<p>Hadn't heard of this before:</p>
<p><a href="http://phillipian.net/article?id=6202%5B/url%5D">http://phillipian.net/article?id=6202</a></p>
<p>I'm fascinated that, so far, 24 people have read this post but none of responded. Obviously it's an appalling article and occurrence. The timing is horrendous for DA. What I find interesting is that so far no one has wanted to weigh in.</p>
<p>That's not cool. So they think that kids from SPS sent the letters to DA students. How'd they know which adresses were the ones of the gay students?</p>
<p>These incidents are obviously very disturbing, but not so surprising. We still live in a fairly racist and homophobic society, so why would teens who attend prep schools be immune?</p>
<p>They mean that whoever did it was copying the incident at SPS and they might copy the handwriting of DA students with the writing on the napkins at DA. Impossible to imagine this kind of behaviour among educated kids at such elite institutions.</p>
<p>It was sent through the school's internal mail system. So it was all within Deerfield. Nothing to do with SPS except for the similarity of hate mail.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Impossible to imagine this kind of behaviour among educated kids at such elite institutions.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There are plenty of well-educated people with issues. And I've not seen a test or interview question that will uncover them with certainty so that schools can weed them out in advance.</p>
<p>I do think though that the publicity generated tends to give ideas to those with limited impulse control, so I would predict that these types of incidents will continue unfortunately.</p>
<p>I just don't understand how kids my age can have so much hate in them. I support gay rights although I myself am heterosexual. However, I have several friends who do not [support gay rights]. I am fine with this because they keep their opinions to themselves. Sending this kind of hate-mail only shows immaturity and ignorance.</p>
<p>somehow i am just not surprised, at virtually all schools there are students who would want to do that. Most of the time people do not commit any hate crimes or the such but many people think about it all of the time. The only difference between this and black rights in the 60s is that it is not supported by the government, in peoples minds its essentially one and the same.</p>
<p>very wrong to do us - but, very hard for them to proclaim the lord's word openly against immoral practice</p>
<p>What suprises me, more than the incident, is the response by Emerson, Deerfield Dean of Students:</p>
<p>“...But we also need to support the students who wrote the letters, because these means of communication weren’t helpful to our community in terms of addressing differences … by sending an anonymous letter, it’s not opening dialogue about sexuality,” Emerson continued.</p>
<p>Exactly how much "support" do they intend to bestow upon this person/persons who makes or implies threats specifically designed to intimidate and terrorize?</p>
<p>The article does not specify that the notes were necessarily implied threats. They could have had a religious connotation. I don't know the exact nature of the notes, at least it was not specified in the Philippian articly, but if the Dean feels that the perpetrator(s) require support, then it sounds as if the notes were not of a threatening nature.</p>
<p>I've been searching, and I can't find any other news on this incident; not even in the local newspaper, The Greenfield Recorder. The only place it comes up is The Philippian. I wonder how that came about?</p>
<p>According to Linda Griffith, Dean of CAMD, what happened at Deerfield is clearly a perceived threat:</p>
<p>She continued, The St. Pauls incident was more disconcerting because it was [sent through] U.S. mail. This is a felony, and it was a threatit wasnt an epithet. For me, the big difference is [that it was] a threat, and thats whats also happening at Deerfield. When youre threatening someone, weve moved onto a whole other level.</p>
<p>I missed that paragraph when I scanned the article. Still, it sounds to me like she is referring to the SPS incident when she says, "This is a felony, and it was a threat..." She then goes on to say "....and that's also what's happening at Deerfield." I wish we more commentary from someone at Deerfield.</p>
<p>It is interesting that it didn't receive more press. </p>
<p>Although the SPS incident was extremely unfortunate, I think the SPS administration handled it as well as they could and has been very open about it. I could find no reference to the DA event on that school's website. However, since the SPS incident involved the USPS it automatically becomes a felony with the involvement of the federal government.</p>
<p>I heard about this several weeks ago, where I saw it on the Andover newspaper web site. No mention about it at all on Deerfield's site, and no communication about it to applicants, unlike the response of SPS. My concern is not that these events happen, but how a school reacts. As a gay man, with an applicant to SPS, I was very impressed with their response. Deerfield's leaves a lot to be desired, based on what we have heard so far. Admittedly we don't know all the facts, because Deerfield seems to have chosen to deal with it by not talking about it, which is overall not healthy.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, being rich or poor, smart or dumb, tall or short, young or old, racism and homophobia still exist. So, no surprise that these things happen at elite boarding schools. </p>
<p>I am optimistic about the future however, because it does seem that today's teenagers are much more open to people with differences. Most young people, but not all. It does seem that the Caribbean is more intolerant of gay people than other areas, so hang in there Cookie, and keep fighting the good fight!</p>
<p>And, ignorance exists on this very board. One young poster, who happens to be an URM, used the word "homo" in another post. Rather than call him out on it, I let it go. Usually, I am the first one to stand up for my rights, and the rights of others, but a few days ago, I let this insult go by. However, look up on this thread...this poster has basically said that being gay is immoral. Either I read it wrong, or no one is daring to respond. Well, I will respond. You have NO right to inflict your values on others. You do not know me or my life, and whether my life is moral or not. Loving my partner for 10 years, doing huge amounts of work (you parents know how that is!) to help his niece get into boarding school, and you call me immoral? I have had enough!</p>
<p>Brooklyn, I agree with you about the disturbing (and confusing/poorly written) commentary by one poster here. Isn't this 2008? I would have expected more enlightenment from applicants. I'm hoping that this kid and others like him will come out of boarding school celebrating others' differences.
I think that the sentence was so poorly written that it might have gone under the radar. I had noticed the term "homo" on the other thread, but let it go. I had found the poster to be small-minded and offensive in so many other ways that I just didn't feel like bothering with him.</p>
<p>God has said that anything but sex between a man and a wife is immoral and those who practice such will go to hell. There is no debate nor celebration of one's differences. You may be a wonderful person in all other ways but if you practice sex other than between a man and a wife, you ARE immoral.</p>
<p>BigFoo, why do'nt you start another thread called "My Intolerance." you can post your opinions there, and we can ignore it.</p>