1996_04 The Daily Collegian April 1996

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, Apri 8,1996
Opinion
Opinion Editor: Matthew Hart
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
Sexual harassment charges
face the pickle challenge
News Not Worthy
By Shannon Wentworth
Columnist
Peter Piper picked a peck and
baseball players avoided them, but
Suzy and Johnny of Simi Valley are
learning about the sour cumber¬
some cucumber the hard way: in
court.
Initially, the pickle wasn't so per¬
plexing. It all started when nine-
year-old Suzy (not her real name)
twice complained to teachers at her
elementary school about Johnny
calling her names and ruthlessly
taunting her. Johnny's taunts went
on unabated which is the actual
complaint in this case.
However, the part everyone is
talking and snickering about is the
great pickle comment. For those of
you who don't know, Johnny waved
a pickle at Suzy and said, "this is
your future boyfriend."
The question now is: what did
he mean by that? Is Johnny suggest¬
ing that Suzy will be masturbating
with vegetables in the future, or
does he truly understand the con¬
notation of his remark?
At nine years of age, does a kid
know about self-stimulation? The
answer: it depends on the kid.
The really interesting thing in
this case is that, aside from the co-
medic value of the pickle barb, it
attacks one of the greatest social
controls our society has: adolescent
peer pressure.
Our right to make other people
completely neurotic by attacking
every one of their perceived faults
and molding each other into begin¬
ning the same rather at a very young
age.
Diversity is taunted out of most
of us by the age of 13, those who
continue to be different after that are
either very brave or really like
wedgies.
Is the heckling and taunting that
kids do to each other damaging?
AnswerJpr yourself.
If you weren't teased as a kid,
you were raised by wolves. I think
all of us know how damaging
people are to each other. Some of
us grow up and stop teasing while
others go into workplaces and con¬
tinue with the behavior only to get
sued for harassment.
Why should a kid have to de¬
velop a thick skin at an early age?
Wouldn't we all be a lot healthier if
we had not been taunted? The an¬
swer is very obviously yes; but
how?
As much as taunting is a form
of social control, it is also a form of
self-protection. If I am taunting, I
can't be taunted. If I am the mean¬
est and the rudest, then nobody will
even try to hurt me.
It will be interesting to see how
this case pans out. If children are
held accountable and schools are
held accountable for this suppos¬
edly typical form of adolescent
expression then maybe, just maybe,
our society will learn from our chil¬
dren how to accept diversity and be
positive to one another.
Letters to the Editor
Memo issues tarnish school image
ar Editor
De:
In the last few weeks a distress¬
ing trend has hit the campus. Each
and every person connected in some
way to Fresno State should be
offended.
I know for one thing, my educa¬
tion is on the rocks. The recent
"memo wars" proposing this or
that to the university's various
factions have started the tarnishing
on the image.
People on both sides are quite
understandably upset by the'allega¬
tions. I feel I can speak well on this
topic because it hits close to home.
I have been here before at the
junior college I attended and also
the workplace of my father. The
same thing went on over at the
College of the Sequoias, and let me
tell you, nobody comes out on top.
We all lose: the students, staff, fac¬
ulty, alumni and especially the
community.
While we know that this institu¬
tion is a business, we should keep
in mind it is a factory of know¬
ledge. I believe that in these times
of "budget crisis" and "internal dis¬
sension" we forget rather quickly
why we are here.
It seems that a lot of campuses
are reeling from the same problems;
it's nothing new. Our government
is taxing us for everything and ndne
of that revenue seem* to make it
*iere it's needed.
Jniversities are having to
depend on donations that are
sporadic, if anything, and cannot be
depended on with any degree of
security.
The chancellor has mandated the
dependency on this "soft" funding
which is obviously because of
pressure from the state office.
Then we come to the allega¬
tions themselves for this campus.
To the person or persons writing
the memorandums—your tech¬
nique lacks a backbone and shows
a basic tendency to want to make
more trouble than need be.
When I look to the charges you
present, I do see reasons for con¬
cern, but not for a battle which
loses the scholarly polish. I. dare
Please see LETTER Page 5
Isolated communities
need more interaction
in the neighborhoods
By Alexis Perez
Columnist
Walking through Fresno, you
get a real good idea how isolated
we have become. We get in little
cars and go to our little homes
where we try not to talk to any¬
one. No one walks anywhere any¬
more, it appears they all drive.
Tendencies to isolate such as
these as well as a fear of crimi¬
nals is causing people to lose
touch with each other on a funda¬
mental level.
Why do we feel it's necessary
to cut ourselves off from people?
People less and less are looking
each other in the eye when they
speak. No one says hello when
they pass on the street, or even
smiles at each other.
Small rural towns where such
things were common are even
fearful now that they are infused
with criminals. This stems from
the recent influx of murders in
areas such as Hanford and
Lemoore, not to mention a rise
in gang activities and crimes
as a whole.
It's a fundamental tsust that has
been lost. When you meet a
stranger you don't know, you
don't say hello or smile but begin
to wonder if they are a criminal.
Only after a while do they make
eye contact oi^egin to talk.
We are all afraid of attracting
attention, and no one wants to
attract another person's attention.
It seems for us to remain alive it
is safer to assume that all people
that we meet are lunatics or
criminals.
True, there are a large portion
of psychos out there, but people
have forgotten what another ordi¬
nary person is like. We spend too
much time locked in our secure
homes, or driving in our secure
little cars to ever really notice any¬
one else. The only people we see
daily is our family, and who
knows how sane they are.
In truth we only see people on
television or in the movies. These
semi-real idealistic representa¬
tions of people are what we as-
. sume as normal. How is it that we
can assume these glowing roman¬
ticized representations of human¬
ity as ordinary, when we ourselves
are nothing like them?
What happened? Is crime re¬
ally that bad? Maybe we need to
invest in a larger police force.
But, I believe that people are
forgetting how to communicate
with each other. Spending so
much time in front of the televi¬
sion, computer, or listening to the
radio we have lost sight of how to
talk to one another on a funda¬
mental level. When all we see are
idealized representations of
people, how are we to interact
with the real thing?
A small portion of us though
do go to clubs and such where
they communicate and interact,
although they do have ulterior
motives.
It is these socialites that hold
the key to communication. Lone
after society crumbles from non¬
communication,'the lounge lizard
will live on.      ~*
What we need to do is not leave
our descendants with nothing^to
mimic but glib bar brawlers, but
begin opening up the old neigh¬
borhood values.
We need to show criminals and
gang members we are not^afraid
to sit on our porches and talk. We
need to say hello and smile at each
other as we pass by.
Cease to hide behind your
walls, or in your cars and come
out into the neighborhood. Start
up the old barbecue and get a
block party going. Get to know
your neighbors and people in the
neighborhood.
It is up to us. Smile at the next
person that passes by. Say hello
to someone you don't know. Go
next door and get to know your
neighbor. Have a block party. Do
something to get to know the
people around you.
Help spread compassion
through these deeds and give our
children a world worth growing
up in.
DaYly Collegian
Editor in Chief
J, A  1 t,JI»U
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published five times a week
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