In his Apr. 18 guest column "Extend parietals, save your soul," junior computer science major Lenny Meehan makes it painfully clear that he is not getting any. He makes the case for expanding parietals by two hours a night as a way of promoting the Catholic value of abstinence and along the way reveals a staggering amount of social ineptitude and a paternalistic streak so wide that he sounds like a cross between Pat Robertson and a seventh grader at his first dance. Whether or not students doing the horizontal monster mash make good Catholics is up for debate but Meehan's holier-than-thou attitude can't be winning him many friends as he points out that he's definitely a better Catholic than all you kids that are living in sin. And boy, are you all sinning it up. "It is no secret that casual sex is abundant on campus," he declares. Abundant? At Notre Dame? Someone make sure this guy never gets lost and wanders onto a state school.But my real beef with Meehan isn't over his (fair) declaration that doing the deed while unwed isn't the most Catholic of activities. It's not about his choice to remain celibate, as I don't have much room to criticize in that regard - I haven't exactly been getting many chances to play hide-the-pickle either. My problem is with the condescending way in which he presumes to know what's better for you. Why do the actions of other couples bother Mr. Meehan so much? To be blunt, how is it any of his damn business? It's bad enough that the University enforces such an ineffective rule and restricts the autonomy of its students, but when a guy voices a desire for his fellow students to be governed by his own personal morality, it's downright disturbing. Mr. Meehan argues so strongly for supplanting students' freedom of action with his personal preferences that one can't help but wonder if ensuring nobody else is getting laid is supposed to make him feel better about not getting any himself.But perhaps I'm overreacting and parietals aren't really that bad. After all, "unless a couple has intentions of having sex, there is no reason why they can't hang out in a public place," he tells us. You and your girlfriend don't mind sharing that couch in the dorm lounge with a bunch of lonely, lonely freshmen, do you?
Rick Adcocksenioroff campusApr. 18
