—— page 0 —

Watch this space. Next week there will be

an editoriath

International

Youth Year in it.

rag . 77),.“ Ms. 7

The Netted Gem

January 10, 1985

who makes “Quote of the Week”, I am having serious problems keeping a sense of humour about it all.

I am making a reference, of course, to the last issue of

Problem quote

Dear Editor:

Although I am flattered to be virtually the only person

Due to the fact that few people realized we were publishing this week, the Gem’s numbers were somewhat reduced. Still around are 30b Stanley, Kaberi Dasgupta, Brian Linkletter, Katie Baker, Brian \lacleod, Jonathan Orlowski, Carol Doiron, Carolyn Ryan, Lori -\nne Heckbert, Jim Lai, Jill Warburton, Nancy Ross, Howard Beanie, Cathy Campbell, Michael Zinck, Ron Lewis, Glen Boswall, ind Robert Bodrog-Goodland.

The Nenud Com is a full member in good standing with Canadian University Press, a collective of 57 Canadian student newspapers. the Com is the student publication of the University of Prince Edward lsland. publishing weekly in the fall and winter terms with i circulation of l300. .

Views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Student Union, the staff, or anyone in particular. We reserve the right to edit copy for space, style, or legal reasons. Letters to the editor must be typed, double—spaced, and submitted before noon on Mondays. All letters must be signed by their auth0r(s), but names may be withheld upon consultation with the editor. Phone 892-4121, extension 387. Staff meetings are Mondays at 6 pm. All students are welcome to ioin the staff

the Netted Gem, where I was quoted as saying:

“We’re all Christians, and if we’re not, we should be.”

This is a very dangerous item to print, especially when it is taken out, of context. What was originally idle banter between two people became a source of irritation and even offensiveness to people.

To explain —- the com~ ment was made during a Council meeting when we were discussing the unem— ployment session sponsored by the Student Christian movement. I was expressing my frustration that people shy away from lectures like these just because they are sponsored by a group that has the word “Christian” in its name. The stigma attached

comes from the fear of other people thinking that they are religious fanatics.

The comment made was in reference to the people who I was with; and the second part was referring to people who call themselves Christians but don’t act like them. Hypocrisy is a preva— lent problem that we deal with every day.

To those who were of— fended by the misquote, I apologize. To the Gem; I ask you to print material, not idle chit-chat.

Council meetings are open and informal times when people feel free to joke when the opportunity arises. If every comment said in jest were recorded in the Gem, the quality of the paper would be in serious question. Thank you for Your

newsworthy .

ACTUALLY I'D RATHER NOT GET mvorvso...

attention.

Michelle Dorsey President Student Union

Another

problem?

Dear Editor: Is there discrimination against gays at UPEI?

When asked this question over Christmas, ‘the natural response seemed to be that there are no gays at UPEI. However, looking at the national stats, which say that 1 in 10 students are homo- sexual, it seems that they are out there, but in hiding.

This is probably due to P.E.I.’s obvious dislike of anything that differs from the established norms. It is

well-known that if you dress

or act even slightly out of the normal field of vision, you are in very real danger of being beat up by narrow- minded people.

One of the arguments which is frequently used by those who see no problems here is that sexual preference is never talked about, so therefore nobody is op- pressed. This may be true, but it is assumed that we are all straight; a homosexual must feel differently.

There is no easy answer to this problem at UPEI, since P.E.I. is not willing to let the norms be broken yet, and since a straight cannot raise the issue due to a fear of being labelled as gay, which would mean certain trouble on the island.

- Avmetastases?»' "