NOTES FROM THE DESK

Author: LISIE MEHLMAN

I have come to view the commons system as Middlebury's own Vietnam War. Such an analogy is drawn in order to more aptly assess incomprehensible administrative decisions, and is in no way intended to diminish the gallant efforts of hundreds of thousands of soldiers who fought for our country or the bravery of the tens of thousands who lost their lives in combat.

I find that in considering this parallel to history, I arrive at an explanation for the baffling continued implementation of the commons system at this institution in spite of staunch student disdain for and disapproval of the system's growing role in campus life. Just as the Kennedy and Johnson administrations inherited the "Vietnam problem" from their predecessors, and increased US involvement in southeast Asia, the current College administration inherited the plan to enlarge the role of commons system on campus from its predecessors. Because millions and millions of dollars have already been invested, because buildings have already been constructed - Atwater dining hall - and because trustees support its attempt to emulate ivy league institutions, this policy - like the one that called for warfare in Vietnam for over a decade - is one that is not being reversed. Kennedy did not have to increase the number of troops in Vietnam, and Johnson certainly did not need to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that authorized military action - and for these decisions history has judged them harshly. The decision to continue with the plans to enlarge the role of commons system is a poor one, and I urge this administration to consider its long term effects on student life.

Criticism of increasing the prominence of the commons system is overwhelmingly sound and reveals an accurate and nuanced understanding of how students interact and socialize on this campus. This criticism is rooted, essentially, in the belief that extending the role of the commons system would result in achieving the exact opposite of its intended outcome - increased community. Middlebury is already small and its size is conducive to the strong sense of community that students already benefit from. Creating arbitrary divisions that play a marked role in student life - determining student housing and encouraging eating at specific facilities adjacent to housing - largely limits the people one encounters on a day to day basis and with whom one socializes regularly.

I fear that the expansion of the commons system's role on campus will come to be viewed, like American intervention in Vietnam, as a regrettable mistake of the largest scale, and one that tremendously altered the entire feeling of life at Middlebury - a feeling I wouldn't trade for the world.