You've got mail. Well, that's an understatement. As I open up my letters@psu.edu mailbox each day, (yes, I am the one who reads some of those expletive-saturated notes of rage), I am never disappointed by the amount of reader feedback that flows — or overflows — in.

For as much slack as we college students get for being apathetic, inactive, and self-absorbed, it's encouraging to see that, in many ways, Penn State is going against the grain.

People are calling, hand-delivering their letters to the Collegian office (who says we're lazy?), and e-mailing like crazy.

One after the other, the letters fill my inbox with subjects like: "Lawless is right to question funding," "Bush's proposal combines church and state," or my personal favorite, "THE LETTER YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ IS THE MOST BRILLIANT PIECE OF WORK. PLEASE PRINT FOR TOMORROW!!!" The content of the letters deal with anything from fan conduct at Penn State athletic events to how TV ruins our lives.

Sounds pretty unapathetic to me.

Unfortunately for us, we're still labeled as "kids these days."

Pennsylvania's own newly re-elected Sen. Rick Santorum, an alumnus no less, said during an interview at the Republican National Convention that college students today aren't as passionate about issues as they were in his day.

Of course, we are fortunate enough that we don't have the Vietnam War to protest or basic civil rights for which to fight.

But consider what the majority of the letters printed in today's issue are about: censorship, First Amendment rights, student expression. We value our right to say what we think, to participate or choose not to participate in events like Sex Faire, and to object or support an establishment like Hooters for what it does or does not represent.

Laugh as you may about the fact that words like "Cuntfest" and "Hooters" have grazed these pages more lately than ever in this newspaper's history, but I think it speaks to an important notion. We at Penn State may not be protesting on the steps of Old Main each day, but we do care about what's going on around us. If it's an issue that directly affects us, and more importantly, threatens to infringe upon our rights, we absolutely want to do something about it.

I guess we can thank state Rep. John Lawless for something: inspiring a lot of letters concerning student expression.

His recent visit to this campus created more of a stir among the students than he could ever hope to create at the state Legislature with his "evidence" video.

So please, keep those letters coming. Oh, and Sen. Santorum, give us some credit. Those "kids these days" don't attend your alma mater.