LETTERS: The absurdity of dress codes

To the Editor: Apparently, the University gym system has forbidden "inappropriate" clothing: we cannot exercise in clothing not designed for exercise. Now, I'm sure that internally fuzzy cotton shorts that have been smoothed on the outside to accommodate the Penn logo are fine. But there's a puzzle about the black Adidas track pants one wears with a Wonderbra and a white camisole. Somebody I know in Manhattan, somebody who actually wears the very best quality running shoes to go shopping, told me that these pants were not designed for athletic use. The Gap has expanded to serve me, so I knew they'd have a labeled clue about what to wear. But no poster! Now I feel totally hopeless, because neither Steve nor Douglas sells athletic shorts, and Auntie Anne's are too hard to put on. Nothing remains but the Bookstore, and the shimmery perforated shorts they sell there require a certain faux-exhausted limp from their wearer that, as a graduate student pushing 30, I cannot pull off. Yet it's urgent that I get the right costume. Because I want to, because it's a really good idea. The University made us a wonderful gift of improved gym facilities. This was nice because the students who pay many tens of thousands of dollars a year to be here should have modern squat racks, so as to look good in appropriate clothing. We all enjoy paying out of pocket for this gift, because we're all grateful. Just so, we must embrace the responsibility that comes with the door price: namely, the outfit. You can't have just any riffraff coming into your club. Why then, you'd have foreign students doing situps in 60-40 blend chinos, which would make me sick. Alexander Williams Doctoral Student Linguistics Department Distinguished? To the Editor: While I am very happy for Connaissance and congratulate them on securing a high profile speaker, I must say that I am amazed to hear the word "distinguished" connected to the name Benjamin Netanyahu on your front page ("Former Israeli PM Netanyahu to speak at Penn," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 9/13/99). You write that among Netanyahu's major achievements was signing the Wye River Peace accords, which "helped jump-start the lagging peace process," without mentioning that it was his reneging on these accords which brought down his government and left Israel's relations with the United States and its allies in Europe in shambles. In three years in office, this man almost single-handedly destroyed the goodwill that his predecessors worked to secure for decades. Netanyahu is certainly a good person to talk about "factors that will affect world stability" after bringing Israel to the brink of war, returning it to the status of international pariah and destabilizing Israeli society and its relations with its friends overseas. He got what he deserved in May's elections. David Nemir Marketing Coordinator The Wharton School