Re: 3/31/00 - Yale should apologize to Jovin family
Yale should apologize to Jovin family
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published 3/31/00
To the Editor,
I never knew Suzanne Jovin, but upon reading her parents' letter to the editor, I was distressed to learn of the University's treatment of her family. The University should go out of its way to ease the grief that Suzanne's parents are feeling. From those of us who have lost loved ones, we know that grief does not subscribe to any calendar, despite Mr. Conroy's characterization of the University's wish to "put this behind them."
Tom Conroy should be fired. Not next year, not in six months, but now. I am ashamed that my alma mater has been engaged in this verbal game of checkers. The administration invited ambiguity when it failed to have a senior administrator meet with the interviewers at ABC's 20/20. Instead of purely addressing the wrongs committed, the University has engaged in a he-said she-said, braiding its apology with thorns. In this aftermath, they have only made this matter worse.
My Yale is the Yale of David Cameron and those who seek to honor one of Yale's daughters. The spin doctors and other insensitive persons who made the decision not to release Suzanne's letters of recommendation to her family, a request to which the University never acceded, and only discharged after the intervention of the State's Attorney's Office, have so obviously poured salt in the wounds of this family's heartache. As Yale often does, in its exhaustive pursuit of the technical, it erodes the most essential element of our creation: compassion. I am sure the President cares and he ought to repudiate the University's actions, and someone senior in the administration needs to go on ABC's 20/20 to show the world that Yale loves Suzanne and her family. Nothing can bring her back, but at least, we can show love for Suzanne's parents.
David Harris '00
March 23, 2000
yaledailynews.com |
