Letters to the Editor

Our safety comes first

To the Editor:

Hospitals, government agencies, corporations -- these are all examples of large institutions that require their members to wear identification while on their property. These groups implemented this measure for safety reasons and it has worked without problems of convenience or rights. What's the problem at Penn?

I don't understand any complaints of inconvenience. We need our IDs to enter most University buildings anyway. If you can remember to stuff keys in a pocket or a few dollars for lunch, it's not a far leap to grab your ID as well.

As for displaying it, clipping it onto an article of clothing is only a small deal if we can put on watches, necklaces or other pieces of jewelry.

The issue of civil rights violation is a more serious one. But while our freedom is something we cherish in both America and within this academic institution, we are living in times when we need to look at our safety as a priority as well.

I'm a member of the Penn community and I have no problem wearing an ID that shows it. I think that Penn does a good job at making me feel safe on campus, and if wearing a card will help make this an even safer place for myself and my classmates, so be it.

While the energy shown by Penn students in this matter is laudable, I think it is misguided. We need to look carefully at this measure, which is meant to make our school a safer place, and not simply look at it as another thing to blindly protest.

Michael Cwiklinski

Dental Medicine '05

Careless commentary

To the Editor:

In her column on abortion ("A threat to our health," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 10/4/01), Rebecca Davidson conveniently divides the world into two camps: "Brother Steven disciples everywhere shiver at the mere mention of Planned Parenthood. The rest of us, however, shiver at the combative tactics pro-lifers use in an attempt to subjugate women..."

I would expect a higher level of discourse in a published essay on a senstive moral issue than this obvious over-simplification.

But particularly egregious -- and acutely disturbing -- is Davidson's attempt to smear all pro-life opponents of abortion by associating them with a religious figure who is dismissed by most on campus as a caricature of Christianity and a pernicious purveyor of bigotry. Davidson's tactic is an example of reverse-bigotry against Christians at Penn.

I "shiver" at such insensitivity, and "the rest of us" on campus might appreciate an apology from the over-exuberant columnist.

Fr. Alexander Webster

Eastern Orthodox Chaplain

False sense of security

To the Editor:

I have often read the Campus Crime Report with incredulity. Week after week, there are reports that a person left a valuable item such as a wallet, cell phone, or even a laptop "unsecured and unattended" for some period of time before it was stolen. The lack of common sense is simply appalling.

This is why I was stunned when reading the proposal to have "visible IDs" in academic buildings.

A quick search on the DP homepage revealed that, for the most part, thefts in academic buildings result from carelessness with valuable items. The only thing that the visible ID policy would accomplish is making people even more careless due to the erroneous assumption that they are somehow "safe" if everyone is affiliated with the University.

It is ludicrous to assume that, even with a voluntary visible ID policy, this type of crime will stop. We will simply be giving up privacy to provide others with a false sense of security.

Diana Dlugash

College '04

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