To the Editor:
I am the mother of one of the 20 Bendetson sit-in protestors. After reading several of the Viewpoints lately, I am really fed up. Some of the students deliberately misconstrue and misrepresent the sitters' efforts, while others, instead of applauding their courage to stand up for their beliefs, look down on activism altogether.
For example, Messrs. Jon Halpert and Adam Ross envision a quiet, placid student body in their "Open Letter" ("An open letter to the Tufts Community," 12/5). They decry those who would rock the boat, those who "use the dirty politics of activism to foist their views on an unsuspecting student body" Excuse me, does "unsuspecting" mean the same as clueless? "Don't protest, don't chant, don't break the law, that is how tyranny is made." Well, it is a good thing our forefathers didn't listen to that advice, or they never would have done such an unseemly act as dump tea in the Boston Harbor and fight for our independence. Without protest, there would still be segregated water fountains down south and anti- Jewish housing policies. Yet, Halpert and Ross's idiotic article pales next to my all-time favorite by Jon Japha, to which I bestowed the Ultimate Arrogance and Condescension Award.
In "We're not gonna protest" (12/7), Japha rates campus activism on his rudeness Richter scale. He asks that protestors "tone down the message." Maybe at his country club, quiet, genteel protests are 'de rigeur', but in the real world they aren't too effective. He complains that the TSAD 20 locked themselves in Bendetson Hall and were appallingly rude, when in fact they sought an open and peaceful sit-in. It was the police who locked the students in. Japha on the one hand feels that protests should be meek and mild, yet then puts down the sit-in by comparing it to the protests of the '60s. He feels that, since thousands of people weren't sitting in Bendetson, it was meaningless. As a member of the generation of "hippie parents," I know that many sizes and types of protests and civil disobedience have been very effective. One person alone did an act of protest that stands out in my mind and changed history. I am sure that if Rosa Parks would have consulted with Miss Manners before she refused to move to the back of the bus, her great grandchildren would still be sitting back there.
Harriet Lavin
