To the Editor:

Philip Ostromogolsky’scolumn (“Union protest mostly displayed apathy, laziness,” 9/27) leads me to wonder whether we attended two different protests. As one of the people arrested last Wednesday, I can assure everyone that the event was anything but “a few tired souls lumber[ing] into the middle of College Street.” Deciding to participate in the civil disobedience was not easy for me. I consulted with many friends and family members, and ultimately decided that firmly supporting the struggle of Yale’s workers was worth the nuisances and potential hindrances that an arrest record brings. What made Wednesday’s event so powerful was that most of the 800 people standing in the middle of that street had similarly weighed the facts and come to the same decision. And those who made a spontaneous decision to join were inspired by the protest’s spirit. The event was far from the “wonderful spectacle of indifference” that Mr. Ostromogolsky described.

If Ostromogolsky was looking for a show full of tear gas, riot gear, and violence, he should rent Matewan or Gandhi. If he was looking for a group of people putting themselves at risk to stand up for their beliefs, he witnessed this on Wednesday.

Lauren Stephens-Davidowitz ’03

September 29, 2002