LETTERS: Integration requires information

To the Editor: As a freshman, I'm definitely interested in attending as many different types of parties as I can fit into one weekend. At the beginning of the year, I became close friends with a girl who had participated in the African-American Studies Department's summer program. Through her, I gained entry into parties and events that were mostly comprised of black students, and I had a great time. At first I felt a little bit weird walking into a party and being one of the few white faces. But everyone was pretty welcoming and accepting. I began to feel that I was more concerned about the issue than they were. One week, however, I went to a poetry reading where the audience was mostly black. I was cruelly singled out by the Master of Ceremonies in a joke that basically pointed me out as the random white girl in the front row. What-the-hell-is-she-doing-here type laughter followed. Now I don't think that this particular person is in any way indicative of the whole of Penn's black community, just as I don't think Wilson should assume that the entire white community doesn't want to attend his parties. I can't ever recall seeing a flyer for an AKA or Groove Phi Groove party passed out down the halls of the Quad. The only way I ever gained knowledge about black fraternity and sorority parties was by being friends with someone that lived in DuBois and having a sort of "guest" status. I completely agree that there should be more white faces at black parties, but how can we go if we don't know when they are? The people that live a sequestered life in Alpha Epsilon Pi or in DuBois won't know what they're missing until someone really makes an effort to draw them out. I agree that people should be able to socialize with people that are the similar to them, and that DuBois is not so different from all these segregated fraternities. But it's also not a whole lot better, either. It's a different and complicated situation with a different and complicated history, but Mr. Wilson, I'll try if you will. Alicia Blum-Ross College '01 Why we aren't 'wired' To the Editor: Jeffrey Snyder's column "What it takes to be 'wired'" (DP, 4/13/98) makes numerous excellent suggestions. It's unfortunate that we weren't listed in the Yahoo survey this year -- for no better reason than that they sent the survey to the wrong place, promised to send more information, didn't, and by the time we realized what was going on, it was too late to submit. If it's any consolation, we were ranked 27th last year, which seemed fair when you consider how many schools ahead of us were much smaller and could do more focused projects covering 100 percent of their institutions. Many of the things Snyder wants us to do we are doing, but we could do more of them and do them better. The challenge at Penn is that there's no central academic authority to mandate things: everything happens through the schools, with resulting unevenness. The Provost's Classroom Committee has done wonders in the last few years upgrading our classrooms and adding technology on a limited budget, and continues to do more. I think we do lead the nation in the way we are doing things with technology in the residential college houses, and we'll get increasing recognition for that in the coming years. GreekNet is not on the back burner, but is just difficult: compared to ResNet, it's retail rather than wholesale, with every house different, requiring different design, etc. But when the money is there, we're delighted to provide the service, and we continue to work on it aggressively. In short, I entirely agree that we're not there yet; but we're moving forward aggressively. Nothing delights me so much as to see students and faculty as enthusiastic as Snyder for moving us in the same direction. Jim O'Donnell Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing Selecting house deans To the Editor: I write in reply to the recent article, "Residents, staff rush to defend Quad ADR." (DP, 4/13/98). First, a word about the house dean selection process. The advertisement of 12 newly-created house dean positions attracted a very large number of very strong applicants from Penn as well as from across the country. The House Dean Search Committee, led by Professor David Pope and composed of student, faculty and staff members, forwarded an exceptional group of finalists to the houses for their individual review. The committee gave special consideration to applicants who currently hold similar positions at Penn, being extremely careful to treat all candidates the same. In such a highly competitive process, some fine applicants are sure to be disappointed, but I am confident that people with such talents will ultimately prosper. It is appropriate to note here that, in addition to the 12 new positions for house deans, the college houses also require several new faculty masters, both for the new houses and for some of the older ones where the present master is retiring. Searches have been launched (and in some cases concluded) for these positions. Moreover, several existing masters are up for reappointment. The regular, careful review of requests for reappointment is now being conducted and will conclude shortly. The reviews include input from students, faculty members and staff in the college houses where the masters have served. The work that we are doing now insures that Community House, and the 11 other college houses, will all be in good hands next year. In each of them, superior faculty and staff will live and work with Penn's extraordinary undergraduates, supporting them as they define themselves and the college house communities in which they live. David Brownlee Professor of the History of Art Director of College House Implementation Bright lights, busted plans To the Editor: I find it ironic that the University is celebrating its new lighting on College Green ("Locust Walk to get new, brighter lights," DP, 4/13/98). To me, my fraternity chapter and the InterFraternity Council, these lights represent more the administration's abysmal failure. Our house, Alpha Chi Rho, located on 36th Street across from Hillel, has for years been promised Ethernet, Penntrex and Cable TV connections as part of the problem-rich GreekNet initiative. At our own expense we have internally wired the chapter house and are ready to be connected; we need only a wire run from College Hall to our house. A high ranking OFSA administrator, at a meeting with myself, our house trustees and our national president, promised that AXP would be wired by the start of the fall semester 1998. Many chapters already have GreekNet, but OFSA has been telling us for months that it is too expensive to dig up the Green and parts of the Walk to make the connection. Anyone on College Green in the past two weeks could see that this is not the case. Well, the Green is brighter, and we still do not have GreekNet. We applaud University administrators for trying to make the campus safer, but their lack of communication has led to another broken promise. Their failure to plan has not only undermined our confidence in the University, but also will cost us thousands of dollars to repeat similar construction. This lack of communication and gross incompetence is inexcusable. Consequently, OFSA has failed AXP; the VPUL has failed AXP; the administration has failed AXP. But did we really expect anything else? Wayne Levy President, Alpha Chi Rho College '99