Avoiding the same mistakes

May I comment on your articles about the infamous "Water Buffalo" case?

As you show, this incident involved an ill-considered action against a then-Penn student, Eden Jacobowitz. As a result, the University received a great deal of negative national publicity, not all of it from conservative politicians. The so-called case against Jacobowitz came about because a minor Penn administrator, hearing that he had used the term "water buffalo" to describe a group of black women students, concluded that this was a racist remark. You can imagine the mental process of our administrator: water buffaloes are black, the complaining students were black, therefore Jacobowitz's remark was racist speech. Quod erat demonstrandum.

Beginning in the 1980s, as Penn steadily enlarged its middle-level administration, search committees for such appointments gradually came to consist solely of other administrators; we ceased to include faculty members on search committees for jobs whose incumbents would have substantial contact with students. Consequently, we often hired administrators whose educational qualifications were lower than what a major research university requires.

Thus, the administrators who had the power to judge Jacobowitz's remark were too uneducated, or too ignorant, to know that a water buffalo is not black! As everyone who has traveled to Asia and Africa knows, these gentle ungulates (Bubalus bubalis) are found in two colors: dark gray and light gray. Perhaps, to a casual glance, a gray water buffalo working a rice paddy and splattered with mud might, from a distance, look black, but no educated person could ever make such a mistake.

I cannot say whether now, 10 years later, our administration is smart enough to avoid such bizarre mistakes, but we have learned to manage our public relations better.

Paul Korshin
English professor

A sexist tradition

Every year during Hey Day, President Judith Rodin addresses the Junior Class on the steps of College Hall. Last year when I participated in this event, students, both male and female, chanted demeaning sexist language at her. I froze at the sight of my fellow peers pounding their fists in the air exclaiming these statements to a professional, highly respected woman who proudly represents Penn as the first female Ivy League president.

Later, when I inquired about this behavior to those students who had graduated before me, I was told it was a "tradition." First, we must recognize that Rodin did not inherit this tradition from her predecessor, Sheldon Hackney. In fact, I believe this was a tradition specifically made for her based on her position and her gender.

Second, not only is this an example of a sexist tradition that needs to be abolished immediately, but it is also an unacceptable form of behavior that should not be ignored by the Rodin administration and all current Penn students, faculty and staff.

In an effort to end this repetitive behavior, members of the administration and the student government were notified and encouraged to take a stance against sexism at Penn. Although people retain the right to speak freely, I hope that on April 25, the Junior Class will show Rodin the respect that she deserves. If its members don't, students have every right to feel outraged at their fellow classmates and should voice their concerns by contacting Penn's student government and the Rodin administration.

Lisa Pettinati
College '03

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