To the Editor:
I am a student at Cornell, and I am deeply saddened and outraged by the witch hunt which has happened at Dartmouth College. Now, while I definitely do not condone any sort of degradation of women, I do not believe that these "sex papers," which were never meant for public viewing and were allegedly stolen from the house would warrant permanent derecognition of a fraternity. If this ruling stands, it would set a dangerous precedent. For example, I am a heavy metal fan, and own a copy of Slayer's "Reign In Blood," which contains a song about the Nazi death camps in WWII. Under this ruling, I could be labeled as an "anti-Semite" and "Jew-hater." I am not an anti-Semite since most of my friends are Jewish, and I have a deep respect for the Jewish religion. I just like heavy metal.
I am especially outraged at Nicholas Swogger's May 7th article, "Other Greeks." His holier-than-thou attitude sickens me. I am sure that he has never made fun of anyone in his life (read: heavy sarcasm, since people read so much into what everyone says these days).
Speaking of sarcasm, how can anyone honestly take any publication seriously that has the line, "Special Manwhore Edition?" "The Zetemouth" was obviously written for humor and was not meant for public view; it was an in-joke among the brothers of Zeta Psi. Comedy Central's TV hit "South Park" relies on the same satire and tongue-in-cheek humor to appeal to their audiences, yet no one says a word about them. If Stan talking to a giant clitoris or Cartman telling his mother to get in the kitchen and make pot pie is not offensive to women, then I don't know what is. And yet, what do we do to South Park? Nothing except give them ratings and a 100 million dollar-grossing movie which critics praised. This discrepancy in standards is outrageous.
Also, the fact that "The Zetemouth" was stolen leaves much to be desired, and the fact that someone actually sifted through the fraternity's garbage just to find the paper is disgusting.
I hope that Dartmouth College realizes the error of their action and restores Zeta Psi.
