Dear Editor: I applaud Simpson students’ recent willingness to become engaged in the political process. However, some of the activity by the protesters at the Oct. 28 Edwards rally was troublesome for at least two reasons. The students who tried to portray Edwards as an “ambulance chaser” were disrespectful, and worse yet, lacking in both knowledge and understanding.

Both of these points are emphasized by the protesters’ quotes in the Nov. 4 Simpsonian. One said “The ambulance symbolizes Edwards because he is a trial lawyer and chases ambulances for frivolous lawsuits.” There are rare frivolous lawsuits in the U.S. court system. Those cases are dealt with appropriately by the judges who hear them. Unfortunately, some students are not paying enough attention in BLaw, since they don’t seem to recall what a “frivolous lawsuit” is. The trials in which John Edwards represented injured parties were not frivolous. Do the Oct. 28 protesters know anything about the facts of the cases Edwards pursued on behalf of his clients?

Maybe the students should read John Edwards’ book, “Four Trials.”

While one of the protesters stated that they were “effective” in making some point, the fact is, they were not. The people nearby me when the “ambulance” went by all admired the craftsmanship (the prop was very cool) but no one understood what it was supposed to mean until I explained the attempted symbolism.

If anything like the following ever happen to any of the student protesters or their family members, I trust they will not seek out the assistance of a trial lawyer: removal of a woman’s breasts (both of them) even though she did not have cancer, when a lab mislabeled her test results; permanent disability of a child after he was given a dose of medicine 10 times the proper amount while hospitalized; deaths of a father and a child in a car crash caused by tires known by the manufacturer to be defective; death of a 12-year-old when a drunk out-of-control skier knocked her out of a ski lift line and into a parking lot.

Let’s try inserting some intellectual honesty and some courtesy into the political process.

Ruth Weatherly

Professor of Management