Letters to the Editor: If college campuses can’t be safe, what hope is there for America?

To the editor: Universities represent the apex of human civilization, where students come to gain knowledge based on the experience of thousands of years of human effort, and where faculty help generate and share that knowledge. Everyone in a learning community is there to better themselves, and as a professor I am grateful to do my part.

That said, I am devastated not only by the mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday, but also by what has happened at many other campuses around the nation in these very dangerous times.

Without higher education, our children have no future in the world. The generations to come must be properly educated, lest we devolve into a kind of banana republic.

I am sick and tired of how politics, anger and hatred have infected my world and are harming intellectualism. I just want my students to focus on learning, and I just want to focus on teaching and helping them. Is that too much to ask?

Let’s work together to make all of our campuses safe havens for those who want to improve society. I offer my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims in our UNLV family. They will be forever in my thoughts and prayers.

Michael Pravica, Las Vegas

The writer is a professor of physics at UNLV.

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To the editor: Background checks, waiting periods, metal detectors — all of our responses to the gun dilemma are only flimsy Band-Aids.

We do everything in our power to protect our kids — think seat belts, bike helmets, driving them to and from everywhere, stranger danger warnings, curfews and more. Yet every day we send them out into a society where any nut with a grievance can obtain a gun and instantly harm someone.

The right to bear arms? Where’s the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? And America calls itself the greatest country in the world — really?

Rod Lawrence, Los Angeles