Letters to the Editor
October 31, 3:30 PM
Community Members Work Hard for UWS
Letter to the editor
While attending a recent UWS volley ball game, I picked up the latest copy of the school newspaper, “The Stinger” dated September 18, 2007. I read with interest the editor’s and reporters opinions of this year’s Haugfest, and I began to feel uncomfortable being on campus, as I am “just” a community member. You have a strong opinion that all events should be about, you the students, and I can understand that from your liberal, entitlement, almost socialist points of view in your paper. In reading your publication I was confused by what was factual and what was opinion throughout many of the articles and I had to wonder who is teaching this type of “drive by” journalism to future journalists who will be upholding the most precious amendment of all, that being a free press. While you have every right to voice your opinions it would be nice to see those on an editorial page rather than in factual news articles on almost every page. I am not writing this letter to defend the success, or lack there of, of Haugfest, but I do have one question; Is it really the opinion of you and your staff that you don’t want events that draw just community members to your campus and or the community’s support of these events anymore?
If that’s the case please let us know. I am sure donors can find alternate places to donate their money. I am sure fans and attendees of all events on the campus can find alternate means of entertainment. And the community that uses the facilities for events which rental fees are paid and students work at, can find other places to hold them as well.
There are people’s names from this community on many of your campus’ buildings who have given. There are numerous other community members who have, and continue to contribute in helping fund scholarships, athletic and cultural programs, and let’s not forget the UWS Foundation. These community members as well as many others, volunteer, promote and work hard to ensure that there will always be a future for this campus in Superior, Wisconsin for years to come. I saw many of these same community members on Saturday night at Haugfest enjoying a concert, networking and having a great time. (Unlike Wes Grimm who was quoted as being at the event in one article (pg 1) and then saying he never attended in another pg. 7). And if you took time to look around at sponsors of this event you will find that all of them were community businesses who believe that UWS is an institution worth supporting or else they would not have signed on to contribute.
You and your staff have a great opportunity to fulfill every newspapers mission to be a watchdog, holding people accountable, express opinions that challenge readers and offering solutions. Don’t fall into the national trend of “drive by media” by thinking you are entitled to write what you want without being held accountable. The right to a free press is too precious and easily abused.
Todd R. Keute
October 18, 4:44 PM
To: The Stinger
From: Stefan Fletcher, UW-Superior Student Body President
Date: October 18, 2007
Subject: Wisconsin State Budget
With
Governor Doyle’s amended state budget failing to pass both houses of
the legislature earlier this week, the number of days in this
extraordinarily lengthy budget session has crept over the 110 day mark.
For students of the UW-System this is not a good sign. With the Board
of Regents having to potentially reassess their thinking on tuition
setting for the second semester to account for the shortfall caused by
not having a budget, students will have to consider the impact of
attending a public university in Wisconsin. Can we afford to leave the
talent, commitment, and gifts of these students behind?
The
term “public” is significant here. If the state does not approve of a
budget soon there are some students who could be priced out of an
education. While the Growth Agenda proposed by the Board of Regents
earlier in this biennial process called for increased access to higher
education in order to enlarge the number of baccalaureate degree
holders in Wisconsin, the lack of a budget, or indeed a severe cut to
the UW-System’s budget, would have exactly the opposite effect. If the
legislature does not provide for quality in our public education
system, the quality of services provided to students could dramatically
drop due to a lack of resources.
Indeed there are already
students, due to the funding for the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant
being tied of in the budget impasse, who are considering not returning
because of their inability to pay their costs. Is this the situation
Wisconsin, with a historic and prestigious university system, wants to
be in?
At
UW-Superior, I see everyday individuals working above and beyond the
proverbial call of duty in order to serve students the best they
possible can because they believe in what students can offer to the
future progress of this state. I would urge the legislature to end this
protracted budgetary process soon and to grant the UW-System with the
funding necessary to allow students to grow academically,
professionally, and personally. Without looking after the state’s own
public university system we run the risk of falling a generation behind
states, and indeed nations, who have declared that to invest in
students and higher education as a whole is to invest in growth and
advancement.
I would also urge the students of UW-Superior to email, write to, or call the eight legislators on the conference committee, and have your voice heard. Depict to them your concerns because without us demonstrating the seriousness of the situation for the students of Wisconsin, our voice will be lost among the other competing concerns. It is time to say “we don’t want to pay more for our education to get less.”
October 18, 4:30 PM
WI Budget Crisis Means UW Crisis
To the editor -
It is nice to finally hear something from the UWS administration concerning the current Wisconsin state budget crisis facing the UW system (Chancellor wrote a note to the student digest Oct 18). Although the threat of a UW system shut down is not considered viable, Governor Doyle promises the threat "is very real" and he would follow through if necessary. Political postering? Maybe. Bottom line, we students face a tuition hike of at least $800.00 (if not more) for spring semester, and what is worse, most students in the state don't even know it yet.
