Students in Quad want to fix mail

and CHARLES ORNSTEIN Students living in the Quadrangle are calling for an immediate overhaul of the Quad mail service amidst a flurry of complaints about its ineffectiveness. And University officials said yesterday they are more than willing to discuss and correct any problems. College senior Jon Held said last night that after reading of student complaints about the Quad mailroom, he has organized a meeting for students to voice their complaints. He said he hopes an investigator from the U.S. Postal Service and University administrators will attend. "I am sick of having half-ass responses," Held said. "That's not going to suffice. I think you will see some pretty mad people there." Held said the meeting will be organized in a debate-type fashion, where students will be asked to make their points "without ranting and raving." "If the result of the investigation is anything like the result from the security investigation, students are going to suffer," Held said. Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said yesterday that she will attend the meeting if one occurs. "In general, we would be happy to meet with students who have concerns or ideas," she said. Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrison said last night she too would attend, but added that she hopes to hear students complaints before the forum. "We would be absolutely happy to talk with all the affected students," Morrison said. "We want to hear what they have to say. I hope it is conveyed to us before the forum, [because] we don't want to wait to hear that." Simeone added that her department will hold a strategy meeting today to discuss the problem. Also invited to the meeting are Morrisson and her staff, and University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich. Morrison said the issue of mail service needs to be looked into. "I'm very concerned about it," she said. "It's obviously a very serious issue and we will be doing a complete investigation into it." University Police said that yesterday alone they received reports of stolen mail from 10 complainants. The stolen items ranged from express mail packages to a credit card bill, University Police Sergeant Ivan Kimble said. Kimble said this is not the first time mail theft has been reported to police. "It has occurred in the past," he said. "It hasn't been a chronic problem but it has occurred." College freshman Diana Leibert, who complained of stolen mail, said yesterday that she doesn't expect any University response. "I hear the same old story that they are going to do something, but they don't," she said. "Unless there is some small miracle of God, I don't think anything is happening. It's really ridiculous." Leibert said she expects to receive a response from personnel who handle Residential Living's service hotline, but she has not yet heard from them. "I had spoken to someone at 573-DORM [last week]," she added. "They said they would contact me soon, but they haven't. Now it's spring break. It's kind of a lost issue." College freshman Stephanie Perron echoed Leibert's sentiments, but said after calling 573-DORM many times, she finally got a response two days ago. "Obviously, they haven't paid attention to complaints in the past," Perron said. "I don't know that they will be that responsive in making changes." Simeone said Rodney Robinson, Residential Living service center's assistant manager, is in the process of calling students who were quoted in an article in yesterday's Daily Pennsylvanian that detailed student complaints about the Quad mail service. She said she believes he has spoken with one of the students so far. Selena Carle, spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service, said her office is "willing to work with school officials to resolve this matter." Carle said she would not comment on the Postal Service's current investigation of the Quad mail service. Simeone said she thinks the Quad mailroom staff knows of the problem. "I think the mail staff is certainly aware that students have not been receiving mail they are expecting," she said. "Certainly, the mailroom staff is concerned." Held said he wants the mail service to run efficiently. He said he placed signs in the mailroom saying, "Stop stealing the mail." Simeone said the signs have since been taken down. "I think . . . the signs made assumptions which were very unfortunate," she said.