A little too much security
To the Editor:
Before last weekend, I was excited for my first Spring Fling.
My upperclassman teammates had been hyping up Fling for weeks. They were right. I had a great weekend, but there was one ugly spot.
I'm a Type I diabetic, which basically means I have to regulate my blood glucose with doses of insulin and carbohydrates. In case my blood sugar gets low (or hypoglycemic), I have to treat myself with sugar.
Typically diabetics drink juice or chew on candy or glucose tablets. I use Gatorade.
It tastes good, and works just as fast as other treatments. Sugar to me is like an EpiPen for someone with a peanut allergy. It's emergency treatment to prevent dangerous lows.
On Saturday, not only did guards at the Upper Quad Gate reject my Gatorade, they were hostile. I tried calmly explaining my situation and they told me to ditch the Gatorade or stay out.
If I lived there, would I have been unable to carry my "medicine" in and out of my dorm? Even TSA lets me bring my 20-ounce bottle through terrorism liquid regulations at airport security. Maybe the Fling staff needs to amend its policies for next year.
Mikiya Silver Engineering Freshman Police too aggressive during Fling
To the Editor:
In the final hours of Fling many celebratory parties were thrown throughout the off-campus community.
Around 1 a.m. Saturday night our University police force, in conjunction with the local Philadelphia police, conducted raids on many of these parties.
Supposedly responding to calls of "fights" stemming from inside these parties, this joint police force converged upon these parties one after another.
The raid conducted by the police, in front of my eyes, was conducted in a fashion befitting a serious threat to the welfare of Penn's campus rather than the low-key Fling celebrations these events truly were.
The behavior of the joint force, while breaking up these parties, was very troubling - the police rushed into the house with metal batons extended, swearing at those who hesitated, flipping tables, throwing chairs, knocking cups out of hands, even choking a friend of mine.
Those who were not blindly heeding the order to evacuate stood in disbelief at the belligerent actions of the police force.
Most Penn students walk the streets of our campus with a heightened awareness of the danger which exists.
Apart from the inappropriate actions by the police, this misallocation of resources, diverting them from real problems, was not only unwarranted but incredibly irresponsible.
Gabe Kopin Engineering senior
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