THE

The St. Johns College Student Weekfy

Volume XXIII, Issue 22 & 23

Special Double Issue

Annapolis, Maryland

April 2 & April 9, 2002

r nke1 s Program Sir Isaac D nsmore From Rabelais to Malkiel Finding the real "learned astronomer"

THE

~~GADFLY Editor-in-Chief G. August Deimel

Production Managers Martin Anderson Melissa Thomas

Section Editors News: Elizabeth Laughlin Features: Laura Mangum

Ideas & Images: Anderson Tallent Sports: Jon Cooper

Contributing to this Issue

Robert Abbott

Cooper Gallimore Mr. Michael Grenke, Tutor

Jason Hinojosa Aaron Mailian Michael Malone

Justin Naylor Mr. Leo Pickens, Athletic Director

Comic: NateEagle

Founded in 1980, the Gatlf!y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s). The Gad­fly reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-pro­voking newspaper which circumstances at St. John's permit.

Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. The Gatlf!y is not obligated to publish all submis­sions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstances.

Yearly subscriptions are available for $30.00. Tax­deductible contributions are greatly appreciated. Please make checks payable to the Gatif!J. For display advertisement prices and information, call 410-263-2371, x2212.

Deadline: Saturday at 3p.m., unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly writ­ten, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail sub­missions are greatly preferred. Please e-mail sub­missions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com.

Gadfly Mailbox

Yearbook Announcement . Dear Polity,

. Thank you! With over 170 yearbooks sold,

. you have made our yearbook sale is a success.

: Due to your overwhelming financial support, · we will not need to raise prices after our initial sale

: as we had planned. If you would still like to

· purchase a yearbook, you can drop $25, and an : $5 additional if you would like shipping this

summer, into campus mail to Laura Manion or : drop it by her room at 305 Pinkney. Cash and · Checks are acceptable forms of payment and

: checks can be made payable to "St. John's Col­. lege Yearbook".

We would LOVE to borrow ANY pictures · you have from the year to scan and return to you : (especially pictures from fall events & sports when · we were still organizing ourselves). Seniors, if : you should have any pictures from the last four · years you would not mind letting us borrow, we : would love to scan them in for a possible "Se­. niors Remember" page. Pictures can also be : dropped off to Campus Mail or 305 Pinkney.

Thanks again for all of your support so far : this year! We're looking forward to putting to­

: getheragreatyearbookforyou Sincerely,

Sarah Consbruck '04, Yearbook .Archon Laura Manion '04 Yearbook Editor-In-Chief

Apology

. Dear Gadfly,

. I would like to use your pages to apologize

. to those in our community who were offended : by certain signs advertising last Saturday's waltz

· party. To those who know not of the distaste­: ful signs: I beg and encourage your continued · ignorance. To those who did see them: I am

: very sorry. The signs were insensitive and poorly · conceived. They reflected only my own fool­

: ishness and the rest of the Waltz Committee · bears no blame for their creation or distribu­

: ti.on. There is no explanation for my actions · which would not be a further offense. No dis­: respect was intended and I humbly ask the for­. giveness of those whom I insulted.

Sincerely, Hayden Brockett

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SCI Minutes By Robert Abbott, '04 SCI Secretary

March 28th Present at last week's meeting of the Student

Committee on Instruction, held Thursday 28, March 2002, were Freshman Class Representa­

tives Mr. Mark Ingham and Ms. Elizabeth Laughlin, Sophomore Class Representatives }.fr.

Neal Turnquist, and Ms. JillDelston,Junior Rep­resentatives Ms. Maya Alapin and Ms. Mary Townsend, Senior Representatives Ms. Megan

Maxwell-Smith and Mr. Justin Naylor, Secretary Mr. Robert Abbott and Co-Chairs Mr. Aaron Mailian and Ms. Laura Strache. Also attending were other members of the polity. Mr. MacLean

introduced the first item on the agenda, Plato in the Springtime. A well liked institution of the SCI, the committee decided to expand the num­ber of seminar readings to four, possibly five. Information, including dates, times and loca­tion, for this event can be found in the advertise­ment in this issue of the Gadfly.

The next item on the agenda was the Tim Pomerole Seminar on Liberal Education. Read­ings for this seminar have in the past been se­lected largely from writers amicable to St. John's, such as Stringfellow Barr (Notes on Dialogue.) Ms. Lisa Richmond, College Librarian, suggested thatwehear a different argument, specifically from a group of sociologists who visited the college, circa 1955 (the uncertainty is mine, not the soci­ologists'.) Ms. Townsend, at the permission of the committee, read a passage from the article which included a rather embarrassing summary of President Barr's Sophomore seminar, and afterwards commented, "And they call this the

Golden Age!" Indeed, the researchers' point of .. view tarnishes what to many is the incorruptible

substance of the college's earlyyears. Then again, . it could all be bull. Other alternatives for the·,·

seminar reading include short works by Faradaj, and Salt. ..

Mr. Naylor was asked to comment on the. nature of the discussion that the SCI will having on Fine Arts. This subject, which

been of particular interest because of the

and successful art perceptional given by :M.t:. will be discussed in the SCI's upcoming ings. The committee plans to include dis sion of the Sante Fe Senior art tutorial. TheD

has asked the SCI to. participate as represen tives of student interest in the academic life•

the college in the upcoming accreditation cess. In partial answer to this request, the

will be holding an open forum on instructional : materials, such as manuals, in the upcoming · meeting, Thursday 4, 11 :45 Randall Private Din­

ing Room. All are welcome to attend and share

their views on this topic. Again, I would encourage both students and

faculty to attend the Plato in the Springtime semi­nars, the Tim Pomerole Seminar on Liberal Edu­

cation, and the upcoming forum on instructional . materials. Student Committee on Instruction · meetings are held every Thursday at 11 :45 in the :

Randall Private Dining Room.

April 4th Present at last week's meeting of the Student ·

Committee on Instruction, held Thursday 4, :

April 2002, were Freshman Class Representatives · Mr. Mark Ingham and Ms. Elizabeth Laughlin, : Sophomore Class Representatives Mr. Neal ·

Turnquist, and Ms. Jill Delston, Junior Repre- · sentative Ms. Maya Alapin, Senior Representa­

tives Ms. Megan Maxwell-Smith and Mr. Justin Naylor, Secretary Mr. Robert Abbott and Co­Chairs Mr. AaronMacLean and Ms. Laura Strache. Also attending were Ms. Brann, Mr. Daly, Ms. Higueara, Mr. Inojosa, Mr. Lanier, Ms. Rhum van Oppen, Ms. Stiltner, Mr. Verdi, and Mr. Whittaker.

This week's agenda was devoted entirely to

discussing instructional materials. Mr. MacLean opened the meeting by saying that the purpose of this forum and the continuing discussions afterwards would be to put everyone's thoughts on the table, and to examine the purpose and order of presentation of instructional materials.

The discussion focused on the Junior math : tutorial and its often heavy reliance on :

•.· Densmore's ''Newton: The Central Argument." . . JMr. Inojosa had spoken to the SCI previously : ;and again argued that study of what Newton · had written was more important than "filling in :

the steps" of his argument. Ms. Strache ar­that doing so was often times necessary to

erstand Newton's argument. Mr. Inojosa's

ent is far more fully expounded in his ar­in this issue of the Gadfly.

e question of whether commentary was

ed at all, and exactly what it was, was then Mr. Verdi asked if a translation was "a

or commentary. The conversation at this ·

was focused largely on whether a class : :uld be more concerned with the theoretical ·

e technical discussion. Obviously, it was : that the best class would combine ele- ·

of both. Mr. Whittiker observed that :

of his classes were self regulating in this :

continued on page 14 :

Feeding the World with Biotech Crops: Summary and critique of the Brian Halweil Lecture

By Cooper N. Gallimore, '05

I will admit that I am not the most environ­

mentally concerned citizen in the world. I smoke,

use vast quantities of Styrofoam products, and only recycle cans when it is more convenient then

simply dropping them in a dumpster. I admit all this, but despite my many flaws when I heard

that a gentleman by the name of Brian Halweil was coming to campus on Tuesday the 19th to

give a talk on genetic engineering in plants, I de­cided to attend. I twas as good an excuse as any

to avoid attending the Gadfly meeting that night. Mr. Halweil entitled has lecture "The Emper­

ors New Crops." Judging from the title, I was not expecting the gentleman to be head over heals in favor of the technology, and in this as­

sumption I was not mistaken. He started offby defining bioengineered crops as "crops that con­tain genes from other unrelated species (viruses, animals, etc.)" Upon this he launched a dynamic argument, veering away from the more popu­larly used line of attack as to the safety of this technology, into the more basic question of

whether this technology is really necessary.

