Editorial
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...
Unnecessary Reform
By Editorial Board
More bureaucracy is rarely the solution to a problem.
Last week, Paul Murphy, Dean of Students, submitted a Letter to the Editor suggesting that the school think about electing co-presidents to ease some of the work associated with running the school. Dean Murphy said, “It always struck me as a good idea to spread the work out between co-presidents, just based on the enormity of the job.”
While this proposal is well-intentioned, there is another aspect of the presidency that would suffer under a changed two-person system.
Faiyad Ahmad ’10, current president of Student Council, commented, “I think it would be very difficult to work with the public aspect of the presidency—the speeches and such—with two people representing the face of the student body.”
Although Dean Murphy acknowledged these potential difficulties, he was confident in saying, “I think we have the ability to figure out how to institute such a change.”
On...
The Andover of the Individual
By Jenn Schaffer
“To be nobody but yourself in a world that’s doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting.” - E E Cummings
For the past four years, I have encountered two Andovers. From one, I faced criticism; from the other, feeble-minded attacks. And as every Commentariate should, I have embraced the former and ignored the latter. Attempts to silence what is said on these pages run more rampant than one would expect on a campus as “open-minded” as our own. For every bold opinion taken, I have faced students and adults who have attempted to intimidate me, with collectivist mentalities, out of expressing my point of view. In articles and editorials, I have sought only to express a new perspective, never to offend. Yet I have faced ad hominem attacks and unfounded accusations on...
Donate to Haiti
By The Phillipian Cxxxii Editorial Board
Recently on campus there’s been a lot of discussion of Spike Lee and different conceptions of racism. While this kind of kind of discussion is good, the focus of the complaints raised about Spike Lee seem particularly trivial and self-absorbed when compared to the condition to the situation Haiti is in. As a student body, we should be wary of appearing ungrateful or disappointed with Spike Lee’s visit. Not agreeing with what he said is different than not appreciating his visit. Ruminating about the issues raised in his speech is positive and constructive. Nevertheless, there is a distinction between complaining about something and discussing it constructively.
The issues in Haiti should remind us of the privileges and opportunities we have here at PA, including but not limited to visits from people such as Spike Lee.
We live in, globally speaking, one the most privileged and safest communities in the...
Stifled Discourse?
By Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxii
No matter what one may have thought of his address at Monday’s All-School Meeting or the content of his work, it is undeniable that Spike Lee provoked discourse and impassioned debate among all members of our community. However, that debate was only possible because of the impromptu question and answer session that focused on Mr. Lee’s views on racial issues rather than pedantic points on his filmmaking. The question and answer session initially began as a panel that presented student-produced queries that were preselected. Rather than informing the community of his often-contentious social viewpoints, these questions focused on specific elements in Mr. Lee’s films. Once he opened the questions to the audience, Mr. Lee geared the meeting towards a more meaningful and relevant discussion. The subsequent questions asked provoked dialogue and rendered both the address and the ensuing community discourse worthwhile. Last May, several students debated affirmative...
It Takes Trust
By The Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxii
Andover students have a lot of ideals. We call for freedom, liberty of thought and autonomy of action. But chief among those ideals must be the ideal of trust, without which all others falter. In a community, it takes a trusting relationship between those who may restrict liberties and those who demand them. At The Phillipian, we call for freedom of the press. But if you want the liberty to go uncensored, you must be trusted not to break the conditions of journalistic integrity. Therefore, the trustworthiness of the Phillipian is integral to publishing an uncensored, student-run newspaper. If you want the liberty to take a test unsupervised, you must be trusted not to cheat. If you want the liberty not to be breathalyzed, your word must be trustworthy.
And if you want the liberty not to be monitored by house counselors throughout the night, a liberty we...
February Frees
By The Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxii
As we begin a new term on the heels of both a new year and a new decade, The Phillipian would like to welcome all members of this community back to the Andover campus for the next eight weeks. For many, the progression of winter term signals a lengthy trek through darker days, colder nights and more challenging coursework. But this year, winter term brings something else – a newly established All-School Meeting policy dubbed “The February Freeze” that was announced at last Wednesday’s ASM, eliminating All-School Meetings in February and March. The benefits of this decision are twofold. Eliminating February All-School Meetings could lead to a student body more engaged in and better prepared for classes. Unfortunately, All -School Meetings often turn into last-minute cramming sessions or sleeping periods for exhausted students by the latter half of winter term. From the student point of view, a...
Book vs. Person
By The Phillipian Editorial Board Cxxxi
As reported in “Senior Dismissed After Refusing First Breathalyzer Test Request” this week, Chris Massie ’10 was dismissed after refusing to take a breathalyzer test on Friday, which the Blue Book defines as a positive test. Due to the confidential nature of disciplinary proceedings and the ambiguity of what constituted Massie’s “behavior, presentation or circumstance,” The Phillipian cannot comment on whether or not Massie’s situation warranted the implementation of the breathalyzer policy.
However, we can comment on the inflexibility of the Disciplinary Committee process. The Disciplinary Committee recommended a second term of probation without dismissal, a divergence from the Blue Book’s rule. And Paul Murphy, Dean of Students, did not follow this suggestion, instead following the Blue Book interpretation that two probationary offenses are means for dismissal. It is perfectly reasonable for Murphy to adhere to the Blue Book. It’s his job. But the system outlined in the...