Page 114 - Phoenix1998-99

Thursday. February 18, 1999 - Page 6 COMMENTARY Tolerating Sexism Gamma Sigma Sigma Editors-In-Chief We at the Phoenix applaud Gamma Megan Martin '01 Emily Stamathis '00 Sigma Sigma for breaking the trend of so- Lisa Dale- VanAuken and regarded by others, and unfortunately, it has cial drinking by establishing a dry sorority. Managing Editor Danielle Loiacono question become relatively unimportant to most of us While newspapers across the nation are Laura Kelley '01 equality on campus. in our everyday lives. We have become com- plagued with horror-stories of college News Editors plaisant with the current status of women in drinking, we feel proud to be able to present Erin Howard '00 our society. Yet incidents such as this one con- our readers with a story about a group of .Jenifer Strkis '01 "Hers." Don't recognize the word? Well don't take it to heart. It's how a graffiti artist tinue to remind us of the need for feminist people who care more about service than Features Editor betrayed his or her intelligence (or lack action. spirits. Sarah Radice '01 thereof) on a wall of Whiteford. If you don't think there is a need for femi- Gamma Sigma Sigma has presented us Assistant Features Editor A group of students were disgusted to nism, just look at the language of today. The with the refreshing concept of a social or- Rich Simmons '99 read a plethora of sexist words scrawled in slang that was written on the wall is an ex- ganization focused on the overall good of Commentary Editor blue ink across the wall on the ground floor. ample of the sexist modern words that some the community rather than the exclusive Kristen G. Fraser '00 And while at first, some students were of us use in our casual conversations. Almost pleasure of the group itself. inclined to smirk at the vulgar display of every word was female specific. Good luck with everything! Assistant Commentary Editor Lisa Dale-VanAuken '02 grammatical ignorance, they stopped laugh- Think about it. There are more discrimi- ing as soon as the gravity 'of the incident set nating words to use against females than Sports Editor males. Glendening MikeYestramski'OI in. Similar to the racist graffiti found on a While this article will not name them, think Although the intentions of First Thurs- Art Editor few doors of Rouzer last semester, the graf- of how many of those terms you know, and day are in the right place, the Phoenix ques- Michael Puskar '99 fiti was a direct attack on a specific portion chances are, you will discover that you know tions whether or not the event will live up Photographers of the population, namely the female resi- more words used to label females than to la- to its ideals. As students, it's nice to be able Trang Dan '00 to stand up before faculty and administra- Robyn Hill '02 Paul Himes '02 By not publicly denouncing the act of the vandals, it is tion at an opcn-mic and discuss campus David Szepcsi '98 problems. Students may actually feel that almost as ifwe are accepting it. their message is getting across. Staff Writers CfaireAdams'02 But will it? Will First Thursday be an Anne BUI1er '01 dents of Whiteford. bel males. event where students, faculty, and staff can Sophie Boulet While most of the residents were upset Since the '60s, feminism has made incred- come together, kick around ideas, and ac- Ben Decker "00 Julie Develin '01 to discover the belittling graffiti, a second ible strides for women's equality, but the fact tually get something done or set something ShaunaDomingucz blow to the face came when the incident was that this incident was unrecognized is proof into motion? Or will it just be an opportu- Kate Esposito '01 that there is still quite a way to go before nity for those students with set agendas to loan Faulkner '02 hardly recognized. Shannon Hess '02 This lack of attention seems to trivialize women are truly considered by the overall get up on a soapbox and have their words Mike Jenkinson the hurt that some members of Whiteford are population as equals. fall on deaf ears? We would like to see the Brooke Joseph '02 By not publicly denouncing the act of the former occur. Mollie Land '02 feeling and makes it seem that sexism will Nicole Lehmann '98 be disregarded, if not tolerated, by the WMC vandals, it is almost as if we are accepting it. At any rate, the students seem to ap- Karen Millar '98 community. So in response, we have taken it upon our- preciate the attempt. Or are they just after Ron Mojica '02 Cathy Pendorf '00 Last semester, when racist terms were selves to send out two messages to the van- the free food? Prancesca Saylor '00 being discussed, the community was openly dals. Shawn Sprague '01 united against racism, as it should have been, First, we think you should know that Michael Stokes '()(} by the Anticipating an End Chris Taugher '02 yet no one has openly called out for action women stopped being dragged around Matthew Thomas '01 against the act of sexism that could be read hair centuries ago. We suggest you step out of The end is near! Emily Wilson '02 The impatiently awaited completion of Ted Witiak '02 in