Brian Halweil

He noted that proponents of this technol­

ogy answer his question by stating that it is both necessary to maintain stable global food produc­

tion, and that the world will essentially starve

without this technology. Mr. Halweil noted that these statements seem rather premature consid­

ering that almost all of the global production is limited to the US, Canada, and Argentina, all of

which have large modernized stable agricultural situations and were certainly producing enough

food before the introduction of genetically engi­neered crops.

The reason the technology has been adapted

so readily in these countries is mainly because the products which have been designed so far largely lay within the realm of saving the farmers who use them time and therefore money. The major­

ity of research has been funneled into two major types of crops; those that produce insecticides, and those that produce herbicides. While both of these types of crops could possibly prevent the farmer from having to spray them with tox­ins nearly as often as they do currently, the same fundamental problem rears its ugly head in both cases; that insects, weeds, and other pests are very good at developing resistances to toxins. The

problem is that once this happens the toxin that has been engineered into the crop is

now a part of its genetic code. At this point the com could simply be

modified genetically but Mr. Halweil seems to think that since other methods of pest prevention are essentially just as effective as using bio-crops. that it simply makes the

farmers more dependent on the large com­panies which hold patent rights on the seeds of these crops. And this was essentially the point of his argument: that

bioengineered crops do not fundamentally change anything about the way we farm.

He went so far as to say in the question period that ''What's been developed so far has been useless." These are harsh words,

but this man has seen some harsh situa­

tions. Mr. Halweil spent a good deal of time

in some of the impoverished nations of

Africa, working to stem the tide of some

continued on page 16

THE GADFLY. 3

Is the Sophomore Music Tutorial Achieving All That It Could? By Justin Naylor, '02

One of the greatest fortunes and unexpected pleasures of my time at St.John's has been my ability, first as a sophomore and then as a music assistant, to go through the music tutorial a num­ber of times. Although I had played the piano all my life, when I arrived at St.John's I was not musical in any kind of deep or mature sense. Llke so many so-called "musicians", I was much more of a technician than musician. Only since being at the college have I begun to develop the skills and experience to hear and understand music in a way that makes the study of it fruitful and meaningful, and not simply the kind of casual enjoyment that constitutes the goal of so much "music appreciation". I'm sure that I'll look back at this maturation of my musical sense as one of my greatest gifts from the college. Through­out my time here I have also come to the convic­tion that music is indeed central to a liberal arts curriculum, not simply the peripheral study that many consider it to be. My developing musical­ity has had benefits which transcend the music tutorial and influence my work in all areas of study here.

quite happy to return to the laboratory in the junior year. This fact has few parallels elsewhere in the program. Typically, the completion of material leads to a sense of accomplishment and enthusiasm, the sense that one has really learned something important. This is true even for material students find difficult and tedious (e.g. Ptolemy). I simply have not found this to be true for the majority of students in the music tutorial. Stu-dents are left not knowing quite what they've learned or if what they've learned is truly important for their lives or education. The reasons for this are

something else entirely? Another question soon follows: what are the great works which we are supposed to be studying in the tutorial: is it the musical works, is it Zuckerkandl, is it Music it­self? Most would answer that we are trying to understand the great works of western music, while also attempting to come to understand something of music itself, and that we use these other works (Zuckerkandl, Allen brook) toward

this end. If we admit that

it is the great works with which we are in­terested, however; the tutorial can leave one puzzled. The only works we study that are undeniable of the same stature as our other readings at the college are fue Pas­sion and Flute. Many to whom I describe what we study are shocked at the omis-

Still, I find myself in the awkward position of needing to criticize that which I hold dear, though I suppose it is generally true that those things for which we care the most deeply are those of which we are most critical and have the highest standards for. Of course, the issue is also awkward for me to the extent that it in­volves differing with friends, both peers and tu­tors for whom I have great respect. Yet, sharing Aristotle's "distaste" for such things, I also share his conviction that when "both one's friends and the truth [are] dear to one, it is right and proper to give greater honor to truth." With this guid­ing principle in mind, I will proceed with a frank account of what I find lacking in the music tuto­rial. I hope not to merely criticize, but to offer something positive that could contribute some­thing needed to the dialogue about the tutorial and that could ultimately improve it. It is with this latter end in mind that I write.

complex, though I would sug­gest that this is caused in part by the

Justin Naylor after reading Zuckerkandl sions: no close study of a Beethoven or Mozart symphony,

There is a simple fact which I've increasingly taken notice of and which says a great deal about the tutorial: most students begin the year with significant excitement (or at least curiosity) about the tutorial, but by the end of the year many have not seen the point of the study and are

music curriculum itself and in part by students' attitude toward it.

To deal wifu former first, fue curriculum of the tutorial has long been controversial and I claim no exhaustive understanding of its his­tory. I ts contours are pretty clear, however, and are based largely on the use of Zuckerkandl's writings. At times, fuese have been used almost exclusively, while at other times they have been used not at all. In terms of recent history, until three years ago Zuckerkandl was used extensively. When the tutorial was reorganized at that time, Zuckerkandl was given a prominent, fuough not exclusive place, while Mrs. Allanbrook's writings on harmony as well as various excerpts from great aufuors (e.g. Plato, Augustine) were added to the curriculum. Bach's St. Matthew Passion and some Mozart opera (recently The Magic Flute) continued to be fue focus of fue last couple of months of the semester. One of the initial questions that confronts a sophomore is the na­ture of the non-musical material we study. Is Zuckerkandl's The Sense ofMusic, for example, a manual, a really good book, a great book, or

4 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

no Haydn quartet, no Palestrina mass? Many of the works we do study in detail, Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus", Palestrina's "Sicut Cervus", Schubert's "Impromptu in A-flat", these works are undoubtedly splendid, but they are not the greatest works of their respective composers. Studying them would be like studying Plato's Hippias Minor instead of the Republic. And of course, we spend many classes not studying musical works at all, especially at the beginning of the year, instead focusing on Zuckerkandl's writings on the theory of music.

Studying Zuckerkandl raises perennial ques­tions. As a sophomore I wrote an article for fue Gadfly that raised the question of whether Zuckerkandl becomes a kind of authority in the tutorial limiting our inquiry into music. s· then, the curriculum changes have largely my criticisms. Still, fue mete use ofThe Sense of Music must raise questions. I happen to think that the book is wonderful, and it has affec my understanding of music significantly; ho ever, it also seems clear to me that it is notptop to use the book to any great extent in fue tut

rial. It is not a manual; it is a book which makes an argument on a difficult subject, just as Jacob Klein's book on the Meno does. The idea of· studying Klein's book to help us along with our study of the Meno is clearly opposed to the method of study at St. John's. One can only wonder how the use of Zuckerkandl's book, insightful as it is, is any different.

Of course, we do rely on Zuckerkandlmuch less fuan we used to, and our primary text for our study ofharmony is now Mrs. Allenbrook's essay /manual on Tonal Harmony. This work is certainly much more of a manual than Zuckerkandl's, though it is still, as Mrs. Allen brook calls it, an essay; that is, it is a kind of argument. Its inclusion raises a further ques­tion. Zuckerkandl andAllenbrook have radically different conceptions of many musical concepts: what a chord is, to take an important example. Zuckerkandl sees a chord as having a kind of being and form distinctly its own while Allenbrook sees a chord materially, its function determined by its constituent tonal forces in which, say, a chord's shape greatly affects its func­tion. This difference between the two, which is usually unobserved and not a theme of class discussion, puts in relief just how questionable fuese texts are (111 a way in which manuals are not supposed to be).

