2008 Woodie Awards
op-ed: Midd is bullying the 'Nerd
James Riley
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Opinions
For three years I have resisted contributing to the noble tirades of The Campus's op-ed section. Through the great residential lockdown of '05, through the gradual boa constrictor-ization of the administration, through the curiously inconsistent disciplinary action taken against The Mill, through three productions of "The Vagina Monologues" and through the laughable outbursts against Jordan Nasser's fashion column that have appeared on this page, my pen has remained dry. Yet none of these outrages incited me to the same degree as did the news of the most recent deprivation handed down by the powers on high at Middlebury College: the mid-semester closing of Proctor's lounge and terrace.
I will leave the discussion of how the lounge and terrace are unique and invaluable student spaces to the other similar editorials that will certainly accompany mine in this week's Campus. What is more baffling to me is that the College would allow the burden of this sacrifice to be shouldered, yet again, by the same sect of the student body that has suffered from the administration's many previous miscalculations - Brainerd Commons, particularly its class of '08, who will endure the consequences of Proctor's renovation during their final weeks on campus, simply because of the unexplained and probably mistaken timing of what will surely be a long and extremely unpleasant endeavor.
In an attempt to exonerate myself from accusations that this opinion is a purely self-serving complaint, I will point out that I am neither a member of Brainerd nor in the class of '08. It is not necessary, however, to be a member of either group to realize the inequity to which they have been subjected. In a decade-long, disastrous attempt to divide the campus into arbitrary factions that would dictate with whom we may live and in which buildings, the College ingeniously decided to develop one commons at a time, and proceeded to devote a monstrous portion of its fleetingly ample budget to constructing enormous and strikingly unattractive mansion complexes on the north side of campus, in which Ross and Atwater students have been pampered for years, while the rest of us made do with egregiously inferior upper-classman housing. After the College decided, at last, to allow all seniors an equal chance to inhabit the housing of their choice, the hopeful Brainerd juniors of '08 reached the middle of the e-mailed announcement to find that this long overdue abandonment of the commons system would be enacted immediately after their graduation.
I will leave the discussion of how the lounge and terrace are unique and invaluable student spaces to the other similar editorials that will certainly accompany mine in this week's Campus. What is more baffling to me is that the College would allow the burden of this sacrifice to be shouldered, yet again, by the same sect of the student body that has suffered from the administration's many previous miscalculations - Brainerd Commons, particularly its class of '08, who will endure the consequences of Proctor's renovation during their final weeks on campus, simply because of the unexplained and probably mistaken timing of what will surely be a long and extremely unpleasant endeavor.
In an attempt to exonerate myself from accusations that this opinion is a purely self-serving complaint, I will point out that I am neither a member of Brainerd nor in the class of '08. It is not necessary, however, to be a member of either group to realize the inequity to which they have been subjected. In a decade-long, disastrous attempt to divide the campus into arbitrary factions that would dictate with whom we may live and in which buildings, the College ingeniously decided to develop one commons at a time, and proceeded to devote a monstrous portion of its fleetingly ample budget to constructing enormous and strikingly unattractive mansion complexes on the north side of campus, in which Ross and Atwater students have been pampered for years, while the rest of us made do with egregiously inferior upper-classman housing. After the College decided, at last, to allow all seniors an equal chance to inhabit the housing of their choice, the hopeful Brainerd juniors of '08 reached the middle of the e-mailed announcement to find that this long overdue abandonment of the commons system would be enacted immediately after their graduation.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
alum 07
posted 3/06/08 @ 11:56 AM EST
I wasn't even around during the days of Lower Proctor, but I certainly felt its loss as a student, so I would be skeptical of the usual argument that once the initial distress wears off, students will get used to the idea and not care anymore. (Continued…)
Ferdinand Magellan
posted 3/06/08 @ 5:31 PM EST
Good use of the thesaurus. I will only point out that no stretch of the imagination places Ross Dining Hall on the "opposite side of campus" from Hepburn. (Continued…)
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