Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Commentary

At the risk of seeming gauche, I am a little concerned by the graphs that have been taped up around campus by the President's Advisory Committee on Inclusive Excellence (PACIE). They use graphs to lend a sense of hard fact or data to represent subjective second-hand accounts in a skewed graphic. The main focus is bold words like "Angry?" or "Annoyed?" accompanied by red and blue bars. On closer inspection these graphs end at 30% or maybe 60% making the bars of 'data' seem much more exaggerated than they are. A lot of these graphs are missing an x- or y-axis label, and don't have a clear title, so I'm not exactly sure what the percentages are representing. If they do have a discernible title, it may be something like "I hear..." or "I think..." rather than an actual objective description of the incident.

I am completely in favor of equal opportunity and a system based on merit rather than the color of your skin or who you like to sleep with. I just think that the signs PACIE have put up are an insult to the Wheaton community's sensibility. They are more divisive than inclusive. The signs seek to stir up outrage that they don't accurately represent. This is all the more troubling because inclusiveness on campus is a valid issue that needs to be discussed. PACIE's signs are not properly dignifying their cause with shallow appeals and knee-jerk reactions.

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