The Year in Review

By Phillipian Editorial Staff Cxxxiii

It’s almost here, the end of the 2009-2010 school year. Many of this year’s notable events, like Andover Exeter weekend, Non-Sibi Day, Head of School’s Day and presidential elections, are routine occurences that we experience annually. However, this year was marked by more than just an adherence to yearly rituals. Throughout the school year, we argued during times of controversy, but also came together in times of joy or sadness. Essentially, we understood that both conflict and unity have their respective places at Andover. A simple look at the events of the past year show us this.

The year began with with two Lowers being harassed on Bartlett Street. Later in the year another student was confronted by local residents on Bartlett Street. These events led to a discussion of safety on campus and Phillips Academy Public Safety policy, which represented a growing concern for the security of...

The Final Weeks

By Phillipian Editorial Staff Cxxxiii

Students, it is the beginning of the end. With flashes of Seniors chasing each other across campus or bolting from Paresky Commons to the library, the arrival of Senior spooning is visible all around. This serves as a constant reminder of their impending graduation and the final days of school.

This is the time of year when the entire student body exhales one last breath, after the final AP week and the submission of History 310 papers. This is a time of year when students finally take a night off to relax, nothing due, nothing to worry about. It is a chance to enjoy a few weeks with friends before leaving for summer.

And there it is. Leaving. In the midst of what is the Andover student’s only chance to relax, there in the corner lies a difficult truth: leaving friends. Some students have plans to see friends over...

Home Sweet Housing

By Phillipian Editorial Board

Housing is a notoriously stressful process. Juniors rush for roommates and scurry for stacks. Lower and Uppers pray for pull-ins to get into their desired dorms. What exactly is the source of all the stress concerning housing?

One of the main issues with the housing system is the high priority given to intra-cluster movement. Even though students rarely show cluster loyalty, intra-cluster dorm changes have a higher rooming priority than All-School Lottery draws.

The high priority of intra-cluster movement is the root of several problems within the housing system. First, Juniors and new Lowers in the Abbot cluster have few options to move into large dorms. New students in Abbot are automatically at a disadvantage in the housing process when it comes to finding a large upperclassmen dorm compared to Juniors in Rockwell South or new Lowers in Bartlet. Why should students within cluster have priority in room selection...

Editorial

By Phillipian Editors CXXXIII

There are certain activities that will always be fixtures of an Andover student’s Saturday morning. Although cartoons and family breakfasts were cornerstones of our childhood weekends, our morning routines have evolved with age. Some of us may choose to hit their snooze on their alarm roughly a dozen times before crawling out of bed at one in the afternoon. Others may choose to rise early and meet friends in Commons for breakfast, and a notable group of athletes will spend their morning competing in athletic events. But regardless of age, there is one thing that has never been a welcome addition to our weekend schedule. Once again, this Friday night will not be a time of relaxation and enjoyment, but rather a time of silence and studying. Saturday classes are here again.

A long-time sore spot among Andover students, Saturday classes evoke a general outcry of dread every...

Not All Fun and Games

By Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxiii

Two weeks into spring term, the school has adjusted to the warmer weather, better attitudes and ever-increasing daylight hours. Unfortunately, however, students are also forced to choose between relaxing and studying, a particularly difficult choice for seniors. What are the best and worst aspects of spring 2010?

Best Things About Spring:

1. Vitamin D- We can finally leave the dorm without six layers of snow gear, and the walk between classes is no longer a battle against the elements. Campus is a much happier place to be.

2. Senior Spring- You deserve it, but why can’t underclassmen take African Drumming and Ornithology?

3. Prom- When is prom.andover10.com going online? 4. Spring Sports- you don’t need to freeze in the hockey rink anymore to show some school spirit at athletic events. Go Big Blue!

4. Senior Spooning- Stealth, camouflage and spying deserve more...

Cluster Council

By The Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxiii

Last week, students crowded into Lower Right to watch the Blue Key Head tryouts, a high-energy combination of blue paint, passionate love songs and pushups. Thirty-one students screamed and serenaded, each vying for one of the 10 coveted positions. But they were not the only ones on campus who have been trying for leadership positions lately. Eighteen Uppers campaigned for Student Council President, plastering their posters and videos all over campus and the internet; Eleven students applied for three time-consuming Drama Lab Producer roles. Clubs and organizations everywhere are choosing their future leaders, and the competition for recognition is fierce. Seniors nostalgically remember the stress of this tumultuous time of year. Juniors and Lowers watch this changing of the guard with curiosity, perhaps hoping to step into influential roles themselves one day. But for the Upper class, the time for accepting responsibility is now.

Cluster Council elections took...

A New Hope

By Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxiii

Each year, presidential candidates have risen to the podium with promises to energize Student Council. Each year, they endorse different types of change, calling on revised day student parking, appealing for discounts at downtown stores or promising improved internet speeds. And each year, the student body bemoans the inaction and triviality of the organization. What is unclear is whether that lack of active change derives from apathetic leadership or an inherent fault in the system of student governance. Could the issue be the limited powers and influence the organization has under the jurisdiction of the administration? Perhaps, and if this were the case, the insufficient activities of Student Council cannot be entirely blamed on its student leaders. Instead, such leaders could faulter because of system flaws such as poor transparency concerning negotiations between Student Council and the administration. As such, next year’s leaders should work towards fixing...

Honor Your Opponents

By The Phillipian Editorial Board CXXXIII

Competition will always be a determinant of character.

We are taught that it is an act of utmost rectitude to treat one’s opponents with respect. Indeed, at Andover and in the community at large, it is frequently stressed that the goal in competition is not to berate or attack the opposite side. Rather, it is to support our own school while maintaining a cordial atmosphere for all those involved in the contest.

Thankfully, the majority of students that attended the recent Andover/Exeter competitions held true to this standard of integrity. Regardless of their school affiliation, almost all students were gracious, respectful and cordial to their respective rivals. This consistent attitude deserves both recognition and commendation from both Andover and Exeter and serves as a genuine testament to the integrity of both institutions as well as their students. Unfortunately, however, this trend was not universal.

A number of incidents, perpetrated by...

Digital Definition

By The Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxiii

Recently, the Australian school Marist College Ashgrove suspended a Senior student for the creation of a group on Facebook entitled, “If one million people join I will give back Daniel Morcombe.” Daniel Morcombe was abducted from the Sunshine Coast at the age of 13 and has been missing for six years. This joke group was deemed offensive and “sick,” and the headmaster of the college described the act as “contrary to the values of the school.” The sensitivity of this incident was further heightened by a previous case in which a memorial Facebook page for a murdered Brisbane student was defiled with offensive comments and images of child pornography. With the advent of social networking sites, Internet blogs and other online forums, such cases are becoming increasingly prevalent, and communities worldwide are struggling to find appropriate responses, both regulatory and disciplinary.

In particular, it has proven difficult to...

Why Don’t We Care?

By Editorial Board CXXXIII

Apathy will always be an enemy of progress.

As the winter term draws to a close, indifference has begun to cling to the Andover campus more stubbornly than the New England chill. Regardless of where we choose to place the blame, Andover students have become extremely blasé. Although significant issues are affecting both our community and the world at large, we remain indifferent. We hide our impassivity behind a wall of flimsy excuses, ranging from excessive fatigue to an ever-mounting pile of assignments. The growing mentality that “someone else will do it” or “I’ll worry about it later” makes an appearance with every task we deprive of our attention.

Take, for example, the race for Student Council President. How many students can honestly say they have read all of the candidates’ platforms? How many questioned a candidate before signing their petitions to run? Have all of us even watched...