Letters to the Editor

Use campus sidewalks, crosswalks

Please use all crosswalks on campus. Emory spends a lot of money painting crosswalks, installing stop signs and posting speed limit signs. This is done to protect pedestrians as well as prevent accidents. I've noticed on numerous occasions while driving on campus that many students, faculty and staff prefer to walk in the streets instead of on the sidewalks, and also fail to cross the street at the crosswalks. This is a school of higher education, so please don't forget the education you received a long time ago about crossing the street:

1) Remember to look both ways before crossing the street. (A lot of you fail to do this.)

2) Cross the street only at crosswalks.

Remember when driving on campus that the speed limit is only 15 miles per hour. If you strike one of these pedestrians while driving your 3,000-12,000 pound vehicle, you will cause serious injuries or death. Let's all try to make our campus a lot safer by following these simple rules. Drivers slow down, and pedestrians start using the sidewalks and crosswalks.

Jay Harris

Facilities Management

Morality crosses cultural boundaries

Mr. Luke Andrews is certainly entitled to his opinions ("First Person," March 18). I have no quarrel with his central point. However, I am quite offended at his offhand dismissal of cultures other than the Judeo-Christian and his implication that any morality worth having is restricted to the Judeo-Christian culture. Unfortunately, this attitude is all too common. Might I remind Mr. Andrews and others similarly disposed that there have been a number of civilizations on this planet thousands of years before the colonization of America by Europeans. Some of these civilizations have had very advanced philosophical systems. The philosophical systems of ancient India, for instance, some of which are estimated to be as old as 5,000 years, reflect the development and debate of concepts (on a wide variety of issues including and going far beyond the relatively simple "morality" that Mr. Andrews is so concerned with) that were articulated relatively recently in Western thought. Certainly it is easy to find fault with these ancient cultures in the light of modern thinking. However, it is no less easy to point to faults in Western cultures, e.g. medieval Europe and even our own time. I would urge Mr. Andrews not to confuse social evolution over time with the differences (whether better or worse) between cultures, to appreciate the distinction between the content of the intellectual currency of a culture (accessible only to a limited few) and the socio-religious practices of its masses, and to take a less myopic view of the world.

Krish Sathian, Department of Neurology

Submissions welcomed

Emory Report welcomes submissions of editorials from faculty and staff. Articles should address a topic of general interest to the Emory community and be 700-900 words in length. Articles may be edited for clarity and length.

Letters to the editor should generally run less than 300 words, and may be edited for clairty and length. Please include your name and department. Submissions may be sent to Emory Report, 741 Gatewood Road, faxed to 727-0646, or e-mailed to <nspitle@emory.edu>.


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