Letters to the Editor

>Throwing money away

If you've ever wondered what your tuition money goes toward, check out some of the University's dumpsters. During renovation of Nicholson Hall, I found computer equipment, new digital cordless phones, sheets of copper, boxes of stainless steel bolts and mounting hardware, half-full spools of electrical wire, office furniture, tools, new sheets of glass, unopened boxes of floor tiles, etc. While I now have a new scanner and an expensive phone, I did feel slightly upset that one day's dumpster load probably constituted more than $500 in new equipment and building materials. That may not seem like much for a multi-million dollar construction project, but that was just a single day for a single one of the many construction and renovation projects going on in the University system.

In my opinion, the University needs to eliminate wasteful practices like this before they have any right to whine about lack of funds. It's not only expensive, but it's not a very good practice for a self-proclaimed "environmentally friendly" institution. If a University maintenance shop was responsible for this, the disposal practices of that shop and possibly the staff training needs to be examined. If it were a contractor, then they should be responsible for reimbursing the University for wasted material (my $500 estimate was based on my own construction work, but knowing how University contracts work, that day's dumpster load likely cost more than $1000 to us).

If the University would like suggestions on how to eliminate such waste, I'd be happy to help. I hear we operate some kind of reuse center for just this purpose, and if that's too much paperwork, there might be a charity or two that would appreciate free building materials. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit which builds affordable housing for homeless and low-income families, and would probably be more than happy to pick up the surplus items. There are also a number of building-salvage organizations which offer to purchase and recycle excess materials.

Gabe Emerson

University graduate student

The Constitution Party

I just returned home from the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life's March for Life at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. It is truly a blessing to see thousands of men, women and children come out on a cold January day to be counted against infanticide.

What's truly distressing is how the MCCL, and its parent organization, the National Right to Life Committee, try to get principled pro-lifers to open their wallets for their failed agenda. They point to such quarter-measures as the partial birth abortion ban that actually codifies Roe v. Wade, and their Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act as successes. What ever happened to ending more than 30 years of child murder in the United States?

The MCCL and the NRLC have actually lobbied against legislation that would make abortion illegal in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. The NRLC and its affiliates have actually endorsed pro-abortion Republicans in lieu of pro-life minority-party candidates. In 2002, the MCCL blatantly lied to voters when they claimed that the Republican candidates were the only pro-life candidates for certain races even though they were challenged by candidates of the staunchly pro-life Constitution Party.

It is obvious that the MCCL and the NRLC are more interested in electing Republicans to office than in ending child sacrifice. Please visit www.constitutionparty.com to find out about the pro-life party that the MCCL and the NRLC don't want you to know about, the Constitution Party.

?Ben Powers

vice-president 1996-1997

Students for Family Values

Cruel treatment

Paul Shapiro from the Humane Society of the United States is right: battery cage confinement for egg-laying hens is nothing less than animal abuse.

As Shapiro pointed out in his Tuesday opinion, "Battery Cages Are Not Good for Chickens," numerous experts and scientists agree that wire battery cages, which dominate the U.S. egg industry, are inherently cruel. But you don't need to be an expert to recognize that this system of intensive confinement is anything but humane. See for yourself by visiting

eggscam.com to view undercover video footage and photo galleries revealing appalling conditions for hens inside egg factory farms that qualify as "United Egg Producers Certified."

As a former animal control officer in our nation's capital, I'm certain that if cats or dogs were treated similarly " overcrowded in cages, left to suffer from untreated illnesses and injuries, and kept in cages with decomposing bodies " it would warrant charges of animal cruelty.

Kudos to those students who are taking a stand against this abuse by encouraging the University to join a long list of schools that have adopted cage-free egg policies.

Erica Meier

executive director,

Compassion Over Killing