But how does this affect students and the tutorial? I think that students struggle with fuese questions. They are unclear why we spend so much time reading (questionable) material from St John's tutors and whefuer they are supposed to be getting more from these texts or from the musical texts. It seems like clarity on this issue from the college is important. If it turns out, as I have suggested, that our focus should prima­rily be the great works, one imagines a rather different tutorial, one in which we confront the great works themselves with more directness and b intermediate material. It might be a clumsier llpptoach, but one more in keepingwifu the prin­ciples of St. John's. That is not to say we should be. left totally abandoned. We do need some kind of manual to guide us in our study, but I Jtnagine one fat less interpretive 1han Zuckerkandl Or Allenbrook (though Allenbrook is certainly

uch closer to what I envision). Anofuet great tage to fue way I've suggested is our ability

return the principle of chronology to the tu­. as in Santa Fe (which uses, incidentally,

Zuckerkandl nor Allenbrook), where fue rial proceeds from chant, to polyphony, to

.classical composers, to (sometimes) even the tic composers, employing only primary

(both musical works and great writings on "c).

While it is clear, however, that I think the curriculum of fue tutorial could be improved considerably, I think fue greater problem comes from the students' commitment to the tuto­rial. For whatever reason, students tend to approach the music tutorial wifu less vigor than other tutorials. They think they can prepare less deeply (listening, for example, to an as­signed piece only once through right before class). The chief result of this is that many students end the year without having devel­oped any real musical literacy. By musical lit­eracy I refer to the ability to understand the language of music, both aurally and in writ­ing. This would mean, among other things, to be able to distinguish a Baroque work from a Classical or Romantic one. It would mean to being able to recognize, based on a brief familiarity, sonata form in a piece of music. It would mean being able to hear a fugue as a fugue. It would mean being able to distin­guish an octave, a fifth, and a third. In other words, it is not clear that students are hearing what they need to be hearing in class. Yet this kind of aural literacy is really the backbone of the entire study of music. If one does not hear what the music is actually presenting, how can one be expected to discuss it intelligently. Because many students never develop this aural literacy, any written literacy fuey develop comes to be seen as an empty activity which seems, understandably, irrelevant to their lives or to music.

But how does one acquire this kind of au­ral literacy? As a freshmen I was largely illiter­ate in these ways myself. The only real way to obtain literacy, in any language, is exposure and a kind of immersion. One never learns Greek if one does not spend a significant time with it outside of class. Although the analogy isn't perfect, the current state of musical compe­tence for many students would be akin to a Greek student not being able to distinguish at sight a progressive from and aorist verb, which would indicate the lack of a basic, functional literacy. In short, sophomores need to be spending fat more time outside of class lis­tening carefully to music. Of course, this is another place where clarity from the college is crucial. If students are not told that they are not hearing what they need to be hearing and thus that they need to work on that skill, most simply will not do it. Many do not even know that they ate not hearing what they need to hear to make the study of music fruitful.

Some might well ask whefuer a year of study is sufficient to develop the aural skills I am speaking of. While I think that it is sufficient

to a large extent and that the current one-year program could be much better if such skills were developed, I think it is also true that we need to think about music's greater role in the St. John's curriculum. Although this sugges­tion will certainly be controversial, I think we need to find ways to expand music's presence in the program. To begin with, although I would never suggest totally giving up the won­derful institution that is freshman chorus, it's not clear to me that singing for the whole year is the best use of that time. It could be that singing is done during only a part of a year devoted to musical study generally. Perhaps much of our work on Greek tuning and Greek musical theory could be covered then.

The problem with finding space for an ex­panded musical study, which is also connected to finding more space to reinstate the old sophomore lab program, has led me to a radi­cal conclusion. It simply seems to be the case that to do the St. John's program right re­quites a 5-yeat program. I realize that there might be all sorts of practical objections to this, though from a mere theoretical position it seems to make a great deal of sense. It would allow us to move at a slower seminar pace, make room for more music and lab, al­low us to learn more Greek and French, and, over all, would allow us to deepen our study of the liberal arts. Although this is not the place or time for a detailed proposal for such a radical idea, I know that it has been considered from time to time, and it's anidea which might be fruitful to revisit.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, my aim in writing is not to complain, merely criticize, or vent some kind of bitter­ness. The college and the tutorial have served me extremely well. But precisely because of that I have felt compelled to suggest ways in which the tutorial could achieve more and serve its students better. St.John's would be a much worse college if the music tutorial were miss­ing, though it would also be a much better college if the tutorial achieved more and if music generally occupied a more central posi­tion in our conception of the liberal arts. With the influx of new interest and excitement about the tutorial among many new faculty mem­bers, this might be precisely the time to re­think our approach to music and the extent to which we see it as central to our education. As always, the Gadfly could serve this end to a great extent as could the SCI. Of course, I would be happy to speak to anyone interested in the matter.

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COVER STORY April 2, 2002

"Reading Densmore is a waste of your time"

By Jason Hinojosa, '03

Most reverend audience, Easter makes me think of Cadbury Cream Eggs. I suggest you eat one. At first, you might find the outer foil, though elegant, a little boring. But wait! Remem­ber that there is chocolate underneath it! As you take bites, you will see that the more of the egg you eat, the better it tastes, and more interesting it becomes. Please, be patient with the egg. The best part is at the end.

I had originally planned to voice a few complaints about the use of the Densmore manual in the junior mathematics tutorial. I have broadened the scope of my points so that underclassmen may partake as well. Let me encourage both those familiar and un­familiar with Densmore's supple­ment to Newton's Principia to consider the questions that I pose here. I will acknowledge that I am not an au­thority on Newton. I am not an educator, and I do not claim to be more intelligent than the de­velopers of our program. I am only presenting a case as strongly as I know how. Instead of say­ing more that need not be said, let me get right to it.

In order to best state my objections, I will divide my argument into three parts: first, I will speak generally and briefly about secondary sources (e.g. tutorial manuals), relying on what I understand to be the accepted approach to the original works. Second, I will specifically use the Densmore manual as an example of an unnec­essary addition to our classes, and go on to point out how this type of manual changes a class. Finally, I will offer suggestions on how the class ought to be run instead and put forth a number of speculations about why we find ourselves relying on secondary sources at all.

7) The General Case Using manuals in tutorials can be helpful.

Analogously, a seminar or lab manual could be helpful. (In the lab, we do use manuals, but they might more properly be called anthologies of primary sources rather than manuals (i.e. second­ary sources)). Wouldn't reading Plato's Republic be easier if accompanied by a manual by Allan Bloom, for example? In seminar, rather than feel around in the dark for answers, we could just turn to the seminar manual and find a clear ex­

planation of the divided line, say. Of course this very idea is abhorrent to a devotee of our program. But, some object, seminar and tutorials are not analogous; they are different in kind. It is not yet clear if this objection is a correct one.

In the language tutorial we must have a manual of sorts. We learn Ancient Greek from a textbook (which is really just a manual with better bind­ing). I do not object to this because the idea of an "origi­nal source" in this case is ri­diculous, and because learn­ing grammar and vocabulary is necessary so that we may

approach the original texts for the tutorial. Since I studied music in Santa Fe, I will not

attempt a critique of the Annapolis campus' sec­ondary sources in the music tutorial, though I hear someone should The math tutorial is where my real objection lies.

Is the math tutorial similar to the language? Are we leaming a language, so to speak, when we begin our study of calculus? If so, then we ought to understand the fundamentals by means of Mr. Cutler's calculus manual so that we may ap­proach harder texts, like Newton's Principia. But we did not use a manual when studying Euclid. We were not schooled in the methods of proof and presentation beforehand Is the study of calculus so different from that of geometry? Could our approach to calculus be improved? It is clear that the textbook tools we acquire from the calculus manual are crucial and quite helpful.

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But is there a better way? To briefly sum up: do we need manuals or can we approach the tutorial texts by themselves?

With these questions in mind, I will now argueagainstouruseDanaDensmore'sNewton's Principia: The Central Argument, which I refer to as the Densmore manual. Though this book is a specific and special case, I believe it is hugely comparable to other secondary sources on which we unnecessarily rely.

