LETTERS: Thursday, April 13, 2000

Not safe on campusNot safe on campusTo the Editor: Needless to say, class did not continue. We all waited outside the classroom, waiting for the police to arrive. But no one came. Ten minutes later, the girl that pulled the alarm went to the Spectaguards outside to see what was going on. They had no idea that this was taking place. A friend called the Penn Police to see why they had not come yet, and they responded that they weren't even aware of the alarm. I am angry, scared and outraged that this could have happened. We are supposed to feel safe on our campus and I feel very uneasy about the fact that these so-called "preventative measures" are superficial and would not aid a student in real danger. Do you recall the incident in Steinberg-Deitrich in November 1998? After I read about it in the DP, I was afraid to go to the bathroom in the building. This could have been the case in DRL and no one would have known about it until it was too late. We live in West Philadelphia. Everyone is aware of the dangers around us, but the University should be doing everything possible to ensure that we feel safe and focus on implementing effective safety measures rather than trying to appease parents who read "Penn ups security" in our newspaper. All of President Rodin's efforts to gain political recognition for her "concern with student life" will be lost when the next headline that we read in the DP is "Ineffective security results in campus death." Ilana Lam College '01