LETTERS: Tearing down the goal posts

To the Editor: I was a Penn undergrad in 1993-94 when the goal posts came down. Even after all these years, I still think of the two seasons with fondness and talk about it with enthusiasm. On the other hand, I can also understand the administration's position in the matter of tearing down the goal posts. Here are the reasons why rushing the field and tearing down the goal posts (in the event that we clinch this weekend) will be a good thing: · It will be great for the school spirit. The graduating class this year has not seen Penn win a football title. Rushing the field brings a feeling of community, and tearing down the goal post brings a common aim. It's a bonding experience. · It will boost attendance, if not for this weekend, for the next season. It must have been rough for the football team to play in a virtually empty stadium, even at home. · It will leave lasting memories. And that is what being in a community, and going to college, is about. After four to five years, I still remember the exhilaration of rushing the field, mingling with the players and yelling at the top of my lungs what a perfect day it was, delirious with pride. That's what you want every student to leave Penn with: Penn Pride. On the other hand, here are the reasons why rushing the field and tearing down the goal posts will be a bad thing: · It is dangerous for the students who climb the goal posts. If they fall and break their back or neck, it will be a liability for the University and an obviously useless end to an illustrious student. · It is dangerous for the students who rush the field. There is a 5 foot drop from the stands to the field. And if the students are not careful, they might fall and get trampled by waves of other students. · It is expensive for the University. I believe goal posts fetch between $6,000 and $7,500. · It is dangerous to the public. "Aim for the river, not the expressway!" is a legitimate warning. Had the goal posts been thrown over onto the expressway, or the railroad tracks for that matter, it could have caused fatal accidents. Having said all this, I do have a suggestion on how both the administration and the students can resolve this issue with a win-win solution. · Let the students rush the field. · Don't let them climb up the goal posts, but have someone else, a responsible party, say Physical Plant, bring down the posts. · Distribute the broken goal post to the students. · Instead of letting the students loose into Spruce Street on their own have Spectaguard escort them to the river (not the expressway). · Make this a Student Activities Council-funded activity so that the University doesn't have to pay for it. We can even make this a more formal thing, like cutting down the nets for basketball games. Get the players and coaches involved. Present the trophy publicly. Give speeches. The key is to let this be a guided activity and it wouldn't be senseless destruction. Sung Youn Sonya Gwak College '97 GSE '99 u To the Editor: After reading Brian Hindo's commentary about the goal posts, I just want to say a wholehearted, "They're coming down, baby!" As a fifth-year senior, I am one of those few people who saw the goal posts come down in '94. I shall never forget that day. As a member of the band I was supposed to excite the crowd and try to generate some excitement and pride, but the crowd sure taught me a lesson that day. That wide-eyed freshman will never forget that day as one of the greatest experiences of his college career. Penn is a unique place with so many traditions and so much school spirit -- more than I've seen at any other Ivy League school. This is what makes us different from Harvard, Yale and the others. We love our school with a passion. This is what makes prospective students take a second look; this is what makes them turn down Harvard for Penn. It's rather unfortunate that the University Police choose not to help us continue such a wonderful tradition. I'm very positive that Police Chief Maureen Rush will even write her own response to Hindo's commentary, with some blatherskite about safety. If the police and the University were truly committed to the students, then they would help us to continue our wonderful tradition in a safe manner. With the full cooperation and help of the police there would be no safety issue and no incidents. For the life of me, I cannot see why the University shall not come through for the students to preserve our traditions, not to mention our pride. Last year the band was told not to play "Drink a Highball" at Convocation because of the alcohol reference. Last year Penn President Judith Rodin threatened to cancel Hey Day when the seniors wanted to walk on the age-old Hey Day route instead of the one the University had diverted them to due to "safe concerns" arising from the Penn Relays. To me this is absurd. If the University continues to treat us this way, who will want to contribute their time and money. There are ways to keep a healthy, happy and vehemently proud student life on this campus -- if only the University would choose something other than the easy way out. Penn may be rising in the rankings, but it will always be a "half-ass" University so long as the administration is not truly committed to the students. I think I shall send my children to Harvard; at least there they have respect for their students. Michael Ernst College '99 Forum is a priority To the Editor: As a member of the planning committee for the new humanities forum, I must take exception to several points raised in your editorial last Friday ("Forum is not a Penn priority," DP, 11/9/98). First is the claim that, "Many professors simply don't have the extra time to engage in the activities required under the humanities forum." Faculty members' time is scarce, but none of the activities sponsored by the humanities forum will be "required." The expectation is that faculty and students will take part voluntarily because they will find participation in the forum an enriching experience. Furthermore, it is not the case that forum activities will require us to forego other activities in order to make room in our busy schedules. Rather, we anticipate that interested faculty will, as they plan the syllabi for upcoming semesters, find ways of shaping new courses and reshaping existing ones in order to address the main themes of the forum each year. Departments and programs will, we hope, include within their existing lecture series a few speakers who will address these themes, as well. In short, it is misleading to characterize forum activities as an added burden to overcrowded schedules; much can and will be achieved simply by coordinating the wealth of activities in which Penn humanists already participate each year. The editorial also opines that, "With multiple departments suffering from a lack of funds and therefore unable to fill faculty slots, officials should be dedicating their money and fundraising energy in other directions." It is true that virtually every department in the School of Arts and Sciences needs more resources. It is also true that donors who have no interest in putting money into individual departments may be eager to fund an enterprise that will benefit the humanities as a whole. Thus the humanities forum would not have to rob Peter to pay Paul. Indeed, it is reasonable to hope that the forum, by calling attention to the remarkable quality and range of humanistic research and teaching at Penn, will actually help individual departments and programs to continue to recruit first-rate faculty and to secure the funds they need to support their work. The forum has already enhanced the University's development efforts, and it will continue to do so in the future. Joseph Farrell Classical Studies Professor Don't forget teachers To the Editor: I am a student in the College of Arts and Sciences who is not interested in consulting, law school, medical school or marketing. Instead, I want to become something that is apparently an endangered species these days: I want to become a teacher. With this goal in mind, I attended the Ninth Annual College Career Fair last Wednesday night expecting to find someone -- anyone -- from the education field with advice on how to become an educator and on what kind of options are available in the field. I was disappointed, however, to find that not even Penn's own Graduate School of Education was represented. At a time when this country is desperately short of qualified teachers and administrators at all levels of school, the College's failure to include an education representative at the fair sends a disheartening message. Indeed, considering the lack of good educators nowadays, the University should encourage interest in the field. Unfortunately, the lone information session on Teach For America (an organization that sends college graduates to teach in inner-city and rural schools) that was held last Thursday night just doesn't cut it. Hopefully, the College and other schools within Penn will include educators at future career fairs and actively promote the field. David Glasner College '00