LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

To the Editor: The seven member board voted against integrating public service advertising into their paper. The unofficial explanation I received was that the board didn't feel capable of "drawing the line" when it came to selecting worthy public service advertisements. The irony of this feeble excuse is that this same executive board "draws the line" every day. Whether it is by choosing which articles to run or determining the official opinion of the paper on campus issues. How can the DP determine Penn's 100 Cultural Elite or decide not to run a Holocaust revisionist advertisement, yet can't formulate a public service advertising program? For example, running advertisements promoting voter registration and turnout cannot be that difficult. Placed ads would notify members of the community as to where polls are located and how to register. Such an effort would not affect their advertising revenue, and would only cost them the quarter page or less of space usually filled with such inconsequential blurbs as "Read DP Sports," or "Check out the Classifieds!" Last Tuesday's paper had almost a full page of space ($1,033 worth) used as filler, which some percentage could have been used as public service advertising. I am disillusioned by the fact that these future journalists do not care about addressing important issues, but rather are complacent in fulfilling their readers' needs. This intellectual arrogance is emblematic of the executive board's narcissism which allows them to self-justify their hovering above Penn's campus. There is no valid excuse for the lack of a public service advertising program in the DP. I just hope that come January, the new executive board acts on this opportunity to further the DP's contribution to the community and make it a more professional newspaper. JASON DIAZ Wharton '95