LETTER: Where Was He?

Why does Bill Madison broadly categorize West Philadelphia as "less fortunate" (DP 3/3/92)? If you are not from West Philadelphia, then your background may be different, not better or more fortunate. One should learn from differences, and not assume that anything different is wrong. I would think Madison would agree wholeheartedly with that premise with regard to the race issue. The day Bill Madison's column was printed, the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project held its annual "This is College Day" program. Students from West Philadelphia high schools come to explore the campus, sample lectures and most importantly, spend a day with a Penn student. We had 75 Penn hosts and 126 high school students. However, while Penn is a diverse campus, representation of people of color in today's program was embarrassingly sparse. I would like to believe that color does not matter, but it does to those high school students who asked me, "Why don't the black fraterities and sororities have houses on Locust Walk?" and "Why are most of the hosts today white?" And since Madison is so concerned with color as far as Penn's representation to West Philadelphia, I would like to ask him: where were you today? LAUREN HOCHBERG College '92

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