Dear Editor:
In your November 17, 2002 edition, your Letters to the Editor contained a letter from an Elizabeth Glatt voicing her concerns. I found Ms. Glatt’s letter intellectually insulting with her conjecture about issues in which she has very little or no knowledge with her severely biased personal opinions veiled as “for the good of Hoboken.”
Calling the fraternity houses on Castle Point Terrace and Hudson Street ” time bombs” is a gross mischaracterization by Ms. Glatt. All the fraternity houses have regular inspections from the city of Hoboken in fire, health and physical plant. I know for a fact that my fraternity’s housing corporation allocates $16,000 a semester for rent and physical plant for use of the building and land; a good portion is invested into the house to make sure it meets code and aesthetic appearances. In response to the tragedy at Seton Hall; the state passed a new sprinkler law requiring all dormitories, including fraternity houses, to have sprinklers (the old sprinkler law grandfathered many buildings built before a certain date). The school has just finished the new sprinklers for our house this past summer. Clearly, this compliance removes any possible “time bomb”, if it ever was present.
Ms. Glatt also makes other unfounded allegations about “the way these fraternities act”. I would love to hear specifics, or does she have any except for a predisposed bias against young people in a standard American collegiate and, might I add, a very academically challenging environment? Stevens and the fraternities themselves have standards that the residents must comply. The Institute and alumni volunteers make sure that its students follow acceptable codes of conduct and responsibility. Even without our intervention, the students have policed themselves by punishing offensive and unruly behavior on their own.
Stevens is a world class institution that brings fame to this great city. It draws people from all over the world to our side of the Hudson River. In fact when I came as a student, I fell in love with Hoboken so much that I returned to live here permanently. Stevens did not “abscond” with land from the city; they own it. (Actually, the Stevens family at one time owned most of the land in Hoboken, where a good portion was donated to the city.) In my opinion, the city of Hoboken benefits from having Stevens as one of its collective citizens. Stevens is a “citizen” that brings top quality students, faculty, professionals, companies and positive notoriety and fame to this fine city on the Hudson. Eric M. Monte
B.E. ’93, B.A. ’94, M.S. ’95
Stevens Institute of Technology
President, Gamma Delta Chapter of Sigma Nu Housing Corporation