LETTERS: Toward safer cycling at Penn

To the Editor: Yes, bike lanes are needed, however, students must take personal responsibility by riding cautiously and considerately and protecting their heads! The majority of the ubiquitous bicyclists I pass on the Penn campus race around without headgear. I am a daily biker and though I may look like a dork in my shiny black helmet, I'll sacrifice my hairdo to safety any day. My most heartfelt sympathy goes out to the families of Michael and Benjamin. The only good that can come of their deaths is increased awareness by us all. Erin Reilly College '01 " To the Editor: Except for a six-year hiatus for graduate school, I have been at Penn in one capacity or another since 1974. For 25 years the traffic patterns around Penn have been dangerous for pedestrians, dangerous for motorists and dangerous for bicyclists, and for 25 years Penn has been "working on it." It is time to stop the stalling and fix the problem and, while I am all for bicycle lanes, they only one part of the solution. There are two other items that the University should insist that the city install in order to safeguard the Penn community: · Dedicated Walk and Don't Walk signs should be on every busy street corner. The most dangerous corners are the ones along Walnut from 33rd through 38th, and where Spruce intersects with 33rd, 34th, and 38th. There should also be a dedicated Walk sign and a full traffic light on 34th Street between Spruce and Walnut, where there is now a crosswalk and a flashing yellow light. By dedicated Walk and Don't Walk signs, I mean that when the Walk signs are lit, no traffic is allowed to move at all. None. No turning, no parallel travel. I think it is a disgrace that, despite 25 years of "working on it," we still don't have Walk and Don't Walk signs on our streets. · Put in turn arrows at select corners. Why is there no left turn arrow traveling south on 38th Street at Spruce? I have seen cars inching out again and again through groups of pedestrians, trying to beat the line of traffic that makes it impossible to take a left turn during rush hour (and most of the rest of the day as well). The same on 36th and Walnut, where cars trying to take a right onto Walnut must compete with pedestrians crossing to get to the bookstore. There should be a right turn arrow for cars traveling south on 36th, accompanied by a Don't Walk sign for pedestrians, followed by a dedicated Walk sign for people crossing to the bookstore. I cannot comprehend why these corners have not been made safer despite decades of problems. I applaud the University's crackdown on speeders on Walnut Street. The way people race down that stretch we might as well have grandstands and pit crews. If ticketing doesn't work, then put in speed bumps and lights every half block. I am sorry if that ties up city traffic, but it is about time that the city and the University show that they are serious about this issue. Paul Root Wolpe Sociology Professor Protect financial aid To the Editor: If Mark Fiore had conducted more thorough research, I think he would have been pleasantly surprised to see that some of his suggestions are already implemented ("Financial aid grants redistribute wealth unfairly," DP, 10/20/99). I have in front of me this year's financial aid notice for a friend who was kind enough to allow its consideration. Of the $35,230 in educational expenses for this year, less than half of the aid package comes from a Penn grant. Over $6,000 comes from alumni donors, leaving the rest of the bill to be paid through $7,000 in loans, $3,000 in work-study and a $6,000 family contribution. The need-based grant is an essential component of the package, but the numbers breakdown reveals the demand on all students to pay within their means and requires that they enhance their contribution with loans. The process for securing this aid is extremely arduous. Students and parents must submit tax forms, information on bank accounts, retirement accounts and mortgage values, along with a number of other very personal questions before the value of the award is determined. Granted there are certainly some who fraudulently represent themselves but this should not determine the demise of the system any more than income tax fraud suggests the abolition of the income tax. Overall the process is very thorough and precise, and contrary to Mark's suggestion, requires students to commit a minimum of $1,600, to be exact, of their summer earnings to the next year's tuition. Jeremie Dufault College '00 " To the Editor: I would usually deem it inappropriate to respond to a column such as Mark Fiore's. Many columns like this one are written for shock value with the intention of upsetting readers so that they write back resulting in unnecessary attention to the columnist. Yet Fiore's words hurt and offended many people, including myself, sending a message of "Since you can't afford it, you don't belong here." What would happen if this university did stop giving grants to students that can not pay the full tuition? Well, many students that deserve to be here would not be. Our admissions office does not consider one's economic situation when deciding to admit students and they should not. There are students here that got better grades, better SAT scores, were involved with more activities than many of the students whose "parents worked harder and saved money." What do you say to the student who is qualified for Penn who was raised by a single parent that has two jobs -- clearly not lazy as you would believe our "lower class" to be. Let us also say that very same student is more qualified for Penn than a person who pays full tuition yet won't add as much to the Penn community or even to the world after graduation. How can you justify bringing the latter person first just because she or he can pay full tuition? When talking about this issue, it is important to examine what makes one choose our peer institutions over Penn. Other Ivy League schools and "Ivy types" can offer more grant money and a more attractive package to prospective students with a much smaller portion of the package being loans. It is for that reason our university is currently working very hard to increase our endowment so that we can offer more grant money. One of the major stumbling blocks we face in this challenge is the limited vision of many people that would rather their alumni donations or the "operating budget" go to bringing "better facilities" rather then enriching our student body. It is that kind of attitude of "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" which could lead to the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots -- economically as well as educationally. If this university were as Mark Fiore would have it, many doctors, businessmen and women, teachers and lawyers would not be here just because their parents can not afford the full tuition prices. Perhaps one should examine the real reasons why the parents can't afford Penn. Is it because they are "lazy" as the article would you to believe? Or is it because many of their parents were denied the educational opportunities that other's parents weren't for whatever reason be it racism, classism, sexism or other forms of discrimination. Lastly, I think that it is truly sad that this column had to come out the day before we celebrated the work of Trustee Roy Vagelos. I thank God for people like him that have enough vision to realize that, as Vagelos said, "We have to give back." "Since we have been helped out and since somewhere along the line someone made a sacrifice for us, we now have a welcomed burden to help others out." Chaz Howard College '00 Chairperson, United Minorities Council " To the Editor: As a student on aid, I know that I'll be over $20,000 in debt when Penn hands me my diploma, and if it weren't for grants, I would be in worse trouble. But just because Penn grants me money does not mean I spend my time "swimming at the beach" and indulging in my "free" money. There are strings attached to these grants. Not material strings, but ethical ones. Maybe those do not count in Mark Fiore's world, but they count in mine. It is a privilege to receive a Penn education and if you are helped along with grants, you do not forget them -- you are grateful. Furthermore, the suggestion of donor-based scholarships is peachy, except that it is easier said than done. Penn has one of the lowest alumni giving rates of all the Ivies. Working for the Penn Fund, I know the University makes a strong effort raising money daily. However, convincing alumni to give pledges towards unrestricted funds is quite a task. Fiore himself gave an example of how difficult raising donor-based scholarships could be. Three million dollars helped create only 12 scholarships. How many million dollar donations would be necessary for hundreds of these? You do the math. Rania Margonis College '01