Overreacting to Strong Opinions
By Kenan Yount
Published on Thursday, November 17, 2005
To the Editor:
When Hunter Brooks '08 ("Hyper-sensitivity versus real discrimination," Nov. 11) attempts to defend the Sara del Nido '08's op-ed ("Speaking out, Standing Alone," Nov. 7) calling for official statements from Greek system, he not only conflates two op-eds she recently authored but also confuses the responses to her op-eds. Quoting my letter to the editor, Brooks writes, "No one is attempting to 'force ... politically correct lunacy on campus.' Last week's op-ed [...] only condemned the party; it did not suggest that those who hosted the event should be punished."
In fact, in "Speaking out, Standing Alone," del Nido quite specifically calls for official statements, apologies and member sanctions from both the fraternity and the sorority on account of the incident, particularly regarding an "appalling" letter that was written to one of her friends that mostly corrected grammatical errors.
On a campus where students hold strong personalities and beliefs, feelings are bound to be hurt from time to time, but instead recognizing this simple fact of life, both del Nido and now Brooks decry Dartmouth as the home to "classism" and social intolerance, inciting unwarranted paranoia in their peers, who, to be honest, are among the most "tolerant" and open-minded people I have ever encountered. The icy, idyllic Dartmouth life shall not soon yield to decrees for "dialogue" and "objections" to address a non-issue, but rather, quite a different moral ought emerge: chill out.