Arts Group Intended No Offense

The core members of the Freshman Arts Group would like to apologize to anyone who was offended by our fliers.

Our depiction of Danny Devito in a trenchcoat with FAG (Freshman Arts Group) scrawled across his forehead was not a premeditated statement on homosexuality or homophobia. This lack of intended statement was the whole point. The letters F-A-G were taken out of political context and, after quick examination, became, instead, the innocuous acronym of a generic-sounding art group. We admit the seeming lack of creativity, but we are officially recognized as the Freshmen Arts Group; that is our name.

We understood that our fliers would shock people. However, after consulting the homosexual members of our group and using our personal judgment, we concluded that this shock would serve a purpose. We saw the fliers as effective but not truly offensive.

Ted Gideonese's analogy of using "KIKE" or "NIGGER" made us understand his point of view. Yet, art is not always P.C. We do not regret posting the fliers, but we do regret distracting people from our real purpose. Our goal is to utilize the diverse artistic talents of Harvard's freshman class in a multi-media creation for the Arts First festival in the spring. We are particularly upset about this incident because our hope is to unify, not to divide, the class of 1996. We would like to extend an open invitation to all creative, enthusiastic, artistic first-year students to become involved with the Freshmen Arts Group. Jason Cooper   Kardyhm Kelly   Rebecca Kirshner   Irene Reed   Farah Stockman   Michelle Sullivan