Recently, at Penrose Library…
After a couple hours of studying on the third floor, a couple of girls sat down near me and proceeded to situate themselves. They placed their bags down, moved some seats, and plugged their computers in. Then, all of a sudden, I heard this male voice, “You’ve got mail,” coming from the computer of the one girl wearing reindeer pajama pants and a a sweatshirt with “USA 77” printed on it. The voice should have said: “You are an inconsiderate…well, you know.”
Minutes later, the same reindeer-pajama-clad girl answered her cell phone. She loudly and disrespectfully inquired of the caller about her philosophy homework. She must have forgotten that she was in the library. Apparently she wasn’t learning about virtue in her philosophy class.
Almost immediately after her unnecessary phone call, a couple of her guy buddies came by, disrupting the peace with their loud, obnoxious voices. Whatever they were discussing was unimportant and lacked substance. Eventually her two buddies left and so did she. Thank God!
In light of my recent experience, I ask: Where have the respect and the decency gone? Where has the consideration for others gone? Specifically of my fellow library patrons, I ask: Why are you so disrespectful? Are you even aware of how rude you are?
Now, I don’t want to leave this complaint open-ended without some attempt at providing a solution. Therefore, here are ideas of how my fellow patron could have conducted herself: First, a polite and genuine “sorry” would have been adequate when the AOL voice blared out. Secondly, if you get a call on your cell, move to someplace in the library where you won’t disturb others. Thirdly, do the same thing with your friends as with a phone call, or consider getting more considerate friends.
I am curious as to the outcome of this letter. What kind of repercussions will it have? Will my fellow library patron even read it? Will she take it to heart? Does she even have the humility to fathom the idea that she was/is rude?
Finally, I conclude with some insight from Mr. Jefferson: “A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sin and suffering.”
Jonathan Davis
Dear editors,
In the Oct. 26 edition of the Clarion in an article entitled “Senate hears complaints about Bush twins visit” Janiece Grant and I were greatly misquoted. We were not complaining; the Senate sets time aside in the beginning of each Senate meeting for student concerns. Ms. Grant and myself were exercising our right as students to address our concerns to the student Senators. We are entitled as students to voice our opinions in the appropriate fashion, which is supposed to be encouraged by student government. This article never conveyed to the student body what our concerns were, nor did it justly explain what was really said during this meeting.
Now I would like to address the title of the article and its contents concerning the Bush twins visit. The article quoted me as saying “this is about opportunity. I pay a lot of money to go to this school, so how can an event happen in a school building that I am not allowed to attend?”
This was totally false. I stated that, “I pay the same amount as everyone else to attend this university, but this is not about economics, this is about integrity; the integrity of the University of Denver.” I also stated “the university will never be totally united if we continue to encourage and sweep these types of acts under the rug.”
My colleagues and I were outraged that students who attend this university were not informed about this visit in advance. This is not an individual issue, however. This is a University of Denver issue which needs to be properly handled. This needs to be prevented from happening in the future.
Fawntain C. Spencer
Dear editors,
