People need to lighten up on punishment

In response to the letter to the editor on March 29, I find a little cliché to say that life is all about promises and choices. It makes a nice bumper sticker but in practice I think life may be about little more then two overly simplified concepts.

We all make mistakes, and for some reason athletes are held to higher standards. Judging Anthony Turner on a “broken promise” seems a little self-righteous.

Everyone has broken a promise before. As hard as we all try, sometimes we get caught making questionable decisions. Taking a scholarship away for a violation as minor as possession of marijuana is too harsh. Tickets for possession where I come from cost about as much as a speeding ticket. Should athletes lose scholarships for speeding? Of all the things Turner could have been doing with his weekend, he was smoking weed with a friend. This is completely harmless and after hearing about what happened with Duke’s lacrosse team, should be applauded.

Turner didn’t drive drunk, he didn’t assault anyone, and he didn’t take advantage of a girl. He smoked a harmless joint in a car with a friend.

Bill Clinton smoked weed, yet Turner will lose a scholarship?

People really need to lighten up. Whatever happened to forgiveness? Put yourself in Turner’s shoes. The relatively harmless action of smoking weed may make him lose his scholarship.

All of his hard work is down the drain because people are just appalled that an athlete would take part in an activity that many students at this University and people of influence have done or currently do.

Lighten up. We are in college for crying out loud. Instead of trying to live up to some ridiculous moral code defined by society lets stand up for one of our own. Go Falcons!

David Roberts underGRADUATE STUDENT [email protected]

Candidates should practice full disclosure

I noticed something missing from the Web site for Undergraduate Student Government presidential candidate Jim Wasil – he is the president of the College Republicans.

While I have no problem with him being president of College Republicans, though I do strongly disagree with many of the tactics the group uses to inflame the campus population, I disagree with the fact that he is leaving that off his Web site. He lists the other groups he is a part of, yet the one group where he holds the most important position of president, he doesn’t list.

Why is that? Is he now embarrassed to be a Republican?

These are some important questions to ask Jim since he is not practicing full disclosure.

Allison Sandrock underGRADUATE STUDENT [email protected]