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I was ashamed for Wesleyan as I walked to my office October 5, 2000. Each of my steps from North College to PAC was accosted by obscene graffiti on the sidewalk. Obstensibly, these jottings are meant to promote gay pride. In fact, both the low language  and the lowly place in which they were displayed invite contempt. History teaches us that true justice is sustained by discource that uses words of power which appeal to the highest potential of humanity. Not the lowest.

To go to my office to teach Chinese history, I had to literally cross over childish appeals to touch, lick, and otherwise engage genitalia. This is a besmirching of my pedagogical mission at Wesleyan. We are here to teach, to learn, to expand the mind, to strive for genuine excellence in the hope that well trained minds will make the most creative contributions to the problems of the world.

To be brought so low-- to the level of obscene children-- is to miss the whole point of this genuinely liberal education. Yes, let’s talk about the history of gay rights. Yes, let’s engage in contsructive struggle. Yes, let’s create forums for engagement of serious issue worthy of the institution we inhabit-- not the sidewalk full of the scraps of fall.

Vera Schwarcz

Chair of the History Dept.