A good opinions section should be balanced. This article is intended to present a number of opposing viewpoints to previous articles in TSL.

Topic One: SAT testing. It should most definitely remain an integral part of the college admissions process. There is no perfect measure of one’s preparedness to attend college. Grade point average is too variable. Activities are too tied to financial resources of students and their schools. Recommendations are too unreliable. Interviews can be deceiving. SATs are not perfect either. But they are a useful way to compare students. They are part of a picture that should be gathered about each applicant. One could argue that the SAT should be improved, should be made more fair, less biased, should be of lesser relative importance in considering admission. But to argue that it should be abolished completely is wrong, because it is certainly not so much more flawed than other methods of deciding college admittance as to warrant throwing it out.

Topic Two: BFS/KGI. If CGU is not able to develop BFS in the way its donor intended, future donations to the college should and might suffer. As a matter of principle, CGU should not have settled with the Friends of the Bernard Field Station. The legal pragmatism of why they settled is understandable. But the Friends have no rightful claim to the land or how it is developed, and to settle with them is to tacitly agree that they had such a claim.

Also, bio-technology, while sometimes misused, is not inherently evil. Criticism of KGI should be limited to criticism of the specific practices of KGI. Admittedly, KGI has made questionable decisions (having a non-tenured faculty, for one). But criticizing KGI simply because it is a bio-technology company is unsubstantive and unfair.

Topic Three: Democracy at Pomona. The students that make decisions at Pomona make them, for the most part, because no one else cares to make them or to be bothered with them. Any student with even the slightest bit of initiative can air his concerns and preferences in a number of forums without even leaving his or her room.

Topic Four: Sustainability. Truth: it would be environmentally beneficial and all around wonderful if all of Pomona’s campus were turned into a completely sustainable biosphere like physical plant by next week. But a discussion about converting to a sustainable physical plant cannot be had without mention of cost or feasibility. We’re all convinced that environmentally friendly things are inherently good. The reason that they don’t always materialize is because of their cost. The discussion needs to change from whether or not the environment is important to how much specific improvements will cost, and if and where we can get that money.