Letters to the Editor

An open campaign

To the Editor:

The Daily Pennsylvanian article on Peter Conn's e-mail to graduate students -- urging them not to join GET-UP's efforts at unionization -- mischaracterized our response. We do not intend to use the media as the forum for a detailed discussion of his generally weak arguments against a union.

Graduate students are in any case smart enough to see through them for themselves. But my statement to the DP made clear that we will address any specific concerns in our ongoing face-to-face contacts with our colleagues, as well as via our Web site, www.getuponline.org.

We are an open and democratic campaign run by and for Penn graduate employees, one built on trust and interpersonal relationships, not on impersonal mass mailings and polemic.

The latter approach risks provoking an unfortunate polarization of the campus, the last thing we want. We hope the administration shares our perspective on that, at least.

Ed Webb

Political science Ph.D. student

The writer is a member of Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania.



To the Editor:

Due to my funding status, I am not eligible to join GET-UP, but was nonetheless troubled by the Peter Conn's thoughts on unionization. I appreciate his encouragement of an open discussion of these issues on campus, but was dismayed by the manner in which he attempted to build his case against unionization.

Conn cites an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education which indicates that "graduate student stipends are higher at those universities whose students are not represented by unions." Indeed, this is true according to the article, but as we all should know, correlation does not imply causation.

Whereas Conn infers from these statistics that unionization detriments student finances, I would argue that, on the contrary, it is precisely as a result of poor compensatory packages that students are driven to unionize.

Gretchen Livingston

Sociology graduate student

Our country needs us

To the Editor:

Due to the recent tragedies, the need for fresh and bright talent in government and international relief cannot be understated. But according to a recent Newsweek article by Dan Sullivan, a Harvard graduate who joined the Marines, Ivy Leaguers tend to look down upon these noble callings. The need for more talent in these fields, though, is pressing.

For example, U.S. intelligence agencies need analysts to review the intelligence they have already collected. In other areas of government, the National Institutes of Health needs researchers to help learn about bioterrorism. The Treasury needs experts to help keep the economy strong. And the military needs people to coordinate plans in a way that minimizes the effects of war on Afgahn civilians.

International relief also needs support. Through charitable acts and economic policy, it challenges the terrorists' ability to indoctrinate people in their ideology.

We must do all we can to ensure Penn talent works towards the defeat of terrorism. I hope that every student seriously considers applying for government and relief positions that will maximize our ability to defeat terrorism.

Mahendra Prasad

College '03

Complimenting courage

To the Editor:

I would like to applaud Ariel Horn for her courage to contest not only the newspaper she writes for, but also her fellow columnists ("Just a columnist, but still beholden to the facts," DP, 10/17/01). I personally believe it takes a lot of courage and dedication to the field to be able to stand up like that.

If only more journalists and columnists had the same courage and integrity to write things like that, then maybe news reporting as a whole would stop being so sensationalized.

Chris Gaus

College '03

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