Backhaus and Prepsky
Am I missing something regarding the stories on Ecstasy producers Ralph Backhaus and Mike Prepsky? So a student and a professor misappropriate thousands of dollars of in-state funds to make drugs on campus, and so far the administration has looked the other way. Backhaus has pleaded no contest and may get his job back at ASU. The smart bet is that he will.
If the administration hasn't moved after a plea of no contest, then it must be OK with officials to manufacture drugs on campus. Somebody please let me know where I can get the keys to set myself up in an ASU lab. I don't know anything about making drugs, but if the only penalty is probation - I'm willing to learn. I wonder how many blue-collar producers of Ecstasy are sitting in jail wondering why they didn't manufacture their drugs on a college campus instead of a beat-up trailer.
Roisan Rubio
Architecture Grad. Student
Court shouldn't legislate
I have no doubt that Rosie Cisneros' heart is in the right place in her desire, as expressed in her Friday column to see the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Texas sodomy law, and I don't want others to construe this as a defense of the content of that law. However, she forgets that the role of the Supreme Court is to determine the constitutionality of statutes.
When the Constitution is silent and no clear principle can be discerned (as the case is here), the right to legislate is reserved to the people of the various states - the Court has no right to attempt a ruling. "Legislation from the bench" is profoundly undemocratic and severely skews the checks and balances system. This statute, as unjust as many people find it, was enacted by a duly elected legislature, and it is up to the people of Texas, not the Supreme Court, to remove it.
Chris Lanter
Biology Junior
Soldiers treated unfairly
Christopher Fanning's empty-headed portrayal of our soldiers in his Thursday column presents a great argument for mandatory military service. Although Mr. Fanning passively excludes a few in this column, he seems to characterize members of our military as gun-obsessed "Beavis and Butthead" types arbitrarily slaughtering anyone in their way.
Yes, there are examples of misconduct by our troops. Most of them are away from home for the first time with access to drugs and alcohol, not unlike many college students. Following Mr. Fanning's logic, we should question whether or not to support higher education since many college students just get drunk and film porn movies. I agree that we do not want the group of "bigots and meatheads" at the forefront of our military, but I suggest Fanning spend time with the "regular, nice and friendly" members of our armed forces before writing an article like that.
Jason Mordan
Psychology Junior
