Argonaut Online Opinion

FRI 3 OCT 2003

Letters to the Editor

Argonaut fails readers

Dear editor,
Your tagline reads �The Vandal Voice Since 1898,� and I�d like you to prove it. �

As of late, I am particularly appalled at the negligence of the Argonaut to report and present the information important and interesting to Vandals in a timely manner. I would like to specifically direct my remarks to the AmeriCorps opinion article so graciously given by Argonaut Editor in Chief Brian Passey.

Passey, our �Vandal Voice,� urges all students to stand up for their rights in a participatory democracy and petition their representatives to help AmeriCorps. A brave statement � or is it?

Approximately three months ago, the Civic Education Project at the University of Idaho did exactly what Passey urged us to do. The group wrote its Idaho congressional representatives and governor and encouraged more than 200 students to do the same. �

At this time, the Civic Education Project approached the Argonaut about running its letter as a letter to the editor in order to encourage more action among students at a time when the fate of AmeriCorps had not yet been decided. At a time when the Vandal Voice could actually be heard and affect change, the Argonaut instead decided to not run an opinion section in its next issue. �

Three months after the decision was made and cuts are being felt, the Argonaut has decided this issue impacts UI students enough to give it attention. Unfortunately, this is just another reactive opinion statement that won�t help anyone do anything because, like most things in the Argonaut, it comes a day (or three months) too late.

The Argonaut should be a tool for students to use in finding out important information that could affect them before they are already affected by it. Instead the pages of the Argonaut read like the obituary section of other papers � sharing information that occurred so long ago it�s now read to �remember the times� when the news actually happened.

Casandra Byington
senior
finance and management

UI continues to get worse

Dear editor,
In light of our new president: I love the University of Idaho for its vast multicultural diversity ... Even though the Multicultural Affairs office nearly closed last semester. Some of my favorite professors are ... Oh right, they had to �retire.� My favorite aspect in each of the departments is ... Oops, they were cut. I enjoy the fact that I have a choice of where to eat on campus ... Sodexho, Sodexho or Sodexho.

Above all, I love all the information the students were given when $10 million plus mysteriously left the Moscow campus.

Oh, is that why it was so dark around here last year until somebody resigned?

Melissa Montgomery
senior
history

Firing lacks good reason

Dear editor,
In my 30 years of handling faculty grievances, I find the Glenn Grishkoff case unique and unprecedented. Ordinarily dismissal of a professor is initiated at the department level and usually has the support of a majority of the faculty.

Glenn�s case is different. After a positive third-year performance review and the full support of his department, Glenn assumed that he was on target for tenure in two or three years. Instead, Glenn received a letter from his dean indicating that this would be his last year at the University of Idaho.

The UI Constitution states that the �immediate governance� of the university is in the hands of the faculty. Faculty members have the right to run their classes as they see fit and to evaluate students by their own standards. Professors also have the right to choose who their colleagues should be and what their academic units� goals should be.

Not only does the dean�s decision undermine faculty governance, but it also constitutes a violation of academic freedom. This means that faculty members are free to pursue research projects that they deem worthy. The dean believes Glenn�s work to be �insignificant,� but his ceramics work is cutting edge and he has chosen very innovative ways to express his creativity.

Already as an assistant professor, he has established an international reputation. While at the UI he has participated in 12 juried and invitational art exhibitions and seven solo exhibitions, including exhibitions in Japan, California, Washington, Montana and Idaho. He recently won the top jurors award in sculpture in a national competition at the Paris Gibson Museum of Art in Great Falls, Mont.

Glenn�s firing is a travesty of justice and the AFT is initiating a campaign to overturn this decision and to keep him at UI. We are circulating a petition on campus and urge all faculty to sign.

If any faculty member does not get a petition or is retired and living in this area, please contact me at 883-3360 (ngier@uidaho.edu) or Dale Graden at 882-0486 (graden@uidaho.edu).

Nick Gier, president
Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

Vandals break my heart

Dear editor,
Ticket to a Vandal game: $15. Ticket for an open container in the parking lot: $200. Medium-sized beverage at the Kibbie (non-alcoholic): $4.25. An 0-5 record with a ranking of 116th out of 117 in Div 1-A: Worthless.

This just hurts.

Ty Swenson
UI alumnus

Opinion Editor: Jennifer Hathaway Webmistress: Amanda J Hundt
UI Argonaut, 301 Student Union, Moscow, Idaho 83843 208.885.7845