LETTER: Not Getting It

Some people just don't get it. As members of the Coalition to Diversify Locust Walk, we are writing to clarify Bruce Forman's multiple misrepresentation (DP 3/23/92) of the advertisement we placed entitled "Real Change on Locust Walk." First. The Coalition to Diversify Locust Walk, not Women United for Change, placed the advertisement. WUC is one of the many groups that support the Coalition. Second. Diversity has become a P.C. buzzword; however, when looking at the composition of all residences on the Walk -- except the Community Service Living-Learning Program -- it is quite clear that no women can live there. Does this strike Bruce as odd? The need for diversity begins to take shape when one considers that roughly one-half of the Penn student population is systematically barred from seeking residence on the Walk. Third. Forman believes that we would be "happier with fraternities if they represented a broader palette of colors." As the advertisement implies, we do not seek the internal diversification of the fraternity system. The problem is that the residences on the Walk are predominatntly occupied by white males. To remedy this homogeneity, the ability to remove fraternities from their residences must be recognized by the University as a necessary tool to diversify the Walk. Fourth. We seek no racial, ethnic, gender or sexual preference formula for achieving diversity of the Walk. But it must be realized that alloting almost all Locust Walk residential space to males who decide to enter the Greek system is both unfair and discriminatory. We cannot continue to passively allow our diverse institution's symbolic and actual center of campus to be lined with a single type of organization. Fifth. Forman states that all can agree with removing fraternities that fail to exhibit "exemplary behavior," but ponders the meaning of this standard. The 1991 Report of the Committee to Diversify Locust Walk establishes seven characteristics that "all residential communities along the Walk should embody." Without mentioning them in the space of this letter, a not-so-liberal interpretation of these criteria lead us to conclude that some fraternities embody none of these traits. Additionally, both the Berg Report and the Faust Report identified fraternities and the Walk respectively as sites for racial and sexual harassment. These reports, along with the numerous newspaper accounts of questionable fraternity acts, provide ample evidence that many fraternities do not exemplify high standards of behavior. Sixth. The inequity of the residential status quo on Locust Walk is overwhelming. Over 300 faculty, administrators and students acknowledged this fact by signing the Coalition's statement. As a community, we must strive to create a center of campus that is a social and intellectual center for all students, both graduate and undergraduate. Oh, and by the way, we don't buy that bit about moving the heart of Penn to Sansom Street. JOHN MAZIE College '92 SHEILA ROSSELL Nursing '92

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