LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Theatre closing necessary

To the Editor: Let's face it: none of the arts at Penn enjoys unlimited access to modern, well-equipped facilities. The departments of Fine Arts and Music struggle daily with the challenges of maintaining degree-granting programs in buildings that -- as at many universities today -- are crumbling. Fortunately for Penn, the Annenberg School for Communication has space that makes it possible to accept an extraordinarily generous endowment for the purpose of enabling Ivy League graduates to aspire to the highest calling for which their privileged educations prepare them: the betterment of society through enlightened public policy. The first effort of the Annenberg Public Policy Center was a year-long (1994-95) series of conferences on "Women in the Public Sphere" -- not an irrelevant topic at a university where about half of the undergraduates are women. At the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Annenberg funding was used to assemble 34 of the most prominent women in architecture, a field where women's contributions, as elsewhere, have long been overlooked. The GSFA conference not only gave students -- men and women -- the rare opportunity to design and construct an exciting environment for an event reported by all major publications in the field, but also exposed students (many for the first time) to role models for their own careers. The conference, which was attended by more than 400 people -- mostly students from Penn, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and as far away as California, Canada and Australia -- also put this university in touch with peer institutions around the world. Moreover, it spawned a book on women's roles in shaping the built environment and a course open to qualifying students throughout the university. Multiply that experience by the number of Penn schools that participated in "Women in the Public Sphere" and you begin to see why the current trade-off, while not ideal, is far from unintelligent or "undeserving." Meanwhile, the Perelman Quad and Addams Fine Arts Hall will provide much improved space for everyone. Patricia Conway Architecture Professor Past Dean, Graduate School of Fine Arts ROTC far from simple To the Editor: I was sorry to read that Paul Lukasiak sees ROTC and its presence on campus as an "issue [that] is simple" ("End ROTC participation," DP, 2/7/96). Unfortunately the issue is not so simple, nor is any issue involving perceived discrimination. He should be intelligent enough to realize that grey areas do exist, otherwise life would be fairly simple, wouldn't it? The Reserve Officers' Training Corps provides far more benefits than any possible harms that may be a result of the federal government's policy regarding homosexuals. It does not in any way promote "the spread of prejudice and hatred." It unites young men and women who have a love of country and yearning to lead others who have that same love. In a day and age where patriotism is something to be snickered at and shunned, it is refreshing and encouraging to find those who are not afraid to serve their country, and do so proudly. Furthermore, since the issue of discrimination comes from government policy, should not the University stop accepting federal grants, Stafford loans and any other form of federal funding? Is this what Lukasiak proposes as well? His flawed logic would seem to lead to this conclusion. ROTC needs to stay on this campus and on other campuses throughout the country if we are to have well-educated and well-trained leaders in the future. Matt Beliveau Army ROTC Wharton '97 n To the Editor: In speaking out against ROTC, Darin Weeks ("ROTC discriminates," DP, 2/8/96) and Paul Lukasiak ("End ROTC participation," DP, 2/7/96) manage to restate the obvious while avoiding larger questions. Weeks and Lukasiak indignantly declare that ROTC, and the military in general, discriminate, but this obvious point is not disputed by Gregory Saybolt and Kevin Osborne ("ROTC students react," DP, 2/5/96), who really make no effort to defend the systemic bias. What is up for debate at Penn is therefore not the policy itself, but rather the most effective location for action against it. As Weeks notes, the military will follow orders: if ordered by the president or by legislation to cease legal discrimination against homosexuals, the military will do so. So far, this order has not been forthcoming from our elected officeholders. It is interesting that none of the anti-ROTC correspondence seems at all concerned with how to end our national policy of discrimination, but instead only with how we at Penn will resolve our local moral problem by pushing ROTC off campus -- out of sight and out of mind. The reason for this is, of course, that the expulsion of ROTC from Penn will do absolutely nothing for the larger agenda: the military and general public would hardly notice an action affecting only about 100 people. Even if all private universities barred ROTC, state schools could easily fill the gap, and at a cheaper price to the taxpayer. With ROTC off campus, all American citizens at Penn would still be complicit in the discrimination that the law of the land permits in our armed forces. The military is, after