Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Opinion
Course selection process seen as unethical
After speaking to quite a few students and faculty members on campus, it would seem as though the issue of class selection has been elevated from an issue of annoyance to one of ethics.
As many students experienced at the end of last year, again this semester it was nearly impossible to get into enough classes to be considered a full-time student, let alone fulfill competence, group and lab requirements. Because of last year's debacle, I thought these issues would have been resolved.
It seems though, that they have not. Worse yet, is the fact that we, the student body, have been given very little explanation as to why there are still so many problems. Paying the kind of price tag that accompanies a DePauw education comes with an expectation of reciprocity. This means that no one should be paying $40,000+ a year only to be told that they have to pick filler classes that don't fulfill a group, competency or even mild interest.
What is at the root of these problems? It would seem that to some extent the university should recognize that when you cut almost all part-time professors and you welcome in the largest freshmen class DePauw has ever seen, you should also increase class sizes. So why hasn't this been the case? Why do faculty members still say that they have been told not to increase their class sizes?
Because it is not marketable. If too many courses increase too much in size, DePauw can no longer put on its brochures that the average faculty-to-student ratio is 12-1. So then where is the accountability to the students that are already here? Since when has it been OK to sacrifice the quality of my education so that our numbers look better? How foolish of me to assume I was coming to an institution of education and not one of commerce.
If we are to uphold the excellence we so proudly proclaim, I would hope our "uncommon success" would be found in our honesty, integrity and quality of education first and our commercial appeal second.
Christine Walker, junior
Remember what's wrong
Now I "hate" Wabash just as much as the next DePauw student. I "hate" them the way I hate Michigan, and being from Ohio, that's saying something. So I can understand Tiger Pride, and I commend it. But what is it about our Tiger Pride and our desire to beat Wabash that makes DePauw students forget all sense of what is right and appropriate?
Two years ago, I was disgusted to see the DePauw Entrepreneurs Association produce Monon T-shirts that claimed "Wabash Loves Spud Dick," with Spud in the smallest letters I had ever seen on a T-shirt. The situation was taken care of, and although I have seen people wear these shirts two years later, I took comfort in knowing more would never be produced. Until this year, when one or multiple individual students, too cowardly to sell them from their personal e-mail address, took it upon themselves to make more.
But it's just a T-shirt, right? Wrong. These shirts are meant to be derogatory, saying that "Wabash Loves Dick," therefore, Wabash is gay, and, therefore, Wabash is weak and cannot play football. Disregarding the obvious problem in assuming someone gay would be unable to play football, these shirts are a problem because they use the insinuation that Wabash is gay as an insult. If these shirts said Wabash Loves [Insert Racial Slur Here], no one would even think to produce them, let alone buy them. If racism is unacceptable, why is ritualized homophobia?
Think for a moment how it feels to be homosexual and see someone wearing one of these shirts. Fear, outrage, the feeling that you are not welcome here, you do not belong. DePauw is generally an accepting environment, but when people wear shirts that sanction homophobia, some of that acceptance and the security students feel in their environment is taken away. Personally, I am offended and outraged by these shirts. No DePauw student deserves to feel as if they are a second-class citizen, but when ritualized homophobia is allowed to persist, that is exactly what happens.
Laura Pearce, senior
Disappointed by T-shirts
I was at the Monon Bell game, selling soft drinks at one of the concession stands, when someone walked up wearing one of those T-shirts, evidently well known among the rest of the DePauw community, that at first glance appears to say "Wabash Loves Dick."
As a gay man, I took it as a crudely homophobic attack on the masculinity of Wabash men, felt uncomfortable and, frankly, embarrassed for the student wearing it (whom I refrained from telling off). I looked more closely at the shirt and saw "Spud" in tiny letters. What the heck did that mean? (Before you dismiss me as hopelessly oblivious, ask yourself if you can name the concert masters of the DePauw Symphony. We live in our own worlds.)
A student patiently explained to me today who our star quarterback is. Now I get the (feeble) joke. Maybe you think it was clever, but the design of the shirt is such that the unmistakable message is that we can effectively and unabashedly insult our rivals by suggesting they "love dick" - in other words, that they're gay.
