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Forwarded message ----------
From:
A Neighbor Who Resides on the 100 Block
of V St NW
Date: Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 6:24 PMSubject: Re: Saturday Night's Street Fight
To: "Griffin, Barbara L.J."
Thank
you, Barbara.
On
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 5:26 PM, Griffin, Barbara L.J.
wrote:
Dear
[Neighbor Who Resides on the 100 Block of V St NW],
Thank
you for your generous and fair response.
We certainly will use this incident to provide guidance to not only the
young people in Carver Hall, but to the many students who will benefit from
this horrible, disappointing occasion.
I like your recommendation and will discuss arranging such an apology
and follow-up activities. Let me confer
with Dean Marc Lee as we quickly move to get details and "players" properly
identified. You will be hearing from us
shortly. Please accept my sincerest
apologies for irresponsible actions which could very well blight the
relationship between Howard and the community.
Sincerely,
Barbara Griffin
-----Original
Message-----
From: A
Neighbor Who Resides on the 100 Block of V St NW
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 2:06 PMTo: Griffin, Barbara L.J.
Subject: Re: Saturday Night's Street Fight
Dr.
Griffin,
Thank
you, also, for your very fair and measured response. I, too, had an upclose and personal view of
the events on Sunday morning and have Bridget and Dan to thank for washing the
blood splatters off of the sidewalk in front of my house.
Overall, I have a very positive view of Howard
and enjoy my interactions with Howard students.
That said, I think it will be a tragedy to miss an opportunity to
provide guidance to the young people involved -- and I know that the identities
of several are known, because the police spoke with them in Carver hall.
Please consider asking the participants to
apologize face-to-face to the residents of the 100 block of V street. It would be a very nice and meaningful
gesture. Perhaps they could do a little
community service and pick up trash around the neighborhood as well.
Thank you for looking into this matter and
considering my suggestion.
Regards,
4 comments:
This suggestion is so ridiculous on so many levels. The thought that the individuals who were stabbed in a fight owe you an apology because you had to "live" through such a tragic event from the confines of your living room doesn't sit right with me at all. I agree that the brawl shouldn't have disrupted the peace of the community. It's a shame that people had to resort to such violence. It's even more terrible that people were seriously hurt during this incident. However, how is a face-to-face apology to homeowners on the block, and cleaning up random neighborhood trash a fitting punishment? The thought that you're more concerned about an apology and trash pick-up than the well being of your neighbors is a little troubling. You just happened to live on a street where a fight occurred. Would you ask Georgetown or American students to pick up random neighborhood trash for disturbing your night? Give me a break. These people live in your neighborhood whether you like it or not, and I think your suggestion is not any kind of way to build neighborhood unity. Talking and reasoning with your neighbors to communicate with them about the block's expectations on how to be better neighbors would be a much better idea instead of banishing them to the streets to pick up soda cans and snickers wrappers like they are on a chain gang picking up trash on the beltway.
i agree that an apology is silly... would rather see some actual punishment here (assumimg guilty parties can actually be identified from the mele). expulsion from school, probation, maybe even jail time, something... as far as I am concerned these kids are not to be judged by neighbors anymore, it appears to the outside observer that someone has likely committed a crime and that needs to be dealt with by a more official entity (police, campus security, whatever). any argument that begins with "they live in this neighborhood too so we better reasom with them" doesnt hold any water.
If it's true that this was a premeditated in response to an earlier event that night, as mentioned in one of the letters to Dr. Griffin, then I see nothing wrong with the notion that the people who premeditated the attack in front of their neighbors owe their neighbors an apology. This would not be a "sorry I got stabbed on your sidewalk" apology. It would be a "sorry I decided to carry out a fight like a common criminal on your sidewalk" apology. And yes - I would expect the same apology from any school's students. In addition, I agree with Adam that the scope of the follow up should be much broader, and perhaps much deeper, than a conversation with neighbors.
Has there been any follow up on this matter?
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