Letters to the Editor

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Chief Justice Roberts' Speech

To the Editor:

Congratulations to the Middlebury College students who conducted the peaceful and creative demonstration prior to Chief Justice John Roberts' speech. Middlebury's student body surely includes many future leaders of all aspects of American life; it would be wonderful if more of them participated actively in local and national political issues. Thanks to abolition of the military draft, today's college students are free to ignore the monstrous war our government is waging in Iraq, while hundreds of less advantaged youth see no alternative to the often-fatal choice of enlistment. Had our students been in college during the Vietnam war, when tens of thousands were dispatched to equally horrible and meaningless deaths, they would not have enjoyed this luxury. We are glad to see some of them using it to good purpose. Justice Roberts had an opportunity to discuss war's impact on civil liberties and many other crucial issues facing the country, some of which the students alluded to in their demonstration. Though the announcement of the newly-endowed William Rehnquist chair is important to the College and Professor Jim Ralph is highly deserving of recognition, Chief Justice Roberts might have offered something more substantial than an homage to his predecessor, even while avoiding specific cases likely to come before the Supreme Court.

In nominating John Roberts and Samuel Alito, President Bush sought a Supreme Court majority that would reverse Roe v. Wade, squelch the civil rights of gays and lesbians, support the intrusion of religion into matters of state, affirm the systematic dismantling of the Bill of Rights and countenance destruction of the environment and expansion of raw presidential power. Even if the Democrats win control of Congress in the coming election and the Presidency in 2008, the effects of these two appointments will extend far into the future with chilling impact on our students' lives and the lives of their children. They should do more than listen quietly and applaud our new chief justice.

Sincerely,
Judy Olinick
Russian, German Coordinator
Mike Olinick
Professor of Mathematics


Thesis deadline clarification

To the Editor:

Your Oct. 26 story, "If I could be King for a day," states of former men's hockey team manager Ryan McQuillan, that "If it were not for the generous deadlines granted him by Professor Kathryn Morse of the History Department, he does not know how he would have completed his thesis." Allow me to make it absolutely clear that Ryan met the same final deadlines as every other senior history major. The History Department has firm department-wide deadlines for all thesis writers, to which there are no exceptions. No advisor in the department is empowered, under any circumstances, to extend final deadlines for individual students. This clarification should serve as further testimony to Ryan's commitment to both his studies and the Middlebury hockey program.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Morse
Associate Professor of History