Letters to the Editor

No justice

To the Editor:

I am extremely disturbed and disappointed in the University's decision to drop charges against the student who posted intimate photographs of another Penn student. Why have a disciplinary code if it is not enforced?

This "student photographer" is probably laughing about what he got away with, and the female student has now been victimized twice -- once by having nude photos of herself published, and for a second time by the University's decision not to punish the individual who victimized her in the first place.

As an alumna I am disappointed with the low standards of integrity that Penn currently upholds. I am ashamed that the administration did not have the courage to do the right thing and punish the student who not only broke the rules on using the University's Web server, but moreover didn't behave as an upstanding Penn student should.

I'd also like to tell Penn not to expect one cent of donation from me until they reconsider their decision and do what they know is right.

Tara Robinson

College '00

Free speech

To the Editor:

I write to clarify two statements attributed to me in Wednesday's article "Free speech at center of nude-photo controversy."

First, the article has me saying that a private university has great legal ability to limit rights but will not generally choose to wield it. If only this were true! What I said was that universities do not want to be seen to abandon their commitments to academic and fundamental freedoms because it would destroy their credibility as educational institutions. All too many of them do abandon these commitments when they think they can do it in secret.

Second, my statement that "a university ... can greatly restrict free-speech rights ... as long as it does not hold itself out as a place where freedom of expression and academic freedom are valued" applies only to private universities. FIRE often points out that students at a prestigious school like Penn should not have fewer rights than students at a public community college. Penn's policies strongly protect free speech; it should live up to them.

Robert Shibley

Program Manager, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

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