editor:
Whether or not PZ Myers and Daniel Dennett were themselves guilty of this in their talks, the opinion piece by Leah Baird conflated generic creationism, so-called scientific creationism, the intelligent design movement, generic design and the Bible. Such a strategy makes it easy to present a straw man argument, i. e. just debunk one group’s arguments and imply that it applies to all these groups.
Many advocates of one of these positions strongly object to being lumped with another group whose particular claims they reject.
Proving the scientific theory of evolution would not disprove design. Any attempt to disprove design is doomed to fail since one’s failure to discern design does not mean that it doesn’t exist.
Gordon Brown
Pullman resident
editor:
It is nearing that time of year where our students will elect the next leaders of the student body, the ASWSU President and Vice President. Each year, candidates spend diligent and stressful days campaigning and spreading their message and goals around campus. The election days come, the votes are tallied, a winning ticket is named and that’s the end of the story, right? Well, unfortunately in recent years, this has not been the case.
The two most recent elections have seen petty campaign violations degrade the integrity of ASWSU. Facebook, T-shirt logos and ‘difficult’ debate questions have somehow made topics of discussion in post-election controversy. Losing tickets have dug deep to pin a violation on the winning duo. Often, these violations are not submitted until the election is over, providing more validity that these are weak attempts for another desired outcome. Following the 2010 election, a high-ranking WSU administrator referred to the allegations aimed at Josh Meyer and myself as ‘Mickey Mouse violations.’ Not only do these desperate moves lead to a bad image for ASWSU, they basically take all the joy and gratification from a winning ticket. The new President and Vice President should be planning for their year in office and instead are spending hours in judicial board hearings.
The fact is recent elections have not even been close contests. In the 2010 and 2011 ASWSU elections, the winning ticket prevailed with a respective total vote percentage of 65.5 percent and 60 percent. I understand that there are going to be years where candidates go too far and break election codes (the election in 2009 was invalidated for this reason), but my point is most tickets are winning elections fairly and by large margins. If you lose by less than 100 votes and legitimately think another ticket did something to ‘cheat’, then submit a violation. Otherwise, you are only giving a black eye to the association you wish to represent. The high character candidates in this election will be able to win with class and lose with class. I just hope this can be said for everyone involved when spring break rolls around. Most importantly, do your research and vote on March 6 or 7.
Jake Bredstrand
Student regent
editor:
I am supporting the ticket of Kyle Erdman and Derrick Skaug for ASWSU President and Vice President. They are passionate about WSU and are committed to ensuring that everyone has a successful and enjoyable experience here. They possess the skills and experience to best lead ASWSU. Kyle has had a successful term as ASWSU Director of Student Life while Derrick has led the Senate as Pro-Tempore. As first generation college students, they know firsthand how important it is to develop tools to achieve academic success. Getting students involved and developing a greater sense of shared experience are important for this development.
They will increase the involvement and engagement of the student body. They understand that our famous “Cougar Pride” is something that student leaders must harness in order to effect the change that is needed on campus. Both of them are proud to be a part of our community and I urge my fellow Cougs to give them your support. To find out more about the candidates or view their platform visit: weserveyou.com.
Cody Nelson
University Conduct Board
student member
