Letters to the Editor

Campus recycling improves

To the Editor:

We would like to thank The Heights for their support in our campaign. The article published on Nov. 8 and The Heights editorial of Nov. 11 brought great publicity to the campaign and strengthened our appeal to the administrators.

Our meeting held on Nov. 22 with administrators from Facilities Management was a great first step in improving Boston College's environmental stewardship. As a result of the meeting, three to five total additional recycle bins will be placed on BC's outdoor campus during winter break, and include (on Main Campus) the Dustbowl, the Quad, and O'Neill Plaza. New signs for the four existing recycle containers in front of McElroy, O'Neill Plaza, in front of Lower Dining Hall, and behind Vanderslice Hall will be ready by next week. Another change that students have hopefully noticed is the new recycle signs and recycle bins by the trash area of McElroy. The ratio of trashcans to recycle bins on the outdoor campus is 12-1, so there is still much work to be done to encourage and increase student participation in campus recycling. But this is a great first step!

Other progress in BC environmentalism includes new battery and ink cartridge recycle boxes in Upper Campus, which began (Nov. 26) just this week. Work is underway to place recycle bins inside Upper Campus dormitories, either by alternating between trash and recycle bins in the hallways and/or having recycle bins in the bathrooms or study lounges.

Thank you to all the almost 1,500 students who signed our recycling petition, to The Heights, and to everyone else at BC who gave their support.

Ian Watt, A&S '07

HyunJoo Lee, A&S '05

The Recycling Committee of Boston College

Student in Oxford responds

To the Editor:

Daniel Elliott's Nov. 22 article "European anti-Americanism Persists" deserves a response from Boston College students currently studying abroad in this supposed hotbed of anti-American sentiment. Elliott's piece uses an article by Brian Reade and the November 3rd headline of the London Daily Mirror as his only shreds of hard evidence of this anti-Americanism. While the Reade article was clearly over the top, and the Mirror's headline was distasteful, it's not unexpected from a newspaper whose Dec. 2 front page was split between a Parliamentary sex scandal and an interview with pop star Kylie Minogue, with just enough space for a corner blurb inviting readers to look inside and "get sexy in 24 hours."

Quite frankly the Daily Mirror is a rag, devoid of journalistic integrity, which is not an accurate barometer of the climate in Britain. I shudder to imagine what Europeans would think of us if they couldn't bring themselves to see past the headlines of the New York Daily News or The National Enquirer. During my time here, the Europeans I've met have been able to do just that. I have yet to meet a British or other European citizen who supports the Iraq war, yet not once in the run-up to the election or in its wake has a single person accosted me for simply being American, nor has anybody gone so far as to broach the topic of American politics uninvited.Elliott's assertion that "Europeans really can't stand the sight of a Big Mac" and that this "reveals a level of arrogance and intolerance" Europeans possess with regard to American culture is, in my experience, patently false. Oxford center has a Starbucks, a Burger King, and a KFC, all of them among the largest I have ever seen in the United States or elsewhere, and all of them crowded at any hour of the day. It is not uncommon for local British schoolboys to wear New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox caps, not having a bit of knowledge about baseball, knowing only that the logos denote something American.

The anti-American sentiment which Elliott can apparently see so clearly from the top of Chestnut Hill is curiously elusive in Oxford, England. What I have experienced, as an American in Europe, is a common disapproval of our foreign policy and the attitude of go-it-alone foolhardiness which pervades it. The Europeans I have befriended in my time here have been careful not to let policy differences degenerate into the "petty and lamentable" ad hominem attacks Elliott decries, and I think as Americans we owe them the same courtesy.

Jeff Newton

A&S '06

Clean up your flyers and sheets To the Editor:

As I walk to class each day, I am bombarded by refuse and absurd signs hung from the trees, written on the pavement, and taped to the sidewalks. Instead of a pristine campus that is inviting to visitors and perspective students, we have a campus littered with used bed sheets and week old flyers that clutter the walkways. There is still evidence of student events weeks after they have ended, leaving the trees draped with torn sheets and pieces of line. Students at Boston College need to learn to respect their campus and to hold a high opinion of what they display in public view. Instead of littering our campus with this trash, student leaders should inform the school of certain events in a classier way. The sheets and flyers are almost ineffective; I am too disgusted by the horrible state of our campus to even want to read what these notices have to offer. I realize that students are dedicated to extracurricular activities, but they should take pride in the appearance of our campus.

Alden C. Reid CSOM '08

Don't leave us, Coach To the Editor:

Lately people in the media have been throwing around coach O'Brien's name as a candidate to fill the vacancy in Notre Dame or Washington. As an alumnus and a continuing fan of Boston College football, I do not believe I am being overly dramatic in saying that this should fill every BC sports fan with emotions ranging from disgust to outright anxiety.      Coach O'Brien has done a great job during his tenure and is a great coach, rebuilding a program that less than 10 years ago was crushed by a gambling scandal. His teams invariably finish within striking distance of the top 25 every year and his players are actually students in addition to being athletes.      Despite the satisfaction in seeing Notre Dame squirm, the fact is that they are getting desperate; given the fact that Notre Dame is in some people's minds still NOTRE DAME and can throw so much money around that almost anybody might be tempted, the notion of ND going after Tom O'Brien is positively frightening.      While I am sure you have made your decision one way or the other already, please, coach, remember what ND did to Bob Davie and now Tyrone Willingham, and think about what you have accomplished here in the last eight years.