Michael Kimmel's Essay 'Beyond The Silver Lining'

Beyond the Silver Lining Lehigh University: a private, relatively small school, rich in tradition and ancestry. While walking on campus, there is a strong sense of community and unity. Every student, both undergraduate and graduate, is here to improve their education and experience all that Lehigh has to offer. While nearly all Lehigh students would agree to those facts, I would also coincide by saying Lehigh is an institution like no other. However, with all of these positive reflections, there are some negatives that fail to get mentioned. After reading an excerpt from Michael Kimmel’s Guy Land, about the “silence” that can consume a group of people into negative actions or violence, I felt there was a direct correlation to events that have happened here in our own “perfect” community of Lehigh. Kimmel would say that silence and fear of opposition are issues here at Lehigh, I would strongly agree by saying Lehigh tries to cover up specific incidents that may disrupt their image as a strong academic institution. …show more content…
I have heard countless times, “Lehigh is perfect, beautiful, and the best college”, although it’s not until you get here, that you can actually form an opinion for yourself. What everyone fails to mention, however, is there are the not so “picture perfect” occurrences that also happen. In 1986, a horrific incident took place in a Lehigh University residence hall. The 19 year old victim, Jeanne Clery, was approached in her dorm room by a fellow student, robbed, raped, and then murdered. This event stirred up college campuses nation-wide. Clery’s parents fought for the Clery Act, which went into effect in 1991 to try and prevent incidents like this from occurring. This act demanded the release of the annual crime statistics from all college