Don’t Take Condi Back

Dear Editor,

This is in regards to Andrea Fuller’s article of May 25, “Condi eyes return, but in what role?”

Condoleezza Rice serves an administration that has trashed the basic values of academia: reason, science, expertise, and honesty. Stanford should not welcome her back.

Don Ornstein

Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus

Questions and debates are good for democracy

I was amused to open The Daily to find that the ASSU Senate was “mired” in debate on the issues in their May 29 meeting (“Senate meeting mired in debate,” May 30). Perhaps I haven’t understood my political science classes very well, but I thought legislative bodies were supposed to engage in debate.

The Daily also reported, “The divisions in the 9th ASSU Undergraduate Senate were on full display at last night’s meeting,” yet the story only noted that the Senate cast votes of 15-0 and 14-1. I am not a math major, but votes of 15-0 and 14-1 do not seem very divided to me. Did the article neglect to report some sort of 8-7 vote? Did the story inaccurately state the Senate was divided?

I also hope Senator Corinne Prudhomme was misquoted when The Daily reported that she accused Senator Luukas Ilves of being “‘disrespectful’ and redundant” when he wanted to ask questions of the new Elections Commission as part of the Senate’s advise and consent process for confirmation of appointed officials. Did Prudhomme think it was disrespectful or redundant when U.S. Senator Dick Durbin asked Samuel Alito a question about abortion on the third day of his confirmation as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, especially considering that U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer had already asked Alito a question about abortion the day before?

Chris Nguyen

Senior, Political Science and History