburst by Serena Williams at the U.S. Open.

Well, I must state that something like this does not surprise me. After all, we have an undisciplined, spoiled brat who is underworked and overpaid that probably never had to earn a living, unless you consider hitting tennis balls all your life as some sort of labor. 

I am not familiar with the rules of tennis, nor do I want to be, but it seems apparent that this sport has a rank order of judicial authority similar to other sports. Evidently the line judge is subordinate to the chair umpire so it would seem that if one is not satisfied with the decision made by a line judge they would simply appeal to the chair umpire.

But when people are raised to believe that winning is the only thing and everything else is discounted, one may draw the conclusion that what Ms. Williams did was perfectly acceptable and appropriate. Let’s see, “”screaming at an official with a jabbed finger”” and stating: “”I’m going to shove this ball down your (expletive) throat.”” Even John McEnroe, another spoiled brat, was taken aback by her behavior. 

If I were the line judge, whether or not I was familiar with America’s culture or lack thereof, I would have felt sufficiently threatened to seek out the protection of law enforcement. Ms. Williams should have forfeited the match, been arrested and banned from tennis. Her ill-gotten gains then could be rightfully distributed to accomplish more important things than rewarding the tirades of a selfish materialistic ego.  The question that remains for all forms of organized sport is where does one draw the line between protest and a complete disregard for authority?  A public apology is simply not acceptable and the sponsors of Ms. Williams need to be made aware of this through direct contact up to and including the boycott of products. As the old television commercial states “”anything less would be uncivilized.””

Joe Bialek

Cleveland, OH

Outrage over Jacob Miller’s arrest

During this challenging time of budget cuts, administration, students, faculty and staff must come together to forge the best path for the future of the UA. But we all need to be mindful of the present to ensure that our vision does not obscure the current challenges we all face.

Open dialogue and listening needs to come from all sides. Graduate student Jacob Miller was part of an event that promoted these two things. The students who organized Thursday’s Arizona for Education rally hoped to persuade everyone that we all have a stake in the budget and spoke out for shared governance and transparency.

Unfortunately, the University of Arizona Police Department, we will assume with the support of administration, saw fit to arrest Jacob Miller. Actions such as these shut down dialogue between administration, students, faculty and staff, and instead further split the groups into warring factions. But more importantly, the arrest propagates a sense of fear and mistrust throughout the university community.

We demand a university setting where students feel free to express their views without fear of arrest or intimidation. 

Derek Adams and Erica Cirillo-McCarthy

English Graduate Union Co-Chairs