The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Opinions

Spanish Minor

Spanish change offers benefits

The Spanish department is in dire need of help, and people should know the facts that have played into the decision of drafting the proposal to cut out the Spanish minor before they jump to conclusions.

First, the Spanish department is understaffed. The department has about the same number of students as the English department, yet the Spanish department has about 16 professors and the English department has more than 40.

The department also has no true advisors, and when Spanish professors do advising, they can't instruct that semester, which again decreases the number of professors available to instruct. Clearly there is extreme need for help in the department, and cutting back minors allows the department to focus on the Spanish majors.

Also, it is important to note this is not a permanent removal of the minor, just until the department can balance out its student to teacher ratios to better serve their students.

Please take into account as well that no current minors will be affected. If all this proposal does is help people recognize the need in the Spanish department then it has served a good purpose.

Nick Nabors
Senior, Roswell
International Affairs and Spanish

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment 'saps resources'

Please continue your constructive work to make the University community aware of the very serious problem of sexual misconduct and harassment.

Corporate culture has changed during the past 25 years. Sexual misconduct and harassment are no longer tolerated in the workplace, and the University has to catch up and do the same.

It just takes one person to bring down an institution.

Sexual misconduct and harassment saps the institution's resources. It works against its mission to prepare our young people to meet the challenges they face in the workplace.

I propose every staff member, faculty person and student be required to take an online course once every two years about sexual misconduct and sexual harassment, a course similar to the one all the young students have to take about alcohol abuse when they first enter the University.

Meanwhile, the University should make known to all members of the community what the policy is in the same way they do with plagiarism.

Academic freedom in part is not to be coerced through sexual misconduct and sexual harassment.

Andy Crane
Junior, Athens
Spanish

'Misogyny in music'

Misogyny negative for both genders

I attended the R.E.A.L. Talk discussion, "Misogyny in Music," Tuesday.

The discussion focused on sexist, degrading lyrics about women in different genres of music ranging from rap to country. This forum was interesting, and many valid points were made.

But one point that always seems to be left out when discussing sexist media is the effect it has on men and the persona they are expected to take on in society. People fail to see that misogyny has a negative effect on both genders.

Misogyny forces not only women, but also men into strict gender roles. By ignoring the expectations our society places on heterosexual men to be hyper-sexual, we fail to see the whole picture.

Men often are left out of discussions of gender expectations, but if we are to make progress in solving the problems of sexism that still exist, we must realize we all are affected.

Kallie Mathis
Senior, Waynesboro
English

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