editorial

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Middlebury commemorates five years of war in Iraq

Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the United States' invasion of Iraq - an event that ultimately dwarfs the politics of on-campus student organizations. Since the invasion, just shy of 4,000 American soldiers have died in Iraq - and even conservative estimates place the Iraqi casualty count at a staggering 90,000 individuals. Our own Vermont, where almost three quarters of the state's population opposes the war, boasts the highest per capital death rate of all states in the nation.

And yet Middlebury students are remarkably insulated. Though individuals are touched by the war - many watching family members and high school friends go off to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan - the on-campus community as a whole remains relatively quiet about the affair. We applaud the small but vocal group of students who have committed their time and energy to generating discussion and awareness about the war on campus. We appreciate, too, the efforts - however limited - that the College has made to incorporate discussion of the conflict in an academic context. The Meet the Press series this year, which has brought journalists covering the war to campus, has seen sustained popularity among faculty, staff, students and town neighbors.

Despite what we recognize as an intense sense of powerlessness among our community, we hope that we do not have to wait for the next anniversary to see continued activism and discussion about the war on campus.


First-years should not pledge

Community Council's discussion of the social house pledge process is an important one - and if the Council recognizes what is best for Middlebury students (and the College's social houses), they will vote against allowing first-year students to rush membership to a house in their second semester at the College.

First-year students are likely balking at this ultimatum - and the suggestion that, as second-semester first-years, individuals may be ill equipped to make their own decisions about their social lives at the College. The College, however, already recognizes that first-year students need time and support to acclimate to Middlebury life. First-year counselors, first-year seminars and rules that forbid first-years from taking an extended course load are all in place precisely because the first-year experience is different from the rest of a student's experience at the College.

We recognize that many first-years want to pledge - and that social houses are not all-consuming organizations designed to monopolize a student's life and social scene. That said, social houses should (and can) find ways to embrace new students outside of the pledge process.

The argument has been made that first-year Febs, who are allowed to pledge a house in their second semester, are given an unfair advantage in the social house system because of their longer membership with an individual house. While this may be the case, the system as it stands now allows members of a class admitted in both September and February to pledge at the same time - allow for the important integration of Febs, an integration that would be lost otherwise.

A student's first year at Middlebury is an exciting time - the flexibility and freedom that comes with it should be cherished and encouraged. What's more, this year at Middlebury - and even more importantly, a summer away from the institution, in which a student can contemplate their life at the College more fully - should be used to find the right, meaningful social scene.

The pledge process should remain in place as it currently exists.