That is not OK with me. When you insult Wabash men by implying they are gay, you insult every LGBTQ person at DePauw. Am I overreacting? Imagine what it's like to come out to your parents, have your mother declare you're dead to her and then see a shirt like that. Imagine having been beaten up while being called a "dick sucker" and then seeing that shirt. It's not funny. Not at all. There are plenty of ways to taunt our rivals without hurting members of our own community. Let's do better next time.
Eric Edberg, professor of music
Grow up, DePauw
The maturity level of some of my cohorts never ceases to amaze me. Two years ago this month I worked to stop the selling of shirts that said "Wabash Loves Spud Dick" (with the word "Spud" being in very small letters). I did so because the shirts are blatantly homophobic; they denigrate a portion of our DePauw community. Before I go on, let me provide some context for all those that were not here when this situation first erupted. Two years ago the DePauw Entrepreneurs Association, a recognized student organization at the time, sold the "Wabash Loves Dick" shirts during Monon. There was much public shock and outrage, and rightly so. The situation was dealt with and all was good and well. They reappeared this last weekend.
I remember sitting in a Community Standards meeting making the case that the shirts were nothing more than ritualized homophobia. I also remember every tiresome and pitiful excuse used by the presidents of the DEA as to why the shirts were not homophobic. Everything from "Well, the population of LGBT people on campus isn't that big" to "Well, the shirts aren't really homophobic." I can also remember the same banal excuses that were used in the larger campus discourse. Those who supported the shirts didn't see them as homophobic, instead the shirts were taken to be in the name of school spirit, of course! I didn't buy that and I still don't.
Unfortunately, I guess I can say that I wasn't shocked to see that the shirts reared their ugly heads again over the Monon weekend. If you bought or wore one of these shirts this last weekend, I have some questions: When will you get it? When will you decide that it doesn't make you cool to use homophobia at the expense of our rivals? When will you get that being homophobic probably doesn't attract the opposite sex? When will you decide to think before you act? When will you decide to grow up? I'd love to hear some answers.
Brandon Monson, senior
After speaking to quite a few students and faculty members on campus, it would seem as though the issue of class selection has been elevated from an issue of annoyance to one of ethics.
As many students experienced at the end of last year, again this semester it was nearly impossible to get into enough classes to be considered a full-time student, let alone fulfill competence, group and lab requirements. Because of last year's debacle, I thought these issues would have been resolved.
It seems though, that they have not. Worse yet, is the fact that we, the student body, have been given very little explanation as to why there are still so many problems. Paying the kind of price tag that accompanies a DePauw education comes with an expectation of reciprocity. This means that no one should be paying $40,000+ a year only to be told that they have to pick filler classes that don't fulfill a group, competency or even mild interest.
What is at the root of these problems? It would seem that to some extent the university should recognize that when you cut almost all part-time professors and you welcome in the largest freshmen class DePauw has ever seen, you should also increase class sizes. So why hasn't this been the case? Why do faculty members still say that they have been told not to increase their class sizes?
Because it is not marketable. If too many courses increase too much in size, DePauw can no longer put on its brochures that the average faculty-to-student ratio is 12-1. So then where is the accountability to the students that are already here? Since when has it been OK to sacrifice the quality of my education so that our numbers look better? How foolish of me to assume I was coming to an institution of education and not one of commerce.
If we are to uphold the excellence we so proudly proclaim, I would hope our "uncommon success" would be found in our honesty, integrity and quality of education first and our commercial appeal second.
Christine Walker, junior
Remember what's wrong
Now I "hate" Wabash just as much as the next DePauw student. I "hate" them the way I hate Michigan, and being from Ohio, that's saying something. So I can understand Tiger Pride, and I commend it. But what is it about our Tiger Pride and our desire to beat Wabash that makes DePauw students forget all sense of what is right and appropriate?
Two years ago, I was disgusted to see the DePauw Entrepreneurs Association produce Monon T-shirts that claimed "Wabash Loves Spud Dick," with Spud in the smallest letters I had ever seen on a T-shirt. The situation was taken care of, and although I have seen people wear these shirts two years later, I took comfort in knowing more would never be produced. Until this year, when one or multiple individual students, too cowardly to sell them from their personal e-mail address, took it upon themselves to make more.
