Re: (Fwd) APC News Wire

[Dale Goble <gobled@uidaho.edu>]

THis has the feel of an urban legend.  Bet you dollars to donuts that the
truth is a good bit more complicated and has nothing to with changing
Shakespeare's plays.

dale goble

On Fri, 6 Nov 1998, Amy VanHoover wrote:

> I thought this was interesting.  Hope nobody gets offended-
> Amy VanHoover
> *************************************************
> WHEN THE INMATES RUN THE ASYLUM
> 
> 
> 
> Just when you think that examples of hysterical 
> levels of political correctness on college campuses 
> couldn’t get more ridiculous, along comes another.
> 
> The Washington Times reported Monday that Arizona 
> State University has fired Professor Jared Sakren, 
> the head of their acting program, for using a 
> "classical" approach to teaching Shakespeare.
> 
> The ASU Theatre Department wanted Sakren to either 
> change the ending of the plays or "reinterpret" the 
> texts if he insisted on including "offensive, sexist 
> and Eurocentric" selections such as Shakespeare, 
> Aeschylus, Chekhov and Ibsen.
> 
> Well, the feminists who were upset can rest easy now 
> because Sakren is gone (although the lawsuit he’s 
> filed against the school and some faculty members 
> may still loom). And no one will have to be 
> subjected to the offensive original versions of 
> William Shakespeare’s plays. Instead, the theater 
> department is enlightening the campus with "Betty 
> the Yeti: An Eco-Fable." According to the Times, 
> it’s a "story of a logger who has sex with a 
> sasquatch and is transformed into an 
> environmentalist." And what’s the relevance of this 
> play? Some suspect it may be the true life story of 
> Al Gore!
> 
> ACTION TO TAKE: (1) Call Bonnie Eckard, ASU Theatre 
> Department "Chair" (and quite possibly one of the 
> offended feminists): 602-965-5359. Tell her you’re 
> sick and tired of colleges indoctrinating our kids 
> with this type of radical revolutionary nonsense and 
> insist that common sense and classic literature be 
> returned to curriculums.
> 
> Amy VanHoover
> http://www.uidaho.edu/~hine9441
>