The Hurricane ran an article not too long ago regarding the closing of parking lots during Convocation Center (C-Center) events and how resident students were pissed off about the policies. Did anyone bother to ask commuter students how they felt? After all, the blocked-off lots are commuter lots. And the answer is: No, they didn’t.

Let’s think about this for a second.

UM charges $300 for a commuter parking pass, then charges $30 on average for a C-Center event ticket, riles support from the attendants of the events for donation money and cashes in on $20 parking citations for commuters caught parking in resident lots. Hmm. The priorities are becoming clear.

So the money-crunching bigwigs at UM are to blame. Big surprise.

Here is a typical scenario for a commuter: You get to the VIP lot with a trunk full of snacks for your starving resident friends who live on Chartwells, only to pull into the lot and be harassed by a parking attendant who tells you to park in Ponce. Yeah, right – my sushi will be warm before I even reach my undernourished dependents!

I’m told I can’t park in the lot because the lot is for C-Center VIP guests only.

Hell, I’m VIP. With what I pay for tuition, I could go to a trillion C-Center events. And don’t even try to sneak into the Snake lot, because the ranting and raving will only increase, along with the threat of towing and parking citations.

My friend once called the Parking and Transportation Department to complain about the situation. Apparently they have no authority to change the parking situation, nor do they know who does.

Solution? Well, how about all the commuters on campus (60 percent of total student body) boycott this ludicrous parking monopoly and pool the collective $300 instead. This newly established “Student Parking Fund” (SPF) would be used with a committee and e-board to organize payment of parking citations.

If interested in this initiative, please complete a membership or e-board application, soon to be developed by me.

Amy S. Lawrence can be contacted at aslawrence@umiami.edu.

In stores now! Urban Outfitters was selling a t-shirt that says, “Voting is for Old People” (they yanked them off the shelves this week). Frankly, I would have to say that I agree. Voting is such a pass activity. Do I want to go to the polls on Nov. 2 among the unfashionable populous? I think not.

Urban Outfitters has its finger on the pulse of our generation. Caring about voting or politics in general is something people in our age group don’t do. Take a look at the statistics. The 2000 U.S. Census Bureau reported that, in the 18-24 population, only 36 percent actually voted. Compare that statistic with “old people” who vote: 66 percent for 45-54, 70 percent for 55-64 and 72 percent for 65-74 population. Apparently, voting is for old people.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel comfortable allowing the baby boomers to represent what I think. We consider ourselves the “misunderstood youth,” but how is anybody supposed to understand us if we don’t even voice our opinions in a presidential election, let alone a state election? Besides, when was the last time you agreed with your grandmother about politics?

I know there are many of you who believe that politics don’t matter – that voting doesn’t matter. How can your one vote actually change things? Might I remind you that in Florida that decision came down to 537 votes. That is a small margin in a state where 6 million people voted.

Voting does matter. Who ends up in office affects our lives whether we like to admit it or not. It can determine what roads get built, what taxes we pay, and what wars we fight (or don’t fight). And those are just a few things that politicians decide.

The excuse I often hear is that you don’t know enough about the candidates to make an educated decision. The election is months away. Learn about the candidates and the issues. Don’t stick to one news agency. Research and decide. We are college students; educating ourselves is something we should know by now.

The next American Idol is not as important as the next American President. Register and vote. If you don’t, you let others speak for you. That is a larger travesty than Ruben beating Clay.

For more information, visit the following websites: www.rockthevote.org, www.vote-smart.org and www.e-democracy.org/us.

Shree Chauhan can be contacted at s.chauhan@umiami.edu.

Over the last couple of weeks, one might get the impression that the actions of Advocates for Conservative Thought are tantamount to the end of affirmative action, that what they did is so heinous that those participating in it should be exiled to Siberia. I even heard this whole thing described as a “slap in the face.” Actually, a slap in the face might be appropriate to knock some of you into reality. Whether affirmative action is right or wrong is not something that will be ironed out here. My intention with this column is to address the reactions and rhetoric of the opponents of ACT.

What I find most distressing in all this is the unique opportunity that has been missed. Instead of responding with the dignity that you feel ACT has lacked, the argument degenerated into the tone that it always does – name-calling.

True to form, the word “racist” has already been slung about ad nauseum, unfortunate more for the lack of creativity in intellectual thought behind its excessive use, than for the fact that those of you who throw this word about haven’t got a clue as to what it actually means. And no, it’s not something that only afflicts white people. A racist comes in many forms and colors, as history demonstrates.

Certainly, I can understand the knee-jerk reaction of being insulted by cupcakes sold at different prices based upon race, but if ire had remained restrained one might have seen the metaphorical point that was trying to be made, regardless of one’s eventual agreement or disagreement with that point. The fact is, in many areas of our society there are different standards for people based on race. One would have to be a fool not to understand this. Whether it is the African American or Hispanic person victimized by predatory lending practices or a white or Asian student subjected to stricter entrance standards to a law school, discriminatory practices exist.

On an intellectual level, if we’re going to say that a practice that discriminates is wrong then we must agree that it is wrong for everyone, regardless of who benefits from it. The point of the cupcake price differential was to illustrate this in a shocking and provocative way. Instead of seeing that for what it was and countering it with an eloquent argument, UM’s undisputed king of the purveyance of shameless self-promotion utilized the most sound bite-worthy portion of a four-paged email to whip people up into a frenzy, and all before cupcake No. 1 was even in the oven. SG Vice President Clark at least made an attempt at stating a case in favor of affirmative action, half-assed though it was.

On the other hand, the counter-bake sale and subsequent protest, while being dignified expressions of freedom of speech, didn’t really answer ACT’s challenge honestly because those behind it think affirmative action doesn’t have anything to do with race. Oh, really? Then why are all of you so defensive about it?