Here's what the Wisconsin Legislature has been doing - they have failed to produce a state budget by the July 1st original deadline, with virtually no progress to the present day. Since July 1, the Legislature has spent approximately $20 million dollars of Wisconsin tax dollars on itself to get absolutely no where with the budget. The Budget Negotiation Committee (4 reps and 4 senators) have been reimbursed a total of $34,000 in per diem costs alone. And where do we students sit? In limbo, facing a possible campus shut down, or a probable tuition hike of at least $800.00 or much more for next semester. The Legisislature, for all of its failures, are still receiving their salary of $47,413, their per diem (food and lodging subsidy) of $88.00 a day, plus full mileage (or flying) reimbursement. And we students get another tuition hike, mid-year. Thanks a lot.
DOES ANYONE HAVE CONCERNS? There is a possible student rally on the steps of the Capital in Madison on Wednesday, October 24 at noon. If you can, drive down with friends. There also may be a van going from UWS, leaving approximately at 5:00 am and returning that night. If you are interested, contact me at JPETER78@UWSUPER.EDU, or representatives of the Student Government for further information. IF you cannot make the rally, it is VERY important you and your friends, and your parent(s) contact your home State Representatives in the Legislature. IF you are from out of state, contact the local UWS reps, Rep. Boyle at 1-888-534-0073 or Sen Jauch at 1-800-469-6562. If enough students make some noise, we might just be able to make a difference for our own academic futures.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Peterson
October 17, 6:50 PM
Keep Up Professionalism
I just wanted to say that I have been a long-time reader of the Stinger/Promethean and really appreciate the level of professionalism and objectivity that your staff and contributors demonstrate with each publication. I really found the toilet use instructions helpful and am using the toilet much better thanks to your paper.
Continue to keep up the good work.
Respectfully Yours,
Matthew Fanberg
October 16, 2007
Stinger Needs a Decent Staff
I just wanted to share that it is extremely sad to see how far this paper has fallen this year. The level of unproffesionalism is unmatched by anything I have seen before. Every mention of Haugfest in the September 18th issue is completely bias and a terrible job of reporting. The story is filled with ridiculous quotes and expresses almost entirley opinion and no fact. I also wanted to mention that it is bad enough to admit that you are unable to meet deadlines when the paper only comes out every other week, but then to write about it and joke about it in nearly every story just continues to demonstrate the level of unpofessionalism. For the sake of all UWS students I am hoping they get a decent staff in to write next years paper.
- Charles G. Johnson
Toilet Training
Dear 3rd Floor Ross Hall,
Sincerely,
Jay Kariesch
Opinion Articles
October 29, 2007
Albus Dumbledore and the Unbalanced Controversy
Elizabeth Benes, Managing Editor
EBENES1@uwsuper.edu
The danger with being honest when people ask you questions is that, at least for JK Rowling, one of those questions might turn out to be “Did Dumbledore, who believed in the unfailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?” The matter-of-fact response, as many fans know by now, is that Dumbledore is gay, and that he fell in love with his later rival, Gellert Grindelwald. And, even as the news sparked thunderous applause that night in Carnegie Hall, it started a wave of controversy among Harry Potter fans (and some of his known enemies in our decidedly muggle world) about what this revelation meant to the fandom at large.
John Cloud, in his October 22 article “Put Dumbledore Back in the Closet,” for Time, wrote, “...as far as we know, Dumbledore had not a single fully realized romance in 115 years of life. That's pathetic, and a little creepy.” He added later in the article, “Like a lisping weakling, Dumbledore is a painfully selfless, celibate, dead gay man, so forgive me if I don't see Rowling's revelation as great progress.” On the other side of the coin, however, Conal Pierse, Opinion Editor for The Gateway at the University of Alberta, stresses, “The most important thing about Rowling’s revelation is that it demonstrates to children that an individual’s sexuality has no bearing, nor should it have any, on an individual’s ability to be kind, honest, or caring.”
Of course, those from the anti-gay camp have also had their say in this issue as well, with little positive feedback coming out of their take. Syrena S, the owner of the Yahoo!Group “Severus Snape's Slytherin Society,” deleted the group despite a membership that boasted almost 50,000 members. Included in her reason for deleting the group was, “To me, declaring a beloved character a sodomite, right after the conclusion of a kid's series, is akin to mental molestation of children.” Popular forums, like Fiction Alley Park, also had their own discussions on the topic. Hermi 1, the first to post in reply to the topic, wrote, “I really don't know what's wrong with JKR. I hope she was joking about that. To make Dumbledore gay is just gross. Makes you wonder if he was checking Harry out during their lessons. It's disgusting! Why can't there be a popular book that isn't trying to promote political correctness? Unfortunately I think she was influenced by someone and that's why she made this character gay. Harry Potter is just a story, people, it's not propaganda. What next? A transsexual?”
