Thursday, January 19,1995
Letters to the Editor...
Continued
It was with great concern that I read Dr.
John Champagne's letter in the December
8 issue of The Collegian, regarding a
column about AIDS, HIV, and the late
Pedro Zamora written earlier by co-editor
Alicia Hartman.
It is not my intent hue to comment on
the opinions of either Hartman or
Champagne regarding these subjects.
Both newspaper columns and letters on the
OP/ED page are, by definition, a mixture
of fact and opinion and represent the rights
of each citizen to express himself (or
herself) freely. Nowhere should this
freedom be more evident than on a
university campus, despite Champagne's
inference that tolerance and diversity be
defined as agreeing with him. Calling for
someone's resignation because of a
difference in opinion is neither "diversity"
nor "tolerance."
Instead , my intent is to seek
clarification of a particularly troubling
paragraph in Champagne's rebuke of
Hartman. I suspect that Hartman may
have been more than a little troubled by
the wording in the next-to-last paragraph
of Champagne's letter. I know I was. I
also suspect that, as a student, she may be
reluctant to respond to a faculty member.
I am not so reluctant.
So that the paragraph may be studied
carefully, I offer a repeat of it here.
"How can you possibly feel safe at
Behrend, knowing the hatred you secretly
harbor against us? Don't hide behind the
phony objectives of your newspaper. If
you really feel this way, let us see the hate
in your eyes so that we might steel
ourselves against it"
As I see it, there are two ways of
reading this paragraph. Either the writer
has chosen to ignore rhetorical mandates
governing the need to avoid indefinite
reference, or (much more ominously) he is
making a threat
Precisely who is the "you" in the
paragraph? If the word is merely an
example of empty rhetoric, referring to
nobody in particular, then the paragraph is
simply an example of sloppy writing. If,
however, the "you" is directed at Hartman,
then the first sentence could be read as an
implied threat against Hartman's safety.
Since the second sentence in the paragraph
refers to "your newspaper," there is some
logic in assuming that die "you" does
indeed refer to the co-editor Hartman.
The Behrend College
Collegian
Published weekly by the students
The Pennsylvania State University
at Erie, The Behrend College
Co-Editors
Holly Beaty
Jennifer V. Colvin
AdvertMng Manager
JenyM. Bruno
The CoUegiaa’t editorial Dpinion i*
determined by the editorial, staff, with
the editors holding final responsibility.
Opinions expressed in TheCeOegkm
«*. net necessarily theft
dt*. as» \ - *J. • ", <
Then there are those other troublesome
pronouns - "us," "we" and "ourselves."
To whom do these words refer? Could the
words refer to faculty? I hope not Could
"we" be students? Professor Champagne
should not be speaking for students. Just
who ate those undefined antecedents?
The group represented by these
collective pronouns is important given die
ambiguity of the entire paragraph and the
threatening implications inherent within
it The "we" could be a force of which
Hartman should be aware.
And so I am calling upon Dr.
Champagne to offer some further
clarification of his original letter. He
notes in other paragraphs that he has
grown sick of "columns that contribute to
the climate of ignorance." On that, Dr.
Champagne and I agree. However, I have
also grown sick of reading shrill, illogical
personal attacks leveled by alleged
proponents of "cultural diversity" and
"tolerance" toward anyone who happens to
disagree with them.
Any university community should be
above such prattle, and faculty should be
leading the way.
Dr. Mike Simmons
Associate Professor
of Communication
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News Editor
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Portal Information: The Collegian
ispriblished weekly by die students of
Hie Pennsylvania Suae University at
‘SEir
\?ter?\ssr w mt s\>cc&t> l uvu , i
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and University affairs. Lenars should be
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no more than two persons. Letters should
be no longer than 400 words. Letters
should include the semester standing and
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The Collegian reserved the right to edit
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