Letter to the Editor

In response to The Chronicle's story on some Duke students objecting to reading Fun Home for religious reasons, I would recommend that those students take themselves and their summer reading assignment a little less seriously. Summer reading is intended to create something in common for all incoming freshmen to talk about and possibly to teach students about something they wouldn't otherwise come across. But at its core, it is a voluntary assignment with no requirements or grades attached. If students want to skip the book, they can.

When I was an incoming freshman in 2006, we were asked to read The Best of Enemies, a book by Osha Gray Davidson about the history of racial discrimination in Durham. As far as I remember, neither African-American students nor white students from Durham objected to the book because it offended their moral code. If black students whose families were actively discriminated against in this country and white students whose ancestors may have done the discriminating could read The Best of Enemies together, then Christian students can read Fun Home or, maybe more importantly, they can simply choose not to and move on with their lives rather than criticizing Duke's choice of a summer reading book.

Gabe Starosta

T'10

Editor's Note: Starosta was the 105th Sports Editor of The Chronicle.