Letters To the Editor

Suggestions for Greener Columbia, Restrictions on Buses and Leaf Blowers

To the Editor:

It is gratifying to see Columbia participate in the effort to have New York go green (“University Takes Part in Citywide Effort to Go Green,” Oct. 22). I would like to suggest a few additional, very simple ways to go even greener: 1) Have Columbia put up “No Idling under Penalty of NYC Law” signs on Broadway and Amsterdam in the vicinity of the University to stop the myriad of buses connected with Columbia activities from polluting the air by not shutting off their engines as required and 2) get rid of all leaf blowers on campus that do nothing but pollute the air with exhaust gases and incredible noise levels, and are very damaging to the ears of the staff that is using them. Where is our health and safety department? Indeed, the leaf blower must be one of the worst inventions to have made it into the world economy.

Robert J. von Gutfeld, Ph.D.
GSAS ’57
October 23, 2008

Clarification of Limitations of Gender-Neutral Housing Policy at Dartmouth College

To the Editor:

This letter is to clarify a point about the residential housing policy at Dartmouth College stated in your editorial titled “Policy of Neutrality,” which was published on Oct. 22.
The statement in question is as follows: “In the past few years, a number of Columbia’s peer institutions—including the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Brown, Stanford, and the California Institute of Technology—have given students the option of living in mixed-gender rooms.”

That sentence leaves a misleading impression of Dartmouth College’s gender-neutral housing policy. Dartmouth College does NOT assign students of
opposite genders to share the same bedroom.

At Dartmouth, gender-neutral housing is available to upper class students and on a limited basis. All students in the gender-neutral suites and apartments have their own individual bedrooms and share a common living area and bathroom. Some also share a kitchen. There are approximately 50 students currently living in gender-neutral housing, 16 of whom live on a program floor. Students that live in gender-neutral housing sign up collectively with the people they want to live with. Students are not randomly assigned to live in these suites, apartments, or on the program floor.

Dartmouth College is in its second academic year in offering gender-neutral housing, and the students have been very enthusiastic about these options. Dartmouth students are encouraged to be actively involved in every aspect of their college years while here. We consider it a success that the students saw a need and an opportunity that wasn’t being met and pursued a solution.

Latarsha R. Gatlin
Public Affairs Officer
Office of Public Affairs
Dartmouth College
October 23, 2008

More Outreach and Conversation Needed to Achieve Gender-Neutral Housing Policy

To the Editor:

In the past few weeks, there has been a stir regarding gender-neutral housing. Many students hope that, following the lead of other top-tier schools such as Stanford and Brown, Columbia will soon follow at instituting the policy. While I certainly hope so, these claims undermine how challenging the process of changing policy is.

The question of gender-neutral housing sprung up from conversations about discrimination, mostly regarding ROTC and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Many groups, including some that have no affiliation with LGBT life on campus, have drafted statements regarding this issue and expanded conversation to an area that is often hidden under the rug: our own campus’s discriminatory policies.

Granted, Columbia, like most other colleges that do not yet offer gender-neutral housing, are following tradition, and perhaps trying to avoid lawsuits from wealthy and conservative parents. But the reforms offer many benefits at little cost to those not interested in rooming with the opposite gender—one would only be assigned a roommate of the opposite gender if desired, and if indicated in the lottery sign-up. Those who wish to room with same-gender individuals will continue to be able to do so.

This policy, while intended for the use of anybody who so desires, was mostly designed with transgender students in mind—these students might find it uncomfortable to room with someone who is “biologically” of the same sex, but not of the same gender. At Columbia, finding a single as a first-year for such cases might be a little easier than it is at Barnard, where first-year students by policy need to room with someone else.

As Columbia moves toward more inclusive policies, however, I think it’s important to keep in mind the challenges that we might face. I believe few students see the necessity of such changes or the uncomfortable situations that students—transgender and not—face. A lack of information can lead to resentment from the student body, who might have to face changes in the lottery forms and rules. For that reason, I would encourage all groups working toward gender-neutral housing to further their outreach to members outside the queer community. Having more people talking about the subject will definitely help facing the extremely bureaucratic system that lies behind all campus policy.

The more we learn about the reasons behind such changes, the more I believe that we can come to accept them and even help institute them, leading to a more open and welcoming campus for all students.

Laura Torre, CC ’11
October 25, 2008

News Article Sums Up Spirit of the Double Discovery Center, Evokes Personal Memories and History

To the Editor:

I was delighted to read Alicia Outing and Betsy Morais’ article “Tutors Raise Hope and Test Scores” in the Oct. 23 online edition of the Spectator. Ms. Outing and Ms. Morais have summed up the spirit of the University Double Discovery Center (DDC), so well capturing the importance of patience, team building, and forging human connections, and the two-way flow of teaching and learning in a climate charged with hope and high expectations. It made me reflect upon my own journey beginning as a volunteer tutor in southern Illinois in the early 1970s as the Upward Bound and Talent Search programs were moving from the drawing board into full-scale implementation. That journey has led me to my current position as executive director of the Columbia University Double Discovery Center.

During the 1960s, Columbia University’s DDC was a laboratory/demonstration project whose success helped to launch the TRIO/Upward Bound Program nationally. As noted in Outing and Morais’ article, the work that goes on at Columbia University today is as innovative, vibrant, and valid as that occurring in the pioneering years of the ’60s. Columbia University is fortunate to have DDC’s founders still active in the success of the Center. For more than 40 years at DDC, the students of Columbia College and the low-income, first-generation high school students of New York City have sustained an ongoing partnership. This partnership has not only changed hearts and modified attitudes—it has provided a viable method for promoting the college readiness and college enrollment rates of low-income, first-generation students of New York City. In doing so, it has helped these students raise their grades, strengthen their resolve, confirm their aspirations, earn the SAT scores, and develop the skills for opening the doors to college.

Oriana Gonzalez of the School of the Future and DDC got it exactly right. She astutely observed that the ninth grade—or much earlier—is the right time for high school students to begin preparing for the transition to college. Longevity is not a durable asset. In these uncertain times, the DDC needs support from the Columbia University community and the wider New York City community more than ever. If you would like to volunteer time and other forms of support, please write to me at ddc@columbia.edu.

Muriel Grimmett
Executive Director of the Double Discovery Center
October 26, 2008

ROTC Op-Ed Highlights Significance of Progressive Religious Voices in LGBT Relations

To the Editor:

The debate over inviting Naval ROTC back to Columbia’s campus has brought accusations of ignorance—about LGBT issues and about the military—from all sides. Noah Baron’s opinion piece (“Palling Around With Traitors, or Those Who Feel Like Them”, Oct. 28) brings up another area in which it would be useful to examine our stereotypes: religion. At a time when religion has been hijacked as a tool of hate, violence, and closed-mindedness, the importance of progressive religious voices cannot be emphasized enough.

Noah’s discussion of his faith-based opposition to discrimination and exclusion is particularly salient given the exclusion of LGBT voices in many religious communities and institutions. At Columbia, coming out as religious may be more difficult than coming out as queer because of the stereotypes and assumptions about what a particular religion stands for and what a religious identity means. Faith and homophobia may appear inextricably linked, but there are also religious voices on the side of equality.

Jeremy Schwartz, CC’09
Vice President of Gayava: LGBTQ Jews and Allies at
Columbia/Barnard. The views in this letter are his own.
October 28, 2008