Letters to the Editor
The decision of the Hopkins Organization for Programming to bring Tucker Max to campus on Wednesday evening has seriously aggrieved many students, faculty, and parents who find deplorable his brand of "humor."
It appears to them and to us to describe hostility toward and demeaning treatment of women. It perverts stories of sexual misconduct into something that purports to be entertainment. They do not find these very serious issues to be a laughing matter; neither do we.
Even allowing for the elbow room society commonly gives to practitioners of parody, sarcasm and comedy, from what we have seen, Max's work is not in any way redeeming or worthy. But this university does not engage in censorship, and we, therefore, did not insist that the event be canceled.
Rather, we wish to use this event as an opportunity to encourage a dialogue on the core values that are important to our community and to address issues that are all too prevalent on college campuses: a culture that degrades women and incidents of sexual assault.
It is not the practice of the university to dictate to student groups whom they may or may not invite to campus. We have a strong tradition of students exercising responsibility in this area, and we have no interest in changing that.
But we certainly want to be clear and unambiguous in identifying ourselves with the many students, faculty and staff who are offended by, and disappointed with, this choice.
Sincerely,
Adam F. Falk
James B. Knapp Dean
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences
Nicholas P. Jones
Benjamin T. Rome Dean
Whiting School of Engineering
Paula P. Burger
Dean of Undergraduate Education
It appears to them and to us to describe hostility toward and demeaning treatment of women. It perverts stories of sexual misconduct into something that purports to be entertainment. They do not find these very serious issues to be a laughing matter; neither do we.
Even allowing for the elbow room society commonly gives to practitioners of parody, sarcasm and comedy, from what we have seen, Max's work is not in any way redeeming or worthy. But this university does not engage in censorship, and we, therefore, did not insist that the event be canceled.
Rather, we wish to use this event as an opportunity to encourage a dialogue on the core values that are important to our community and to address issues that are all too prevalent on college campuses: a culture that degrades women and incidents of sexual assault.
It is not the practice of the university to dictate to student groups whom they may or may not invite to campus. We have a strong tradition of students exercising responsibility in this area, and we have no interest in changing that.
But we certainly want to be clear and unambiguous in identifying ourselves with the many students, faculty and staff who are offended by, and disappointed with, this choice.
Sincerely,
Adam F. Falk
James B. Knapp Dean
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences
Nicholas P. Jones
Benjamin T. Rome Dean
Whiting School of Engineering
Paula P. Burger
Dean of Undergraduate Education
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