To The Editor:
This past week, two very positive occurrences have taken place at two universities across America. The first was the dropping of all charges against the three now-infamous-though innocent-white Duke University lacrosse players accused of raping a black stripper. The other was the presentation by the University of New Hampshire Students For Life with over a dozen billboard-sized aborted fetuses in the middle of the UNH campus.
The first situation is positive for obvious reasons: prosecutor Michael Nifong clearly acted inappropriately, unethically, and perhaps illegally, the latter of which he is being investigated for as we speak. Furthermore, the “victim’s” testimony has always been under suspicion, especially when one considers her checkered past, and her supporting witness-a fellow stripper-changed her story almost as many times as the alleged victim. Lastly, given that at least one of the accused students has irrefutable evidence that he was not even near the university at the time of the incident, this dismissal has been a long time coming.
The UNH presentation was positive for many reasons-first, on a personal level, I agree with the stance the students were taking. Secondly, the fact that there were no major incidents between students shows how the students who disagreed with the presentation-and I’m sure there were many-shows that the students are either accepting or open-minded. Lastly, the fact that a state-sponsored university administration would actually ALLOW this kind of display shows that there are people willing to break the mold of colleges and allow controversial and perhaps unpopular-at least in a university setting-points of view to be shown.
It’s funny-Don Imus has recently been fired for controversial comments that were blown out of proportion, the New Hampshire state government is likely going to pass a seatbelt law in the state that further limits personal freedom, and a minimum wage hike was passed by the federal government that is going to push us even further into recession, but the above situations kind of give me hope for the future of this country and the people in it.
Thank you,Dustin Siggins