LETTERS: Criticism is part of the game

To the Editor: Few fans have any doubt that Lyren is a hard worker and a tenacious competitor; and indeed he has handled his diminishing playing time like the true team player that he is. However, if at times he has struggled on the court during the season, a writer has every right to mention this fact in a commentary article. I realize that this is not the NBA and we should not be bashing our collegiate athletes, for they have enough to worry about as they attempt the nearly impossible task of juggling a full course load with their athletic schedules. However, part of being and growing as an athlete is learning how to handle and respond to criticism. In addition, there is more to covering sports than just reporting the final score and how many points each player had. Without commentary articles like Cohen's, the backpage of our newspaper will begin to resemble a high school newspaper's sports section, where nothing bad can be said about anyone. I hope that it doesn't come to that. In-depth commentary and analysis (which sometimes includes criticism) is a vital ingredient to good sports coverage. Douglas Silversten College '00 Lyren has stepped up To the Editor: I knew I was in for a long basketball season with the DP sports section when in the Basketball Preview, one of your esteemed writers commented on the college game's use of quarters to measure time. The omission of early season box scores coupled with the routine grammar "fouls" and misleading captions (which the entire DP is infamous for) only served to lower my expectations for this season's coverage of basketball to the levels I witnessed as an undergrad. But Miles Cohen's vicious attack on Captain Jamie Lyren, ("Lyren simply failed to setup up," DP, 2/18/97) is out-of-bounds and beyond the scope normally reserved for even this sensationalist paper. It must be a rush to think one has the power to be a king-maker from a typewriter in attempting to shape the chemistry of this young Quaker team, which, though inconsistent, has much promise. Lyren has struggled, yet carries himself well to uphold the role of captain that many of the school's greatest players have previously defined. Lyren is a visible member of the student body and a fine representative of the school and the team. I am curious to know if Cohen sent a copy of his declaration to Lyren's parents. Lyren might be playing his last Quaker home game on March 1, perhaps Cohen could give them a copy then since they frequently attend games. I am also curious to know if Cohen sent his own parents a copy. I wonder if they are as proud of him as the Lyren's parents are of Jaime. An old phrase says that those that can do, and those that cannot criticize in editorials. Cohen should concentrate on game analysis and let coach Fran Dunphy handle the coaching. Tim Jannetta Executive Board Member of Men's Basketball Club College '90 Wharton graduate student Unfair ROTC policies To the Editor: While Andrew Exum's ("ROTC is improving its diversity," DP, 2/19/97) is disturbed by remarks by Lesbian Gay Bisexual Center director Bob Schoenberg, I find Exum's remarks even more disturbing. Exum dodges the core contradiction between ROTC policies on people who are identified or perceived to be gay/lesbian/bisexual and the University's alleged commitment to prevent discrimination on such grounds. The shame should fall both on the University for failing to uphold its own policies in the face of recommendations by faculty to do so, and also on people like Exum for supporting the continued presence of programs that systematically enforce discrimination. So until the military "evolves" to handle gays and lesbians, the Penn Community needs to look critically at the presence of organizations such as ROTC that impose systematized discrimination on gays and lesbians. Further, we should be thankful for the continued voice from individuals such as Schoenberg, who are striving to keep this issue on the forefront of our consciousness despite the best efforts of Chodorow and Rodin to relegate gays and lesbians to the back of the bus in the name of the almighty dollar. Erik Oliver Law School '98 Penn's bureaucracy To the Editor: I can't hold my tongue any longer. Compared to my two other Ivy alma maters, and the two community colleges where I've taken courses, Penn's bureacracy is the absolute worst. At Cornell, for example, every univrstiy-related financial transaction over $2 could be billed directly to my bursar account, no questions asked. When I was at Columbia and some guy off the street stole my last $70, the university gave me a $100 emergency loan the next day. Pay us back when you can afford it, I was told. When I took a statistics class at Community Collge of Philadelphia in preparation for entering Penn, they did all the paperwork in about ten minutes. Then I got here. No, I couldn't charge my parking fee to my student account; I had to come up with several hundred dollars on the spot, and no, credit cards were not an option. Yes, Penn likes to bill me for full tuition even though I have always been a part-time student; yes, I spend an awful lot of time saying, I'm part-time and could someone please adjust the bill. To the credit of Student Financial Services, I have always found the staff pleasant, fast and competent, both in person and over the phone. But that doesn't change the fact that they operate within an unnecssarily rigid and inefficient system. Amy Wang City Planning graduate student