So this is my one and only opinion column of my life, and I couldn’t thank Tim Davis enough.

I’ll skip all the crap and get to what I want to talk about.

Yep, the great Catt Hall Controversy. Now I’ll try to be as constructive as I can in my opinion, but there is a lot happening on this campus that is fairly upsetting.

I was at the latest anti-Catt Hall Movement rally a couple of weeks ago and I heard a lot of terms tossed around loosely, such terms as racism, ignorance, unity and freedom.

The interesting thing is that not one time did I hear the word forgiveness.

If this is truly a protest about racism, then the anti-Catt Hall Movement needs to evaluate their approach to the so-called “dilemma.”

Catt made racist comments, and nobody is denying that. Is racism ignorant? Of course it is. Are all people human? Of course they are. Do people make mistakes? Of course they do.

The man giving the protest speech said that there is no forgiveness for racism because it is ignorant, and there is no excuse for ignorance. I say that is the biggest tub of [crap] I have ever heard.

If Catt is only to be judged by her faults, then Malcolm X was nothing more than a criminal and a womanizer. Now I don’t believe that about Malcolm X, but by the anti-Catt Hall Movement rationale, Malcolm should never be remembered for the good he has done in his life.

How can you have an equal society without forgiveness? If there is no forgiveness for past mistakes, we can never move on.

Catt was racist because of the time period. Every person in this world has a character that was formed by the immediate society that surrounded them.

This is not an excuse, it’s a reason.

Let’s also remember that if there is ever a campus-wide vote to determine whether Catt Hall should be re-named or not, if it wasn’t for Catt, the women on campus wouldn’t be allowed to vote.

But of course, it doesn’t matter what she has accomplished in her life because she made racist statements. Wrong!

Catt was a woman that accomplished what looked to be an impossible feat for the time period, and in return, all women, Afro-American, Hispanic, Asian and white are reaping the benefits of her efforts.

Besides, it’s not like the hall is named “Adolph Hitler Memorial Hall.” Nobody put up the private donations to build a hall that would stand for racism.

There isn’t a speaker system connected to Catt Hall that spews racial slurs across campus. There is simply a tribute to a woman that defied odds so other women could speak their mind.

Now I understand that we are all at the most opportunistic age of our young lives, and I do admire anybody that stands up for what they believe in.

But we all have to realize that we live in a “majority rules” world. At the most recent anti-Catt Hall Movement rally there was approximately 80 people, give or take a few. So I’m thinking that there are over 20,000 students on campus.

This is far from a majority. These rallies, without proper representation, reaffirms that the majority does not agree with the movement.

The point is that there is strength in numbers, and no matter how firm your beliefs are, if the majority disagrees with you, then you have to deal with it. By all means, keep trying.

If Catt Hall was changed tomorrow, I would disagree with it, but at the same time, I wouldn’t dig up racial bones to fight a losing battle. I could walk by the newly renamed hall and not think twice.

I don’t have a strong love for past racial problems, and I’d just as soon learn from them and let them die.

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Chad Calek is a junior in journalism mass communication from Persia.