Never until this day have we been ashamed to be members of the Notre Dame community, a community that would endorse and even celebrate a theatrical monstrosity that has ridiculed the conservative nature of this University and perverted its Catholic mission. The name of this production has been whispered across campus for weeks, inciting nervous giggles over dining hall tables and titillating the virtuous minds of our fellow students. With deep sorrow and piety, we acknowledge the Keenan Revue has again been viewed by thousands of consenting adults.
While neither of us actually attended the Revue this year, we heard it was quite offensive, as we had heard in previous years. The young men of Keenan Hall, in efforts to disguise their true intentions of demeaning men and glorifying premarital sex, claim their production is "satire" or "entertainment."
Clearly, this cannot be true. The Revue is unequivocally demeaning to men. The writers for the Revue have reduced men's worth to nothing but the size of their genitalia, a depiction we find puzzling since the skits are often based on real men's actual stories. We heard that this year's Revue featured a superhero named "Large Package Guy." By focusing on only one portion of a man's anatomy, we trivialize the unity of his mind, body and transcendent spirit. We suggest an alternative to speaking freely and openly about human nature - by ignoring the very presence of genitalia and male sexuality, we may gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man.
The Revue goes one step further in promoting unchaste sexual behavior, treading on bestiality and masturbation. Filth that has been relegated to the recesses of the Internet and cable television should not be paraded around on the sacred stage. Let us issue a gentle reminder that Notre Dame, as a private university, is not legally obliged to condone fringe rhetoric and vulgarity.
We cannot stand idly by while this piece of performance art is being displayed to all of our friends who consented to view it and may even agree with the Revue's underlying ideology. We must unite and purge Saint Mary's campus of this plague and threat to the Catholic nature of Our Lady's University.
Paul Kellner
senior
St. Edward's Hall
Maureen Ritchey
senior
Farley Hall
Feb. 6
