To the Editor:

My views and statements were misrepresented in Monday’s article on the Yale Sustainable Food Project. The Project is guided by a strong spirit of collaboration; the article seemed to search for controversy and to invent antagonism where none exists.

The Yale Sustainable Food Project is a courageous and visionary venture on Yale’s part. Since its founding, it has depended on strong, collaborative relationships with the Provost’s Office, with staff and with students. The Project’s growth has been guided by these relationships and by a shared desire for success. I do not believe in “pressure” as a tactic for guiding the Project or its development at Yale.

I do hope that someday each of the college dining halls will look like the Berkeley test-kitchen. But this shouldn’t happen without a careful, responsible plan whose goals and vision are broadly shared. That plan needs to be responsible particularly in regards to cost, and the Berkeley test-kitchen is giving us much of the information and experience we need to build that plan.

Melina Shannon-DiPietro

Nov. 16, 2005

The writer is co-director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project.