Letters to the Editor

Too much credit for Rodin

To the Editor:

I read the article ("Rodin made crime, safety a top focus," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 9/8/03) about the Rodin administration's contribution to the reduction of crime. Some experts in the story expressed the opinion that in general, crime rates declined during the period in question. So at least some of the reduction in crime is attributable to that general trend and has nothing to do with Rodin's administration.

There are two points, then, that should have been mentioned: 1) The general trend in falling national crime rate started before her administration, and 2) A much better comparison would be with big school campuses that are located inside big cities such as Columbia and the University of Chicago (comparisons should not be made with colleges in university cities like Penn State or the University of Illinois at Urbana).

Tapen Sinha Wharton lecturer

Conviction in the Senate

To the Editor:

Despite what Eliot Sherman believes ("Falling victim to misguided advisers," DP, 9/9/03) there are people in the Senate with "deep-seated convictions" that they've "held forever." We call them Re-pub-li-cans.

Yes, conservative Republicans. It's the people on the left that keep pointing out how terrible it is that the ones on the right actually believe in something, like traditional family values. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) was lambasted for his stance on gay marriage.

Oh, and let's not forget all of those judicial nominees that the Democrats don't seem to want to let through to the bench. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) even promised on the Senate floor that he'd filibuster any nominee that the Republicans put up that happens to hold conservative values. Judicial nominee Miguel Estrada was kept out of office repeatedly for his religious beliefs. And the list goes on.

The Democrats decided years ago that people with beliefs have no place in public office, so we're stuck with people like Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who I don't think believes the sky is blue, and Mayor John Street, whose plan for growth in Philadelphia we're still waiting for from the last election.

If you want people with beliefs, try switching parties next time around, Eliot. I'm sure that you will find it refreshing.

John Backes College '06

Point of clarification

To the Editor:

We are delighted that the DP covered our Liberal Arts Job Search Workshop on Tuesday ("Job rates down for recent graduates," DP, 9/10/03). As the job search dawns on seniors, I want to clarify the statement in yesterday's article that seniors "not even begin sending out resum‚s until the spring semester and to use the fall only for preparation." Please keep in mind that this statement applies only to a select group of non-corporate positions. A vast number of jobs do indeed require resum‚ submission this fall. We encourage you to meet with a counselor in Career Services if you have any questions at all, or want to touch base to fine-tune your own job search.

Ruth Shoemaker Career counselor

Office of Career Services

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