Letters to the editor

Posted on Dec. 05, 2005, at 12:00 a.m.

The real Truth

“Bob Truth,” the purported author of a letter to the editor in Thursday’s Maine Campus, has a seriously flawed understanding of UMaine’s methods and standards of handling matters of alleged violent behavior.

There are no circumstances under which we would pressure a complainant to modify his or her allegations of inappropriate conduct. In applying the University of Maine Code of Student Conduct, we take seriously our responsibility to protect and support those who have brought matters to our attention. This is particularly true in matters involving violent behavior.

In regard to a specific matter that has been reported in The Maine Campus, “Mr. Truth” charges that university officials have discouraged a student from pursuing a matter of alleged assault. His allegations are unfounded, unfair and absolutely without merit.

Robert Q. Dana

Dean of Students

Bush supporter

In Thursday’s issue, Michael Hartwell said, “Bush… has taken America from a period of financial prosperity into dire and hopeless economic ruin.”

Does he really think we are in dire and hopeless economic ruin? What is he measuring this by, because by most estimates, the economy is in pretty decent shape. Look at unemployment numbers. Currently, they are at 5 percent, which historically is great. From 1974 to 1997, unemployment was always worse than 5 percent, and was often worse than 7 percent for the whole period from a few months into 1980 until a few months before the start of 1986. The worst the unemployment has been during the Bush years was about 6.25 percent, but it was only greater than 6 percent for a six month period in 2003. Granted, 5 percent is not the 3.9 percent of the Internet bubble, but as the bursting of the bubble showed, the underlying fundamentals of the economy were not sustainable.

If you want to look at another measure, try the stock market. A standard measure is the Dow Jones industrial average. It has been hovering below 11,000 recently, which isn’t too far off of the highs it reached during the internet boom. The S&P 500 hasn’t bounced back as much, but it isn’t in rough shape either, especially considering that some of the stocks in that index were hammered when the Internet bubble burst.

So what part of the economy did he see in dire and hopeless ruin?

Steve Turner

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