Following a lengthy discussion that included presentations from several students, the faculty voted 55 to 5 to endorse the Resource and Planning Committee (RPC) recommendation to transition to need-aware admissions. Nearly two thirds of the faculty were not present for the vote, which took place at Wednesday’s faculty meeting.
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A student group calling itself Defend Need Blind at Macalester (DNBAM) plans to release a report supporting the current need-blind admissions policy and posing alternative ways to alleviate the college’s fiscal crunch.
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Discussion of Year’s Agenda
As this week’s meeting, Legislative Body (LB) members brainstormed ideas for the year’s agenda. Most of the proposed ideas focus on ways to publicize MCSG.
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The Educational Policy and Governance Committee (EPAG) suggested changes to Macalester’s core curriculum in a draft of a forthcoming proposal sent to faculty on Tuesday.
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Admissions officers have decided not to take a position in the need-blind discussion, saying they will continue to search for the best students according to the priorities and policies laid out by the college.
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Amid some criticism from the American Studies department, the plan for the Center for Global Studies and Citizenship has begun to take form and its creators are seeking input from students and faculty.
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Over a week after the presidential election, Macalester is still coping with the events of Nov. 2. Gone are the political signs and the celebrity visits, but the real effect of the election seems to lie in students’ emotions.
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MCSG recently passed a resolution asking the faculty and the Board of Trustees to delay their vote because the Macalester community has not had enough time to discuss the issue. In fact, MCSG is part of the reason that we as a student body have been left in the dark. As a representative on the MCSG legislative board in November 2003, I was there to hear Danny Kaplan, the chair of the Resource Planning Committee (RPC), explain why the RPC report was being conducted, Macalester’s financial situation and what the options were. It was our duty as MCSG to relay this information to the student body. We did not. We dropped the ball. The RPC report has been available to everyone on campus since the spring. We as students have had nearly seven months to access this information. The Administration has responsibility in this, but as students we must take responsibility for our inaction.
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The elections were terribly disappointing for most of us at Macalester. I don’t feel powerless because we had some very tangible successes in Minnesota—namely the DFL’s pickups in the Minnesota House of Representatives and Kerry’s relatively easy win—both due to volunteer efforts. To regain some optimism about the country, however, I think it’s important to refocus on accomplishing things on campus. Here, therefore, are some projects that the more progressive-minded at Macalester should think about carrying out.
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In last week’s Spotlight, Kramer Lawson called himself “deeply religious,” and says that is why he votes Republican. I also consider myself a deeply religious Christian (that’s why I am studying to be a biblical scholar), but my commitment to Christianity is the reason why I would never vote Republican. Well-meaning people like Kramer all over America have been misled by conservative Christian leaders who promote the myth that Christian morals somehow correspond to the Republican Party’s agenda, an idea that logically fails completely if you consider what the Bible actually says.
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On Wednesday, November 3, a small group comprised mostly of Macalester students staged a protest that culminated in shutting down the intersection at Grand and Snelling. This direct action was met with resistance at every level. We were accused of acting juvenile and behaving selfishly, irresponsibly, and without purpose. This is one member’s defense.
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An examination of our institution’s purpose in the context of the liberal arts institution and higher education in general is a necessary prerequisite to an informed and honest discussion about need-blind admissions. We believe such a discussion must take place before any decision is made. We also believe that such a discussion has not yet taken place. Until it does, we must reject the notion that this has been a fair and open discussion in which student voices are not only heard, but listened to.
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An impressive hat-trick performance by forward Annie Borton ’07 led the women’s soccer team to a 3-1 win over the hosting Grinnell College Pioneers on Wednesday afternoon.
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Newspapers will be filled with analyses of the presidential election for weeks to come. Pundits will endlessly blab about what Kerry and Co. did wrong, what Bush, Inc. did right, the religious right, the lack of message, and on and on.
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The men’s soccer team suffered a crushing end to what had been a rather disappointing season after losing to Gustavus Adolphus in last Saturday’s MIAC championship final. The Gusties, ranked tenth in NCAA Division III soccer, defeated the Scots 3-0.
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After the first half of the football team’s final home game last Saturday, the Mac crowd was celebrating a 28-14 lead. In the second half, though, the Scots quickly gave up all of their 14-point lead and more, eventually letting the Ripon College Red Hawks of Ripon, Wisc. leave St. Paul with a 56-35 victory.
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Many people pride themselves on being good hosts, but Claire Reynolds ’04, Ian Danielson ’04, and Pat Campbell ’04—known simply as “CIP”—live up to their claims of hospitality: when I arrived at their house for their Spotlight interview, I was treated to a grand tour, a comfortable seat on their basement couch, and a shot of Southern Comfort with lime juice already poured for me. In the words of someone who spoke Latin, “In Vino, Verita.”
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While you may know me as an unattractive waterfowl, my friends simply call me “Bill Clinton.” Not unlike your former president, I overcame a plethora of early-lifetime obstacles that left me feeling empowered and, at the same time, alienated both from self and from others. Not unlike your former president, I also have a big bill. Heh heh. There’s a double entendre there, you dimwits. Heh heh. I’m a duck.
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Mixes have been a big part of my life since high school, when I became a music-obsessive with only one friend who would tolerate my pontificating about the meaning of the latest U2 album, or the loss of R.E.M.’s drummer Bill Berry. The first mixes I made were for her, and they were tapes. If mix CDs are the new letters (or love letters, as the case may be), then mix tapes are hand-constructed valentines. If you make an hour-long mix tape, then it will probably take you, in total, two hours. There’s the stopping and starting and, of course, the turnover. The goal is to find a song that will fit completely at the end of one side, without leaving more than a few seconds of space. It is an art.
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So, you’re looking for a good game to play in your free time, eh? First, let me recommend you all find one of the wonderful people who have X-Boxes and get in some multiplayer Halo 2 action. I haven’t played the game enough to review it yet, but I can recommend you play it with some good friends around a warm television. Now, on to the review for this week.
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After weeks of preparation, a performance of Jean Cocteau’s “Les Parents Terribles” will open this weekend. Sponsored by the French Department and MacPlayers, the play explores the comedic and bizarre plights of a dysfunctional Parisian family.
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Wandering in a used bookstore in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, several years ago, playwright Julie Marie Myatt came across a book called “The Sex Habits of American Women.” The book recounts the results of a serious study undertaken by Fritz Wittels, M.D. in 1951. Myatt was amused by the absurdity of the text, which expounded on Wittel’s “groundbreaking” theories on women and sex. She was inspired to create a “mockumentary” of the possible events around the doctor’s writing of this study. The result is the Guthrie Lab’s hilarious production of Myatt’s play, “The Sex Habits of American Women.”
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“Where wealth accumulates, men decay.” So said Oliver Goldsmith, the 18th century novelist and essayist. Such a comment could easily have come right after viewing a performance of MoliËre’s “The Miser,” currently playing at the ThÈ‚tre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis.
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Last Monday night, I caught the final of four performances from the New York jazz quartet Sex Mob at the Dakota. I had not heard of this group prior to seeing their name listed on a website, and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Any expectations I could have had were fulfilled and exceeded with appreciation and enjoyment.
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First Avenue, the legendary twin cities nightclub and setting of Prince’s film “Purple Rain” closed its doors on Tuesday, November 2nd after 35 years. Owner and founder Allan Fingerhut filed for bankruptcy last Tuesday afternoon, culminating months of speculation about the club’s financial standing.
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The Mac Weekly is an entirely student-produced publication. The opinions expressed in this document are those of its authors and editors, not of Macalester College.
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