Oh yeah?

In response to Mark Drake’s Nov. 12 op-ed “Is Minnesota Embodied by `The Body’?” (p. 4), being a fellow Minnesotan, I feel his pain. But hey, I find some humor in it. We can now defend ourselves with one simple statement: Our governor can beat up your governor!

-Maija Freivalds
sophomore

No GW sainthood

Responding to my friend Don Tobey’s Nov. 9 letter “Common ground,” (p. 4): Don seems to imply that the lack of “common ground” is all the fault of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and other residents.

There is bad feeling and many Foggy Bottom residents are not happy with the strained relations. But those who are willing to see the big picture will realize that the blame – and the kudos – don’t belong to just one side. Many residents are bitter about the past and future expansion of GW into our neighborhood and exhibit their frustration.

But neither is the University administration, in continually failing to provide adequate student housing and expanding beyond the campus, a candidate for sainthood.

-Ellie Becker
Foggy Bottom resident

Don’t pass the buck

As interim director of the women’s studies program, I was surprised by a statement attributed to Assistant Dean of Students Mark Levine in the Nov. 12 article about the Women’s Center (“Students call for GW women’s center,” p. 1).

Levine stated: “Right now it’s in the hands of the women’s studies department to look for another space on campus.” Allow me to clarify that women’s studies is an academic program without “department” status. We never have been consulted about the proposed Women’s Center, we have no say in space decisions for student services, and we have offices for only three full-time faculty plus a 10-by-10 room shared by a library collection, copy and fax machines, teaching assistants and up to six part-time faculty.

Our secretary and file cabinets sit in a narrow hallway. Women’s studies strongly supports the call for a women’s resource center on campus, but it would be irresponsible to pass the buck and suggest that it is up to our faculty to provide or find space.

-Cynthia Deitch
interim director, women’s studies program