Letters: Readers disagree with recent columns, 'red' states and solar power, early voting

Indiana University has duty to enforce safety

The Oxford English Dictionary defines sophistry as “the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intent of deceiving.”

Jeffrey Isaac has given a textbook example in his column, “IU Cracks Down on pro-Palestinian events under guise of ‘safety.’” Professor Isaac professes not to understand whose safety Indiana University is protecting.

In light of the murders, rapes and other atrocities on Oct. 7, the reason should be obvious. Because they often call for eradication of the state and citizens of Israel and even glorify the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attacks as martyrs, pro-Palestinian demonstrations threaten those people — Jewish or non-Jewish — who see them as calls for future genocidal acts, in Israel certainly and perhaps elsewhere.

IU has a policy forbidding hate speech on campus, whether directed against Jews or other groups. Professor Isaac may disagree with this policy, or its application to these particular “events.” But it is the university’s policy and the administration has the duty to enforce it in the name of campus safety. And that’s the truth.

Leslie Lenkowsky, Bloomington

'Red' states are adopting solar power

Four out of five states leading in adopting solar power are red. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association quarterly report, the best states for solar energy are California, Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona. How can this be?

The top states for adopting wind power are Texas, Iowa, California, Oklahoma and Illinois. How is this possible?

This is possible because some red states can do the math. Wind and solar are the least expensive way of producing power. During the 2023 session of our Legislature, the interest was either in carbon capture or small nuclear reactors. Wind and solar were off the table.

Carbon capture was attractive because we could keep burning coal. So what if the cost of power would more than double? The small nuclear reactors were attractive even though there are no examples of communities in the U.S. using one.

Indiana keeps burning coal even though there are health costs. What community in Indiana has the greatest life expectancy — Carmel — a healthy lifestyle and no coal power plants or polluting industries nearby? For life expectancy by county, Google: “The growing divide in life expectancy among Indiana counties."

Norman Holy, Bloomington

Thought about early voting location

Why doesn’t the city move early voting to a place with plenty of parking? Maybe the old Macy's store or the Lucky’s building.

Mark Wood, Bloomington

Disagrees with opinion on expansion harming native species

The op-ed page (Jan. 21) left something to be desired. The Indiana Hunters/Anglers guest opinion ("Expanding Deam wilderness will further imperil native species") crossed the line by making up its false science.

One example, search Google for "Cornell Lab, Golden-winged Warbler: Conservation strategy and resources," and you will find the warbler has not nested in Indiana for half a century. The warbler nests in open areas at the edge of old-growth forests, such as meadows carved by wildfires and beside ponds dammed by beavers. Beavers and wildfires may revive nesting sites, and the Deam wilderness has the potential to do that, except for the dense fuel loads already on the ground.

Just a quick FYI: Wildfire is as important as rain to prairies and forests. The mosaic of trees and meadows is a buffer that slows the spread of wildfires. Meadows grow into shrubs, which fade into "pioneer" forests, which make way for mid-successional species like oaks and hickories (the opinion reported it wrong) and under the shadow of oak and hickory, beeches and maples take root. Beech/maple forests are dubbed climax forests, because nature perpetuates them, if no disturbance reboots the succession. State forests are managed for oaks and hickories, which are commercially more valuable than beeches and maples.

FYI: An American biologist named Sheffield defined ecology in the 1890s as the "science of communities." As the science grew, British ecologist Arthur Tansley gave meaning to the food web — energy flow defines a forest or, as Aldous Huxley put it, "how plants and animals make a living." Modern-day ecologists adhere to the views of Eugene Odum who talked of "structure and function." Oddly, one of his presumptions — that early successional stages capture more carbon — has been debunked.

Bud Hoekstra, Bloomington