Once again the Daily Nexus has achieved another great low. Please do us a favor and keep your reporting to the save-the-world organizations’ social events – or is it because it’s the end of the year and you guys are scraping the barrel for the next breaking stories to capture the attention of readers? It is amazing the way you turn stories into front-page investigation reports that are blatantly offensive to minority groups. These stories have been one-sided, yet you still print this mediocre reporting which threatens to demolish the dream of building a community free of racial prejudice. It is delightful to read the Nexus’ richly detailed stories filled with suspense that bring a touch of brutality into the lives of your readers. For instance, most of us have been terrified and amazed by the articles illustrating the dreaded attacks from Chicano/Latino gangs upon our “peaceful” UCSB community. Let’s face it: gangs and gang phenomena are an issue many communities in our nation deal with, and Isla Vista is not the exception. We are not choosing to ignore the issue of violence; any violence in our community should not be tolerated, but what we are asking the Nexus to do is keep your reporting unbiased.

On May 21, Ms. Lagos reported on the “assault,” in which three students, two of whom were UCSB students and the third a SBCC student, were victims of a brutal assault by a group of “Hispanic” males (Daily Nexus, “Brutal Weekend Attack in I.V. Hospitalizes 3 Male Students”). The article only mentioned the events from one group’s perspective and not the other. We understand that it may have been near impossible to report the other side of the story due to lack of access to these “Hispanics.” Yet the manner in which the article was written was structured to simply portray the students as victims and the non-students as the ones at fault. Are we the only ones who see how biased and one-sided this report was? NO. Why is it that when it comes to reporting occurrences involving UCSB students and non-students, UCSB students are never at fault? Come on now, are we supposed to believe every article printed in your paper? If you think we are buying it, please rethink your response and keep your reports to on-campus events where at least students whom you write about can defend themselves, unlike those who are not students and are therefore unable and unaware they are being attacked. Being UCSB students ourselves, we know and are fully aware that we are not the nicest bunch of people. As students at this university we are not immune to the violence and corruption happening in our community, and we need to stop acting as if we are immune to these things. Please, let’s put away our rose-colored glasses and face the reality. Our suggestion to you is to be more careful when writing your stories: don’t take advantage of your publishing privileges just because the Chicano/Latino community in Isla Vista has little or no voice in your paper. Sure, it is easier for you to obtain the students’ side of the stories but has anybody thought about why Chicano/Latino “gangsters” are acting the way they are or even decide to ask them? We can assure you it is not just because “someone came out of prison and started stirring things up,” as our respectable police officers reported. There has to be a greater reason why there’s anger out there in our streets, and it is the Nexus’ responsibility, as a public service, to completely research the facts and show both sides of the story. Why do you ignore the aggressors’ reasons for their attacks? Some of us care; therefore we choose to defend those who lack a voice in this community. Our final question to the readers: who’s really the victim and who’s really at fault?

Ruben Ayala is a senior biopsychology major and Edith Cabrera is a senior linguistics and Latin American-Iberian studies major.