Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

To the Editor,
    It’s a travesty that the University of Texas, with all its wealth, is ending the 30-plus year informal class program [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. A tax-supported university has a moral obligation to give back to the community that supports it, through educational outreach. They say it’s not a “profitable program.” Profit is not just black ink. How do you measure the profit of an overweight person learning the beauty of exercise through a dance class? How do you measure the profit of a parent learning to manage their finances, thus staving off foreclosure, through an informal class? How do you measure the profit of an immigrant assisting his or her own cultural assimilation through an English as a second language informal class? How can a board made up of primarily young students have the intrinsic wisdom to see beyond the ink? This is a short-sighted and shameful decision. Please e-mail your support for Informal Classes to: Board of Regents at [email protected]; Rep. Elliott Naishtat at [email protected]; Liam O'Rourke, student body president, at [email protected]; and University Unions Director Andy Smith at [email protected].

Dear Editor,
    I find it frustrating that often your articles on local businesses do not clearly list the address of the subject business. I often have to read it over several times, looking for the address. With Austin being so spread out and traffic so terrible, location is one of the major factors on whether I will seek out a business. For example, in the Feb. 5 issue, in the article on Texas French Bread [“Sons of Austin,” Food], I could not find the address anywhere. Thus I had to look it up on the Internet. This is annoying, and such a basic piece of info should be clearly stated for all such articles.

Dear Editor,
    Who else presents short courses in billiards, skydiving, and animal CPR? Although I have taught through UT informal classes for the last three years, forfeiting this supplementary income is not my main concern with losing the program. Over the last 25 years or so, I have been enriched by dozens of classes. I understand the need for cutbacks, and they always hurt wherever they land. What I don’t understand is why informal classes can’t be saved through, say, a 10% fee increase. Wouldn’t that offset UT subsidies? Currently, courses require nominal fees, and from my casual polls, no one balked at paying a little more to preserve the option to take a cat massage class. I will glumly miss the one-stop-shopping for a gargantuan selection of topics and short workshops that easily tuck into tight schedules. I can’t bear the thought of losing this community treasure. UT loses some good will.

Dear Editor,
    I’ve spent the last week trying to figure out how the University of Texas could actually close down the Cactus Cafe [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. Part of the problem has been due to conflicting information coming from the university. Initially, financial shortfalls were given as the reason for the closure. If the issue truly is financial, I’m confident the Austin community will find a way to help save the Cactus Cafe.
    The latest rationale has to do with the Cactus Cafe not being student oriented enough. I admit, I think there are some things that can be done to strengthen the relationship between the student body and the venue. However, the university’s decision to close the doors of the Cactus Cafe and to effectively tune out any alternative solutions to keep the music going is extremely disappointing.
    The experience of attending a live music performance at the Cactus Cafe is a very special one. There are many other great live music venues in town, and each has its own unique offering. However, there isn’t another place in town that can offer what the Cactus Cafe does in terms of the shared bond between audience and performer. It is a stage where singer-songwriters, poets, and virtuosos have been holding audiences rapt for three decades. While the music inside those walls may not mirror the latest trends that a majority of the student body is tuned in to, there is a timeless quality of song that will always captivate a certain segment of the campus population. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes others a little longer to find out exactly how special the Cactus Cafe really is. I encourage everyone, from UT students to Austin residents in general, to visit www.savethecactuscafe.org for more information on what can be done to save this gem of the Texas music scene.

Dear Editor,
    The Cactus Cafe has been a wonderful venue in many regards [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. However, I attended a show there in 2008 to record the featured artist and was surprised to find that the house audio console was not exactly in great shape. It offered several dead input channels and an obviously growing list of dysfunctional features. I wondered at the time how a venue with a rep for great sound could leave the board in this condition, unless the Cactus was pretty severely strapped for cash. The sound operator that night (Joey Christopher) was excellent and dealt easily with something that could have been a problem with an act needing a complete, properly working board. How much money are we talking in subsidies for "seven of the last eight years"? How many of those 17,000 Facebookers have been to the Cactus recently enough to have made a difference in the bottom line? Has the Cactus been paying rent? Most competing venues in Austin do not enjoy a public subsidy. If one gets too comfortable running in a subsidized setting, one may overlook small variable costs that can eventually add up to financial ruin. Intensive focus on those costs was a key part of what kept Armadillo World Headquarters going post-1976.

   [Editor's note: Hank Alrich was the manager, underwriter, and "guardian angel" of Armadillo World Headquarters for most of the Seventies, until its closing at the end of 1980.]

Dear Editor,
    Re: "Bicycle Dreams" [News, Feb. 5]: Please don't frame the debate about infrastructure for two-wheelers around red herrings like cyclists who don't follow road rules (that are written for cars) nor development issues that will rise or fall independent of two-wheeled commuters. Give cyclists a chance; give them the route they need down Nueces. If Austin thinks it can be progressive without improved bicycle thoroughfares, it's mistaken, big time.

Dear Editor,
    If the regents at the University of Texas can afford to pay their head football coach a multimillion dollar salary (plus bonuses), then why can't they afford to keep informal classes and the Cactus Cafe open [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]? As far as I can tell, the regents should go back to the budgeting process or suffer a public relations nightmare for the university due to an apparent disregard for local culture. Maybe resulting publicity will lead to a loss of revenue much more than the $120,000 or so they state they would be saving. It sure has made me rethink my views on UT and its lack of leadership.

