Letters to the Editor

 

Disrespect shown to an elder

I am a Concordia student who turns 90 on March 24. On Monday, March 15, just before 2:40 p.m., I was, as usual, on my way to my Psychology of Religion lecture.

Inside the Administration building at Loyola, I was thrown off balance by the inside front door which was forcefully thrown open by a horde of students rushing out. I tumbled down the staircase, landing on my face and saw that I was dripping blood and my glasses lay broken on the floor.

The students who caused this incident didn't stop, and others, entering and leaving the building, stepped around me. No one bent down to help.

Shortly, the Security Officer on duty (who was kind and competent) came to my aid and called the ambulance, which took me, bruised and bleeding, to the Montreal General Hospital emergency ward, where more than eight hours later I was stitched up and discharged.

I question why one of two double doors was locked so that students rushing to get out of the building had to squeeze through a single doorway. But above all I was, and am still, appalled at the callousness of Concordia students who wouldn't stop to aid a fellow student.

J. Wm. Corber, CA, MA (Concordia, 1979)

Editor: Michael Di Grappa, Vice-Rector, Services, replied in a personal letter that the failure of passersby to assist Mr. Corber was disappointing and inexcusable, and he assured the writer that he has taken steps to prevent a recurrence.

CSU ads questioned by alumna

As an alumna whose association is sponsoring those 5 x 10 inch advertisements for voting [in the CSU election] in the Gazette, I am furious at the waste of money, costing in the thousands of dollars.

Surely the campus newspaper and the over-plastering of every possible space is sufficient to advertise the various nominees.

Since you obviously do not require my donations for essential bursaries and scholarships, I am cancelling my donations. Sheila Ostroff, BA Psychology, Sir George Williams University

Concordia Alumni Association president John Aylen replies: I would ask that you reconsider. Be assured that none of the money you donated to the university went into this alumni association campaign;the money was generated by revenue from affinity credit cards and other sources. By cancelling your donations to the university, you are penalizing students, because the alumni association generates revenue to provide scholarships.

Art and science go in hand for student

We are all both imaginative and rational. However, some students think that art and science are opposed, and that technical progress will destroy artistic human expression. I firmly deny this erroneous perception; there are no borders between these two vital components of our personalities.

How can you tell where science ends and art starts? Every piece of painting contains a variety of logical combinations. It’s as complex as a Java program.

In fact, I program and paint all the time. I have never been able to make a distinction between the two behaviors. Indeed, we use pens to write poetry, chemicals to paint pictures, and cameras to shoot films.

These formerly technical tools made their entry into the art kingdom a long time ago. They are citizens who enjoy recognition and respect, and contribute to the prosperity of their adoptive realm.

Now it is the turn of other devices to undergo the same humiliating treatment, as if we have not learned from our previous mistakes. The computer, accused by many artists of limiting their liberty of expression, has in fact freed them to express their art more fully.

Mohamed Hachem, Major in Computer Information Systems.