Considering the controversy over the past weeks, titling the April 14 dramatic reading of the Vagina Monologues “An Academic Conversation on Catholicism, Sexuality, and Human Rights,” seemed a simplistic approach to a complex issue.

The Monologues were hosted off-campus last year, but last weekend was the first time it was ever performed on Marquette’s campus. Before the reading began, the theatre was abuzz with curiosity, yet even the minimal set of the stage itself was a stark contrast to the controversy that circulated in regard to this performance.

There were two major reasons for the controversy surrounding this play’s performance on Marquette’s campus. The first has to do with the Cardinal Newman Society. The Newman Society’s focus is making sure Catholic ideals are upheld in Catholic universities across the country. This year they released a statement on their Web site condemning the play for its content, claiming the play disagrees with Catholic views on sex and sexuality.

Other Christian voices disagreed with the performance as well, including five prominent members of Maruqette’s religious student organizations: John Tadelski, Aaron Morey, Heather Rumple, Benjamin DuMontier and Margaret Smith together wrote a letter to the administration explaining their concern with this performance.

They wrote, “[t]he identification of the woman with her vagina is emphasized so greatly that the play does little more than reduce women’s sexuality to mere physicalism, without respecting the mind or spirit…We believe that the essence of woman cannot be reduced to merely the body or sexuality. We must also note that such an ignorance of the whole person directly opposes the mission of Marquette University, Cura Personalis.” The letter continued on to request that the administration support other forms of sexual education that respects the whole person in regards to Christian values.

The second major reason for the controversy comes from the mixed message that the administration is sending by hosting this play, which is also encompassed in the concluding line of the previous quote. Furthermore, last year, a student group, JUSTICE, tried to host a performance of The Vagina Monologues on campus. But they were denied permission to do so by the administration.

After the annoucement of the performance, Director of University Communicaions defended the decision to allow the Honors Program to host the Monologues, claiming, “academic units are free to host lectures, discussions and symposia that are appropriate to their subject areas.”

Even amidst all of this contradiction, The Vagina Monologues were performed in Helfaer Theatre with the title of “An Academic Conversation on Catholicism, Sexuality, and Human Rights.” The performance began with a foreword, which acknowledged both the positive and negative elements of this play and why in essence it attracts so much attention and controversy.

The night continued with the reading, dinner and finally concluding with a discussion with a panel including professor of political science Richard Friman, professor of Philosophy Theresa Tobin, professor of English Amelia Zurcher, and Rosalind Hinton of DePaul University’s Religious Studies Department.

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