Letters to the editor (March 31, 2020) – Eureka Times-Standard

Reader unimpressed with HSUs previous leaders

Sundays article from Rollin Richmond on the evils of drink was interesting (What research says about alcohol and you, the Times-Standard, March 29, Page A4). Carrie Nation of the Womens Christian Temperance Union would have been proud. I wish that he had exercised that same intellectual and academic prowess while leading Humboldt State University. During his tenure he hired many administrative staff while letting the number of tenured professors dwindle.He helped recruit many students from Californias urban centers while doing very little to help them adapt to a rural setting.

He was responsible for scuttling the nursing program at HSU as being too costly; you know all those labs and things.

His successor didnt fare much better. Although she did help resurrect the nursing program in partnership with College of the Redwoods, something Rolland didnt do. She was successful in eliminating the football program after allowing the coaches to recruit student-athletes in the expectation of being able to play during their academic stay at HSU. Also she pulled the plug on KHSU, the universitys popular radio station weeks after conducting one of their periodic fundraising drives. Of course no notice, no appeals to the public, just the pulling of the plug.

In education parlance I would give Rollin and Lisa A+ for their personal retirement enrichment (you know, five years and out) and an Incomplete in their leadership.

John Kulstad, McKinleyville

Most medical experts agree it will take a number of months of limited social interaction to gain control over the COVID-19 virus. But President Trump sees this cure as more of a curse. For the sake of the U.S. economy, hed like to loosen things up in several weeks just in time for Easter.

The Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas also wants the country to get back to business in weeks, not months. He says vulnerable seniors should understand we cant afford to sacrifice the countrys future because of the virus. In other words, if more seniors die its OK because the economy may not otherwise be strong enough to survive for younger generations.

I find his an interesting concept. In a sense Patrick is implying that seniors should agree to euthanasia to relieve pain, but not their own pain. Rather the pain that the economy is going through. In the U.S. today, in most states euthanasia is either illegal, or if legal, requires difficult steps to achieve. Here the Lt. Governor is approving euthanasia for all seniors a priori because he says it will benefit Americas future.

When I examine the two arguments above I find them both quite flawed. They both place the economy ahead of the health of U.S. citizens which I think is immoral by its very nature. And I also think both are examples of fake logic, which is sadly par for the course in the age of Trump.

Sherman Schapiro, Eureka

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Letters to the editor (March 31, 2020) - Eureka Times-Standard