Dear Mr. President

By Jack Hoblitzell

Images Editor

resident Dobelle,

In the last couple of weeks much has been said about Trinity being named the #5 party school in the nation. I was laying in bed at four in the morning one Saturday listening to someone further down the quad blast their stereo loud enough to rattle the windows of my room I said to myself, "This happened last night and will most likely happen again tomorrow night."

What exactly does it mean to be one of the top ten party schools in the country? The obvious answer is that we know how to have a good time, how to relax and take a break from the taxing workload that most of us carry. There is more to this ranking. Specifically, what does it tell us about the attitudes that many of us have towards Trinity and college in general? It tells us that most students here care far less about academics than they should, and that they would more often than not put off work and party instead. The blame for this lies with the administration and by association, you. Why? Because of the seeming indifference about what we do. Last spring's already infamous accident involving members of the women's lacrosse team and the lack of consequences for their actions, is a perfect example of this indifference.

Ultimately this indifference will damage the school. The administration portrays Trinity as a place where academics are the most important aspect of life. However, any parent who is about to spend $30,000 a year to send their kid to school only has to look at the Princeton Review rankings once to think otherwise. I'm not suggesting making Trinity a dry campus. I believe that to be an exercise in futility. What I am suggesting is that the administration become more involved, that they make an effort to encourage responsible drinking, that they hold students accountable for their actions, and at the very least that they enforce the regulations that are listed in the Student Handbook a little more strongly.