Letters to the editor

Dear Editor:

In response to the columns from universities all over the country about sex, as well as the article “Making True Love Last” in the Oct. 9 issue of the Kent Stater, I would like to emphasize the importance of publishing a diverse selection of opinions, seeing how no one’s experiences about sex are the same. Being an extremely sensitive subject, I understand that the Stater does not want to support a single, solitary view on the matter. However, reading articles about couples who admit to being physically intimate is extremely discouraging to those who are saving themselves for marriage.

It is commonly accepted that college is a time and place to experiment. However, it is possible to “experiment” in other ways that do not involve sex. Sexual tension is everywhere on a college campus, from couples holding hands and showing PDA to an event that disperses free condoms. For those of us who are waiting, it would be nice to read an article every once in a while about other couples who are struggling with the same pressures. I don’t mean to imply that waiting until marriage to have sex is the right choice for everyone. Still, it is a complete stereotype to assume that most college students have had sexual experience.

Sarah Caplin, sophomore English major

Dear Editor:

While I am not on campus this semester, I have been reading the Stater online and have been surprised about the paper’s new-model discourse strategy, especially in the “opinion” section.

The vivid and exciting debates from the spring (some of which even got the FBI involved, remember?) have given way to a bunch of low-key waffle.

It is disconcerting that the primary outlet of one of the country’s (once) most politically active universities has turned, almost over night, into an intellectual no-go zone.

The current political and economic crisis calls for open and engaging discussion on every college campus (and beyond). From an academic point of view, what is at stake is not only the mission of American higher education (especially in the humanities) but the credibility of the entire American value system; if the most educated in this country are not willing or able to engage in constructive debate, Americans do not deserve any better than to be ruled by their Wal-Martian greed, their Joe-Sixwacko hate and their MacGated ignorance.

Frank Rosen, graduate student in English