Rebuffed by courts, OutLaws say they will still ‘speak out’
To the Editor:
Thank you for your coverage of the OutLaws protest and response to the Burt v. Gates decision. The decision and protest have led to a lot of productive discussion among OutLaws members and the Law School community.
If there’s one thing we can emphasize, it’s that Burt is at most a small setback in the struggle for equal rights. Though ultimately unsuccessful in court, both Burt and FAIR v. Rumsfeld were important steps on the road to ending discrimination. Every challenge brings attention to this issue, in the process bringing us that much closer to the day when Congress realizes that its policy of discrimination is costing the military valuable talent, and doing so for no justifiable reason.
It is our hope that the protest, like these cases, will serve as a reminder to Congress that as long as they continue to support this policy (which even many current and former members of the military do not support), we will fight. We will continue to educate, to speak out against the policy and to advocate for its removal. We urge everyone else to do the same.
Sara Jeruss LAW ’08 and Nathan Nagy LAW ’09
October 2
Jeruss and Nagy are co-Chairs of OutLaws.
New Haven resident: Rise in crime polarizes town-gown
To the Editor:
As it has been reported in the Yale Daily News, there has been a sudden upsurge in crime against Yale students in New Haven. The multiple attacks upon undergraduates is a stiff warning not only to those who live within the confines of Yale but also greater New Haven.
All year long, students receive e-mail after e-mail describing each assault, mugging, rape and every other unsavory incident that befalls Yalies, which I suspect is only the tip of the iceberg of New Haven’s seedy underbelly.
How much longer can the city live in this plight? It taxes the core of even the most staunch progressive, well intentioned bleeding heart to be accosted every 30 feet with another demand for handouts.
Yet it is the status-quo of the New Haven population to leech off of the good graces of young idealist until they have sapped almost every last reserve of human compassion to replace it with the constant fear of predation.
One need not live in New Haven from birth to realize that either the city finds itself condoning such behavior or at least being at fault for doing nothing to limit its activities. Perhaps it is time for Yale to more powerfully fend for itself.
Aaron DeMoss
October 2
DeMoss is a New Haven resident.
Yale should use substantial endowment to beef security
To the Editor:
Today I read two articles in the Yale Daily News that I found troubling for very different reasons.
The first dealt with some recent violent muggings of Yale students. The article reported that the police responded with e-mails to the student body. The students interviewed in this article revealed an apathy and acceptance of the violence in their neighborhoods.
In the same publication, it was reported that the University’s endowment had increase by a whopping 28% over last year.
That is the troubling issue for me; if a university with such vast resources and students of such obvious talent and intelligence cannot get a grip in crime in New Haven, what hope does the rest of the country have to stop violence in our society?
I challenge this university and its students to seek innovative solutions to this very serious problem — one that truly threatens the future of the University and your city.
Bev Baker
October 2
Baker is the mother of two college-aged students, one of whom attends Yale.