Dreier creates racist environment
The University hosts many students from Russia, China and Vietnam, and although Tim Dreier’s ASUO candidate Q&A in Friday’s Emerald was a joke, as an international student, I didn’t find it amusing at all (“ASUO ticket vows to eliminate ‘Red threat’ on campus,” ODE, Feb. 15).
Many students from these Communist countries will vote, but not for someone who creates a hostile and racist environment. Dreier says he wants to eliminate subversives, which would include students from these countries. International students are an asset to the University no matter what country they come from.
Shun Yanagishita
junior
anthropology
Dreier seeks leadership through fear
I don’t often take an interest in campus politics, but the article about Tim Dreier in the Emerald (“ASUO ticket vows to eliminate ‘Red threat’ on campus,” ODE, Feb. 15) caught my eye and left me with a question — is this a joke?
I could barely believe that someone would actually make statements like these, and to be running for a student government office. Tim Dreier’s statements and policies are the kind of paranoid ignorance that we can only pray can be healed.
“Subversives?” Who are they? What are they subversive to? What’s “un-American?” What’s the threat posed by Communism? I don’t see Dreier clarifying any of these. And dueling pistols to solve differences? If that’s not a joke, I sincerely would believe him to be mad. Because I know that it will be the instant reaction of anyone sympathetic to Dreier to label me as a left-wing subversive, I must say that I am not. I have never in my life considered myself political at all and do not hold allegiance or sympathies to any political group.
Tim Dreier is running on buzzwords and paranoia. He wants to gain leadership over other students by playing off of vague fears and enforced conformity. He will not be getting my vote.
Nathan Edwards
junior
english
Don’t judge Olympics coverage
I was amazed and baffled by the guest editorial “Olympics not the place for patriotic zealots” (ODE, Feb. 13). The claim that “NBC is trying to show that America is still the best” is both naive and ridiculous. The only support for this claim is a passing reference to “medal counts and human interest stories about American athletes.” Medal counts are statistics that are compiled for every Olympics, regardless of whether the United States is in the lead. And NBC does not speak for the Olympics and is not affiliated with them in any way; NBC is simply the network that happens to be covering the Games this year, and for an overwhelmingly American demographic.
They have every right to give their audience what it wants to see: information about the athletes representing their country — just as I am sure the networks covering the Games in other nations are doing. Our Olympic athletes are vastly underappreciated in this country anyway, as compared to athletes in many other nations, where they are often regarded as heroes. It is certainly true that “The Olympics should be a showcase of the athleticism of the greatest athletes of all nations,” and this is exactly what they are this year and every Olympic year, regardless of the television coverage.
Finally, as a side note, I found it utterly disgusting that the editorial chose to compare a relatively mild increase in American patriotism during these Games with the fascist ideals of the Adolph Hitler-run 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
Brian Stutzman
junior
general science
