Students, faculty can protect freedoms

Thank you for printing the article “A Funeral for Freedom.” I agree that academic freedom is, if not completely dead at USF, at best on life support.

The USF Board of Trustees and USF administration are proving to be very cool toward freedom of speech. The board, all partisan political Republican appointees made by Gov. Jeb Bush, seem unaware of what academic freedom means and its importance to the reputation of a university. The administration seems to go along with them.

How can we counteract this dangerous situation? The best way, in my opinion, is through collective actions. Faculty and students can join associations that favor freedom and speak collectively about our concerns. Such associations include many student organizations and faculty and staff unions.

Action is needed now. Tomorrow may be too late.John A. McCrossan, Ph. D. Professor Emeritus of the School of Library and Information Science.

Popular show defames famous boxer

Thursday, approximately 27.9 million Americans had the opportunity to watch the CSI episode “Fight Night,” on CBS, in which a case of a boxer who killed a world champion by using “loaded gloves” in his fight was being investigated. Those 27.9 million viewers also had the opportunity to hear one of the characters make a comment about how the case was similar to “Felix Trinidad’s” case. In other words, they are comparing the “killer” in the series to the Puerto Rican boxing hero.

They are referring to a situation that happened a year ago, when Trinidad fought the middleweight champion, Bernard Hopkins. In that fight, Hopkins forced Trinidad to rewrap his hands because he said Trinidad had too much gauze and tape on his wraps, and that could give him some “advantage” in the fight; in other words, extra power. Trinidad, known for his devastating punching power, rewrapped his hands. The thing is that Trinidad lost that fight with Hopkins, and many then started speculating about how the hand-wraps could have helped Trinidad to win his past bouts.

However, after the fight, the same Bernard Hopkins admitted that making Tito rewrap was just a “mind game.” So did Hopkins’ ex-trainer, Bouie Fisher. In fact, Hopkins also stated after the fight that Trinidad’s punch was “as hard as a brick” and that his body was aching due to his punches. Last September, the State Athletic Commission of Nevada, along with hand surgeon Dr. Charles Malone, praised Trinidad’s hand-wrapping style because it helps to avoid hand injury in boxers better than any other hand-wrapping style. Many world-famous trainers, such as Teddy Atlas and Miguel Diaz (former trainer of middleweight champion William Joppy, whom Trinidad knocked out last year), along with many boxers, such as former world heavyweight champion George Foreman, have stated that adding extra gauze and tape to the hand-wraps (like Tito did) did not add any extra power to the punch. Right now, junior welterweight champion Oscar de la Hoya and super-middleweight prospect Jeff Lacy are using hand-wrapping styles very similar to Trinidad’s.

I really felt insulted by the comment, not only as a Trinidad fan but also as a boxing fan in general and as a Puerto Rican. Felix “Tito” Trinidad is a future member of the Boxing Hall of Fame. He just retired at age 29 with an impressive record of 41 wins, only one loss and 34 wins by way of knockout. He won five world titles in three different weight divisions, and he was one of the most dominant welterweights in boxing history, reigning in that division for seven consecutive years. Trinidad is, arguably, the best Puerto Rican boxer ever (without disrespecting Gomez and Benitez). Calling Trinidad a cheater on national TV is an insult to his legacy, to his fans, to the sport in general and to all Puerto Ricans and Latin Americans who felt pride and joy every time “Tito” stepped into the ring to give his best. CSI has attempted to tarnish the name of a boxing legend through defamation.

Roberto Jiménez-Arroyo is a sophomore majoringin pre-med/biology.

Writer only expresses one viewpoint

Due to the fact that “Protesters promote change during time of status quo” by Jessica Higgins is by far the most ignorant and hypocritical column I have read all year in this paper, I think I’ll give you my two cents on the issue.

Just because you took a class about the 1960s and now know a millimeter more about the world that you so highly criticize, doesn’t mean you can preach to the rest of the student population about something you just endorsed in another column you wrote.

Let’s be realistic here, it sounds like you didn’t have anything good to write about. So, you picked an important issue regarding our nation and our future generations and then you so kindly dragged it through the mud, flipped a coin to pick the side you would be on and then verbally slaughtered those of us who disagreed with you.

“Our generation seems to care more about Abercrombie and Fitch, Lexus and Beverly Hills than any previous one.”

Why, you may ask yourself?

Honestly, with this opinion column, you have represented a student population of one: you.

Oh, and I work at Abercrombie and Fitch, and I (gasp) voted … and I am going to law school, with a double major in political science and English and a double minor in history and philosophy, and (this one will shock you) I am in the Honors College. Oh, and by the way, what was your major again? Oh, that’s right, mass communications.

We, with our “ample opportunities,” as you so eloquently put it, do a lot more than your small eyes can see.

So, in the future, why don’t you write something worthwhile and stop making personal attacks on those who already disagree with you.

Nina Lacevic is majoring in English and political science.

Registration problemsneed to be addressed

Students in the department of computer science and engineering have encountered many problems while trying to register for classes next semester due to the lack of professors and classes the department is offering.

I, along with the other students of the department of computer science and engineering, have written a petition that we will present to USF president Judy Genshaft regarding this serious problem.

I would like the students to be aware of what is going on and know we need their support to help keep USF a reputable school. Max Karapetian is a senior majoring in computer engineering.