Withdraw CofC dormitory plan, promote solar energy | Letters
Withdraw dormitory plan
As an octogenarian native of Charleston, I admit that it would be rather naive to expect a newcomer — even if he happens to be an esteemed college president — to share the depth of my and other natives’ reverence for this place and its past. Nevertheless, I am among many who are profoundly disappointed in Andrew Hsu, president of the College of Charleston, for allowing his school’s ill-advised plan to house hundreds of its students over what should be the final resting place of thousands of human remains to proceed even this far.
In her well-written story on this proposal, The Post and Courier’s Valerie Nava reported that “College officials say the expansion is needed to accommodate a growing number of students.”
I find this to be an incredibly lame justification. Those officials would do well to take a different tack by acknowledging the possibility that they have allowed the college to become too large for the finite amount of space on a small, increasingly congested peninsula.
Surely, I am not the only native who appreciates the contributions the college has made to our beloved hometown. Indeed, many of us have received cherished higher educations there. Even so, this is an appropriate situation to apply a couple of old sayings: “Enough is enough,” and “less is more.”
EUGENE PLATT
Charleston
Solar energy works
I have had solar panels on my James Island house for nearly 10 years now. Most months, my electric bill is $11, the cost of a minimum line fee I must pay.
Actually, my panels pump electricity back into the grid on sunny days. I received a tax incentive in order to pay for them, and now that I have paid them off, I power my house for next to nothing. My panels do not make noise or pollute the environment, and their production didn’t give children asthma, heart disease or any other ailment. Nor were any beautiful mountains torn into to extract material for them. Solar energy creates jobs, and best of all, the power is completely renewable.
Why would our leaders not fully support this form of energy? Why would they continue to subsidize oil, gas and coal instead? Is it because support of the fossil fuel industry helped put these officials in office, and increases their chances of reelection?
Our representatives are supposed to protect us and reflect our priorities. Instead, their shortsightedness and selfishness are compromising the world around us and threatening our health and welfare.
I sincerely hope that reason will return to our government officials, and we will start running the country in a manner that shows care for people over profit.
SUSAN WALTERS
Charleston
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