To the editor:
Let me begin with a disclaimer. I have absolutely nothing against any of the finalists or the winner of this year's Wendell Phillips Award award - from Harsha Dronamraju's beaming face on stage during the Culture Show, to Anna Gollub's dedication to her thesis and research, to Alex Pryor's constant presence in the campus center and our student government, these individuals are worthy contestants and valuable members of our class and community.
But I personally am very disappointed in the process. We have only one student speaker at our Baccalaureate ceremony, arguably one of the highest honors for a student. Congratulations to Alex again and the rest of the finalists, and now for my issues with the "process."
First, (sorry Jessica Snow) why would we potentially have a junior speaking at our graduation? I cannot imagine a more inappropriate occurrence. Yes, I love everyone at Tufts, but my class is my class. I'm really not sure if I need to explain this any further.
Second, a competition of this magnitude should be widely distributed and advertised for. I have talked with many (read: at least 15) of my friends who I think would have made excellent cantidates for the award, and not a single one of them was aware of the process or how it worked. When I finally got around to digging a little deeper to try and find out a bit more, the deadline for applications was three months dead. If this is a competition for our class, why was our class not notified?
And lastly, where was the competition? We're talking about one of our peers being chosen to represent our class. Apparently there were speaking competitions and other functions that I personally would have loved to either attend or be a part of. How much fun would that have been, to support your friends in a lively speaking debate?
Maybe I'm just overreacting. But between Meredith Vieira and Pryor, I'm just feeling a bit detached from my class, and that makes me sad.
Jesse Gossett
Class of 2008
To the editor:
The Fourth Annual Emerging Black Leaders Symposium, held this Saturday, was a rich and superbly run event. Jennifer Bailey and her outstanding crew did a wonderful job of putting together a packed and powerful day.
Some of it was just plain-old good information, some of it was very emotionally heavy; all of it needed to be heard.
This is the second time this year I've been on campus to attend a student-run program. The first was the Health Disparities and Higher Education Symposium in the fall. The quality of both of these events speaks to a level of social maturity, compassion and technical organizing skills that should be a model for those of us in the off-campus world, and for Tufts faculty and administrators as well.
Thanks for showing us the way. I'm looking forward to next year.
Alex Pirie
Coordinator
Immigrant Service Providers Group
