Code

In voting down the proposed speech code that would forbid discriminatory language at CSUN, the faculty neglected to consider the educational aspect of the code. Racism and bigotry are common in far too many homes. Children carry these attitudes, with the language that reflects them, to school and into adulthood and college. Colleges can and should be the place where racists and bigots are taught that society does not tolerate discriminatory language. It was not too many years ago that conservatives attacked free speech by quoting Justice (Oliver Wendell)

I want to join others in expressing profound concern over proposals for a new code for films and television set forth by Cardinal Roger Mahony (Feb. 2). The cardinal's proposition calls for a new set of standards for filmmakers and the establishment of film boards with the power to censor artistic creativity. These proposals may be well-intended, but they endanger values cherished by all of us. Citing the problems of "rape, date-rape, sexual harassment, child molestation, sex addiction, serial killings, AIDS and venereal disease epidemics," Mahony blames filmmakers for "glorifying evil" (Jan.

Regarding the Jan. 28 Ask the Inspector response in "Older Electrical Outlets Were a Jolt": I don't think that two-prong outlets are a defect that must be listed by a home inspector. In a 50-year-old home the outlets are ground-available, just much more inconveniently. If one purchases the (usually gray) adapter to plug a three-prong cord into a two-prong outlet, that little green tab is to be screwed into the same metal screw that holds the outlet cover on. This completes the grounding as long as the outlet body is screwed into the metal box, which is most likely grounded.

You just had a physical home inspection conducted on the house you are purchasing and . . . guess what? Not everything is "up to code." What does that mean? Is it a substandard structure? Is it an unsafe house? That it's a rotten deal? Well, that depends on a lot of things. I am in my 15th year of performing physical home inspections and I am a licensed general contractor and home builder. I can tell you right now that a home I just built and sold in the last year doesn't meet current code.

I have read your editorial ("The City Council That Ate an Ethics Code," July 1) and I could not agree more with your position that the present Los Angeles ethics ordinance is poorly drafted, "so complex that almost no one can figure (it) out" and "virtually impossible to understand or enforce." I agree with the commission that another ordinance is needed to fix the present unconstitutional one. Prior to filing my lawsuit, I made a number of attempts to discuss these matters with Benjamin Bycel, director of the commission.

As a parent of a student at the North Hollywood High School Highly Gifted Magnet, and a middle-school teacher, I would like to respond to the article by Steve Hymon ("School Needs Policy to Curb Cheating," May 28). A code of ethics is indeed necessary to help the students at the magnet be guided toward integrity, honesty and ethical conduct. The School Leadership Council reaffirmed its desire to adopt such a code, but acknowledged that further study would be needed to produce one that would adhere to court rulings and state law regarding due process and teachers' rights to determine final grades in a class.

Regarding: "Saving Blue Book From Ultimate Snub," Jeannine Stein, Aug. 18: Apparently Ms. Allegra Yust has spent too many hours sipping tea in her mother's spacious, perfumed apartment. Is she really this naive, or was she, perhaps, abroad during the Los Angeles riots? Shame on The Times for not clearly explaining to the readers that the infamous "Blue Book" is code for racism. Less than 1% of the listings in this register are other than Anglo-Saxon. Any proceeds Ms. Yust accumulates should be spent on a trip to Howard University for a crash course in multiculturalism.

In response to "Police Hide Behind Code of Silence, Lawyer Says" (Times Valley Edition, Dec. 11), there is a perception by some critics that all police officers participate in a kind of shared secrecy. In reality, the "code of silence" is more a convenient creation inspired and exploited by segments of the legal and media professions, seemingly for profit and headlines. The covert theory of surreptitious conduct is further fueled by coverage of the Rodney King incident and subsequent trials, the Kolts and Christopher reports and the dramatic increase in police civil litigation cases.

I am writing in response to Nov. 3 letters regarding the struggle over which direction we should be headed with our public education system. Retta Mullaney claims that those of us who use the phrase "back to basics" have hidden agendas. Suzy Elliot seems to think that there is some sort of conspiracy. Cathy Van Houten-German speaks of "stealth" candidates. The National Education Assn. and the California Teachers Assn. have a huge propaganda machine working to brand everyone concerned about the direction of public education as extremist members of the religious right.