December 6,1995
2
Campus Opinion
Graduate school article controversial
By Barbara Watts
How important is it to get into
graduate school? According to an
article which was handed out in a
graduate school seminar for psychol
ogy majors, it is important enough
that a person should be willing to be
both racist and sexist, not to mention
dishonest on a graduate school appli
cation. Thisarticleoriginallyappeared
in print in 1974 when issues of equal
ity were not as widely recognized;
however, there is no acceptable ex
cuse for using this stereotyping and
negative language in 1995.
What part does humor play in the
perpetuation of prejudices? It is a
documented laa that both written
and oral language impaa the beliefs
and customs of a society. Though this
article uses humor to describe the
processes involved with applying to
graduate school, and a little levity
could certainly be helpful in this stress-
filled process, there is most certainly
a way to do this without being racist
and sexist.
Here are some examples from the
article, “How To Get Into Graduate
School Without Being Very Smart... Or
Even V^ery Industrious, ” written by James
W. Kalat, Department of Psychology,
Duke University:
•What foreign languages do you
speak or read?.. .Never mention Span
ish, even if you are fluent in Spanish..
.no one ever takes Spanish courses ex
cept to get an easy grade.
•Enclose a recent photograph of
yourself.. Enclose a piaure of yourself
and three black women. (If necessary,
pay them to cooperate, it will be worth
it).
•Onweaknesses, say something flip
pant and as irrelevant as possible, e.g. ‘I
have adefinite weakness for tall women. ’
Women, however, are not encouraged
to, mention a weakness for some type of
man, as women graduate students are
generally expeaed to be asexual. And
under no circumstances should a women
applicant mention a weakness for small
children for obvious reasons. About the
only safe weakness for a woman to ad
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lates.’
• [reasons for poor grades] Ifyou
are a woman, you add that you had
your hysterectomy that year. This is
not only a great excuse for your
crummy grades, but it also provides
the best assurance that you won’t
drop out to have a baby.
•.. .Avoid courses that are easy at
every university, like Spanish, geol
ogy, meteorology, and sociology.
These impress no one. What you
want is a particular chemistry or
physics professor who grades easy,
or something that sounds much
harder than it really is, like math331
which is really 'statistics for sociolo
gists.'
The above are just a few ex
amples of the type of hateful and
injurious information included in
this article. No matter what the
motivation for this type of litera
ture, it does not belong on the
Meredith College campus unless it
is used as an example-of racism,
sexism and prejudice. Certainly, it
is not a necessary part of the infor
mation needed by students plan
ning to attend graduate school.
Dean Burris made the following
comments when asked about this
article, “This is satire directed at
graduate schools that could be mis
understood. Personally, I would
not give it out.” Once again, the
issue of humor (satire) and how it is
used to excuse negativity comes into
question.
Dr. Aubrecht had this to say: “If I had
the opportunity again, I would choose
not to use it [the article]. ” The context in
which it was shared was as follows, “I
have an article that some of you might
find amusing.” He also stated that he
would have welcomed the opportunity
to talk with any students who felt that
this article was inappropriate. Dr.
Aubrecht feels that the article was a way
of “drawing people’s attention to certain
issues.”
Dr. Kirk-Duggan gave some insight
into the magazine in which this article
was first printed by saying, “It is a very
sophisticated magazine of satire. Irony
and satire should always be presented
carefully, particularly to student because
it can sabotage the teaching process.”
Dr. Kirk-Duggan also mentioned the im
portance of the sense of integrity here at
Meredith. Her other concern was that
the article in question was outdated since
it is over 20 years old.
As women, it is important to be able
to critically assess what is being written
and how it affeas us. This may seem to
many as a “tempest in a teapot;” the
British probably thought the same thing
about the Boston tea party, and look
what happened there! All of us should be
more aware of how insipid these kind of
-isms can be. It is not acceptable to ex
cuse them under the pretense of humor
or satire.
COATS FOR KIDS
Do you have coats in your closets that for years you wanted to get rid of, but
never knew where to take them? Well, this year the Student Development Staff
is inviting you to help participate in the Coats for Children Project. We are
working with WRAL to collect coats that are in good condition for children of
aU ages. Zippers on the coats should be in working order. Starting midweek, you
can drop off your coats in the boxes located on 1st floor Cate Center and Belk
Dining Hall.
WRAL also is in need of people who can help sort coats at Long Transpor
tation during December. This would be a great family project during the holiday.
Also, WRAL needs help with the Telethon on December 8 from 10p.m. until
midnight (the conuct person for the telethon is Phyllis Parish at the station).
We anticipate a great collection of coats this year. Last year’s project
collected 10,000 coats. We appreciate your efforts and thanks for helping to
keep Raleigh warm.
If you have any questions, please contact either Sam Carothers (Campus
Minister) or Jennifer Corrigan (Vaim Residence Director).