OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: Once again, the righteous stalk the hallowed halls of academia leaving a slight smell of fire and brimstone. I refer, of course, to the Sun/Fun Festival psychic scandal, an event that has one on-campus Christian up in arms and the SGA in search of their collective spine. Realizing this situation falls within the realm of the "squeaky wheel gets the grease," I would like to add a few random thoughts to hopefully roll all involved within spitting distance of commonsense and the oft invoked and much abused Constitution. ( You remember, that simple document containing such incendiary con cepts as the Bill of Rights?) Let's review the situation: in the hopes of bringing a little fun to lighten the winter doldrums, the SGA arranged an event involving free food, a palm reader, a tarot card reader and a caricaturist. The presence of the palm reader and the Tarot card reader so offended the on-campus Christian that they wrote a letter of com plaint to the SGA. The SGA promptly apologized for the offense. First of all, the abovementioned read ers were preSent on campus, not at Satan's behest, but as entertainers. As a bona fide card carrying reader myself, I can assure you that these readers are very clear on their role in such an event and only wish to provide an interesting and different insight to those who sit down for a reading. Readers in this situation do not purport to be divine, guides to ultimate enlighten ment or even always right. They do try to be friendly, positive and, in keeping with the job description entertaining. Secondly, despite the offense taken by the complainant, I seem to have missed the lasso and restraints dragging unwitting and unwilling members of the community into the presence of these readers. The students who sat down for readings did so for a variety of reasons—curiousity, thrills, an extra ten minutes—but not one was chained to the chair and forced to hear a reading. It would be nigh unto impossible to have one's palm read in this fashion, wouldn't it? No one was carried in kicking and screaming but rather, it was a voluntary act chosen through the free will of all involved Thirdly, for the Student Government Association to actually apologize for pro viding an on campus entertainment is sim ply ludicrous. Like the thought police who would dumb down and sanitize all events to the level of a Disney cartoon, the letter writer ignored the simplest of answers— Don't go. Do not attend. Do not have your cards or palm read. Just simply live your life without this form of entertainment and let others enjoy what entertainment that they choose. Or was the lure of that free dish of ice cream just too much to resist? For such a complaint to be dignified with a response from an organization that is designed to represent all the students on campus, is disappointing and dishearten ing. It seems that views of the few are hon ored to the exclusion of the mainstream. It taints what was a fun event with the threat ening clouds of censorship from an extreme individual. Not all Christians dis avow or censure psychic readers. There may be members of certain Fundamentalist cults that take this form of entertainment as too serious a threat to their translation of the Will of God. But not all, or even most, Christians hold their belief system as a way to blackmail any other group into following their path. Validating this complaint is offensive and unfair to all those who truly do attempt to honor and respect the belief systems of all their fellow students. Respectfully yours, Diane McDonough Literature Major NEW STAFF 0 c rn 1 BirS * > E > 2 r —.l E ...,......,,,,. • , ~ .. . ~ . , › z rn I ...0 . 1 , :..., › m x . ~.:. . 6 Z
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers