Letters to the Editor

First pope was a married man

In regard to Chris Murray's article on celibacy in the priesthood ("Holier than thou," April 24), I must disagree. While celibacy has been the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church for almost 1,000 years, it was not the doctrine of the church for more than 1,000 years after Christ's death. The first pope, Peter, was a married man. The change came with the Second Lateran Council in 1139, largely to avoid property inheritance to the children of priests.

While it is easy to maintain that celibacy should be a Catholic core value to maintain a "holier than thou" aura, one must examine the moral underpinnings of marriage itself. The Roman Catholic Church considers marriage a holy institution. Marriage in itself is not a sin, and if marriage leads couples to engage in supposedly baseless activities, then I wonder why married couples neither seek nor are expected to seek repentance for such grave errors.

Granted, the celibacy requirement is failed by perhaps fewer than 2 percent of Catholic priests. But the requirement also serves as a barrier to entry for many men who might consider joining the priesthood. This is significant as the Catholic Church faces a decreasing priesthood serving an increasing Catholic population. Better screening of the sexual proclivities of priesthood candidates and a serious re-examination of the supposed sin in marriage could reduce pedophilia cases and increase the ranks of the priesthood.

Alex Chang

junior, business

Tell the full story

Hashem Said ("Israel's war notebooks," April 29) needs to look deeper into the Palestinian refugee problem to understand the complexity of the situation. Benny Morris (whom Said quotes), in The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, concludes that "the Palestinian refugee problem was born of war, not by design, Jewish or Arab. It was largely a byproduct of Arab and Jewish fears. The creation of the problem was almost inevitable."

Efraim Karsh writes that "it is no coincidence that neither Arab propagandists nor Israeli 'new historians' have ever produced any evidence of a Zionist master plan to expel the Palestinians during the 1948 war."

Morris also states that "the intention of the Palestinian leadership and ... most of the Arab states' leaders and armies in launching the hostilities in November-December 1947 and May 1948 invasion to destroy the Jewish state ... if given the chance, intended to re-enact a Middle Eastern version of the Holocaust." Said does not mention these points in his article because he knows that they are true and factual, and would destroy the argument of his article.

If Said were to display true reality, he would show both sides of the refugee problem. A report by the U.N. Mediator on Palestine concludes that there were actually 472,000 Palestinian refugees (far fewer than the 750,000 Said claims), while there were 820,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries. No Jewish refugee has ever asked for any sort of compensation or repatriation from these countries. If the Palestinians are involved in "refugee negotiations," why aren't the Jewish refugees?

Eric Hasson

junior, accounting

Where is the outrage?

In the past few weeks the news has been filled with Israeli "atrocities"; nobody seems to mention the atrocities committed by the Palestinians after the Israelis withdrew from West Bank towns. The fact that Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the Israelis were lynched by fellow Palestinians seemed to have gone unnoticed (The Washington Post, April 23). Human rights activists from all over the world seem to be enraged at the deaths of Palestinian civilians and gunmen at the hands of Israelis; however, they seem to turn a blind eye to death of the same Palestinians at the hands of their own kind. Is it not a violation of that people's human rights to be dragged out of their homes or cars to and killed by an angry mob? Where are the protests and demonstrations for those lives? Perhaps this is just another double standard that Israel is held to by the world community?

Boris Grin

senior, bioengineering and neurobiology

Praise for administration

I just wanted to give some praise to the Office of the Registrar for what has seemed to be a smooth transition from a printed version of the time schedule to the online version. By making both available over the past two years, the Registrar provided flexibility to the University community despite economic losses. Ending the printed version only came with the current budget crisis and lack of demand. Such a commitment from the UW administration to the community is encouraged and should be recognized.

Joshua Newman

senior, industrial engineering

Criticism for administration

I am an American teacher who has lived and taught at an international school in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, for the past 25 years (with a four-year stay in the United States with my Yugoslav husband and children from 1984-1988). I received my initial (1987) and continuing teaching certificates from UW, and the latter has been renewed regularly. It's up again for renewal, so recently I wrote to my adviser, Ms. Shirley Shimada, to see if there have been any changes.

In her usual prompt response to me, Ms. Shimada mentioned that she and several other long-term advisers have been let go. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I do not understand what valid reason there is for dismissing persons (I have also been greatly helped over the years by Marge Baylor) who must have cumulatively over 100 years' experience! I doubt that any new, younger advisers (since I assume they are being replaced) will have such experience, and more importantly, they will probably not have any senior employees to help them gain it. Perhaps the new persons have more technological skills, but quite honestly, those skills are relatively easily learned. I didn't grow up with computers, but I learned later on, motivated by personal and professional reasons, and speak from "experience."

