To the Editor:

Like the good “elitist” liberal that I am, I was irritated after reading Keith Urbahn’s victimized-Republican-at-Yale article in the YDN (“At Yale, wearing politics on my (right) sleeve,” 10/26). This latest version of the cookie-cutter article was particularly appalling in its sneaky attempt to hook liberal animus through the “T-shirt experiment.” Conservatives seem to have found the loophole in the campus system: If they focus on their minority status, they can avoid defending the president’s policies with anything other than sound-bite rhetoric.

But for all the victimization felt by campus Republicans, they ignore the trials and tribulations of your average liberal. These “fried hippies” are engaged in a continuous battle not only to defend themselves against “moron” Republicans but also to keep their pot stashes from disappearing. Between giving all my money to homeless people and hugging trees along the sidewalks, I am chronically late for class. I have to ask friends from foreign countries for permission before I use the bathroom. And I’d like to see Keith Urbahn have a successful job interview with blue hair and a Che Guevara T-shirt from the Salvation Army.

Finally, for the record, Keith, people weren’t smiling at you because they liked your Bush-Cheney T-shirt. Those “incorrigible and deluded leftists” put a “Kick Me” sign on your back when you weren’t looking.

Brett Edkins ’06

Oct. 26, 2004