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Oregon Commentator: Point/counterpoint
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It's about hate,
not conservatism
I’ve been following the debate sur
rounding the Oregon Commentator,
but I’ve been disappointed that the
Emerald’s reporting on this issue
seems to focus on the question of con
servative versus liberal speech with
out any discussion of the reasons pro
posed for taking action against them.
What I see to be the main concerns
surrounding the issue have nothing to
do with conservatism, unless you
believe that all conservatives are
pro-rape and pro-genital mutilation.
I, personally, was targeted for at
tack in the Commentator on the basis
of my gender identity. You might feel
my perspective to then be biased, but
no one else is representing this aspect
of the story so I feel that I need to. I
feel that my safety was put in jeop
ardy due to the Commentator’s
anti-trans hate speech.
In the September issue, besides an
illegally reproduced copyrighted im
age of myself, I am falsely quoted
saying, “I got sick of my penis op
pressing me,” followed by others
quoted as saying, “I cut off Toby’s pe
nis” and “I shot a guy in the penis
once, take that.” The implication
here being that trans people ought to
be dealt with through the (violent)
removal of their genitalia, and that to
do so with a gun would somehow be
better, perhaps more macho.
In the same issue, something I find
just as disturbing, is the following vi
olent fantasy that was detailed with
out any context or discussion of its
significance. “I want to murder some
one. I want to smash a chair on
someone’s head and bite their lips
off. I want to beat someone to death
as they scream for mercy. I want to
break a bone in my hand while
r
breaking someone else’s nose. Either
that or I want to hate fuck some girl.
But preferably both at once.”
Now I’m fairly certain that the
Commentator intended all of this as
a joke. But even as a joke, this has
serious implications. Violence
against women and violence against
trans people are serious problems.
The Commentator outed me when I
was not out to my coworkers. It
printed my name and picture and
subtly suggested the violent removal
of my genitals; even as a joke, any
one who might commit anti-trans vi
olence now knows my name, how to
identify me on the street and has en
couragement that what I am doing
somehow merits violent punishment.
The issue is not whether groups
on campus are allowed to make hate
speech, but whether the campus is
going to sponsor hate speech with
roughly $15,000 a year. Especially
when it is that $15,000 that gives its
words the power to hurt the campus
on a much larger level. When the
Commentator suggests violently re
moving the genitals of a trans per
son, all trans people on campus are
affected. When it suggests a depic
tion of violent rape to be “some of
the sexiest material ever to grace the
page” (in the November issue, refer
encing the violent fantasy excerpted
above) all women on campus are af
fected. And that has a direct impact
on this campus.
It is also very significant to explore
why I was targeted. The Commenta
tor’s own online blog reveals that as
soon as its staff members learned of
my gender identity, on July 28, they
became confused and accusatory.
They found my gender to be “worthy
of running-joke status” because it is
“amazingly pretentious and silly,” on
Oct. 11. Their explicitly-stated
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purpose of continued harassment
was to get me to “realize how ridicu
lous it {my gender] sounds,” engag
ing in a plan: “Sort of an ‘if you don’t
pick we’ll pick - for you [sic] and you
won’t like it’ strategy.”
The Commentator is not present
ing any policy issues, campus issues,
or even my capacity as a student sen
ator. In fact, even though it claims I
am fair game because as a student
senator I am a “public figure,” it does
n’t even mention I’m a senator until
later issues. This is not a conservative
perspective. It is only targeting me be
cause it sees my personal gender
identity as illegitimate and has decid
ed to try to put enough of a stigma on
me to force me to recant my gender
identity and go back into the closet. I
certainly believe that this consistent
and strategized intimidation, ridicule
and insult constitutes a hostile envi
ronment and a violation of OAR 571
003-0025(1)(d), which obligates the
University to take action. I also point
to the University of Oregon Affirma
tion of Community Standards and the
Equal Opportunity Statement as
further necessitating a response.
I speak mostly of my own case
because I can only speak for myself.
But I know of many other students
hurt by the hostile environment the
Commentator creates. I personally
would like to see a conservative pa
per on our campus. But in my opin
ion, the Commentator’s focus has
shifted from conservatism to hate.
And after talking with several ad
ministrators, all of them have point
ed to de-funding the Commentator
through the PFC as the only way
campus can respond. And if that’s
the case, it would certainly be better
than no response at all.
Toby Hill-Meyer is a student senator
f
Commentator endorses
free speech, not violence
Almost every year, unsubstantiat
ed charges of hate-mongering are lev
eled against the University’s only
conservative publication, the Oregon
Commentator. But unlike years past,
this year’s groundless charges threat
en the existence of the publication.
Student senator Toby Hill-Meyer
has made the charges that the
Oregon Commentator “creates an
unsafe environment” in a grievance
filed with the ASUO. According
to various versions of his grievance
against us, we have either reported
on or attempted to bring about
the mutilation of his genitals.
These are serious charges, made by
a not-very-serious person. His
principal source is an obviously
fictitious quote in the Commentator
attributed to former ASUO President
Maddy Melton, reading: “I cut
off Toby’s penis.” We would be
the first to admit that the quote
was in poor taste, especially when
detached from its context. It’s
not exactly Swift, but neither is it a
call to arms.
In December, the PFC rejected the
Commentator’s mission statement on
illegal content grounds. When con
fronted about their decision, Persis
Pohowalla and Mason Quiroz - chair
and co-chair of PFC respectively - re
fused to elucidate the PFC’s decision,
leading our publication to believe
that senator Hill-Meyer had a surrep
titious hand in the decision. Now that
he has gone public after acting petu
lantly behind the scenes, it’s time for
us to respond.
Hill-Meyer’s sexuality (as opposed
to gender identity) has never been
mentioned in our publication;
we don’t consider it relevant, and
we did not “out” him. What we
have addressed is his dogmatic
insistence that by unilaterally declar
ing himself to be of a nebulously de
fined new gender, with its own set of
pronouns, he immediately attains
the status of an oppressed minority
— a minority of one. Taken in
conjunction with his status as a pub
lic figure and his sanctimonious
ness, this is material that is rife with
satirical possibilities. It is akin to
a mean parody of identity politics,
and to call Hill-Meyer on it is not
“hate speech.”
Outside of Hill-Meyer’s imagina
tion, we have not threatened him
in any way. Needless to say, we do
not, and have never, endorsed vio
lence against any member of the
campus community. Senator Hill
Meyer is engaging in hyperbole. Fur
ther, the charges leveled against the
Commentator come just short of
calling our members bigoted toward
the LGBTQ community. Nothing
could be further from the truth. As
far as I know, we are the only con
servative student publication in the
nation to wholeheartedly support
gay marriage.
So here's our offer, made publicly
and in the spirit of a free press: Toby,
if you’re that angry, we’ll give you a
page to run in our long-running An
other Perspective slot. You would re
ceive 500 - 700 words in every issue,
unedited. Say what you like, as long
as it’s legal.
As an unstipended student group,
we can’t offer you remuneration, but
we can offer you a voice. That’s what
we’re here for, after all.
Tyler Graf is editor in chief of the
Oregon Commentator
FH
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