2008 Woodie Awards
Junior Asks the Ultimate Question
Ethan Moore
Issue date: 4/28/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Dear Board of Trustees,
Change is hard for me to accept because I'm young and I like to feel safe and comfortable, but please bear with me. I am frightened about the direction of the college that has given me so much and that I love so dearly. It started when I read that you guys decided that Hendrix should have lacrosse and field hockey teams. This decision is crucial because now all the New England prep school kids will come here. I'm sure you know that the only reason they're not coming to Hendrix now is because we don't have field hockey and lacrosse. This idea seems like a good one, so why am I scared?
Well, I was excited when you decided to build the turf field because now we practice Ultimate Frisbee on the Old Intramural Fields. I am grateful that we can play somewhere on campus (at our own risk, of course), but imagine my elation when I heard that soon a better field that the Ultimate teams could possibly use was a part of the plan! So here are my questions: Are the Field Hockey and Lacrosse teams going to be on that field all the time? What about the type of students here now who want to play Ultimate?
I've also heard rumors that some of my favorite professors are leaving. I'm not sure if they're true, but the possibility scares me. What I'm wondering is whether you're unable to offer tenure to some of the best humanities professors that we have (or build a new music building or install a decent language lab) because you need to pay the new field hockey and lacrosse coaches.
I know nothing about running a college, but it seems to me that when great professors are asked to leave or leave because opportunities no longer exist for them (or when the band hall floods or we have phonetics class in an unused office), our "quality of learning" suffers. I use that phrase because Dr. Cloyd wrote that it is one of the most important things to think about when choosing a college. I don't matter because I study science and there's plenty of money for that. Plus, I'm graduating next year. What I'm really scared about is that future students will not have the opportunities that I have had to study humanities, and I think some of them will be justifiably frightened that you're not thinking about their quality of learning.
You of course know better than I do because you've lived longer than I have and you're richer than I am. Really, what do I know? Only these things: every department on campus has wonderful professors (even the small departments) and the attitudes and dedication of the professors are two of the main things that keep Hendrix great. And we are not an Ivy League school, which means Ultimate can be just as great as Lacrosse.
Appreciatively,
Abby Olena
Change is hard for me to accept because I'm young and I like to feel safe and comfortable, but please bear with me. I am frightened about the direction of the college that has given me so much and that I love so dearly. It started when I read that you guys decided that Hendrix should have lacrosse and field hockey teams. This decision is crucial because now all the New England prep school kids will come here. I'm sure you know that the only reason they're not coming to Hendrix now is because we don't have field hockey and lacrosse. This idea seems like a good one, so why am I scared?
Well, I was excited when you decided to build the turf field because now we practice Ultimate Frisbee on the Old Intramural Fields. I am grateful that we can play somewhere on campus (at our own risk, of course), but imagine my elation when I heard that soon a better field that the Ultimate teams could possibly use was a part of the plan! So here are my questions: Are the Field Hockey and Lacrosse teams going to be on that field all the time? What about the type of students here now who want to play Ultimate?
I've also heard rumors that some of my favorite professors are leaving. I'm not sure if they're true, but the possibility scares me. What I'm wondering is whether you're unable to offer tenure to some of the best humanities professors that we have (or build a new music building or install a decent language lab) because you need to pay the new field hockey and lacrosse coaches.
I know nothing about running a college, but it seems to me that when great professors are asked to leave or leave because opportunities no longer exist for them (or when the band hall floods or we have phonetics class in an unused office), our "quality of learning" suffers. I use that phrase because Dr. Cloyd wrote that it is one of the most important things to think about when choosing a college. I don't matter because I study science and there's plenty of money for that. Plus, I'm graduating next year. What I'm really scared about is that future students will not have the opportunities that I have had to study humanities, and I think some of them will be justifiably frightened that you're not thinking about their quality of learning.
You of course know better than I do because you've lived longer than I have and you're richer than I am. Really, what do I know? Only these things: every department on campus has wonderful professors (even the small departments) and the attitudes and dedication of the professors are two of the main things that keep Hendrix great. And we are not an Ivy League school, which means Ultimate can be just as great as Lacrosse.
Appreciatively,
Abby Olena
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