To the Editor:
I was a teaching assistant for the course CSCI 0310: "Introduction to Computer Systems," which Fiona Condon '12 took last semester, and I wrote the premise of the computer science problem described at the beginning of the article ("Algorithms can't solve CS gender gap," Feb. 16). While Fiona was aware of the context of the problem and I am sorry if she was offended, your article does not mention the actual context whatsoever. I would like to explain the context of the homework problem, since I think The Herald — whether it was through ignorance of the facts, or it was done intentionally to provoke the reader — misrepresented it.
Every semester, the teaching assistants for each computer science course choose a theme for the course to add fun for both the students and TAs. Some memorable themes from the past few years have included Harry Potter, Futurama, Snow White, James Bond and Inception. We update the course website and some homework and exam problems to fit in with the theme, and the TAs and students enjoy it immensely. Last semester, I was the TA who was the most excited about choosing a tongue-in-cheek parody of Twilight for the theme, and I added funny premises to homework problems and exams making fun of the feud between vampires or werewolves, the ridiculous sparkling and other things vampires in Twilight do, and in this case the annoying, pathetic main character Bella. Considering that the Twilight series consists of four books, hundreds of pages long, that describe Bella being helpless and whiny, I think context is important here. She is depicted as a helpless person. Yes, she is a woman, but that isn't what is funny about the situation. We indiscriminately made fun of all the characters, especially Edward and Jacob, for their ridiculous personality traits, and it is simply a fact that all the characters are risible and Bella is one of them. Calling it a topical joke without giving any other context is completely misleading. Did you ask about what the topic was and choose not to print it, or did you not bother to find out at all? I think making fun of the melodramatic characters in Twilight is a drastically different situation from "A woman is upset because she cannot figure out the answer to a problem and her boyfriend is not around to help her" without any other context.
What did you hope to accomplish by printing that on the first page of your newspaper? To write a sensational — sensational meaning inciting an emotional response through cheap thrills, not excellent — article? Did you consider what negative effects it might have on the problem of the scarcity of women in CS? Consider whether writing that sort of dangerous, sensationalist introduction to an otherwise mundane article that brings nothing new to an established issue is worth the trouble it causes. If you had been fairly representing an actual problem with Brown's CS department or CS in general, I could not feel the same frustration, but it is the case that you distorted the situation completely.
I also wonder why you quoted Ashley Tuccero's '11 e-mail declining to comment. Ashley indicated in the e-mail excerpt that you printed that she was concerned about misunderstandings, and I think rightly so. Although it is difficult to write about the underrepresentation of women in computer science in the little space a newspaper article affords, I would have expected a better attempt to avoid misunderstandings like these.
If I were Luthra, I would have wondered why many students declined to be interviewed for the article. The Herald has written articles in the past that misquoted and misrepresented the opinions of women, including mine, in the computer science department. This is exactly the reason why I declined to be interviewed for the article and why I question the integrity of reporting at The Herald.
Alexandra Schultz '11
