To the Editor:
It appears that the University is taking some good steps in cutting back on the obscene fines that I've grown accustomed to over the past couple of years. However, Miss Cataife in her article "Some mass fines eliminated, but students still forced to pay" (11/30), paints too optimistic a picture. She refers to a University policy that levies a $100 fine upon Tufts students for noise violations in off-campus houses. The article gives the impression that there is some "new policy" that has overturned this fine, yet I have not found this to be the case, being the recipient of such a fine this year.
In fact, the policy, as defined in the Pachyderm, still reads, "a documented violation (one in which the responding police officers write up a violation) of the noise ordinance will result in a $100 fine for the first offense." As Miss Brot points out, what occurs in our private living quarters off-campus should not be the business of the University. Hopefully, the University will come to see the students' point of view on this issue, as they have on both the alcohol policy and mass fines.
Dan Callahan, '02
