Bench graffiti worsens problem of rape

I cannot even come close to expressing the anger I felt upon seeing the mockery that had been made of the "Grease" advertisement on the Cleland bench Thursday morning. The cheap graffiti reading "[Grease] me up and fuck me" on a bench ten feet away from a quad chain laced with hundreds of symbolic purple ribbons was honestly one of the most disgusting scenes that I have ever witnessed. I cannot believe the extremely callous, selfish, and insensitive attitude towards sex evidenced by the student responsible for that graffiti, especially during a week devoted to rape awareness.

I doubt that student thought very deeply about the words he or she was scribbling, but I would hope that each of us would now stop and reflect upon those words, the words of the women speaking out on the quad last week, and the silent words of those who cared enough to tie a purple ribbon. Although the path of rape neither begins nor ends at Duke, it passes directly through our campus. If we continue to disregard or seemingly forget brave attempts to force this crisis into the open, I am afraid that the problem of rape will never end.

Alison Meekhof

Trinity `95