As a 2001 alum, it was good to see Darryl Campbell's column appear in The Observer ("Community building, common-council style," Oct. 13) in response to the article from Oct 10's article titles "University addresses community relations."
It's pretty clear that the community relations between Notre Dame students and South Bend need a sweeping overhaul, but it's likely not going to get anywhere until the council members and community leaders understand how their stances comprise of unjust, sweeping generalizations.
It's funny, I think the article on Oct. 10 was meant to "educate" students about how poor their judgement is and unless they start acting differently then nothing will improve. The article probably did more harm than good and the leaders of South Bend might need to take a look in the mirror.
Back in the winter of 2000-2001, a friend of mine who was visiting from another school referred to South Bend as "Russia" in reference to the cold weather. Sounds like nowadays, a statement like that has more than one meaning. Just wanted to say thanks for running Mr. Campbell's article sticking up for the students.
Patrick Schaffler
alum
Class of 2001
Oct. 13
