I would like to respond to the ramblings put forth by Associate Professor of Religious Studies Robert Baum. I would not expect such idiocy from a freshman, let alone someone who teaches here.

I would venture to say that the Veishea riots have about as much to do with the tone set by the White House as they do a cheeseburger. I suppose it is possible somebody got a burger with unwanted pickles and decided to destroy Welch Avenue, but I would lean more toward law enforcement allowing a problem to grow, bottling it up and then throwing gas on it.

The idea that those involved believe they can do what they did with complete impunity — and I’m talking about both the students and the police officers — does not give anybody much credit. Responsibility may not have been demonstrated, but the idea that people will never learn from their mistakes is disgusting.

The blurb about academic success was cheap and uniformed. I would ask you do a little research and check the grades earned by Al Gore and John Kerry, to name a few, and also realize that good marks do not equal exceptional leadership.

Finally, I would like to say that I am amused by the asinine proposal that international, religious, philosophy, diversity, environmental, ethnic and women’s studies will suffer lowered attendance as a result of a Bush re-election.

Apparently Bush is an imbecilic mouth-breather, but at the same time is capable of killing the entire liberal mindset. After taking a diversity course here, I would put forth that any lowered attendance would be a result of the quality of the product and not a conspiracy being beamed into our heads from the Potomac.

Josh Pierson

Senior

Mechanical Engineering