It's regrettable that the College of Education didn't think twice to give their original experienced advisers the opportunity to learn these same new skills, and apply them along with their experience to continue helping others.

Patricia A. Andjelkovic

Belgrade, Yugoslavia

UW College of Education, 1987

Loyalty versus cowardice

I read the letter regarding the treatment of Dr. Richard Winn with a heavy heart and great outrage ("Open letter to the University," April 18). For nearly 20 years, Winn has provided the people of the Pacific Northwest with the utmost level of care and service. To say that he touched and saved thousands of lives would not even begin to accurately portray his impact. He has built the preeminent department of neurosurgery in the country in an honest, thoughtful manner, often double-checking to make sure he was abiding by the rules and regulations of the University, as well as by his own moral compass.

For the University to demand his resignation without informing him of the charges is beyond belief, and its actions reek of a corrupted and unjust system. How is a man to defend himself without knowing what he should defend against? Is it of no consequence that Winn has taken a lie detector test and passed? The absence of loyalty is shameful.

Ultimately, the world-renowned care and service provided by Winn and his team will surely suffer in his absence, and for this reason, Seattle citizens should be deeply disheartened.

I have known Winn for 28 years and know of his sacrifice for his job and patients. I sat waiting for him at soccer games or at the dinner table or at a school play because patients had crashed or their families needed a shoulder on which to lean. He imparted to me the importance of honesty and ethics, and through these unfounded attacks, I have never been prouder to not only call him the leading neurosurgeon in the country, but also my father. The unjust acts of the University will never mar him in the eyes of those who know him as a man.

Allison Winn Scotch

Racial shakedown

The recent protest by Asian American students against Abercrombie & Fitch for alleged "racism" highlights the hypersensitivity of minority "rights" organizations, and only goes to show how bankrupt they really are ("Students gather to boycott Abercrombie and Fitch," April 29).

If the shirts caricatured a "white" group, nobody would have cared. There wouldn't have been a peep from any so-called "civil rights" organizations, let alone calls for apologies from the CEO and compulsory sensitivity training towards Northern Europeans.

I am of Scandinavian, Jewish and Irish descent; I can handle jokes and caricatures of these groups without race-baiting anybody. In fact, my favorite T-shirt depicts a "dumb blond" Swede on it, and teams with mascots such as the "fighting Irish" don't offend me, even though they rely on "racist 19th century stereotypes."

Hopefully, Abercrombie & Fitch won't cave in to this Jesse Jackson-esque shakedown operation, like other corporations do when the word "racism" is spoken at a low decibel.

BH Thomson

senior, electrical engineering

Makes me not want to eat pizza

I would like you to know that I find the advertisement by Pazzo's Pizza (Career guide, April 23) rather offensive and vulgar. Each time I come across this ad, I can't help but feel disgusted. It's rather distasteful to have such an ad for pizzas. Such an ad is an assault on our standards of decency. It is not appropriate to be published for the student community. Please give feedback to the advertiser.

Kelly Ong

spouse of a UW student

Professors are here to teach

See a full professor hard at work: students.washington.edu/sefthuko/goodprofessor.jpg

It's refreshing to see a full professor who's willing to sit down after class and go through things with students. The idea of full professors lecturing and then disappearing into thin air still hasn't arrived, at least at the UW. My friend Joel Pierce told me that this was a Kodak moment, and I am inclined to agree. By the way, the teacher is professor Robert Marks from the electrical engineering department. He's the one in the dark suit in the middle, with the Diet Coke at his feet. UW definitely needs professors like these, because this image represents something that universities and colleges are starting to overlook. It's comforting to know that our teachers realize that they are here to ensure that the students are educated.

Hermann Chong

senior, electrical engineering

We're not all wankers

I am writing to express my disappointment with the cartoon that appears on page 12 of the April 24 issue of The Daily. The illustration accompanies a "Police beat" entry entitled "I just called to say I'm horny"; it portrays an obviously disturbed man who is masturbating while in the act of making an obscene phone call.

My objection to the piece concerns the attire of the alleged pervert. He is depicted in the cartoon wearing an REO Speedwagon concert T-shirt. I am a longtime fan of "the Wagon," and I believe that it is high time that someone stood up in defense of this much-maligned and greatly misunderstood band. Enough is enough. I am a fan of REO Speedwagon and lead a completely normal life. Moreover, most fans of the band are similarly normal people. It is time -- once and for all -- that we put to bed the few, isolated and unfortunate incidents from the past that have, unfortunately and unfairly, been used to tar all REO Speedwagon fans with the same broad brush.

Steven M. Tobias

graduate student, English