Letter to the Editor (11/02/06)

To the editor:

I was shocked to read Mary Carroll’s views in her Letter to the Editor… To the editor:

I was shocked to read Mary Carroll’s views in her Letter to the Editor in the Wednesday, Nov. 1 issue of The Pitt News. The letter concerned Pitt’s Student Global AIDS Project’s actions on Friday night during the College Democrats’ rally for Bob Casey.

Not only did Carroll and her friends interrupt the state treasurer, they also illegally brought signs in. Before the rally began, I was informed by the Pitt Police that no outside signs would be allowed in and anyone who yelled anything during the rally would be asked to leave — regardless of their political views.

What Mary and her friends missed was their opportunity to ask questions at the end. After the rally ended, instead of doing a large Q’A session, Mr. Casey spoke to everyone who had a question — face to face. He even talked with a College Republican who had been sitting in the back.

While Carroll’s issues are important, she gave a terrible face to her cause by acting as she did. The HIV/AIDS epidemic both at home and around the world is a serious issue that requires serious discussion. SGAP’s heckling strategy not only disrespects the candidate and all those who support him, but it reduces the debate of an important issue to cheap grandstanding. It is unfortunate that SGAP chose to engage the College Democrats on the issue of HIV/AIDS funding in the manner that they did, instead of promoting responsible and productive dialogue; something SGAP has never done, considering this is the first interaction we’ve ever had with them.

The College Democrats encourage voters to ask candidates the hard questions on serious matters. To this end we pose our own question: How effective is the HIV/AIDS funding that Senator Santorum supports, that prohibits the use of condoms in fighting the epidemic?

Rachael Heisler, Senior, Arts ‘ Sciences

President, College Democrats