Dear Editor,

I would love to open up a dialogue about the recent story titled “Crime at Open Pantry”. We are very passionate about taking care of our employees and customers everyday at Open Pantry and I certainly would be open to discuss this situation with you, your staff, and also invite anyone from Marquette security or student services to participate. As you know we need to serve the entire community legally and heart fully. This is our company culture and duty to society. We strive to do this first safely and then friendly to all. The concern mentioned in the article is a genuine challenge that we face daily while operating in campus town. Dialogue between all parties that helps this concern in any way is welcome by Open Pantry. The title “Crime at Open Pantry” may not accurately describe any issue listed in the article or in the letter we did receive on Monday Feb 25th at our office from Tyler who by the way was a great employee and I am truly sad to see him leave. Even in his letter he describes a number of incidents, none “Criminal”, all the less very concerning. Your article came out the following day. This may not be described accurately in the article but this really is of no issue. Thanks for you time.

-James Fiene
Chief Operating Officer, Open Pantry Food Marts of Wisconsin

This letter was written in reference to an article in the February 27 issue of The Warrior.

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Dear Editor,

My husband is a graduate student at Marquette, and recently brought home a copy of “the Warrior.” I was so impressed with it as a student organized publication that I just had to both congratulate and thank you. It is so refreshing to see a student-led publication that desires to be faithful to the Catholic Church and notes the authority of the magisterium. Despite the failings of some Marquette administration and staff to be consistently faithful to the church due to the dominating ideologies of relativism, you seek to present the blessed voice of truth. Well-done, and keep up the great work!

“Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! If you have an ardent desire for the Lord, you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society.” -Pope John Paul II

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I’m sure that virtually all of us are still reeling at the horrific events which took place on at Virginia Tech. Such mindless evil is dreadfully hard to contemplate. There are no easy answers to difficult questions.

And yet . . .

And yet . . .

Like we have seen so often before, during times of immense tragedy, amid all the suffering and pain, amid all the questions and the anger – there are also miracles. There are those who “were supposed to be somewhere, but weren’t,” and later realize that they have been spared. There are those who, in moments of unspeakable horror, act with incredible courage. There are those who “rise to the occasion,” when the need is greatest.

We see the Finger of God.

I see the Finger of God in the heroic sacrifice of a professor, who literally blockaded a classroom door with his body so that his students could escape. Greater love hath no man.

I see the Finger of God in the presence of an Eagle Scout in one classroom, who was able to render emergency first-aid to those around him – and was never touched by a bullet.

I see the Finger of God on the life of a young man who decided to have a quick coffee with his girlfriend, rather than rush off. They are both alive today.

I see the Finger of God on the life of a young woman who, although always early, was, for some reason running late.

I see the Finger of God in the very fact that these tragedies are so rare; that this sort of wanton evil remains, for the most part, checked.

It was St. Thomas Aquinas who pointed out that, if God wanted to destroy the Universe, He would not have to do anything – He would have to STOP doing something. It is His Finger on the pulse of the Universe which keeps everything going.

I grieve with all those who have lost friends and loved ones. I grieve for the loss of life – and for the loss of innocence. And I am filled with wonder and great gratitude at the little miracles, those actions by the Finger of God, which kept this terrible, terrible tragedy from being infinitely worse.

May the souls of the victims — and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Submitted by David Zampino, lecturer in the Theology Department

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Humor me. Keep that question in the back of your mind as I talk about the elephant in the room at this month’s presentation of The Vagina Monologues.

Turns out, the elephant has a lot to do with how you answer this question. What struck me most at the end of the day was not what the play says about sexual violence, but what it takes for granted about sex in general. I noticed how you, my fellow students, responded to these assumptions. I noticed what you questioned, but, most of all, what you didn’t.

In her introduction, Heather Hathaway, associate dean of academic affairs in the college of arts and sciences, listed a number of concerns about the play. None of them were based on its view of sex. She didn’t mention that none of the relationships in The Vagina Monologues are depicted as lasting or lifelong or that the play takes it for granted that we’ve all had sex, from an early age, and that we all masturbate frequently.

In fact, it relies on our familiarity with these actions for much of its humor and popular appeal. Nobody asked why none of the sexual encounters claim to be in the context of “true love.” Bob stares at the woman’s vagina meaningfully for hours, but he’s just the guy she met at the grocery store and promptly slept with. The 24-year-old woman seduces the 16-year-old girl, but that was a long time ago.

