Singapore's standards
To the Editor: Many thanks for your good coverage of the Singapore prime minister's visit. I certainly hope connections with Penn will develop. But I would not describe Singapore as a "developing country." Standards of living there are at American levels, literacy rates are higher and infrastructure such as highways, airport and rapid transit are as good or better than anything we have. This will be a more equal exchange.Arthur Waldron History Professor
Long live performing arts
To the Editor: In response to Ms. Reilly's column (PAC up some groups' bags," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 9/19/00), the University of Pennsylvania has 10,000 undergraduate students. In such a large university, there will necessarily be many student organizations of all kinds, including performing arts groups. Ms. Reilly's call for "consolidation" and "quality" are little more than a demand that Penn exclude many interested and motivated students from organized participation in performing arts. Why should Penn take such a mean-spirited stance? As far as I know, Penn is not having any serious financial difficulties that require it to limit participation in performing arts. If there is a financial limitation, then Ms. Reilly should be lobbying the University to redirect a minuscule portion of Penn's construction budget to student activities. Also, the "artistic quality" of undergraduate performing arts groups is usually in the eye of the beholder, and if 50 students instead of 20 want to participate in "radio rock" a cappella groups, who is Ms. Reilly to tell them no based on some formalistic student government argument about "constitutions?" Long live the spirit of diversity in Penn performing arts groups!
Harry Sandick College '92
Athletes deserve respect
To the Editor: As a "recruited jock who got special treatment in the admissions process," co-captain of the women's volleyball team, vice president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and proud student athlete, I felt compelled to respond to Brian Cope's column ("Too costly at any price," DP, 9/18/00). I seek not to reprimand Mr. Cope, but only to raise a few questions regarding his contradictory statements, logical flaws and unnecessary bashing of hard-working student-athletes. Is it not an uncalled for slap in the face to varsity athletes to compare us to "trained seals from Barnum and Bailey's?" Is it not a sweeping generalization to label all athletes as "unqualified students?" Where else do you see so many Penn students wearing red and blue, cheering loudly and showing school spirit than in the Palestra for a sold-out basketball game? Penn has several academic and athletic All-Americans, Academic All-Ivy honorees, past and current Olympians and a national championship women's squash team to vouch for student-athlete's academic and athletic achievements. I would not dare ask Mr. Cope to praise Penn's student athletes for their efforts both in the classroom and on the field or in the gym, but merely to give us the tiniest amount of respect. We deserve respect for the years of hard work and dedication it took to be able to play a Division I sport, for being committed to our teams and willing to represent our school and for our own value of academics, for we chose to attend an Ivy League university and play for a non-scholarship institution.
Jodie Antypas College '02
No copywright theft allowed
To the Editor: Many thanks to Jed Gross and the Undergraduate Assembly for organizing the Napster forum Tuesday night. The discussion was wide-ranging and informative. Clearly Napster can be used in ways that infringe on copyright and in ways that do not. However, the use of Napster or similar tools to share full-length commercial recordings for personal use is almost certainly a violation of U.S. copyright law and University policy. Penn investigates complaints of copyright infringement and disciplines violations when we confirm them. This will remain our policy regardless of how Penn responds to the recent request to ban access to Napster. Respect for intellectual property rights is central to the mission of an academic institution.David Millar University Information Security Officer
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