Debate must follow controversy
Letter to the Editor
I apologize in advance for my hypocrisy. Just a few days ago I was laughing with friends about how "The Vagina Monologues" issue was still making the newspaper. Glancing at Monday's front page article, however, prompted me to put my foot in my mouth and write in to share my viewpoint.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Arts and Letters faculty presentation this past weekend as it helped justify in my own mind my switch to that college in the hopes of a more fulfilling career. The faculty members who spoke emphasized, among other things, the absolutely vital role of open and ongoing discussion and debate of "tough questions" — academic, as well as moral, ethical, and spiritual — among students, faculty and administrators in a university of Notre Dame's repute.
Contrast this with the paraphrase in Monday's issue of The Observer of Marilou Eldred which indicated that "The Vagina Monologues" would not be allowed because of concern that the play would "draw more controversy than healthy discussion."
Pardon me, but doesn't the debate of tough questions that the Arts and Letters faculty spoke of imply a degree of controversy?
I might go further and infer that Marilou Eldred's idea, then, of "healthy discussion" involves everybody agreeing on everything ... which also implies that nobody learns anything from anybody.
As students in the Notre Dame family we are special. But are we not also just normal people? Don't we also have the same concerns and personal issues as students elsewhere? In particular are violence, sexuality and the combination of violence and sexuality not crucial to our developing lives? (If sex isn't a part of a Catholic's life, then how is it that they have such big families)?
Suggesting otherwise — that we are somehow above these issues — is turning a blind eye to stark reality; it is burying our heads in the sand. I don't want to learn to live as an ostrich. If our leaders are ostriches then I don't want to follow them.
I'd like to close this letter with a story about a close friend of mine with whom I had the pleasure of talking over Christmas break. I'll call her Valerie.
Valerie is a student at a Michigan state school, is a theater major and is deeply religious. She was also sexually assaulted recently — an event which shattered her life. It was through hearing "The Vagina Monologues" and eventually through participating in the production that she was able to find strength, meaning and direction again in her life.
I thank God that she chose not to come to Notre Dame.
Kyle Demko
junior
Morrissey Manor
February 20, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, February 21, 2001
