As I read the article last week about assistant professor of curriculum and instruction Warren Blumenfeld’s campaign to remove religious symbols from the Memorial Union, I could only think to myself, “Wow, quite the resume this man is putting together. First, he succeeded in crippling a life-saving blood drive last semester in the name of equality. Now, he’s aiming to remove all semblance of spirituality from the art on this campus. I can’t wait for the campaign to close the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center because of male discrimination!”

My only conclusion from these misguided crusades is that he seems to think we need to protect this mysterious minority of people from being offended by things none of us have ever claimed to have a problem with.

But, to me, the most offensive thing I see on this campus right now is Blumenfeld himself.

Think about it. How would you define offensive? I would define it as something the vast majority of good-natured people can’t bear to see or listen to. This is how I would now categorize Blumenfeld. He seems to be picking extremely hot-button issues hardly anyone has ever had a problem with and demanding the most divisive solutions to these issues.

Last spring, instead of demanding gay men be heard in the blood drive and having them become more involved, he essentially stopped the blood drive to make sure no one got involved in the issue.

Now, rather than demanding Muslim, Buddhist and other religious symbols be displayed alongside the cross and the Star of David, he has proposed that they all be torn down. Why can’t we be inclusive rather than divisive?

So, right now, the only problem I see is Blumenfeld. I and several of my constituents – we now make up a minority group – would like to see Blumenfeld removed from campus because he is very offensive and unpleasant to us.

Hopefully this will help promote a campus where the free exchange of ideas and goodwill isn’t stifled by a whiny, divisive minority.

Kevin Newman

Senior

Management information systems