Editor:
Imagine for a moment if all the leaders of our state’s institutions thought like U President Bernie Machen: Utah State University’s president could ban women who live on campus from having more than one child, in the name of protecting the school from over-population; Weber State’s president could ban all motorized vehicles, in the name of cleaning up the environment; Southern Utah University’s president could decide the Clean Air Act is stupid and mandate that smoking is OK at SUU because students need more freedom of choice.
According to Machen’s reasoning, because no court has specifically told them that they can’t do these things, all leaders at state institutions may as well implement their own policies until a court overrules them.
Perhaps a conservative president might one day take control of the U and mandate that its hospital shall be banned from performing abortions and that nobody at the U shall be allowed to drink coffee, tea or alcohol.
Every state institution should simply publish the mandates of its leaders in a conspicuous place, so that those who come within their domains can know which Utah laws apply there and which ones will be ignored until a court orders otherwise.
Utah does not need dictatorial potentates who think they know best. We have a system that works just fine, it’s called democracy.
Greg Smith, West Jordan, UT