Administration takes complete control of student life
Matthew Tilley
Issue date: 3/9/05 Section: Opinion
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It is as if we didn't already have a strong sense of community and some of the most involved students in the country. This plan attempts to fix problems that don't exist at W&L. I think there is another motivation behind this proposal.
This program would allow the administration to have greater control over the social activities of students. Faculty and administrators would be able to approve and control social events under the same authority that now allows them to decide class policies and assignments.
This program would also keep students from moving off campus. Private houses have become a refuge for Greek life in the wake of the new alcohol policy. Because of this, they are now the next target of an administration with a strange fetish for eliminating student use of alcohol.
Fraternities must fill their houses in order to stay financially afloat. If only juniors and seniors are allowed to fill them, there will be fewer off-campus houses. No wonder the argument that the alcohol policy only pushed events off campus never seemed to worry the administration.
We are in a struggle with the administration for our personal freedoms as students, and they are playing a game of chess, not checkers, against us. They are calculating their moves far in advance, moving to the ultimate goal of either controlling us or enrolling a different type of student. They take no pride in our accomplishments, put no faith in abilities, and show no respect for our independence. They have made themselves our adversary.
As students, we should not underestimate the amount of planning and maneuvering that is taking place against us.
However, we must take this opportunity to explain to them just how much we value our independence at this school. After all, we are Robert E. Lee's school of only one rule. That one rule, despite allowing excesses at times, has created self-confident, involved and independent students.
The administration knows how powerful that legacy is in recruiting upstanding students. Tour guides are instructed to tell prospective students how Robert E. Lee ended faculty surveillance of students in the dorms and established the honor system. A tour guide would have to feel like a liar now to tell that story, knowing that this is being proposed.
We are the ones responsible for helping each other grow into honorable gentlemen and ladies. And we have managed to do it quite well for over 250 years. Now is not the time to acquiesce to an administration that wants to see nothing less than that history of autonomy end.
That legacy of self-governance is worth more than most of the things we have at this school. It is worth more than petty squabbles over where and when to drink. It is worth more than the tens of millions it took to build the commons. It is most certainly worth more than a better ranking.
We enrolled in a college, not a summer camp. It is time we make sure they remember that.
We enrolled in a college, not a summer camp. It is time we make sure they remember that.
This program would allow the administration to have greater control over the social activities of students. Faculty and administrators would be able to approve and control social events under the same authority that now allows them to decide class policies and assignments.
This program would also keep students from moving off campus. Private houses have become a refuge for Greek life in the wake of the new alcohol policy. Because of this, they are now the next target of an administration with a strange fetish for eliminating student use of alcohol.
Fraternities must fill their houses in order to stay financially afloat. If only juniors and seniors are allowed to fill them, there will be fewer off-campus houses. No wonder the argument that the alcohol policy only pushed events off campus never seemed to worry the administration.
We are in a struggle with the administration for our personal freedoms as students, and they are playing a game of chess, not checkers, against us. They are calculating their moves far in advance, moving to the ultimate goal of either controlling us or enrolling a different type of student. They take no pride in our accomplishments, put no faith in abilities, and show no respect for our independence. They have made themselves our adversary.
As students, we should not underestimate the amount of planning and maneuvering that is taking place against us.
However, we must take this opportunity to explain to them just how much we value our independence at this school. After all, we are Robert E. Lee's school of only one rule. That one rule, despite allowing excesses at times, has created self-confident, involved and independent students.
The administration knows how powerful that legacy is in recruiting upstanding students. Tour guides are instructed to tell prospective students how Robert E. Lee ended faculty surveillance of students in the dorms and established the honor system. A tour guide would have to feel like a liar now to tell that story, knowing that this is being proposed.
We are the ones responsible for helping each other grow into honorable gentlemen and ladies. And we have managed to do it quite well for over 250 years. Now is not the time to acquiesce to an administration that wants to see nothing less than that history of autonomy end.
That legacy of self-governance is worth more than most of the things we have at this school. It is worth more than petty squabbles over where and when to drink. It is worth more than the tens of millions it took to build the commons. It is most certainly worth more than a better ranking.
We enrolled in a college, not a summer camp. It is time we make sure they remember that.
We enrolled in a college, not a summer camp. It is time we make sure they remember that.