Letters to the Editor

Professor's Actions Not Protected by Academic Freedom

Your editorial ("Request for Law Professor's Resignation Inappropriate," May 24) defending Professor Yoo's interpretation of the Geneva Conventions on the basis of free speech disregards the distinction between speech and government action.

As you point out, the issue of whether international law applies to non-state actors is an important question as a matter of academic debate. If Professor Yoo's interpretation was a part of an intellectual

exercise, which would then be refined through critical examination by other scholars, this should be a part of academic freedom.

However, when someone prepares a memorandum for executive policy decisions, which is in fact alleged to have led to numerous breaches, abuses and human suffering, some degree of responsibility is warranted.

It is troublesome to me that Professor Yoo seems to be using the cover of academic freedom when he is being questioned for his actions during his tenure in the government, not as a professor.

Takeshi Akiba

UC Berkeley student

Guaranteed-Transfer Plan Will Impact Vista College

The Daily Cal editorial (May 10) is rightly distressed by the 11,000 applicants turned away from the UC and Cal State systems this year; instead, they have been sent into the two-year public community college system with guaranteed transfers back to the systems of their first choice. Still, the editorial notes that the imminent 14 percent tuition increase will be covered by Cal Grants. The unintended consequence will be a sharp increase in the already burgeoning Vista College enrollment which is located within spitting range of the Cal campus.

Slated to become a whole campus within a single, 165,000 square-foot, six story building by September 2005, Vista College will charge $26 per unit for the turned away applicants with guaranteed transfers. And what is it that will be so attractive about this new campus? There's the sidewalk of the 2200 block of Milvia Street. Oh, there's the proximity to the campus shuttle to take them wherever they want to go around that "other" campus. Bond issues already passed by constituents of the Peralta Community College District (of which Vista College is a part) will cover the capital costs of the new construction.

But the assumption then was that the operating costs would be paid out of the state general fund. The governor's budget, now, shifts those future costs of Vista College back to the local government in the form of property taxes. Lately Vista College's growth has skyrocketed while that of the other Peralta Community College District colleges has languished. The UC and Cal State systems aren't taxed by local government. So the irony in the case of Vista College is that relatively faraway homeowners brought this situation upon themselves.

But the backlash is coming. There will be no money to pay for instruction at Vista College: Members of the Peralta District Board will heed their infuriated constituents wishes and allot what few full-time instructor positions as may be to Merritt and Laney Colleges.

Those Fall 2004 applicants turned away with guaranteed transfers who elect to come to Vista College will be taught overwhelmingly by part-time instructors in overcrowded conditions, which won't articulate at all well with any four-year public university.

Richard Thompson

Professor, Kyung Hee University

UC Berkeley alumnus

Bush Not Doing Enough To Deal With Gas Crisis

While people across the country are paying through the nose to put gas in their cars and the cost of food and other merchandise climbs through the roof as a result, one would think that President Bush would be trying to do something to alleviate the situation. It has been strongly advised that oil be released from the National Reserve.

Although our first instinct is to blame the Saudis for our problem, a close investigation will reveal the true cause of the sudden explosion in

gasoline prices. Bush is busy purchasing oil from his oil company buddies to restock the National Reserve. What is going on? His action in competing for the purchase of oil is raising the price even further.

John Vickers

via E-mail

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