Letters to the Editor

Penn benefits community

To the Editor:

Max Fraser is right ("Penn is bad for West Philly," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 9/17/04). Anything and everything that Penn does is motivated by racial hatred. Penn may clean up streets, Penn may make it safe to walk home alone at night, but so long as any low-income and/or minority-owned institution is adversely affected by the tide of Progress, then all of our gains, all the good we've done is all for naught.

Imagine, if you will, that Penn had not actively gone out and tried to lead an urban renewal in West Philadelphia. Sure, the Thriftway might still be in business, but I doubt that any Penn student would care, given that he would need to traverse 40th Street to know said Thriftway even existed.

Yes, Penn has ruffled a few feathers. But if it weren't for Penn's determination to make its surroundings a generally better place to live and work, complaints would be more about public safety than bruised egos and higher grocery prices.

And America, too, has done a world of good. I'm going to skip the enumeration of reasons for why America = Good, but I'll finish off on this note. If it were Iraq that had all the money and democracy, and we the repressive regimes and plentiful petroleum, would we not too be biting the hand that feeds us, ever-resentful of the "monied nations" supposedly taking advantage of our resources, the laws of supply and demand notwithstanding?

Roman Geykhman

SEAS '07 Wounded are barely visible

To the Editor:

Media coverage of the war-wounded is nearly invisible. Ms. Lussenhop's column ("Questioning whether Bush does enough for our veterans," DP, 9/17/04) on Bush and veterans hits the mark profoundly -- a heartbreakingly well-written statement whose like should be in every paper, every day, until all guns have ceased to be fired. The sorrow of that statement is the reality that life for those who survive war are the bravest of heroes, yet too often the most forgotten.

Jennifer Conway

College '77

The writer is the associate director of the Penn Humanities Forum. Few students want union

To the Editor:

The National Labor Relations Board decision ("NLRB rules against grad unionization at Penn," DP, 9/02/04) will have little impact on the vast majority of graduate students at Penn, as only a vocal scattering are interested in unionizing. An understanding of the graduate school application process will explain why this is so. When applicants apply to a graduate school, their completed application conveys the following: I understand what will be required of me if accepted, I want to be admitted and participate fully in your program, I have worked hard on the application and paid the application fees -- please accept me into your program. It is true that universities expect their graduate students to teach, though as most are preparing to become teachers, this makes sense. Penn is providing us with a free education, while it pays our expenses and health insurance. To view the University as anything other than a benefactor is to misunderstand the relationship we chose to enter.

Andrew Geier

GAS '12

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