News Briefs
Some Administrators Angry at DormCon, Tech’s Daily Confusion
According to Vinayak V. Ranade ’09, president of East Campus, a number of administrators and members of the Residential Life Office found the EC entries in last Friday’s Daily Confusion to be “tasteless.”
The Daily Confusion, published by The Tech and Dormitory Council, is a listing of REX events submitted by the REX chairs of each dorm. This year, East Campus submitted over 270 entries (the limit for the Daily Confusion was 300 events per dorm), many of which included explicit language. All other dorms chose to enter substantially fewer events than the limit.
A statement from the EC House Government says that the entries were written by EC residents “in parody and jest,” and that similar language had been used in previous years’ issues of the Daily Confusion without complaint until now.
“EC is a dorm which has been known for its distinctive and offbeat culture, where the community is very open minded about humor (not unlike the humor in the Daily Confusion),” the statement reads. “If people are upset by EC culture and expression in general, then we are dealing with a serious issue of wider scope than just one publication in a student newspaper.”
“In spite of this, we acknowledge the possibility of disgruntled parents and community members,” the EC statement continues. “It was not EC’s intention to offend anyone, and we apologize if the humor was misunderstood.”
Donna M. Denoncourt, associate dean of Residential Life, said she would like to resolve the misunderstanding through communication with the goal of “appreciating varying perspectives.” She said, “Orientation is about letting freshmen understand and appreciate different cultures of the dorms and if there are ways that we can support and not hinder that opportunity, I think we have accomplished the goals of REX.”
—Joyce Kwan