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On behalf of a dear friend of mine I would like to clarify some serious misconceptions voiced by last week's responses to a 'Brandeis Conservative.' When Jordan made the comparison between conservatism at Brandeis and homosexuality elsewhere, he did not do so to disparage the hardships of homosexuals, including the hardships they endure in our society. He did so to make a tongue-in-cheek illustration of what life as a conservative at Brandeis is like the stated purpose of his article. This is not an unfair analogy, whether or not you happen to agree with it.

Consider that in the Shapiro Campus Center a rainbow flag is prominently displayed from the railings yet an American flag is no where to be found. Uh oh, look what I did your head is probably spinning with rage. Time for those obligatory 'obviously nots': OBVIOUSLY I do NOT believe that Americans are 'oppressed' the way homosexuals generally are. OBVIOUSLY I do NOT believe that homosexuals are overrepresented on campus relative to Americans.

In fact, I know a lot of homosexuals who are Americans and vice versa even at Brandeis! The point is that in the main student center of our University we have a rainbow flag which represents only some of us while we don't have an American flag which would represent far more of us as well as the country which allows for and protects our school. And that flag, the stars and stripes, means a great deal to conservatives probably to the same effect the rainbow flag means a great deal to homosexuals. Yet the red, white and blue is nowhere to be found that's the school we attend: overwhelmingly left-wing, tolerant to the point of being illiberal.

And that's what conservatives like Jordan and I confront a campus that would, when confronted with a case of American flag burning, treat it as free speech, while, when confronted with a case of gay rainbow flag burning, treat it as a hate crime. Unfortunately, Jordan's critics seem rather humorless so I'll end my racist hate speech on this point, for the sake of preventing more head-spinning. I look forward to your hate mail.

Alan Meyerson '08
President, Brandeis Republicans