Swimming in the D

There’s an article about the swimming team controversy in today’s D. It’s exactly what you’d expect, until you get to the last paragraph:

“The Undergraduate Financial Committee decided to postpone disclosing its budget, which it had planned to release today. Though the UFC is completely separate from the Dean of the College and the athletic department, a source close to the UFC told The Dartmouth that the UFC had postponed their announcement so as not to cause student outcry over funds received by other less popular campus organizations while the swim team is being eliminated.”

So, to clarify, according to the D’s source, the College knows damn well that it is funding programs that students don’t like, while cutting spending on programs that students do like. All I have to say to the UFC is this: you can’t withhold it forever. Your donors have a right to know how well their donations are being managed.

Also in the D is an op-ed by some kid named Alston. I’m not actually sure I agree with his reasoning. Slippery slope arguments tend to strike me as sort of stupid. I do, however, agree with his conclusion: that Dartmouth should not divest from tobacco companies. My logic is this: how can we in good conscience announce that we think that the production of cigarettes is wrong without ever announcing that we think the use of cigarettes is wrong? Surely, there’s an inherent flaw in telling people that it’s okay if they smoke, but if anyone helps them smoke they’re in for it. Until Dartmouth has an anti-smoking policy, I don’t think it’s in any position to have an anti-smoking-enabling policy.