Letters to the editor

Apology owed To the Editor: I just wanted to congratulate President Gutmann on an interesting choice for a holiday picture pose ("Controversary erupts over student in terror garb," DP, 11/3/06). The body language certainly is telling; naivete meets duplicity (I'll let you determine which is which). Once again, academia demonstrates just how out of touch it is with the real world. For Gutmann to believe that such a pose is nothing more than fun, a moment in the spirit of the festivities goes beyond insensitive - it borders somewhere between cultural uncouthness and political correctness run amok. Had this costume been worn by a blond Anglo student, it would still have been insensitive, but slightly less politically charged. For Saadi to don such an outfit simply shows his willful disregard for victims at the hands of cold-blooded killers and a blatant disrespect for a conflict that is enveloping the world. I don't deny Saadi's right to be so unashamedly offensive. However, what I do object to is an (alleged) respected academic being such a puppet. If Gutmann doesn't believe this picture, and others from the party, won't make the cyber-rounds and have some effect on current ideological and political conflicts, then she is even further removed from a realistic understanding of current events. Gutmann, you owe a great many people a tremendous apology.

Peter Kent Washington, D.C.

Ways of Halloween To the Editor: One can wonder about the sensibility of a cultural tradition that involves dressing up one night a year as pirates, the walking dead, deformed creatures, mass murderers and otherwise ghoulish characters. One might indeed take some offense at particularly dreadful costumes, which in common practice draw topically from current events, mock the famous and infamous and are often designed to shock and horrify. But such are the ways of Halloween. Taking umbrage with a costume - or, for that matter, the whole tradition of Halloween - is of course anyone's right; but to parlay that umbrage into a campaign of outrage visited upon the president seems both unfair and unfortunate. At a time when faculty and administrators may rightly be charged with having grown too insulated and distant from their students, such outsize reactions only feed the impulse to withdraw, to take no chances. Thus, public life is drained of life itself. There are times we all feel we must walk on eggshells. But who would have thought a Halloween party would be such a time?

Vincent Price, Larry Gladney and Neville Strumpf The authors are professors in the Communication, Physics and Astronomy and Nursing departments, respectively What if it were KKK? To the Editor: How could you not act with revulsion at the sight of a student portraying a suicide murderer - yes, murderer? Such people are not fodder for jokes or fun but for derision, chastisement and punishment. As I have read mentioned elsewhere, you surely would not have laughed during a photo op with someone dressed as Adolf Hitler or a KKK member, yet you willingly pose, and let stay in your house, someone who thinks it is a joke, and fun, to murder civilians. Especially Jewish civilians, but hardly exclusively. Those who accept evil eventually reap revulsion from those who do not accept evil, and we are disgusted with you. That is what you have done. I save the best for last. My wife and I are both alumni of Penn. And we are not very happy with you. You have made us ashamed of Penn and unfortunately subjected our University to ridicule. That is surely not doing your job. Therefore, it is time for you to resign.

Philip and Esta Zwick The authors are both alumni, having graduated in 1967 and 1963, respectively Free speech To the Editor: We all cherish "free speech." When the Danish cartoons followed by massive demonstration, we all should have learn a lesson: Free speech carries the burden of responsibility and accountability. As much as one cannot offend the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims cannot and should not feel that they can dress as homicide bombers and support the death and destruction of innocent civilians. This is not free speech but incitement to proceed with criminal activity. Presidents, professors and teachers have the duty to convey the difference to students. If Muslims students demand we not insult their prophet despite the "free speech" right, they should apply the same standard to the way in which they behave and not abuse the privilege of free speech.

Isaac Barr Bloomfield, Mich.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.