To say affirmative action has nothing to do with race and that it doesn’t discriminate is absurd, even if you think that such discrimination was necessary to set right a wrong that is inherent in American history.

I would be the last person to deny that something drastic needed to be done 40 years ago, and maybe in the short-term affirmative action was the answer. But when does it end and when will we know? Judging by the attitudes of some, it never will and we never will. To ACT’s credit, at least they asked the question – that’s more than anyone else can say.

Scott Wacholtz can be contacted at s.wacholtz@umiami.edu.

To the Editor:

For some time I have followed with interest the affirmative action debate being covered in The Hurricane. What astounds me the most isn’t that the debate is going on, but the criticisms of ACT, the organization that planned the original bake sale. It’s not surprising that such a debate exists, especially on this campus that hosts a large variety of breeds and schools of thought, but I’m disappointed in the tone and attitude that somehow, by legally and somewhat tactfully expressing their opinion, ACT has done something wrong.

I wondered if it was the shock value of the campaign, and that maybe the means to deliver the message was the controversial point that sparked all this debate. But when I turn on the television, I can’t help but be inundated with ads telling of the millions of people dying of smoking each year, children drowning while the baby sitter smokes pot and my personal favorite, an ad that runs on the BBC that graphically shows a small child being hit by a car traveling at 50 miles an hour. Yet, none of these ads have been mentioned in any political arena on campus, let alone with the same manner of fear and hatred that the ACT bake sale was, and all of these ads have an arguably far greater shock value.

I’m not sure if anyone has watched the news recently, or read the last edition of The Hurricane, but the controversy that seems to be headlining is Gay Marriage. It’s ironic how SpectrUM had nothing nearly as controversial to say in the paper about that.

Sincerely,

Sam Phillips

To the Editor:

I was sadly disappointed in The Hurricane’s recent review of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler (not “Eva” as she was credited). It seems that Mr. Twiggar missed the point of the performances completely. Perhaps he perceived the play to be “anti-male,” but as one of the performers, I would like to state that “male-bashing” was never a factor in any part of the production. In fact, none of the actresses ever believed that her piece would be construed in that way.
The fact that Mr. Twiggar believes you have to “have ‘one’ (by which I assume he means a VAGINA, it’s okay, you can say it!) to get it” is exactly the kind of attitude V-Day is protesting against. The performances were staged by dedicated women, not necessarily actresses, committed to bringing other women’s stories of violence and hope to the audience, thereby raising awareness of a variety of experiences. The Monologues were sometimes performed by multiple actresses in order to emphasize diversity within common experience.
Mr. Twiggar lamented the absence of solutions to the issues presented in The Monologues. Again, he missed the point. The point is that there currently are no solutions to these issues. The Monologues were staged as part of an ongoing dialogue of people the world over who seek to create viable solutions. But their work is unraveled when people come to the performances without open minds and hearts, without being ready to listen and ready to respond to what is being said.
I’m saddened to realize that some missed the incredibly uplifting point of The Vagina Monologues: that change is possible if we all come together and begin to do taboo things like “communally shouting words that can’t be printed in this paper.” It’s the people who shouted the loudest who are working the hardest to change the world. I’m proud to know the group of women who, for two nights at the beginning of March, did change the world for some by bringing The Vagina Monologues to the University of Miami.

Sincerely,
Kimberly Egolf – a vagina!

Finally.

That’s the thought that’s crossed the mind of the average UM student for the past week (or, quite possibly, longer). It’s spring break! Woohoo! One week of partying, beach and sun! (Oh, wait – isn’t that how some of UM’s students spend their time anyway?)

Spring break is meant to be a nice period of relaxation before the stress of finals. At this point, students are expected to be exhausted and in desperate need of a change from the monotony of school and work. But if you think about it, we’ve just had class for seven weeks, and there will only be six weeks left of class when we come back from the break. Seven weeks isn’t exactly an extenuating period of time, and we’re all seemingly at the end of our ropes. What are we going to do when we get into the real world and only get three weeks of vacation the entire year?

Of course, some people use spring break productively, catching up on their credits by taking an intense Intersession class or fueling their soul by participating in Alternative Spring Break, volunteering across the country to help support all kinds of worthy causes.

However, the majority of students use the week off to party, drink, eat junk and have casual sex. Hello, STDs.

According to 1998 statistics published by the Journal of American College of Health, the average male drinks 18 drinks per day and the average female drinks 10 drinks per day during spring break. Fifty percent of men and 40 percent of women got sick or passed out from alcohol at least once during spring break. A 1997 poll found that 64 percent of college students have at least one random spring break hookup. Likewise, 47 percent said they didn’t use a condom once during spring break. Everyone seems to forget that alcohol can cause less intense orgasms, erectile dysfunction, loss of lubrication and an increased probability of sexual assault and rape.

So now it’s the we-sound-like-your-parents part of our spiel. How is this possible? We’re college students, part of the elite, educated portion of the population. We’ve had sex-ed since fifth grade, and our campus Wellness Center distributes free condoms once a week. There’s no excuse.

The fact that you are of legal age to drink outside the United States doesn’t justify getting wasted, smoking pot, driving at 100 m.p.h. and getting stopped by a police officer who will place you in a substandard prison for who knows how long.

Stay with a group. Hire a taxi. Wear sunscreen. Avoid dehydration by drinking non-alcoholic beverages. Wear a condom (yes, each condom can only be used once). Don’t leave your drink unattended. Beware of breaking the law, particularly in foreign countries.

Wouldn’t it be fun to come back and actually remember what you did so you can entertain your friends?

When we return from the break and people are tanned and relaxed, as well as itchy and hung over, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Oh and, by the way, that red bump on your lip? That’s not a zit. See you at the Health Center.