What's the Price of Freedom?
Lisa Wormwood '81
In response to President Cotter's article in support of tenure, I have
several remarks.
One, President Cotter left out the price tag for his keepers of values. I
would like to see a cost-analysis of tenure and its impact on the rising price
tag of a Colby degree, a price that is prohibiting grads like me, the
untenured, yet dedicated, hardworking professional, from sending children to
their alma mater.
Next, he neglected to point out why college professors (or lawyers or bankers)
should have the outrageous privilege of lifetime job security, for doing what
they should be doing in the first place--performing to the best of their
ability. Pshaw! on the lofty rhetoric that they are keepers of a college's
values. A college has no more values than the society in which it sits. Ours
are in short supply. When I attended Colby, students were selling and using
drugs on campus, and the administration chose not to do anything about it or
even admit they had a drug problem. The local headline I read after graduating
said "Colby Has No Drug Problem." Not true. The elimination of
fraternities involved questionable tactics on the part of the administration. I
recall at least one older, outraged fraternity alumnus using the word "lied."
It certainly appeared that way to me, despite the good intentions.
Tenure represents the banal pursuit of guaranteed money in a society in need
of healing its materialism, not perpetuating it. Keeping up with the
Joneses--the Bateses, the Bowdoins--is not ethical or value-based reasoning.
Moral courage doesn't come in packs, as a rule. "Good business" should mean
moral and value-based business. Often, it implies the opposite.
Tenure involves politics because it involves personalities. Lumping college
teachers' rites of passage with lawyers and bankers is two-edged. Bankers and
lawyers are no more immune from the corrupting influences of big money than any
other group of people, professional or otherwise.
Finally, granting costly lifetime guarantees of job security to only select
groups of dedicated professionals isn't free market thinking. It
couldn't be defended on moral or ethical grounds, and it is dangerously elitist
for a pluralistic (and violent) society with fringe elements beginning to
strike out viciously against a government whose leaders themselves are in a
questionable moral place.
Yarmouth, Maine
We were very pleased to see that the Performing Arts Department at
Colby was acknowledged in the latest issue of your magazine. The Periscope
section had a paragraph titled "Only The Best" [that described theater awards
recently won by three Colby students]. It is nice that these students were
given recognition for their achievements.
Unfortunately, a mistake was made. The American College Theater Festival has
many areas of competition, only one of which involved [the Colby production
of] American Buffalo. Mike Daisey '95, Brent Felker '96 and Scott Cole
'95 all were involved in the performance of American Buffalo, but they
were also nominated as Irene Ryan candidates. For the third year in a row Colby
students competed with many others to move on to the Kennedy Center in
Washington, D.C. Not only the cast of American Buffalo but also Colby
students Jason Spooner '95 and Katie Thompson '95 were nominated as Irene Ryan
candidates. These last two had nothing to do with the production of American
Buffalo, although many other students were involved in the various
technical aspects. (The show was also entered for design and for lighting.)
Colby magazine is seen by many people, those who have gone to Colby as
well as those who are merely considering attending the College. We feel that it
is important to make a good impression on all of these people. It is for this
reason that we decided to alert you to the fact that an error was made. It is
also important to give recognition where it is due. Thank you so much for
mentioning American Buffalo. It is your acknowledgment that helps
encourage students like us.
Kathleen Wood '96
Betsy Clark '98
Squash That Rumor
I was reading, as always with great interest, the latest edition of
Colby when I came across page 37 and the title "Best Season Ever." I was
pleased and happy that the team had done well. (I was on the 1989 team.)
However, while it may be the case that the team had the best record ever (I
don't remember our record), I do know that we won the very same Barnaby Trophy
in 1989 while at Yale--it was the first time Colby had ever accomplished this
feat in squash.
Shaun Dakin '89
Glendale, Ariz.
Correction
An item in the Class of '71 news of the April Colby incorrectly
stated Dr. William Anthony's place of work. Anthony is on the faculty of
Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.