LETTERS: Respect the Hill House listserv

To the Editor: The day before the article appeared, I received a call from the DP about my involvement. I would not comment on anything regarding the incident except to confirm that I had accompanied the student to HUP. But I did answer any other questions posed to me. During that call, I was never asked for permission to use my listserv post for the DP's use. The listserv is not a newsgroup; it was meant to be read and written to by subscribers. Jim O'Donnell, Hill's faculty master, and I, his assistant in Hill, created it to foster a Hill community environment, and I ensure only Hill residents subscribe to it. Using the e-mail, which was not addressed to the DP, without my consent, was wrong. That I refused to comment on the incident should have indicated I did not want my testimony reported in public. I was quoted as writing, "This certainly is a problem in Hill?," which is absolutely true, but it is a problem all across campus. I specified Hill because it was on the Hill listserv. We're very fortunate, as you pointed out, that we have wonderful graduate fellows to help in such cases, and the fact Hill has so many people to help indicates the wonderful relationships we have here. I strongly feel it was wrong for the DP to use my e-mail. I don't mind that the DP read it and obtained my name from it. I mind that the DP directly quoted it without my consent when the letter never was addressed to the DP. I treat e-mail like mail -- my comments are meant for the recipients of that letter. I respect other people's privacy, and I wish the DP would respect Hill's also. Philip Yoon Hill House Manager College '00 Don't litter in class To the Editor: We were thrilled to see Leigh Bauer's column ("Don't leave litter on College Green," DP, 9/24/97) urging us all to keep the center of campus free of trash. Surely the same logic applies to the University's classrooms. If at the end of a class, you leave your copies of this very newspaper and an empty coffee cup or soda can in the room, there is a very good chance the next group coming into that classroom will do the same to their successors. In the past six years, the Provost's Classroom Facilities Review Committee has renovated many of Penn's classrooms -- installing state-of-the-art teaching technology, new lighting, carpets, chairs and tables. But even a newly renovated classroom can be trashed. No effort at cleaning the classrooms at the end of the day can prevent the messes we all see by noon and through the afternoon. It's disheartening to those trying to teach and learn in these spaces. We urge you to keep our classrooms as clean as College Green. Al Filreis English Professor Chair, Provost's Facilities Review Committee John Smolen Executive Director, Office of Student Information and Systems A $3 million security commitment To the Editor: I would like to reiterate in the clearest terms possible that the University has made a firm commitment to invest, at a minimum, $3 million over the next several years to install a state-of-the-art electronic security system on campus. This was the commitment we made last year when we announced our partnership agreement with Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, and it remains so today. We are moving forward aggressively with this project with the goal of bringing the best security technology available today to Penn's campus. John Fry Executive Vice President