LETTER: Not On Your Life

To The Editor: Then we learned. We learned that there existed two columnists so lacking in knowledge, so far from the truth, so devoid of rationality, that they must never be taken seriously, if at all. In our most compassionate of moods, we told ourselves: pity them, pray for them, hope that their future holds a cure to their problems. With time, we came to accept that occasionally we would have to skip the editorial page, but it was a price we were not angry to pay. In the meantime, we did nothing to prevent their columns - partly out of apathy, mainly in recognition that all men, no matter how disillusioned or bitter, have the right to speak. But then on the morning of December 13, as we prepared to skip page 6, we saw a title, and the title read "Serve Thy Neighbor", and we stopped, and we looked down, and we saw the name Rosenbaum – and we understood. The great one had crossed the line, and we bared our teeth, and we now moved in for the kill. When they called for the gays of the world to unite, we smiled. When they belittled sorority girls, and called them superficial, we said they were jealous. But now, Rosenbaum is no longer simply making a spectacle of herself; she is not whining her usual whines that momentarily pierce the air only to get smothered by the indifference that ensues. This time she is addressing the administration, and her whines, for once get to the point, and her point is to make us slave away three hours of our lives for her misdirected ideals, and we do not like this. She is calling for every undergraduate to spend three hours a semester performing community service related acts. Is it wrong to perform community service? It is not. Is it wrong for such service to be mandatory? It is. Should people wake up at 7 a.m. to go paint a house? If they want to; if their specific values tell them that painting another man's house, free of charge, is good, then by all means, let them go paint houses. The problem here is not service, but mandatory service. The University provides an ample supply of groups that we can join if we want to paint houses; it is a personal prerogative. But under no circumstance should we be forced to do charity. Forced charity is no longer charity; it becomes a job, and a job with no pay is called slavery, and slavery is wrong. The only moral code that man should hold is that which reveres individual rights above all else. All that upholds individual rights is good; all that does not, is evil. Rosenbaum is evil, she does not respect our rights to decide how we spend each and every one of our days that go by; she thinks she can take one of them away. Not even at the point of a gun, Jennie. Chris Churukian Wharton '96 Giving Back To The Editor: University City Hospitality Coalition (UCHC) is obviously the "soup kitchen" referred to by Jennie Rosenbaum in her column titled "Serve Thy Neighbor" (DP 12/13/93.) We feel the need to take issue with some of her statements. UCHC has benefitted greatly from involvement by Penn undergraduates. Over 150 undergraduates, many of them from fraternities and sororities, have been involved with our meal program on at least one occasion this semester. Additionally, some Greek organizations sometimes take on special projects, such as Tau Epsilon Phi which recently sent out a 5,000 piece mailing for us. Contrary to Rosenbaum's assertions, UCHC has received ample coverage of its programs in the DP this semester. It is partly because of this that so many students have participated in UCHC activities. UCHC is grateful to all of its volunteers whether they are students, community members, members of the Greek system or service club members. While Rosenbaum may believe that Penn students are unsupportive of UCHC, we do not. DAVID LYNN UCHC Executive Director LEE DRAUD COLETTE TABER WILLIAM ARMOUR UCHC Board Members