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[pierced lemur]

I reproduce here a letter to the editor that ran in my college's newspaper, "The Free Press". They've been running Achewood for a while now. A while ago the ran the "bitches gotta take their cunt pills" strip; I think that probably triggered this.

   *   *   *

Insensitive Achewood

   To the Editor:
   We are deeply troubled by the editorial decision to run Achewood comic strips in The Free Press. The author of this strip clearly intends his work to be both obnoxious and insulting. The cartoons make derogatory references to gays and lesbians, use obscene language, speak about women in terms that are vulgar and offensive, and are homophobic, sexist, misogynist and racist.
   The University of Maine System's Nondiscriminatory Harassment Policy states that while "freedom of speech is of paramount value to any University ... great care much be taken not to unhibit open discussion, debate and expression of personal opinion. Freedom of speech is not a shield behind which a person can harass others."
"Actions or behavior," the policy furthers, may include "offensive pictures," as were found in the Free Press running of the Achewood comics. And hence, while, "the pain inflicted might be intentional or accidental, that does not matter. What matters is that the behavior and actions are harmful."
   No positive purpose was served by subjecting the USM community to obscene, harassing, sexist, homophobic and racist material. We must, as the UMS Policy states, "be sensitive to the harmful effects of hostil behavior and refrain from acting in ways that are demeaning and offensive to others. We can express our opinions and voice even strong disagreements without using statements, gestures, or actions that personally attack others." We hope that in the future, the Free Press will seek to be respectful of all members of USM's community while ensuring our rights to freedom of speech.

Luisa S. Deprez
Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Susan F. Feiner
Director, Women's Studies

Jane Marie Kirschling
Dean, College of Nursing and Health Professions

Joseph S. Wood
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Zark VanZandt
Dean, Lewiston-Auburn College

[pierced lemur]

Doesn't that just piss you off? I'm working on a response to send in to the paper. I sent it off to Onstad to see if he wants to write anything for me to send in for him. Anyone want to write a letter to the editor? Post your thoughts up here.

[Choop]

PROPER. fuck*ng PROPER.

[pierced lemur]

PROPER. fuck*ng PROPER.

You approve of Lyle? Made it mahself.

[misterhaan]

i'm curious if the letter came with those typos or if those came from you typing it into this little box to post it on the forum.  until i hear otherwise, i am going to believe that it was sent to you with those typos, because it makes it that much funnier

also i would like to add that i studied plenty of women on my own, with no help from the womens studies department.  i eventually took psychology of women and marriage & family (a sociology class) because of stupid requirements making me take classes about what someone believes to be oppressed minorities instead of classes that might actually be useful.  the womens studies and ethnic studies deparments are more like the make white males feel like they are responsible for everything wrong with the world, though they probably had nothing to do with it at all studies.  well that was my experience, anyway.  sorry for that little rant which i'm sure is at least slightly off-topic . .

[AugustWest]

Humorless people make me sad.  Are they really so simpleminded as to not understand the point of that strip was not misogynist (i.e. to express the idea that women are in fact bitches who need to take their cunt pills) but to make fun of a character who holds those views?  This is the same mindset that thinks Huckleberry Finn is a racist book.  Nothing like a knee-jerk reaction.

[CortJstr]

My S.O. is Assistant to the President of the Feminist Majority and she (my SO) likes Achewood.

I hated the non-western studies requirement at college. But there was a big-ass loophole. See, slavic countries are considered eastern Europe, so any SLAV course counted as your non-western studies requirement. Even SLAV 240: Dracula. So you spent a whole semester watching vampire movies, wrote a paper, and knocked out both the non-western studies and writing requirements all in one convenient early afternoon T+R class.

Sweet.

Best I can figure that requirement only existed because otherwise the enrollment in things like 20th Century China wasn't high enough to justify having the class. But if they didn't hold those kinds of classes the schools get all kinds of flak for only teaching white male history. So the easiest solution is to force all students to take the classes and keep enrollment up.

[V-Adore]

I am not sure how I feel generally about this issue, but I find the general concept of a class named "SLAV 240: Dracula" enough to redeem this entire thread. This is all.

[arkabee]

left hand- i think it's good to require students to become educated.  the broader the better.

right hand- it seems inevitable that the broader someone wants to make you, the narrower you actually become, until, eventually, you become who they are.

the other hand- inevtiable dumb joke about broads at college.

to slide slightly towards the topic at hand:

quitting smoking again has heightened my ability to see just how whimsical my moods and attitudes are.

for instance, this morning i woke up very angry and pissed off, and the first thing, even before i wanted to pee!, i wanted to do was crush the skulls of anyone who disagree with me under my bootheel.

then, i realized i was in such a bad mood because what i really wanted was to smoke the cigarettes of those whose skulls i'd crushed.

it would seem that those people woke up and said "today i will be a prick and attempt to point out the evils of satire and comedy thus making everyone else as unhappy as me".  

too bad they aren't as even-keeled as i am, and are unable to see that they themselves and various chemical imbalances are to blame for their antisocial behaviours.

i should start a School of Thought about this, and make it a requirement, in an effort to accept and emulate my Minority of One, that these people subscribe to it, until they become unto me.

ps-
dirty deeds done dirt cheap,
i'd walk a mile and a half for a camel.
HINT HINT.

[V-Adore]

(insert overly easy, snide remark about possible chemical imbalances here)

[jough]

I'd draft a letter for you if I thought it would help.  

The real problem with colleges today is that they hippy leftists are in charge, and it's the STUDENTS who are uptight P.C. fascists.

I got into lots of trouble in college since I was the editor of the "alternative" literary magazine (which has since become the main college respectable magazine) and even stupid little jokes at the expense of the university, like this "ad" for the Uni I put on the back of the magazine one year after the adminstration approved a new curriculum that required fewer papers and a lower GPA to meet their minimum standards:

West Chester University: We've Lowered Our Standards, But Not Our Prices

Luckily, I had already graduated by the time the issue came to print - but there was a meeting held (which I did not attend) where the President of the college suggested that they repeal my diploma (her request was denied).

Of course, there was also the problem of a very vulgar play of mine that was published in the same issue.

[V-Adore]

I got into lots of trouble in college since I was the editor of the "alternative" literary magazine (which has since become the main college respectable magazine)

Okay, now this I can sympathize with.

I'm a staff member of my college's humor magazine and will be a full editor next year; my co-editor and I are bracing for the Herculean task before us of staying both funny and college-recognized. The magazine almost got forcefully derecognized by College Council for making a joke about its creation of a "minority seat" (College Council Creates 'Black Guy' Position) that was somehow construed as being anti-minority, and this year the story was brought out again by the same organizations to paint us as "hatemongers." It's to the point now that we're making a two-page spread of articles for the spring issue mocking our own reputation.

(Of course, this also involves an illustration of the editors and editors-elect in pajamas, bound and gagged for summary Justice, but hey, you get your humor where you find it.)

[wombat]

I am so pleased that I know (if only virtually) someone who caused a college official to try to revoke his diploma.  I feel that I am finally running with the right sort of crowd.

[pierced lemur]

I am so pleased that I know (if only virtually) someone who caused a college official to try to revoke his diploma.  I feel that I am finally running with the right sort of crowd.

I think I want to be him.

[pmcd9]

I bow before thee mighty Jough.

~Paul