Editor:

I am a resident of Graham-Greenlee Hall, and have known Ms. Rivera since August of 1995. She has brought warmth and compassion to our hall, and is a very thoughtful person. As well as I know her, I know that for her to write a letter to the Wildcat regarding her situation, it must have bothered her a lot. And when I read it, it bothered me too. Then, to read Ms. Polydoros' letter ("Comparison shows MEChA disrespect," March 21) made me even more upset.

Ms. Polydoros, perhaps you have never lived in a residence hall before. Even if you have, you probably haven't lived in one with as great a staff and residents as we have here. I am assuming that it is your lack of knowledge of this topic that would cause you to write the letter that you did. To respond to your question, "Who really cares about their dorm that much anyway?" you can be sure to add my name to that list. However, if you substitute the word "dorm" with any domicile (i.e., a house or an apartment), you will find many more names of people who do care about where they live. It all comes down to two words: pride and respect.

MEChA has pride in their heritage, and that is good. They also don't want to be disrespected by others for it. Believe it or not, Ms. Polydoros, the residents of Graham-Greenlee have pride in where we live. And as for respect, one does not walk into the home of someone they respect and call it "a piece of shit" to the owner's face or otherwise. That is the connection you failed to make. Ms. Rivera talked about a common respect between everyone, and a simple apology if someone is offended. MEChA had to wait months to hear that apology. Do we have to wait that long? And by the way, Ms. Polydoros, the only disrespect that came to MEChA from that situation was when one of its own opened his mouth to make a "joke."

Tamara Page
speech and hearing sciences freshman