Letter to Robert Dubick About Sexism in the Preface, 1982 January 27
Title
Letter to Robert Dubick About Sexism in the Preface, 1982 January 27
Description
Letter that Gloria Kaufman wrote to Robert Dubick, Dean of Students, regarding sexism in the Preface.
Kaufman mentions an article titled "What To Call Your Prostitute." She also discusses a letter that a female student wrote to the Preface to protest the sexism; the letter, Kaufman says, was intentionally garbled to make the student seem illogical.
Kaufman asks the Dubick why the Preface is allowed to attack women in this manner.
Kaufman mentions an article titled "What To Call Your Prostitute." She also discusses a letter that a female student wrote to the Preface to protest the sexism; the letter, Kaufman says, was intentionally garbled to make the student seem illogical.
Kaufman asks the Dubick why the Preface is allowed to attack women in this manner.
Creator
Kaufman, Gloria
Source
Women's Studies Program Collection, Indiana University South Bend Archives and Special Collections
Date
1982-01-27
Rights
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Identifier
WomensStudies_Box1_Folder20_WS019
Text
Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press
3306 ROSS PLACE, N W WASHINGTON, D. C 20008 (202) 966-7783
January 27, 1982
Robert Dubick Dean of Students IUSB South Bend, IN
Dear Bob:
During the fall semester (1981 ), the dignity and perso nhood of more than half the student body was regularly as saulted in pr int on the pages of PREFACE. If our black students had been so attacked by the PREFACE, or if any enthnic or religious group had been even once demeaned>! am certain your office would not defend suc h attacks by citi ng the First Amendment. Why is it that the Dean of Students does not take it upon himself to prevent regular and base portrayal s of women student as objects designed sexually to service any and every mal e?
I object to such portraya1s as a member of the IUSB community, as a member of the Women's Studies Commit tee, as an Associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP), and as a human being The Women's Studies Committee has put in much time and effort towa rd encouraging older women to enroll at IUSB. How do you thin k t hey 1eel when they read the editorial "What To Call Your Prostitute"? (PREFACE, January 19, 1982.) The stance of the edi tor is clearly that of a mal e (and a sexist one). Ironically his salary and the funds to publish PREFACE come from a student body that is more female than male. vihy should the funds of women students be used continuously to attack them for their gender?
I have received innumerable complaints from women students about PREFACE. When I suggest that they write a letter, they cite the case o Marcia Egan. Marcia wrote a protesting letter to PREFACE last fall, an< it was printed in a deliberately garbled form so that it made no sen se. Students feel, then, that PREFACE will mu t ilate their letters, as it di < Marcia's, and that they do not have access to Letters to the Editor. They have been, in my view, intimidated by the Egan-letter mutilation. As an Associate of WIFP, I attend annual conferences at the National Pr< Club, and I am familiar with many forms of sexist journalism. I have not, however, seen anywhere else such blatant violation of journalist ic standards and traditions as involved in the ·garbling of Marcia Egan's
letter.
In respect to the Egan letter, I must also say that it unfairly presented her as inarticulate and illogical to her own community of schol ars. What was a sensitive and intelligent protest on her part was turned into a public display of "her" stupidity. It was dishonest to print her name after that letter.
Why is PREFACE allowed freely to attack women students (and women in general)? Why is PREFACE allowed to deny access to Letters to the Editor to women students? Who is there in your office who believes the personhood of women students is a matter worthy of concerned acti on ?
Sincerely yours,
Glor ia Kaufman
GK/la
cc: Lester Wolfson Mary Rathburn Donna Kaminski Marcia Egan Walt Collins PREFACE editors Donna Allen D'Ann Campbell Fran Rhome Publication Board Women's Studies Committee
Enclosure
3306 ROSS PLACE, N W WASHINGTON, D. C 20008 (202) 966-7783
January 27, 1982
Robert Dubick Dean of Students IUSB South Bend, IN
Dear Bob:
During the fall semester (1981 ), the dignity and perso nhood of more than half the student body was regularly as saulted in pr int on the pages of PREFACE. If our black students had been so attacked by the PREFACE, or if any enthnic or religious group had been even once demeaned>! am certain your office would not defend suc h attacks by citi ng the First Amendment. Why is it that the Dean of Students does not take it upon himself to prevent regular and base portrayal s of women student as objects designed sexually to service any and every mal e?
I object to such portraya1s as a member of the IUSB community, as a member of the Women's Studies Commit tee, as an Associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP), and as a human being The Women's Studies Committee has put in much time and effort towa rd encouraging older women to enroll at IUSB. How do you thin k t hey 1eel when they read the editorial "What To Call Your Prostitute"? (PREFACE, January 19, 1982.) The stance of the edi tor is clearly that of a mal e (and a sexist one). Ironically his salary and the funds to publish PREFACE come from a student body that is more female than male. vihy should the funds of women students be used continuously to attack them for their gender?
I have received innumerable complaints from women students about PREFACE. When I suggest that they write a letter, they cite the case o Marcia Egan. Marcia wrote a protesting letter to PREFACE last fall, an< it was printed in a deliberately garbled form so that it made no sen se. Students feel, then, that PREFACE will mu t ilate their letters, as it di < Marcia's, and that they do not have access to Letters to the Editor. They have been, in my view, intimidated by the Egan-letter mutilation. As an Associate of WIFP, I attend annual conferences at the National Pr< Club, and I am familiar with many forms of sexist journalism. I have not, however, seen anywhere else such blatant violation of journalist ic standards and traditions as involved in the ·garbling of Marcia Egan's
letter.
In respect to the Egan letter, I must also say that it unfairly presented her as inarticulate and illogical to her own community of schol ars. What was a sensitive and intelligent protest on her part was turned into a public display of "her" stupidity. It was dishonest to print her name after that letter.
Why is PREFACE allowed freely to attack women students (and women in general)? Why is PREFACE allowed to deny access to Letters to the Editor to women students? Who is there in your office who believes the personhood of women students is a matter worthy of concerned acti on ?
Sincerely yours,
Glor ia Kaufman
GK/la
cc: Lester Wolfson Mary Rathburn Donna Kaminski Marcia Egan Walt Collins PREFACE editors Donna Allen D'Ann Campbell Fran Rhome Publication Board Women's Studies Committee
Enclosure
Collection
Citation
Kaufman, Gloria, “Letter to Robert Dubick About Sexism in the Preface, 1982 January 27,” IU South Bend Archives Digital Collections, accessed April 26, 2024, https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/items/show/290.