Letters to the Editor

Senator addresses SGA allocation to UMS

This is in reply to the letter concerning the appropriation of $500.00 to the Marshall University United Methodist Students to attend a retreat. As a member of SGA, I voted against the allocation, but not because they are a religious organization. Ms. Francksí questions the appropriateness of giving money to a religious organization and wonders if other faith related organizations could receive money from SGA. Any University recognized student organization can apply for funding from SGA. There are restrictions on how much can be appropriated and reasons why the money is sometimes not awarded, but religious reasons is not one of them. Marshall University is a public institution, but the money that is appropriated is from fees collected from all students, even students of "faith". It concerns me when someone has a discriminatory attitude towards a group due to their "faith", as Ms. Francks seems to display. I voted against the appropriation because of the location and rather flippant attitude the members had when questioned about the location of the retreat. If anyone has a question concerning the awarding of money or the process, please feel free to come to SGA meetings every Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center.

Charles E. Swanson II,
College of Science senator

Student says pay attention to fire drills

Recently I had the opportunity to witness a fire drill at Corbly Hall.

What I saw was simply amazing considering the recent event at Seton Hall University. Fire drills are done for a reason. To see how quickly you can get people out of a burning building. People were still trying to go upstairs until they were told to exit the building. I am sorry if going out into the cold was an inconvenience for you, but it would be much more of an inconvenience to your families and friends to have to deal with your death don't you think? Another goal of a fire drill is to get you a safe distance away from the building. Standing by and leaning against the building does not constitute a safe distance from the building. I have had the opportunity to take part in many fire drills previous to this and this one definitely was not a successful one. I understand it was only a drill but are we going to perform like this when it's the real thing? Let's learn from the event at Seton Hall University. Marshall University has suffered one tragedy too many already, lets not add to it. Fire drills can save your life if you take them seriously!

Susan Powers,
freshman, CTC