Little white lies not so little

Jennifer Hall’s article about lies in Wednesday’s edition could not be any farther from the truth and what is right. Her premise is that we should lie to get out of anything, especially when we have done something that is wrong or when we have failed to meet our obligations. This goes against everything our country stands for. No one would have confidence in our government, business or individual abilities if we were liars.

Hall states that “I only lie when it is necessary to the situation.” I can think of several individuals that seem to have embraced this position. One you might all be familiar with is President Bill Clinton. “Little white lies” seemed to work well for him in covering up his affairs. Well, actually, they also got him impeached.

The people of the United States have never tolerated dishonesty among leaders and individuals. Kenneth Lay of Enron is a real example of the consequences of “white lies.” By simply changing a few numbers here and there, Lay and Enron managed to create an international crisis in the business community. What faith can we have in business when they can’t honestly report information? Because of these lies, thousands of jobs were eliminated when Enron collapsed. Every case of infidelity and even some cases of genocide started with someone who didn’t think it would hurt to change the truth just a little bit.

— Shaun Hayes, junior finance and entrepreneurial management major.

Minority, low-income different

I am writing about your recent article published on Feb. 4. In my opinion, I believed the article did not display a good representation of TCU. Who exactly said the statement, “TCU prides itself on being a diverse and equal opportunity university for minorities and low-income students?” This article basically insinuated that minority students and low-income students are classified as one. So does it mean TCU implies that minority students are necessarily low-income? And does it also mean that TCU needs low-income students? If you wanted to give your view about the tuition increase, then you should have suggested that the overall student enrollment might decrease instead of singling out the “minority and low-income students.” For future reference, next time you want to publish an article regarding diversity at TCU, do some research and keep in mind the feelings of the “minority and low-income students” here at TCU.

— Neelu Shori, junior international relations major