This week’s topic: Many students have been holding signs for incoming freshmen with blatantly offensive and sexual messages. What are your thoughts on this?

Opinion Against:

“Thank you for sending us your daughters” was one of several signs displayed while CSU’s freshman class moved to campus. While the signs are abhorrent, the attitudes of the people who displayed them were even worse. The fact that they thought this was a joke and saw no harm in displaying the signs illustrates a very real problem that permeates the CSU campus and must be handled.

Rape culture in our country is a real thing. Most recently, a Massachusetts teen accused of raping two unconscious women received only two years of probation. A former University of Colorado student convicted of rape was sentenced to jail-work release and probation. The Stanford rapist who was literally caught in the act also escaped justice.

But the problem extends way beyond the boys on campus who believe they are doing nothing wrong. The problem is that the “boys will be boys” mentality allows these incidents to occur, over and over again, with no punishment. At best this is a lack of justice; at worst it’s illustrative of the system that continues to feed boys the same garbage that justifies sexual harassment of any kind, racism and violence. There is a fine line between freedom of speech and harassment.

-Randi Mattox, Sophmore

Opinion For:

The signs read “freshman daughter drop off” and “Sorority Girl Sign-up” at freshman move-in day. I don’t want to lie; they made me laugh. Are they a little bit in bad taste? Yes, probably. But don’t include them as “rape culture”. A sign does not make something “rape culture,” peoples actions do, and last time I checked, people are more than capable of drinking and not committing criminal acts. A sign doesn’t change that. If I hold up a sign that reads, “you deserve hell” in the middle of the plaza, are you going to go to hell? No, you’re not, it’s just a sign, relax. People need to take these signs for what they are: jokes.

I may not be seeing how some people view these signs as rape culture, and for that I apologize, but I feel like people need to slow down with the accusations.

Also, don’t act like these signs only come from men. Maybe at CSU they might have, but move-in signs come from men and women around the country, look no further than Total Frat Move or I’m Schmacked. They are not to be taken too seriously. They are an initiation, if you will, into college life. Basically saying “come party with us.” They are not intended to scare freshman and it is unfortunate if they do. Instead, they are intended to welcome them to college in the most college way possible.

-Anonymous Author

Next Week’s topic (8/31): On August 13, Milwaukee was set ablaze by protesters rioting against the police killing of Sylville Smith. The man was killed by a black police officer after pointing a gun at him. The protesters, many aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement, burned down a gas station, bank, and other buildings in a predominantly black neighborhood. Were their actions justified? Why or why not?

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