By Elizabeth KeatingThe Daily Northwestern
The following is not an open letter to the pretend girl who sits next to Monday columnist Tony Evans in discussion session. It is one of disgust at the sentiments expressed.
January 2007 was particularly triumphant for women’s rights, with women making the news for groundbreaking accomplishments.
Hillary Clinton (finally) declared she will run for President. It’s early – the first vote won’t be cast for a year – and Clinton faces many hurtles and enemies, but our first viable woman candidate is an inspiration and testament to how far we’ve come since Janette Rankin was elected to the House of Representatives in 1916. Speaking of the House, first female Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pretty innovative herself.
Monday also was the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The issue remains trapped as a catalyst for culture wars, and much myth and misogyny abound, yet the right still exists as the classic example of women able to make private, personal decisions.
Despite these gains, sadly, Northwestern women are subjected to sexual harassment on the pages of this college newspaper.
Tony Evans’ Monday column, intended to be a parody of college interactions, goes beyond freedom of expression. Instead of a light narrative, it comes off as an angry rant from a possibly lonely student, disguised as an elegy to a girl in his discussion section. It also violates several clauses of Northwestern’s Policy on Sexual Harassment, including “unnecessary and unwelcome references to various parts of the body” and “inappropriate sexual innuendoes or humor.”
Evans crafts a fictional tale about being rejected for a coffee date. He then turns to frightening insinuation, graphically illustrating a sexual fantasy involving the girl and ominously referencing his presumably large penis. At the conclusion, he demands the girl return a borrowed pen.
Had Evans’ column not been a parody and had the girl been a real student, it might have brought more pain into the life of this girl who did not ask to be written about.
Medill Prof. Michele Weldon, who lectures on ethics in Editing and Writing the News, said the column is irresponsible journalism and the motivation to print it is disturbing.
The column’s headline, “All is fair in love and midterms,” is clever, but the replaced word – “war” – is what’s really going on. American women are at war against sexual abuse, and it’s certainly not fair. One in three will be assaulted in her lifetime, and women are three times more likely than men to be harassed in the workplace. The college campus should be a safe area to grow and share, not a sexual war zone.
Evans’ joke puts Michael Richards to shame. Its publication insults everything and everyone today’s leading ladies fight for, and so much more.
Medill junior Elizabeth Keating can be reached at [email protected].
