Letters to the Editor

Diversity must be justified as goal

Regarding "Joseph's e-mail to student body takes wrong tone" (Monday, Feb. 21):

President Leslie-Bernard Joseph says that "almost half of students surveyed believe Princeton has not helped us appreciate our campus' diversity of culture, intellect and talent." But according to the USG's own report, 53 percent of the student body completed that survey. Therefore, only 25 percent of students "believe" that lack of diversity-awareness is a problem. Whether or not it is a problem in reality remains an open question. Furthermore, when you email a voluntary survey to the student body, only those who find the survey's topic relevant are going to complete it. Therefore, the opinions expressed in this very weighted survey may not represent the broader opinion of the student body.

Diversity can be a good thing, but one might ask whether diversity for its own sake should be a primary focus of the academy. It is the University's duty to raise such questions, but one can argue that debate on the purpose and merits of diversity has been hushed, thus adding to the alleged "anti-intellectualism" on campus. When students are coerced to act and think in the same way, why would they think that Princeton is a place for the intellectually curious? One hopes that, as a university, we would care more about students' intellectual ability and character rather than the color of their skin. John Doherty '05

Society supports conservative ideals

Regarding "Chastity group to get University funding" (Tuesday, Feb. 22):

The Anscombe Society does not engage in exclusion or discrimination in any form. At the same time, we do not embrace moral relativism. Our view of sexual morality is in line with the position of many recognized religious groups on campus, though we are a secular group that welcomes people of all faiths and of no particular faith. Our core belief is that the uniquely proper place for sexual love is in the one-flesh union of man and woman in marriage.

There is no tension between being open to all people, thinking all men and women have dignity and are called to chastity and being opposed on moral grounds to forms of conduct that some may regard as expressive of a sexual orientation. In formulating our mission statement, we said nothing in particular about promiscuity, sodomy, pornography or any other specific issue of sexual ethics because we do not want to single out some offenses against chastity as if they merit peculiar condemnation. They don't. Our commitment is lovingly to support all who believe chastity is worth living up to.

We hope that those who differ from us about questions of sexual morality will be true to their professed commitments to tolerance, freedom of belief and diversity of opinion. We pledge in return mutual respect, even towards those with whom we find ourselves in deep disagreement. Cassy DeBenedetto '07 Jonathan Galeano '08 Anscombe Society Co-Presidents

"Love = Love" posters made their point

Regarding "A shortage of righteous indignation" (Thursday, Feb. 24):

The writer laments the Pride Alliance's lack of outrage and resistance after former Tory publisher John Andrews '05, among others, had our Valentine's Day posters taken down on technical grounds. She suggests that we adopt some of the "righteous anger" that may motivate those at the Tory.

The purpose behind Pride Alliance poster campaigns is to make a point — often about insidious homophobia and/or heterosexism. The poster campaign was, as we expected, subtly disruptive to the campus, but it was Andrews himself who proved our point perfectly. Instead of confronting the images with reasonable arguments or polite objection, this well-known campus conservative essentially conned the posters away.

We saw little reason to continue our Valentine's Day event once the exercise was over. The LGBT organizations on this campus are perfectly capable of both public protest and participation in reasonable dialogues. The Pride officers did not feel it necessary to fight for a Pyrrhic victory when there are much more important campus issues — like violence and homophobia — to raise. Rob Rich '06 Pride Alliance Treasurer