This week’s campus mail brought the yearly call for submissions to scholarly competitions. Leafing through, I stopped at the one that has baffled me for each of my four years here: the Eda May Haskell Library Prize, which awards one graduating senior for the possession of a library which demonstrates "discriminating judgment, personal taste, and imagination." While the flyer states that "numbers, rarity, handsome format or monetary value will be of secondary consideration," this stipulation, along with the instructions to indicate paperback books with a "p," ensures potential applicants that this is not a need-blind competition.

During an interview for last week’s article entitled "Senators Accuse Senate of Misconduct," ASPC President Brian Andrews ’01 concluded by asking author and Editor-in-Chief Nora Lawrence, "Do you want a war, Nora?" As a student of Politics, and a politician himself, Andrews should have remembered that the separation of powers precludes the President from declaring war; that’s the job of the Senate itself. Andrews’ misunderstanding of where his power and discretion ends, and where Senate’s as a whole begins, has been one that has plagued his dealings with The Student Life, and, presumably, with other organizations on campus.

Andrew "The Friendly Ghost" Kasper accuses TSL and myself of many things in his letter to the editor. My purpose in this letter is to address those issues. Kasper argues that the "real problem with the TSL [lies]…in how it reflects upon the college to individuals and prospective students who visit the college." My dear Kasper, are you honestly suggesting that we need to change our paper so as not to deter prospective students?

A student’s first semester of college is a wondrous experience. As I look back now to my salad days at Pomona I am filled with a warm satisfaction that originates in my abdomen and slowly radiates throughout my body. It is with this in mind that I offer my sincerest condolences to Andrew Kasper, whose first semester at Pomona College was marred by his experience with our school newspaper.

The fundamental duty of a college newspaper is to serve as a watchdog for student government and the college administration and to convey important news to the community. Any newspaper should also commit itself to reporting objectively and to not framing articles in a biased or sensational manner. This letter is to address directly some concerns with last week’s issue of The Student Life.

I’m writing in response to John Matson’s opinions piece from February 16. John, saying Napster’s not fun is like saying crack’s not fun. If you’re addicted, you’re addicted, and there really isn’t much you can do about it. I mean yeah, sure I’ve tried to cut back. I even went cold turkey for a few days one time. But the shakes, oh the shakes… To think of actually paying for music again just scares the hell out of me.

I received today a card from the Office of Annual Giving, asking for donations to help cover the increasingly high cost of electricity. I appreciate the contribution Pomona has made to my life, and intend to eventually show my appreciation through a donation.

My gift will, I hope, go to enhancing the quality of education at Pomona. Perhaps it will help add another professor; maybe it will go to laboratory equipment. Or perhaps it will buy a few of the pins for the bowling alley they once talked about putting in the basement of the Coop. This is what alumni donations are all about - helping to make our alma mater a place which continues to excel and make us proud.