It is not that we do not care about the Catt Hall issue; it is more likely because we are desensitized to the news media in general.

How many issues or scandals have we all seen in the past year?

There is just a huge mistrust in the media in general from CNN to the Iowa State Daily; they both sometimes forget just where the opinion section is and the unbiased objective commentary starts.

Example:

A couple of nights ago, while channel surfing, one channel’s news media reports that violence is down for two years in a row and then stated that President Clinton said that it was now at a ten-year low (the inference is somehow linking President Clinton to this new statistic). The second news channel reports that the new crime low is because the highest crime rate offenders, the 18-24 year old age group, decreased in population for the second year in a row.

Just a little different twist on the same thing; no one lied, but the way article one is told it gives a whole different ‘spin’ on things.

My point is I believe that I am not the only one out there that sees these little irregularities. I do not need to be spoon-fed from someone else’s opinions; I have a brain!

Give me the hard core facts: “PRINT THE SPEECHES,” please, and then let me decide for myself.

If Catt said the racist remarks as reported then let the administration try to defend them, and no, the line, “It was a different time then,” while true, just will not cut it.

This issue is way too important for that.

The whole purpose for naming this hall the way they did was surely because of it’s symbolism against oppression. How ironic this would seem if the quotes are left undefended.

Naming a building after Catt is a lot different than naming Gilman Hall, etc. The other buildings were named because of their bearers’ academic achievements or contributions to their fields. I mean, naming a building for the father of organo-metallic chemistry can hardly be a social issue.

If the Sept. (29th) movement really would like to overcome this great inertia of student apathy (so then maybe they could live up to their name as a movement), then they should post an article-a-week displaying a set of direct quotes from one of Catt’s manuscripts.

What better way to stir the white-hot intensity of a super nova this movement is going to need if it is going to convince the administration to remove the name of a building after the bricks have already been cemented in?

This will do them far better service than any yelling of their own. Also by stringing it along they could capitalize on the public’s short attention span.

If the movement could get up enough support maybe they should take this to the student body (25,000 strong) and call for a special election so then everyone could see exactly the support that is behind it.

I think that if the administration could actually see the numbers involved here of this issue then maybe they would realize that this issue has not been put to bed yet.

I think the administration is probably looking for a way to save face on this issue. I mean, money cannot surely be the sole criteria that we name the buildings on.

With $270 million coming from the state and donations from alum there surely is enough money for this.

If we can put a building up here once every few months there has to be a little cash around, huh?

Also, if they cannot, in good conscience, defend Catt’s quotes then they sure would do themselves a favor (and gain a lot of respect besides) and just come out and say, “Hey, I think we made a mistake and let’s make amends.”

In closing, no, the minorities are not forgotten; it is just that you are talking to a public in which only 40 percent ever vote in Presidential elections.

Sometimes you just need to shock us onto one side of the fence or the other.

Good Luck.

Tim R. Benson

Senior

Chemical engineering