Opinions The Brown Daily Herald
Friday, September 24, 2010 | Page 7
From one lemming to another BY MIKE JOHNSON Opinions Columnist
Welcome to the recession. In just the three short weeks since we all arrived back on campus, we’ve seen an explosion of moneyrelated articles and opinions columns published in The Herald. Brown students are pinching their pennies, and whenever one slips through our collective fingers, we’re going to let you know about it. Most notably, Brown’s identity crisis as being not only an educational institution, but also an entity making forays into dining services and investment has been called into question, with Kshitij Lauria ’13 claiming that the University should adopt “the Unix philosophy of doing one thing and doing it well” (Refactoring the refectory, Sept. 16). It’s true; Brown has made some significant advances outside the area of education. The University has fed us, housed us and provided health insurance to those who don’t have their own. Brown has put forth a line of bottled water, sold books and slapped its brand all over the clothing of sports teams, selling merchandise to fans across the country. For shame, Brown! How can you sleep at night? While all of this is going on, the student body sleepwalks through its four-to-five years of undergraduate study, naively accepting everything it’s told by early morning emails and bulletins from the Deans. Or this is what some would have you believe —
we’re sheep, and we need to open our eyes before we follow each other off the ledge, or some metaphor I’ve heard. Lauria would like to see the Ratty shut down and reinvented as something akin to a food court, accepting individual payments via our meal plans, rather than taking meal credits for an all-you-care-to-eat buffet. He cites that football players are bigger, and therefore eat more food, and the rest of us shouldn’t “subsidize their upkeep.” I agree; I don’t care to subsidize vegetarianism, because my love of red meat is just
economics of the University, and I’m sure Liebling would agree with me that perhaps that should be changed. But I know that sometimes you need to spend money to make money, and that as high as our tuition may be, undergraduates are certainly not footing any significant portion of the bill. We’re fortunate enough to have had some really rich, really generous people donate money back to Brown to fund projects. The new athletic center is a long time coming. The OMAC, with all its charm, is a death trap. Our swimming pool was condemned.
I don’t care to subsidize vegetarianism, because my love of red meat is just too great to suffer them eating leaves and stuff that grows in the dirty, smelly earth any longer. too great to suffer them eating leaves and stuff that grows in the dirty, smelly earth any longer. But under the current system, I have to put up with the “Roots and Shoots” line, and have to walk past their righteous indignation whenever I want a grilled cheese. Simon Liebling ’12 argues that money should be a secondary concern in education (“Brown, Inc.”, Sept. 10), claiming that all this emphasis on research is pushing the humanities out of vogue at Brown, and that the University’s hunger to maximize “profit” is sullying our experience. Truthfully, I don’t know much about the
We need a safe place to work out, and for our athletics teams to train, because to be honest, we need to court more extremely rich, extremely nice alumni to donate more money to us, and they really like football. The new Creative Arts Center will finally provide Brown students with a space to sculpt, to paint, to write, to perform — all the creative pursuits currently homeless. We have more research labs than creative arts buildings on campus — not a tough trick, with zero creative arts buildings. As a writer, I usually hang out in Starbucks with my Apple laptop looking down my nose at every-
one else, but I realize that’s not everyone’s cup of grande macchiato. Most recently, Deniz Ilgen ’13 decried the state of undergraduate dorms, claiming that while living in buildings with history is cool, living in buildings we’re afraid will kill us is not (“Tradition: good or bad,” Sept. 17). At the risk of being self-serving and citing myself, this is an issue about which I have also raised some concern (“Home is where the heart is,” April 13). It’s curious that we pay all this money for room and board, and then again in damage fines, to see shabby rooms with crumbling walls. The crux of the matter is not the average Brown student’s propensity to complain. Collegiate cynicism is pretty widespread, and in the information age, we can find something to be angry about fairly quickly, and then tweet and post the night away. But the fact remains: Why are we here? Is it to fund the Brown University construct-a-thon? We’re here to learn. We’re here to question. We’re here to grow. It’s a good idea to expand the meal plan, perhaps striking a deal with Thayer Street businesses to use meal credits there. It’s a pretty good idea to have a little more common sense in how the University spends its money. It’s a wonderful idea to make dorms livable again. But, Brunonians, it’s even better to take a deep breath, and think about what you’re about to say. One thing I’ve learned at Brown is that no one is ever entirely right.
