Throughout the years I have been at Iowa State, both as an undergraduate and graduate student (and now as an employee), the articles published in the Daily have both delighted and disgusted me. There were many days when I was compelled to write responses to these articles, but in the end, I decided it just wasn’t worth it. Ten years is a long time for a woman as opinionated as I am to keep her mouth shut and I can’t stand it anymore. Brian Stillman’s column regarding Nick Johnson has put me over the edge! Did you hire this idiot?First of all, the University Museum in no way profits from Mr. Johnson’s $37,000 fine. What most people don’t realize is that the careful and correct repair and reinstallation of “The Ring of Life” is a very long and costly process. You don’t just hire any old Joe Schmo to glue it back on like it was the head of a Pez dispenser. The amount it will cost to right this wrong is $37,000. There is no “extra” money for the museum.Second, please do not lump me or anyone else in with the students you claim do not even notice the art on campus. Granted, there have been days when every one of us has been too tired or absorbed in our own lives to drag our eyes away from the sidewalk on the way to class. However, I just don’t believe that the majority of us are so thoughtless and apathetic that on a warm fall afternoon we don’t notice this startlingly beautiful campus and the artwork that enhances it. As a Cyclone, I’m not just proud of the football team or any other Cyclone team. I’m proud of all the people and things that make this university unique.Finally, I find it very interesting that Stillman believes that most of us have gotten drunk and vandalized something just for fun. And that if we had known we were going to get caught and have to pay for it that we wouldn’t have done it. Yessirree Bob! Da only reason I don’t steal and ruin stuff is ’cause I’m ‘fraid I’ll hafta pay fer it. Stillman apparently believes that the majority of us lack a conscience or any sense of morality. Please, give us all a little more credit.Mr. Johnson will never see my $1.25. If you decide to do something stupid and illegal, then YOU pay for it. Each and every one of us decides our own future by the actions we take and face the consequences. No one forced Mr. Johnson to creep onto campus in the middle of the night and take a crowbar to the head of a child in a wonderful piece of artwork. Mr. Stillman, the judge didn’t ruin Nick Johnson’s life. Nick Johnson ruined his own life.

Sara Hall

Alumna

Media production specialist

Veterinary medicine