Female silence in classroom
deafening blow to education
By Shawn Marie Boyne
■ The Daily troian
U of Southern California
After four year.-' in undergraduate
classes listening to discussions partici
gated in equally hy men and women I
have been dismayed in my first year of
law school to discover that a minority of
women choose to participate m class
Ms own participation has dropped
precipitously Fills experience is not
unique to the l of Southern f ahforma
Law School, hut is duplicated at other
prestigious law schools throughout the
country
Hy choosing not to speak liecause of
fear of being cnt ici/ed or ridiculed sse
participate in our own disempower
nient As a result, classrooms often di
solve into a monopoly of a minority of
u lute men
Some of my closest and most support
ise friends fall into this category, hut
their views do not reflect the reality of
women's lives Through our silence sst
alienate ourselves from our own legal
education and deny ourselves a forum to
educate men about our experiences
However, the goal of increased partie
ipation from women in the classroom is
not meant to introduce a homogenous
feminist voice Women, like men. are a
heterogenous group
• lust as the voices of men in the class
room cannot reflect the real-life expert
cnees of women the voices of a few
women cannot accurately represent the
diverse experience of American women
today
Faced with the stress of my first year
of law school and pressure to conform I
r
have frit increasingly compelled to
express myself like a lawyer th.it is.
in a sterile, masculine, analytical Mine
Hungry to mold my self into a profession
al. I find mvself increasingly alienated
from nn personal views
I find t he image of lining a lawyer critic
mg Phils when professors treat issues
such as rape or battered women like
abstract legal concepts I teel pressured
to amputate my emotions about these
subjects While I may lie conforming to
an image of a successful lawyer. I con
form at a cost to my feminine soul
Ms concerns about tfie disrmpowcr
merit and sterilization of women extend
beyond the law school classroom Its
choosing not speak out on political
issues we abdicate out ability to infill
once decisions that will have far reach
mg consequence' for women
For example the visible anti afxirtion
protests bv Operation Rescue m l.os
\ngeles were primarily orchestrated by
men Regardless of what ones personal
views on abortion are. if we choose not
toexpress them theissiu will In-decided
bv that sector of the population that is
biologically incapable of (incoming prog
mint
I urge women to evaluate how they
participate m their education I hope
despite the fear the first year of law
school creates more women will refuse
to participate m their own disempower
merit and will choose to express their
opinions in the classroom
I kiropmions are important and if law
is to serve the interests of men and
women in society more women must
choose to use their voices to break the
silence
Responses to
October U Poll
In October we asHed read
en, what should happen to
students caught cheatinq'1
Mos' callers said cheaters
should tail the assignment
l52%) or tail the course
i21%| Some callers said
cheaters should he expelled
(t1%i or suspended (7Ni
Almost one ot every 10
callers (9%) said cheaters
should not be puntshed
STUDENT OPINION POLL
1-800-662-5511
Should residence hall staff have the authority
to search a student s dorm room if there is a
reasonable suspicion that the resident pos
sesses illegal drugs? Tell us what you think.
(See related story on page 3)
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7
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
WASHINGTON STAR REGISTRATION JY.TTVA
A SHI PATRK till
What, me worry about grades?
E3y Christine Pocan
■ Mustang Daily
Cal Poly State U . San Luis Obispo
There I sal at im little wooden di'sk
waiting lor class to lie-in I vs as nervous
nn palms were sweating and my finger
nails almost gone
Today was the day we got hack our first
(|lll/
The professor walked in and I could
hear my pulse in my ears
I had heen coaching mvself all morn
mg on the virtues of learning and the
importance of knowledge It was the
experience ol taking the test that mat
tered not the results
I repeated “College is what you make
of it" 10 times
It was ol no use I le pulled the <|Ui//es
out of his mamla envelope and all ol my
philosophy went out the window All
that really mattered was the grade
My knees were so weak I couldn t even
walk When my name was called I
answered a faint “here" and reached out
to grab my verdict
I got a B Not an A, hut a B
I fought hack tears Failure What
kind of internship would I get now’’ I
might as well have dropped out of col
lege I thought of running to the nearest
campus phone and dropping mv entire
schedule
Have all inv idealistic values of hie
lieen crushed ’ Yes
Will I take this \ ;et amount of knowl
edge and talent and apply it to ms own
personal gam’’ Prohahly
Hut I am no longer a personality here
at Cal I’ols. I am ms grade and social
security numher, of course
So mans times there has I wen a cause
I have wanted to join, hut I had to get
ms homework done first “.lust MX) more
pages of reading and then I II commit.
I'd reason to myself
I have a class in svhich attendance is
taken The other das the gus next tome
ss.i' reading Sports Illustrated, and I
svns so jealous lloss could he sit there
reading that without feeling guilty'’
Didn’t he ssant to get an A’’ I ssanted
to take him outside and explain to him
boss college svorks I svanted to tell him
that the most important class meeting
ssas the one in svhich the professor
explains his or her grading scale and it
a curve will fie used
Didn’t he understand that if he didn't
get an A, he would lx- a complete flop at
on-campus interviews, no graduate
schools would accept him and worst of
all, he couldn't expect to make more than
$l,r>,(HX) a year?
The nerve of some people thinking
they can do what they enjoy
At least I have my priorities straight
Federal confidentiality policy guards perpetrators
By Malissa Lambert
■ The Daily Mississippi
U. ot Mississippi
Once again, the U.ofMississippi is hid
ing behind a cloak of secrecy.
The university s refusal to release' the
names of students against whom disci
plinary action was taken recently for a
fraternity incident is just the latest in a
long history of refusals to release names
of students disciplined for umvensity
violations.
The names of the victims are public
record The names of the perpetrators
are not This allows everyone to know
the names of the victims, but the univer
sity protects the perpetrators.
Ole Miss officials are citing a federal
law to keep the names secret The
Buckley Amendment says no funds
shall be made available under any appli
cable program to any educational agen
cy or institution which has a policy or
practice of perm i tting the release of edu
cational records ... of students without
written consent
First, one must question whether the
university has a policy or practice of
releasing students records Old Miss
certainly does not TFius the university s
reasoning for nondisclosure is weak
ened
Second, Old Miss must not be aware
that not one university has been denied
federal funds under this law for the 15
years the law has existed The
Department of Education only looks into
instances of unauthorized disclosure
when a complaint is made And when it
has investigated complaints, there have
been no penalties because a policy or
practice" did not exist. So, it is the uni
versity who is protecting the students --
not the law.
A couple of years ago it was the
University Police Department s policy
that even students criminal records
were part of their school records. A
reporter would be told that a student
was arrested on campus, but no name
would be released That policy has
changed because the university now
releases the names of students arrested
on campus.
If a student is arrested by the city
police, the names are part of the public
record under state law. So, if criminal
charges were* filed against the students
involved in the incident, we would know
who they were.
Sometimes the violations' are not
criminal, but are violations of university
rules and regulations. The violations
equate to violations of university "laws.
Hut according to the university, students
who violate these laws are accorded
secrecy.
Institutions of higher education and
legislators nets! to reassess what univer
sity records should be confidential
There should be no right of privacy'
restricting access to a person s name il
he or she has been judged guilty of vio
lating a university regulation and
expelled from the university.
And in a situation like this one, a true
benefit could come from publication o!
the names and punishments of those
judged guilty - future deterrence.