Sep 29, 2004
I'm "verbally assaulted" too!
My university has a group that calls itself Safe Zone. According to its description: “The Safe Zone Program is based essentially on the commitment of UA [the University of Alabama] to the value of cultural diversity and the needs of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer students.” Safe Zone also gives “50 Fabulous Ways to Support Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Students on Campus.” Some of these ways I’m not sure I understand, like “Don’t tokenism anyone.”
But the one I wanted to bring up is this one: “When they [“LGBT students”] are verbally assaulted, make loud, personal statements in public venues condemning such action. Empower others to do the same.”
My office on campus is next to one of the main campus roads, and so it sees a lot of foot and vehicle traffic. This means that I’m regularly verbally assaulted: out of some of the vehicles comes pouring some of the nastiest, filthiest, most offensive language I have ever heard in my life. It’s in the form of music that gets played at very high volumes—so high that I hear it through my closed windows on the second floor.
What kind of language? Well, I want to be sensitive to this open-forum audience, but I regularly hear the f-word in all its variations, including the m-f phrase; I regularly hear women referred to and called shockingly demeaning epithets; I hear explicit descriptions of various sexual acts; and I hear what can only be considered racist language of the coarsest sort, even if it is “reverse” racism.
A few weeks ago an allegedly gay man on my campus was allegedly berated on account of this fact by a student comedian performing on a public stage. My university, Safe Zone, and the Faculty Senate all took swift action to condemn the comedian and to reaffirm its commitment to protecting gay people from any kind of verbal assault. The Faculty Senate even passed a resolution calling for the restriction of speech of students and performers on campus.
Can I get a Safe Zone so that I don’t have to hear the kind of language I’m regularly assaulted with? Can I get the Faculty Senate to pass a resolution condemning “hate music”? Can I get one of the law school professors to write a policy that simultaneously affirms the importance of free speech but at the same time calls on the administration to restrict it?
But the one I wanted to bring up is this one: “When they [“LGBT students”] are verbally assaulted, make loud, personal statements in public venues condemning such action. Empower others to do the same.”
My office on campus is next to one of the main campus roads, and so it sees a lot of foot and vehicle traffic. This means that I’m regularly verbally assaulted: out of some of the vehicles comes pouring some of the nastiest, filthiest, most offensive language I have ever heard in my life. It’s in the form of music that gets played at very high volumes—so high that I hear it through my closed windows on the second floor.
What kind of language? Well, I want to be sensitive to this open-forum audience, but I regularly hear the f-word in all its variations, including the m-f phrase; I regularly hear women referred to and called shockingly demeaning epithets; I hear explicit descriptions of various sexual acts; and I hear what can only be considered racist language of the coarsest sort, even if it is “reverse” racism.
A few weeks ago an allegedly gay man on my campus was allegedly berated on account of this fact by a student comedian performing on a public stage. My university, Safe Zone, and the Faculty Senate all took swift action to condemn the comedian and to reaffirm its commitment to protecting gay people from any kind of verbal assault. The Faculty Senate even passed a resolution calling for the restriction of speech of students and performers on campus.
Can I get a Safe Zone so that I don’t have to hear the kind of language I’m regularly assaulted with? Can I get the Faculty Senate to pass a resolution condemning “hate music”? Can I get one of the law school professors to write a policy that simultaneously affirms the importance of free speech but at the same time calls on the administration to restrict it?