Respect Trumps Partisanship

Editor’s Note: In the November|December 2010 issue, we printed a letter to the editor objecting to a photo in the September|October 2010 of President Obama visiting campus. That letter generated many rebuttal letters, a sample of which we’ve included here.

I was absolutely appalled and disgusted by a letter that was printed in the November|December 2010 issue. To advocate that a university’s alumni magazine ignore a visit by a sitting president is absurd. To do so solely on political grounds is offensive and would be contrary to the mission of any great university, which must include encouraging diverse thought and the ability to engage in educated dialogue on issues. That some choose to advocate discourteous behavior solely for political reasons does not lessen the historical significance of a presidential visit or the newsworthiness of the event.

Rudy Cano, BBA ’81, JD ’84

Life Member, Kingwood

What purpose is served by publishing such a hateful, ill-informed letter as the one from a reader regarding his take on the visit of the president of the United States to the Forty Acres? You have indeed “disappointed many alumni” — by publishing such a piece of venom and disrespect.

Linda J. Hargrave, BA ’58,

Denver

I was glad to read your editor’s note saying that “The Alcalde does not take political positions.” However, printing such a truly uncivil and disrespectful letter from the Houston Life Member struck me as contradictory to your stated policy position. I attended the Jim Leach lecture at the Harry Ransom Center entitled “Civility in a Fractured Society” just days before reading The Alcalde. Perhaps your staff needs a refresher course on recognizing incivility when they see it.

Cecile F. Zelinsky

Austin

I was especially thrilled to see the article in the September|October issue on President Obama’s visit to UT. To me, it demonstrated what I love best about The University of Texas: in a state that President Obama lost in the general election, the flagship university welcomed him to campus because Longhorns recognize that he is the president of the United States, regardless of how many Texans voted for him.

So I was more than a little disappointed to see that the only letter in the November|December issue about the article was not only a critical one, but a disrespectful, partisan letter at that. I’m not exactly sure what the writer learned at UT, but I learned how to engage in thoughtful conversation and debate with my fellow students and my professors. I also learned that listening to those with whom I disagree doesn’t diminish me but educates and strengthens me. My only disappointment, contrary to his assertion, is that the writer presumes to speak for “many alumni.” He most certainly does not speak for this alumna.

Tracy Garrison-Feinberg, BS ’88, MA ’90

Life Member, Brooklyn, N.Y.

I read Mr. Cary Cox’s vicious and insulting letter in our November|December Alcalde with deep sadness for all that the rest of us hold sacred about this great country and state. While I hate with as much fervor as Mr. Cox, especially the very air breathed by “Dubya,” I hope our republic still rises above such petty and spiteful language as that written by my fellow alumnus. What did he learn while at UT? Where is his acknowledgement that the duly elected president of the United States of America has a perfect right to visit this campus, just as the discredited Richard Nixon did during my undergraduate days and just as many other presidents have? I grow increasingly concerned that our country, and even our great state, has devolved into a banana republic where we only respect our own kind and those whom we personally approve of. We should support our democratically elected officials, even if we didn’t vote for them.

BJ Zamora, BA ’70

Life Member, Shelby, N.C.

Remembering Heman Sweatt

(“Why Heman Sweatt Still Matters,” September|October 2010)

The story on the admission of Heman Sweatt to the University was a good one. I was a member of the law class entering in the fall of 1950, when Sweatt and 11 others came to enroll. I remember the occasion well. Sweatt and the others were older than the white students and were well dressed, with coat and tie. Most of the white students were casually attired. The class assembled in a large room in the basement of the old law school building for orientation. Sweatt’s group sat together, but with the rest of us. There was no recognition or talk between anyone going through the orientation process with anyone else. We received the information handed out, including class schedules, and then it was over. All students were treated the same. This continued during the school year, and some would call it complete integration by the blacks into the student body as a whole.

My recollection is that most of the black students did not graduate. Mr. Sweatt remained a student for some time but his grade average prevented him from graduating, and he left. The first black student to graduate was George Washington, who was an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County for some years.

Sterling W. Steves, BA ’50, LLB ’54

Life Member, Fort Worth

Myths: Busted?

(“A Mythbuster’s Guide to UT,” November|December 2010)

Did anyone else pick up on the considerable irony in President Bill Powers’ quote acknowledging that “higher education is drowning in them,” referring to the more than 100 regulatory structures that “...may be the biggest drain on UT’s productivity.”

This is going political. The liberal mindset is responsible for the majority of over-regulation that hampers all professions and now virtually every facet of our daily lives. However, the University not only promotes the liberal agenda, but also does so with fervor. Take a life lesson, President Powers, and start dialing it back. We all feel your pain, and you are in a prime position to help change this wasteful tide at the academic level.

UT, a victim of its own devices.

Duane Meyers, BAr ’78

Life Member, Uncertain, Texas

Simkins Hall Had To Go

(“Simkins Hall Renamed,” September|October 2010)

I commend those at the University who had the fortitude to rename Simkins Hall. I was pleasantly surprised that the Regents adopted this proposal. To rename the dormitory is not a conservative, liberal, or diversity issue, but rather an act of courage that assures that the ethical profile of a flagship university is divulged. To remember how and why this change came about is a new chapter in history, not an alteration. I choose to record in my history notes that the Simkins dilemma existed and a courageous and moral-thinking board made a historic move.

Diversity is real, and when we acknowledge the positives that can result from it our whole society will be the winner. The acts committed by Mr. Simkins as a Klan member were abhorrent, immoral, and counter to the purpose of any institution of higher learning.

Lonnie Fogle, BS ’66

Life Member, Houston

Some Thanksgiving Thanks

On Thanksgiving night, my husband and I were entering Royal-Memorial Stadium to attend the Texas-Texas A&M football game when he collapsed on the escalator. Because of the quick reactions of many people whom I do not know — including the stadium staff, the University of Texas Police, the Austin-Travis County EMS, one very special nurse, an anesthesiologist, and the staff at St. David’s Medical Center — my husband is alive today. I do not know who all of you are, so I cannot thank all of you personally, but I want to express gratitude and appreciation for your quick actions and the blessing of life you gave to my family this Thanksgiving night.

God bless all of you.

The wife (and family) of Stephen Eason

Corrections: In our November|December article on the Dobie Paisano Ranch, two names were misspelled: Ray Bedichek should have been Roy, and the Ralph A. Johnson family name is actually Johnston. The Alcalde regrets the errors.