LETTERS: Wednesday, April 26, 2000

To the Editor: While the prize may be "obscure," Dr. Burr is not. He is arguably the single largest donor to the Penn Library in its history. During the '20s and '30s he is said to have donated more than 30,000 volumes, including an extensive collection on Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition. That collection, in turn, has become the collection of record on Aristotle in North America. Anyone who has visited the sixth floor of the Van Pelt Library in the past six years or so will have seen Burr's portrait in the north corridor. Given Dr. Burr's important role in building the library's collections and the library's own ongoing relationships with collectors of every stripe, it is surely odd that the Library has no involvement with the Burr Prize. I suppose the article's choice of words is in fact accurate: obscure. And that is too bad. Michael Ryan The writer is the director of rare books and manuscripts in Van Pelt Library. To the Editor: Shame on Andrew Exum for his slanderous column ("And the losers are?," DP, 4/24/00)! I am amazed at his audacity as he names an award for "extraordinary jackasses" after College graduate Sarah Gleit. As if the whole theme of his article weren't offensive enough, he commences his unjust criticisms with an unjustifiably rude attack toward a fellow Penn Quaker who worked tirelessly to serve her class. I argue his tasteless remarks not as a friend and admirer of Ms. Gleit, although I am proud to be both, but as a dedicated reader of the editorial page of the DP. I question Exum's poor decision to end his reign as a regular columnist on such a low note. Dara Lovitz College '00