Word: eta
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Finally, we must deal with the women who went to the party on Saturday, and who have continued to defend Pi Eta. The message of their words and actions are the most disturbing of this entire affair. As for the women themselves, it is clear that they have so internalized the sexist mores of society that they have developed extreme cases of self-hate. They claim that the reason they went to the party was that they knew the newsletter was "not intended to be taken seriously, and...does not represent the attitude of most of the members...
...feel it necessary to first establish my credentials, since the first affair has now degenerated into what amounts to name-calling. First, I am not a member of Pi Eta, nor do I even know any who do belong to the club. Also (I am sure Mr. Ippolito will be glad to know). I am not one of those "homos," whose very existence seems to send shudders down the spines of the macho-men of Pi Eta. And, as reassurance for Mr. Travaglini (whose misguided letter was the original spur for this one). I claim no association with...
Then, there are the members of Pi Eta, who have shown their obvious befuddlement at the attention that the leaked newsletter has attracted. Beneath the forced apologies, and statements that "no, sexism does not exist at the Pi," is the clear message that these men regret not the offensive nature of their newsletter, but the fact that it became public. If they had the chance to do it over again, the only difference would be that a certain Kirkland House woman would not receive the newsletter in her mailbox...
These women are surely to be pitied, but this is not the end of the affair, for their reaction (and the reaction of what is probably a good part of the Harvard community) brings with it a frightening message for all minorities. These women claim that the real Pi Eta men are truly "courteous and considerate" and thus do not hold any of those naughty things in the newsletter as their true beliefs. This is one interpretation of the apparently civil treatment of women at the Pi. Another is that these men can be civil and violently sexist...
This, then, is the true message of the Pi Eta affair, and it is a sad one, for no one now knows whom to trust. The only security is within our own group, and this makes a mockery of the ideal of a diverse, interacting community, within which all learn from each other. The message of separatism and mistrust which we have all heard in the past week will, with luck, force our community to address these problems, and for this we should perhaps thank the Pi for bringing the existing tensions into the open, and allowing them...