To the Editors:
I am afraid I must express discontent with an image displayed in one of your recent articles. Accompanying the April 1 article, "'I am Bowdoin' promotes diversity awareness," was a rather misleading image.
As a representative group on campus, "I am Bowdoin" strives to bridge the boundaries between race, sexuality, socio-economic class, religion, gender and other sources of difference among Bowdoin students so to create a more cohesive, unified campus environment.
Moreover, it is this group's objective to challenge and eradicate biases that negatively impact fellow students' experiences at Bowdoin College and in the surrounding Brunswick community.
The "I am Bowdoin" protest, coordinated in a mere two days, was a success in many respects. Students, participants and onlookers of various cultures, sexualities and religions, demonstrated great solidarity in the face of biases directed at themselves and their peers.
The protest speaks to the strong foundation of the Bowdoin community, in that students are willing to tackle challenging issues. However, one would not know this based on the image presented, as it regrettably depicted a single race and a single gender.
Not only did the image present a skewed representation of the demonstration's participants, but it also severely diminished its scope and intent.
The question must be asked: Is this really how we wish Bowdoin to be seen —as a school that, even in a diverse context, chooses to represent the event by focusing the spotlight on a single group?
In all, I must caution the Orient to more carefully and accurately represent the ongoings of the Bowdoin community. In the fight against prejudice, we must not let these biases color—or rather de-color—or desexualize our newspaper.
Sincerely,
Megan Massa '14