A editorial in The Daily Collegian says the Executive Student Action Council has no guts. The Undergraduate Student Government President responds by citing this as an example of the Collegian's stupidity. Boy, oh boy, I think we're both starting out on the wrong foot.

I know both USG and the Collegian are dedicated, hard-working bodies with essentially the same goal: to serve as a focal point for student opinion and activism. Why, then, do both sides insist on fighting the USG-Collegian battle year after year? (Perhaps "battle" is too dignified a word for this hoopla of public finger-pointing and name-calling.)

I'm not suggesting that USG and the Collegian should agree on everything. Differences of opinion are fine, perhaps even healthy; but the animosity, disrespect and mutual mud-slinging are not. What neither USG nor the Collegian seems to realize is that all of the bickering serves only to discredit both. We cannot expect the University administration (or even our own student body) to take either of us seriously when we cannot act appropriately in a public forum. Each body calling the other a "whiner" on the Opinion page hardly makes either lookintelligent, you must admit.

Neither USG nor the Collegian is singularly to blame for the situation. Both are responsible. However, it is time for us all to put aside our history of hostility and get back to our respective business -- advocating for the rights of our fellow students. Lobbing nasty names back and forth will not keep tuition down. It will not promote excellent teaching. It will not aid in minority recruitment and retention. It will, however, make us both look petty and inept. It will also hamper us in achieving the goals we all work for so diligently.

After all folks, we are on the same side. What do you say we stop trading insults and start getting some work done?