Editor, Daily Nexus,

This is in response to Briyanna Maatuk’s article “When Did College Become All About Sex?” (Daily Nexus, May 3).

“The person with a closed mind will eventually run into the wall created by his or her limited thinking.” -Dana LaMon.

What it took Maatuk four years at UCSB to discover about Isla Vista, most students at any university figured out within their first quarter. When you gather together thousands of 18- to 22-year-olds, there is bound to be a sexual element in the atmosphere. Maatuk may have learned this if she had taken a class such as Sociology 152A: Human Sexuality. She would have also realized that there are other ways for students to protect themselves than by practicing abstinence. Open and honest communication with partners, regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases and use of prophylactics are also viable means of staying healthy. Abstinence and safe sex are both feasible options, but judging someone else for their sexual decisions is uneducated and closed-minded.

College is supposed to be four years spent expanding your world view, not narrowly judging a vibrant and diverse community that Maatuk seems to know very little about. She stereotypes all UCSB students as ass-bearing, hedonistic, sex-driven kids who can only converse about sex and booze. It is often easy for outsiders to pigeon-hole UCSB as it has been in the past, but you would think that someone who actually went here would be able to see how much more there is to our school.

As for my house, we are all graduating seniors and we feel that we are taking away so much from our four years here. Our roommates include an EMT, a sociology major working in marketing at a five-star hotel, an honors student working on his senior thesis and a political science major employed at a local assemblyperson’s office. All of us have experienced the ups and downs of Isla Vista sexual relationships. Unlike Maatuk, we have not spent the last four years judging others by what they wear, say or how they conduct themselves sexually. Now that we are graduating and leaving the Isla Vista bubble, we will be forced to deal with life issues that are much more diverse than those we have experienced at UCSB thus far. We are afraid for people like Maatuk who will be ill prepared to deal with the array of issues to come.

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