Letters to the Editor
Campus Times
October 11, 1996
Dear Editor,
It is with some disgust that I noted the recent editorial on issues concerning
a perceived lack of confidentiality at the Student Health Center. Your choice
of title "Center Should Honor Confidentiality" and accompanying
editorial cartoon, imply that the staff of the Student Health Center do
not take the issue of medical confidentiality seriously. Your choice of
an editorial rather than a story means that you could take hearsay and innuendo
and play them up as "facts" for your audience, many who do not
know the difference in format.
If you truly wished to affect change in a perceived problem, you could have
done a legitimate news story, interviewed some of the staff and administrators
involved and quoted students anonymously in a factual manner. Your use of
the quote, "Oh, you're not pregnant!" was not placed in any context,
and could have been interpreted in any manner of ways. The efforts of the
nurse to be friendly was turned into a "revealing" conversation
on who had been to the Health Center.
This is not to say that there may not be procedural issues that need to
be resolved. Some of your points were valid. However, my overall impression
was one of an attempt to sensationalize a minor issue that could have been
better dealt with in a more professional manner. And if even one student
takes your opinion as factual and fails to seek medical attention because
of fears that you have raised, then the shame certainly is on you, is it
not?
Paul Alvarez
Associate Professor of Physical Education
Dear Editor,
For the last several weeks, the media has bombarded the American public
with notions that Robert Dole is getting desperate and his chances of winning
the election are slipping away. Despite negative suggestions, Robert Dole
came out last Sunday and demonstrated why he's the Republican nominee for
president. He was sincere, witty, confident and passionate in his views.
He was himself. Yet the Bob Dole we saw on Sunday seemed different. But
was this really a different Dole? Whether you feel Dole won or lost the
debates, let us agree that Dole far exceeded the showing that many expected.
Perhaps this is because he spent countless hours preparing. I cannot believe
that Dole can disappear for a few days and then suddenly reappear as a completely
different person. I must ask how Bob Dole seems so different in the presidential
debates? Well, a practical assertion would be that Dole is no different
today than he was when he first started his campaign. Perhaps what we saw
this past weekend was the real Bob Dole. I don't think it's that big of
a stretch to suggest the media's portrayal of Dole was jaded. In fact, I
believe it's because of this ill perception that many were surprised that
he came out and challenged Clinton with such confidence. Bob Dole reminded
all of us that we have to be more careful as to what we take for truth and
fact. We need to be just as selective in listening as they are in reporting.
Danny Rinaldelli
Junior