Dear Editor,
    As a University of Texas professor of American Studies currently researching contemporary American roots music, I’m disappointed at UT’s plan to close the Cactus Cafe, Austin’s most significant venue for that aspect of our national musical heritage, as iconic as the Victory Grill for blues and the Elephant Room for jazz [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. Each new comment from the UT administration seems to add another after-the-fact rationale. If the percentage of nonstudents vs. students in attendance is the reason for shutting the Cactus, then I would recommend UT closely examine such events as readings by authors at the Harry Ransom Center and the Michener Center for Writers, the Distinguished Lecturer series sponsored by the Humanities Institute, and home games of the UT baseball team – all of which may require abolishing for serving majority nonstudent audiences. Or maybe it’s time the administration recognizes a mistake has been made.

Dear Editor,
    Who writes the column "The Luv Doc Recommends"? He (I'm almost positive that the writer is male) is terrific! He should get some recognition for writing good, interesting stuff that is always my favorite part of the Chron. Since the Chronicle's dreadful loss of “The Straight Dope,” “The Luv Doc” is almost alone in nonpolitical comment.

   [Editor's note: “The Luv Doc” is written by Dan Hardick.]

Dear Editor,
    The Cactus Cafe is undoubtedly worth preserving but is unsustainable in its present form [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. There is much potential for increased earnings, yet the University of Texas has spent scant time and resources exploring ways to make the venue relevant to the student body as well as profitable in keeping with the Texas Union’s mission statement. There are several ways to address UT’s primary criticism that the Cactus is largely used by nonstudents, and most are simple:
    1) Advertising and marketing: The university is understandably uncomfortable promoting a venue that serves alcohol to students, thus advertisements of the cafe are not allowed on campus. Alcohol, however, is not at the center of the cafe's mission. UT has not explored ways to allow the establishment to advertise those aspects that would further the Texas Union’s stated goals while drawing more students and even tourists into the venue. The Cactus is awash with marketable elements. The problem that most students on campus have no idea the Cactus exists is easily rectifiable by posters and ads promoting “Live Music,” “Landmark Historical Site,” “Microbrews,” and so on.
    2) Improving food and beverage selection: Although the Cactus has aged with grace, the same cannot be said of its food and beverages. Several years ago, the Texas Union opened a Starbucks next door, and the quality of its product is superior to the coffee that has been served in the Cactus for decades. It should offer better quality coffee and local snacks.
    3) Introducing more diverse and pertinent performers: The Cactus should not limit itself to folk singer-songwriters almost exclusively; great as some of the music may be, there are scores of folk acts that attract only a handful of baby boomers. I do not suggest barring these groups entirely from the Cactus but merely limiting the number of times they can perform during the year. Students who have their ear to the contemporary music scene should have their tastes and views considered. UT’s own student-run radio station 91.7 KVRX (and its Austin community counterpart, KOOP) should have a stronger presence in the club, in much the same way that KGSR and KUT already do.

Dear Editor,
    If Andy Smith and Bill Powers were truly concerned about returning to the university's core mission of providing higher education to enrolled students, they would resign immediately [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. Petty administrators, overpaid presidents, and dictating regents have absolutely nothing to do with quality education. Universities need administrators like a fish needs a bicycle.
    Administrators do have a function, of course, which is to make sure the university runs like a business and is subject to the same cost-benefit logic that guides corporations. Just as axing the Cactus and informal programs has nothing to do with returning to the university's mission, it also has nothing to do with fiscal constraints, at least not in the way Smith and Powers claim. The university has plenty of money to pay for those programs. What cutting them succeeds in, though, is sending a clear message to their overlords in the bond markets and at bond-rating agencies, which the university needs to keep happy in order to continue financing its massive increase in building and infrastructure spending (an expansion that by magnitudes outstrips the growth in the number of students the university serves). Bond traders love nothing more than an institution's demonstrated resolve to eschew sentimentality and ruthlessly cut programs that don't make money. Smith and Powers are assuring them of the university's ruthlessness.
    In an almost cruel way, the protests that Smith's decision has sparked play right into the administration's hands. Now, when they don't relent on the cutting of the programs – and they won't, even if the money is found somewhere – they are sending an even more favorable message to the bond markets: Look at the way we implemented our program of fiscal austerity even in the face of immense popular protest. Bond traders will squeal with delight, and the university becomes even more like a business.

Dear Editor,
    Re: “Another Icon Threatened” [“Postmarks” online, Feb. 2]: If this is like Texas Union Executive Director Andy Smith's past machinations, he is making room for a yet unnamed corporate hog to take over the space now occupied by the Cactus Cafe. Can we impeach this dictator?

Dear Editor,
    I am deeply saddened by not only the loss of Informal Classes but also the University of Texas' disregard for one of its roles, namely providing benefit to the community [“'A' Is for Axed: UT Chops Cactus, Cuts Classes,” News, Feb. 5; “Off the Record,” Music, Feb. 5]. I have attended many Informal Classes over the years (as a UT student and an alumnus). As a result, I have enjoyed an enhancement of my interests as well as my professional skills. What a great program and benefit to the community Informal Classes is! UT has apparently lost sight of this fact, and that is more than unfortunate. I will always bleed orange, but some of my regard has certainly been diminished now. I must say, if part of UT's mission is "cultivating enduring regard for the University of Texas," they have failed miserably in their mission with this decision.