LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Take sensible safety precautions

To the Editor: On the evening of February 12, 1996, an employee of Grad Tower A was walking to her car parked in front of Wawa at 36th and Chestnut streets. As she reached the foot of the steps leading to Chestnut Street and neared the door of her car, a man recently seen loitering in front of Wawa rushed toward her, grabbed her purse and assaulted her. Thanks to the quick action of a medical student who happened to be on scene, the victim was rushed to the hospital and is in stable condition. How can Grad Towers residents help make their community and a trip to Wawa safer? Clearly, the police cannot do it alone. However, the more information they have about suspicious or threatening individuals, they easier their task is. If you notice any individual who potentially poses a threat to your safety, call the Penn police at 511 from any campus phone and they will be happy to assist you and deal with the individual. Never ignore your instincts -- no incident or fear will be ignored by the Penn police. It is extremely important not to encourage or financially support the vagrants and con men who prey on students outside of Wawa. There is a full service homeless shelter on 30th Street ready to help them. Why aren't they there? Because they make substantial sums of money begging from susceptible students who unwittingly support their drug or other dependency habits. By giving them money, you ease your conscience but increase the likelihood that these loiterers will stay around begging for more. These same loiterers have come into Wawa with a gun in the past; are these the kind of people you want to encourage to hang around your neighborhood? A group of concerned graduate students are compiling a petition to be presented to the administration requesting better lighting around Grad Towers, better police patrol of the area and a crackdown on the increase in the number of men seen loitering in the area. Please sign the petition. With your help, we can make the Grad Towers a safer place for everyone. Ina Warriner Demography Doctoral Student Grad B Resident Greg Anderson Asian Studies Graduate Student Grad A Resident 'Misrepresentation' of fact To the Editor: Once again in his column, Dave Crystal has demonstrated his use of misrepresentation and omission of fact and his biased portrayal of the Palestinian-Israeli question to paint a one-sided and inaccurate view of the situation in the Middle East ("'Palestinian' Heritage?," DP, 3/21/96). Crystal resorts to faulty logic and a blatant disregard for reason to justify his opinion, only calling into question his own "intellectual integrity." Crystal's first argument is that the Palestinians have no historical claim to land in the Middle East because there has never been an established Arab State of Palestine. While there may have been no formal Palestinian state recognized by the west, there was, nevertheless, a population living in the area prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The Palestinians did not simply show up, as Crystal would like us to believe. If Crystal seeks western affirmation of the situation, he need look no further than the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Its call for a Jewish homeland mandated against a process that would compromise the civil, religious, and human rights of "existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." Crystal wishes to ignore the Palestinian people's rights because they were not referred to as a "Palestinian nation" by The New York Times? What kind of perverted logic is that? Who is to say which people's claims to the land are more right? Not The New York Times, and certainly not Crystal. The fact is that the history of this land has been a rich tale of many cultures. Both Palestinians and Jews have historic claims to their ancestral homeland and ultimately, the goal is to share these claims in peace. It is sad, unfortunate, and simply wrong that Crystal seeks to compromise this goal. It seems that Crystal's own feelings of paranoia and fear are blurring his sight and hindering his ability to reason. Crystal asserts that Israel has already conceded two-thirds of the land she once controlled, for no apparent reason, in his eyes. Crystal ought take a closer look at the Oslo peace accords and their implementation before making such dramatically incorrect statements. Under the provisions of the Oslo II accords, Israel retains full territorial jurisdiction of those regions designated as Area C. Area C encompasses 66 percent of the West Bank. Palestinian "autonomy" is only fully effective in Area A, which accounts for a small seven percent. These are hardly the concessions that Crystal preaches. The question of what constitutes full Palestinian autonomy is an entirely separate issue that cannot be addressed here because of space limitations. Ultimately, there will be peace in the region and these issues will be resolved. But to attain that, those involved must be willing to put aside bias and keep to the principles of truth and justice. Crystal's opinions compromise these principles and it is fortunate for the rest of