LETTERS: 'No crisis' in dorm staff search

To the Editor: First, there is no crisis. Less than a month after applications were invited, we have already recruited half of the pool needed to fill the positions not occupied by renewing staff. And on the evening before the DP printed its editorial, some 40 more potential applicants flocked to an informational meeting in Nichols House. Second, the existing recruitment plan is specifically designed to deal with the fact that it will take longer than the month of January to fill this large number of new positions with graduate students, many of whom are not yet sure of their own study and research plans and who do not know what other funding they will have next year. Further recruitment efforts, specifically for graduate students, are now underway, and the college houses are fully committed, as they have always been, to continuing the process until the job is done. We know that the college houses' supportive environment and their nearly $700,000 of funding for graduate students is a winning combination. David Brownlee Chairperson, Residential Communities Working Group The reality of drinking To the Editor: No one has ever claimed that the DP attracts the hippest and coolest of students. We all know that these labels are highly subjective. However, the recent articles on student drinking display the true ignorance of such social gems as Karen Pasternack and Daniel Fienberg. Pasternack wrote a wonderfully insightful piece on the value of moderate drinking, clearly not understanding the deep psychological reasons for someone abusing their body ("In support of moderation," DP, 1/15/98). Habitual binge drinkers will not suddenly shift into a casual drinking stage because of University policies. Incoming freshmen already possessing the germ will not be affected by such policies. These policies only deter the socially malleable and the policy-conscious -- perhaps Pasternack herself -- not the true drinkers. For her glowing example of moderate drinking nirvana, Pasternack highlights Haverford, a small college attracting a very specific crowd of smart, nature-loving people, different from the frat boy, Smoke's scene Penn is famous for. To think that the same policy could apply to both schools is ludicrous. This week we find another knowledgeable entry from our young sprite Fienberg, commenting on his mind expansion in London ("Chugging away responsibility," DP, 2/5/98). He tells us that the freshman drinking five or six nights a week "Is like nothing you've ever seen." No, Danny boy, it's like nothing you've ever seen. Perhaps if you had lived in the Quad and received a more mainstream Penn acculturation, you might have more knowledge about college behavior. Is there really some valuable insight to be gained from a 20-year-old shaking the scales off of his eyes when most of us are already laughing at his social irrelevance? I am not making fun of the views of Pasternack or Fienberg. I am merely asking why they are writing on subjects which they clearly know nothing about and have only the most trivial comments to make? Rahsaan Maxwell College '98 Pereira pieces refreshing To the Editor: I was pleased to read Michael Pereira's most recent column "Ensuring Survival for Judaism" (DP, 2/3/98). It is an extremely well-written and thorough discussion of several important issues concerning present-day American Judaism. And it was refreshing to find a column of this caliber in the DP. Rachel Ehrlich College '98 u To the Editor: I am studying abroad at the London School of Economics, and my roommate here is a Penn student who regularly receives the DP through his friends still on campus. I read it avidly for two reasons: because it is readily available and because of the Opinion section's Michael Pereira. I strongly believe that Pereira's column is continually the best college writing I have ever seen. That is why I am writing to denounce your depiction of him in the DP awards article ("DP inaugurates new editors with dinner; late-night revelry," DP, 2/2/98). Pereira's breadth of knowledge is extensive, from religion to music, and it is refreshing that his is not only a cursory understanding. He opines with much detail and certitude, although at times I do not agree with his positions. I ask the DP to support, not admonish, one of its most talented writers. Ali Vahabzadeh Vanderbilt University '99