To the Editor:

Every Yalie should cut out and prominently post Michael Pomeranz’s Practical Wisdom column of Monday, Oct. 15. Mr. Pomeranz describes the ennobling effect of the academic grandeur and the need to preserve the soul of imagination, intellect and inspiration. None of these can flourish a sterile environment of interchangeable sameness. I have not seen the new Wall Street gates, but I admired the old doors each time I passed through them. I felt a little like Alice through the looking glass, tumbling into a new and wonderful adventure.

How regrettable that the Wall Street doors were sacrificed to the insatiable gods of personal safety. I am a graduate of the University of Chicago, another Gothic wonderland. For me, the carillon provided the message that I was someplace grand and not merely passing time in the trade school of the real world.

Even now, when I hear a carillon, it inspires a moment of reflection not conjured up by any other sound. You may be forced to witness the destruction of something special around you but you don’t have to be a partner to it.

Lauren Crawford

Oct. 17

Crawford is a graduate of the University of Chicago.