Uplifting speech appreciated
I read the article “Houston’s Speech Ruffles
Feathers” (Daily Bruin, Sept. 29) and was immediately
outraged. I was at convocation (for the third year in a row), and I
was thrilled by the speech given. This was the first year in a very
long time that there was no Praxis president shouting at the
podium, condemning the school, and telling people how awful the
administration is.
After Houston’s speech one of my friends noted,
“This is the first time that I don’t want to kill
someone after convocation.” The USAC president’s speech
has scared incoming freshmen for years, and for once it was a
respectful, uplifting speech. I welcome the change.
I would also like to express my disappointment with select
members of the USAC cabinet who preach tolerance, and then attack
Houston as “homophobic” because of religious
convictions. It is ridiculously hypocritical to say everyone has to
be accepting of everything, but it is okay to insult Christians
because of what they believe.
And as a general statement to USAC, I’d just like to say
that I am embarrassed that the student government at this school
spends so much time bickering about racial issues. If everyone was
as enlightened and colorblind as they pretend to be, then they
would not spend so much time turning everything into spiteful,
bitter, us-vs.-them controversy.
Most of the people on this campus function as adults. It’s
a shame that the “leaders” on campus are setting such a
poor example. Not everything is about race and prejudice. You are
USAC, not the ACLU.
Jeff Hale Third-year Political science