UTSA can be described as possessing a myriad of adjectives and an accompanying range in organized student participation, from completely passive and apathetic to freakishly obsessed with identity politics and everywhere in between.

Sure, this should be understood, but apparently it isn't. Some organizations (ahem, YCT) feel the necessity to advertise how awesome they are. They've been on conservative corporate news programs. Surprise, surprise!

As historical lessons are conveniently lost on many, some points need to be made. Morales' hopeful, suggestive statement, "...the student body needs to be accepting of all views, whether they are conservative or liberal," is almost laughable in its innocence. But I think she's serious.

The Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT), like most similar "conservative" organizations, sounds nice and reasonable, but don't be fooled. YCT is blatantly racist, xenophobic, classist and nationalistic.

While this is not the place for a long list of examples, here are a few: they openly advocate the harassment of homosexuals; they held a "Capture an Illegal Immigrant" event on campus (UNT chapter), an unnecessarily offensive mockery of a serious situation that costs many people their lives; and they openly support the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, whose members joke about slaughtering all the illegal immigrants they see.

Morales may be speaking out of line here, but YCT is also known to fight liberal advancement on campus by any means necessary. I'm not a scientist, but that doesn't seem very accepting.

I, on the other hand, am not pretending to be accepting of certain bigotry. Racism, sexism, homophobia and nationalism are completely unacceptable ideologies and need to be fought as such.

Just as the YCT pretends to be benevolent, Chris Simcox puts a pretty face on "border security" and his organization, the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps (or Minuteklan, as they're popularly referred).

For fresh UTSA students, and those unfamiliar, YCT brought Chris Simcox to speak last semester. He left with his posse of law enforcers after being verbally protested by a multiracial coalition of students, workers and teachers who understand the situation in a more sophisticated way (for more information, search for "UTSA Simcox" on the internet).

Most things can be "debated" using some civility, but not racism. Back in reality, an obvious example of this is when a KKK white supremacist runs into a black person on the streets. Call me crazy, but a civil debate isn't likely to ensue.

Student Worker Teacher Alliance (SWTA, the largest unregistered student organization at UTSA responsible for organizing the protest against Chris Simcox) isn't going to be as active this semester due to various conflicting obligations.

But we "invite those of you who want to spark more discussion on this campus" to get together with your friends and discuss current events, class struggle, capitalist wars, etc. and work towards creating a better world for all the workers.

UTSA may seem like an overwhelming conservative place, but these creeps are heavily outnumbered by reasonable and logical people that are willing to work collectively to combat oppression and greedy progressions. Here's my suggestion: ignore the confused 9/11 conspiracy theorists and attention-hungry atheists. Fight back!

Red Smith Senior Art