LETTERS: On parental notification

To the Editor: Also, you avoid discussing the intention of the policy, which is to scare students away from drinking. Threatening to contact parents for violations is a method of coercion since many student are funded by their parents and most have a strong emotional connection. If a student under 21 is caught twice -- once with beer and once serving beer, for example -- he or she is, by policy, removed from his or her college house. At that point parents "may be contacted," regardless of whether the parents pay for the housing and regardless of whether parents are the root of the student's "problems" to begin with -- if any exist. If you consider how many students will change their drinking habits or will be afraid to drink, then it affects more than just a few, albeit indirectly. The crux of this issue is not the quantity of students affected, it is the violation underway of our rights and its attempt to scare Penn students through broad language. I find it unfortunate that such an irrelevant analysis, suitable for the administration's Almanac, made the front page of the DP. Yonaton Rosenzweig College '02 Walls for whom? To the Editor: It's nice that Binyamin Appelbaum ("Trial and error makes perfect," DP, 9/30/99) thinks that all it takes is a little architectural restructuring to tear down the "walls between community and campus." However, his rose-colored glasses kept him from taking in the new "walls" that Penn has put up under the guise of "revitalizing University City." Places like Sansom Common, Best of Billybob and other improvement projects serve as sobering reminders of Penn's refusal to acknowledge that addressing the needs of the West Philadelphia community extend beyond implementing new ways for Penn kids to spend daddy's money. Since college is supposed to be about living in a bubble, not only can students buy $60 sweaters without taking a single ride on SEPTA, they can do so without having to interact with "outsiders." But these days, Penn is keeping out more than just West Philadelphia residents. Even a PennCard can't do anything for the poor students -- yes, some of us do get financial aid -- who find it a crime to charge $5 for a cup of coffee. What Appelbaum terms "places for people to interact" are in fact manifestations of what I like to term a "fundamental truth of elitism:" If you build places that the people you want to keep out can't afford, who needs walls? Tamara Walker College '00