Letters
Housing decision unfair to residents
I am the mother of a first-year student residing in Dykstra Hall. I am writing to voice my disappointment and anger at the UCLA Housing Office.
My son’s two roommates decided to leave Dykstra for the newly-opened De Neve Plaza dorm. My son was then informed by the UCLA Housing staff that if he chose to stay in his room, it would cost us an additional, exorbitant housing fee for the remaining quarter. His only other alternative was to pack up all of his belongings during Finals Week and move into another three-person room. So, UCLA Housing demanded that the students relocate instead of studying for finals.
We send our children to UCLA for a better education; however, the only lessons that they’re learning right now are in “Greed, Insensitivity and Inflexibility 101,” taught by the people at UCLA Housing.
Gail Fasi
Laramie Project is not propaganda
In response to Andrew Jones’ column, “‘Laramie Project’ only leftist propaganda” (Viewpoint, March 14):
Someone needs to tell Jones to get a clue and learn to express his criticism of anything homosexual without his closed-mindedness preventing him from making a decent point.
Jones says that “the horrific murder of an innocent gay man has been manipulated into a leftist showpiece calling for “hate crimes legislation.” I would hesitate to say the case was manipulated by the leftist population. If anything, the case serves as a catalyst for making people realize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are still at risk of verbal and physical attacks every day.
Would he say the same thing about the lynching of black men that predated their inclusion into several hate crimes policies across the United States? No, this would make him seem racist. So he attacks the population that is the easiest (and apparently the safest) to attack: the LGBT community.
Does Jones actually have the capacity for free thought or is he telepathically linked with Fred Phelps? For once, Jones needs to figure out how to create his own informed opinion rather than continually spreading the misinformed opinion that is the stereotype of the conservative right.
Jones may have a point, but it is bogged down in offensive slander and homophobia. If anything, Jones’ column makes me realize we have many more steps to take before it is not considered a crime – in this country of the free – to be a member of the LGBT community. At least he made me realize something.
Teresa Mae Lassak Fifth-year Geology
Separatist politics exercised by right wing, too
Andrew Jones nicely highlights the possibility that hate crimes legislation may serve what he calls the “totalitarian leftist” separatist agenda and in the long run have the negative effect of further separating gays and lesbians from the rest of society in his article “‘Laramie Project’ only leftist propaganda” (Viewpoint, March 14).
I agree that hate crimes legislation may do exactly that by allowing many to use the oft-cited plea that gays and lesbians want “special rights” in other matters of social justice. I also agree with Jones’ assertion that the Matthew Shepard case does not necessarily support the need for such legislation. In fact, justice was done in this instance without any hate crimes legislation to guide the outcome.
And of course I agree with Jones’ sage and compassionate statement that “we need less separatism, not more.” In fact I applaud Jones’ passionate stance for less divisiveness and greater inclusion.
I feel fortunate to now know a man of such moral conviction. Our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are lucky to have such an advocate who will certainly attack the institutional separatism current laws force them to experience on a daily basis, largely at the hands of the far right, once he has successfully derailed the “divisive” separatist hate crimes legislation. Indeed, I look forward to the zeal with which Jones will speak out about current laws that keep gays and lesbians from basic rights that the rest of society enjoys such as marriage, freedom from discrimination in the workplace, the ability to openly serve the country in the military, and partner benefits.
If Jones is about anything other than perpetuating his own political agenda by tearing down what he terms the “totalitarian left” perhaps we can expect to hear impassioned pleas from him in future articles that deride the shameful separation gays and lesbians are forced to experience due to current federal and state legislation.
Unfortunately, something tells me that I would be well advised not to hold my breath while scouring upcoming editions of The Bruin.
And shame on you, Jones, for your own transparent attempt at propaganda embodied in your snide and trite question, “Isn’t every crime a hate crime?” There are two responses to this. First, certainly not. And second, this supposedly rhetorical question trivializes the experience of all too many gay people. Shame on you indeed.
Geoff Twitchell, Ph.D. Postdoctoral fellow UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Program
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