Responses to Sexual Harassment Policy and Political Correctness in 1991

When a new sexual harassment policy was published at Middlebury College in 1991, and included harassment based on sexuality, there was a strong response. This response was exacerbated by a reflection on the newly popular concept of "political correctness," which was a topic of intense debate. Student Daniel E. O'Neil wrote an op/ed in The Campus against the censorship that he believes is a product of political correctness (March 14, 1991). Students then wrote op/eds in response to O'Neil and in support of political correctness (March 14 and March 21). Following this, another student, David Upham, wrote in defense of O'Neil and his rights to free speech and religious freedom regarding homosexuals (April 11). At that point, professors and students alike joined in with op/eds on the debate about sexuality, free speech, sexual harassment, and political correctness. (April 18, April 25, May 9). This collection contains a very interesting string of op/eds, numbering 13 total, which provide insight to the past and present of these topics at Middlebury. Each article is labeled with its publication date in the title, so you can view them more easily in chronological order.

1991