E-mail to Source listserv upsets students

A recent e-mail on a student listserv has sparked controversy for its references to gays and lesbians, and prompted several students to forward the e-mail to administrators.

In an e-mail message to The Primary Source's listserv, junior Brandon Balkind -- one of the publication's managing editors -- said in deprecating terms that the children of lesbian parents would eventually be drawn to gay sex. This would happen, he wrote, because of the "overwhelming psychological damage of having two mothers and no father."

The e-mail was forwarded to Dean of Students Bruce Reitman and posted anonymously on the rumorsdaily.com website, where it generated significant discussion.

Balkind sent the e-mail on Nov. 18 in response to the Massachusetts Supreme Court's decision in favor of same-sex marriage.

After viewing the press conference that was "better than what you could find on the most hardcore sites on the net," he noted "the abundance of interracial lesbians" and ultimately questioned why the movement towards individual freedom should involve gay rights.

But administrators said that they have no jurisdiction over the e-mail, since it was not sent over a university-maintained listserv. However, the e-mail was sent using a Yahoo service and may have violated the company's terms of service.

Balkind and Source Editor-in-Chief Simon Holroyd both defended the message.

Balkind said the e-mail was meant to be satirical. "That was the irony -- that it was pornographic and offensive," Balkind said. "People think that homosexual marriage is pornographic and offensive."

Holroyd said that "this is the type of satire that the Source encourages and looks for."

Dean of Students Bruce Reitman acknowledged the post was an "odious message," but said because the listserv was not maintained on a Tufts server, the University has no jurisdiction over it.

"A listserv is something that one chooses to subscribe to," Reitman said. "If you can anticipate a certain kind of message [from the listserv], then it's like walking into a pornographic movie. You can chose not to go into it or you can chose to go into it. You can chose to subscribe [to the listserv] or not."

Balkind said that the post used off-color humor and was intended to stimulate discussion. "It was a parody to a group of people who understand my views," Balkind said. "They understood [it] was neither inflammatory nor insensitive.

But he acknowledged that his comments may not have been appropriate for a broad readership.

"Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have written it. It was intended to be an internal memo."

Holroyd supported him. "I understand what Brandon was trying to say in the e-mail," he said. "We will continue to foster that in discussions."

"I don't have a problem with this type of e-mail being sent to the list," he continued.

There are a number of listservs on Tufts' servers but they are used primarily by faculty and staff. At the Fletcher School, students are automatically subscribed to a listserv, and then they also have the option of subscribing to a social listserv.

The list is maintained by Marinela Fula, the school's secretary for academic support. Her only responsibility is to subscribe and unsubscribe students, and forward any posts that were made incorrectly. She does not control what students say.

While Fula said that the students are respectful for the most part, debates occasionally get heated.

"The Middle East debate has been on everyone's mind," Fula said. "Discussions go back and forth and escalate. It's easier to be more aggressive when you're not face to face. Even intellectuals can get pretty nasty.

"Other than my own cringing [at the content], there hasn't been anything that I've had to report," she said.

Fula would consider reporting a threat, but only for moral reasons -- the University does not require her to do so.

Tufts Computing and Communications Services (TCCS) is responsible for maintaining the University's e-mail systems. While TCCS has guidelines for responsible use, they do not address content.

Kathleen Cummings, the director of IT support services, said that while there have not been issues dealing with university listservs, her office has occasionally received complaints about sensitive e-mails. These complaints were passed on to the Dean of Students' Office. TCCS is responsible for potential violations of copyright, not issues with content.

Reitman cautioned students from feeling too at ease on private listservs. "There is no guarantee of privacy or control of where e-mail will go," he said. "Unless people who write things like [Balkind's post] are prepared to be held accountable, then it's a pretty dumb thing to do."

Although the University has no jurisdiction over the post, it potentially violated a number of Yahoo's terms of service.

According to the terms of service, group owners agree not to "upload, post, e-mail, transmit or otherwise make available any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable." Holroyd said that he had not received any communication from Yahoo regarding the content of Balkind's post.