YSU faculty and staff are not gouging students

YSU faculty and staff are not gouging students
EDITOR:
The comments made by YSU Board of Trustees member Joseph Nohra in a Dec. 5 article were unfortunate and ill-timed.
Mr. Nohra was quoted as saying that YSU "can't always look to gouging the students" to make up for the budget shortfalls.
Contrary to his implications, the fact is that YSU has long been, and still is, one of the most affordable of all state institutions in Ohio. Recent data from the Ohio Board of Regents reinforces that fact.
YSU does not gouge students. There are many employees of YSU who have worked extremely hard in order to provide a high-quality education to our students at an affordable price. Statements to the contrary are simply counterproductive.
In the same article, he stated that he was "not going to be willing to give away the store," referring to collective bargaining negotiations taking place this year. Such a statement serves no purpose other than to inflame an already strained atmosphere of labor relations at the University.
If Mr. Nohra wants to negotiate in public, then there are many of us at YSU who are fully prepared to do so. But it won't be pretty.
Of course, Mr. Nohra has the same rights to express his opinion as does anyone else. I can only hope that in this case, those statements reflect his own opinion and not that of the entire YSU Board of Trustees.
ROBERT A. HOGUE
Boardman
X The writer is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at Youngstown State University.
South Africa's president prolongs AIDS crisis
EDITOR:
When I read "South Africa's AIDS crisis gets worse as leaders refuse to act," I was disgusted by the lack of leadership that is being experienced in South Africa as a deadly disease rips through the country. President Thabo Mbeki's narrow-minded views are costing millions of South Africans their lives.
If Mbeki himself were infected with the disease, wouldn't he do everything he could to learn about his ailment.
If it were his child about to be born to an HIV-positive mother, he would probably insist that the drug Nevirapine be used to reduce the chance of the child's contracting HIV virus. It is unfathomable that any person put in charge of a country's well being could allow this to happen.
How is it possible for Mbeki to ignore this disease and its consequences when tens of thousands of babies a year are born to HIV positive and 23 percent of mothers are HIV positive.
How can Mbeki justify being so blind to these issues when the evidence is there disproving his uneducated opinions and his people are still dying?
Even if the evidence weren't right there in front of him, as a leader, he is expected to do whatever it takes to maintain the safety of his people, especially in this case when the country is faced with a life-threatening disease.
I am extremely disheartened that so many South Africans must suffer because of the ignorance and irresponsibility of their leader. Mbeki is careless and is hardly worthy of South Africa's trust. I can only hope that these people will be relieved of this negligent man before it is too late and HIV clams any more victims.
LEA FENTON
Berlin Center
X The writer is a student at Jackson-Milton High School. Eric Eye is her English teacher.