Editor:

Jay Richards recently wrote about how the Utah Legislature and Utah conservatives in general “love to meddle in other people’s affairs, particularly those of U students” (“Leave our campus alone!,” Jan. 24). He talks about how the U is “an autonomous creature” that should be allowed “to make (its) own decisions.”

Funny, but last time I checked, a substantial portion of our funding came from conservative Utahns via the State Legislature.

I think that, since our budget comes largely from state tax dollars, those who are paying for the university ought to have some say in how it is run. If this were a private institution (with significantly higher tuition as a result of not being subsidized with state tax money), then Richards could get away with saying the U is autonomous. ?The fact that this article was even published in the Chrony speaks to the ignorance of the paper’s editors. I think there are better ways to make the argument Richards is trying to make, but to say that the Legislature should have no say in what happens here is silly.

Jacob TrippGraduate Student,?Medical Informatics