LETTERS: A teaching assistant's true task

To the Editor: The task of TA is to help students understand what professors teach in courses. We do not have authority to overwrite what the professors do. Also, TA service tends to target at helping students with difficulties in courses. So we have to ask those who understand very well to be patient with our review sessions or recitations. Also, your two articles should have pointed out that complaints usually come from individual students and those who are not statisfied with their TAs tend to be more ready to complain than those who are statisfied. Zack Zheng Economics Graduate Student Parting thoughts To the Editor: How many of us walked past Kathy Change and looked away, frightened that simply looking at her might inflict us with trauma, pain, embarrassment? Her favorite spots were the corner of 34th and Walnut streets, and in front of the button by Van Pelt Library. Perhaps she thought these were the most frequented locations on campus, that more people passed these places than any others. She was probably correct. She was a regular part of life at Penn. Even freshmen who just arrived this year had most likely already adjusted to her presence. It gave some stability to your day -- knowing that no matter what else happened, something would always be the same. She would be the same. Only now she is gone. And we have to wonder if our lives will be at all affected, even in the slightest bit. If there won't be a void left by her horrific death. What possessed her to do it, to set herself aflame in the middle of Locust Walk? Was it a need to be heard, a last attempt to get her point across, to make her statement? If we had listened to her in the first place, would she have done the same? I must have walked past her 1,000 times since arriving at Penn three years ago, and did I once sit and hear what she had to say? Did anybody? Did we all just write her off as a loony who belonged in some bin with the other nuts? Was there anything we could have done about it? Probably not. What a terrible picture of us, of the Penn community, it paints -- that it took her death for us to take her seriously. But the next time somebody has something to say, no matter how radical or crazy it may seem, I will be more willing to listen. Aimee A.C. James College '97 u To the Editor: I would like to publicly thank Kathy Change for her tremendous dedication to rousing the consciences of Penn students. Even those who disagree with her political beliefs ought to be impressed with her courage and devotion. On countless occasions, Change made herself vulnerable to the taunts and mockery of the closed-minded, because she felt a responsibility to speak out against the oppression and prejudice she perceived. Through her belief in the possibility of a just society, through her vision of a universally loving planet, through her passion for communicating these ideals to others in ways that were bound to leave a lasting impression, she has earned my eternal gratitude and admiration. Daniel Pitt Stoller College '99