This is Viewpoints for Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015
A little history
In 1967, Republican Ronald Reagan signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act, making him the first person in the country to legalize abortion. In 1970, Republican Richard Nixon signed into law the Family Planning and Population Research Act which funded Planned Parenthood. In 1973, the Republican nominated members of the Supreme Court affirmed Roe v. Wade in a 7-2 ruling for the right of a woman to have an abortion with a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.
In 1993, Republican Orrin Hatch and Democrat Ted Kennedy sponsored the NIH Revitalization Act which was enabled by the affirmative votes of Republican Mitch McConnell and Republican Fred Upton. You may recognize these names as the same Republicans leading the charge against Planned Parenthood for providing permissioned fetal tissue for research made possible by the laws that they, themselves, enacted 22 years prior. In 1992, Republican Dr. Ben Carson performed research on fetal tissue. In 2015, Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson excused his actions of fetal tissue research by saying: “To not use the tissue in the tissue bank no matter where it comes from would be foolish. Why would anyone do that?”
When you do not know the history of what your party and its voters have done, it is easy to become confused about who you have been convinced to hate.
— Pat Fair
Macon
The future of FVSU
On April 1, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia announced that Dr. Ivelaw Griffith, the ninth President of Fort Valley State University, would be stepping down on June 30. Dr. Jessica Bailey, the provost and vice president of academic affairs, stepped in as the interim president on July 1.
After its announcement concerning President Griffith’s impending departure, alumni and supporters of FVSU contacted the regents by mail and telephone for reasons why he would be stepping down. All to no avail. The regents continue to remain quiet about the affairs at FVSU. As a concerned graduate of the university, I would like for the regents to communicate to supporters of FVSU concerning the institution’s future direction in terms of our next permanent president.
For example, I would like to know the plans to deal with the upper administration at FVSU, which now has at least two interim vice presidents and an interim president. Given that interim presidents have been in place at Darton State College and Albany State University for close to two years, will FVSU follow this trend? If so, the regents needs to spell out its plan for FVSU.
Other questions come to mind concerning the direction of FVSU. For instance, will there be a search committee put in place anytime soon to select the 10th president of FVSU? If a search committee is formed for the next president of FVSU, will faculty and other members of the FVSU community be a part of it? Will the regents do like they have done in the past at other colleges and universities and simply appoint a person as president?
Most interim presidents do a yeoman’s job by stepping in during times of transition. But the regents know that colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia have problems when interim presidents remain in place for long periods of time. Issues such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation, curricula and program development, fundraising efforts, alumni support and student recruitment are generally handled more effectively by a permanent president.
The Board of Regents prides itself on being a transparent organization. I simply hope that the regents will be forthcoming concerning FVSU’s future. As an alumnus, I, respectfully, feel duty bound to make my views transparent about my alma mater. And in order for FVSU to grow and to prosper, it needs stability, and one way to achieve that is for the fair and open selection of the next president soon.
— Otha Leon Kincy
Fort Valley
Take emotion out
The school shootings that occur all too often are a true tragedy. Every time one occurs there is a surge of anti-gun rhetoric. I only wish that passing more laws could solve the problem. To paraphrase former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani: “Gun control laws control the behavior of legitimate people. People who rob stores, who rob banks and who are insane and just want to kill people simply do not follow gun control laws. They do not follow the current laws and will not follow any new ones. All additional gun laws will do is take away more freedoms from legitimate people.”
For me to reach this conclusion I had to get past my emotions, my feelings and the urge to “just do something,” and instead rely on the reason and logic voiced by Giuliani. Those who are calling for more gun control laws are acting on their emotions instead of relying on reason and logic. For some, getting past their emotions in order to grasp and accept the truths Giuliani puts forth can be difficult. I understand that. Some of the anti-gun people will get it. Many will not.
My question to those pushing for more gun laws is simple. If the people who rob stores, rob banks and just want to kill people don’t follow current laws, what makes you think they are going to follow any new ones?
— Skip Johnson
Macon
This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 9:19 PM.