NOTES

Author: Jason Siegel

As a worker in the mailroom, I get to see the campus activity boards on a regular basis. The Middlebury Open Queer Alliance (moqa) board is unique among all of the boards not because of its content, but because it is the only one that has been visibly defaced. Some random passerby decided to show his or her feelings toward the gay community by spitting upon the word "queer" stapled to the board. The reaction? Silence. Not a letter to The Middlebury Campus, no condemnations for the utter disrespect shown to the gay community, nothing.

Then, on the eve of moqa's Coming Out Week, someone took it a step further: He ripped the word "queer" off the board completely.

The timing was especially poignant. Not only was it the first day of Coming Out Week, but it was also the day that a group of prospective students, a group of truly diverse students who otherwise would not have had a chance to see Middlebury, arrived on campus. So, what then do we tell them about tolerance here?

It is, of course, a difficult question. Almost no one tears down posters, so it is difficult to describe the campus as intolerant. Conversely, no one objects to the defacing of the activity boards, and in previous years, when the moqa closet was torn down, students stayed mostly silent, so it is equally difficult to call the campus tolerant. I have even had a friend report hearing someone on his hall scream the N-word through the wall of a Black student.

To at least start to rectify this problem, people should consider actually engaging in a dialogue about intolerance at Middlebury. The timing is apt, while the Human Relations Committee is convened to discuss, among other things, on-campus diversity. Go to the Distinguished Men of Color's symposium this weekend. Most importantly, actually start to care about diversity. Lip service to a cause is not support; it is a severe disservice to those whose interests are in doing the right thing for the right reasons.

We can either embrace diversity, or watch it get spit upon. I, for one, hope that more of us start to choose the former.

- Jason Siegel

News Editor