BCF Advisor Dismissal

Letter to the editor: XL Dissent

To the Editor:
On March 2 I will march from the campus of Georgetown University to the front gate of the White House with one simple demand—that President Obama fulfills his promise to the people of the United States and its future generations and blocks the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. I will demand that our government find courage in the face of adversity.
But I will not be alone. Instead I will be one voice among hundreds or thousands, including 15 Bowdoin students, as part of what will be one of the largest single demonstrations of civil disobedience by youth at the White House in over a generation—and all of it organized by students.
Keystone XL is an issue that has turned into a shouting match. There are even those who argue within the ranks that this is not the battle to be fought. We say this is not the battle to lose. For my generation, we have no choice. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. A failure to block this pipeline would be aiding and abetting a crime against humanity.
Although we may not speak with checkbooks or massive campaign donations, we are armed with our disobedience and our message: We will no longer sit at the sidelines as our future is squandered.
Bowdoin does XL Dissent.
Sincerely,Hugh Ratcliffe ’15

Letter to the editor: Response to Sam Chase '16

To the Editor:
Your columnist Sam Chase says of me, “Easterbrook... is quick to proclaim his intellectual and moral superiority over, well, anyone who isn’t him,” in his column last week, "Hot takes and paragraph breaks: mocking the worst of sports writing."
Okay, that’s his opinion. Curious nothing is cited to support this sweeping generalization. In what instance did I “proclaim” my “moral superiority” over “anyone who isn’t” me? I doubt Bowdoin professors accept papers that contain far-reaching ad hominen condemnations unsupported by a single specific.
Chase further declares that I am “not exactly strapped for cash.” How does the Bowdoin Orient claim to know this? What possible information could your newspaper have about my finances? Chase certainly never called me for any form of fact-checking. I hope Bowdoin students do not imagine that writing serious nonfiction books, literary novels and Atlantic Monthly articles—how I spend most of my time—is a path to riches. When my son Grant Easterbrook ’11 attended Bowdoin, he received financial aid. Which your columnist would have known if he’d engaged in even the most rudimentary fact-checking steps.
One of the temptations faced by students who attend elite colleges such as Bowdoin is making oneself seem important by mocking others. I hope Chase will learn to overcome this sophomoric (in more ways than one) inclination. He’s obviously got a lot to learn about how to write carefully.
Regards,Gregg Easterbrook P ’11Bethesda, Maryland

Letter to the editor

March 27, 2014

To the Editors:

I write in reference to your recent coverage of the controversy surrounding Bowdoin Christian Fellowship (BCF) and the requirements for student organizations.

In the focus on questions of sexual orientation, a critical point has received insufficient attention. The non-discrimination policy requires student organizations to certify that they do “not discriminate on the basis of… religion” or “creed.” The SOOC now requires the student organization leaders themselves to sign this policy.

But what does the policy mean? Does it require members of the Muslim Students Association to show no concern for whether a leadership candidate thinks Muhammad was a messenger of God? Does it oblige members of the Catholic Student Union or Bowdoin Christian Fellowship, when it comes time to their select leaders, to ignore whether candidates believe Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or the Son of God?

Surely it would be a cruel charade for the College to claim to welcome student religious groups on campus, and yet in the same breath to tell them they can’t choose leaders who share their “religion” or “creed.”

One would hope the policy aims only to require student organizations to admit any student to membership, but then leaves members free to elect leaders who share their faith commitments—commitments which are, after all, the very raison d’être of the groups. If this is the meaning of the policy, we shall be grateful to hear it from the administration.

Colin LeCroy ’04

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