To the Editor:

In just one sentence of the News’ View Thursday (“Sept. 11, 2003: more distant, less raw”), the editorial board offended a subset of the Yale community. “For some, the freshmen and the sophomores in particular, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 happened on a television somewhere else, and they have joined a community with its own unique, comfortable, bookish routine for contemplating and mourning the tragedy.”

The above quote implies that somehow freshmen and sophomores didn’t experience the pain, hurt, and despair every bit as much as the unique “bookish” Yale community. The board seems to suggest that those of us who were in high school at the time were mere spectators via TV to this tragedy, as if this were any different from the way Yalies learned of that tragic day.

From this sentence, someone might assume that the attacks had targeted Yale, not New York and Washington. The sentence only underscores the Yale-centric nature of the editorial, which ignores the fact that that day means so much to so many all over the country and the world, especially those who lost loved ones and friends on that tragic September morning.

Peter Gombeski ’06

September 11, 2003