In the March 5 edition of The Nation, columnist Katha Pollitt wrote of last month's nationwide V-Day performances of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues: "The play was produced at some 250 colleges around the country, from Adelphi on Long Island - where it was completely sold out and where, sources assure me, the v-word retains every bit of shock value - to Yale." The Delphian's response to Ms. Pollitt is simple: check your sources.

In fact, the "V-Word" was not taboo the night of February 15th in Adelphi's ballroom. For that matter, neither was "cunt," "coochie snorcher" or the countless other terms used to describe the female genitalia - the vagina. The only thing that may have been a bit shocking to some but not all, was the fact that Adelphi President Robert A. Scott joined in the chant as one performer asked the audience to shout out a particular "dirty little word" during her monologue. Shock value indeed.

It just goes to show how far Adelphi University has progressed over the last five years. It was only back in 1996 that the Adelphi campus lived in a world of censorship thanks to the efforts of ex-President Peter Diamandopoulos. It was at this point in time that the campus barely had a newspaper. How do you think that former president would have accepted the celebratory use of the word cunt in a public arena?

We are not the same University we were five years ago or even two years ago for that matter. Enrollment is up, spirits are generally high and the realities of the world we live in are being recognized. The performance of the Vagina Monologues was not something done merely for "shock value." V-Day represents an incredible cause- the effort to stop violence against women.

The Delphian believes that it would be even more shocking if Adelphi did not participate in such a worthy cause. The fact that the Ballroom was able to sell out just further exemplifies how in-tune our campus and community is to the world around us.

In a campus that is approximately 70 percent female, current events and causes like V-Day especially need to be acknowledged. This is not a question of liberal versus conservative or what is shocking versus what is proper. This is a question of responding to a problem that exists in this world versus being deaf to it. Adelphi made the right choice; it opened its ears, its hearts and its ballroom stage to voice the opinion of those "28 vaginas loud and proud."

Ms. Pollitt sources may be correct that the "v-word" still retains some shock value around the region, but that's certainly not true at Adelphi. The "v-word" was printed on the front page of 1500 copies of the last issue of the Delphian. Does that shock you Ms. Pollitt? Our sources say it shouldn't.