Letters to the Editor

Point of clarification To the editor: I want to respond to just one piece of Conor Daly's op-ed article (" Dean Beeman's exercise in futility," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 1/17/03) denouncing my "crusade" against "customer service" at the University. I am one of the thousands of Penn community members who enjoy the amenities that the University provides; we are a much better place because of those amenities. It is also the case, however, that I sometimes worry when our desire to please our "customers" gets in the way of our academic mission. The pressing issue that prompted me to write a letter to the Almanac was that we find ourselves in a situation where our students have real difficulties registering for many of the courses they wish to take. Because of the extreme compression in our course scheduling system -- with the overwhelming percentage of courses being offered during "prime time" on Mondays through Thursdays, our students face scheduling conflicts that are very difficult to resolve. Quite literally, the only way to improve the ability of our students to take the courses they need and want is to spread the scheduling of courses more widely across the time blocks. And that does mean scheduling classes on Fridays and at 9 a.m. I would suggest that our concern in the College with the issue of course scheduling is every bit as relevant to "customer service" as is the building of cinemas. Richard Beeman History professor The writer is the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Indebted students To the editor: In response to Conor Daly's column which appeared on Jan. 17, I suspect that if those who control the purse at the University were truly interested in reducing the "customer service attitude" prevalent at Penn, they would gain some support among students for changes to this effect if they would stop making the students feel like customers. A Penn education is surely a valuable thing, but even for students who benefit from financial aid, I know from experience that there arises an unfortunate feeling of being milked for every available dime and reduced from the status of pauper to that of extreme debtor by the conclusion of one's undergraduate education. Services provided to students at Penn are extensive, but such services seem warranted by the enormous price tag attached to them. Any reduction in services should be accompanied by a reduction in tuition or increase in financial aid. Chris Bordelon College '02

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