In a modest Nov. 4 article, The Chronicle reported the suspension of Duke senior and Durham police officer Alex Niejelow. Explaining that Niejelow was suspended for "giving assistance" to someone feeling insecure in her Central Campus apartment, the article suggested that his suspension was a result of a jurisdictional conflict.
Only having known Niejelow for a short period of time, I was still aghast at the headline proclaiming his suspension. Within Duke Student Government, Niejelow has worked hard to improve the lives of all of the students here at Duke.
Leading Facilities and Athletics, Niejelow is very serious and intent on increasing safety within our community. For someone to be punished for aiding a victim who has asked for help is an outrage.
This situation highlights a common problem facing today's society: the lack of tolerance for friendly aid.
How often have you gone out of your way, even if slightly, to help someone else? Often? Ever? It seems that less and less often people spend an extra few minutes to help someone else, especially without reward, especially at Duke, with our many time commitments.
If someone wants to help someone else, the absurdity of punishment, such as Niejelow faces, should at least be duly noted. Certainly it doesn't increase the likelihood of anyone else doing a "good turn".
Ask yourself as Thanksgiving nears, whether or not the good deeds carried out for us by our predecessors were worthwhile. Then ask whether or not a good turn daily is still worthy of your time.
Ivan Mothershead
Trinity '07
The author is a '03-'04 DSG senator.
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