University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Times Have Changed, Brother Ed

Time was, Brother Ed,
when folks like you knew their
place.

Times have changed. Readers
find themselves increasingly
subjected to the sort of
semi-literate diatribe that is
currently fashionable in
crypto-radical circles. The
cant-words sprinkled
throughout like warts on a
toad "lackey", "oppressive",
"degraded" and all the weary,
weary rest of them might have
raised eyebrows forty or fifty
years ago. Now their staleness
serves only to numb the brain.
(The word "irrelevant" went
out with skateboards.)

Did you really think you
were setting down fresh ideas?
Reliance on such burnt-out
imagery as "festering sore of
injustice" and cesspool of
perverted fraternities" proves,
Brother Ed, the complete lack
of substance in your train of
thought. The best example is
the hilarious "You have raped
enough of our bleach(ed)-brain
sisters with your impotency."
How anyone can be "raped"
by "impotency" is beyond me.

Brother Ed, you are a racist
of the first order. You show
that mental debility peculiar to
certain "oppressed" peoples, a
sort of histrionic masochism;
you glory in your suffering and
bad grammar. One doubts that
the "criminal" policies of our
"transvestite" administrators
will be much swayed by the
slander and illogic of your
half-thought-out harangue.

Forcing your thoughts into
print is of course gratifying,
Brother Ed, and stirring up
controversy over nothing is
doubtless even more so, but so
far your contributions to

"Wahoo consciousness" has
been less than adequate, it
more than sufficiently coarse.

Laudable Objective

I have been at this
university now for a little less
than three months and so my
observations might be limited
and may infer incorrect
conclusions. I have read the
different demands made by
students over the past semester
and find myself wondering if
these people realize what a
university is supposed to be.

The fight against expansion,
a very laudable objective,
centered around such things as
parking problems, inadequate
housing, long cafeteria lines,
and lack of adequate athletic
facilities. Now, during
elections, once again I read the
demands of students; this time
these are students who want to
represent the rest of the
student body and struggle for a
better university.

But I read that for them a
better university means no
quotas at basketball games,
better dormitories, and a stop
to expansion. As I wade
through all the rhetoric, I
wonder if anyone cares about
education. Isn't that the
primary goal of a university?
Or did the goals change
om where along the way and I
just miss it?

I did find something about
education: one of the
candidates in talking about
stopping expansion says he
wants to put a stop to
"cafeteria-type education." Is
that all the attention that the
primary goal of a university
merits?

As to the student activities
fee. I have not been able to
find anything besides athletic
events that it is good for. If the
students want a fan club for
their favorite team, the term
"university" is not a good
name for it.