Not fit for a lab rat

Not fit for a lab rat

EDITOR:

A group of Youngstown State University students recently discovered unsanitary conditions in the DeBartolo building. The students were outraged and disgusted by the classroom conditions. Sinks were filled with days-old trash, the floor was covered with dust and dirt, and centipedes were crawling out from under the tables. A lingering smell of trash filled the room and left it almost unbearable.

Students hastily began to complain to the professor, a graduate student, who responded with a smirk and a shrug of the shoulders. One student spoke up and asked if the trash and smell in the room were going to remain and why the janitors did not clean that particular room? The professor stated that it was out of her hands and tried placing a trash can in the room to help improve conditions. It was made clear by the professor that laboratory rat surgeries were performed in this room, and that was the reason behind it not being cleaned by the janitorial staff.

An average student pays $7,500 to attend YSU. There should be no reason why a student or professor has to endure classroom conditions such as those. Health standards must be upheld, especially considering lab experiments and rat surgeries are being performed in that room. How would the health department or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration feel about these conditions that students are being forced to endure?

How many other classrooms are in these types of filthy unsanitary conditions? The community needs to take a stand and come together to help rid the university of unsanitary conditions. Someone needs to take responsibility for such neglect.

MELISSA MOSER

New Middletown

Hope for the future

EDITOR:

As a new mother, I am full of hope that by the time my child goes to school, medically-accurate, evidence-based curriculum will no longer need to be voted on by our state legislators — it will, instead, be the norm. I am hopeful of this because the Ohio Prevention First Act has finally been granted a hearing in the state House.

House Bill 251 will ensure that sexuality education programs funded by the state of Ohio provide young people with the information they need to make informed choices. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that young people receive accurate and honest sex education. In light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study in 2007 showing that one in four girls, aged 14-19, has at least one sexually transmitted disease (Vindicator, March 12, 2008), parents must now demand that schools teach facts, not fallacies.

This is more than a political issue—this is a healthcare issue. The health of Ohio’s youth is one of the key elements to a strong economic future. And, as responsible adults, we owe it to our youth to prepare them the best we can.

ALEXA SWEENEY BLACKANN

Poland

Support for Chip worked

EDITOR:

I wanted to thank U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and The Vindicator for the work they did on behalf of Chip Gilea. As Chip’s insurance agent, I know he never had a traffic ticket and was a model citizen. And yet, he spent 11 months in jail and was treated like a criminal.

The entire office staff of Sen. Brown cried when news came of his release. The Vindicator’s putting the story on the front page called attention to his plight.

Chip can tell you that there are other innocent, law-abiding people like himself who have been wrongfully imprisoned. It is alarming that this could, and is, happening in America.

JAMES O. LEWIS

Youngstown