Dear Mr. Harrison

Did you knowingly give Mr. Daniel J. Harrison free advertisement space because, indeed, that is exactly what you allowed him to do with his “Letter to the Editor”? Mr. Harrison simply tried to make Associated Students, Inc. look bad and seem as if he was fighting for the student body (nice move as an ASI presidential candidate, not really).

Mr. Harrison suggested that ASI didn’t advertise the elections properly. As an ASI candidate and student, I feel that ASI did a great job in advertising their upcoming elections.

Most students I talked to knew about the upcoming elections, and I know a lot of students at Fresno State. Also, is it ASI’s fault that students don’t want to get involved with politics? Absolutely not! I mean, if Mr. Harrison felt that more students should have been involved than maybe he should have advertised the upcoming elections himself as I did. I took my time and recruited people, as two students running for Senators At-Large positions are students I spoke with. And honestly, if students were interested in joining the ASI team than they probably knew about the deadlines. The fact is, that maybe students don’t want to be ASI officers, but still care about voting, so let’s not blame ASI for things we are not certain of. And also, let’s not try to make ourselves seem as if we are the student voice because reality is that you simply insulted ASI. ASI does care about the student body and they do whatever is possible for the success of the student body at Fresno State.

”” Oscar Perez,
Senator at Large

‘I apologize’

It came to my attention this past week that in my “Letter to the Editor” last Friday, I said students pay $116 to ASI. This is false. I was misinformed and I apologize for the mistake. Although the amount students do pay to ASI is less, it does not take away the point I was trying to make: Students pay money to ASI and deserve the right and the opportunity to influence where the money goes, regardless of how much the fee is.

”” Daniel J. Harrison
Candidate for ASI President

Online gambling addiction

The article “Students gamble online to help make ends meet” was inappropriate and not representative of the much larger issue which is gambling addiction by students. In fact, you callously lead readers to believe this is a normal operation for students and that winning is all but a matter of play enough hands and you will eventually come out on top mentality. Interviewing two students about their online poker habits does not demonstrate the sheer destruction such behavior has on thousands of lives. For each “Jordan Butler” there are literally thousands of students who lose money. Often times rent, food, and tuition monies constitute the losses, not the previous sessions wins as your story would make readers believe. Perhaps you should interview the students who lost all their money through gambling instead of glorifying the lucky one.

Wait.

Those students had to drop out of school because they read articles such as this and were unable to afford tuition this semester. Next time Mr. Valerio, learn about responsible journalism before extolling a truly dangerous behavior.

”” W. Gregory Thatcher, MSPH, PHD
Assistant Professor Department of Public Health