"Confrontation, like debate, has a role"

I read Ben Cady's final article about the Seventies ("Enduring legacy," March 7) and I would like to comment on Dr. Claude Welch's comment about, "The University exists for civil discussion" and "We're not confrontational. We debate." I guess it is easier for some people to feel this way then others. I guess it depends where you've come from and where you've been. Also, confrontation can be covert and done very subtly - the way it is usually done in academia.

I say we need to get confrontational as long as the minimum wage is $5.15 an hour or anything less than a living wage. We need to get confrontational about the health care, or lack thereof, for many Americans. We need to get confrontational about the over $50 billion of child support that is owed. We need to get confrontational about the proposed plight of public housing. We need to get confrontational about Social Security. We need to get confrontational about the rising cost of tuition to attend college. The list goes on.

Do you really think the civil rights movement would have made such headway with just civil discussion and debate? No way. Confrontation was needed.

Now, I'm for non-violence like the next person. But, I think we should have massive protests on our college campuses and in Washington D.C. about many issues in this country. We don't need debate or civil discussion. We need these issues to be addressed and rectified.

Too many of us have suffered for too long.