Smoking ban on Crookston campus ridiculous
I am writing in response to Monday's article regarding the Crookston campus ban on tobacco. No smoking inside public buildings - fine. No smoking within 25 feet of building entrances - reasonable. Banning the use of tobacco throughout an entire college campus - Really? It is common knowledge that the use of tobacco is detrimental to one's health, that's why the majority of us choose not to use it. However, to implement a campuswide ban on tobacco is ridiculous.

The problem is that this policy treats tobacco, a legal substance for adult students and faculty, as if it was an illicit drug - it's not pot, guys. Because this ban includes smokeless tobacco and thus extends beyond the issue of secondhand smoke, it is more akin to a nagging parent than an attempt to clear the air. While I respect Crookston's desire to encourage students to "kick the habit" and acknowledge the importance of designated smoking areas, the outright ban of tobacco use is simply going too far.

Matthew Abdo
University student

College questions
I am writing in response to Randi Niklekaj's column, "Think twice before going to college" in the May 7 issue of the Daily. I think Niklekaj hit the nail right on the head by saying that "necessary education" is an engineered social standard, and that the "American education system" seems to be more of a capitalistic ploy than job training or education. My experience in the U.S. education system has been mediocre at best. High and ever-increasing prices for unchallenging and needless classes, egregiously unresponsive and arrogant administrators, adversarial and unbending government and university policies regarding registration and financial aid, and little or no recourse for students, taxpayers or citizens. University administration spends our money virtually unchecked, spending insane sums on things like ridiculously high salaries for the Old Boy's Club consisting of University brass, sports coaches and their cronies who, in turn, purchase needlessly extravagant things solely for their benefit. Things such as new coliseums and the gladiators to fill them and, of course, research. Education takes a backseat in the big business world of … education? Meanwhile, students get to pick the Homecoming Queen.

After graduation, a bachelor's degree means about as much as having a high school diploma once did: wage slavery, indentured servitude, call it what you will. If you don't have a bachelor's degree in today's job market, beware. A high school diploma is worth about as much as a banana cream pie. I'd ask for a say in the important aspects (read: where the money goes) of the U.S. education system, but I'd be deluding myself. The powers that be aren't going to give up that power nor their cushy jobs on the government bankroll. If they did, it might be an admission to the fact that the United States is an opportunist republic, not a democracy as we have been trained to think. I'm with Niklekaj: I want my money back.

Russell Ericson
University student

More refusable/refundable issues
Collegians For A Constructive Tomorrow has been funded by the optional refusable/refundable fee since 2002, and we respectfully disagree with Vice Provost for Student Affairs Gerald Rinehart's decision to eliminate the optional fee and move CFACT (and MPIRG) to a mandatory system. The elimination of the optional fee is a step in the wrong direction that will cost students more money and lead to less effective student groups.

CFACT fully understands that not everyone on campus supports our mission (or MPIRG's) and we believe that students should have the ability to make a market decision on whether or not they choose to fund CFACT (or MPIRG). In fact, this market signal from the students has helped CFACT improve and expand its services. Since our funding is directly tied to the decisions of every student on campus, we have real and incontrovertible evidence when our programming fails to connect or succeeds in our mission to provide compelling content to the market place of ideas. We welcome the challenge, and we have been wisely guided by the decisions of thousands of fee paying students.

It is a mistake to leave this system behind, a mistake that was recognized by everyone except one organization (MPIRG) on the Committee assigned to review this question - and a mistake being made by Vice Provost Rinehart. We hope he reconsiders.

Quinn O'Reilly
President, CFACT