IN THE comic sequel to the Danish cartoon saga, the University is currently registering its own version of excessive uproar over an equally simple expression of free speech. Last week, in response to the LGBT Resource Office's "Gay? Fine By Me" T-shirt distribution campaign, student Mark Hopke displayed a sign on his Hereford dorm room window that read, "Gay? Not Fine by Me." QSU responded with an energetic but misdirected and illogical publicity campaign. The actions of both parties were equally misguided and ludicrously excessive, and the QSU has ironically ended up promoting instead of impeding Hopke's message and turned themselves into infringers of free speech and a bunch of Toolkit spammers.
First, Hopke's actions were misguided and logically flawed. The logical basis for Hopke's stunt was based on equating the University's funding of the t-shirt campaign with the fact that it sends the message that the entire University community supports the gay community. This is laughably false. QSU did not force students to put on or buy T-shirts -- rather, obtaining t-shirts was an option taken by those who supported the campaign and its message. Further, Hopke had other simpler and less provocative mediums by which he could have expressed his logically flawed assumptions, such as appealing for a refund of student activity funds or wearing a t-shirt with his own message. That Hopke did not pursue one of these less severe options is an important point which most often overlook. "I felt like these measures would not have gotten my message out as effectively," he said, thereby affirming that his chief aim in choosing this measure over the other more "pacifist" options was maximal publicity.
If maximum publicity was Hopke's chief aim, it would logically follow that the best response by QSU would be to leave it marginalized. Instead, supporters of the QSU chose to embark on a misguided public campaign -- manipulating Toolkit class lists to send out an e-mail protest against Hopke and distributing signs reading "Respect" to all Hereford residents. The latter measure defies all logic -- the message of alleged bigotry came from Hopke alone and not Hereford as a dorm. Secondly, it is a pure conundrum to me why QSU feels it can embark on its own t-shirt campaign advocating tolerance for gays using their right to free speech but then targets one individual by circumventing him with "Respect" signs and hate mail for not reacting positively to their message using that same right. This seems inherently contradictory.
QSU's actions also ultimately seemed to have tarnished their own image and furthered Hopke's goal for publicity rather than spread "awareness." For instance, Hopke's defense against QSU in his e-mail letter moved the focus from gay rights to the central issue of free speech, resulting in an interesting "e-mail
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