By now most of us have heard the ranting response published in the Daily News-Record regarding the editorial “The Class of 2012 Arrives” (Aug. 19). Many were offended by the harsh stereotypes Mr. Tad Williams labeled JMU students with and were shocked to hear that not everyone in the Harrisonburg community embraces us JMU students.
Even worse, if you visit the DN-R’s Web site and read Williams’ letter, you’ll find numerous responses that encourage and agree with his comment. Personally speaking, the most distressing reply is one that claims that JMU women are “little tramps.” The author of the comment goes on to say that most JMU women engage in “unprotected sex with multiple partners.” I’m not completely sure why that specific comment was allowed to be published on the DN-R’s Web site when it is clearly an exaggerated statement — but that’s a column for another time.
I could address the numerous falsehoods Williams accuses JMU students of. Personally I have never urinated in public, littered, wasted police resources or caused a traffic jam. In fact, I don’t even have a car and it’s my senior year. I also don’t have a couch in my front yard, but it’s good to know how Williams dwells on those obtrusive pieces of furniture.
I could also point out that robberies happen year-round, that two friends of mine who live a couple of houses down from me were robbed by presumably Harrisonburg residents over the summer. Just read the JMU Police’s “Timely Warnings” and you’ll see that JMU students are not to blame for all of the robberies and sexual assaults in Harrisonburg. Mr. Williams must know there is a huge and expanding gang problem growing in his own community — a problem most JMU students are ignorantly unaware of and have no involvement in.
I could let Williams know that I work three jobs and pay my own rent and that my parents love Harrisonburg and always ask to go to the Little Grill Collective every time they come for a visit. I might also add they come on Sundays when a large majority of Harrisonburg residents are at church and not on the roads, therefore not creating traffic jams.
But these facts are a waste of breath as Williams is most likely set in is mind and might even have a justified reason for feeling the way he does. Maybe he had a terrible experience with a rude, trash-throwing, illegal-parking, door-banging-in-the-middle-of-the-night person who happened to take classes at JMU.
The bad taste this letter leaves in all our mouths is that Williams neglects to acknowledge the many students who work in the Harrisonburg community and interact with residents on a daily basis. The most concerning aspect of Williams’ letter are not the false stereotypes but rather the unwelcoming sentiment he shares with some community members that JMU students are not welcome.
I’m a supporter of stopping the increase of JMU growth, as we are all living with the consequences of overexpansion — the Quad has been a mess for the past two years, there’s little parking, dining halls are over-crowded and going to UREC is a three-hour affair because half the time you’re just waiting to get on a machine.
I understand how Harrisonburg residents may feel that JMU is eating up the community on a daily basis creating a very divisive “us versus them” mentality; the higher-ups who won’t stop construction are doing just that — but again, a column for another time.
Behind every stereotype there is a smidgen of truth. Having spent multiple summers in Harrisonburg I can attest to the fact that there is less trash and crossing the street isn’t a life or death game of Frogger when school is out. But if I’ve learned anything by leaving my liberal home in Northern Virginia to attend school in a very conservative city it’s this: We’re a community.
We’re stuck with each other and the more we fight to show the world all of our differences, the less time we have to celebrate what we might have in common.
SARAH DELIA is a senior English and art history major and programming director at WXJM radio.
