Healthy, healthier, healthiest?

To the editor:

Regarding the article, “University preserves Catholic tradition,” which appeared in the Nov. 19 edition of this newspaper, I respectfully submit the following observation to the University community. In the article, the director of the office for mission effectiveness is quoted as having said that, in the past, Villanova University relied mostly on large numbers of those who founded it and that those numbers have been depleted. That is indeed a fact. The director then opined: “We’re in a healthier place [now] because we no longer rely on a few of the religious order.” In the interest of the logic which language demands, if we are in a “healthier” place now with fewer Augustinians, then we were in a “healthy” place in the past with many Augustinians, and, in the future, we would be in the “healthiest” place with none.

-John Hagen, O.S.A, Ph.D.

SGA airport shuttles fail students’ needs

To the editor:

This Thanksgiving break, the Student Government Association failed in its responsibility of providing a shuttle to and from the airport before and after short semester breaks. Rather than renting a Krapf’s bus for the Tuesday before and the Sunday after break, SGA apparently decided to outsource the shuttle service to American Eagle Outfitters. While many students were surely happy to hear that the shuttle was free, they were undoubtedly disappointed to learn that the shuttle only ran on Wednesday when nearly all students were already home.

With the majority of the student body flying home after classes on Tuesday, it was illogical for SGA to provide a shuttle on Wednesday and leave students scrambling to bum a ride from one of their friends, navigate SEPTA to the airport or pay for an expensive cab ride.

Similarly, any student who typically takes the shuttle back to Villanova on Sunday was out of luck this Thanksgiving, as no shuttle ran.

Along with the basketball lottery, organizing break shuttles for students’ convenience is one of the only visible things that SGA does on campus. To outsource this responsibility to American Eagle Outfitters, leaving many students who fly home scrambling for alternate plans, is a huge failure on behalf of the SGA.

Phil Griffin, junior