Speaking out
By NICOLE HADDAD
News Writer
On the heels of CARE's letter of explanation to College president Marilou Eldred regarding the decision to stage an unofficial performance of The Vagina Monoluges, students, faculty and staff convened at Dalloway's Wednesday evening to sound off about censorship, rape and academic freedom.
The forum was the second time Saint Mary's community members had the opportunity to voice opinions about the Monologues, which was performed unofficially by CARE officers and several students Feb. 19 in Regina Hall. The first forum came shortly after Eldred's official decision the Monologues would not be sponsored by any campus group. Nearly a month after the performance, student, faculty and staff concerns are still being vocalized, with approximately 30 people attending Wednesday's forum to speak up.
Faculty members made it clear that censorship will not be tolerated — and they will not back down in light of Eldred's decision to not permit the Monologues performance on campus.
Tom Parisi, professor of psychology, said that he hopes the faculty will not let the issue die because of lack of a convincing rationale from Eldred regarding the decision.
"If the president persists in this narrow way of thinking, the faculty have to go at it. This is not about civility, but about the freedom of process. The administration is using it as a screen for other things."
Faculty members offered the audience insight into recent faculty dialogue about the issue, raising the point that there is some faculty division. A departmental chair meeting last Friday may have revealed this, said Marcia Rickard, associate professor of art, but called it "the best discussion in all my 23 years at Saint Mary's."
"Not all faculty agree," Rickard said. "but all care very deeply. The discussions will be ongoing and actions will be taken in an educational sense. It's at the early stages, but it's not going to drop here. As issues become more polarizing, we must create an environment where we can respond in a civil way."
Catherine Pittman, CARE advisor, expressed concern that the administration expected faculty to support the decision — even in her role of advisor. That expectation is different than the one held in the classroom, she said.
"I was told by the administration that I had a moral obligation to support them [in my role as advisor]," Pittman said. "In our classrooms we have academic freedom, but in the role of advisors, the administration feels there are limits in what we can define as topics of discussion."
Other faculty members discussed how to proceed with the campus dialogue in light of outside pressure on the College. Peter Smith questioned the administration's choice of allegiances between the College and the outside community.
"Instead of supporting us, they are cowed by outside pressure," Smith said. "but they are paid to stand up for us."
Ann Clark, professor of philosophy, agreed with Smith, attributing the administration's choice to listen to outside pressure to financial reasons.
"Our school is subject to outside pressure," she said. "And until we get richer, there will be pressure with the exterior public. The only thing we can decide to do is what we're going to do about it.'
Community members at the forum suggested focus groups as a possible option to stimulate communication between the administration and students about censorship issues.
"I feel so jaded and don't know what to do," said CARE officer Emily Koelsch. "I can get an e-mail from [vice president for Student Affairs Linda Timm] and not believe a word of it. [Students at the forum are] not the only ones that have opinions. Maybe focus groups will be a way to get opinions," she said.
Some students disagreed about the effectiveness of focus groups, however, referring to negative experiences with prior College focus groups.
"I have a bad feeling about focus groups" said senior Jami Newcomb. "The no-smoking task force was organized by the administration, and yet, they rejected all our proposals last year."
Overall, students and faculty alike discussed the concern there is not enough open discussion about issues of rape and censorship on campus.
"Those of us leaders on campus should be concerned," said CARE officer Katie Poynter.
All News Stories for Thursday, March 29, 2001
