Thursday, November 15, 2001

Your Views
Letters to the editor

SGA still an option, even for losing candidates

My name is Chris Mattingly, and I just lost an election. In my eyes, there is no other way to state this fact. I would like to first congratulate all those who ran and those who won for running such wonderful campaigns. I tip my hat to all of you. However, my biggest “thank you” goes out to all of those who voted in the election. Because you voted, you showed that you cared. You have charged the TCU Student Government Association with a huge task of representing your concerns. Your choice to vote has given weight to SGA’s claim that it is speaking as the unified voice of the TCU students. This in turn means a more effective voice to the administration on your behalf.

I would like to say that despite my loss, I am looking forward to returning to the House of Student Representatives in some capacity or another. I realize just because we elected a few does not make this an organization of a few. Rather, SGA is an organization that represents many. I encourage you to continually challenge and support those you have elected to be your voice. I also encourage you to become involved with this organization if you are not already. It is important that we continue to listen and gather your ideas. I stick by my commitment to those whom I said I would listen to. If you have any concerns, my door is always open.

— Chris Mattingly, sophomore business major

Poverty is really a race issue, statistics indicate

In response to “Poverty not financial, but a psychological issue.” Each generation is led to believe that hard work and ingenuity, nurtured by a primarily capitalist system, are all one needs to move freely in this world. Such concepts only foster our middle-class illusions of grandeur and are our means to dismiss the plight of the truly unfortunate.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s findings for the year 2000, 22.1 percent of blacks and 21.2 percent of Hispanics live in poverty, as compared to 9.5 percent of whites. I provide these statistics only to propose another factor in poverty — oppression due to race. But I would be remiss not to include issues of education, access to resources, economics and, yes, social psychology. When someone claims that poverty is simply a psychological issue, I am only reminded that “the American dream” is alive and well in our misconceptions and our classiest tendencies.

Many of us are here because we made a similar choice: to be poor at a private university instead of being somewhat less poor at a public school. Despite our various financial situations, the majority of TCU students look forward to something that many in this country do not — a time when they will live in some degree of comfort after those very few years that they should spend earning their keep.

— Kathleen Johnson Winston, Master’s of English