Northwest dorm presidents respond

It is severely disappointing that the stereotypes we have worked so hard to dispel within the residence halls were instantly reversed with such a deeply offensive cartoon featured in the Monday, Dec. 3 Opinion section of the IDS. The illustration showed a scantily-clad female, complete with fishnet stockings, high heels, a midriff-bearing top, a face plastered in makeup and a cigarette dangling out of her mouth, waving her Campus-Access card at a male behind a center desk. As she does so, she sticks her leg on the edge of the counter, obviously in a hyper-sexualized manner. While the image alone is upsetting, cartoonist Erich Reinhard crosses the line by including the quote: “Fost-Whore, Brisc-Hoe, or McSlut...?” above the man, suggesting the women living in the Northwest residence halls are comparable to prostitutes.\nAs presidents of Foster, McNutt and Briscoe, our mission has been to manifest a sense of community among the Northwest neighborhood, largely by preventing IU students from believing in the crude categorizations the drawing depicts. The cartoon’s extremely narrow-minded and insulting connotation not only undermines our mission, but it is also is downright unnecessary. We assume the illustrator intended to express his opposition to the key-card lock system, but we fail to see where the female sexual practices of Foster, Briscoe and McNutt fit into his argument.\nWe are appalled that a student-run newspaper allowed this sexist portrayal to be published, and we can only hope the IDS will use discretion when confronted with images that undermine the integrity of IU residents in the future.