Challenge Grants Needed

To the editors:

The Crimson's criticism of an Undergraduate Council effort to combat homophobia on Harvard's campus (Editorial, March 21) shows a remarkable and distressing desire on the part of The Crimson to hurt an important and worthy effort before it has a chance to succeed. It is particularly bizarre that the editorial board chose to criticize the council for allocating money to fight against homophobia before even waiting to see what the money will be used for.

Is the challenge grant a panacea for bigotry and hatred on this campus? Of course not. But it would have been far more responsible if the editorial board had waited to see how the money was used before attacking a project that is part of a cause that the board supports.

Your editorial claims that "the task of eradicating homophobia has been presented to the campus as a 'project challenge.'" That could not be further from the truth. What has been presented to the campus is an opportunity to use $1,000 to organize an event or series of events as part of a much broader effort to fight against bigotry and intolerance. I wish The Crimson could be a part of that effort, rather than simply remain on the sidelines ripping apart well-intentioned and potentially effective proposals.

David B. Orr '01

March 21, 2000

The writer, an Undergraduate Council representative, is chair of the council's anti-homophobia task force.

Harvard's ROTC Leaders

To the editors:

I am pleased to see that The Crimson is offering coverage to the Harvard students who take part--and indeed, take an active leadership role--in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program (News, March 20). However, I believe your article was misleading, in that it suggested that this is the first time that Harvard students have assumed such prominent leadership positions.

To the contrary, last semester, in an unprecedented occurrence, all three service units were commanded by Harvard students. The Navy was commanded by Marisa L. Porges '00. The Army was commanded by Alex S. Herzlinger '00 and the Air Force was commanded by myself. Harvard cadets and midshipmen have always been very active in these programs, despite the lack of attention they receive.

I am happy to see that these two cadets are receiving the recognition they deserve. But in the future, I hope you will not miss reporting history-making occurrences such as last fall's tri-service Harvard command.

Robert D. Caridad '00

March 20, 2000

This writer is a fourth-year cadet with the Air Force ROTC.