To be honest, I am in awe at the amount of publicity that photos on Brian Bottaglia's Web site have generated ("Web site owner makes apology," Dec. 9).

If you have time to kill, browse through the thousands of online picture books that exist today, and you will find that over half of all Halloween costumes can be construed as offensive in some way, shape or form. The essence of the "holiday" is grounded in disguising yourself as someone that you otherwise wouldn't be.

To assume that any of those shown in the controversial photos is actually racist is like assuming that I am actually Batman's old-school sidekick Robin, as depicted by my cheesy costume idea.

After spending several years on this campus, I have learned that overgeneralization is a common foe that needs to be avoided however possible. While I agree that the costumes showed a lack of judgment by those involved, I also assert that I am not ready to write these individuals off as generally bad people.

It is admirable how a number of student leaders have rallied their groups on this issue. However, could we please let it die? I do not endorse the decisions that were made, but I think it's time to let it go.