Letters to the Editor

A missed opportunity

To the Editor:

On Thursday, November 20, more than 100 students came together on campus to discuss ways that religion can promote world peace at the Inter-Religious Student Symposium. We heard excellent presentations from student speakers of six different faiths from six different campuses. Our guest speaker, Frank Kaufman, presented an amazing proposal on how religion can transform international political dynamics for the better.

Then an even more astounding thing happened: all the participants sat down and discussed various issues relating to interfaith cooperation, from the global to the local level. We are disappointed that the Daily Pennsylvanian did not cover this great event, even though it was notified multiple times about it. When all you see in the news today are reports about religion as a source of conflict and not of solutions, it would have been refreshing to see an article about how rational people can sit down and consider religion as a force for positive societal, as well as personal, change.

We hope the DP will take such issues into consideration when choosing whether or not to cover future interfaith events.

Rishi Bhutada Regional Coordinator Hindu Students Council Wharton '04 Naokimi Ushiroda President, CARP-Philadelphia Wharton '04

Muhammed Mekki President, Muslim Students Association College '05

The kids are all right

To the Editor:

Last Wednesday, November 19, I watched as one after another, Penn students brushed by a group of Shoemaker Middle School students. These kids were on campus trying to get Penn students to take a minute of our time to fill out a quick survey for them. Some of us were talking on our cell phones, others were in a rush to get to an all-important class and some just seemed a little bit intimidated by the 11- and 12-year-olds. Whatever the reasons, I saw too many of these young kids being ignored while filling out the survey.

These Shoemaker students came down to our campus from 53rd Street to do these surveys. All they wanted was two minutes of our time to answer a couple of questions. What were their questions about? College.

So I hope that we're pleased with ourselves and the insulated bubble that we've created and accepted here at Penn -- the same Penn where we talk about changing the world and about becoming tomorrow's leaders.

But whom are we going to change the world for? Whom are we going to lead? Only those who are members of our tightly knit and heavily guarded communities and cliques? Only those who look like us, talk like us and come from the same places as us?

Every one of us who came across one of these Shoemaker students had the chance to use our position of undeniable privilege to give a kid some advice and encouragement about going to college. Some of us took that opportunity, but too many of us completely ignored it, acting like it -- and the children that brought it -- did not even exist.

Paul Byrne College '04

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