Word: aalarms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM) takes exception to the April 17 Crimson story describing Joshua Oppenheimer's vandalism of an AALARM poster. Although Robert Wasinger of the AALARM Presidential Council provided Crimson reporter Steven Engel with an eyewitness statement of what occurred, the reporter ignored his statement and reported only Oppenheimer's version of events, without giving the unsuspecting reader any reason to suppose that what actually happened was a matter of controversy...
Oppenheimer (apparently to buttress his dubious claim that he had "participated in a debate") claimed that he and Wasinger exchanged words before Oppenheimer tore down the poster (apparently unaware of Wasinger's presence as a representative of AALARM) before Wasinger approached him. The Crimson reporter also failed to report that Oppenheimer made a call to Wasinger late that night, threatening him personally with "retaliation" if Wasinger and AALARM pursued his case with the administration. This, apparently, is the kind of "non-violent, non-affrontive [sic] debate" that Oppenheimer and his fellows on the BGLSA are interested in--the frantic effort...
Apart from the Crimson's dubious reporting of the story, AALARM found the comment of Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett with which the article closed extremely ironic. Jewett claimed that a student would be exempt from College discipline for tearing down posters if the incident were "casual" and done "out of frustration." Such a policy, if adopted as a matter of precedent, would give license to every frustrated student at Harvard to tear down with impunity any poster which happened to annoy him, as long as he could claim that his action was sufficiently "casual...
...BGLSA is concerned. Is a group's right to free speech and the protection of the University dependent on its status as a "politically correct" organization? Can students threaten, deface, and assail without fear of University action so long as their target is an unpopular group such as AALARM...
...AALARM calls upon the University to show its non-partisan support for free speech and its commitment to protect all student groups in the exercise of that right by taking strong disciplinary action to condemn Oppenheimer's egregious action: his vandalism and his open threats...