A Letter to the Student Body of a Liberal Arts College
Students of Otterlind College,
Over the past couple of days, I have had the misfortune of learning about the details of a highly offensive party that took place on campus over the weekend. Now, I would like to preface this by saying that we here at Otterlind pride ourselves on providing a safe and inclusive space for faculty and students alike, which is why the theme of this party is under such high scrutiny.
According to my sources, the Slam Poetry team threw a Nudist themed party on Friday night. Students were required to show up naked to the party and remain that way despite being in Ohio in the dead of winter. The source recounts that if someone at the party put clothing on, they were promptly kicked out of the party for breaking the highly offensive party theme. I myself find this theme disgusting and unbecoming of you, the student body. You all should be ashamed of yourselves for appropriating nudist culture. People of nudism are a highly oppressed group of people and must be considered a minority. I have no issue with having your dick and balls out on campus, but you must do it in a respectful and dignified manner.
A lot of my friends and family are people of nudism, some of which sit at my table for Thanksgiving every year, so I am appalled that any of my students would think it amusing to mock and appropriate their way of life. Many of these friends have had obscenities shouted at them for their public lifestyle, like “Put your clothes on, please” or “You have a tiny dick and balls”. For my own students to belittle them is repulsive. Their culture is not your costume.
For those who participated in this heinous party, I hope you’ve learned your lesson. I am especially shocked at those who participated who are a part of a minority group. We have an extremely diverse student body, with only 80% of our students being cisgender heterosexual working class whites. That statistic makes us one of the most diverse schools in the state of Ohio. I thought that because of this, you all would understand the struggles of bigotry that People of Nudism face, but clearly I was misguided in my assumption.
I hope you all can learn from this and move forward with grace, dignity, and the tools to be in the nude without offending others.
Cordially,
President Karl M. Sutherland
