Letters to the Editor

Difficult choices To the editor: With opponents like Ken Lo ("Students unfazed by union debate," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 1/24/03), unionization will surely be never short of advocates. Although Mr. Lo claims to "feel solidarity within my school and in my department," that apparently does not extend to those of his colleagues who have made and continue to make the tough choices necessary to combine graduate school with parenthood. He calls into question the intelligence, or at the very least the test-taking ability, of the hundreds of Penn graduate and professional students, in his own school and others, who do not let their responsibilities as parents prevent them from pursuing their vocations as scholars and educators. His remark would be offensive at any time, and parents from a range of departments have told us they find them so. But they are particularly offensive in a week when we remember the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrate the diversity of our community. Are we to declare higher education off- limits to older students seeking advanced degrees after substantial work experience for whom family remains a priority? Or would Mr. Lo rather we be forced to choose altogether between raising a family and pursuing an academic career, a step backwards to the monastic origins of the university? It is tough to combine family life and grad school. None of the many smart people we know who have made that choice would deny that it is so. But it is not self-evidently an unintelligent choice, and this community should support and encourage those who have made it, rather than resort to puerile sneering. Jennifer Horner Ph.D. candidate, ASC Ed Webb Ph.D. candidate, SAS The writers are the co-coordinators of Graduate Parents at Penn. • To the editor: Get Ken Lo out of my bedroom! While his crass comments about the GRE scores of grad students who have children may have made for good copy (indeed, the quote of the day), I wonder what gives him the right to pronounce judgment on the reproductive decisions, much less the intelligence, of his peers. Undoubtedly, Mr. Lo gave full consideration to the host of factors influencing the timing of undertaking a graduate degree or a family, but here are a couple of points for him to ponder. Mr. Lo or I can wait until we're tenured or emeritus (blech!) to start making babies. Some women cannot. Also, in trying to balance their aspirations for an academic career and a family, some women may determine that it makes more sense to have children while writing their dissertations rather than as junior faculty members struggling to get tenure. But then again, perhaps we should follow Mr. Lo's lead. Let's check those GRE scores and sterilize anyone below a certain level. Damn, I knew that weak quantitative section would come back to haunt me! Ian Petrie SAS '04 In defense of Carlos To the editor: I would like to respond to Professor Leigh Bauer and others who criticized Carlos Gomez. Whenever Carlos pushes our consciousness, the rhetoric that surfaces in the Penn community is "this isn't the time or the place." This is precisely the speech that allows us to ignore issues that affect our world. Shame on a legal studies professor trying to dissuade students from questioning right and wrong when it's what he earns a paycheck to do. Bauer's judgments about Carlos' choice of venue are foolish when the event marked the life of a man whose most fiery messages were delivered in churches. I understand people present at the event -- even myself -- expected folks to come together and sing "Kumbaya," but that is not the path to progress. Bauer and many others would chastise Carlos for ruining the spirit of the "commemorative" for Dr. King and label him as merely an inflammatory figure. I beg to differ and say that Carlos is a provocative individual; if people cared to analyze his poem past the comment he directed at Dr. Rodin, they would realize that the litany of issues he addressed are the concerns of many. Anyone who believes that Carlos trying to call us to action is merely a "crass" display is a hypocrite who forgets that the majority of the Penn community chose to spend Monday morning sleeping in and the rest of the day enjoying their "extended weekend." Obinna Obilo Wharton '04

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