LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Supporting Prof. Camfield

To the Editor:Although I am currently spending the semester abroad in London, I wanted to join the many people on campus who are protesting the University's decision to deny tenure to Dr. Gregg Camfield. I know that I am not alone in the opinion that Dr. Camfield is one of the most intelligent, enthusiastic, and creative professors at Penn. The class I took with him last year was without a doubt one of the most intellectually stimulating courses I have ever taken. By denying him tenure, the University has denied future students access to a phenomenal teacher. His high ratings and numerous teaching awards should have made this perfectly clear to the committee. Jerry Greenberg College '96 Give Some Respect To the Editor: Why do people at other top schools think Penn students are shallow, pushy dilettantes? You can hardly wonder when you see all the weeping and rent garments over the selection of NEA Chair Jane Alexander for commencement speaker. Why didn't we get someone more famous? They kvetch. Who's Jane Alexander? Why do we wanna hear about the NEA? And on. And on. It is the height of vulgarity to be carrying on this way, and it demonstrates shocking lack of knowledge about our own institution. Penn is the only school in the country to have top-flight undergraduate business and nursing preprofessional programs in the same institution as highly rated arts and sciences. The relationships among art, society and commerce are of mounting importance in this age, and Alexander is in fact in an admirable position to address those issues. The mere fact that she is not known to the masses does not compromise the importance of her position. As Penn students, we should be used to accepting lack of household recognition with dignity, and to realizing that a lack of quality does not necessarily follow. Can we not extend the same respect to someone else on our last day as Penn students? Sean Kinsell College '95 Accept Everything As Beauty To the Editor: I'd like to compliment Sonja Stumacher on her refreshingly well-written and insightful column about unnatural beauty (3/31/95). I, too, agree that people in today's society have become obsessed with starving, chiseling and pumping their bodies into distorted images of perfection. Especially at image-conscious Penn, it's hard to remember that happiness comes from celebrating our uniqueness and vitality, and accepting both our highlights and flaws as beautiful. Amy Wesolowski College '96