Mike Johnson ’11 celebrates the addition of grilled cheese to the Bistro line.
Off the Hill BY KURT WALTERS Opinions Columnist College Hill is nice. Really, it is. But I’m going to tell you that you should leave. What I mean is that, contrary to what you might expect, one of the best ways to make the most out of your years in college is to spend time away from campus. In fact, going out into the community and doing something you’re passionate about can be one of the most fulfilling and fun uses of your time in college. For example, my friend has made waves throughout the state by managing the political campaign of an upstart progressive candidate in Narragansett who managed to knock off a long-time incumbent. I’ve met a bunch of incredibly interesting and talented locals through skateboarding in Providence. And my old roommate even earned the chance to be a part of the team representing Providence at the National Poetry Slam in St. Paul after doing slam poetry at AS220 for years. The point is, it doesn’t really matter what you end up doing, so long as you like it. I realize there are a lot of hokey “make the most of your college experience” columns directed at freshmen at the beginning of each school year. I hope that this one can be useful to everyone from seniors on down — both now and once we enter the work-
force. “But wait!” you’re thinking. “Didn’t I work hard in high school to get into Brown, and don’t I pay more than $50,000 a year just for the privilege of being on College Hill?” It seems weird to use some of our four ever-shortening (since I’m a senior, trust me on this one) years we have at school to do things completely unrelated to Brown. It’s true, there are far more things to do at Brown than anyone ever could experience in
turn into a full-time job, relationships hit the rocks... Oh, and don’t get me started on the housing lottery. It can be incredibly relieving to be able to return to an area where all those stresses are simply irrelevant. It also helps every once in a while to remember that there is a real world out there. Being reminded that there are people whose life stories don’t involve “and then I went to an Ivy League school” definitely keeps things in perspective. Bombing a test will
Maybe if we got to know some native Rhode Islanders before making another joke about the Rhody accent or the more guido-inclined Pauly D clones hanging outside Spats, Rhode Islanders wouldn’t want to tax us into oblivion. four years — one would think we should try to max out our time on College Hill, right? Far from a waste of time, hours spent outside the Brown Bubble actually can complement and enhance the rest of your experience during your (at least) four years in Providence. One of the best parts about having a consistent commitment out in Rhody is that you can create a totally college-free area of your life. It’s great to have an escape away from all the stresses of college life. You’ll appreciate this when midterms and finals get crazy, extracurriculars try to
seem less like the end of the world when you interact with or help out someone who is struggling even with the cost of gas. Leaving the Hill can also help contextualize what you learn in the classroom and make it more relevant. Volunteering in politics can bring to life the lessons that seem overly abstract in your political science class. Likewise, giving your time by helping out at the hospital can both remind you why you decided to be pre-med in the first place and keep you from hurling your orgo textbook through the twelfth floor SciLi window
the night before a midterm. Furthermore, it pays dividends to find out what the community you live in is actually like. Maybe if we got to know some native Rhode Islanders before making another joke about the Rhody accent or the more guido-inclined Pauly D clones hanging outside Spats, Rhode Islanders wouldn’t want to tax us into oblivion. Growing up in a college town, I know from experience that a lot of town-gown tension is simply a result of a lack of interaction and understanding on both ends. Lastly, realize that getting an experience that most campus-dwellers lack can set you apart. This can mean anything from having something unique to talk about at Ratty dinner or having the experience that gives you the leg up in the interview room. So again, I urge you to try and develop a habit (no, not THAT kind of habit) that takes you out into the community. It doesn’t matter what you’re into. Like the environment? Think about working with an organization like the Rhode Island Sierra Club. Religious? Join a congregation off of College Hill. Maybe think about teaching kids about civics with Generation Citizen, or go find an area jam session and sit in. Just make it fun and make it something you care about. You’ll end up thanking yourself later.
Deep down, Kurt Walters ’11 wishes he were Pauly D.