Professor speaks out about Bush, Monnin

After reading in Saturday's Globe about the revoking of Elizabeth Monnin's award, I feel I must add my voice to the protest. The Bush speech was scheduled when I was teaching, which meant I had only four students in class. I would never cancel a class, and I felt angry that an administration that had just reminded me of my obligation to teach in the event of a US attack on Iraq should make it impossible for me to teach on that day. The five of us did manage, but I'll have to compress a few classes to make up time.

I myself do not intend to strike, but I support the right of those colleagues who choose to. After all, on Sept. 11, we were instructed not to hold class as usual, but to allow students to discuss the events of that day. Surely what is happening now in Iraq Is infinitely more tragic and has much huger implications for the safety of the world, and yet the university expects us to proceed with our business uninterrupted.

Since I did not hear the Bush speech, I can only speak second-hand from the many, many reports (including an audiotape on public radio) that I did hear, but the most offensive moment of the afternoon was certainly when the ex-President said what amounted to "I don't have sex with ugly women"-- and got a laugh. Nothing Elizabeth Monnin could do or say could come close to the deeply sexist, misogynist, and macho crudeness of that remark. Bush is not a man who deserves our respect. Such a remark from a faculty member would have caused wide censure.

In the past few years, the climate on our campus has become increasingly inclined toward such old-fashioned attitudes -- disguised in metaphors of "family" and "school spirit." It worries me very much. I wish we had more Elizabeth Monnins to remind us that we do not have to show respect to the people who have brought untold misery into the world.



Jonathan Strong

Senior Lecturer

English Department