Clemson turn-out lackingI thought the showing or not showing at the Clemson game was awful. The band not showing up created a very quiet environment from the State crowd and a bad reputation for our school. Also, the fact that Mr. Wuf decided not to come was awful. Mrs. Wuf was there but that wasn’t enough. Most schools have a secondary mascot, but the MAIN mascot should always travel with the team. It really dissapointed me that the biggest part of the cheering section and the figurehead of it decided not to make the trip that maybe was a 5 and a half hour trip. It was pittiful and I hope there was a good reason for them not showing up.

Allen RobsonSenior, Civil Engineering

Rowe doesn’t know sexAlthough it sounds incredibly insightful and profound to say that a sexless world would be a smarter world, I’m going to have to agree with Adam Kincaid’s response on Friday that Mr. Rowe’s Thursday column is poorly thought out (Perhaps because he was too busy thinking about sex?). In addition to the “great minds” of history not being quite so pure as Mr. Rowe seems to think, his argument implies a number of things that aren’t quite so true either.

According to Mr. Rowe’s theory, people not obsessed with sex should have more time to think about “inventing time travel or curing cancer.” Women are notoriously less obsessed with sex than men are. Therefore, all non-sex-obsessed women should have their own talk shows and are seconds away from accidentally inventing time travel while curing cancer. Maybe they’ll also feed all those hungry children in Africa while simultaneously leading that revolution of which Mr. Rowe wrote. Thank you, Mr. Rowe! I appreciate your faith in womankind!

Also implied by Mr. Rowe’s argument is that celibate people should be cranking out cures and inventions right and left. Personally, I haven’t seen anything notable coming from Catholic priests except a lot of messed up altar boys.

I believe this column has little to do with the real problems in our society and more to do with Mr. Rowe thinking he’s smarter because he’s not getting any.

Emily WestmorelandFreshman, Biochemistry, Pre-veterinary Requirements

Tailgating not what it used to beI recently visited N.C. State and I really miss my years as a student at N.C. State University and all the fun I had while working hard in school. I came back this past weekend for homecoming weekend and to watch the Georgia Tech game. I’m now an Engineer in Puerto Rico and came back with my girlfriend to show her the great American pastime of tailgaiting. I was disgusted with what I saw.

I want to start by saying that I was tailgaiting in the parking lot a few years ago before shooting happened and saw what caused the problem. My heart goes out to the family for their unimaginable loss. I can honestly say that the events that ensued had very little to do with alcohol, and a lot to do with 80,000 people being in one place with little police presence. Conflict will always happen when there are tens of thousands of people and you cannot see a police officer for hundreds of yards in any direction. One person’s football hits another person’s truck. The owner of the truck hands it back to them and basically says, “Don’t do that again.” Two throws later, the football hits his truck again. Of course there’s going to be a problem. It has nothing to do with alcohol, and a lot to do with a few bad apples and little police presence. Where are the police on horseback, with a superior vision point, to see these conflicts when a few people start shoving each other and making lots of noise? This is what they are paid to do, protect our citizens, not sit together in a group of 8-10 at one end of the parking lot, watching cars come and go. If they spread out in groups of 2-4, with radios and on horseback, the people would actually feel protected and be protected. Horseback and radios are not the point. There are many ways to accomplish this, but the need is an increase in police presence — not to hassle people drinking, but to actually prevent crime.

Instead of addressing the real problem in a noticeable way, they’ve decided to ruin the fun of the 79,997 people that come to actually have fun and still today need a real police presence. They’ve gotten rid of keg beer and limited tail gaiting to four hours. The result,people drink at home or at a bar, drive drunk to the game, rush while driving drunk to get a good parking spot, drink just as much in canned beers as they did before, sober up during the game (like usual) and go home hungry. They’ve added drunk drivers on the road (rushing to the game), added more trash cleanup (cans instead of kegs with reusable cups), limited the overnight cooking of pigs in the parking lot and limited the time to socialize with people you haven’t seen in years. Basically, they’ve ruined the fun of tailgaiting.

Furthermore, there seems to be no increase in police presence. I look around, everyone still has a beer in hand, and I still can’t see a police officer as far as I can see in every direction. What is our actual goal and has it been a success? I see very little logic or success in these rules. Of course, if there are no police in sight as far as you can see in every direction, who really knows if crime has gone down or not — until someone has to pay with their life again.

I think N.C. State alumni, everyone who loves N.C. State and those who love the pastime of tailgaiting and college football need to take a stand against this foolishness. There’s no reason we all cannot go and have fun like we used to and actually feel safe with an obvious increased police presence. Hopefully, I can come back to homecoming next year and actually be proud to be N.C. State Alumni.

David TurlingtonAlumnus