2008 Woodie Awards
letter to the editor: Zoning regulations prevent off-campus housing for Greeks
Issue date: 12/7/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
To the Editor,
I would like to commend The Circle for exposing the discriminatory zoning practices of The City of Poughkeepsie in its November 30th article "Zoning bars Greeks from off-campus living". During my time at Marist College I both participated in Greek Life and lived off-campus. Through Phi Kappa Sigma I met lifelong friends, strengthened bonds with existing ones, and became a more successful and confident human being. President Dennis Murray himself is a Greek, and has always recognized the importance that Greek experiences played in his own life, and the life of Marist's students.
I moved on-campus at Marist after spending some time in The City of Poughkeepsie, only to move back off after one semester, longing for the complete independence of off-campus living. Both of these activities had a positive impact on my college experience and life thereafter, and it saddens me that Poughkeepsie robbing those same experiences from current and future Marist students. Zoning regulations that barred any other group of people from equal access to housing based on commonly accepted stereotypes would assuredly illicit immediate legal action against the local government.
I sincerely hope that Marist College, a school which admittedly does not have enough physical room for all of the students who wish to live on-campus, will stand behind its students in fighting these frightening regulations.
Sincerely,
Thomas E. Harrison '04
I would like to commend The Circle for exposing the discriminatory zoning practices of The City of Poughkeepsie in its November 30th article "Zoning bars Greeks from off-campus living". During my time at Marist College I both participated in Greek Life and lived off-campus. Through Phi Kappa Sigma I met lifelong friends, strengthened bonds with existing ones, and became a more successful and confident human being. President Dennis Murray himself is a Greek, and has always recognized the importance that Greek experiences played in his own life, and the life of Marist's students.
I moved on-campus at Marist after spending some time in The City of Poughkeepsie, only to move back off after one semester, longing for the complete independence of off-campus living. Both of these activities had a positive impact on my college experience and life thereafter, and it saddens me that Poughkeepsie robbing those same experiences from current and future Marist students. Zoning regulations that barred any other group of people from equal access to housing based on commonly accepted stereotypes would assuredly illicit immediate legal action against the local government.
I sincerely hope that Marist College, a school which admittedly does not have enough physical room for all of the students who wish to live on-campus, will stand behind its students in fighting these frightening regulations.
Sincerely,
Thomas E. Harrison '04
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