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To the Editor, 

Your article on the UC Berkeley commemoration of Sept. 11 was hardly balanced. It was not “politics as usual” across the campus. At the very same time of the official campus gathering on Sproul at noon, another official campus gathering took place at Hertz Hall, drawing an audience of 1,000 that filled the hall and spilled outside. 

One hundred and fifty students and community members performed music of various cultures and centuries ending with the Aaron Copland's setting of “simple gifts” and a Benediction written for the victims Sept. 11. The mood in the hall and its surrounding area was thoughtful and meditative. And throughout the day, a different group of students stood by the campanile intoning solemnly the names of those who died on Sept. 11. It is a shame that not just the national but also the local media are bent on presenting only the discord at our university. This caricature is not only a inaccurate, it belittles the greater spirit of our community. 

Marika Kuzma 

Berkeley