Dear Editor:
You seem to have missed the point of my letter, entitled by you “More Regulation of Student-Faculty Relationships Needed.” My point is best expressed by the motto of the University of Pennsylvania, my doctoral alma mater and Josh Smith’s: “Leges sine moribus vanae,” or in English, “laws without morals are empty.”
Let’s bring back the “Ethics and Values” requirement. Washington University needs it.
-Jerome Bauer
Lecturer in Religious Studies
The fairness of women’s hunger
Dear Editor:
I would like to applaud Chelsea Murphy’s thoughtful remarks in her article “A Campaign for Curves.” Chelsea very artfully points out the way in which women so harshly criticize each other’s bodies despite a worldwide “thin epidemic” that should, ideally, band women together rather than tear them apart.
I agree with Chelsea’s comments wholeheartedly, but I’m not sure that women were themselves the instigators of such a movement. Rather, I’d like to argue that women carried on, and perhaps internalized, a backlash against their rising successes in the 1960s and 1970s. Is it any coincidence that the close scrutiny of women’s bodies began at a time when women were indeed starting to “grow bigger” than their previous roles’ requirements in such areas as the workforce and education? Masked behind the pressure to be thin is a pressure to be small, feeble and powerless. Perhaps on a grander and more obvious scale, the demands of being thin leave women hungry. But hungry for what? Whereas women’s hunger during the feminist movement was driven by a desire for success, prosperity, choice and self-fulfillment, women’s hunger is now characterized by whether or not to have that brownie, a constant battle that is often followed by guilt and “I really shouldn’t haves.” One look in “US Weekly” or “People,” magazines that tout celebrity diet tips and diet products, confirms this switch.
When did our hunger as women for such grand ideas become threatened by such small and trivial matters? When did we become coerced into counting calories instead of our goals?
I am not suggesting that women are not striving for achievements beyond those that they previously had access to. What I am questioning are the reasons behind, and the fairness underlying, the need for our society to backlash against these successes, to encourage women (who then, as Chelsea points out, encourage other women) to grow smaller instead of stronger, to focus on the brownie instead of getting women in positions of power. Chelsea is absolutely right that we, as women, need to concentrate on becoming healthy in whatever way makes sense for our own individual bodies. Part of this, as Chelsea points out, is accepting our curves. There’s a reason why many of us have a small “stomach pooch:” we are fit to bear children. But another way to accept a healthy body as women is to regard our physical means as supporting our ambitions. We cannot begin to satiate our mental and spiritual hunger if we do not satisfy our physical hunger, if we do not provide for our body’s own natural growth and development.
-Laura Wolkoff
Class of 2008
Lack of diversity a serious problem on campus
While studying abroad this semester in the beautiful country of Chile, I received a surprise that offered me a little taste of home. One of my friends decided to send me the Wash. U. planner so that I could see the goofy facial expressions I make, featured as one of the people in the pictures on the cover. My initial fascination of seeing myself soon wore off when I observed the rest of the cover. Although the cover does a good job of encapsulating the many events in which Wash. U. students get involved, it also lacks a great deal of diversity. I realize that it’s striving to do so by covering some of the cultural events that took place last year, but overall, finding the minorities is almost like reading “Where’s Waldo?” – they’re there, you just have to look.
Some of you may feel that I’m making too big a deal out of this, that it’s just a dumb calendar. While this might be somewhat true, I feel the lack of diversity on the cover reflects the general apathy amongst the general student body for a more pluralist population. At the same time, more should be done to promote the diversity that does exist. As an emblem of our university, it is important that the calendar more equally portray all groups. When I see it, even though I was fortunate enough to grace the cover, I only feel exclusion for all those who did not make it. Since the black population probably got the least amount of representation, what happens when a potential black student visits, sees the cover, and sees very few black students on it? What does that tell him/her about our institution? The same goes for East Asians and Latinos who are rarely seen.
I think it is important that students’ consciousness be raised. It might not seem evident to many when representations of the University lack diversity, but it exists in the consciousness of others, especially to those outside of our institution whose impressions of the university are limited to images and hearsay. If we are to attract a more diverse student body to this university, which can only add more value to a university education, we must challenge ourselves to increase this consciousness.
-Daniel Ramirez
Class of 2007