Get over yourself

By Brennan Lincoln

Richmond College '09

First, I would like to address the question of the e-mail "incident" which has struck this university with such fury. From my understanding here is what happened:

An intentionally comical e-mail was sent by a student to a group of his peers for their amusement and instruction. This e-mail, intended for this target audience and for them ONLY, was then forwarded to everybody and their mother, including the dean and president.

And that's when the shit hit the fan. People were offended by the images and choice words in this e-mail NEVER INTENDED TO BE READ BY THEM. What was at first intended to be a satirical "to do" list of the weekend's activities, poking fun at the awfully lacking social scene at Richmond and its stereotypical players, suddenly became an attack on women, morality and Jesus Christ himself. People attacked this e-mail as promoting the moral degradation of our community. It became a launching point for the self-righteous to shove their own personal agendas in our faces: "the responsible parties must be punished! End fraternities and give us the authors head on a stake!"

Let's take a look at the "responsible parties" - you know what I do when someone forwards me an e-mail that I don't find funny or find offensive?

I delete it. I tell them not to send me any of that crap. That's what I did with that Swastika e-mail; I was terribly offended that someone thought this was worth my time.

So now the university had a problem; people who had been looking for an opportunity to yell and scream about the righteousness of their own causes could now manipulate a harmless e-mail into a pedestal the university could not ignore.

And that brings us to the Bias Response Team. The Bias Response Team is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt by the university to cover its own ass. Now if anyone tries to sue, or if the university gets any bad publicity, it can give a nod to the Bias Response Team it have compiled and pat itself on the back. All they have really done is waste my tuition money during this economic crisis - do you know how many people are on this team? How much time this wastes? - and given power to the people creating the actual problems here. And that's just so far; I assume further attacks on free speech and increased monitoring are on the way.

My biggest problem with the University of Richmond is that it in no way prepares students for the real world. People are biased. Everyone, every person, is biased. In real life people will have views and opinions you don't agree with all the time. And you know what? In real life, there won't be a trained team of bias experts to make you feel better and hold your hand when somebody uses a bad word.

So please, please, stop e-mailing me. Get rid of the Bias Response Team. Stop wasting my time and money. If you don't like what someone is saying, don't associate with them, don't go to their parties.

And don't go crying to mommy. Grow up.