No Joke

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I'm very sorry we offended Michael Dorf '86 when my colleague and I poked fun at the Crimson headline, "Judge Decides Not to Deport Former Harvard Doctor/Rapist." We are both very sensitive to the seriousness of rape as a contemporary tragedy, and I'm pleased Mr. Dorf is also. We were making fun of a sloppy headline, not trivializing criminal behavior. It is a tragedy that an estimated one out of three women will be sexually assaulted at some time during their lives. It is a tragedy that nurses and patients become victims of rape at the hands of physicians they look to for supervision and medical care. It is a tragedy that women are not free to walk the streets in their own neighborhoods at night. It is a tragedy that rape is such a pervasive threat that its mere mention causes some people to lose their sense of humor. Robert Timothy Reagan   Ph.D student, Psychology and Social Relations