all, not some foreign group imported from an alternate reality but a reflection of both the good and bad traits of our society. Instead of focusing on the conveniently located ROTC units, which are unable in any case to alter the federal policy independently, we should use our vote and our voice with our representatives to push for a national change. George Podolin Political Science graduate student Nadel's perceptive analysis To the Editor: I just wanted to applaud the commentary Mike Nadel gave in the DP last week on Judith Rodin ("The greatest star of all," DP, 2/7/96). I always thought there was something wrong with her, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. She always struck me as being rather insubstantial. Nadel's column elegantly articulated everything that's wrong with our current president. Penn students aren't so stupid to think that pretty smiles and waves are going to cut it for being a good president. Only recently has Rodin been trying to make contact with students, but in my opinion her attempts were dismally unsuccessful. You can't get any solid answers from her. Quite the politician. Thank you so much for pointing out all the things you did. Everything's not as bright and sunny as Rodin would lead us to believe from her appearance. Keep up the critical eye and the good work. Gilbert Pajela Engineering '96 Crime reports still available To the editor: The story about changes to the police log book ("U. Police will not log crimes out of territory," DP, 2/9/96) contains an error that may mislead the University community about the availability of crime reports for areas outside the jurisdiction of Penn Police. Contrary to what the article states, crimes that occur outside Penn Police's patrol boundaries have not been printed in Almanac since May 1994. Anyone can find this out through a quick search of Almanac archives on the Penn home page. These reports can be found elsewhere on the World Wide Web, however. Philadelphia Police issues its own crime report that details all major crimes against persons that occur between the Schuylkill River and 49th Street, between Market Street and Woodland Avenue. This report had not been available to the Penn community for a year and a half until Penn Watch began publishing it on our home page last semester. To see the most current Penn and Philadelphia crime reports (and an archive of them from the beginning of last semester), point your Web browser to "http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~pwatch/". Our page also has a robbery report that breaks down robberies on a weekly basis, showing where and when they happen. These services are intended not to scare the Penn community, but rather to help everyone become more informed of what happens in it. Stephen Sanford Penn Watch Vice Chair for Information Management College '96 Chant was light-hearted To the Editor: I am responding to the letter "Unsportsmanlike conduct" (DP, 2/8/96), written by one Jeffrey Greenhouse. In his brilliant composition, Greenhouse whines about the crowd's "cheesesteak" chants during the Penn-Lehigh basketball game last Tuesday night. Hey Greenhouse, don't be a tool! My friends and I sit in the front row, and I can assure you that despite our jocular appeals for free Abner's steaks during a laugher of a game, we (as well as the rest of the crowd) are some of the most loyal and devoted fans the Palestra has ever seen. I resent your naive comments. I know your courseload in the Wharton School has been wearing you down over the last several years, but I think you should lighten up a bit. You should complain about the lack of fan turnout at recent games rather than criticize the real fans for what you believe to be unsupportive behavior. Mike Weinberg Engineering '96 Bias shows in cult article To the Editor: I was very disappointed with the article that appeared in your paper concerning the Greater Philadelphia Church of Christ ("Cult or Personality?," DP, 2/7/96). I have been a member of the GPCC for over two years. I am also a member of the Drexel student newspaper, The Triangle, and have been there for five years. I have learned through working with The Triangle what it takes to write good objective articles. What most concerned me was not that you published negative comments about my church, because I've gotten used to hearing comments taken out of context or from people who really don't know what they are talking about. But for the DP to publish an article written like this one was a mistake. It was very poorly written and one-sided. The writer had enough time to talk to former members and administrators, but only one member of the GPCC was quoted once and referred to one other time. Two members were interviewed for the story, yet only one was mentioned and very little of what he said appeared. Are you trying to create a controversy? Articles written about a "touchy" subject like this should be very fair if the DP is going to print them as news articles. Would you write an article on race relations at Penn and quote only whites on campus? In the future, I hope you would be more fair and actually do research for the articles you print instead of printing opinions of a select few who happen to yell loudest. Francis Wisniewski Drexel University senior