To the Editor: The Office of Health Education has maintained an army of dedicated students who have worked diligently to attack important issues on Penn's campus, including risky sexual behavior, sexual assault, drug and alcohol abuse and body image issues. These student groups aren't anti-sex, anti-alcohol or anti-fun. Instead, these groups are composed of individuals who want to help their peers have fun while keeping safe and avoiding dangerous mistakes. Supporting the OHE groups is a prime example of an easy, relatively inexpensive way for the administration to keep our campus safe and healthy. As of right now, these groups are often short-changed when it comes to resources. Although years ago the OHE was in Houston Hall, its current location is in an inaccessible part of a tiny building, isolated from other student groups. The current inaccessibility of the office makes it a difficult and intimidating task for students to seek out important resources that the OHE can provide. Moving the office back to Houston Hall, the natural location for an office where student groups meet, would be a step in the right direction. Hopefully the administration will realize the value in assisting the OHE in its efforts and start by moving the office back to Houston Hall.
Daniel Gallancy College/Engineering '01
The writer is a member of Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health.
Not black or white
To the Editor: As Vinay Harpalani says, Maya Angelou would most certainly be a fine choice for Penn's Commencement speaker ("Angelou's ashes," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/3/00). In his column, Harpalani points out how he felt that Maya Angelou connected better with those in attendance at her Commencement address at Hampton University, a "historically black institution," than she did with those at the "predominantly white" University of Delaware. His explanation of how Angelou could establish more of a "sense of family" with the predominantly African-American crowd because of common experiences makes sense. However, Mr. Harpalani's assertion that "whites do not have to think about issues" such as ethnic selfhood and group identity, while African Americans do, is not correct. I can vouch for this as a first-generation Italian American. I have a strong sense of Italian cultural and group identity as well as the conviction that being of Italian origin does not conflict in any way with my being first and foremost an American. As Mr. Harpalani writes, it is important for African Americans to assert their identity, and he is right. However, this does not mean that the rest of white America should be generalized and that Mr. Harpalani could check my name off simply in the column marked "white." Just as African Americans should have the right to assert their identity, I believe that for me as an Italian-American it should be no different. Ethnic selfhood and pride and awareness in one's group identity do not always cross color lines. In fact, more often than not, it has been my experience that people can be of entirely different cultural backgrounds despite the fact that they may have the same skin color. Contrary to popular belief in this country, not everything is a "black and white" or "race" issue because not all people use color as one of the parameters to gauge their belonging in a certain group.Alessandro Rimoldi Engineering '02
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