2) The Densmore Manual Newton's proofs are less than explicit With­

out an explanation of how or why, he leaps from step to step. In order to technically grasp what is being said and see if it correctly follows, we must do the work that Newton leaves out. The Densmore manual meticulously fills in these missing steps. Armed with this expansion, a stu­dent of Newton.can carefully walk through a lemma or proposition, having been shown a reason for every sketchy part Also, a student com­fortably uses more chalk at the board ifhe or she learns Densmore's explanation. The Densmore manual is certainly tempting, if nothing else. Nevertheless, I see two compelling arguments against using it in class.

The easy argument is that we shouldn't be relying on someone else to do our homework for us. If steps need to be filled in, the student should do it. Now, not every student has recol­lection of Euclid and Apollonius at his finger­tips. Not every student can simply remember which propositions must come before one of Newton's. Since this is the case, Densmore would still have a place (a la Perseus Project) as a kind of preparation crutch. Try to figure it out on your own, and if you can't, use Densmore to help you along. I call this argument easy because it doesn't really change much about how things are already done, and probably won't cause anyone to question that with. which he or she is now comfortable.

The hard argument is that Densmore should be forgotten altogether. A fell student wrote the following: "I think we should lose Densmore ... because it discour­ages independent thought, on both tee cal matters and general questions. The're

much to be said for the fact that, if any U.S. undergraduates are capable of figuring out Newton on their own, we are they." Going even further, I believe that how we approach a proof is flawed. The time spent filling in Newton's steps ought to be spent in a bet­ter way. Instead of memorizing a proof or flipping through Euclid to find out that Newton relies on 3.32 or 5.15, we ought to focus on what Newton actually says. It is possible that Newton left his proofs in their quick, concise forms for a reason (some of them, anyway). Perhaps he wanted to keep us from getting bogged down in details; he wanted us to think hard about questions of centrifugal force or the inverse square law.

Memorization is not easy. It takes time and patience. Figuring out a proof alone can be immensely difficult. But these things are not what we should focus on. They are mere exercises, puzzles to occupy our minds. And, they distract us from the most important and beautiful parts of what we study! If I were reading a poem (say Whitman's "When I Heard the Leam'd Astronomer", just for example), I would hate to break down what the poet says into syllogisms. I would hate to lose sight of the poem's meaning be­cause I am too focused on details. The anal­ogy does hold: beautifully and deliberately, Newton is poetry too.

But isn't memorization beneficial at all? Who hasn't grown to appreciate a proof or poem by committing it to memory and scru­tinizing every detail? The poems that we have etched into our minds stay with us. Cer­tainly, filling in a proof creates a better un­derstanding for that particular student. But, is that the crucial part oflearning? Can't we memorize Newton or Apollonius on our own? We must seek the greatest benefit from our peers and the rigor of the program. That benefit is the ability to discuss the real ques­tions raised by an author. How many classes tcrawl by, week after week, demonstration after demonstration without ever really ask­, g about the importance of what is being

d? These perfunctory classes perpetuate e problems to which I point. These classes

· ust be changed.

3) The Class and Insecurity

Rather than spend each class listening to student mechanically demonstrate a

position, we ought to discuss the rea­s why the author said what he said, the

importance, the implications. Honestly ask yourself what you get out of watching a demonstration. Are you ever bored with it? And what about the moments before a tu­tor picks a demonstrator? Are you genuinely considering what a conic section is, or why I.47 is important? Or, are you trying hard to keep the proof memorized, hoping you won't make a fool of yourself at the board?

I have heard of a

we consistently think hard about the math and stop just busying ourselves.

Why do we rely on demonstrations in a class? Is it because we need a gauge of how much work we do to set our minds at ease? If a student gets up and presents a proposi­tion flawlessly, the rest of the class knows he's done his homework. And what an im­pressive feat when the student does it with-

out notes or a book! sophomore math tutorial in which there are no demonstrations. In order to prepare, the students find the three main steps of each proposition and discuss them the next day. I don't know that this is the perfection of the math tutorial (though every student in this class that I've spoken too speaks very highly of it). But this class's focus is in the right place. This class and oth-

We must seek the greatest benefit

from our peers and the rigor of the

program. That ben­efit is the ability to

discuss the real questions raised by

an author.

Are we so insecure that we have to prove to each other that we're study­ing? Isn't the real test of a student an internal one? I hope we struggle to understand a proof not to please our peers and tutors, but because we genuinely want to know. The questions push us further, not what others think of us. Furrow your brow be-

ers like it can spend time really looking at the math. I realize that with­out formal demonstrations, a student can coast by doing very little work. I am (per­haps incorrectly) assuming that students will prepare because they are disciplining them­selves.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not sug­gesting that we set aside all rigor and spend time making silly conjectures about Ptolemy as our whim directs us. I am suggesting that

cause you are truly con­fused, not so people

will see that you're thinking. We ought to strive for an understanding

of what we study, not for an ability to memo­rize. We ought to tackle the big questions, not quibble over the minor and technical. If we had an unlimited amount of time to­gether, then we could also memorize proofs and solve puzzles. If we spent years on

continued on page 16

Tues., April 9th 7th Letter wi Tues., April 16th Theages wi Tues., April 23rd Charmid~ wi

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 7

--COVER STORY

April 9, 2002

M tt rs Most Wei hty: The Official Grenke Workout By Mr. Grenke, Tutor

Part 7. This Program Has Secrets

All men stretch themselves out before lifting. I had never lifted weights in my life before I c=e to St John's. Irealize now that I had not thought sufficiently about what the word" great" means. After I had been at the college for a while, I began to notice odd things going on around me. People murmured the terms "serious" and "grave". I heard frequent references to things going down and things ascending. I often heard people saying "broad" in Greek. I felt surrounded by mysteries. No mystery was more perplexing to me fuan ilie one I encountered when I was teaching Sophomore Seminar. Whatwas Rabelais doing on our program? Trying to resolve my quandary, and fuus re-reading a book iliat hardly seemed worthy of being read once, I stumbled upon a passage that said it all. "And as for Strength: well knocking down great trees, like that Greek lumberjack l'vfilo ... " (Bk. 3, Chp. 2). I had read that n=e before. Now I was on the path of the initiated. .Milo of Croton was the most famous athlete of the ancient world. He was a six-time winner in wrestling at fue Olym-

pies (that's 24 years of dominance). He was a man of prodigious strength and tremendous size. When it came time for his bronze statue to be placed at Olympia, he carried it and put it in place himself When it can1e time for lunch, he carried a young bull around fue stadium before settling down to eat it (by himself).

Thinking about Milo and the bull made me hungry, so I did what any good Johnnie would do. Instead of eating, I looked up a passage I recalled in Aristotle about eating. Imagine my surprise at finding the following. "if ten pounds are too much for a particular person to eat and two too little, it does not follow tlut fue trainer will order six pounds; for this also is perhaps too much for the person who is to take it, or too little - too little for l'vfilo ... " (1106b3). There it was, as clear as sometlling said in a clear manner by a person possessed of clarity. l\1il.o was sim­ply the best human being. And Aristotle and Rabelais agreed about it. This man was revealed as the secret hero of the St.John's progr=. But how; exactly, was l\filo tl1e best of all men? Then I found ilie most important passage in all of Aristotle. "Strength (Ischus) consistsin iliepower (dunamis) to move another as one wills, for which purpose it is necessary to pull or push, to

lift, to squeeze or crush ... "

Toys like this can be found in the weight room.

(1361b15-16). Now the full meanrng of this passage will surely not be evident to you unless you do the requisite amount of work. No one who bench presses less than du:eehun­dred and fifty pounds is ca­pable of much serious think­ing. What I = offering here is just a pointing

8 THE GADFLY .............................. .

out of the way, even if you are not yet ready to walk it. Great books will help you get ready. Tii.at is why I recommend buying multiple cop­ies of Rabelais. Hardcovers are best, but most any edition is great enough. Don't mess with little books though, tl1ey really don't help much. Also make sure your backpack is made of sturdy ballistic cloth, or it will give out before the Rabelais has done your legs and back any good.

