Letters to the Editor

Regarding Ryan Jones's column "Drunk driving statistics work backward at CSUF," we agree that even a few drunk drivers are too many. However, his deduction that 24 percent of Fresno State students drive drunk misinterprets the data and overstates the problem.

While 76 percent of Fresno State student drinkers use designated drivers, others avoid drunk driving in other ways, such as drinking at home, taking a taxi, or drinking a moderate amount and waiting an hour or two before driving. In fact, the vast majority of Fresno State students typically have an estimated blood-alcohol concentration well below .08 percent — the legal cutoff — when they party/socialize (even without waiting an hour or two).

The poster Mr. Jones referred to reflects the broader approach of the social norms campaign. Instead of the traditional "scare the health into them" approach that emphasizes what a small minority does wrong, we are seeking to turn up the volume on what the vast majority of Fresno State students do right. Ours is not a campaign to make the university or its students look good. The goal is to reduce alcohol-related harm, and the research shows the most fruitful way to do this is to reinforce the positive but unappreciated norms that exist among our students.


—Sam Gitchel
Social Norms Project Director
—Juan Pablo Moncayo
Junior, physics
Peer Education Coordinator

Last Friday’s “Sound Off!” on President Bush was filled, top to bottom, with false information that, apparently, Ms. Matcham, the American people disagree with. Perhaps the most bizarre comment made was when you said that the Iraqi people will suffer without food, water or shelter, while laying no foundation for your claim. Ms. Matcham, the Iraqi people were already suffering due to Saddam Hussein’s incompetence to agree with the oil for food program. Ring a bell?

Our soldiers are over there shedding blood, sweat and tears to ensure freedom to the Iraqi people, not take it away. No one said the task would be easy, yet you jump to assume that it was somehow supposed to be. If you want to talk about suffering, look at Cambodia, Somalia, and take a big look at Rwanda and the United Nations’ handling of that situation, not at Iraq.

Secondly, no one in the Bush administration ever admitted this war was somehow a mistake, nor should they. It is one thing to make false political statements, Ms. Matcham, but claiming that someone said something they never said is just going overboard. They simply admitted that, in certain aspects of the war, mistakes were made. Going into Iraq was not a mistake. Removing Saddam Hussein, one of the most brutal dictators of all time, from power was not a mistake. And, certainly, fighting a global war on terrorism, something that Bill Clinton was impotent to do, was not a mistake!

—Michael Adams
Sophomore, political science