Wednesday's events on the quad are what give Christianity a bad name: When some of the finest hicks around rally on West with large Jesus-loving bannersâs but without a permit and without permissionâs to tell Duke students that they are going to hell.
When students asked these cowboy-dressed evangelists who they were, they said, "We're a family. And we love Jesus." And when I asked if they were affiliated with Duke University, they said no, but that it didn't matter.
I pay an arm and a leg each year to attend Duke University, and although student organizations that choose to protest on main West have my every respect and consideration, crazy, fanatical and non-Duke groups like the one that protested yesterday do not.
In my experience, no other religious group has so vehemently attempted to tell other people that their belief system is wrong than the Christians. Although not all Christians are as extreme in their missionary work as the Jesus-loving family who assembled on West Campus Wednesday, the fact of the matter is, they are still out there, telling others they are wrong, and that Christianity is right.
The controversy in the Chronicle pages over the rainbow flag on East campus reminds us that this is Coming Out Week. Our LGBT community has enough homophobic pressure to worry about within Duke's ivy-leagued walls. It doesn't need a Fred Phelps rerun.
Shadee Malaklou
Trinity '07
Students deserve free music
What Larry Moneta said, that legal music services subsidized by schools are ineffective in "Colleges combat illegal file sharing," (Sept. 21) is unfounded. If students had access to unlimited downloads of free legal music, why would they continue to download illegally? The fact is that many students are afraid of being sued (as one Duke student has been already) and blemishing their record. How many students would continue to put themselves at risk of a lawsuit if obtaining legal music was easier, faster and still free?
It is not wise to discount such school-sponsored services when other schools (such as Middlebury cited in the article) have had significant reductions in their illegal downloading after implementing music services. This isn't an exception, it is a trend. Colleges all over the nation including some of our close rivals (UNC, NC State) and our peer institutions (Yale, Princeton) have implemented services with great results.
The take the administration has on this situation is even worse because they go as far as shunning the foremost company providing digital music to colleges, a company called Cdigix, which was founded by a Duke Alum. The service has more music than Napster and has every other component of their services on campus except for the music one, because Apple would not like it if there was free music on campus. The administration opts to continue to put students at risk and even encourage illegal downloading by giving them music devices (iPods) while providing no legal service for getting music on to them. Who is the administration protecting, you or Apple? If you want the same benefits of free music that other colleges get please contact Larry Moneta or your favorite administrator and let them know.
Ajay Kori
Trinity '06
Textbook store is profit driven
The sign that reads "$1,500,000-money paid to Duke students from textbook buy backs" has been up in the Textbook Store teasing me for years. I wonder when they are going to unveil the other side of the sign that reads: "$1,000,000-money we made selling used books to students."
Serhad Bolukcu
Trinity '06
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