Letter to U of A president
Dear U of A President Suresh Garimella and AZ Board of Regents:
Against autocrats and bullies, “appeasement” never works. Neither does mere “reaction.” Appeasement is the mother’s milk of tyranny. For tyrants, appeasement signifies weakness to be exploited. Mere “reaction” to an autocrat’s demands means that the autocrat sets the agenda to be reacted to. So, appeasement and reaction are kin. Neither can defeat an autocrat.
President Garimella and Regent members, real leadership on your part would mean that “you” set the agenda for dealing with Trump’s demands on you and the other universities. Real leadership would be to organize all of the “compact”-directed universities into a single collective voice of opposition to Trump’s blatant intimidation and blackmail scheme to end university autonomy in service of an authoritarian political agenda. Defeat Trump’s “divide and conquer” tactic.
If you lose control over your mission, you lose your soul. As Benjamin Franklin said: “we must all hang together, or we will hang separately.”
Gerald Farrington
SaddleBrooke
Government shutdown
I am trying to figure out why the Democrats are holding the majority of the U.S. citizens hostage with the government shutdown for the minority of ACA participants. In my civics class, I learned that in a democracy, the majority rules. Therefore, Democrats should vote for the majority of the U.S. citizens and open the government back up. I feel for the ACA participants, but at least they have an option that wasn’t available before at any cost. The price of my health insurance went up also.
Rich Burnham
Northeast side
It takes nerve ...
Once again, a piece appears in the Star by Ronald Eustice (“The truth about impacts of Trump crop tariffs”). I am amazed that Mr. Eustice has the nerve to express, in print, as he has several times now, his dismay at Trump’s actions and behaviors when he voted for this despicable guy three times. Seriously, Mr. Eustice, could you not foresee the Trump horror show your votes helped inflict on this country? You are complicit in what you now complain about. To me, Ronald Eustice represents the most distressing kind of Trump voter — a person one might imagine as having the intelligence and critical thinking skills to see through the incompetent, power-hungry and lawless fraud of Donald Trump, a person many have noted seems to display signs of multiple personality disorders. I will state again to Mr. Eustice that his rails against Trump now, though accurate, are too little, too late.
Hope Gastelum
East side
How do you measure health?
So, Ray Lindstrom derides the MAHA movement, claiming we are healthier than we have ever been because we have vaccines, we exercise, understand nutrition, wear seatbelts and bicycle helmets and put toddlers in safety seats. But consider: In the early ’60s 13% of adults were considered obese — 36% by 2010 and 40% by 2025. Sound healthy to you? Multiple food additives banned for health reasons in Europe are still used here, and we have one of the highest levels of junk food consumption in the world. Sound healthy to you? The U.S. spends more on health care than any similarly large and wealthy country. However, in 2023, Americans had a life expectancy of 78.4 years, compared to an average of 82.5 among peer countries. Vaccines may prevent sickness and disease, pills may control symptoms, but neither will make you healthy if you don’t have a healthy lifestyle.
Dan Rusciolelli
East side
U of A
As a U of A graduate, I would hope the Board of Regents and the University President make the best financial decisions for the University. There are many of us who are happy we do not live in Tucson who would hope the Tucson City Council will be supportive of the U of A. I suspect if the Council spent more time on City problems than those of the University, we would all benefit. But they have an opinion, as do many of us, and a right to speak our opinion. What a great country! But it is a decision for those who have the responsibility to make it.
Dave Locey
Foothills
Demise of the US
Over 60 years ago, Khrushchev said Russians would destroy the U.S. from within without firing a shot. After six decades, the current occupant of the White House is doing everything he can to make that prediction come true.
Rick Unklesbay
Midtown
Nobel Peace Prize
If Trump wants a peace prize, I would like to see him promote peace in this country. He was elected President of the United States, not the President of the red states, the rural communities, farmers and evangelicals. Tip O’Neill and Reagan used to drink together. This should be a template for both parties. We’re all Americans. Dividing us is tearing this country apart. I know he feels victimized. Investigations into Jan. 6th were appropriate, some of the others maybe not as much. I’d like him to try to unite the country. He has the most powerful position. History would treat him well if he did.
