Staha needs to go
I have been waiting for the Texan to write an editorial about Senate of College Councils Chairman Nick Staha for a while now, but the text of Monday's Viewpoint "Student leaders fight over office" fell quite short of my expectations. Rather than discussing the poor leadership the Senate has seen under his tenure, the editorial board instead focused on a rather insignificant action, relative to other, much more controversial deficiencies the Senate has suffered at the expense of students.
As an important first point, I separate the failure of the Senate from the successes of the individual college councils that are its members. The purpose, structure and membership of the Senate is a good foundation for better student representation and action, but Staha has failed to synergize its parts to achieve an effective position on campus. I do indeed feel that Student Government President Chaney does "respect and enjoy working together with the Senate," just not with Staha. The Texan, in its assumptions, failed to separate the merits of the Senate organization from its leadership.
As some Senate and SG insiders may know, several college councils openly called for Staha to resign last fall and others at least wanted him to defend or finally state what he had indeed accomplished. After searching Daily Texan archives and old SG minutes (Senate minutes are not made available on the Internet), I have a very short list. The Senate has apparently made progress on pushing the honor code, passed resolutions regarding tuition (note: resolution does not mean action), and unveiled a new Web site (without any real content).
Wow, Nick, students paying your $200 monthly stipend, providing you an office, and giving you a free parking garage permit sure got their money's worth. Lastly of note, readers should also know the Senate maintains two other offices on campus, so neither Nick nor the Senate would be without a home.
I think that SG President Chaney took a bold move that all students should respect and applaud. In essence, he told Staha that students and the Senate of College Councils deserve better. In about a month, the Senate will elect a new chair, and I will bet that students will indeed be better.
J.W. Walthall Former Senate executive officer
Strict border 'control' impractical
Over the past few days, several Texan readers have taken the U.S. government to task for failing to control unauthorized immigration along the United States-Mexico border. As someone who lives on that border, I wanted to point out why the restrictionist vision of border "control" is neither possible nor desirable.
First of all, controlling movement across the border is a practical impossibility. Immigration restrictionists in far-away Austin may not have a very clear idea of what "controlling" the border would require in practice.
It would mean stopping and searching every car, truck and container entering the United States from Mexico. It would mean identifying and tracking every person who flies into the United States from Mexico by plane. Apprehending all unauthorized immigrants who cross the border on foot would require constructing (and guarding!) a virtual Maginot Line across almost 2,000 miles of open desert. Even leaving legal and humanitarian issues aside, the sheer cost of such an undertaking in terms of money, manpower and other resources would render it impossible.
Secondly, restrictionists fail to realize that the same border that they would turn into a boundary against "illegals" is the gateway to trade between the United States and Mexico.
Let me make this very clear: I am not referring here to labor, but to trade. The very measures that would be needed to "seal" the border against unauthorized immigration (which I outlined above) would bring United States-Mexico trade to a virtual standstill. The effects of this would be devastating to both countries. Billions, if not tens of billions, of dollars would be sucked out of both the United States and Mexican economies.
In short, the whole restrictionist argument about the need for "border control" is pure fantasy.
Dennis Fritz Laredo, Texas
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