Letters to the Editor

Guard the ex-dawg

In my opinion, I think the smartest thing UW Athletic Director Barbara Hedges and the new football "manager" can do is take away the keys to the lock on the desk and office door from ex-coach Rick Neuheisel. They should have several campus security guards escort Neuheisel when he cleans out his locker. They should make sure he returns all the football play books, that his office and home computers are clean, and nothing they don't want him to have is saved on disc. You never know where these important play books might end up. GO Huskies!!!

Ed Garcia

USAF retired

Tucson, Ariz.

Let us try his character in the press

I am disappointed, not only with Rick Neuheisel and the UW, but with the way the news media tried this guy via the newspaper and the airwaves. I have yet to hear Neuheisel's version of the events, except for one small paragraph in which he claimed he was following NCAA rules as set forth by the school's compliance director.

I was always taught the way you get the truth is by giving the accused his day in court, rather than assaulting his character in the press. I think I speak for many people in the community who are growing tired of hypocritical journalists. Do any of them commit sins on the job? Do we get to hear about their misdeeds?

Media in the Western culture have gotten so carried away with their importance that they have become supremely arrogant. They use the rights given to them under the Constitution, and attack anyone they wish, as long as they believe they won't suffer legal consequences from doing so.

Neuheisel may have lied on several occasions and he deserves to be fired, but I certainly would like to hear his side of the story.

Craig West

Online reader

Dissect this

The UW must offer standard animal-free alternatives in all classes requiring dissection of nonhuman animals. As a public university, the UW has a special responsibility to its students, as well as state and national taxpayers, to abide by the U.S. Constitution, including the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion. While dissection is a hotly debated and controversial issue, it must be concluded as reasonable that those students who oppose it on ethical and religious grounds should be given an animal-free option in courses that require dissection.

Many universities have already made the needed changes in an effort to respect diversity and embrace new technologies. Universities that offer alternatives include the University of California, University of Illinois, University of Virginia, Harvard University, and the Johns Hopkins Medical School. Alternatives to dissection available today include plastic models of dissected animals that students can take apart, virtual-dissection software and 3-D films. The University of California and the University of Virginia currently offer online virtual dissections as an alternative.

Because the UW is a public university, it has an obligation to respect and accommodate students who are religiously opposed to participating in dissection. Since other accredited universities are offering standard alternatives to dissection and not using dissection at all, it is only rational that the UW would give its students the same alternatives.

Angela Smith

junior, philosophy