For those fans who are not put off by someone being a member of a minority, even a sexual minority, however, Rowling's answer to her fan's question is no more than any other answer to any other question she's given – it's just another interesting fact to file away in the Harry Potter Lexicon under Dumbledore's profile or in other storehouses for character information. There are no major homosexual revelations in the books, there are no steamy homoerotic scenes in the movies, and Dumbledore's modest nature kept him from saying a great deal of things about himself – so it's not surprising that being gay was just another footnote in his life. In fact, for fans who want to think too long and hard about it, the realization that he was going to have to be the one to extinguish the threat that Gellert Grindelwald became must have been truly heartbreaking and probably not something he wanted to dwell on that often.
Albus Dumbledore's life experiences molded him into the serene, understanding wizard that he was by the time he became a professor and later headmaster at Hogwarts. He's a brilliant example in a world flooded with sexualized media that a person's sexuality isn't the be-all and end-all of their person, and that sex does not have to be at the forefront of every thought. Furthermore, sex is not at the forefront of every gay person's thought. As shocking of an idea as that might be to some, it is true. Gay people are perfectly able to function in every day life without their life being dominated by who they are or are not sleeping with. Not all gay people have black leather or Village People costumes hanging on their walls. And yes, gay people grow old and are still gay.
That last statement also begs the question of how old some of the series' so-called fans truly are. If Hermi 1 finds the idea of Dumbledore being gay as “gross,” I must confess that I feel sorry for whomever she may be with when she grows old. Syrena S claims to be an adult in her post regarding the deletion of her message group. “The fact that so many children and teens applauded like drones over this decision is just further proof of how much we, the adults, have been perverting their young minds by instructing them to reject morality and embrace the inclusiveness of 'following your heart' ie: doing whatever you feel like no matter how sinful or vile it may be.” It seems the fact children latch onto the inherently good aspects of people and life in general is somehow an example of the meddling of embittered adults in their lives.
Also, as disappointing as it may be to some, many fans suspected Dumbledore was gay long before Rowling's comments regarding it. Fans such as the artist Quaedam at deviantART (http://quaedam.deviantart.com/) posted artwork of Dumbledore and Grindelwald as a couple to their galleries shortly after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. Quaedam's “It makes one sane” was posted on August 1 and has received 100 comments and 289 favorites from enthusiastic fans of the couple since then. A brief web search for “Dumbledore and Grindelwald” will turn up a plethora of similar fan art and fan fiction of the couple, much of it posted before the October 19 question and answer session at Carnegie Hall.
What has come of an otherwise innocuous comment on a fictional character by the author, however, is a clearer understanding of where we are as a whole society. Shannon Dean of HealthyandHappyFamilies.com summed up the heart of the “problem” with Dumbledore's homosexuality in two sentences: “...the Internet is full of parental comments indicating feelings of betrayal. How could Rowling, they say, allow their children to come to know, love and respect Dumbledore only to announce (after the fact) that he is gay - leaving unprepared parents to explain their children's questions about homosexuality?” Perhaps the problem isn't in the fact that Dumbledore is gay, but in the fact that our society has started relying on the media to raise their children. If there were more interaction between parents and children and less interaction between media and children, there would likely be less of a controversy over a brilliant red-head having a cozy relationship with a bubbly blond some 109 years ago.
October 19, 4:53 PM
Student Retention
Cody Ryder, Opinion editor
Perhaps the greatest issue currently facing UWS is student retention. Every year large numbers of freshmen leave in the spring never to return. In an effort to better understand a critical campus issue this week two questions were posed to students.
What makes you stay at UWS?
Anu Khanal: I like knowing lots of people on a small campus and being involved. It’s a very warm atmosphere despite the cold climate.
Angela Rahkola: I transferred in as a junior. UWS has the major I want and I could not get that in Minnesota. At first I didn’t like the small school feel but its growing on me.
Jason Androsky: Great campus. And it’s cheap!
Jenny Pavlich: I am a freshman so I have not been around very long, but UWS was recommended to me by a teacher in high school.
Marian Ashpurdy: I enjoy the Biology program I am in and have a close relationship with many people. It’s also cheaper than a lot of schools I was looking at.
Andrew Fuchs: I feel very close to the faculty and students in my department. Also I have some familiarity with the region through family and friends.
Why do people leave UWS?
Anu Khanal: Some international students leave because of the cold weather. Others came looking forward to big city life in America and didn’t find it here.
Angela Rahkola: Some students have left because of a lack of diversity. The biggest issue I see is its kind of a dead campus on weekends especially. No one is around.
Jason Androsky: It’s far away from home for a lot of people.
Jenny Pavlich: I have heard of people who don’t like the environment; others don’t feel challenged enough.
Marian Ashpurdy: UWS does have limited resources compared with larger schools. And many students leave to take advantage of what a large school has to offer.
Andrew Fuchs: Students change majors often in the first year or so and it’s not uncommon to switch to something that not offered at UWS.