To the Editor:
In dormitories around campus, a group of people, or a student, has posted signs reading: "Write-in Snead Hearn for President. He has TWO HEALTHY testicles." After two and a half years at this school, I have learned that vile statements often pass for wit here, but this poster demonstrated that some Dartmouth students attempt to accel in mean-spirited, juvenile behavior.
President James Freedman has been lying on his back in Massachusetts General Hospital, ill with malignant testicular cancer. Instead of enjoying the spring in Hanover, he will undergo six to eight weeks of chemotherapy treatment. "Snead Hearn" finds President Freedman's condition appropriate for satire - nothing like a good phallic joke to get attention from one's friends.
I can imagine Snead Hearn," or anyone else who was amused by the poster, responding that "It was just a joke. Lighten up," as if cancer is really quite funny. I would ask these people to send a copy of the poster to Freedman and his wife. I would ask these people to make themselves accountable to the family they treat so viciously.
Unfortunately, "Snead Hearn" will never be held accountable because his spinelessness rivals his cruelty. "Snead Hearn" may have two healthy testicles, but whoever printed this poster has no balls.
ANDY PEARSON '95
