John Manley ('74) - Shame, TESC!

The removal of S.M. Parks' cartoons from Student Voices of 1971, after initial publication, is a sad commentary on the state of TESC and society in general.

I was an on-campus transfer student in the Winter/Spring of 1973 and graduated in 1974. Although I believe the TESC administration had the initial right to choose whatever it wanted to include in a sponsored publication, once the choice was made and the work published the admin should have the guts to support its choice - or do TESC policies/philosophies simply blow where the PC wind blows nowadays?

I am disappointed, and no longer looking forward to helping celebrate the 25th anniversary- this is not the TESC I remember. The TESC I remember welcomed a good debate about the meaning of life, and the meaning of individual and group actions. We didn't all agree about everything - some were offensive and some were offended - but we learned how to learn and how to develop consenus, not force PC compliance.

In addition to my paying work as a bureaucrat, I also volunteer to do neighborhood mediations. I have found that the core problem in most of the disputes is not just a lack of communication skills, but a surplus of nitpicking about a neighbor's actions and generally unfounded assumptions about a neighbor's intentions, priorities, and potential reactions.

We all want to treated with respect as individuals, but that requires that we treat those around us (even those we diagree with) with respect as individuals. That means giving each other the benefit of the doubt; assuming at least neutral intention; not assuming the worst about each other simply because of a past bad experience with someone similar.

The best thing TESC could have done in this case, if the need to respond to complaints by republishing was to be accepted, was to leave the cartoons and include the complaints - let the people who read both decide who's right. That's intellectual freedom; that's how people learn and change. Such a dialogue would have ultimately put the cartoons in a useful context - good, bad or indifferent. The public would have decided what is acceptable for the future, rather than some nervous bureaucrat.

Shame, TESC! Shame for giving voice to one person by silencing another - let them both speak! True freedom for all is not won by restricting freedom for even one. If you think I have only heard one side of the story, you are right - so, enlighten me....

John Manley, Class of '74 E:mail: Manleyj@aol.com