us that his say in the peace process is minimal. Kareem Zaghloul Medicine '99 No prior review policy To the Editor: I am disturbed by your March 21 editorial about the Publications Committee of the General Alumni Society ("Actions speak loudest," DP, 3/21/96). Let's get some facts straight again. The mission of the Pennsylvania Gazette has not been altered nor has the editorial integrity been challenged either before or since Tony Lyle's retirement. Prior review has no place in the production of this well-respected alumni magazine. Sam Maitin and some others choose to disbelieve these facts. It is a fact also that the discussion Maitin requested to have with President Rodin was not endorsed by the Publications Committee, and when it was pointed out that the committee does not support his views, in particular his idea to establish a new group beyond the Publications Committee and the General Alumni Society's Executive Committee to "share oversight" of the Gazette, he chose to resign. Furthermore, your editorial assumes the current members of the Publications Committee cannot effectively do their jobs in Maitin's absence. Give these alumni, many of whom are leading professionals in journalism and publishing, credit for staying on the Committee. Development and Alumni Relations and the University's General Alumni Society continue to provide alumni with services and programs our alumni request and enjoy. I believe the DP should respect our volunteer commitment and integrity rather than continue to negatively editorialize a non-issue. Elsie Sterling Howard College for Women '68 President, General Alumni Society Gender-based jokes unfair To the Editor: Having suffered through your annual gag issue (3/27/96), I was dismayed to learn that your writers suffer not only from a chronic inability to report facts correctly, but also from a crippling lack of humor. In particular, I was appalled at the frequent, misogynist references to University President Judith Rodin. A woman should not be coddled on account of her gender, but a woman also should not be subjected to humor that is based solely on her feminine characteristics. For example, the "column" from Rodin was vaguely humorous and not offensive, as it merely mocked Rodin as an administrator, and not as a female administrator. The first atrocity was a Crime Report stating that Rodin had attempted to sexually assault a man. If the genders were reversed, the gag would not have been printed -- yet is the one that ran any less offensive? Next, the DP reports a conversation between Rodin and a man who refers to her as "Babe." The reference was unnecessary to the attempted humor, so why include it? In another "article," Rodin was referred to as "one hot babe." Lastly, a picture of an attractive woman in a bathing suit was captioned "Mmm mmm Judy." The caption then insinuates that Rodin is scantily clad in an attempt to solicit funds for the University. Perhaps I am naive, but I thought that at a university like Penn, a woman might be regarded as possessing a few attributes other than her measurements. If the president were a man, he would not be reported for attempting to sexually assault a woman, he would not be referred to as a "stud" and he would not be depicted in a bathing suit slutting himself for donations. I certainly do not expect the DP to become a paragon of politically correct speech, but I do expect the DP to display a modicum of taste and common sense. Feel free to mock Rodin as often as you like -- just don't mock her for being a woman. Julie Johnson Law '98 'A major problem at the top' To the Editor: When a University vice president labels discovery of a gun and drugs in his environs merely an "unfortunate incident" in a Letter to the Editor ("Rodin responded correctly," DP, 3/26/96), I rest my case that we have a major problem at the top. This is not just unfortunate; it's downright scary. J. Spencer Martin Finance Graduate Student Clearing the record To the Editor: I am writing with regard to the article "Gays discuss 'coming out' to parents" (DP, 3/26/96). The information given about me in the article is incorrect. The quote of concern reads: "Second-year Veterinary student Liz Krug admitted to some confusion about whether her parents knew she was a lesbian." While I am a second-year Vet student, I am not a lesbian. I never said at any time during the P-FLAG discussion that I was a lesbian. I am a bisexual woman, and even stated that I was bisexual during the discussion, while the DP reporter was in the room. I am concerned about the automatic assumptions made by people that any woman who attends any queer-oriented function must be a lesbian. This is certainly not always true, as there are many bisexual women who attend queer events, and who have enjoyed the events of B-GLAD. In fact, one of the woman at the discussion identified herself as heterosexual. Would she have been listed as a lesbian if she had been quoted? Don't assume -- instead ask, listen and learn. Liz Krug Veterinary Medicine '98 Editor's Note: Although the information given above appeared in the Corrections and Clarifications box on page 2 of the DP, Krug asked that her letter be printed in its entirety.