To the Editor:

The decision by the Yale Women’s Center to take legal action against the group that staged a distasteful photo in front of the center seems deeply problematic. While I can understand how such a photo would greatly upset the Women’s Center and its members, their intention to take legal action is far more upsetting.

It is one thing to say we do not want these sentiments expressed at this private institution of higher learning. It is quite another to say the legal system of this supposedly free country should punish those who dare to express a sentiment that may be objectionable. The day we start monitoring thought in this way is the day everything this country stands for dies. I look forward to the resounding defeat the Women’s Center will almost certainly suffer in a court of law and I encourage them to take their anger where it belongs: the university and its own systems of self-government, flawed though they may be. This type of behavior may be grounds for punishment by Yale, but it should never be grounds for punishment by this country.

John Loser

Jan. 21

The writer is a senior in Pierson College.