2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the editor
Opinion | 4/7/08
Broken dishwasher in Glen Dining Hall leads to waste
I don't eat at the Newell [Dining Hall] enough to know if this is a campus-wide effort, but I have noticed that over the last year the Glen Dining Hall has started a campaign to reduce waste. Staff put new recycling bins for newspaper and cans outside the tray deposit area, posters and table tents remind students to clean their plates around the dining area, and for a while they even had us scrape our leftover food into a bin to be weighed (gross!).
Although I agree that waste (especially food waste) is an issue on this campus that needs to be addressed, I find it hard to be supportive of the Glen staff's efforts when a great deal of the waste comes from the staff themselves. Every time the dishwasher in the Glen breaks (which is alarmingly often), the regular tableware is hidden away and replaced with stacks of plastic plates, cutlery, bowls, and cups, all of which are thrown away. Just this week there have been two broken dishwasher episodes, one of which lasted several days. Now I certainly wouldn't expect Glen staff to hand-wash the tableware when the dishwasher is broken, but perhaps it is time to look into a new dishwasher. It would certainly be a positive effort in reducing waste in the dining hall, not to mention save the University money in the long run on plastic tableware.
Rachel Hunter
Sophomore, applied physics/pre-engineering
Political piece asks 'insightful' war realted questions
There was an opinion column that touched me personally ["Analyzing my views on war," March 27]. I would like to extend my reply not only to [Molly] Hooven, but also to all of her readers. It pleases me beyond words that someone out there is beginning to ask more insightful questions about the war and the way it is portrayed in the media, through the words of our politicians, or by our professors.
The answers to some of your questions are not as far away as you may think. I am a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I have twice been deployed to Iraq. I am also a student at Towson, and I am not the only veteran. I personally know six other Marines who served overseas who are enrolled at Towson. I am certain that there are dozens more. In fact if you look through the archives of The Towerlight I know you will find two articles about my life as a veteran and a student, and at least one article about veterans returning to student life that was on the cover at the beginning of the fall semester. Every veteran experiences the war differently, and because of that, some are more outspoken than others are. Some find discussing the war tedious and indeed it can be. Military life and jargon sometimes make it seem that fresh faced college students and war veterans are from entirely different cultures. It can be hard to find an understanding, if not sympathetic, ear.
I don't eat at the Newell [Dining Hall] enough to know if this is a campus-wide effort, but I have noticed that over the last year the Glen Dining Hall has started a campaign to reduce waste. Staff put new recycling bins for newspaper and cans outside the tray deposit area, posters and table tents remind students to clean their plates around the dining area, and for a while they even had us scrape our leftover food into a bin to be weighed (gross!).
Although I agree that waste (especially food waste) is an issue on this campus that needs to be addressed, I find it hard to be supportive of the Glen staff's efforts when a great deal of the waste comes from the staff themselves. Every time the dishwasher in the Glen breaks (which is alarmingly often), the regular tableware is hidden away and replaced with stacks of plastic plates, cutlery, bowls, and cups, all of which are thrown away. Just this week there have been two broken dishwasher episodes, one of which lasted several days. Now I certainly wouldn't expect Glen staff to hand-wash the tableware when the dishwasher is broken, but perhaps it is time to look into a new dishwasher. It would certainly be a positive effort in reducing waste in the dining hall, not to mention save the University money in the long run on plastic tableware.
Rachel Hunter
Sophomore, applied physics/pre-engineering
Political piece asks 'insightful' war realted questions
There was an opinion column that touched me personally ["Analyzing my views on war," March 27]. I would like to extend my reply not only to [Molly] Hooven, but also to all of her readers. It pleases me beyond words that someone out there is beginning to ask more insightful questions about the war and the way it is portrayed in the media, through the words of our politicians, or by our professors.
The answers to some of your questions are not as far away as you may think. I am a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I have twice been deployed to Iraq. I am also a student at Towson, and I am not the only veteran. I personally know six other Marines who served overseas who are enrolled at Towson. I am certain that there are dozens more. In fact if you look through the archives of The Towerlight I know you will find two articles about my life as a veteran and a student, and at least one article about veterans returning to student life that was on the cover at the beginning of the fall semester. Every veteran experiences the war differently, and because of that, some are more outspoken than others are. Some find discussing the war tedious and indeed it can be. Military life and jargon sometimes make it seem that fresh faced college students and war veterans are from entirely different cultures. It can be hard to find an understanding, if not sympathetic, ear.
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