Letters to the Editor

Unfortunate Hey Day T-shirt

To the Editor:

Hey Day: A day when all juniors unite to celebrate our passage into our senior year. It is a time to celebrate tradition and class spirit, and perhaps even alcohol. We march around the campus, clad in our crimson T-shirts, proud to be a party of this great Ivy League institution. Who would have imagined that this year, we may in fact be alienating many of our fellow classmates with the very symbol of our unity -- namely, the red T-shirt?

Each year, the back of this T-shirt is emblazoned with some sexual cartoon, but this year, the innuendo is simply not funny. The depiction of Ben Franklin and this woman in the hay goes beyond the jokes of the past and displays a message that is blatantly misogynistic. Why is it so easy for us to laugh at an image that may be hurting a large portion of our junior class? Many of us have paid our $25 for what we thought was a T-shirt, hat and cane, but are we truly "buying" into what society has deemed a somewhat acceptable form of discrimination? So juniors, before you put on those red T-shirts this Friday, I ask you to think about the discrimination that you are promoting disguised as class spirit.

Nicole Riley

College '05

To the Editor:

Shame on Penn for cutting resources to Counseling and Psychological Services ("CAPS faces higher demands, falling budgets," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 04/21/04) in an age where the importance of therapy is understood and lacks much of the stigma that the need for help once entailed. With a student body of over 10,000 and with over 10 percent of people experiencing some form of mental affliction in their lifetime, that puts the strain on CAPS at well over 1,000 students on 13 seemingly overworked staff. Coupled with Penn's stressful environment and the suicide rate of young adults, the need for a healthy and happy student body should far outweigh any financial constraints that the University feels are more important in its budgeting.

The very fact that the CAPS supervisors are recognizing a dramatic increase in the severity of problems within the student body should speak for itself. Seeking help should not be a stressful ordeal for any student, lest he or she becomes turned off to the idea of therapy and continues to suffer without getting the help he or she needs. The University should make the funding available now before a real tragedy occurs.

Jamie York

College '06

A hollow mantra

To the Editor:

Apparently, Michelle Dubert has a problem with celebrities using their star status to speak out for causes ("Celebrities and politics not a good mixture," DP, 04/19/04). Dubert criticizes Hollywood's left-leaning gems for deviating from their usual "day jobs" by speaking out against the Iraqi War and the Bush administration, and goes further by suggesting that celebrities are less qualified to speak out on such issues due to their being "profoundly out of touch with mainstream Americans."

Newsflash: "Mainstream American" status is not an exclusive qualification for political dissent. Nor is being politically aware, unfortunately. But if speaking out against the U.S. government's reckless international decisions and unconstitutional domestic conduct of law isn't something with "valuable impact," then we might as well give up now and let Rome march on until she burns.

It may feel satisfying to say to your opponents, "Shut up," but in the end, you'll only end up alienating others and making yourself look like the fool. "Shut up" is the hollow mantra of Bill O'Reilly and countless other individuals, all suffering a severe case of narrow-mindedness and confirmation bias. Don't let it become yours.

Stephen Schultz

SAS '05

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