Apparently, our concept of sex has lost its relationship to, well, relationships – especially committed lifelong relationships. It’s now a recreational pursuit, solely dedicated to finding maximum pleasure, having fun and responding to the ultimatum of the sexual urge. And maybe that doesn’t bother you and Hathaway, but it sure concerns me.

Doesn’t sex belong in the context of true love, not just satisfying some urge? Pope John Paul II was not the first to affirm that it is never acceptable to use another human being as a means to an end. Rather, all expressions of affection should show a disinterested desire to affirm the other person (made in the image and likeness of God) for their own sake. Christians believe sex is meant to show us God’s love. It’s meant to be a participation in the love of God and Jesus, a love so great it becomes another person (the Holy Spirit). This love is identified as a free, total, faithful and fruitful self-gift. When one of these attributes is missing, the whole thing collapses. In human terms, this true love finds its fulfillment in marriage.

Let’s compare this with what we find in The Vagina Monologues. Casual, promiscuous sex? Not total and not faithful: You’re using someone for your own selfish kicks and moving on. Masturbation? Not a gift of self to another person: You’re using a human being (yourself) as a means to an end. Contraception and homosexual sex? Are they really total gifts of self? Are they really fruitful, open to new life? The Church asks us not to do these things, not because the body and sex are bad but because they mean something too good, too significant to water down.

I think it’s important for you to understand the logic behind that stance even if, like one of those Saturday panelists, you flat-out disagree with it. If you’d like to compare these issues more, I’d recommend that you Google Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and get Christopher West’s Good News About Sex and Marriage from our library.

The Christian view of sexuality demands self-denial, maturity and generosity. It promises freedom, fulfillment and lasting happiness: nothing short of heaven on earth. It affirms the beauty of sex and the body. Personally, that’s a lot more appealing than the prospect of getting my heart broken, engaging in meaningless sexual encounters, getting STDs and ending up alone and unloved.

I’d rather love one person forever, for who they really are. I’d rather love as God loves, even if it means making sacrifices, laying down my life for my beloved. I’d rather stay open to nurturing new life and hope in every form, even when it hurts.

I’d rather believe… and live… in true love.

Submitted by Margaret Smith, junior in the College of Arts and Sciences

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To the editor:
In response to Mike Snider’s question as to why Dr. Daniel Maguire has not been excused from teaching at Marquette University, the answer if fairly simple. Marquette has explicitly stated, in both in its Mission Statement and Faculty Handbook, that the presence of academic freedom in the classroom is necessary to the advancement of knowledge and scholarship.

Or more simply, it is a right guaranteed to faculty so that they may freely explore the boundaries of their discipline without being fearful of retaliation.

The reason why Marquette has chosen to guarantee this right to its faculty is a question of identity. Marquette is not a seminary. Marquette is not school of religion, but a religious school. Marquette recognizes itself as a scholastic institution which cherishes its religious identity, not vice versa.

As a note, the same constitutional right that gives Mr. Snider the ability to publicly question whether or not Dr. Maguire’s presence is appropriate also grants Dr. Maguire’s the ability to speak his mind in his classroom. As such, the removal of Dr. Maguire on such grounds would be legally bankrupt.

However, Mr. Snider does have the right to question Dr. Maguire and his teachings as suitable to the Catholic belief. And as Mr. Snider has noted, the Archbishop Dolan already responded to such concern.

In all, I would suggest we all take the following course of action. Save our breath, realize we are not always going to agree with professors and worry about ethical and legal violations on campus before ideological differences in the classroom. Or at least, review the rights accorded to faculty before we ask, “Why is he still employeed?”
–Sean Cahill

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To the editor:

As a junior at Marquette University, I enrolled in a Theology course entitled “The Roots of Moral Wisdom.” I had not looked into the instructor or course material at any length, but after five minutes of the first session I realized I should have. If I did not realize I was in the wrong room after listening to his left-wing rants about global warming and “American terrorism overseas,” I really felt lost when Daniel Maguire began to argue that abortion and same-sex marriages were sanctioned by the Catholic Church. I mean I really thought I was at a Jesuit university; you can imagine my surprise. After getting the whole story about Maguire, I dropped the course and am left wondering why this man is still employed and teaching under the banner of the church that he so blatantly contradicts? I guess I’m just glad to see the Archbishop too sees this cancer in our great university.

