Clarifying Brooks House Renovations

To the editors:

For the record, it is Phillips Brooks House (PBH) and not Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) that is planning a renovation to the House. PBH is the building and a department of the College. PBHA is the student organization. Also for the record, the PBHA endowment is not allocating any money for the renovation. The funds for the renovation are coming from a Faculty of Arts and Sciences endowed fund. The student organization is not contributing any funds toward the renovation.

Judith H. Kidd

March 17, 2000

The author is the Assistant Dean of Harvard College for Public Service and Director of Phillips Brooks House.

Laws Lessen Shootings

To the editors:

I am surprised at Brad Sohn's distaste for gun control legislation (Column, March 13). Certainly laws alone will not eliminate murders, but they can ensure that guns are sold only to people with licenses, and that guns meet certain safety specifications. I agree that there are other means of fighting crime besides tough legislation, but Sohn's proposal to impose more severe punishments on gun offenders after they have committed a crime is less effective than preventing criminals from obtaining guns in the first place.

There are many explanations for our crime problem, but the prevalence of guns in our country is one of the most important. There will always be people who lose their sense of reason and commit acts of violence. However, whether those people can get their hands on a gun can make the difference whether such a crime results in death.

H. Wells Wulsin '01

March 15, 2000

Buchanan in Context

To the editors:

Noah D. Oppenheim's (Column, March 17) description of "egregiously rude" students who asked Pat Buchanan questions makes me wonder whether he was at the speech or whether he is deliberately changing the context of students' questions. Oppenheim quotes a student saying: "Well, perhaps white Catholics and Christians such as yourself are not qualified to be here."

This statement was given as one of two explanations for a contradiction in Buchanan's argument. The student in no way implied that certain groups did not belong at Harvard. He questioned Buchanan's opinion that women are not in the business world because they do not have the natural abilities and will to succeed.

The students asking Buchanan questions were not the only ones taking statements out of context.

Wendy A. Seider '00

March 17, 2000

Blocking Woes Redux

To the editors:

In all the hullabaloo about housing it might be worth remembering that the gripes arising now are the same ones I have heard for the past two years. With more room, often you get increased numbers of people who must be left behind. Several groups I know are based on gender or sometimes ethnicity. The problems don't seem to be new ones arising from the new limits: they seem like the perennial problems of choosing housemates given a new form to air.

Mary C. Campbell '01

March 15, 2000