Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

As one of the many beneficiaries of the Milken Family Foundation's generosity, I am appalled at Alex Wong's personal assault on its founder, Michael Milken ("Not much to be thankful for," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/27/01).

Milken is currently engaged in a long battle with prostate cancer, and the engraving of the phrase "in honor of" on the Locust Walk stone is a testament to his and his family's ever-consciousness of his mortality. As such, Wong comes across as heartless to use this opportunity to attack Milken's character.

Nonetheless, Wong asserts that Milken does, in fact, lacks honor. Despite the fact that the Milken Family Foundation has endowed numerous charities and grade schools for their continued existence, Wong considers his financial "crimes" to be the sole determinant of his personal character. Wong bases this, no doubt, on the prosecution of Milken by a then-very ambitious young federal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani.

Never mind that among the other great criminals that Guiliani has pursued include hot dog vendors and taxi drivers without medallions. The fact remains that, as any lawyer will tell you, the prosecution rested its case on an unprecedented stretch of racketeering laws which Milken had no reason whatsoever to anticipate. Facing the prospect of 40 years in prison and a long court battle, Milken pleaded guilty and took two.

This man deserves to be remembered for his important contributions to society, rather than the crucifix that Giuliani put him on.

Yoni Rosenzweig

College '02



To the Editor:

I understand that most opinion columns are meant to be taken with a grain of salt. However, I find the tone of Alex Wong's opinion this week to be in particularly poor taste.

It's easy to criticize minutiae of the campus landscape and surrounding community -- admittedly a transgression of which few students are innocent. Publication of these trivial grievances in a public forum, however, is an embarrassment to the true intellectual activity that takes place at this university. It is a poor reflection of the academic rigor for which this institution stands.

Indeed, this holiday season, it would superficially seem there is not much to be thankful for, but I find that a negative attitude does little to remedy a situation such as the one we face. If there are disparities in this world, I feel that the infinitely greater current global issues dwarf those that he cites.

As students in an American school, it can be hard to understand that the majority of people in this world do not have the hope, let alone the opportunity to affect positive change through peaceful means. If anything, let's be thankless for this inequality that has undoubtedly contributed to the current state of the world and thankful for our ability to begin the process of reversal if we chose to do so.

Finally, I encourage Wong to rethink his role as a "designated complainer." I find it extremely unlikely that any successful opinion columnist would agree with the statement "each column is, at its core, a kind of complaint." I propose that the best opinion columns are those that inform, reflect, and then offer resolutions or alternative solutions, not those that simply complain.

Matthew Dilmaghani

First-year Wharton MBA

student

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