Submitted by Mike Snider
College of Arts and Sciences junior

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The following letters were submitted since the publication of our last issue.
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JUST HAD TO SAY “THANK YOU”
The February 1 edition of The Warrior is the first I’ve read in detail, and I want to take the time to thank your entire staff for the article concerning The March for Life in Washington. I often feel that Marquette’s pro-choice crowd greatly outnumbers that of  the pro-lifers, and it is very frustrating to see at a Catholic university.  Articles such as yours give me hope for change.  I know that my future will involve serious work toward the pro-life movement, and it is encouraging to know I have so many allies. —James Diamond, sophomore,College of Arts and Sciences

Popularity: 8% [?]

Submitted by David Steier:

The majority of your alternative campus newspaper is written by MU Republicans who aim their articles directly at what you consider the masses of liberals at Marquette who are impeding your freedom of expression. You are only adding to the animosity between Democrats and Republicans, of which I wrote about in the Nov. 29 Tribune, for reference. Debating political, economic, and social issues is healthy, so I agree with the concept of a paper that speaks for those who are silenced or ignored by the mainstream press. The truth is that you, meaning at least five MU Republicans members that I counted and probably more who are currently a part of the Warrior, should accept the critique that this campus is making about this “alternative” news source, that you are Republicans who are trying to combat the Tribune because you think it’s catering to Democrats.

You are in essence a conservative newspaper, written by conservative-minded people who mostly care about asserting conservative views. You will argue that the Marquette Tribune is basically a liberal newspaper. That is not true. I have seen articles by MU Republicans’ own Daniel Suhr in the Tribune numerous times over my two and a half years here. He is very conservative. Other articles have appeared over the last two years that I could easily label “conservative.”

Your most recent paper ran two articles in your Entertainment section about recently published books that bash liberals, and your previous issue ran one. Yes, liberals often let emotions take control of their logic and reasoning and end up sounding crazy. Watching a conservative government lead our country to a war that has led to over 2,000 American deaths will do that; emotions are a part of war and of politics. If your paper is concerned with anything beyond just expressing your political stance, my guess is you would not have simply plugged whichever Republican propaganda you happen to be currently reading. The Tribune is not currently publishing book reviews by Michael Moore-types. The reviews were perhaps well-written, but that doesn’t make them appealing to those of us interested in something other than partisan mickeymouse. I use my political and ethical beliefs to do something. I don’t consider myself a Democrat so I can absorb myself in a community of liberals and try to attack conservatives. Your entertainment section did not entertain me, and the books you promote will not either.

You ran an article, also very well-written, that implies the actions of School of Americas protesters are meaningless. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the concept of this article was intended as a counter-protest. You include information from the US government and the WHINSEC (the new moniker for the SOA) that denies any involvement in training Latin American killers and argues that the WHINSEC is improving their focus on human rights. There is no evidence of this. Your paper refuses to provide any information about the motives behind the thousands of protesters that make the pilgrimage to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia each year. People trained by the US have killed other people in order to suppress revolution in governments propped up by the US. That seems unjust to me because it appears the US will kill civilians in order to make things go smoothly their way. And from friends who visited the former SOA and researched its activities, I have learned that things have not significantly changed since it took on a new name. Your paper taught me nothing about this dilemma besides the fact that the WHINSEC denies human rights abuse claims, which is a given.

Liberals are not crazy. They are not your enemy. I am friends with several of your staff writers, and they would hopefully agree to that, though I indeed consider myself among those “sliding down the slippery liberal slope at Marquette,” according to a reader opinion published in your last issue. Do us a favor and report the news- sports, entertainment, politics, cool things happening on campus from an alternative angle without flaunting and parading your smug political beliefs.

On to that Terror statistics box. I think it’s terrible, actually. It gives the impression that 2,000 dead Americans in Iraq is insignificant compared to Sadaam’s crimes. People are not statistics in war, they are living, breathing, affecting creatures like you and I- until their bodies are mangled by insurgents. Stop glorifying the Republican stance on Iraq by celebrating the void of terrorist attacks since 9/11. A brief examination of the spike in terrorist activity in Iraq since 9/11 would put your fact box to shame. Thank you for pointing out the atrocities Saddam committed, but please stop humoring us all and report the news. Put your clumsy statistics charts on a blog where they won’t influence fickle, pseudo-intellectual college students like me who are attempting to take a stance on a war that is looking more and more like Vietnam with each roadside bomb’s blast.

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So let me get this straight. You run an article basically b*tching about
the JS calling your paper a bunch of Republicans in its recent article on
your publication…but a cursory check of your news section doesn’t prove
otherwise….I don’t get it. What’s the b*tching all about?
Sarah Cooke, Associated Press
Journalism ‘99

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