With so many concrete options available to students there is no reason to turn to the media alone to find where any political figure stands on any topic.

Gina Lea Nickl's column ("Attending Class is Students' Choice," Sept. 15) gives every appearance of being smart, logical and persuasive8212;which makes me suspect that at some point she took an English class, but this makes me wonder why she assumes that all education comes from textbooks.

Jed Layton's article ("Campaigns get nasty: Students say they're sick of rumors," Sept. 15) is framed in such a way that values an arbitrary "balance" over factual reporting.

I don't want to pick on Alta and exclude other resorts whose prices are also rising, but as a lover of the Alta vibe, it pains me to see its risk of losing business, and the thought that my children won't be able to afford to ski there down the road is almost too terrible to accept.

This culture of casual sex on campuses was started to "defy traditional standards," according to an August 2008 Sex Roles magazine study. Maybe those traditional standards are right after all.

Make doctors more accessible to prevent the snowballing epidemics of obesity and diabetes, and there will be less need for the higher-paying careers.

Competition, in terms of another provider, would bring better prices and service. Utahns need another electricity provider and deserve a choice when it comes to this crucial service.

Mandatory attendance policies at the university level aren't uncommon from class to class. The argument is often made that students who attend class perform better than students who don't attend. Even if that were true, it doesn't justify required attendance. Students should be able to choose whether to attend class or not.

We should judge politicians by these criteria, not by whether we want to invite them over for Sunday dinner. A good leader need not be the perfect house guest, friend, neighbor or acquaintance, but rather a prudent policy maker and sensitive public servant.

There's no such thing as an honest politician. It's so common an idea that you might not even give it a second thought, but that doesn't mean that we ought to accept unethical behavior from our elected officials. Just the opposite: We should do our best to ensure that those people we elect are as ethical as possible.