Word: eta
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Freedom of speech is not what is at stake in the Pi Eta case While we have heard much about freedom of thought, little is said about other, very basic night--rights to live and study in an atmosphere free from degradation and violence These are perhaps, right that many men take for granted Unfortunately, they are still in question for women If any of us had begun to forget this the Pi Eta newsletter has graciously reawakened us to the frightening prevalence of sexism. Thus we must not get sidetracked into polemics over definitions of freedom of expression...
Earlier this year, the findings of a survey on sexual harassment revealed alarmingly high percentages of sexual coercion of women by male professors and graduate students, and well as undergraduate peer harassment. The attitudes expressed in the Pi Eta newsletter are an illustration of the crudest end of this. When women are regarded by men not as autonomous individuals but as sexual objects, they are also viewed as either willing or deserving recipients of insults, manipulation, and forced sexual relations This is at the heart of both the professor accosting his students and the final club circular cajoling its members...
...objectified vision of women's sexuality and on women's supposed passivity and masochism, in the media and elsewhere, do much to shape prevailing attitudes wherein sex is expressed as violence and women are seen as the willing victims. To say, then, that the statements in the Pi Eta newsletter are merely, in the words of a Crimson "Dissenting Opinion," "expressions of thought," is dangerously misleading. The terminology of the newsletter was that of rape, and as such incitement of violence. This kind of language is in no way protected by legislative guarantees of freedom of political and religious expression...
There is a long way to go before women are treated as full human beings at Harvard The fact that the administration has not openly and clearly denounced the actions of the club, or the fact that some women went to the recent Pi Eta party despite the newsletter, does not mean that the problem is relatively minor or the concern of only a few feminists What it does mean is that sexism is deeply ingrained within and around all of us, and we are all affected by it Women internalize society's low estimation of them, or are threatened...
...change the conditions at this college, must take a clear and firm stand against sexism, in all its permutations If there are any criteria which warrant university sanctions against individuals or organizations which have impinged on the rights and humanity of others, then those responsible in the Pi Eta club must be viewed as such violators. Insofar as the debate over closing the club is secondary to the bigger issue of sexism at Harvard, however, we do not want to scapegoat this club and in any way foster the impression that this situation is somehow unique. It would be unfortunate...