This University, and others around the world, have a new group of young men and women in attendance every year. Many of these young women will fall victim to violence while in college. Young students may not fully understand what is normal or dysfunctional in a relationship. These early relationships can be very dangerous physically and/or emotionally for college students. Young women may learn to accept physical violence or sexual violations as normal and they will feel the shame of these experiences and blame themselves. These students have never seen The Vagina Monologues and I feel that it should be an important part of their education.
The Vagina Monologues can serve as a valuable tool in raising awareness about violence toward women and bringing meaning to women’s experiences. I truly believe that The Vagina Monologues helps to awaken young students’ minds. It gave me a sense of power to stand up and demand respect from the opposite sex. I became so enthusiastic that I changed my major to sociology and studied women’s issues. It became very important to me to live as a strong and independent women-very much because of this play. I was determined to bring awareness to other young women.
The Vagina Monologues’ core messages are very important; however, to keep it fresh and engaging every year, a new monologue is added to highlight a current issue affecting women around the world. If there is not value in performing this play year after year after year, then please explain to me why it has become a long-standing tradition at so many other institutions. I guarantee you that, for most attending the play once, they often want to attend again and again. And, through these performances, more than $30 million has been raised for community groups fighting to end violence against women.
Recently, two organizations have produced campaigns against the production of The Vagina Monologues on college campuses, according to the V-Day Web site. These groups are the Cardinal Newman Society, a group dedicated to the renewal of Catholic identity in Catholic higher education: and the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, which was formed, according to its Web site, “to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and property.” The CNS campaign asked followers to e-mail college presidents and alumni requesting them to shut down the benefit and threatening to withhold their financial support from the college. According to the V-Day Web site, all but one of the performances targeted by these campaigns took place. Maybe the 300 complaints the provost mentioned came from this organized campaign rather than from people that have actually seen the play and know what it is about.
I came to work for Saint Louis University after working at Washington University because I felt SLU was a better fit for my values. SLU is a place that is passionate about caring for others and the community. This was absolutely palpable from my first day here and it is what brings me back to work every day. Pulling the rug out from under this play will truly be a disappointment for me. Please, for the sake of the young students coming in every year, continue to provide them with the opportunity to experience this socially significant play.
For those interested in more information about The Vagina Monologues and the resistance movement targeting Catholic Colleges, visit the V-Day Web site at www.vday.org.

Jessica Matistic is the Academic Services Coordinator at Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology.