Hot Button   Question of the week: Are Yalies helping New Haven when they register to vote here? E-mail the opinion editors a short response of approximately 150 words to herald@yale.edu along with your name, college and year (anonymous entries are acceptable) by Mon., Sept. 20 and let us know what you think. Selected responses will be printed in next week's issue.

Last week's question: Do lower admission standards for athletes diminish the quality of Yale academics? Yale's current athletic recruiting policy unquestionably compromises the school's academic integrity. The standards for admittance for recruited athletes are substantially lower, and these athletes are rewarded financial aid much more liberally as well. When most classes are graded on a curve and athletes comprise such a large portion of the student population, it is inevitable that it will be less challenging for non-athletes to get good grades. Unlike recruited athletes, all non-athletes picked Yale from every school in the country. Many recruited athletes were picked by Yale. They come here for the Yale name. As a consequence, many athletes see their 4 years here as a chore. Non-athletes who picked Yale on their own see these years as an experience to be cherished. —Anonymous, ES '02