Thursday, November 20, 1997
Letters
Lavin: worth every dime
The Bruin’s full-page salary comparisons ("What UCLA Earns,"
Oct. 31) and the first five paragraphs of the accompanying story
are terribly misleading. You imply that head basketball coach Steve
Lavin is overpaid, when the real question coach Lavin will face in
the not-too-distant future will be whether to stay at UCLA or
accept a far more lucrative coaching position in the NBA. He’s a
great coach and leader who has the same values as UCLA’s legendary
coach, John Wooden. It’s true that a top basketball coach makes
much more than a police officer or even a chancellor, although much
less than many professional athletes and entertainers.
Is he worth the salary? I believe that a number of basketball
teams will conclude he is worth much more and would offer him much
more. I hope he will stay as head basketball coach at UCLA for many
years, and, if he does, it will not be for the money.
Chancellor Carnesale could clearly make substantially more money
at any number of universities that would be delighted to have him,
but to the Bruins’ good fortune, he has chosen UCLA. I am convinced
that UCLA has both an outstanding chancellor and head basketball
coach. They earn their salaries.
Stuart Wolpert
Alumnus
God said, Let there be Royce
So, God didn’t build UCLA in a day, and someone wants to
complain about it, and in such a way so as to brown-nose the big
J.C. at the same time. Oh, original architect, please forgive the
sins of the experimenters, we should have known your mud bricks
were enough for all eternity.
The article by Andrew Svitek ("Best-laid plans are those of the
original architect," Nov. 17) was hogwash, folderol, pap, pablum
and a continuous list of words that would rival the length of the
original column. While vaguely entertaining, the article was more
an exercise in ego and a demonstration of what is lacking in
someone’s education. Believe in what you want. Who cares, as long
as it makes you a good person among the rest of us. God is probably
sorry (s)he didn’t finish UCLA in six or seven days, just so (s)he
wouldn’t have to listen to your belly-aching while (s)he worries
about starvation in South Central and poison gas in Iraq, rather
than your figure and someone else’s cologne. God is probably sorry
that UCLA wasn’t entirely constructed to your liking because
obviously you deserve better. Are you happy now? If God is so
important to you, go to another school or another country where you
can wear a hair shirt and really get off on showing your devotion.
God is sure that others should have suffered the noise of
construction so you could sleep late, as you certainly deserve, but
God is busy now, trying to deal with so many fools who continually
misinterpret and mis-represent (her) his words. Do you want to
continue to be one of those distractions to God?
Wake up. Get a life. Fairy Land is in Disneyland, where you pay
admission, go in, have fun and then return to the Real World
(whatever that is). And, no, I have not missed the whole point of
the article. Tradition not only offers continuity, but can also be
the betrayal of the future for the sake of the past. The past, as
you should know by now, is home to all the mistakes ever made, as
well as any good we draw from it. Your assumption that everyone
should turn to the god you believe in is basically selfish, and if
you knew what Christianity meant, really, you would not think as
you seem to. If you don’t see the fascist tendencies of far too
many who call themselves Christian (among other denominations),
then you really do need an education. If there is a god, let us
hope (s)he is not a Nazi. And let us hope that in the dust of
construction you can find the grit of the world and build something
of it, rather than whining about why wasn’t it done before you got
here and how it’s depriving you, while at the same time preaching
something about which you are far too inexperienced to have two
words to say. There is only an imaginary connection between God and
Morality. Wisdom is not what you copy, it’s what you learn for
yourself. Learning and memorization are not the same thing either.
Turning into an adult doesn’t mean you have to turn into your
parents. What’s that expression? Something about the blond leading
the blond. Or are blond jokes out now and the new thing would be
something like: How many light-bulbs can God change at once?
Stretching credulity is not the same as stretching intellectual
capacity.
Dorn Yoder
Fifth-year
Classical civilization