Wednesday, September 29, 2004
A funny sort of activism
It's recruiting time here at HLS. That means all sorts of 2Ls and some 3Ls are striding through the halls wearing their best suits and red ties (although I saw a daring orange tie yesterday). It also means that Lambda, the homosexual student organization, is making its loudest protests of the year.
It's a long story, but basically, they're all upset that the military, with its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, is allowed to recruit on campus. (They're allowed because if they're not allowed, Harvard loses millions of federal dollars.) Lambda's protest has two main prongs: 1) they have protest posters on the bulletin boards around campus, and 2) they put little plastic army men, painted pink, on the desks of all the major classrooms.
As for the posters, that's fine. Few other groups use bulletin board space to make a policy statement rather than to make an announcement, but I don't really have a problem with it. The funny thing, though, is that at the bottom of each of the posters is a handwritten note: "Property of Lambda. Anyone caught destroying this poster will be reported to the Dean of Students." I think it's amusing that a group in such a liberal, tolerant school as HLS is so afraid that someone is going to deface their political posters that they have to issue threats along with their message. The Democrat and Republican groups have posters all the time, about things that elicit strong emotions, and they don't have to warn us to be nice. I disagree with Lambda's agenda as a whole (though I'm not certain about the military recruiting thing), but I'm fine with letting them say what they want to say.
What I'm not fine with is the pink army men. Fortunately, I don't have class in any major classroom at the beginning of the week, so I avoided the annoyance of having a pink little man sitting on my desk. I take offense that they think their message--one of hundreds of student organization messages--is so important they can invade my desk space. Put up posters, write on the blackboards, but leave my desk alone. They are the only group that does this. Imagine if more did. We've got a little flyer announcing that the Human Rights Program is having a meeting, along with a photo of a starving African child. The vegetarian group (yes, there is one) is sponsoring the Great American Meat-Out (yes, they do that), so there's a carrot stick at my desk when I sit down for Tax class. Ugh. There are ways to get your message across, and that is not one of them.
It's a long story, but basically, they're all upset that the military, with its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, is allowed to recruit on campus. (They're allowed because if they're not allowed, Harvard loses millions of federal dollars.) Lambda's protest has two main prongs: 1) they have protest posters on the bulletin boards around campus, and 2) they put little plastic army men, painted pink, on the desks of all the major classrooms.
As for the posters, that's fine. Few other groups use bulletin board space to make a policy statement rather than to make an announcement, but I don't really have a problem with it. The funny thing, though, is that at the bottom of each of the posters is a handwritten note: "Property of Lambda. Anyone caught destroying this poster will be reported to the Dean of Students." I think it's amusing that a group in such a liberal, tolerant school as HLS is so afraid that someone is going to deface their political posters that they have to issue threats along with their message. The Democrat and Republican groups have posters all the time, about things that elicit strong emotions, and they don't have to warn us to be nice. I disagree with Lambda's agenda as a whole (though I'm not certain about the military recruiting thing), but I'm fine with letting them say what they want to say.
What I'm not fine with is the pink army men. Fortunately, I don't have class in any major classroom at the beginning of the week, so I avoided the annoyance of having a pink little man sitting on my desk. I take offense that they think their message--one of hundreds of student organization messages--is so important they can invade my desk space. Put up posters, write on the blackboards, but leave my desk alone. They are the only group that does this. Imagine if more did. We've got a little flyer announcing that the Human Rights Program is having a meeting, along with a photo of a starving African child. The vegetarian group (yes, there is one) is sponsoring the Great American Meat-Out (yes, they do that), so there's a carrot stick at my desk when I sit down for Tax class. Ugh. There are ways to get your message across, and that is not one of them.
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