Don’t forget global justice

To the editor:

Debates will begin soon in Washington on the federal budget for FY2010. My fear is that in light of our domestic challenges, Congress may neglect pressing issues in the area of foreign affairs. This is incredibly dangerous. Intelligent and informed foreign policy – policy that addresses extreme poverty, disease and hunger – is not only necessary to ensure justice and human dignity in the world, but is also crucial to national security and economic interests at home.

Diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, as well as chronic situations of malnutrition and hunger must all be fought, and fought hard in FY2010. Why? Because saving lives in impoverished nations is essential in jump starting economic development. Economic development leads to stability. Stability calms unrest that could otherwise destroy democracy and breed hate and terrorism. And there is also, as we hopefully can agree, inherent value in saving lives and bringing justice to the poor. It is an act of compassion and global solidarity which reflects the goodness of the American people and the principles of democracy.

Speaking as a member of Villanova University’s chapter of the advocacy group ONE, I urge Congress to both continue and strengthen our nation’s investments in humanitarian aid for global development, justice and security.

-Laura Collins, junior

SGA: work on the lottery

To the editor:

From making us freeze in prison-like fashion in the SAC parking lot to numerous communication problems, SGA has never really had a clue about how to deal with handling the basketball lottery system.

Let me take you back to my freshman year.

The first 800 students to arrive at an undisclosed location would be given the privilege to camp out on the coldest day of the year in order to win guaranteed tickets to the Wachovia Center games and either Notre Dame or St. Joseph’s at the Pavilion.

The result was a mob.

Thousands of students had been lined up all across campus, and when the location was revealed, they all converged at once, carrying backpacks, sleeping bags, and other survival gear.

I could write 1,000 words just how surreal the actual campout was, described to me by one student as “like Guantanamo Bay,” but I don’t have the space.

The rest of the games that season were chosen at random, leading to a rather weak student section.

The good news is that the system was still using paper tickets at the time, so it was easy to find tickets at the last minute.

The 2007 paperless lottery was frustrating because the transfer period ended the day before the game.

This led to people giving their friends their ticketed WildCards, which would get confiscated by Public Safety at the door.

This year, that problem was fixed by pushing the transfer deadline back, but communication was a major problem.

In January students were told of an important lottery less than five hours before it closed.

SGA recognized their error, pushing the deadline back, but poor planning caused absurdly long lines.

Then during mid-term week, numerous students went to pick up their Georgetown and Big East tournament tickets, only to find out they were too late.

Tickets were to be picked up by Tuesday for a Saturday game, a fact that was mentioned in the fine print in the original e-mail sent out several weeks prior.

Important changes and details like that need be mentioned later to remind students, especially during such a hectic week.

And just when I thought they had learned from their mistakes when they sent a reminder e-mail to register for Big East tournament tickets, they failed to notify me when I won!

While the lottery has steadily improved in the past three years, the students deserve an even better system.

-Mackenzie Kraemer, junior