Letters to the Editor

Editor's Note: This letter is in response to the "Love at DePauw" article in the Feb 12 issue.

Dating story lacked diversity



How is it that The DePauw continually fails to properly represent the DePauw student body? In the article "Love at DePauw" in last Friday's edition, four couples were highlighted as beacons of hope for finding love on a "singles' campus." Much to our disappointment, however, all of these couples were white heterosexuals. DePauw as an institution always insists on pointing out that diversity should be celebrated here. Reading this article, however, it seems that it is blatantly disregarded.

The DePauw has yet again failed to miss its mark of providing well-researched and well-rounded journalism. Rather than reporting on interracial couples, minority couples, or couples who are members of the GLBT community, The DePauw took the easy route. Instead of presenting an article that would have reflected the real diversity of relationships on this campus, The DePauw chose simply to stick with the status quo. Rather than discuss the hardships faced by these groups, The DePauw discussed the alleged hook-up culture of this campus.

It doesn't help that this is the issue all of the prospective students took home with them after the Preview Day this Saturday. We're sure that you represented the DePauw community well.



Laura Pearce & Adam Gilbert,

seniors



Student questions Safe Ride



On Friday night I was drinking; I have a ticket that says so. The real problem though, is the story behind the ticket.

I had heard talk that Public Safety had driven past a few times. With this in mind, when I decided to leave I took Safe Ride; a service offered for the purpose of getting people back to where they live without worry. What I wasn't expecting was that in the 27 steps it takes to get from the curb to my dorm, a public safety officer confronted me, and things went downhill from there. In short, he issued me a ticket for drinking, adding a new level of stress to my already hectic, unmanageable schedule of classes and activities and making it now mandatory to deal with the Putnam County legal system.

I was suspicious, of course, about the fact that I was targeted in the 20 seconds it takes to get inside from the street, and had been speculating that Public Safety followed Safe Ride, something that made sense given that they were in the area at the time; an act that to me would be detestable considering the nature of the program. Today, however, when I met with Community Standards, I was in absolute shock when I saw what was written. It went something like, "Dispatch reported that Safe Ride reported intoxicated individual en route to.". Safe Ride apparently can and will report you if you have been drinking. I cannot quote word-for-word what my report says, because when I asked for a copy to show my friends to warn them of the dangers, the woman replied that she actually would be telling Public Safety to NOT give me my report because "it would probably be better that way" and "Safe Ride IS allowed to report people, they just don't do it that often."

What if this was you? I implore you, do not take safe ride if you are worried about legal action being taken against you for drinking. I know that night was the last time I'll ever ride it.



Kyle Freed,

freshman