Part 2: Strength is Freedom

After you have done enough work wiili great, big books you will want a weight room. You might be wondering what a weight room is. As Hesiod says "aweightroomis 100plates" (Work­ing Out for Days, line 4 56). There is actually on the perimeter of our own little campus fue be­ginnings of a weight room. Follow ilie clues and they will lead you there. In our "weight room," we have sixteen plates of 4 5 pounds each and four of one hundred pounds each. We also have one pair of functional one hundred pound dumbbells. We are severely limited, but wiili what we have a human being can make some­thing of a start in fue quest for excellence. To be fair, with tlle proper miA-nue of iron, rubber, gravitation, magnetics, daring and imagination our leg press maclllne can be loaded wifu 1327 and one-half pounds. Don't tell Mr. Pickens about this because I tlllnk it makes him nervous. Despite such limits on our present communal pursuit of excellence, it must be admitted that our weight room is charmingly decorated with many nllniature replica plates of various sizes and amusing denominations. 35, 25, 10 it makes me chuckle every time. I don't know where we got all this stuff - maybe they were advertising materials or promotional give aways. But some of it is quite silly - as if two and one-half pounds could possibly be a weight. Someth'lles -;,vhen no one is looking and I = feeling whimsical or tired, I will slip one of these little tllings that I refer to as "lights" onto a bar with ilie real weights. But you have to be careful when you are han­dling one of ilie lights to keep a tight grip, other" wise fuey tend to fly up out of your hands and ·. stick to the ceiling and maintenance really hates the mess.

able to count on such natural gifts to build your body at so rapid a rate that it is not unreasonable to expect that every time you work out in the weight room you should be stronger than the time before.

That means

Grenke demonstrates a key component of his program.

each successive time you will be able to overcome successively greater amounts of things press-

In conclusion, I think it appropriate to try to lend some gravity to my com..ments by not wholly neglecting this public opportunity to say something serious. Many individuals ex­press concern that weight lifting will make them bulky. They are afraid of swelling up in a way that will make them ugly. Size tends to come with strength and, when intelligently en­gendered, enhances ratl1er fuan impairs capac­ity. Size is part of the appearance of strength. It is paramount that we try to think in Greek and that we try never to think of beauty as divorced from nobility. Do not trust those who try to tell you that being strong is ugly. They are not your friends and they are not honest. One can readily see why someone might try to convince others to believe that weakness and incapacity are virtues. \X/ho wants you to be and to remain weak? An ethic or an aesthetic that valorizes weakness is nec­essarily to be suspected. It is not fue tendency of power to corrupt, not at all. Weakness cor­rupts.

So what should you do in the weight room? Make or remake your body as a loving provi­dence would have wished it to be. Present lack of greatness is a kind of s=ons. And as Arnold Heidegger says, "But how else can mortals answer tlus summons than by trying on their part, on their own, to bring swelling to the fullness of its essence? This they ac­complish when they build out of swelling, and think for the sake of swelling" (Building, Swelling, Thinking section II). Your efforts to think will lead you to fue gym, the building where your thinking can realize its purpose, swelling. You will find a sign on the door to the gym that tells you to abandon your books, this is not an indication of a discontinuity. This is just the next logical step, trading big books for something heavier, iron.

In the weight room itself, aside from iron, your best ally is your own body. Your cells w-ere smalt enough to know how to build your body in the fust place. They are smart enough to know how to fix your body when it is hurt. You can take advantage of tlus to get them to build you a better body now. This is the basic principle of strength training: you put stress upon your muscles, you work them to the point of wearing them out, even damaging them a little, and then you sit back and wait. If you eat well and sleep adequately, that is, if

supply the circumstantial conditions that allow your body to function, your cells will respond by rebuilding the damaged tissues stronger and bigger than before. Your freak­

college age metabolisms (sorry older stu­dents) practically sere= out to be put to work

a great body. In fact, you should be

ing against you. And every over­

coming of oppression is an increase in free­dom. How sweet it is to watch a weight press down upon and pin another human being and to know that one is oneself not subject to such oppression. Freedom is not only to be prized for its selfish benefits either. Someday a house may fall upon your good friend. What will you do? How can anyone who cares about friends not lift weights?

Part 3. Strength is Beauty, Beauty Strength

You may hope someday someone will make a marvelous statue of you. Will you be ready to put it in place yourself? To put it in place, you must put yourself in place, you must arrange your self into an order that is truly lovable. The Man In Lovable Order is fue human being possessed of strength. Who wants to remain Aristocles? Wouldn't you rather have breadth? Someone might say to me, "You are making mountains out of mole­hills!" In response, I would say, "I like moun­tains."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 9

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · OPINION PIECE · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Playing Law at Our Expense Against the Polity Court By Aaron MacLean, '03, SCI Co-Chair, and Anderson Tallent, '04, I&I Editor

Something you probably do not know: at the most recent meeting of the Delegate Coun­cil, the officers and representatives there present passed into law the Polity Court Act. The rea­son you probably know nothing about this, is the swiftness, silence, and secrecy under which this proposed act was conceived of, developed, and passed. The DC held no public forums, solicited no opinions in the Gadfly: indeed, seemed not to solicit any opinions at all. Our "representatives" may as well have approved the Act in the dead of the legislative night. As it is unlikely that your DC representative ex­plained to you at all what the Polity Court Act consisted in, let us explain to you briefly what it entails. The Polity Court Act establishes a DC-managed student court, ostensibly respon­sible for enforcing Polity Law, and settling grievances between students. Remarkably, only one member of the Council voted against the Polity Court Act; the deed, as it were, is done.

According to DC members who support the Act, the Polity Court was created in order to fulfill judicial needs that are currently inca­pable of being met by other means. As cur­rently constituted, Polity Law exists as a cre­ation of the student Polity through its gov­erning body, the Delegate Council. Polity Law is therefore separate from whatever regulations are imposed upon students by the Adminis­tration; right now, there are only three articles of Polity Law.

The first is the sleep/ study rule, the sec­ond is that students are responsible for what­ever Polity equipment they damage, and the third is that students cannot be prohibited from entering any dormitory unless the resi­dents of that dormitory vote to have visitor hours. Because these laws belong to the stu­dent Polity, so supporters of the Polity Court say, it is the responsibility of the Delegate Council and not the administration to ensure that they are enforced. To that end, they have established a Polity Court. In addition to the task of enforcing Polity Law, the Court will settle disputes between students, when both students consent to appear before the court. In so-called criminal cases, that is, cases in which Polity law is being enforced, appearance before

the court will not be voluntary, but manda­tory. Whatever decision the Court reaches will be upheld by one of the Administrative of­fices, most likely that of the Assistant Dean or the Treasurer.

To some of you, the formation of a Polity Court may seem like a fairly big step to take in order to enforce merely three laws. Also, you may be unclear as to the exact nature and scope of this court in "civil" disputes between stu­dents. The shape and procedures of the pos­sible Court may seem to be exceedingly vague. In such sentiments, you would not be far from the DC representative whom you helped to elect. Because the Polity Court Act's sup­porters cleverly managed to postpone any dis­cussion of the courts purpose or procedure until after the Act was passed, representatives present at Wednesday's meetings had not time to voice such practical concerns prior to the actual establishment of the court. Instead, the discussion was restricted to one aspect of the Court's feasibility, namely, that of its theoreti­cal reason for being within the current word­ing of the DC constitution. Discussion of other topics pertaining to the Court, such as whether or not we ought to establish one just because we can under what amounts to a loop­hole in the constitution: such discussion the Act's supporters craftily obscured, saying that

Council into creating an amorphous beast, whose face they have concealed from the pol­ity in the darkness of litigious rhetoric. What were they trying to hide?

The "Necessity" of the Court

Under more careful scrutiny, it is obvious that the supporters of the Court had good reason to hide what they were doing, and to restrict the terms of the discussion to their only persuasive, although ultimately false ar­gument, which basically amounts to this: that, because under the wording of the DC consti­tution, we can form a Polity court, that we therefore ought to have one.

It is true, there is no explicitly outlined means for enforcing law or settling disputes. But examine the facts, and consider the neces­sities of a Polity Court. First, there are simply just too few problems of this nature on cam­pus to make such a court practical. Currently, as in the past, ·students who feel that their neighbors are disobeying the sleep/ study rule have simply to ask offenders to keep the noise down. In neatly every case, this works very well. Most of the time, noisy people do not even realize that they are disturbing others, and are not unwilling to turn down their music or

the proce­dure of the court as out­lined in a constitution that they drafted would not be examined until after the Court had been es­tablished. Without tell­mg anyone what they were doing, a small num­ber of people thus coerced the Delegate

Mr. Maclean and Mr. Tallent illustrate their "proposal" for a Polity Fire Department. (Polity Fire Pole and Polity Dalmatians not pictured.)

