Tripod Opinions -- October 19, 1999


Don't get me wrong, I like Madden football as much the next man, but I have a secret: it's not real. Those little men running across the TV screen aren't really the embodiment of Shannon Sharpe; they are just series' of ones and zeros. So, when I hear the screams of a dying madman down the hall, I don't expect to pass an open room of chums playing video games, but it never seems to fail. I'm sure these games are a thrill, but let's face it, a touchdown in a video-game is neither unexpected nor out of the ordinary. In addition to quiet hours, there should be a regulation on exalting: no loud exaltation after midnight. Full story...

Articles: October 19, 1999
How Face Painting Steals Our Freedoms One By One Parties are strictly verboten over Reading Week. Even the pre-frosh students I have met know all about how angry the college would get at any social organization that dared to open its doors this week. They're a little sorry that they weren't allowed to go to a college party, but they did go to that study break. Study what, you ask? Study break, where the college forgets all about the regulations against students enjoying themselves in any way, shape, or form over Reading Week and bribes them with food to come and play games in Mather Hall. What sort of games, you ask? The standard college fare obstacle courses and face painting. Wait a secondŠthat sounds a lot like birthday parties from sixth grade, doesn't it? So why are we encouraged to act like children during this most rigorous of all rigorous and holy academic weeks? Full story...		Symbols Encourage Sexual Diversity When I left the environment in which my culture and language were dominant, I realized the importance of them in my life. As part of a majority group, I had the privilege to be able to take certain things, like my language, for granted. I am bisexual. This is not something that I have always known. Before I reached this realization I never questioned my assumption that heterosexuality was the only normal expression of sexuality. I have come to believe heterosexuality is not normal; it's just more common. Until I started acknowledging that there was such a thing as sexual diversity, I understood neither the concept of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) Pride nor its importance.
I Have Not Slept In Days: Shut Up During Quiet Hours I wasn't going to write an editorial this week because my energy has been sapped by the ridiculous, busy-work-masquerading-as-trustee-approved-rigor, but I'm up. I am up because I am a mentor living in a First-Year dorm with people who are much like Austin Powers just out of the freezing process: they have no inner monologue and no volume control. Full story...		Faculty Views: Unions Fight For Worker's Rights I can hear the lilt of the nazm, the song of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, revolutionary Urdu poet: 'jab kabhi bazaar mein bikta hai' Whenever the workman's flesh is sold in the market, The blood of the poor flows in the streets, Something like a fire rises in my breast - do not ask! I have no control over my heart... Full story...
Letter to the Editor I am not a member of a fraternity, however, I attended the forum on fraternities and sororities hosted by Dr. Herzberger several weeks ago because I was interested in finding out what the issues surrounding Greeks at Trinity are. Likewise I read the article on this meeting in the October 5 issue of the Tripod with interest and was struck by several statements Dr. Herzberger made in that article. Full story...		Letter to the Editor Admittedly, this is a delayed response. I guess it has taken me a couple of weeks to reflect on a recent development at Trinity. As a straight student, I want to express my whole-hearted support for the gay and bisexual community's chalkings on Parent's Weekend. Trinity College is an excellent school in many respects; however, we are glaringly deficient in one crucial department: the student body's attitude toward alternative sexualities. Full story...
Letter to the Editor In a Sept. 28 Tripod opinion piece I posed a question: "Is Trinity trying to reduce its dependence on adjunct [instructors]...?" Here is a quick answer: No. Instead it is busy inventing new reasons for taking regular faculty out of the classroom and replacing them with adjuncts. A 1999 case in point: Two new "Fellows Programs" sponsored by the ironically-named Trinity Center for Collaborative Teaching and Research (TCCTR). These will permit twelve full-time professors to pursue research projects during the spring 2000 term. Each faculty Fellow will name a student Fellow to work with her. The deadline for applications was September 20; awards were scheduled to be on September 30. Full story...