University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

CIS: Just A Neutral Mediator

In response to recent
criticism of the "Troubleshooter,"
I would like to
clarify the position and
responsibilities assumed by
Consumer Information Service
of Madison Hall. Consumer
Information Service is not
staffed by law students and is
in no way empowered to offer
legal advice or to interpret
situations in a purely legal
manner.

If a resolution satisfactory
to both the complainant and
the complaince cannot be
worked out by Consumer
Information Service acting as a
neutral, third-party mediator,
then we can suggest that either
or both parties refer their
problem to a lawyer to see if a
resolution can be achieved
through legal means.

Consumer Information
Service does try to help the
consumer as much as possible.
However, that does not mean
we are anti-business. It is often
realized that the consumer and
not the merchant is at fault,
and we attempt therefore to
present both sides of the issue
as factually as possible when
dealing with emotional
humans.

In the Life magazine and
"Tommy" cases, the
resolutions reached were
satisfactory to both parties
involved, and were therefore
deemed "fair." If the
complainants had wished to
pursue the matters further,
then we would have helped and
advised them as much as legally
possible, referring them to legal
aid if necessary.

CIS will gladly clarify its
position and actions to anyone,
as it is our intention to help
the entire University and
Charlottesville community, not
to pit one side against the
other, nor to make legal or
moral judgments. CIS also
publishes a column in the
Charlottesville "Buy and Sell"
and distributes "Troubleshooters"
to public service
agencies.

Improve Behavior

In reference to the item
concerning the Open House to
be held by President and Mrs.
Shannon I cannot believe that
the Shannons intended for this
function to be restricted to
male students "and their wives
and children".

In keeping with the warning
of the Judiciary Committee
that "behavior toward women
must improve" may I suggest
that in the future you use a
genderless term, such as
"spouses", when extending
invitations to the student
body.

Many Thanks

On behalf of the
Charlottesville Friends of the
Earth, I would like to take this
opportunity to express our
gratitude to those who have
been so helpful to our
organization in its ecological
pursuits during the past
successful year. Thanks first to
the Pepsi Cola Bottling
Company for the use of one of
their trucks every week to
collect newspapers for
recycling, and the Mint
Printing Company for printing
our pollution photography
contest posters and saving us
the expense.

Special thanks to Mr.
Harold Taylor, Director of the
Dept. of Buildings and
Grounds, and Mr. John
Herring, Director of Newcomb
Hall, for their cooperation in
locating our newspaper
recycling receptacles, and to
Mr. Coiner of Coiner's Scrap
Iron and Metal, Inc. for his
assistance in building these
receptacles and collecting from
them every week.

Thanks also to the members
of "Possum Delight" and
"Captain Tunes and his
Fabulous Note Guns" for
donating their time and
musical talent to make our
Earth Day concert such a
successful and enjoyable
celebration.

And last but not least,
thanks to all of our members
and interested persons who
have spend so much time and
effort collecting newspaper and
glass, building receptacles,
doing paperwork and phone
calling, sharing ideas and
information, and various other
tasks to help protect our
environment.

We have accomplished
much this year and plan to
expand our programs and
membership next year. Anyone
desiring more information
about CFOE or the
environment can call me at
977-8439, and watch the CD
for notices of our activities.

Unjust Publicity

The article in Wednesday's
edition of The Cavalier Daily
concerning the conviction of
Mark Varner created unjust
publicity for the fraternities on
the Grounds.

The Judiciary Committee
apparently believes that this
type of incident, as discussed
in the article, is commonplace
in the fraternity area. In
reality, this type of incident is
rare and, to my knowledge, has
not been repeated. It seems
unfair to blame, and then to
warn the whole fraternity
system of the University for
one isolated incident on the
part of one individual.

In addition, the
Inter-Fraternity Council has
yet to receive any type of
official warning from the
Judiciary Committee. I hope
that in the future, better
coordination between peoples
or organizations involved will
be used.