10 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

take their conversation out of the hallway and into their rooms. Except in extreme cases, which have formerly been handled in private by the Assistant Dean, the sleep-study rule needs no enforcement beyond what it receives from the good faith of Polity members; up until now, the casual law of goodwill and concord that for the most part reigns on campus has been sufficient to protect the rights of those trying to sleep or to study. A Polity Court would replace this swift and friendly means of ex­ecuting justice with time consuming and con­tentious strife.

As regards Polity equipment: if someone who would needlessly and intentionally dam­age Polity equipment is not kept from doing so by the shame that would be heaped upon him by disapproving friends, if there is such a person whose friends give him no reason to desist from his destructive behavior, is it likely that those friends would turn him in to the DC's puppet court? Obviously not. A court, by itself, is not self-sufficient, but would also need a branch of investigators to find out who exactly is breaking croquet mallets or pool sticks. They would need to compile evidence in support of their hypothesis. All this takes time.

Even more absurd is the idea of the Court functioning as a means of resolving civil dis­putes among students. This absurdity is com­pounded by the fact that no one appears be­fore the civil court unless they consent to do so. What person - who is so anti-social and brash as to wrong someone and refuse to make the appropriate reparation - what person, if guilty of such an offense, would submit them­selves to the rebukes and fines of a court whose decisions they are not compelled to obey? Except for those students who, like the framers of this Act, have been bitten by the "Let's Play Court" bug, or those who are so inured to the "I'll sue you" mentality of the world beyond St. John's, except for those so obviously unfit to decide whether or not there should be a Polity Court, I cannot imagine anyone who would think it a good idea, or 'Would use it as a means of settling their pri­vate disputes with others. I won't even men­tion the difficulty of keeping their proceed­. gs private and tactful. Whereas students for

e most part feel it their responsibility to settle · eir disputes, a litigious atmosphere would

ose the party coevally with the creation of olity court; its genesis at St. John's would g into being its own necessity.

The truth of the matter is that there is no actical need for such a court. What few eaches of justice do occur are so slight as to

slip through the fingers of any judiciary not equipped with an investigative arm to moni­tor the people. In the case of insolent stu­dents whose noisiness is

What, after all, is tlie proper extent of for­mal student government for a College of 450 students? Presently, in practice, it is slight: and

that, as we have seen, beyond correction by other students, it ought to be the responsibility of the Assistant Dean and her Resident Assistants to administer justice as nec­essary in the form of fines. Such is the system currently in place, and it works just fine. Although it is true that Polity law is not written in the Assis­tant Dean's office, that does not necessarily mean that she cannot enforce it, for the following cause. Proponents of the Polity

Our small gorgeous liberal college -

is fine. Though the Delegate Council might indeed widen its activities by better advocating for urgent and frequently voiced student concerns -the poor quality of the food, for ex­ample, or the worse quality of computer services - there is no need to widen its ac­tivities, without con­sulting its constitu­ents, into a sphere of

should some action not now be taken- is going to suffer all the evils that rhetoric and lying can sow, and all this so a group of am-bitious students can

play court.

Court Act ridiculously ig-nore the following paradox in their impracti­cal litigious reasoning- by asserting that the Administration is capable of authorizing the establishment and enforcing the decisions of a court overseeing matters of Polity law, they contradict their own contention that the ad­ministration is not capable of enforcing Polity Law itself. Instead, they seek to create an un­necessary mediator between transgressors of Polity law and the judicial figure or body who punishes them for their transgressions. Sim­ply because of the license they wrongly feel given them by a loophole in the constitution, the friends of this act mistakenly believe that they should therefore bring the Polity Court into existence. Willfully ignoring the practical needs and concerns of the Polity, they have confused the meaning of the words can and ought.

Proper Nature of Student Government

Another argument made by the propo­nents of the Polity Court, is that student gov­ernment will be enhanced by the creation of a judiciary. That formal student government within reasonable limits is a good thing, is something with which we may all agree. But the creation of the Polity Court transgresses those reasonable limits, and by strictly enforc­ing Polity Law and improperly enhancing for­mal student government, will destroy much of that casual student government, that sov­ereignty of casual goodwill and good-sense, which is so very important on this small cam­pus.

campus life much better served by ca­

sual means in minor cases, and by the Assis­tant Dean in graver matters.

True student government, in our small com­munity, takes place not at DC meetings, but most often in the conference of sensible and good-natured students, sober in the morning light and willing to work out their grievances, or maybe let them slide. At present, the Fac­ulty of this College, who undertake the chief part of our administration, trust us to settle minor matters on our own; they have been comfortable that across the span of seven de­cades of the New Program, we have always chosen to do so informally. Suddenly, mem­bers of the Delegate Council are worried that these years of casual government and infor­mal problem solving have been in error. Stu­dents, it seems, can no longer obey their own laws, or work out their problems among them­selves: they need the help of a fine-imposing, dorm-expelling Delegate Council. The Polity Court Act is an insult by the Delegate Council to our collective moral and honorable charac­ter: it implies that we need the DC's law (dubi­ous as its administration will be under the present DC) to keep us virtuous.

Insofar as the court purports to serve de­mands that are already met, we have as much need for a Polity Court as we do for a Polity Fire Department. Indeed, as there are occa­sionally instances of unruly student behavior on this campus, so there are also occasionally fires. Perhaps, in addition to usurping the authority of individual students with respect to minor disciplinary matters, the Delegate Council would also like to take over for the Annapolis City Fire Department in extinguish-

. . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . Jl

ing small blazes. Maybe those members of the DC who want to play Polity Court would also like to play at being firefighters: after all, someone would need to be Polity Fire Chief, and someone else Polity Fire Truck Driver. The College could have a small Polity Firehouse built with the new dorm, and Polity Fire Hoses could no doubt be secured without much trouble. Should the DC decide to go ahead and establish a Fire Department - which, in the balance, would probably be a better idea than establishing a Court- Mr. Tallent volun­teers to slide down the Polity Fire Pole, and lvfr. MacLean would be pleased to tend to the Polity Dalmatians.

After all, at the heart of this proposal for a judiciary seems to be some desire on the part of its proponents to play Court, a fine game where one student might don robes and play the Judge, and another play the Lawyer per­haps - and gleeful though the members of the DC might be, pounding their gavels on the Private Dining Room table, and padding their resumes with entries such as "Polity Court Judge" and "Polity Court Advocate," the con­sequences will be very grave.

What We Will Lose, and What We Can Do

The introduction of the law into society signaled for Aeschylus the conclusion of a Golden Age. Is that where our Polity now stands, a polis at the conclusion of a glorious but lawless past, and the cusp of a regulated future which gains in lawsuits what it lacks in nobility, the shift brought upon necessarily by its own vast and magnificent tragic flaws? Of course not- the whole idea is just dumb. We St. John's students need not the Delegate Council's law, at least not in any greater amount than we already casually enforce for ourselves. We certainly need not the Delegate Council's help in settling our disputes. The introduc­tion of the Polity Court into our little College will supply far more evil than it will ever elimi­nate.

