Letters on Muslim students, WSU chapel, police chief, GOP zombies, stolen statues

Muslim students benefit WSU

What a wonderful surprise to see Emile Durkheim and Socrates cited on a single day on The Eagle Opinion page (Oct. 6 Letters to the Editor). How grateful many of us felt to see support for the study of the liberal arts emerge as American education seems to be trapped in a technological trance. I would like to apply this lesson to the current conflict over the use of Grace Chapel at Wichita State University: In John Donne’s words, “No man is an island.”

Some have suggested that Muslims in America would side with the terrorists if the Islamic State came here. I wonder if they remember that this past spring one of WSU’s Muslim students, home in Saudi Arabia to get married, threw himself on a potential suicide bomber approaching a mosque and, along with his cousin, was killed (May 30 Eagle).

The international students at WSU have brought the world to Wichita to the great advantage of WSU students and all the rest of us.

Not a church

Wichita State University’s Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel has always been, as intended, a place for anyone on campus to use for worship or prayer. It has seen many events over the years, including weddings and organ recitals. It is not anyone’s church. No regular services of any kind are held there.

I am dismayed that someone who isn’t even a student would raise such a fuss over something as trivial as removing pews and replacing them with chairs (Oct. 7 Eagle). I doubt that God cares whether you sit, stand or kneel as long as you are there for the right reason.

I am also disgusted that some would threaten to stop donating or supporting our athletes. That’s a cheap shot. If they decided to give up their basketball season tickets, someone will snap those up faster than you can say, “Go, Shockers!”

It’s time for our “concerned citizens” to start behaving like adults and mind their own business. Let WSU handle this.

Reconsider Moses

Wichita City Manager Robert Layton recently said that he would reopen the search for a new Wichita police chief (Sept. 22 Eagle). He is looking for an outsider, and no insiders need apply.

I am calling on the city manager to reconsider Terri Moses. And I am challenging the City Council and mayor to offer leadership to end the search, because we have a well-qualified outsider ready to serve as chief of police.

Moses is a knowledgeable, experienced veteran of the Wichita Police Department. She is also an outsider, because she left the department and has been working as director of security for the Wichita school district. She has had an opportunity to work closely with the organization that she retired from. She has had the opportunity to identify strengths of the department and weaknesses from an outsider’s perspective. Her experience would help her strengthen law enforcement in the city of Wichita and help keep our citizens safer.

Moses is a very honest person. She tells it as she sees it, but she has also had time to reflect on the position and has many ideas about improving our Police Department and helping the community for all.

End the search, because we have the right candidate already. Save money and hire Moses.

GOP zombies

Gov. Sam Brownback recently declared October “Zombie Preparedness Month” (Sept. 29 Eagle). Don’t bother – they’re already here, and Brownback is the leader of the local chapter.

He’s the champion of those who put ideology over facts, illogic over rationality, partisanship above partnership, exclusion over inclusion, division over addition. He leads the faction that raises personal interests over public and rich over poor, and that discounts hard work and study as pathways to expertise. And so he preaches a permanent tax-free free lunch, believes in the practice of creative destruction absent the creativity, and practices a religious freedom designed to limit the basic freedoms of others.

You can spot his followers staggering stuporously, walking stiff-legged, arms outstretched, eyes glassed over, mouths on a loop permanently repeating the same stale slogans over and over. It’s a mystery where such people come from, but we can easily see the direction they are going from the destruction in the wake of where they have already been.

Brownback’s policies have driven us into decline, with massive unnecessary debt, a permanently gutted manufacturing base, and a lowered financial base for schools and hospitals, while trying to undermine an independent judiciary for his own political pur- poses.

Nationally, the Republican Congress lumbers on with an 82 percent disapproval rating, while Republicans both locally and nationally refuse to believe the obvious – that numbers are real, science exists and facts can sometimes be true. They won’t own up to their own mistakes or work to repair some of the damage they have already done.

Stolen statues

Wichita is on the way to becoming an alpha city – we now have art thieves (“Another statue stolen, this time in Auburn Hills area,” Oct. 6 Local & State). Two statues were stolen (one recovered), and I certainly hope the thieves will get caught. I also hope that before they are caught, they tackle the statue at Main and Waterman.

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on Muslim students, WSU chapel, police chief, GOP zombies, stolen statues."