The ones we didn’t run were worse: When you see a headline that says “Are there limits to political correctness?” on a newspaper from 1994, with an accompanying photo of a man dressed up in a skirt with a “Miss Camosun” sash over his torso, you think, uh-oh, this one hasn’t aged well. But most of the sentiments in our March 21, 1994 issue echo what people have to say today on either side of this discussion. In Student Opinion, Kait Burgan said that “I’m not saying it’s okay to intentionally try to offend or hurt someone. I just wish people would stop looking for ways to cause controversy. They must have better things to do with their time.” (If only Burgan could have looked ahead into the future and saw how adults behave on social media.) In Speak Up, Shane Calder said, “I don’t think one can be killed by political correctness but one can be killed by a lack of knowledge.”
Unfortunate numbers: The story “Sexual harassment inquiries increase” in this issue looked at the grim reality of sexual-harassment inquiries rising at Camosun at the time; according to the story, there were 73 inquiries at all Camosun campuses in 1993, but in February of 1994 there were 17 at the Lansdowne campus alone. Today, the college has a recently implemented Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy, and students who have any questions or concerns can go to camosun.ca/services/sexual-violence for information.
Telling it like it is: Writer Shelley Evans wrote in the Excrementia Factorum column about her experience giving birth at the hospital. She didn’t beat around the bush: “I felt I was a cross between the ‘Hulk’ and ‘Alien,’” she wrote. “My body was frozen and they took my glasses away leaving me like a blind slug.” She ends off with these words: “I love my child and thank God every day for her; but I think this experience was the best form of contraceptive around.”