"The attack on 'political correctness,' as faras I can see, is a reaction based on fear of newdevelopments that threaten some people's sense ofhow things should be, but we can't go back to the19th century when the so-called minorities weretruly invisible and silent," she says. "Those daysare over and we had better learn how to deal withthe present and future, rather than trying to turnback the clock."

Both scholars blame the media's fascinationwith political correctness for a lack ofintelligent discussion on minority issues.

"The press uses the term politically correct toshut down debate so we can't talk about solutionto the problem," Jardine says.

Checking Credentials

The magazine's attack on the academicqualifications of the women teaching French atHarvard "is a gross piece of misinformation,"Suleiman says in an interview. "The journalist waseither unbelievably ignorant or lying--in eithercase, his action was intolerable."

Jardine is the author of Gynesis:Configurations of woman and Modernity(alsopublished in France in 1991). She has co-editedThe Future of Difference; Men in Feminism;Social Control and the ArtsandShiftingScenes: Interviews on Women, Writing and Politicsin post-68 France.

Suleiman is the author of several booksincluding: Authoritarian Fiction: TheIdeological Novels as a Literary Genre (alsopublished in France in 1983);Subversive Intent;Gender, Politics and the Avant-Garde; and RiskingWho One Is: Encounters Contemporary Art andLiterature. She has also published more than50 articles.

Jardine also defends her courses, which Loupanattacks as focusing solely on feminist literatureand feminist theory.

"Leading one to believe that I spend all mytime teaching exclusively the works of women ofcolor o homosexual women is not only completelyfalse, but it also reveals a vengeful, racist,homophobic sentiment that I consider disgracefulfor France's image," Jardine writes.

Students or Subjects?

Student concentrating in French say they do notbelieve that the French professors overemphasizefeminist theory and literature at the expense ofother authors.

"I think that feminist theory is a literarytheory that's been prevalent in the 20th-centuryand that to present it within the courses offeredis nothing out of the ordinary," says Elizabeth M.Remy '95, who is pursuing a joint concentration inFrench and music.

Remy, who took her sophomore tutorial withJardine, says that it was a chronologicaldiscussion of French literature and theory, so theclass did not discuss feminism until the end ofthe course.

"It is a major theory that has been presentedin this century and whether everybody agrees withit or not, it's worthy of being discussed andplaced [with] the other trends of the century,"she says.

Sarah J. Lacasse '97 agrees with Remy that thedepartment's focus is sufficiently diverse.