This letter was written in response to an opinion piece by Shaun Fitzpatrick, published on Sept. 5, 2012.
By Abbi Lamparelli
I am brand new here on campus. I am a freshman. And I really hated the article “defending” my classmates in last week’s Signal.
I’m sure you’re just shocked.
First of all, it was extremely paradoxical. Even the title in itself is contradictory. The writer is defending us, yet thinks we're “dumb little assholes,” yet — not to worry — we shouldn’t be offended because all upperclassmen were once “dumb little assholes,” yet if she sees us walking with our lanyards she will tell us to “cut that shit out?” Yes, that’s very simple to understand.
Shaun Fitzpatrick is the “Opinions Editor” and can’t even convey a simple point. Does she want to truly defend us? Or is she too set in her “freshmen-suck” ways to really say anything positive about us? She wants others to shut up with the complaints and give us dummies a break, yet, she classifies us as “dumb” right in the title, not enforcing her own policy. She uses words that are, believe it or not, offensive (she is obviously very professional and diplomatic), and makes herself seem like she somehow has the authority to tell others what to do about the “problem” of our existence. Is she the leader of the freshman haters, then? By the way, love that allusion to Whitney. You act like YOU are not the future too? What are you like, three, four years older than us? Get real. I look at all of YOU around campus and I’m not excited that you’re in my future either. Who wants leaders that insult and harass the newcomers just because they feel like it? HELLO?! Nobody.
She wrote that she knows that being a freshman is scary. And guess what? She is RIGHT. My first few weeks here have been the worst of my entire life and you know what? Reading this article confirmed my suspicion that I am, in fact, an unwelcome newbie.
And please tell me who granted her, the all powerful, omniscient opinions editor, the ability to automatically know what each and every freshman is like? I might just be speaking for myself, but I do not party, drink, smoke, flirt, none of it. So how can she group me with all the “dumb little assholes” who embarrass themselves at frat parties and miss the toilet when they puke? It’s clear that she doesn’t know me or my straight-edge friends. Don’t worry though, after this, we don’t want to know her either.
One of the reasons that students pick this college is the sense of community. There are so many clubs that cater to people from different backgrounds, sexual orientations and interests. We try to ensure that everyone is given unbiased opportunities and try our best to ignore stereotypes. Yet, you have just enforced a stereotype, and not tactifully at all, I might add. Maybe if you upperclassmen got to know some of us, you would see we have the same complaints as you do. Take the blinders off and step away from the TCNJ shot glasses long enough to come to the rational conclusion that there is no reason to pick on us besides, of course, your primitive and ignorant tradition. “Call for blood?” Seriously?
You want to speak in defense of freshmen? Do me a favor, don’t defend us if you’re going to do so by publishing an article like THAT, especially when it makes the opinions editor seem like she needs some serious lessons in simple rhetoric. I sure hope she doesn’t want to be a journalist. If she really wants to stop the hatred of the class of 2016, she should just tell people about it; instead, the poor girl wrote an article that is tangible proof of the fact that she has no clue what he is really trying to say. And if you want to expose her honest opinion? Expect to get some honest opinion right back.
Still want to judge US? Feel free. But keep in mind, we are judging YOU too, and branding YOU as the people who make college unwelcoming and socially discouraging. Thanks a bunch.
Sincerely,
A dumb little asshole
