Letters to the Editor

Need for international service fund

Regarding 'Looking backward and moving forward' (Friday, May 19, 2006):

In the editorial, the need to continue encouragement to students to engage in community service is mentioned. One failure of the University in its efforts to involve students in community service is its lack of a central fund for international service projects initiated by groups of Princeton students. Current funding sources fall under two categories. These sources either do not have explicit missions to fund service-oriented trips (but instead have academic or cultural missions) or are funds for individual students pursuing internships in international service. The University should create a fund for groups of Princeton students to use for international service projects — an endeavor many alumni, students and faculty support. Andrew Lapetina '07

Watch your language

Regarding 'Hockey needs controversy for TV ratings' (Wednesday, May 17, 2006):

I couldn't help but be struck by two radically different pieces. In the Opinions section was a letter from a parent praising John Fleming's excellent contributions to the paper over 40 years, praise that is most certainly well-deserved. Part of that praise was for Fleming's erudition, and specifically how the reader "always learned a half dozen new words" in each article.

It was startling to find, just two pages over, the continuation of "Hockey needs controversy for TV ratings" — where, clearly in the spirit of Fleming's penchant for eloquence, Dustin Meyer advised us, in a fine summation of his ultimate point, that "it's better to be an a—h—- than to be boring."

Now, I'm no prude. Anyone who speaks to me in passing conversation will find my speech occasionally littered with ribald colloquialisms and expletives, so I have no particular objection to that word. However, does such language really belong in the 'Prince?'

Whether the result of a poorly-reasoned choice of diction or a paper-thin argument so fluffed-up and inconsequential that those words must not have seemed an anomaly to the author, the editorial staff should have caught it and struck it before the article went to press. Well-written journalism has no place for such language, and if the 'Prince' wants to claim such journalistic integrity, words like that should never again make it into print. David Czapka '07

More Princetonians ought to consider ROTC

Regarding 'A commencement address we would like George W. Bush to give' (Friday, May 19, 2006):

I was very moved and in wholehearted agreement with the words of Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer. As an ROTC Cadet who will be entering the U.S. Army in under a month, I too wish that more students in higher-echelon Universities such as ours would consider military service.

However, I was disappointed by the fact that this article was posted exclusively on the web. Articles placed in the print version will undoubtedly circulate to more students and faculty, so why was this relegated to obscurity and put on the website alone? The Daily Princetonian Opinion Department is completely illustrating the authors' point when they publish "The Best In-Class Princeton Bathrooms" instead.

Schaeffer and Roth-Douquet are making a point that Princetonians need to be more involved in public service; the fact that their words were passed over by the 'Prince' proves them absolutely right. Ed Reynolds '06