The sex columnist is sexist

Far from his oblique apology for being “unforgivably feminist” Daniel Crowder displays the exact attitude feminists have been fighting against for decades in his Thursday column. Crowder calls for more responsibility for women, that they “not get so drunk that (they’re) essentially catatonic by evening’s end” at parties but conspicuously lacks a similar call to pro-action for men.

Men are just as capable of controlling their sexuality as women are. We must not return to archaic concepts of women as prudes who attempt to control the wild, natural urges of men, a dangerous mindset that allows sexual pushiness and even sexual violence to be chalked up to “the way men are.”

I agree completely with Crowder that women should be “more sovereign and proactive over their sex and sexuality,” but, for people in heterosexual relationships, there’s a woman and a man involved.

A relationship will never be healthy unless both partners are avoiding the “bad decision-making” of which Crowder accuses women.

– Melissa Ammann,

Weinberg sophomore

NU is more than a rock

I was very disappointed after watching a thirty-second commercial for Northwestern, twenty-five seconds of which featured The Rock. Does our publicity department really think that a rock will entice prospective students to apply here?

I remember when I visited NU in high school. I almost walked out of my tour because the tour guide insisted on talking about The Rock for 20 minutes. No matter its history, or what it means to certain people, the fact still remains that the centerpiece chosen for our school is a rock!

Why doesn’t the commercial feature our beautiful campus, a clip from our football games or a scene from our classrooms? Especially considering people who have never visited this campus don’t even know what The Rock is, what is the point of featuring a trivial hunk of earth?

I doubt that anyone has ever seen the commercial and thought “Wow, look at that thing! Yale has a Gutenberg Bible but NU has a rock!” NU has so much to offer. It’s a shame that some people think our school’s pinnacle should be represented by glorified stone.

– Daniel Green,

Weinberg senior

Engineering profs speak out

I am writing to express my chagrin over a flagrant (even disturbing) error made by The Daily in Wednesday’s issue.

A letter to the editor repudiating Arthur Butz was attributed only to Profs. Taflove, Wilensky and Birnbaum when, in fact, it was co-authored by a great majority (60) of the faculty affiliated with the department of electrical engineering and computer science, Butz’s home department.

The full list of these 60 professors, which includes my own name, can be found at the Web site, http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~taflove/

There is a profound difference between only three faculty supporting a letter, as implied by The Daily’s error, and the actual number of 60 faculty, in a department comprised of approximately 75 faculty (including full-time, emeritus, adjunct, and research professors). We 60 professors utterly disavow and condemn Butz’s views and actions which deny the historical reality of the Holocaust.

We further state that Butz should quit our Department and Northwestern. He should have the courage to see if anyone might take him seriously without this affiliation with one of the world’s great universities.

– Abraham H. Haddad,

Professor, electrical engineering and computer science