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Letters To the Editor...

Dear Editor,

Well to be sure I am appalled but no less surprised that this newspaper is going down the toilet again.

As someone said to me in the PIT the other day, “‘IfI write a white supremecist column, will they print it?’’ To think we have sunk so low that instead of printing bad taste comics as in year’s past we continue with ‘*intellectual’’ diatribe that is alarming. The under- current that is on this campus leaves a potential for violence and that is scary! Columns such as Backlash promote negative attitudes and since we have assas- sins such as happened in Montreal, these columns also serve to support people like these who think they should go out and act to solve the problems of scolety.

Now many of you out there know me and it takes a fair bit to frighten me or even make me stand back and think twice. I just boldly go where no ‘“‘person’”’ has gone before and ask questions later. Lately though Iam worried as I sense a systematic move to instill a nasty environment on this campus for future generations of people taking classes. Now I do not mean just ordinary classes, Iamreferring to the: classes in the new Women’s Studies Minor. Should this campaign continue, will students be too fright- ened to register in these classes?

Okay, some of you are now thinking, well this womyn has gone totally off the edge and to the extreme. No, I think not for what this newspaper is promoting, by printing this stuff, is homophobia and racism, plain and simple.

It is okay to have a difference of opinion, and it is definitely okay to voice it. What Iam angry about is the low, under-handed way you jab and poke with your so-called well-documented essays in Backlash. The title alone on these pages immediately lets the reader know just what you are up to. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the the case may be, men on this campus are embarassed about what appears in this column.

[am not against well-researched and well-documented articles. lamalso not against a good controversy. What I do resent and vehemently protest is the sys- tematic bashing ofwomyn. Nevermindspecific — policies or feminists. The plain and simple truth of the matter fellas, is you are deliberately choosing to

UPEI X-P RESS

February 20, 1992

; ; ee 4 hit where hitting is not part of the rules. ENOUGH! If you can not use the education you have acquired to this pointin your lives in a decent way that benefits the whole of society then get off the soap box. As my mother used to say, ‘“If youcan not say something nice, then don’t say anything atall.’’

As to the rest of this campus that reads this stuff, if you dislike what is happening get off your ass and say something! This is your newspaper and it is only as good as those who contribute to it. There are some great articles about, for and by men that are out there waiting to be written. I know, you’re too busy. Garbage, if I have time to write you sure do! I con- gratulate those of you have taken the time to comment and I encourage you to continue. This is yourcam- pus, your education, do something about it!

Very sincerely and with a great deal of thought,

Dawn Ambler ‘‘Kate’’

P.S. Since the Guardian has instated a policy of not using pen names in their editorial letters I think the X-Press should do likewise. If you have something to say and you believe in it -SIGN IT!

Dear Editor:

I was in attendance last Friday for the speeches and question periods for prospective deans for the faculty of arts. The last speaker, Andy Robb, seemed to be quite high ona programme referred to as “‘Employ- ment Equity.’’ Forreasons that won’t be addressed here, the question period came to an unceremonious end. Thus I would like to present some questions that Professor Andy Robb never got the pleasure of ad- dressing:

In a hypothetical situation where the next few years has hiring pools of, say, 30% women and 70% men, does this mean that under what you consider *‘Em- ployment Equity’’ (and working on the widely accept- able assumption that men and women are equal) that 30% of the positions that are going to be filled will be by women? And if itis more than 30% women, how ~ do you justify this as not providing an ‘‘institutional-— ised’’ barrier for individual males? What exactly is meant by ‘‘equity’’ within the context of ‘**Employ- ment Equity’’?

Peter Hanus