But it's just a T-shirt, right? Wrong. These shirts are meant to be derogatory, saying that "Wabash Loves Dick," therefore, Wabash is gay, and, therefore, Wabash is weak and cannot play football. Disregarding the obvious problem in assuming someone gay would be unable to play football, these shirts are a problem because they use the insinuation that Wabash is gay as an insult. If these shirts said Wabash Loves [Insert Racial Slur Here], no one would even think to produce them, let alone buy them. If racism is unacceptable, why is ritualized homophobia?
Think for a moment how it feels to be homosexual and see someone wearing one of these shirts. Fear, outrage, the feeling that you are not welcome here, you do not belong. DePauw is generally an accepting environment, but when people wear shirts that sanction homophobia, some of that acceptance and the security students feel in their environment is taken away. Personally, I am offended and outraged by these shirts. No DePauw student deserves to feel as if they are a second-class citizen, but when ritualized homophobia is allowed to persist, that is exactly what happens.
Laura Pearce, senior
Disappointed by T-shirts
I was at the Monon Bell game, selling soft drinks at one of the concession stands, when someone walked up wearing one of those T-shirts, evidently well known among the rest of the DePauw community, that at first glance appears to say "Wabash Loves Dick."
As a gay man, I took it as a crudely homophobic attack on the masculinity of Wabash men, felt uncomfortable and, frankly, embarrassed for the student wearing it (whom I refrained from telling off). I looked more closely at the shirt and saw "Spud" in tiny letters. What the heck did that mean? (Before you dismiss me as hopelessly oblivious, ask yourself if you can name the concert masters of the DePauw Symphony. We live in our own worlds.)
A student patiently explained to me today who our star quarterback is. Now I get the (feeble) joke. Maybe you think it was clever, but the design of the shirt is such that the unmistakable message is that we can effectively and unabashedly insult our rivals by suggesting they "love dick" - in other words, that they're gay.
That is not OK with me. When you insult Wabash men by implying they are gay, you insult every LGBTQ person at DePauw. Am I overreacting? Imagine what it's like to come out to your parents, have your mother declare you're dead to her and then see a shirt like that. Imagine having been beaten up while being called a "dick sucker" and then seeing that shirt. It's not funny. Not at all. There are plenty of ways to taunt our rivals without hurting members of our own community. Let's do better next time.
Eric Edberg, professor of music
Grow up, DePauw
The maturity level of some of my cohorts never ceases to amaze me. Two years ago this month I worked to stop the selling of shirts that said "Wabash Loves Spud Dick" (with the word "Spud" being in very small letters). I did so because the shirts are blatantly homophobic; they denigrate a portion of our DePauw community. Before I go on, let me provide some context for all those that were not here when this situation first erupted. Two years ago the DePauw Entrepreneurs Association, a recognized student organization at the time, sold the "Wabash Loves Dick" shirts during Monon. There was much public shock and outrage, and rightly so. The situation was dealt with and all was good and well. They reappeared this last weekend.
I remember sitting in a Community Standards meeting making the case that the shirts were nothing more than ritualized homophobia. I also remember every tiresome and pitiful excuse used by the presidents of the DEA as to why the shirts were not homophobic. Everything from "Well, the population of LGBT people on campus isn't that big" to "Well, the shirts aren't really homophobic." I can also remember the same banal excuses that were used in the larger campus discourse. Those who supported the shirts didn't see them as homophobic, instead the shirts were taken to be in the name of school spirit, of course! I didn't buy that and I still don't.
Unfortunately, I guess I can say that I wasn't shocked to see that the shirts reared their ugly heads again over the Monon weekend. If you bought or wore one of these shirts this last weekend, I have some questions: When will you get it? When will you decide that it doesn't make you cool to use homophobia at the expense of our rivals? When will you get that being homophobic probably doesn't attract the opposite sex? When will you decide to think before you act? When will you decide to grow up? I'd love to hear some answers.
Brandon Monson, senior
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