Commencement gripes

I would like to address the following response to President Trachtenberg and anybody else thinking about moving Commencement to somewhere other than the Ellipse.

GW seniors have suffered through the exorbitantly high prices for tuition and books for four years. Most of us have had the pleasure of being robbed our first few years for the privilege of receiving low quality housing and food.

Now that we approach the end (broke, in debt, wondering where we’ll find a job that will make this disgusting expenditure pay itself off), GW all of a sudden decides to get cheap.

Well, in a way, this is nothing new. The administration certainly never has been lenient or understanding when the time to pay tuition came around. (I’ve seen more than one student head home for failure to make payments on time.) But the administration always has seemed to lavishly spend our money on ridiculous crap in the past. Why would they decide to cut spending now? And why ruin the one event that recognizes all the effort and dollars we poured into GW during our four years here?

How about this – auction off that stupid hippo statue by Lisner Auditorium. We might get back about 10 percent of what was wasted on it. Or maybe Professors Gate can be torn down and sold for scrap metal, or ship that wicker sculpture thing by the Academic Center to West Virginia for use as firewood.

You say you want feedback? Here’s some feedback – Thanks for taking students into consideration first, and in the words of Boston DJ Mark Perento, “Lick me!”

-Jon Andersonsenior

Why so suspicious?

I read The GW Hatchet’s editorial “What a sham!” (Nov. 3, p.4) and was most surprised at the angry tone and The Hatchet’s serious mistrust of the process to review the Commencement activities and site.

As a person who was asked to be on the committee to represent the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, I can tell you that I am entering into this process with an open mind, expecting to gather and review data, and make some recommendations to President Trachtenberg.

I think I speak for most of the others on the committee when I say we’re very busy people who are not looking for extra tasks to take on. We have no reason to believe that we are not being dealt with in an above-board manner by the Administration.

This is not a group who views its charge as “rubber stamping” other people’s decisions. What does The Hatchet know that we don’tknow? If there is information that The Hatchet has that makes you believe this process is a “sham,” then you have a responsibility to communicate that information to the community.

-Jeffrey Akmangraduate student, School of Medicine and Health Sciences member of the 30-person Commencement committee

China not alone

China is not alone in the area of human rights violations. It is also not the only country whose violations are overlooked in U.S. foreign policy.

Turkey, like China, is a world leader in human rights abuses and torture. Turkey, again like China, is a close ally of the United States, and one whose violations are ignored.

Turkey’s dark past includes, among other things, the genocide of more than one million Armenians, the illegal occupation of Cyprus and the often barbaric treatment of the Kurds.

I was pleased to see such a response and opposition to the Clinton administration’s dealings with China. I would like to see people continue to demand China be held accountable for its actions, and can only hope that one day Turkey will be held accountable for its.

-John Kaloidisjunior