Whiteford. It makes one wonder, "Where the cave and into the 21st century. Kevin Worley '00 are the feminists?" Second, look into Hooked on Phonics. It the new science building is finally in sight, Raini Wright '()(} Feminism has been mocked by some, dis- might work for you. and we are all holding our breath for the last brick to be laid. Distribution Rich Suchoski '00 Pinball Peril in Game Room The science department is waiting as Graduate Assistant well. With the old labs becoming more and Vince Chesney more obsolete as the new building grows, science and math majors are counting on a Adylser Andrew Ryan battles pinball Normally when a machine is tilted, you quick finish. Terry Dalton machines for the right to playa lose your ball, and your next one begins. My Although we tend 10 agree with Mat- full game and loses. next turn never began. Isat at the machine for thew Thomas' conception of the new Lewis The Phoenix is published biweekly. The a few minutes hoping something would hap- Hall looking out of place, (see page 7) we'll opinions expressed do not necessarily rep- Something is rotten in WMC's game pen. just be glad to the construction end. resent those of The Phoenix staff, the fac- room, Nothing did. ulty, or theadminislrntors ofWMC. After a long Friday class schedule, I ate I lost fifty cents at that machine, but the First Thursday lunch and decided to kill some time in the poor fellow next to me was playing a two The paper welcomes free-lance submis- game room, I was happy to see that there player game at the Space Jam table by him- At the Phoenix, we too often complain sions on Macintosh disks in most word pro- were two new pinball tables, pinball being self. When his game went bad, he lost a dol- about the things that don't work on cam- cessorformers. Theeditorreservestheright my game of choice. I". pus. It seems that just about every student 10 edit for clarity. length, and libel and to I got some quarters and dropped fifty I walked away from my table in disgust, feels they have the right to complain when publish as space permits. All submissions cents into the Flintstones pinball table. I- had and played a game of STUN Runner, which things are broken. After all, resident stu- (excluding self-addressed diskettes) become never played that particular table before, and lasted about ten minutes. After I came back, dents are paying almost $24,000 a year to the property of The Phoenix and cannot be I thought I would give it a try. my machine was still blinking ''TILT.'' be here, and commuters are spending returned. Aside from the ball going right down the The Space Jam table that had been aban- $17,000, shouldn't everything be in work- Please include a name and phone num- center of the table, where neither flipper can doned long ago was now miraculously back ing.order? ber for verification. Names will be with- hit it, the first two balls played fine. Then it to normal, and both players had a couple of The point is, as Rich Suchoski reminds held only by the discretion of the Editor-in- all started ... balls left. I did what any reasonable person us, that most of us aren't paying the full Chief Sometime during my third ball, it failed would do, and I started to play. amount of either figure. WMC~udents' to make the return trip from the top of the This time I had better luck. I was about actual tuition payments barely pay the sala- The Phoenixdoes notdiscriminatebased table. I hadn't hit the ball anywhere it four balls into the games before a ball got ries of WMC employees. Think about it; on age, race, religion, gender, sexual orien- should've gotten stuck, and after a few sec- stuck. while it sounds odd, it is true. tation, national origin, condition of handi- onds, I began to wonder exactly where my Again I did what any reasonable person The next time we start to complain cap, or marital status. ball had gone. , would do. I shook the hell out of the machine about something not working, we should I stepped away from the flippers and hoping my ball (or the kid who had abandoned keep in mind that what we pay to go here Mail to: walked out to the side of the table, so Icould the table's ball) would come loose. doesn't cover the costs of maintenance, 7'hePhoenix look around for my ball, but it was nowhere Again, as any reasonable person might sus- computers, food service, etc. We have to WMC, 2 College Hill to be found. So then I did what any reason- pect, I tilted the machine. learn to deal with problems and stop com- Westrninster,MD21l57 able person would do. So then I did what any reasonable person plaining about them. Complaining about (410)751-8600 I shook the machine in the hopes that my would do. the way it should be isn't going to do us FAX, (410) 857-2729 ball would get jarred loose, and, as any rea- I left the game room, and as any reason- any good. If Glendening's proposal be- E-Mail: phoenix@wmdc.edu sonable person would suspect, my ball didn't able person might suspect, I won't be going comes law (see page 4), things may be a come loose, and I tilted the machine. back anytime soon. little better around campus, but until then,