Wellesley Unfairly Stereotyped

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I would like to address this letter to Rebecca A. Jeschke '92, the author of the feature about the Wellesley College Senate Bus ["Enduring a Boring Trip for City's Excitement," February 26]. As a Wellesley student and a passenger the night Jeschke rode the bus, I found the article not only derogatory, but also in poor taste by the paper.

Although Jeschke seemed on the verge of turning the article into an informative and realistic portrayal of the bus and the reasons that Wellesley students ride it, she immediately downshifts into a gripe session that she calls journalism.

My main objection to the article is the way that we Wellesley students are described. Jeschke stereotypes the way that we dress, our reasons for riding the bus and, often, our personalities as well. To make the statements she makes, she would have to do much more research than riding the Senate Bus for a few hours. For example, she describes the way most of the women are dressed as "fashionable." Most people I know, whether they attend single-sex or co-ed colleges, try to look "fashionable." Yet Jeschke says this as if it were a character flaw.

As for her comments on how we "toil in an all-female environment," Wellesley provides a pretty clear description in its brochures--we all knew it was an all-women's college when we applied.

Many comments that Jeschke prints as the heart-felt feelings of Wellesley students could have been, and in my opinion, were, taken out of context. It seems obvious that Jeschke did not get a full transcript of any conversation--meaning that she could have missed crucial points in those conversations. Instead of noting this in her article, she just assumes that these bits prove how shallow and "self-absorbed" we are.

She relates hearing a woman exclaim "But he's a married man, with kids!" She lets this statement hang, allowing readers to assume anything they want. This, again, is not journalism; it's calculated nastiness.

I found this article petty and trivial--definitely not a newsworthy piece. It is too bad that Jeschke could not have written something trying to dispel the myths about Wellesley women and the bus. Instead, she magnifies the myths, as if trying to make us look as bad as possible.

If a Harvard student didn't know any Wellesley women, I thing that he or she would come away from Jeschke's article with a very negative impression of Wellesley in general. This in itself is not fair. If an image is to be portrayed of us, at least let us do it ourselves, on our own terms. This article sucker-punched us. Jeschke should know that this is journalism at its worst. Margaret Lisi   Wellesly College