Posted on 09/27/2008 2:41:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
“Serra Palin” theme in honor of Republican VP candidate
The First Dudes are on the ground floor, the Hockey Moms on the second. The coed third floor has been deemed the Last Frontier, and looking down upon them all is the “glass ceiling” skylight. Welcome to Serra Palin, where pit bulls, lipstick and the Republican Party seal abound.
Residents and staff of the four-class Stern dorm, as well as a majority of on-campus student political leaders, called the Serra Palin concept risque, but harmless and fun. Some, however, have expressed concerns about the theme’s potential to offend or alienate.
“It was too perfect not to do,” said Emily Wang ‘09, a Serra Resident Assistant (RA) involved in the planning of the theme, which is a take-off on the name of the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Palin, a relative unknown in the realm of national politics, burst onto the scene in late August when Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced in a surprise move that she would be his running mate.
The theme was conceived by the Serra residential staff during a weeklong retreat in Santa Cruz, Calif. earlier this month, as Palin’s popularity peaked in the wake of the Republican National Convention.
Images of salmon and snowmobiles adorn Serra’s walls, and fishing nets hang from the ceilings. The official dorm t-shirts have “Serra Palin” in the form of the McCain-Palin logo with “‘08-?” beneath, as well as
“Coolest Dorm, Hottest Students” across the chest. “DRILL BABY DRILL” is emblazoned on the back.
The staff also purchased a full-size cardboard replica of the Alaska governor, and on move-in day, freshmen residents took photos with Palin — arms folded, dressed in a red skirt-suit, black stockings, high heels and her signature rimless glasses. A number of University administrators, including President John Hennessy, came to have their pictures taken with the stand-up poster, Serra staff said.
“I have no objections to [the theme],” said Allysia Finley, opinion editor for The Stanford Review, the on-campus conservative newspaper. “It’s all in good fun. I support it insofar as it will be a little controversial and make people think about things.”
Irina Oberman, president of the Stanford College Republicans (SCR), was less approving.
“I can’t imagine it would foster any real, meaningful political discourse,” she said.
Oberman also suggested that a political dorm theme might be inherently problematic.
“I don’t think it’s an appropriate dorm theme regardless of whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat,” she said. “I just don’t understand why this is relevant to a University setting where it’s supposed to be non-partisan, and supposed to be sort of a free space.”
Carl Kelm, editor in chief of the Stanford Review and former SCR president, was less critical.
“It’s not spurring any real intellectual dialogue, but it’s not harming anything,” he said.
Serra staff indicated that they have worked to maintain political openness in the dorm, assuring new students that the theme was apolitical. An in-house politics email list has been created to encourage political discussion among students.
“As far as the theme is concerned, we’re presenting, not commenting,” said Collin Cronkite ‘09, a Serra RA.
The staff indicated that they had worked with Resident Fellow Ross Shachter to ensure an implementation of the theme that was not offensive.
“I told [the staff] that they should be mindful that everybody who lives here should be comfortable, no matter what perspective they come from,” Shachter said. “And people have been.”
Shachter presented the theme to administrators in Residential Education, who approved it.
Cronkite stressed that the theme deals more with the cultural aspects of Palin’s persona than her politics.
“We felt there were a lot of things we could celebrate that were apolitical,” he said.
Asked about the potential appropriateness of a dorm theme focused on Democratic Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), he said, “If you do anything apolitical about Obama, it just might not be as fun.”
Campus political leaders agreed that Palin might be a more appropriate choice for a politics-as-culture dorm theme than other players in the presidential race.
“I feel as though the collective psyche of America views Sarah Palin much differently than they do Biden, for example, or even McCain or Obama,” said Ashwin Mudaliar ‘09, president of the Stanford Democrats.
“I think it would certainly be much more controversial on this campus if you did an Obama-themed dorm, just given the amount of popular support for Obama,” he said. “It would seem like it was an endorsement of the candidacy. It’s very difficult to tease apart the fun aspect of it from the actual support of the candidate.”
Some Serra staff members declined to be interviewed on the subject of the theme, and a number expressed concern that their goals might be misunderstood outside the dorm.
“We just don’t want anything to spin out of hand to the point where it is affecting our residents or they regret the choices we’ve made as staff,” said Leila Beach ‘09, Serra resident tutor.
“Serra has a reputation as maybe a kind of a quiet dorm, and we thought it would really be a fun way to get people kind of a little revved up,” she said. “I think we’ve been right.”
That made sense to Carl Kelm.
“Who’d want to live in a Joe Biden-themed dorm, right?”
Ping
An obama dorm would look like a movie set. It would look normal from the front with nothing behind it.
A Biden dorm would have a leaky roof with zero occupancy.
Ironic that the ONE PIC they have at the link has been “disappeared”...
I want that T-Shirt!
You're a bore, Irina. Have a Guinness and lighten up.
Don’t forget the styrofoam columns flanking the door jambs on the way in to the “O” dorm.
Biden’s dorm would no doubt have lots of plugs in the leaks, too.
Apparently a lame pun that kept tickling the funny bone of the otherwise humorless progressive body politic until they just HAD to do something they hoped would be marginally clever.
I’ll bet they don’t have the guts to use obama’s name in a way that could be construed as even slightly derogatory.
Can you imagine an Obama dorm?
Wake up early AM for prayers in Arabic and study of the Koran. Evening services courtesy of a Rev. Wright appointee. Camp Obama indoctrination at all points in between with breaks for appropriate elitist gourmet food.
The possibilities are endless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.