I find Stacey Schnider’s article, “Americans punished for

success,” intensely interesting. It’s mostly because I can’t figure

out why she wrote it. Has there been a recent upswing in people who

just hate success? Are people who just can’t handle the idea of

someone growing richer? Or has Wal-Mart itself done something?

Well, if we want to know something, we look at the news. On a

search for “Wal-Mart” in the New York Times, there’s almost nothing

but stock fluctuations. But there is one major exception: “Wal-Mart

Faces Class-Action Suit.”

The lawsuit asserts that Wal-Mart has been “conspiring with

cleaning contractors to cheat immigrant janitors out of wages.”

It’s not just in one store, either, but in hundreds, involving

thousands of workers. The article also interviews one of the

workers, Maximino M�ndez. He’s a man who worked long hours

every single night for eight months, a man who was getting

sub-minimum wage for his efforts, a man who’s never picked up a

dime from all his overtime work.

I’ve never hated someone just for success; that’s jealousy’s

department. But when the successful and the rich are engaged in

this kind of naked penny-pinching, when the powerful use any means

necessary to keep even the smallest amount of money, that gets me

angry. When a company with “$245 billion a year” in revenue won’t

even hire legal workers, when Wal-Mart won’t even pay minimum wage

to thousands — there is something that we should all hate.

Tim Miles

Junior, psychology

In response to the article regarding Alpha Tau Omega’s

involvement in painting the rock, I was very disappointed in the

quick judgment of the fraternity’s lack of participation in

community service. I felt that the campus was given a wrong

impression of a fraternity that is very generous with its time.

Alpha Tau Omega members can not only be found volunteering for

CSU’s Ram Ride program, but they also have Positive Impact

volunteers at every home football game. Four of its members were

elected to serve on Associated Students of CSU this year.

Furthermore, an Alpha Tau Omega alumnus wrote the bill that created

the Repeat/Delete program for students on campus. They also have a

team participating in the all-campus philanthropy, Up Til Dawn. The

CSU student body is very lucky to have such generous men working to

better our community.

Gina Rotolo

Junior, apparel merchandising