Resolution

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I am writing to clarify a serious misinterpretation in The Crimson's article, "Council Will Ask Houses to Discuss Homophobia" (March 6). While the resolution I sponsored does in fact call on the masters of the houses and the freshmen senior advisors to "engage students and tutors in an open discussion of issues of sexual orientation, including attitudes toward gay and lesbian students," it does not and was never intended to involve the entire campus in a discussion of "the alleged harassment of a gay Mather House resident last month," as the article asserts.

Clearly, it is inappropriate for the Undergraduate Council to debate a specific case for which disciplinary action may be pending. The resolution as it was originally proposed was not meant to endorse either of the involved parties's versions of the complicated incident at Mather. The resolution in fact tried to move away from any single incident and to deal with indisputable fact that homophobia is a problem on campus.

My involvement in promoting campus-wide dialogue about issues of sexual orientation stems from homophobic reactions to Defeat Homophobia's Kiss-In--reactions which I heard expressed at an open forum provided by the Mather House masters and reactions such as "Harvard Faggots Die" written on a blackboard in Mather late at night. I became even more interested when many students at Mather began to display pink triangles in their windows to show support for the bisexual, gay and lesbian community, and I hoped to use the energy of the discussion at Mather as momentum to create a campus-wide dialogue on the rights of bisexual, gay and lesbian students.

Although one amendment to the resolution was approved, the council overwhelmingly rejected two other amendments which would have required the masters and senior advisors to discuss jointly the very different issues of sexual harassment and of homophobia.

Ultimately, and despite The Crimson's inaccurate characterization of its actions, the council did issue a strong statement reasserting its commitment to the rights of all members of Harvard University to participate fully in their community, regardless of sexual orientation. Sean J. Bolser '89   Mather House Council Representative