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This letter ran in The Student, the newspaper of Amherst College, during the spring of my junior year. To my classmates: I am ashamed to be an Amherst student. Last night Ward Connerly came to speak his views on affirmative action's role in public universities. The audience greeted him with booing and catcalls, rallying to support virtually every asinine comment spoken out of turn by people who came not to listen but to oppress. To those students and community members who brought this disgrace upon our beloved school, I would put to you this question: what did you accomplish last night? There was an outdoor rally in front of the Campus Center yesterday afternoon. There have been rallies and protests at UMass for more than a week. You have covered this campus in posters and you have interrupted our dinner by using Valentine hall as a forum to air your views. Surely you don't believe that Johnson Chapel on Tuesday night was the only venue available to you for chants and vociferous protests. Tuesday night could have been an opportunity for you to calm down, unclench your self-righteous fists, and listen to what the other side had to say. Instead you squandered an opportunity for meaningful dialogue, and you squandered it in such a way as to tarnish the reputations of all involved. Your methods are as unjust and tyrannical as the motives you ascribe to Mr. Connerly. Were I ignorant of the substantive issues surrounding the debate on affirmative action, I'd like to think that I would favor Mr. Connerly's position simply on the basis of the inarticulate rabidness I witnessed in those who oppose him. In the debate on affirmative action, you are your own worst enemies. On college campuses, Mr. Connerly is a minority. He is in a minority of race, yes, but more significantly he is in a minority of political persuasion. He believes that affirmative action in public education is wrong. Those of you who shouted him down and prevented him from speaking should know this: last night you repressed a minority because you feared what made him different from yourselves. How does that make you feel? Sincerely, Artie Moffa '00 |