It’s just amazing to me that a group of students can feel so
passionately about an issue that they resort to distributing flyers
laden with hate speech, and yet fail to even show up for a simple
meeting to discuss why they’re upset.
Such was the case on the evening of Nov. 24, when students
gathered for an open discussion of the gender issues that have come
to the forefront over the past several months in The Weekly.
Although a male graduate student initially called the meeting, only
a handful of male grads actually showed up.
Considering the topic of the meeting, it was literally shocking
to see dozens of females in the Student Union that evening, with
only enough males to count on one hand.
The meeting was called to address the conflict between male and
female students on campus and in the classroom. Mills men have
appeared to be on the “defense” after a few articles were printed
in the paper that expressed varying levels of concern over their
presence. Some males seemed so infuriated by those pieces that a
few took to distributing inflammatory flyers that inappropriately
compared a female student’s views about men on campus to racism and
called her a fascist bigot.
By default then, it seemed that Mills women were on the
“offense” but such an idea is absolutely ridiculous here. It is
true that several articles were published in The Weekly by
female authors expressing their views about the men on campus.
However, it is also a fact that more women than men submitted
letters to the editor.
The Weekly staff attempted to publish 100 percent of what
they received regarding the male/grad issue, so if males feel
underrepresented in the paper, it is their own fault. If they want
their side heard, they should go through the appropriate channels,
such as submitting articles to The Weekly, or showing up and
representing themselves at school-sponsored forums. Simply passing
out anonymous flyers picking on a student who was brave enough to
share her opinion is more than hurtful or immature; it’s libel,
which is illegal.
I am completely disgusted with the men who are actively involved
in proliferating this issue and did not even bother to show up on
the 24th. I am very grateful to the few males who actually had the
balls to come to the meeting and let their opinions be known.
That is how you earn respect.
I find it impossible to believe that all of the other men had so
much to do that night that they couldn’t show up. I, too, had
things to do that night, but I came to the meeting anyway, because
it matters to me.
At least fifty or so other Mills women felt the same way, and
though we did not all share the same opinions, I was proud to share
that room with them because they were there to make a
difference.
For future reference, that’s something you can’t do while
idly sitting in your room waiting for your spy to report back what
the other side thinks.
Kathryn Booth, Junior
