Wow! Thursday, Nov. 6, must have been an incredibly slow news day! The front page stories feature the history of a bank (“Campustown’s Oldest Business”), a race relations workshop (“Interracial Workshop Focuses on Improved Relations”), the remodeling of a fraternity house (“Grandeur of the ’30s, Technology of the Future”), an opinion “story” (“Affirmative Action is Under Siege”) and an old news story (“A Crash Last Spring Does Not Stop Solar Car Team.”) What a spread! How I want to know more!

I know this is a student-run newspaper, but hasn’t it occurred to any of the managing editors that the front page is supposed to feature the hottest news of the day? I am a patron of the Firstar Bank featured and am a satisfied customer, but unless a bank is robbed, destroyed by fire or is awarded a Nobel Prize for innovations in the field of economics, no Ames bank history story is worthy of the front page.

The Daily has been trying mightily to make race relations a big issue for years now, but the race relations workshop story is also a huge waste of front-page space. Hurrah for Delta Upsilon, but put it in the human interest section — page three or more.

The front page’s most interesting story (to me) was the old news about the solar car team, but the editors clipped off the article in mid-sentence, leaving no forwarding address. Oh, well…

I would like to take issue with the “Affirmative Action is Under Siege” article. First, this article isn’t news, it’s opinion. The article is edited in an essay format with point titles to boot.

Next, while there were plenty of opinions quoted supporting the Daily’s opinion that the recent Supreme Court ruling is a tragedy (clearly implied by the headline), why were no opposing viewpoints included in support of the majority or for the rationality used by our nation’s highest judiciary body?

This was a moan-and-groan, Eyore-complex article. Doesn’t anybody realize that when affirmative action mandates quotas for minority races in university admissions (for instance), that a large number of academically qualified non-minority applicants are denied admission to make room for less-qualified minority applicants?

But I guess this is OK because most of those are evil whites. And even worse, nearly 50 percent of those are evil white males!

Excellence should be the goal in all our endeavors, especially in the education of society. If diversity enhances excellence (as it does in many things), then I’m for diversity. But if diversity is sought for the sake of diversity and excellence is suffering as a result, our pursuit of diversity has gone too far, and is just mucking things up and dragging things down.

I’m going to graduate in five weeks. Have you ever thought about the word graduate?

It means to grade or to separate into groups classified according to their relative quality or merit. To graduate from college means to have achieved a relatively high degree of intellectual knowledge or understanding in a particular field.

In general, it separates you from the bulk of society with respect to education, placing you in a highly respected group, which explains why society wants us to achieve this goal. Why do we want to dilute this pool of excellence by admitting to schools of higher education those with sub-standard preparation for college?

It seems to me that if we want to expand the opportunities of the “disadvantaged minorities” that we should be expanding our schools and universities.

Ideally, this renewed educational effort should occur before the student reaches the college level, but if we insist on admitting less than qualified applicants, then the educational space should be expanded to allow all of the qualified applicants access as well.

Alas, at this point economics becomes involved, the issue of taxes rears its ugly head and we go round and round.

The Daily claims to be a “student- operated, student-owned” newspaper. I can certainly believe the “student-operated” part, but I am having trouble with the “student-owned” part. Which students own it? Or if you mean that we all own it collectively (as in community property), does than mean that my second-grade daughter also owns a piece of it? (She is a student, after all.)

If you mean only ISU students can claim ownership, then what happens when one graduates? Does ownership just cease to exist, or is it magically transferred to some unsuspecting freshmen? What if there is a different number of graduates and drop-outs compared to incoming freshmen and transfer students? Are the shares reproportioned accordingly?

To test your ownership theory and to punctuate my disgust with the quality of the Daily, I hereby request that you cash in my shares of the Daily and send me the proceeds.

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Evan Mortenson

Senior

Aerospace engineering