LETTERS

Over the course of the past spring and summer, a great tragedy slowly but gradually took place on this lovely campus of ours. The changes are obvious, but the reasons and implications are not quite so easily seen at first glance. Having worked in the Student Development Office continuously over the past year, I have seen in depth the first results of the many new decisions that recently took place.

There is now only one administrator left in the offices of Widener Center who had been the~e previous to this fall. Dr. Bob Bonfiglio, Dean of Students, Emma Legge, Director of Student Activities, Cathy Caulfield, Director of Resident Life, Dawn Rocci, Assistant Director of Resident Life, all of the Resident Directors, and Arlene Smith, one of the campus ministers have all left campus for other positions within the past year. John DiMucci, campus minister, is the only dedicated school official to remain in Widener! What could cause such a mass exodus of staff? Though many students voiced problems about many of these individuals over heated lunch debates in the cafe or through editorials in the Loquitur, one must begin to wonder under what conditions so many people would leave at once. In the farewell addresses of several of these individuals, I got the distinct impression that though they were sorry to leave Cabrini, they were also ready to let go the puppet strings of administration that had so long tied them down.

The past and present treatment of students at Cabrini has been under constant question for years. The most recent examples that students seem to be outraged about include the housing or lack thereof and interactions with the Business Office. A significant number of students were not cleared by the business office by mid-August and were not notified until the week before classes were to begin. When this list was delivered to the Student Development Office by a woman from the Business Office, I was asked to give the list to Mr. Weaver, the present acting Dean of Students. As she handed the sheets of names across the desk, she said with a grin, "This is the list of business holdspeople who can not move on campus. Paul [Weaver] will be really happy to have this." I was absolutely infuriated because she was implying both by words and tone of voice that the offices are happy when people can not move on campus due to financial difficulty. If this school truly has the goal of building a caring community of learners, how can they be happy about losing even one member? Likewise, the campus community can not possibly be the same with the tragic loss of so many caring administrative staff members. Again I ask, what drove so many of them away all at once? Could it possibly have been the attitude of the school at large?

The contradictions abound - a Catholic-affiliated liberal arts college that is

To The Editor

not often supportive of campus ministry activities, rarely liberal, and barely supportive of the arts. A school that uses our money to build a fountain at the edge of our already beautiful campus instead of just giving pay to well-qualified faculty and staff, or offering additional financial aid to dedicated and deserving but financially struggling students. Or a school where the oft considered most dedicated and respected professor both on campus and in his field (who brings much needed positive publicity to our tiny campus) can not get tenure. A school that professes respect for the environment as a core value, but has been in defiance of Radnor Township ordinances on recycling that have been in place for over nine years. This school has had its most heated debate over the important, but easily decided, issue of where graduation should be held while other schools debate policy and worldwide issues. The same school where the theatre department puts on amazing shows with no budget and "an embarrassing overabundance of talent" in a mere a closet of a theatre; and a school that advertises itself to prospective students as a family, yet it describes itself to current students as a "business" that "is not a democracy".

I was very concerned that the replacements for much of the staff were found too quickly and without regard to quality decisionmakers and creative individuals who will help build the community. Thus far I have been impressed by many and disappointed by a few of the new people now "running" this school. I personally challenge all administrators old and new to face the responsibility of answering to the people who pay your salaries even if it means breaking the puppeteer's strings for the good of the students. Many "clients" of the "business" at Cabrini College have been dissatisfied. You can change this.

I would like to end this letter by asking Cabrini College to offer its utmost gratitude and deepest thanks to Ms. Jennifer Reither - a senior student and administrative assistant in the Student Development Office for the past summer. Working by her side daily this summer, I watched as this young woman singlehandedly hold together not only the turnover of Student Development, but also the Resident Life Office. This was an overwhelmingly large task that she handled with extreme professionalism and a generosity of spirit that has rarely been seen on this campus. I will expect that and more from the new faces on campus.

Sincerely, Teresa Ann Martin

\Ok, I have heard some pretty crazy things since I have arrived at Cabrini last fall. First it was tuition being raised to build a new pond for the Fall '99. Then I heard that Cabrini solves the parking problems by building a new dorm over two of their lots. Once I even heard that the peace pole was being sent out for repairs. If that seems outrageous, wait until you hear what happened at Woodcrest one night to my friend Adam and I.

We arrived on the steps of Woodcrest around 10 p.m. on the Sunday before Labor Day to see our girlfriends. We have gone through the same routine since we were freshman. Call the room, sign our names in and wait until our girl- c friends come to the door to escort us back to the room. You get the idea. Anyway, Adam and I agreed that we would meet in the lobby at midnight after public safety kicked us out for the night. By the way, why do we have to leave early on a night before a holiday? Don't you think we should have weekend hours on nights like that?

Back to the story, our girlfriends came down, and we were off to their rooms. Who would have thought what would happen next?

Sometime within those next two hours we both needed to use the bathroom. At separate times. Remember that Woodcrest only has one men's room, which is located in the lobby.

I went into the lobby, heading towards the men's room to do something that I have done many times since I was born, when I felt a little tug on my shirt. "What are you doing?" one of the new Resident Assistants asked me. I said that I was just going to the bathroom. I thought maybe I had made the mistake of almost walking into the women's bathroom. I've done it before on nights of outrageous parties. She then asked me where my escort was, and I replied, "I don't know, probably in her room." She told me that I was not allowed to enter the bathroom without my escort walking me there. I told her that this was absurd and a violation of student's rights. She said, "it has been a rule since last year, and they are enforcing it this year." I told her that I never heard that rule and I begged like a little kid "May I please use the bathroom?" She replied, "Go ahead, but tell your girlfriend that I will write her up the next time this happens." Later on, I found out that the same thing happened to my friend Adam. Come on everybody, sometimes we can all deal with all the sh-- that Cabrini dishes out, but what happens when you are denied to take one?

-Frank Plum

Length: no longer than two pages.

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