This evil will steal into our lives chiefly in the form of a certain kind of corrosive speech that judiciaries of all varieties encourage: rhe­torical speech, which cares not for truth, but aims only at some sort of personal gain or victory. Such speech is a perversion of the logos; it is a stealthy thief which robs those who use it of their reason, and submits them to the rule of their appetites. Such speech is the medium of formal self-gove=ent. It is antithetical to the sort of speech that the Col-

DC Minutes By Melissa Thomas, '04 DC Secretary

lege tries to instill in the hearts of its students and in the course of its affairs: philosophic speech, which cares of nothing but truth, and is by nature calm and open-minded. Philo­sophic speech is the medium of communica­tion which we as a College prefer, the medium of kindness, of careful investigation, of a care Present at the meeting of the Delegate Coun-for justice. It is the medium of casual self- cil, held Wednesday, April 3, 2002, were Martin gove=ent. With philosophic speech there Anderson, Stuart Bannon, Steven Clark, John are no losers, and there are no lies. Cottrell, Mary JoDokter, Terrence Duvall, Bobby

In response to this distinction, a propo- Ramsey, Adrienne Holland, John Horton, An­nent of the Polity Court, might respond, ''You drew Hunt,Jus~Nayl~r, Lauren Shofer,Ander­are being naive: courtroom speech is just what : son Tallent, Sorua Wi~ruewski, President Robert people do in seminar, after all. They bring . Abbott, S~etary Melissa Thomas, and Treasurer

their points and argue for them." This per- . Sam Spaldin~. . verse thinking belongs to the kind of people . !he meetlng began with a discussion of the who favor this monster of rhetoric, this judi- · Polity. Court ~ct, "The Delegate Council may cial abomination, this kangaroo Court. esta~li~ a _Polity Court and define its procedures

Communities where rhetorical speech is and iunsdictton. Several questions were raised pervasive are unhealthy communities. By and by delegates about the necessity of a Polity Court large, it cannot be avoided in large communi- : '.111d how student problems have been handled ties, which necessarily tend toward the sort of . 1n the past. Members of the Constitutional political institutions that encourage rhetoric, : Coz_ruruttee told the Council that the adminis­and rule by its use. Nations have the laws and . tratlon has handled some of the problems in courts; even large universities have their honor : the past that would be handled by a Polity Court. codes and student judiciaries. St. John's Col- A Polity Court would be responsible for lege, where we make our home, is different making judgments about violations of Polity kind of place. There are two qualities which Laws, which are listed in the handbook. Since distinguish us: our smallness, and our pro- thePolityLawswerecreatedbytheDC,theCon­gram of study. Together, they foster that rea- stitutional Committee responded by saying that sonability and goodwill among us, which theyshouldalsobeenforcedbytheDC. Afew make so very unnecessary the kind of Court . concemeddelegatesalsovoiceconcemabouthow the Delegate Council wishes to impose. The · such a court would affect the "landscape" of the program, and the goodwill of the students small St. John's campus. However, the Consti­engaged in it, thrive upon our love of truth; a tutional Committee explained that passing the Polity Court introduces the possibility and en- act of council would only give the DC the ability courages the uses of lies. No reasonable per- to establish a Polity Court and would not actu­son can believe that in a community so small ally establish the court. With that said, the act and closely-knit as ours is, that the custom of : was passed by a voice vote. students lying to one another could be cir- · The next item for discussion was the docu­cumscribed in a court. Our small gorgeous lib- · ment ''Polity Court Procedures" presented by eral college - should some action not now be the Constitutional Committee. The DC began taken- is going to suffer all the evils that by reviewing the first three subsections of the rhetoric and lying can sow, and all this so a overview section: jurisdiction, structure, and gen­group of ambitious students can play court. eral Provisions. Delegates discussed methods

So what then can be done? The act has al- of jury selection and accepting cases. ready been passed, and at this point awaits the The meeting ended with Mr. Abbott's sug­approval of the Dean. He should not approve : gestion that delegates continue to review the it. All those who are concerned should moni- . Polity Court Procedures document and be pre­tor the situation, voice their concerns to their · pared for more discussion of the procedures at DC representative, and hope that in the end : the next meeting. Members of the Polity are goodwill will prevail over litigation, that per- welcome to attend DC meetings but are not al­sonal honor will prevail over public formality, lowed to speak at the meetings. The members and that truth will prevail over lies. of the Constitutional Committee are Mr. Au-

gust Deimel, Mr. Andrew Hunt, Mr. Justin Naylor, and Ms. Sonia Wisniewski. Any co:ll- •.· cemed members of the Polity should speak to their delegates or a member of the committee. prior to the meeting on Wednesday, April 1 om ....

12 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Inside the War on St. John 1 s Most Populous Mammal By Hayden Brockett, '04

As many of the Gadf/y's readers know, St. John's College has been engaged in an open war for months. Battles have been fought, casualties taken, and glory won in the ongo­ing struggle between mice and men. Ever since the weather tumed cold, sending the rodents scurrying into Campbell and Randall halls, there has been little peace for the resi­dents of these dorms. Fortunately, many members of the polity have performed acts of valiant service to the college. Buildings and Grounds placed countless traps both outside and inside the dorms. Treasurer Bud Billups investigated the issue and sent out a mass mailing to help win the propaganda war. And, for weeks, sophomore J\1ary Ruffin took pains to tell each member of every single one of her classes, in excruciating detail, just what had happened on third Randall the night before.

Some furious skirmishes followed Spring break, but the tide of the war appears to have turned in favor of the political animals. The number of murine incursions fell drastically during the last week, owing mostly to the warm temperatures. Whether this respite is merely a feint remains to be seen, and the Ga4f!y, which has stayed silent throughout the conflict (save a brief personal anecdote by Anderson Tallent in the February 26 cover story), means to capitalize on this is­sue before it runs back into the fields for the summer. Or so says our Editor-in-Chief.

As the universally acknowl­edged frontline in the war on mice, the women of third Randall are the natural first stop for any report on the war's progress. These ladies have survived the mice's fury with aplomb, only sometimes run­ning to the nearest available male for help. This reporter has alone delivered several squeak­ing rodents from their simi­larly high-pitched captors. Early partisans of the sticky-trap, in which mice are enmeshed in a

mass of gummy glue with only the vain hope of chewing off their own limbs to occupy their tiny lives' final hours, the third Randall women got off to a troubled start as foot soldiers. As organizers and hell-raisers, however, they have shown themselves second to none. DC Rep­resentative Adrienne Holland famously marched down to the office of the Director of Student Life, Andrew "Go to bedl" Ranson with a live mouse in hand and d~anded jus~ tice. She also organized a well-attended, if not entirely successful, dorm meeting for Randall in which she counseled her dorm mates like­wise to demand their due.

Spurred on by the insistence of the Randall women, the offices have searched for the sudden influx's source and hit upon the Mellon construction as a likely cause for the overall infestation. But when it comes to what attracted mice to individual rooms, the authorities point their fingers squarely at un­tidy students. The charge that furry visitors attack only messy boarders, often levied by B&G and Director Ranson is however readily disproven-third Ra~d~ll residen~ and known slob Laura Mangum has never seen a mouse. Instead, the Randall women assert, mice enter rooms where poor main-

Missy Skoog: "Eeeeek! Mice!"

tenance or just weak floor- and baseboards allow the ready creation of mouse holes. Third Randall has consumed much steel wool in the blockage of these holes, but for several weeks, when they closed one hole during the day, the mice would gnaw a new one at night.

The most shocking story to come out of third Randall is of course that of Erin Page, who returned from Spring break to find a mouse nest in the middle of her bed. The two women had cleaned their room thor­oughly before leaving for break, but to no avail. What constitutes a mouse nest? "[Mouse excrement], a sheet crumpled up to make a nice bed for the mice and raisons," says Miss Page. Her roorr:mate Miss Seymour adds, "popcorn and a dis­turbing brown stain."

Interviewing the warriors on first Campbell, the Gadf!JI turned up further ex­amples of the mice's impudence. "On Ash Wednesday, I woke up 5:30 and heard a mouse in my trash can," said freshman Missy Skoog. "I didn't know what to do, but I thought that I should at least get the trash can out of my room. I could do that." But,

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Mice continued from page 13

adding injury to sacrilege, "[the mouse] jumped out of the trash can [and escaped to his 'secret subterranean lair' to laugh with all his mousy cohorts at my fright]." Fortunately, Skoog found a Buildings and Grounds staff member who set a trap in her room. When asked which sort of trap she wanted, Skoog replied emphatically, ''.A real one." For serious mouse hunters, there is only one real trap: the snap-trap. "I didn't want that mouse still mak­ing noise when I woke up," Skoog later ex­plained, "I wanted him dead."

Missy Skoog is not the only Campbell resi­dent with a lust for mouse blood. Junior and Kentuckian Trent Riney, generally unperturbed by all manner of vermin, was significantly "freaked out" when he saw a mouse on his pillow early one Thursday evening. "I saw the varmint scamper up my bed and squat on the pillow;' he said. He called for backup, but the mouse slipped by two attackers, slithering be­tween Riney's sheets and disappearing. This was not to be the last of his encounters with the scurrilous creature, however, as it reap­peared just before seminar, perched inexplica-

bly on top of Riney's open door, perhaps at- : tracted by the excellent mouse nest lining pre- · sented by Kagan Cauglin's nearby hair. The : two gentlemen managed to capture the · mouse, although they too gave it to this re- : porter for disposal.

