Where did it get my number?

Did the N.C. State Alumni Association really call my cell phone last night with our former student body president speaking on its behalf to sell me a class ring?

It seems as if NCSU and the Alumni Association have finally gone too far in their quest to drain the last dollar out of students and with the help of Student Government no less. You would think our elected officers would have more to do than market rings, like supporting students’ decision to dump the Tally project and the millions of dollars it will cost!

Where did the Alumni Association get all of our cell numbers? The best and brightest students in North Carolina go to school here, the University might try to do the right thing, educate and support us!

Michael Rook

senior, fisheries and wildlife science

An alternate Talley solution

As many people have stated, students want a new Talley, but they don’t want to pay for it. As an alumnus, watching from afar, I have yet to hear a convincing argument about why current students should pay a tax to fund a building that will give them no benefit. Not only will most current students not see the grandeur of a completed Talley, they will be the ones who experience the inconveniences of construction and relocation. As Mr. Hinton pointed out, and most economists are in accordance, taxes, or in this case, fees, should be paid by those who will reap the rewards. People who pay the fee must decide if the benefit is worth the cost of the investment. The student body clearly spoke — the cost of this fee is not worth the benefit of a new Talley.

One option that hasn’t been explored is private financing. N.C. State recently completed a $1 billion campaign called Achieve. Details about exactly where and how this money has been spent are not immediately clear from the campaign’s Web site, but a few things can be discovered: most of the contributions were earmarked for specific projects; the University hoped to raise $37 million for unrestricted funds; it raised $71 million in unrestricted funds.

That raises a few questions. Why weren’t excess funds pledged to Talley? What changed between June 2008 and the present that mandates current students pay a tax for which they will receive no benefit? Where have the unrestricted funds been allocated?

The economic climate has shifted since the Achieve campaign started in 2005, but Talley needed renovation then too. Why was it not in the plans? With creative financing, the project could have been paid for with the excess unrestricted funds and no further contributions by students or alumni. Before an unjust tax is passed directly onto students, somebody, whether student leaders or administrators, needs to account for these funds.

Patrick Ewing

alumnus, class of 2008

What was he drinking?

The splattering of Kool-aid stained “What a Nobel farce” by Zakk White Friday. Two really red ones are soaking up the sheetfed: the challenging of the nature of the Nobel Peace Prize and its roots are Kool-aided down, as if now it has no “real” significance; and the mysterious, behind closed doors committee — meeting secretly and voting in a politically correct fashion for President Barack Obama to receive this award, deception lurking in the wind. Everyone who follows such things knows that much goes into nomination and actual selection that involves more than a cliqued decision.

Tanya Watson

doctoral student, curriculum and instruction

Get your own calorie board

Adding nutrition information on menu boards around campus would be a wasted expense. As the manager of a restaurant myself, I can attest to the fact that we’re not in business to make people healthy, we’re in business to make money (as Ms. Ekstrom pointed out in her article on Friday). However, the idea that we need calorie boards to make educated choices is simply ludicrous. Common sense tells us that if it can be prepared in less than 5 minutes and for $6, it’s probably bad for us. Eating at a fast-food restaurant should be a treat (as it was for most of us when we were children), not an everyday occurrence. If you want to eat healthy, eat something else. It is your responsibility to keep yourself informed and healthy, not everyone else’s.

Damon D’Ambrosio

sophomore, zoology