Letters to the Editor

In defense of Penn Transit

To the Editor:

I'd love it too if Penn Transit ran to the places many students want to go in Center City (editorial, July 17), since it would mean that I could probably use it rather than SEPTA for my journey to work every day. But that's not Penn Transit's job.

Like other specialized services -- the PHLASH tourist loop and the LUCY University City circulator are two -- Penn Transit exists to provide an extra level of convenience in a strictly defined area. It would be both impractical and too costly for Penn to duplicate the metropolitan transit services SEPTA provides us all.

All of us who served on the advisory group that recommended the changes being made to Penn Transit this fall were aware of the need to balance convenience and cost of service. We also know that the service's sole mission is to serve the campus and its surrounding neighborhood. SEPTA stands ready to connect us with the rest of the city and its environs, and I encourage everyone to take advantage of it when out for a night on the town.

Sandy Smith Penn Current, Managing Editor

*

Precollege incognito

To the Editor:

Personally, it pleases me greatly to find out that Alex Koppelman's grand master plan went rather quickly to hell, but not for the reasons mentioned in his column (Street, July 17). I am also a precollege kiddie. However, unlike my cliquey residential "compatriots," I do not spend my days camped out in the Quad gossiping and pretending that sexual activities do not go on. I belong to that bastard group of precollege children, unloved more so than the science or art children: the commuter.

Don't think of this as my tale of woe for being a commuter. It is by far the opposite. I embrace my commuterdom and the fact that I have no curfew placed upon me by the University. Not only that, nobody seems to notice when we gather together. Unlike the Quad dwellers, we don't adorn ourselves with dorm keys around our necks on the chunky "PENN" lanyard given to all, now a symbol of the cult of the residential dorks.

Unlike the residentials, we are actually mistaken for genuine Penn students, not by confused parents searching for College Hall, but by our fellow classmates and professors. And most importantly, we still have parents at home willing to sign release forms.

Although Mr. Koppelman's plan was well-intentioned, I'm glad it backfired. Commuters everywhere are regaling in the fact that the stereotypes set forth by our inhibited brethren will not be perpetuated. God bless child pornography laws.

Kyle Long Precollege student

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