Word: aalarmed
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Your article of November 15 concerning the Harvard Political Union-sponsored debate between the Association Against the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM) and the Arts Organization for the Advancement of Sexual Minorities (ORGASM) contained certain subtle mistakes which I thought it necessary to clarify...
...specifically, the Harvard Political Union, are undergraduate activities. Consequently, the Crimson's error of associating the AALARM v. ORGASM debate with the Kennedy School has serious connotations. Neither the Kennedy School nor the Forum office at the IOP were responsible for the debate of November 14. The credit--and the blame--go to the Institute of Politics and the Harvard Political Union. Mukhlis S. Balbale '92 Chair, Harvard Political Union
True to form, the founders of the Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM) have pointed out, in a recent letter to The Crimson, one of Harvard's most objectionable restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of association: the rules which reserve the "privilege" of putting up posters to student groups officially recognized by the office of the Dean of Students...
...Office of the Dean of Students and such permission will be granted only in exceptional cases." In the the past, these rules have been ignored with virtual impunity by everyone from Wellesley sororities and futon vendors to tenants seeking sub-letters. But when members of the then-unrecognized AALARM hung up posters on College property, their flyers were torn down by College officials and members were threatened with disciplinary action for violating the poster rules, according to E. Adam Webb '93 and Kenneth D. DeGiorgio '93, the group's founders. Other groups--including MIT-based fraternities--have also been singled...
Such selective enforcement is an obvious affront to any notions of freedom of expression. But even if they were fairly enforced, the rules prohibiting postering by unauthorized groups would be unacceptable. As the AALARM founders pointed out, student organizations cannot gain the administration's approval unless they have at least 10 members and two faculty advisors--including one tenured professor. What about a single person's ideas? Are they not entitled to an outlet? And what about groups so outlandish that faculty members refuse to associate with them? Should they, too, be silenced...