LETTER: Bad Assumptions

After two years of reading Daily Pennsylvanian columns, I thought that I had developed an immunity to the editorial page. However, Bill Madison's last column left me with more than a sour taste in my mouth. If Madison's case is that volunteering for the wrong motives is wrong and that racism is bad, which it is -- then it is a poor idea to base his arguments on racist and sexist assumptions. When Madison talks about sorority volunteers that "cross the street at night when they sense the impending doom of a typical 'West Philadelphia denizen' approaching," he is making an assumption about their likely course of action based on the fact that they are -- in the context of the column -- white females. Such an assumption is as racist as the racist courses of action he himself is describing. In addition, Madison fails to offer any positive criticism. He doesn't ask the women in the article what their motives are, or what the program they are participating in is. Again, he makes general assumptions, each demeaning the role of community service, without offering any positive enlightenment about what people should be doing to help their fellow person. Before he criticizes others, he or she should get his or her facts in order, be prepared to offer some positive solution and evaluate their own position on the given issue. BRAD ROSENBERG College '94