LETTERS: Name and face recognition

To the Editor: Instead, I took her to be a student I met the previous day, and so responded, "Dude! Man! What's up? So, like, how's it going?" She stared at me with a perplexed expression, and I realized my mistake. I wanted to crawl under the table when she clarified that she was the instructor and that she knew my name on account of a listing of all her students with their pictures. Despite being disturbed over my first experience with the new photo ID system, I think that the innovative class list will be beneficial. When one of my instructors knows my name on the first day, it makes the University seem more personal and less bureaucratic. The only real problem that I see with the system is the initial lack of informing students that their pictures are available to the faculty. Lorie Chapman College '02 u To the Editor, It's shallow for the University administration to think that teachers will develop relationships with their students because of class lists with PennCard photos. Placement of photos on PennCards is a necessary security precaution. Dispersing PennCard photos to professors violates a student's right to privacy and threatens the personal safety the photos are suppose to protect. Students objecting to the photo dispersal program are correct by being skeptical. If students want to develop relationships with their teachers they will talk to them, research for them or visit office hours. Programs such as the class lists need to be stopped before administrators go too far. Thomas Kozlik Fels Center of Government Not at that level To the Editor: In your story "Top Penn officers see big salary increases" (9/18/98), you quoted me as saying that I didn't believe my salary was "that high." In fact, what I said to the reporter (who caught me in the hallway outside of my office and did not appear to have a pen or piece of paper with him) was that I didn't think my salary increase was at the percentage level that he mentioned. That said, I invited him to call me after he confirmed his figures; this call never arrived. To clarify: I am well compensated by Penn and very grateful for it. John Fry Executive Vice President Cleaning University City To the Editor: Joseph Rosenzweig's complaint about the University City District's litter disposal routine ("Letters to the Editor," 9/15) begs two questions: (1) Where does he think litter in those blue bags at the corners came from, and (2) does he have a better solution? In fact all of the trash in the blue bags is litter removed from sidewalks along the 160 blocks that the UCD cleans on a regular basis. Each day, a UCD vehicle travels throughout the district to retrieve the blue bags and take them to our dumpster. Last month alone, our employees removed 3,154 bags of litter from the streets of our neighborhood. We think that a few blue bags on the corner for a few hours is a small and unavoidable price to pay for a significantly cleaner neighborhood. If Rosenzweig has in mind another, more efficient way to remove the blue bags, we would like to hear from him. Paul Steinke UCD Executive Director Best site for a library To the Editor: I am writing in response to some of facts and figures in the September 4 issue of the DP regarding University ties to the community. The Free Library administrators looked at both the old Acme supermarket and the former chapel at 42nd and Spruce streets in fall 1997 and rejected them as possible temporary sites for the library. According to library sources, it is not wise to locate a public library too close to any one school. Turf wars among students are then possible. The Free Library's engineering study estimated the costs of renovation at $3.8 million (not $6 million as stated in the article). In spring 1998, the Friends of Walnut West Library with help from the University City Historical Society commissioned another study that would reduce the costs of renovation by almost $1 million. As close to $1 million of the original figure was in fees and contingencies, actual repairs would then be $1.8 million -- very similar to what the Free Library spent on the Carnegie Library at Sixth and Lehigh streets. The FWWL, UCHS and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia presented this second report to library administrators in late July. That report is under review, but the administrators continue to make clear their intentions to abandon the building. Renovation of the old building would provide over 8000 square feet. of library space and a similar amount of community room -- something the University City neighborhood needs. We continue to work to save the building. Petitions are being circulated in the neighborhood. Letters of support sent either to FWWL or UCHS will be forwarded as a demonstration of broad community interest. On the main street of a Victorian neighborhood, our library has an historical and aesthetic presence that would not be replicated in a new building, especially one on any other site. Beth Ann Johnson FWWL President