An exchange with President Mills

Letter to the editor: College’s reaction to hazing troubling

To the Editor,
First off, I’d simply like to say that I was deeply disturbed by the Bowdoin administration’s reaction to the men’s tennis team’s so-called “hazing” incident. However, before I start, there are a few things that bear mention.
No one was hurt, and at no point was there any risk of anyone being hurt. No one was at all forced or coerced into doing anything they didn’t want to do.
In fact, it is my impression that a good time was had by all. Yes, all. With these points in mind, it seems to me that there is no conceivable reason why the administration (let alone another student, unprovoked) should feel compelled to interfere at all in this matter, let alone strip these athletes of what amounts to more or less their entire season, practically one-fourth of their college careers. These athletes have worked for years for this opportunity, and to see it taken away by administrators tipped off by a third party is, frankly, heartbreaking. Let me tell you a dirty little secret: almost every team on campus has such “rituals,” and such events serve to strengthen our ties as teammates and friends, not to ostracize or belittle certain members.

Letter to the editor: Orient coverage of NAS report biased

To the Editors,
The editors should have caught the bias in the third and fourth paragraphs that skews the entire story and raises questions about the Orient’s fairness and commitment to reporting objectively. If Ms. Kinstler and Ms. McGarry wanted to write a column, they should have. Otherwise, as reporters, hold your own views in check as you report the story of the “nine-iron shot heard ‘round the world.”As a working journalist and newspaper columnist for the past two decades, I understand how charged the atmosphere can become when an institution you love or believe in comes under attack. When I wrote my “Fire at Will” column for the Orient back when Barry Mills was in short pants, I faced constant criticism from classmates and outsiders who called me names or labeled me as a racist or, worse, (gasp!) a conservative.At times like that, best to heed Colin Powell’s advice and avoid “getting the vapors.” Especially in a situation like this, where you have an eminent institution with a long history, a longer waitlist and a billion-dollar endowment, the republic still stands. Set emotion aside and lead the discussion from a more-measured perspective. Live blogs, live chats and social media campaigns are all great ways to engage the Bowdoin community, and I hope the Orient is doing so. Create the forum. Let all sides air their views. Play the referee, but don’t let unlabeled opinion creep into and tarnish news coverage.As far as the NAS report goes, did any of us, when we got our Bowdoin acceptance letters, think we were going to an institution known for its powdered wigs and conservatism? I have hired and regularly interview recent Bowdoin alums for jobs in the news business. Everyone gets a fair shake in the process, but I am always impressed with how flexible and open-minded Polar Bears are and am in awe of the connective thinking and problem solving abilities they exhibit, despite being “polluted” by too many women’s studies and other identity courses.As a mere ink-stained wretch, I don’t think I’ll be able to swing the now-hefty tuition costs for my own two teenagers, but I have absolutely zero doubt of the value of a Bowdoin education, no matter what is taught.Sincerely,Adam Najberg ’90Najberg is the Wall Street Journal digital editor for Asia.To the Editors,
I’m disturbed at the unfair way the Orient handled its news article on the recent NAS study. As loaded as you may have found the report, there was a better and more responsible way to cover it than the thinly-disguised opinion item by Linda Kinstler and Marisa McGarry.
The editors should have caught the bias in the third and fourth paragraphs that skews the entire story and raises questions about the Orient’s fairness and commitment to reporting objectively. If Ms. Kinstler and Ms. McGarry wanted to write a column, they should have. Otherwise, as reporters, hold your own views in check as you report the story of the “nine-iron shot heard ‘round the world.”

Letter to the editor

An exchange with President Mills

April 4, 2013

To the Editor,

I write to tell you about my communication with President Mills regarding the NAS study.

I sent the following letter to President Mills the morning after Monday’s faculty meeting. He was kind enough to call me upon receiving it. During our phone conversation I voiced my agreement with parts of the piecemeal reports that the NAS has already released; with the gist of Thomas Klingenstein’s arguments in his Claremont Review of Books essay and in the Bowdoin Orient; and with Mills’s own argument, in his September 2010 convocation address, which I excerpted in the letter.

I asked President Mills to look to the final NAS report when it is released and point out in public those parts that echo what he said in his convocation address. I hoped that his doing so would cause people who would otherwise dismiss the central message of his address—which I understand to be more concordant with the thrust of the NAS than he does—to take it seriously. He said that I should rather “have the guts to stand up and say it.” Herewith.

Sincerely,
Assistant Professor of Economics Stephen Meardon

_____________________________________________________________

Monday April 1, 2013

Dear President Mills,

I was sorry to hear my colleagues chuckle at the mere mention of the NAS study at today’s faculty meeting. I am sorrier to say that, to my ear, you encouraged them.

I was present at your convocation address in September 2010 and admired your aim. “We must guard against political correctness and a culture where everyone...is supposed to feel ‘comfortable’,” you said, and rightly.

The chuckles were the sound of people resting comfortably with the conviction that the ideas in the study, probably a good deal different from those that dominate around here, need not be seriously entertained. It’s a different sound entirely from your admirable convocation address.

With highest regard,
Steve Meardon

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