By Peter Ajemian

Hey what’s up? My name’s Pete, my friends call me Mr. Biggs. I am from Long Island, NY. I am not only a football player, but I am also a DKE brother ...but please don’t stop reading. Appreciate the fact that I’ve taken the time to take advantage of this university’s acceptance of the voice of the people and this institution’s tolerance of liberal ideas via Wespeak. Over the past two years of my Wesleyan experience I have become aware of the fact that hey, for once in my life as an athlete I’m a minority. But you know what? I was already aware of this situation after coming here on a recruiting trip two years ago. I really thought that it wouldn’t be such a big deal until I learned that the whole diversity “let’s all just get along” propaganda that this school uses to sell itself, and the image of it being a unique center for higher learning, is all just a bunch of crap.

 Basically I’ve come to the conclusion that a large percentage of this school doesn’t think fondly of the athlete population, especially those athletes of the contact sports (i.e. football, hockey, wrestling), not ultimate frisbee. Perhaps it’s because as a distinct minority within the student population we don’t fit within the liberal ideas that differentiate this school from other prestigious universities. One would be ignorant to say that we are looked upon as being equally credible members of the student body. Through my experiences at Wesleyan it almost feels like I belong to an inferior class of people on this campus who are usually in excess of 200 pounds: the Goons. It seems as though people are either afraid of us or for some strange reason repulsed by our presence. For a school that supposedly celebrates diversity, Wesleyan can be broken down into a vast number of isolated cliques. I mean who can honestly say that they have expanded their own little world to include a person of a different social circle.

 It’s not like my bench press is higher than what I got on the verbal section of the SATs, although I do bench a lot. I really am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given at Wesleyan. Look, I don’t know people at Brown, I don’t even know people at BU, most of my friends go to Nassau Community College. Although I feel lucky to be here, it’s not because deep down inside I’ve realized that perhaps I don’t deserve to attend this institution and that I really feel bad that my next door neighbor was rejected during the admissions process. Anyone who feels that people like myself don’t have the right to be here should really continue reading the rest of this article.

 The people that I’ve met through sports at this school happen to be some extraordinary people. You might feel that we don’t contribute anything to the student body, because one might think that we should be spending less time in Freeman and more time on the steps of Olin protesting US involvement in the brutal slaying of bunny rabbits for good luck charms. That I would rather go to Freeman and workout than attend a candlelight poetry session celebrating the life of the rabbit might not characterize diversity, but athletes are actually very well-rounded people. It’s not like we spend our free time beating the crap out of people that just
 

Ajemian is a member of the class of 2001.