LETTER: Taking Sides

When is it time to say enough is enough? As a University alumnus and current grad student, I think that time has passed. What purpose are you serving by providing Judith Schlossberg with a vehicle to publicly whine about her perception that a grave injustice has been done to her while not allowing Acacia and Mask and Wig the same opportunity? Who are your constituents -- Schlossberg or the University community? The University should not release the details of settlements, or names, or anything else for that matter, because to do so violates the concept of "innocent until proven guilty." Settlements are not admissions of guilt so it is incorrect and wrong to point fingers or publicly name students who have not been found guilty through any formal proceedings. I am sorry that Schlossberg was compelled to do so, for while she may feel it was necessary to tell all, I don't think she acheived much except to publicly embarrass members of the organizations who weren't involved in the situation to start with and who must now finish their tenure at Penn stigmatized unfairly and without a forum to defend themselves. Is it too hard to believe that there are members of Acacia who did not see the photo, know of the photo's existence and, if they had, would not want to have seen it? There are members of Acacia who did not know of the incident until their house was charged. Furthermore, there are members of Acacia who participate voluntarily in Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape workshops, diversity workshops, and various other human services at Penn. It is your perogative as editors to wallow in your own self-righteousness and to allow others to do the same. But must you publish such blatantly one-sided material? The DP must be forced to reexamine its behavior and get out of the Dark Ages. "Collective identity and collective responsibility are not inseparable." If this is true, then if six members of a house cheat on a finance test, should a whole house, many of whom may be engineers or political science majors, also be charged and subsequently expelled? I think not -- and I would hope that Penn doesn't either. LIZ TREUBERT Graduate School of Education '93