LETTERS: Meet Wharton's reasonable needs

To the Editor: It is hard to exaggerate the importance of the small academic bookstore to a university; it provides ambiance, a convenient meeting place and most importantly a place for the serious general reader (and we are all serious general readers, are we not?) to keep up with doings in the larger intellectual world. An official, chain-operated "University Bookstore," its fine collection of tumblers and sweatshirts notwithstanding, is no substitute. Consider the efforts of Columbia University to attract such a bookstore. After failing to lure the managers of Chicago's Seminary Co-op to New York, Columbia offered a sweetheart lease to an entrepreneur amenable to opening one near campus. Columbia correctly saw the matter as a long-term investment in the university's own desirability as a place to live, work and study. I agree that Penn should do everything in its power to accommodate Wharton's reasonable needs. For better or worse, financial considerations are part of creating academic excellence, and Penn would be derelict if it did not recognize this. Still, there is a difference between an intellectually vibrant university and one that is merely well-endowed. The administration should recognize this as well. Michael Friedman SAS graduate student