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REFUTING PROFESSOR ROCHESTER'S COMMENTS

by Tim Peacock

Bill brought forth questions many students worry about as they are completing their higher education - can I get a job? With the influx of youth out of school and into the dwindling job market, I believe Bill has a legitimate fear. Traditional majors no longer guarantee a job once you exit school. In fact, computer programming may be the only profession in which there is a demand for more people at the moment. I don't know about the rest of the UM-St. Louis student populous, but since I'm no good at running Windows 95, I don't think computer programming is in my future.

Now let me go to Professor Rochester's remarks. I'm usually not one to respond publicly to remarks, but something he wrote caught my attention. In his rebuttal against Bill, he cited so-called majors and fluff classes that contribute to this fear. He never addresses Bill's real arguments. I'm sure Bill is intelligent enough to realize the seriousness of his education.

Second, I'd like to address the correlation Professor Rochester made between ludicrous majors like Beavis and Butthead, and such majors as "Queer History." What has this University come to? I thought we were on the road to ethnic understanding? Obviously not when comments like this can go without any protest. I'm supposed to believe African-American and Native-American studies are legitimate areas of study and that gay studies are simply fluff. I was appalled at the comparison. I'm currently taking Psychology 214, The Psychology of Sexual Orientation. I believe that class is educating people that would not have otherwise learned about the gay culture.

These so-called litter classes are eliminating stereotypes and educating us on gay figures of the past, such as Walt Whitman. So the next time you decide to make a few slurs in your opinion statements in trying to defend student education, keep in mind that some of us are pursuing that line of education. We don't appreciate regression from the small progress we have achieved as a community.