Corrections

By Editorial Board

A caption for a photo of the Tour de France in last week’s Sports section misidentified a cyclist as Michael Rasmussen.

A “New Faculty” box for J. A. Housiaux mis-stated his department. He teaches in the Religion and Philosophy Department, not Community Service.

The Phillipian regrets the errors....

Risking Temptation

By Editorial Board

Note: Since the beginning of school this year the situation in the library has been extremely contentious. Only after carefully observing the status of the library, as well discussing the current situation with students, other board members, staff and administrators have we been able to come to the following conclusions. It is hard for students to see what all the fuss in the library is about. Sure, there is some inappropriate behavior, and yes, the lobby can become quite rambunctious. But if you want to study, there are many places to go free of distraction. Though noise sometimes leaks in from the lobby, the Garver Room remains an excellent place to study. The Freeman Room, or “comfy chair room,” is wonderfully conducive to group study, and individual desks in the basement provide an excellent sanctuary for students interested in individual work. It is not so much having...

A Note of Thanks

By Editorial Board

A Note of Thanks: To Dr. Cernota, whose tirless efforts in the first two weeks of school as our Scheduling Officer have perfectly demonstrated the tenacity of one of this school’s greatest administrators. Although swamped, Dr. Cernota never stopped working for the students who, consequently, admire him deeply....

Don’t Force Non Sibi

By Editorial Board

There are many good things we can say about Non Sibi Day. Administrators and faculty worked tirelessly to see the day come to fruition. Student-leaders provided strong management and brought an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm. The students themselves, most of who participated with little reluctance, created a real feeling of non sibi. The day turned out to be a beautiful, remarkable achievement.

In making Non Sibi Day involuntary, however, the organizers underestimated PA students. It seems insulting that organizers thought it wiser to force students to participate rather than risk poor attendance by making participation optional. Since when have PA students demonstrated a lack of enthusiasm in community service? We point it out frequently: 80 percent of students at Andover participate in community service at some point in their time here. Strong, perhaps full student participation could just as easily have been accomplished if the program had been...

A Trend of Distrust

By Editorial Board

The Phillipian hopes that various new campus policies do not represent a trend of weakening trust throughout the Andover community. The new library policy and the new daily attendance system are intended to improve efficiency, accuracy, and the quality of campus life.

However, the stricter library policy, which includes a discussion with the cluster dean and being banned from the library as consequences of disruptive behavior, suggests that students are no longer trusted to act respectfully in a place of study. The rules sound as though they are directed at a classroom of noisy kindergarteners, instead of at the students of Phillips Academy. We hope that students are given more credit for our dedication to our studies and our responsibility for our own surroundings.

The new attendance policy implies that students cannot be trusted to be honest about their reasons for missing class. In eliminating the student’s right to...

The Phillipian This Fall

By Editorial Board

This fall there will be many changes to The Phillipian, although some will be more obvious than others. We have developed new programs, systems and techniques to better serve our readers in every respect. The newspaper will be more comprehensive, our website more useful and our delivery system more extensive than ever before, just to name a few improvements. But most of all we hope to re-emphasize the central purpose of this newspaper, which, remembering our motto “Veritas Super Omnia,” is the pursuit of the truth. But truth is not easy. You can’t just wake up one day and say, “I’d like to always be truthful.” Sometimes, whether we mean to or not, we all forward inaccurate ideas. We do it in the way we act, in our conversations and in other media as well. This publication has always intended to be truthful and accurate, but in...

Screaming Seniors

By Editorial Board

We say the end depends upon the beginning. The journey we take at this school – and how we come out of it – depends on how we start. If these things are true, then new student orientation provides an interesting analogy to the Andover experience. In one way or another, the Andover experience is encapsulated by the screaming Seniors at the corner of Salem and Main on new student move-in day. Although the students drove the spirit and the cheers and the overall sense of welcome which pervaded the campus, they did so with some help- the help, for instance, of administrators who delivered water bottles to the hot teenagers. The effect on new students is immeasurable. After all, how could anyone forget his or her first impression of Andover after such a terrific introduction? The same dynamic is true for the Andover experience. Although it...

An Andover Sacrifice

By Editorial Board

This week’s disciplinary decisions remind us that coming to Andover means sacrificing much of the normal high school experience. Though teenage “party” culture has become a fundamental part of the American high school, PA students never have an opportunity to partake in it, at least while at Andover. Those who try almost always fail. Yet, we must realize the significance of this sacrifice.

We may remorse having missed the romanticism of teenage rebellion; the nights we could have been out with our friends playing “beirut,” being silly and not worrying about the troubles of the adult world. We may wish we pulled a few less all-nighters to study, and a few more to see the sun rise after an exciting night. We may never forget those times we could have spent happy just to be alive, but were instead spent distraught over some insignificant test grade. Indeed, there...