To the Editor:
Leah Threatte's opinions, expressed in her column, "Auctions are Unacceptable" (Wednesday, February 28th), merit a response. As a community-conscious member of the Class of 2003, I would like to offer one.
If the Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction offended Threatte, I am sorry. I can only assure her that to debase or degrade her, her ethnicity, or her culture was not the intent. To the extent to which her comments bear on her personal feelings and evident outrage, I respect them. However, to level what amounts to a moral criticism of the 2003 Class Council grossly exaggerates and warps the reality of the situation.
Threatte argues that the auction was as offensive to the Dartmouth community as the incident at Psi Upsilon fraternity last week. Such a comparison is absurd. Some of the members of Psi U made a direct ethnic and gender based verbal assault. At no point during the auction was any inkling of a racial undertone or tension apparent. Furthermore, the students who were "put up to auction" volunteered, for the good of their class. They were certainly not forced. I disagree that the auction was an exclusive act of "racial insensitivity." To buy a date (an optional meal catered by the Hanover Inn) is in no way analogous to the degradation and sale of human life and the consequent privation of essential rights that occurred before emancipation.
People want attention paid to their issues on campus, but Threatte misses the mark in raising such libelous accusations against the 2003 Class Council. The Dartmouth community should praise the council for a successful, entertaining, and charitable event; not condemn the council as insensitive and bigoted.
