Canceled `Monologues' spurs forum
By COLLEEN McCARTHY
Associate News Editor
Students, faculty and staff expressed discontent regarding the administration's decision to prevent "The Vagina Monologues" from being performed on Saint Mary's campus Wednesday in a speak-out facilitated by student organizers.
After receiving letters from alumnae, College President Marilou Eldred told student organizers this week `The Vagina Monologues' would not be performed on campus this year. Alumnae, the Board of Trustees and members of the Parents Council expressed concerns about performing the play at Saint Mary's after seeing a letter from a former professor, E. Michael Jones, detailing certain aspects of the play that he said went against Church teaching. The discussion gave members of the Saint Mary's community the opportunity to react to the decision and voice their opinions about the play.
One of the discussion's facilitators, Saint Mary's student Julie Frischkorn, expressed concern that the administration had only heard mostly negative feedback. Other students questioned whether students behind the effort to have the `Monologues' on campus had a chance to refute what they saw as false claims about the play that were presented in Jones' letter that ran in The South Bend Tribune.
"There was a letter written by the Campus Alliance for Rape Elimination to the Alumnae Board, Parents Council, and the Board of Trustees and we sent it to the President's Office to get approval to send the letter to these individuals describing the play and why we felt it was valid and necessary to present on campus," said Frischkorn. "However, the letter was never sent because the administration was not willing to have it sent. I received a phone message from Dr. Eldred saying that approval for the letter was denied."
Although Eldred was unable to attend the forum due to prior commitments, Linda Timm, vice president of Student Affairs was in attendance. She emphasized that her role at the discussion was not to provide answers to specific questions.
The administration received a number of letters and phone calls regarding the play after it was performed last spring and Eldred responded to each, said Timm.
Timm said Eldred told her that she believes there are other ways dialogue can be continued to raise awareness about rape and address issues of sexuality.
"Her [Eldred's] position has been that this is one way dialogue has begun to be opened but there must be more inclusive ways to open the dialogue other than through the play," said Timm.
Molly Kahn, student representative to the Board of Trustees said although she saw the play last year and it was a positive experience, she said there is a need to take into account what those outside the immediate student body who are part of the Saint Mary's community think.
"There are people including parents, supporters of the College, and former students in that outer Saint Mary's community and many question how we can continue to engage in a dialogue about sexuality and rape awareness. But is the only way to do that through `The Vagina Monologues'?" said Kahn. "The administration is open to talking about sexuality and there are many ways we can do that."
Senior Katie Poynter questioned how much influence those outside of the student body should have.
"The decision making process is being made by people not going to this school who are not in school here right now and who are giving money," said Poynter. "We need to ask ourselves that if these people are not thinking as we are, do we want this to be the overriding influence on decisions made on this campus."
Others raised questions about having the `Monologues' on campus because they contain material some see as contrary to Catholic teaching such as issues of masturbation, premarital sex both by heterosexuals and lesbians.
"Education is supposed to be wholesome so if you are going to put on `The Vagina Monologues' there needs to be something else performed too," said junior Akmaral Omarova.
If assuming `The Vagina Monologues' does go against Catholic social teaching, Poynter said there are many other non-Catholic activities that take place on campus.
"Why are `The Vagina Monologues' out of all the other non-Catholic things on campus being cracked down on?" said Poynter. "Why not ROTC, which is definitely against Catholic social teaching. We need to ask ourselves what is the agenda of those who are saying `no' to this play."
Other objections were raised over the presentation of the play.
For Mary Dugan, a Saint Mary's sophomore who saw the play last year, it was not a positive experience.
"I went to see it and I didn't enjoy it," said Dugan. "As far as it being a statement for women, focusing on the vagina is not the right way to go about doing that. There are other ways to talk about sexuality. If we are focusing on rape, as some parts of the play does, why focus on the vagina that is the source of the violation? There were too many vulgar parts for me."
A Saint Mary's staff member questioned if the audience for the play was too narrow.
"There are women on this campus who saw the ads for the play last year and were offended and wouldn't go because they thought it would be an in-your-face feminism approach to these issues," the staff member said. "I think the shock value alone attracted like-minded people and those who knew about the issues already. But people with conservative attitudes who could have spoken to the issues in another way chose not to be a part of the play. I'd ask you to continue to try to broaden the approach so as to include these other people in this dialogue."
Emily Koelsch, one of the facilitators of the forum, responded to their concerns.
"I respect your opinions and that you [Dugan] attended the play and made a decision about what it was about for you," said Koelsch. "But is it fair not to have it at all because it was not a positive experience for you? Is it better to have the play so people can go and potentially benefit from it?"
For senior Cassie Carrigan, the benefits of the play outweigh the negatives.
"This play is a great way to talk about sexuality and to raise money for Sex Offense Services and the Campus Rape Alliance," said Carrigan.
"The play is a better way to get people's attention because most are more likely to go to a play rather than a speaker or symposium on sexuality or rape awareness. No one is required to go and see `The Vagina Monologues' and if anyone has problems with it, they don't have to attend."
Several in attendance raised the issue that by not allowing `The Vagina Monologues' to be presented was an act of censorship by the administration.
"I've been a member of the faculty at Saint Mary's for 20 years and I'm also a board member of the Indiana American Civil Liberties Union," said faculty member Bob Hall. "This issue regarding the content of the play is the most blatant example of outright censorship I have seen in a long time. This is pure and simple an issue of being denied the freedom of expression. I ask the members of the administration in attendance to ask the President to rescind their denial of allowing the play to be performed in order to avoid the possibility of denying our students to be free-thinking leaders."
English professor Rosalind Clark also raised concerns over issues of censorship and the message this sends to those outside of Saint Mary's.
"I want to point out that we are in the process of hiring a women's studies program coordinator and I've been informed that one of the questions potential candidates have been asking is whether there is censorship of women's studies at Saint Mary's," said Clark.
"What will we tell them about censorship at Saint Mary's? Especially since a letter to the Parents Council, alumnae, and Board of Trustees from students was censored and not allowed to be sent?" she asked.
All News Stories for Thursday, January 25, 2001