Craig Miller
Northwest side
Common sense deficiency
I hear that some people would still prefer Kamala as their President. I don’t understand anyone that prefers bringing back international wars, high energy prices, higher inflation, rampant crime, higher taxes — including on tips and Social Security — open borders, giving benefits and priority to criminals and illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens, less personal freedom and big government controlling our daily lives. I can’t imagine the terrible state of our country with her in control. Thank goodness for Trump’s use of common sense.
Ken Wolfe
Marana
Role model
The Norwegian Nobel Committee made a thoughtful decision in naming Maria Corina Machado the recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Citing her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” the committee highlighted her unwavering efforts against authoritarian rule in Venezuela. Machado, in hiding since last year, may not be able to accept the award in person due to threats to her personal safety. World personalities could and should emulate such an admirable figure, putting the needs of her followers ahead of her personal ambition and safety.
Roger Shanley
East side
Stand in the light
At First Light, the Vera C. Rubin telescope, with its marvelous mirror and its camera sensors made by University of Arizona labs, peered deep into the universe and performed well beyond expectations — a tribute to the leadership of individual scientists and the university itself.
Now the university has another opportunity to lead — by standing up in the light of reason, ethics and democracy and saying a clear, “No” to Trump’s poisonous offer of a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Its demands include distortion of evidence-based teaching and an ideological strait jacket, not to mention noxious interference with admissions and financial practices.
Linked to future federal funds, it’s nothing less than extortion by another name.
The University is not only an academic institution with duties to students, faculty and scholarship — it is a citizen of the world with a duty to history.
In the light of that identity, it must reject the craven compact.
Chuck Barrett
Midtown
Bad Bunny and free speech
I’m an old white guy, so hip-hop isn’t my favorite music. I’m more of a classic rock guy. If I was picking the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny probably wouldn’t be my first choice, but the NFL did. So be it. However, MAGA world and many conservatives are upset with this choice because of remarks made by Bad Bunny about Trump and the possibility that his show might be in Spanish.
Now, I’m no constitutional scholar, but don’t those MAGA world and conservative concerns come under the heading of free speech? A few weeks ago, after the death of Charlie Kirk, MAGA world and conservatives couldn’t say enough about the virtues of free speech. Guess it depends on who’s exercising their free speech rights.
A final thought: if you want to live in a society that practices free speech, you’re going to have to allow speech you don’t like.
Larry Hammond
Southwest side
Facebook accounts
I feel bad for Josh Mertz, who lost his Facebook account, but really? Why on earth would anyone in their right mind put anything valuable, especially ”... irreplaceable photos ...” on Facebook only? Did he not have copies of them stored elsewhere (a cell phone or a pc, for instance, or even a jump drive), or have prints made? If something is so valuable, why would you entrust it solely to a social media platform?
Any social media platform is an unreliable cesspool, and why anybody would rely on one for anything important is beyond me. I deleted my Facebook account years ago, after I realized what a horrible time-demander it can be. Nothing online can substitute for a real human encounter — no wonder folks today feel so isolated and sad.
Klara Cserny
Southwest side
Tipping point
I am afraid we have passed the tipping point. We still have almost half of this country supporting this guy. After every daily assault on our sensibilities what could he possibly do to change their minds? The religious right still supports a guy who breaks five or six of the Ten Commandments every single day. The tradesmen and farmers still support him even though every day he does something to make their and their families’ lives harder. So the question becomes one of whether the midterm elections will change any of this insanity? To make matters worse if the poll numbers are not to his/their liking they will do everything they can to suspend or alter the elections. Then what do we have left? The generals will have to step in — and will the rank and file follow? Either way all hell breaks loose, and we are done.
Steven Gorenstein
Northeast side
Tariffs 101a
Dear MAGA friends,
Did you cheer when President Trump told you his favorite word was ‘tariff’? Did you applaud when he announced tariff payments were bringing billions of dollars into the Treasury? And did he tell you that you are the ones paying these tariffs? No? Then let me explain.
‘Tariffs’ used to be called ‘import duties” — taxes imposed on items imported into a country, paid by the importer. I learned this from personal experience years ago when I taught English in Turkey in a USAID program. Turkey had a 100% tariff on imported automobiles, but I was allowed to import my car duty-free on the understanding that I would keep it on leaving. Instead, I sold it for $13,000 and the buyer — not I — had to pay another $13,000 to the Turkish government, doubling his cost of the car.
Tariffs hurt Americans and producers in other countries — not their governments — by making their products more expensive for us, so we buy less, while increasing inflation here.
Rudy Troike
Foothills
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