August 11, 2009

The Dartmouth Opinion Round-Up

Tom Mandel '11: A Failed Tradition
Mr. Mandel decries the lack of authenticity in Fieldstock, the College's alternative to the now legally proscribed Tubestock. While I sympathize with Mandel's dislike for the artificial creation of politically correct traditions, his op-ed is wonderfully devoid of alternatives. "[I]t is important that we pick the weekend, and pick the activities", he writes. Then why don't you? To whom should we address the invitation? Students should realize that in life, nothing will ever get done unless they step up and make it happen.
A kool-aid boat race does sound kind of lame (and all that fattening sugar!) but what else is the college going to suggest? It knows that the average sophomore summer kid has drinking constantly on his mind. If it wants his attention, it better have games that involve guzzling. And kool-aid might be the next best thing.

Brian Solomon '11: Working Hard or Hardly Working?
Soloman finds it troubling that in light of budget cuts, student employment continues unhindered. While it's true that there is a lot of variance in the work load and necessary employee competence of student jobs, their value is in the fact that students are an ununionized, undemanding, and incredibly large and cheap source of labor. Why waste the competence of a blue collar from West Leb, when you can have a socy space cadet do it for less.

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