Dear Michelle Byrne and Lauren Cummings ("That's bologna," Feb. 19),
I would like to thank you for expressing your profound sentiments concerning John Traub's five-dollar footlong campaign ("Five-dollar footlongs,"?Feb. 13). You truly are an inspiration to us all.
I completely agree that the speed at which the Facebook group gathered 1550 students to support the cause is truly an accomplishment. Perhaps it's a sign that Notre Dame students do actually have a pulse and care about some sort of justice, that students will not stand for price gouging (something that just happens to be illegal in many other industries) and are at least nominally willing to break the stereotype of the rich spoiled brat that surrounds the Notre Dame student body, trying to be at least a little more fiscally responsible.
And I couldn't agree more with your classification of recycling and sexual assault as "trivial issues." Meriam Webster's online Dictionary defines trivial as being "commonplace or ordinary." Five-dollar footlongs have occupied the front cover of The Observer for all of one day, whereas stories about sexual assault and recycling seem to be a daily occurrence.
Finally, I would like to applaud your classification of the different types of Notre Dame Students. Indeed only that one percent of us who are "vegans and wear tie-dye" care about the rest of the world, the other 99 percent of us selfish, diversity-hating fascists could care less. It's not as if the majority of students are involved in various service initiates across the greater Michiana area, or that the student government, directly elected by the students, is actively trying to make a difference in the community and in the environment ...
Give me a break! Just because you couldn't care less about a blatantly unfair economic situation at your own school doesn't mean that you have to attack this idea. People do genuinely care about conflicts in Africa and sustainability, recycling and Sexual Assault, but are sick of hearing a small and vocal minority consistently badger the greater Notre Dame community about what they think is right. We want to take care of an issue that affects each and every red-blooded person at this campus and, as John Traub's research shows, really may make a significant impact, lest we forget that money, in fact, does not grown on trees (especially for college students).
Get it?
Jonathan Jasinski
sophomore
Stanford Hall
Feb. 19
