Sports
Wojcik breaks win record, gets love from TU fans p. 4
Variety
Valentine’s Day movie staff picks p. 5
a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
Opinion
Roses red, violets blue; is this the holiday for you? p. 6
february 14, 2012 issue 17 ~ volume 96
I don’t think anybody else has the right to tell you that your value is attached to whether you have sex, or how often you have sex
We want to support girls and let them know that staying pure is something that is valued
Your sexuality isn’t unnatural, it’s not bad, it’s not something to be ashamed of
WAR of the ROSES While many a rose may change hands between smitten couples this Valentine’s Day, neither the Newman Center nor the Coalition for Women’s Issues will be offering anyone actual roses. Catherine Roberts and Emily Callen
O
n a cold February two years ago, then-sophomore Tara Drwenski was rushing through ACAC, on her way to class. A stranger handed her an unexpected object, a red carnation. Thinking it was a nice Valen-
tine’s Day gesture, she hurried on. “Then I looked at the flower,” she said, “and it had a tag on it that said, ‘True love waits.” This Valentine’s day, the men of the Newman Center, the University of Tulsa’s Catholic student union, will uphold a long-standing tradition of distributing carnations to TU’s women. Each flower carries a message that encourages chastity. In contrast, an off-and-on tradition at the Coalition for Women’s Issues has been to create and offer “condom roses.” These flowers are made of pipe cleaner, with condoms for petals (some include a Hershey’s Kiss in the center).
Contrasting Messages
Junior Will LePage serves as a Peer Minister at the Newman Center. He said the idea with the carnations is to “proclaim the freedom that comes from knowing you’re living a pure life.” “We want to support girls and let them know that staying pure is something that is valued,” LePage said, “and we might change minds.” CWI member Haley Stritzel says the Coalition takes issue with the carnations on two levels—first, that the carnations are actively handed out. “It sort of makes assumptions about the woman’s sexuality, and we just don’t think that’s appropriate,” she said.
CWI will instead have a table set up in a high-traffic area of campus, where students will be free to pick up a condom rose if they choose. “Or if you want to pick up some condoms at the table and put them in your back pocket so you don’t have to take a bouquet of condom roses to your second class of the day, that’s fine too,” said Elise Bonine, CWI Vice President. The second problem Stritzel sees is that the men of the Newman Center only hand the flowers to women. She said it “reinforces a double standard where women are more to be punished for their sexuality, and it puts the burden on the women to control their sexual lives.” Father Kerry Wakulich serves
as pastor of the Newman Center. He is new to TU this year, but he thinks the carnations are “a pretty cool tradition.” He says the carnations are not meant to carry a demeaning message. Instead, “This tradition elevates women, puts them back in their proper place,” he said. LePage says that at the Newman Center, men are encouraged to be chaste. On Valentine’s Day we focus on encouraging women to be responsible for sexual purity, “but the rest of the year, guys want to be pure (as well).” He says pressure to have sex is a concern for men as well, par-
See Roses on page 2