Letters to the Editor

Author: [no author name found]

To the Editor:

The Middlebury Campus' recent color spread highlighting the Middlebury men's hockey team brought to light a disturbing trend that I've noticed over the course of the past two years: the exploits of the men's team are well documented, and the two-time defending National Champion women's team gets the short end of the stick. While the men's recent success received full attention, last week's edition of The Campus did not feature a single story on the women's team, despite the fact that the women hold a better record at this point than do their male counterparts. The women were relegated to one of the last pages of the sports section, and received a measly photograph for their efforts. The Campus' coverage is slanted and the women's squad deserves much better.

Biased coverage contributes to the problem of sparse attendance at women's hockey contests. The Middlebury women have five of the Top 10 teams on their schedule this season. Yet, the games against national powers Elmira and Plattsburgh were poorly attended, and the crowd at last week's overtime tilt against Wisconsin River-Falls would have been even smaller had the Falcons not brought a group of supporters. With top western teams such as St. Thomas and Gustavus Adolphus on the remaining schedule, I'd expect attendance to improve, but I don't think this will happen. The editors of The Campus only perpetuate this problem, and they should be equal in their coverage so that all of our National Champions get the respect they deserve.

Sincerely,

Nick DeSantis '04

WRMC Sports Broadcaster

To the Editor:

My first excess of political correctness in Middlebury was at the door of the library: I held it open for a girl who told me that I was playing an aggressive stereotype. My answer had none of the gentle manners that I had exhibited before, but she could immediately tell that I come from a Spanish speaking country because of my strong accent, and said "you're in America now".

So, being in "America" (which, by the way, is an offensive term to all the other countries of the American continent), I was really surprised by the library's campaign for silence during December: all the signs depicted an overtly sexist message, that the joker that taped a piece of paper saying, "women are to be seen not heard" criticized in the previous issue only made explicit. The original text was: "She realized too late that she shouldn't have tried to talk to him while he was studying for his chemistry midterm;" so, she talks, he studies and, of course, he studies science, because he is intelligent. Another sign, displaying a girl talking by the phone, said, "she couldn't see that no one around her was interested in her trip to the mall." So, girls can do more than talking, they can shop! Two more: "She loved him for being the strong, SILENT type" and "it was hopeless… she knew she'd never finish her English paper on time-she just couldn't concentrate!" Guys respects the rules, girls don't.

I am not defending that joker, but the joke worked because the signs were already offensive.

Sincerely,

Pablo Martínez-Gramuglia

Spanish Teacher Assistant