LETTERS: Tear down the high rises

To the Editor: H. Jordan Foster College '86, Wharton graduate program '91 Penn's promises To the Editor: I am writing with regard to the November 4 front-page piece entitled "U. urged to recruit more Asian Americans" and to point out that University administrators fall far short of what they promise. First of all, I would like to thank the DP as well as Penn President Judith Rodin and her staff for addressing the concerns of Asian Americans on Penn's campus. However, the administrators have this certain way of saying that things will get done when nothing ever happens. A very small amount of requests and needs of Penn Asian Americans are ever fulfilled. The administration thinks that they can throw our needs into a loop in hopes that we will give up and eventually forget everything. All I have to say is, "Hell no, we won't go." Another issue worthy of being addressed is the ratio of Asian American administrators to Asian American undergrads. In the Report of the President's Asian/Pacific American Student Affairs Committee, APASAC counted over 1,700 Asian Pacific American undergraduates, but only 15 APA administrators. And that's total. This falls far short of fulfilling the needs and concerns of Asian American undergrads. In your article , it is true that Rodin addressed each of the recommendations of APASAC in her response, but she did not propose any solutions. Yes, the issues are on the table, but the president has not offered any insight on how she plans to solve the problems. For example, point 6 of the president's response to APASAC addresses the recent lower admissions probabilities for Asian American applicants. Rodin "addresses" the concern by saying that, "The Office of Admissions will carefully monitor the rate at which Asian American students are admitted this year." Hmmm? it seems to me that nothing will be changed from last year's admission process. Andrew Chai Wharton '01