A Farewell Condemnation
From Mr. Joshua Tremblay, Editor and Chief of TSL

It has been a long, difficult semester. I have hired a staff over twenty strong, I have given the people their newspaper, I have (potentially) passed my classes, I have nearly completed my thesis, and most importantly, I have learned. Between my pending degree in the Media Studies and publishing a weekly newspaper, the media and information within the media are issues that dominate my life. As I write my last letter as Editor in Chief of The Student Life, I petition the audience to understand one simple yet deceivingly difficult point: communication is a rare freedom, a dangerous gift, and an important tool that is not to be abused.

Originally, I had planned on writing this letter in defense of the person(s) who painted Walker Wall some time ago. While the message was completely unacceptable, the Wall is set aside as a space where opinions, informed, biased, or otherwise can be freely expressed. I think that Walker Wall is often relegated to the margins of party advertisements and hastily done spray painted quips, so I was pleased to see the Wall in proper use again, even if it were not for any cause I consider proper.

Hours before writing this, shortly after midnight on Wednesday to be more precise, fliers appeared on the door of our very office and around Walker Hall proclaiming such slogans as “Thin is In” and “Brains or Beauty, Take Your Pick.” It is reasonable to expect that as you woke Thursday, only hours after writing this, you were be confronted with these messages as well.

Personally, I am appalled by this action. I also thought that I was going to write this letter about appropriate and inappropriate spaces for communicating of ideas, particularly invidious ones. This is not to mention that fliers are environmentally wasteful, and are a hassle for the hardworking maintenance and housekeeping staff. But the issue has grown in my mind since these earlier, feeble internal questionings.

After some thought, this is not the first time that spaces for communication have been abused. During my tenure here there have been slogans against African Americans, Asian Americans, and women, to name a few. We quickly forget these abuses, and forgive whoever painted the Wall that week.

I defend free speech, and am proud to see that debates about diversity of thought are becoming more prevalent on campus. People with intolerant or prejudiced ideas are just as entitled to express their opinions as anyone else. Speech is uncontrollable.

However, we as students are controllable. Countless groups on campus have worked tirelessly to make campus a safe and tolerant space where understanding can be fostered. I laud these groups’ efforts, and urge them to continue. Pomona is a community that you have been graciously invited to participate in and contribute to, how dare you take it upon yourselves to pollute this community with bigotry? You have used the gift of communication to bring harm to this campus, and I regret that you have abused the safety, trust, and community on this campus to deface the medium that provides us with both our in and out of class educations.

Some may claim the fliers are a joke, or that they are not marginalizing everyone. I suspect nearly everyone will read them, and that everyone will internalize them. Despite the amazing services provided by our dining halls, I consider Pomona to be a comparatively thin campus, but I do not believe that the students individually have positive body images of themselves. In a week that is filled with stress and work, some students have compounded the situation by forcing intense reflection and self-doubt regarding the student body on a sensitive and devastating topic.

A colleague of mine often feels the need to discuss The Student Life with me on a regular basis. While his means are rather unorthodox, he wields communication in such a way that I listen and have come to respect what he tells me, even if it comes at strange times. He told me that this was to be my last letter, my last chance, and that I should take a stand on something, perhaps the proposed Difference of Dynamics and Power requirement. Well, after the events of tonight, I, Joshua Tremblay, for the first time, have chosen to take a stand on DDP. I stand strongly for DDP. The events of this week, though seemingly minor, have shown that the efforts of students to increase tolerance and understanding are still falling on deaf ears. Since we as students are not responsible enough to listen and learn from one another, we are reduced to having a requirement that forces us to attempt and understand the world in which we live in and are currently being prepared for.