To the Editor:
As Co-Presidents of the class of 2003, we would like to clear up some misconceptions that Leah Threatte presented in her article last Wednesday. First of all, we would like to say that the quotations in Leah's article were her words and not ours. From the article, it seemed as if we knew we would be offending others and didn't care, but this is not at all true. We took into consideration issues of gender and sex, but it was never suggested, nor did we realize, that this event could be construed as hurtful to the African-American community. We were careful and consulted with administrators to make the event as comfortable, inclusive and non-offensive as possible.
The "date" after the auction was an optional free dinner catered by the Hanover Inn as a thank-you to our participants for giving their time and money to a good cause. There was no suggested interaction beyond that. The dinner did not represent a date-like environment, but was rather an informal way to get to know the other participants better. The volunteers and buyers were of various races and "couples" were composed of the same and the opposite sex.
The focus of the auction was to raise money for those in need since our class has not done much lately to give back to the community outside Dartmouth. We are sorry that some students have been hurt and would like to apologize for any misunderstandings that have occurred. We had only the best intentions.
In addition to this article, we will ask Leah to talk with us about her views and to listen to ours. We do not believe that fruitful communication can be reached by groups on this campus through simply writing back and forth in The D.
