Offering up a different view
Dear Editor,
The March 28 edition of the Graphic included a letter to the editor from Brigham Young University graduate Corey Wride titled “An unpleasant view of Pepperdine.” Being BYU graduates ourselves, we are very disappointed with Wride’s article and feel that other BYU voices should be heard stating a very favorable view of Pepperdine. Wride’s article is an unfair criticism of a university that does very well upholding Christian values. Wride does not represent our feelings toward the school. Our two-year association as a staff member and law student at Pepperdine has been very positive. One reason we came to this university was because of the values it represents.
Wride admits that he was “impressed by the (business school’s) kind reception, the innovative atmosphere and the outstanding school representatives.” He chooses, however, to base his opinion of Pepperdine almost entirely on a few articles in the Graphic dealing with controversial issues. Wride should not judge Pepperdine as a whole, but confine whatever opinions he has to the issues of the particular articles.
Christina Littlefield’s response article, “Looking beyond the glassy surface,” properly criticizes Wride for judging a university based on a few articles. We wish, however, that Littlefield would adhere to her own advice when, at the conclusion of her article she takes a jab at all BYU students because of the comments of one student.
Littlefield is right to criticize Wride. We do not subscribe to Wride’s narrow view of a great school we admire and appreciate — Pepperdine. We hope others will not criticize another great school that we admire and appreciate — BYU — because of one student’s comments. We are grateful for the Christian values espoused by both universities, making our undergraduate and graduate years a memorable and pleasant experience.
Dorothea L. Williams,
academic progress analyst
Warren M. Williams,
law student
Dear Editor,
The March 28 edition of the Graphic included a letter by Corey Wride, an applicant to the Graziadio School of Business and Management. He has decided not to attend Pepperdine citing concerns over the university’s “foundation in faith” which resulted from articles he read in the Graphic’s March 14 edition. I’m comfortable with Mr. Wride’s decision. If his assessment of Pepperdine’s “foundation in faith” was ultimately based on what he read in the student newspaper, then he might be as wrong for Pepperdine as Pepperdine is for him.
It’s too bad that Mr. Wride will never come to know or appreciate the faculty, staff and students at the Graziadio School who have made it the No. 1 school in the world in “teaching ethics.” That’s not public information office hype, it’s from the analytical journalists at Business Week. It’s too bad he won’t get to experience an approach to post graduate business education that is as concerned with how alumni lead their lives, as with how they make their living. I could go on.
The heart of Pepperdine can’t be read in the pages of its student newspaper, no more than it can be in its marketing materials. The heart of Pepperdine is the people who labor and learn here every day. Somehow, that fact never registered with Mr. Wride.
Jerry Derloshon
Director of Public Information
Playboy poser treated unfairly
Dear Editor,
I would strongly agree with Liorah that the Graphic owes her a formal apology.
I am always amazed at the way some people use “Christianity” as a convenient tool for holding others accountable in some way. As if there is a hierarchy in the level of one’s belief; that some Christians are better than other Christians or non-Christians.
Concerning judging others: “Do not judge lest you be judged” (Matthew 7).
I would hope that true Christians are compassionate and non judgmental.
I am very concerned that this university on too many occasions borders on becoming too fundamental. I would challenge the current administration as to the true ideologies of George Pepperdine, a man who I believe was compassionate and not judgmental. In other words, are we working toward the dreams of our founder George Pepperdine, or are we succumbing to the pressures of the Church’s political agenda? The way in which this newspaper and this university has treated one of our own (Liorah) saddens me.
Tim Curley, MBA 2000
Hawaii club gives its defense
Dear Editor,
After reading “The View” in the March 28 sports section of the Graphic, we were very disturbed and concerned by the pretentious offences directed toward the Hawaii club. The column insinuated that the Hawaii club was betraying their school by supporting their friends and carrying on a childhood tradition. However, it failed to mention the fact that the Hawaii club has attended every volleyball game this season and has even made games a club event, proving to be a mellifluously supportive voice among the Pepperdine student body.
Volleyball to Hawaii is what football is to Texas. Anyone who is familiar with the tradition of football in Texas would agree when I say that if Pepperdine had a football team, and a team from Texas came to play here, there would be an immense amount of support for the Texas team as well as for Pepperdine. And guess what. You’d even find students from Pepperdine cheering on their favorite childhood team.
Hurlbut’s nescient attack on culture and heritage should be looked upon with perpension. Many situations have proved our generation is surpassing the insensitivity, lack of understanding and uncompassionate impropriety for culture and heritage that has plagued previous generations, but this is not one of them. I would hate to see our generation, currently on a road to surmount the mistakes of our parents, regress and end up where it began.
I agree with Hurlbut that school spirit is low, in which case I would be careful to asperse and discourage such a supportive entity as the Hawaii club. Anyone who condemns the enthusiasm of the Hawaii club but implores students to fill the stands is engaging in a hypocritical protest. The Hawaii club has proven to be an integral part of the Pepperdine fan base and if Pepperdine wants to surpass the deficiency in school spirit, a precedent of support must be set instead of criticizing the support that already exists.
The members of the Hawaii club are fans of the Waves and fans of their friends, but for whatever reasons make a fan, those reasons should be extolled.
The Hawaii club
Graphic comes under Review
Dear Editor,
There seems to be some confusion regarding this mysterious newspaper, The Pepperdine Review. I realize that the Graphic has done its best to provide the Pepperdine community with an accurate portrayal of this new paper, and in the spirit of journalistic cooperation, I have a few suggestions for the Graphic for the future.
First, in the future, the Graphic might want to let interviewees know that they are being interviewed, especially when using a phone. Second, interviewers might want to use a tape recorder to document their interviews so that the next time a writer decides to quote me, he can make sure that I actually said what he thought I said. Third, the paper might want to consider withholding judgment on a new paper until after it has published at least one issue.
After reading the recent articles about our paper in the Graphic, I was convinced that this Bryceson Tenold guy was a puppet of some vast right wing conspiracy, bent on distorting the truth and bashing homosexuals. If this is the position you intended to convey, I question your journalistic ethics, for it was a beautiful example of the very “advocacy journalism” you accuse The Pepperdine Review of producing.
The most recent Graphic labeled our paper as “propaganda” and questioned our purpose. May I remind you that The Pepperdine Review has not yet published a single issue? Everything that has been written thus far has been based on false quotations and on a Web site that is not ours.
The Graphic has assaulted us for what its personnel assume we will be like. Doesn’t this violate some sort of journalistic code? I guess that this gives us even more grounds to start a new newspaper. A newspaper that will accurately report what is said and what is happening on campus. A newspaper that will save its judgments for the Opinions page, as is required by the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists.
The formation of the Review is not a declaration of war against the Graphic, and I would hope that the Graphic staff would encourage this expression of free press. Rather than advocating that your readership dismiss our newspaper, try letting people decide for themselves whether our paper is worth reading.
Bryceson Tenold
President, The Pepperdine Review
Praise and cheers to the Graphic
Dear Editor,
This year’s paper has been great. It’s the most reliable Pepperdine news source. I love the Graphic.
Breton Phillips
Junior, business administration major
April 04, 2002