DU criticism absurd, not worth covering

Even by Fellini-esque standards, the news coming out of Evanston is reaching new heights of absurdity. Readers of Monday’s Daily would be excused if they thought they were reading a Beckett play rather than a newspaper. To the astonishment of nobody, the fine folks at Delta Upsilon sponsored a “hardcore midget wrestling” group in conjunction with their rush activities. Without pondering if the house could have found a more palatable soft core group, we found out that this troupe performed all manner of circus tricks, albeit less than kid-friendly in nature.

While anything involving landing on tacks tends to make me cringe, all reports indicate that the “little people” figured out a way to avoid a trip to the hospital. But thankfully the crack Daily editorial staff swooped in and provided their insight into this mess. They were able to break all sorts of new journalistic ground because they “obtained significant photo and video evidence from the event.” The shining jewel, no doubt Pulitzer-worthy, was the shocking information that “women were present” at this event. I’ll dare say that unchristian language may have been uttered, and demeaning stereotypes drawn.

With these investigative skills, I say dig up the Warren Commission and let’s find out what really happened on the grassy knoll. Indeed, not since anything to do with O.J. Simpson have the words, illicit, alleged and incriminating been thrown around like candy at Halloween.

So what really happened? The first count of the indictment appears to be misleading advertising for switching the days between paintballing and midgets. More importantly, as David Spett points out, there may have been the high crime of “‘buffoonery'” committed. I imagine these days that showing the movie “Old School” in Ryan Family Auditorium amounts to a hanging offense.

I think there are some old rules around requiring the pledge class to kiss the portrait of Francis Willard as penance. The tragedy here isn’t a little boorish behavior (which seems to have occurred sober, an even more troubling trend).

At around $50,000 a year, students and parents will no doubt wonder why the administration will require a bureaucrat to spend a week or two “investigating” the activities of consenting adults engaged in otherwise legal activity. As there are no accusations of violating the bodily sanctity of farm animals, surely the minions of Rebecca Crown Center have something better to do with their time and your tuition dollars.

Having lived in my fraternity for three years, I can assure you that there are many worse fates, including contemplating the football team’s defense, upcoming midterms, and most cruelly, nine more weeks of Winter Quarter. For everyone else, keep reading these pages, I hear that they’ve stopped waiting for Godot.

– Alexander StephensWeinberg ’87Former Daily?photographer

Join new international student organization

Recently, in conjunction with Northwestern’s International Office, steps have been made to create an International Student Association (ISA). ISA will be holding its commencement meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17 at the Northwestern Room in Norris University Center. Currently, there are many regional and cultural groups at Northwestern. The goal of ISA is to set the stage to bring students from these different groups and different cultures together. It would further promote interaction among students by showcasing cultural, religious and social diversity through a united body.

There are several reasons and ways in which such a group could collaborate with others. There are certainly some events that will cater to a particular section of the NU student community and others that will be applicable for all interested. Organizing an international food, film and music festival or an international cultural show would be events that would appeal not only to the entire NU community but also to the entire Evanston and Chicago communities.

– Amit DamaniWeinberg Sophomore