Letter to the editor

I am responding to Sabriyya Pate's Oct. 24 editorial "The 'nasty woman' DSG needs." In her article, Pate defends the current DSG President, Tara Bansal, and states that criticism of her administration comes from sexist, "gendered remarks," instead of certain policy decisions. In my opinion, this assertion could not be further from the truth.

Criticism of the Bansal administration has been well-justified, and has nothing to do with her gender. When Bansal revoked parking passes for all DSG members except for herself, she committed a shocking act of arrogance at an unprecedented level. By being the only one to keep her special parking permit, she shows that she thinks she is above the rules and that she can manipulate policy to benefit herself and herself only, showing her corruption. 

Even worse, Annie Adair and John Guarco's resignations from their positions of DSG attorney general and justice, respectively, showed the sad reality of how Bansal runs her government. Both resigned because of "differences of opinion" between them and Bansal, whose quote, "There would be no reason for me not to want them on DSG" reeks of a possible behind-closed-doors ousting, a deplorable abuse of power. It is also reasonable to note that Pate, the author of the column, was appointed as DSG deputy by Bansal, showing a conflict of interest in her defense of Bansal.

Perhaps worst of all is Pate's arbitrary use of the "gender card" despite the very clear and sound arguments against Bansal's administration. Despite the fact that the previous two DSG presidents were also female, neither of them attracted nearly as much criticism as Bansal's regime. Pate's claim of sexism is not only inaccurate but also detracts from real cases of gender discrimination that harm our society today. It is my hope that Bansal and DSG take the very real criticisms of their administration and respond to them with humility and real change instead of pompously dismissing them as something frivolous.

Davis Lovvorn, Trinity '18