LETTER: Shame on the Bullet: reader response to ‘Bullshit’ edition

Dear Editor,

I wanted to let you know the extreme disappointment and disgust I felt after reading the recent “Bullshit” article from March 31. Please keep in mind it is not just students that read the Bullet, it is alumni (like myself) who are your readers.

When I was a sophomore in 2006 a petition went around the dorms asking the Bullet to remove Sexclamations from it’s pages, and at the time I felt it was well within the paper’s rights to publish articles that are within taste, albeit not my taste.

However, the line was severely crossed with this recent publication, specifically the caption underneath the photo of the Bullet’s Online Editor, which read: “Dave thought if he ever went to jail it would be because he’s into 14-year-old girls.” This floored me until I turned the page and discovered the grotesque poem “by” Michael McCarthy talking about abortion and other sexual acts.

The Bullet should be a portal for students to express their ideas, opinions and news.

What kind of image is the Bullet projecting if they must dedicate two pages of satirical “Bullshit” that belongs more in the pages of Playboy, not my collegiate newspaper. I sincerely hope others feel this way, and frankly I feel disappointed that this letter even needs to be sent to your paper.

I am very proud of having attending Mary Washington, but I should be able to read the paper without having to read fake news about abortions, child pedophilia and other unmentionables. What’s the point of faculty advisers or student editors if they let these types of articles through to publication?

Sincerely,
Joyce Metzler Class of 2009