By far the most efficient mouse catchers in : this war of attrition reside in Campbell 203. · Whereas the seventeen women of third : Randall have caught approximately thirty-five · mice over five months, these two students : combined to trap twenty-one of the little dev- · ils in three and a half weeks. Over one twenty- : four hour period, nine mice fell afoul of their · machines of death. The ceilings of second : Campbell, formerly the firm territory of only · the gray invaders, was the scene of much car- : nage, and night after night the resounding · claps of brass guillotines would signal the : demise of further rodent intruders. An ag- · gressive strategy of forward emplacements : ensured that the pristine confines of 203 · would remain free of the enemy and that the : other and less well-maintained rooms on the · floor would be likewise protected. Their so- : ciopathic efforts have helped make St. John's · College once again safe from the mousy : menace.

SCI Minutes continued from page 3

respect but Mr. Inojosa responded that he, Mr. Whittiker, had been lucky in this.

Ms. Brann redefined the boundaries of the discussion by changing the division from theo­retical and technical to things that no one knows, that is, things that no one can just tell you, and things that somebody does know. She expressed a sentient often heard from tu­tors that there is simply not enough time to do everything and that if one can learn faster by means of a commentary then one should do so.

The end of the discussion focussed on what made a good class on Newton and math in general. Observations included that draw­ing the ideas on the board was important as well as constantly questioning the proofs, not only because they could very well be wrong or at least questionable, but because we may only understand them if we do. As Ms. Higuara pointed out, its very easy to think you know something you don't.

I apologize to the participants of the dis­cussion whose comments I was unable to in­clude in these minutes. The Committee would like to thank every member of the pointy who attended and made their contribution to the important discussion on instructional materi­als. If you have further thoughts on this matter, please speak to a member of the SCI. Meetings are Thursdays, 11:45, Randall Pri­vate Dining Room.

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14 THE GADFLY .............................. .

MALONE

By Michael Malone, '04

Folks this was the game to end all, end all games. A fierce, competitive, slightly sexy game, which spanned two days, and ended with the moon exploding. Delayed due to a power out­age Feb 23-reportedly caused by Mrs. O'Leary's cow--the Druid vs. Guardian basketball game was rescheduled for Monday February 25 after seminar, and was nothing less than the game of the century.

Most people spent their Monday afternoons preparing for seminar. Not Druid Randy "randy" Pennell. Nope, Randy spent the ten minutes he typically allocates for seminar, working through the inspirational, highly acclaimed children's novel, and Oprah Book Club choice for Juny­that's the month between June and July-"The Little Engine That Could." While Randy is cer­tainly no "little engine," the book's morals of dedication, perseverance, and the invaluable rights of steam locomotives, certainly got him both hot, and bothered.

Even with Randy all fired up, the Druids came into the game significant underdogs. The Dru­ids had clinched their overall third place in the basketball standings, and a win over the Guard­ians could not move them into second. Mean­while the Guardians needed the win to prevent the Spartans from clinching first place. The Dru­ids also had to play minus the serious skillaz of BJ. Covert, the Druid's lead A Team scorer; and both Andrew Ranson and Brian Sumner: the Druid leaders in defensive fouls. Finally, Druid Ray Sears was still recovering from back surgery

leg problems, Steve Travis was getting over a "cularly nasty case of Bubonic Plague, and

son Tallent was caught up in a nasty pla-. sm law suit from his Freshman Essay. While the Guardian's managed 8 B-Team play-

.s for the first quarter, the Druids could only ter 6, including Febbie Ian Blaustein-no re­n-in his debutante intramural basketball e. The Druids got the early lead and held it,

the quarter 18to10. I'd say it was a team rt but really it was just Randy sinking three ter after three pointer, finishing the quarter 3/3 from the foul line and 9 points from

"de the big green circle. This was all part of a

ZONE Pennell MVP in Game of the Century

Druid master plan for the last three years. First, they drafted him know­ing he could shoot, but forced him to hold back for three years so no one would complain he wasn't playing on A-Team. Then in his last game, Randy would emerge like some sort of swan, only larger and without wings, or a bill, but still with webbed feet, to lead the Druids to immortal glory.

The second quarter had the Dru­ids committing many offensive turn­

overs, and their lead dropped to 2 with 5 minutes left. Superstar fresh­man Tom Craven's three pointer at 4 gave the Guardian's their first lead of the game, up one. The Druid's re­gained momentum in the last 4 min­utes, with a quick five points from Anderson Tallent, and the Druids fin­ished the quarter up 7 with 44.

The third quarter was Pennell' s last time on the floor playing Basketball as a Druid. Well at least student Druid. He came out on the floor with a goal of making a lifetime high 20 points. But a stronger Guardian defense put that in doubt, especially when freshman Paul Cavanaugh swatted away one of Randy's three point at­tempts. But Randy huffed and puffed and chased the ball down into the comer and sank his three pointer from there, so go figure. Anyway, the quarter ended with the Druids up 62 to 4 7, and Pennell finished his day with 18. Truly a man among men.

The forth quarter saw the momentum quickly shift to the Cuardians as the Druid lead dropped from 15 to 0 in 6 minutes. Some would say this was because that it was now officially Tuesday morning. Those people are so foolish to the na­ture of sports believing superstition rules over athletic talent and practice, and that by wearing their lucky socks they are the only factor that de­termines whether their favorite sports team wins or loses that they should be forced to watch 1982 box office bore "Tron" until they realize how dumb they are. Some would say Tom Craven was instrumental in this charge, and you should agree with them. His big three pointer and smooth hands from the foul line brought the

Exploding moon heralds Game of the Century.

Guardians closer and closer to the champion­ship game with the Spartans they all wanted so badly. But several things are certain in this uni­verse: 1 Rock and roll will never die. 2 Lance Armstrong deserved the late July 1999 cover of Time-when he won his first Tour of France­over pretty boy John F. Kennedy Jr.' s death due to pilot incompetence. But most relevant to this fine article, the Druids will not go down without a fight.

Nope With 4 minutes remaining, the Guardians

found themselves up 4. Barn. Ray Sears drills a three. Barn. Druid Fletcher Cunniff cops a feel, grabs a steal, makes a lay up, and the Druids are suddenly up 1 where the lead hovered for the next two minutes.

Story time. Once upon a time, the Guardians were a very

bad team. Not bad as in Michael Jackson 1989 bad, more like bad as in Michael Jackson 2001 bad. But they could always count on Big Ben Speakmen to show up for their games. Despite his questionable fashion choices, his awkward body movements, and something else I must've forgotten, the Guardians held on to him. While

continued on page 12

. ....... THE GADFLY JS

THE GADFLY

St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404

Densmore continued from page 7

Newton's Principia then we could look closely at the Densmore manual. Sadly, we don't have unlimited time, but only a pre­cious few months with each author. I en­courage everyone to examine his or her own approach to the program, especially to the math tutorial. Ask why you study what you do, why you emphasize what you do, and what you get out of your classes.

I am innocent of none of the peccadil­loes here enumerated. I point to them not to condemn or judge others, but with the hope that together we may find solutions. Have I gone too far? Should we seek a bal­ance between technical and general questions? If you think so, then please speak up; no one will do it for you. Before stepping off the soapbox, let me also encourage every­one to read Stringfellow Barr's invaluable "Notes On Dialogue"; it can only help.

Biotech Crops continued from page 3

destructive crop killing weeds known as striga hermonthica which is causing billions of dollars in crop losses. These are losses which the starv­ing countries of Africa cannot afford. In looking to find solutions to the problem, Mr. Halweil says that simple ecologically friendly methods are

much better suited to stemming pest problems in the third world than bioengineered crops.

To sum things up Mr. Halweil advocates that we need to recognize that this is a very powerful technology and be cautious in how we apply it. "We need to be humble in how we use this tech­nology," he stated. He believes that information gained from research ofbiotechnology could be a powerful tool, but that changing the genetic codes of the crops we eat is very risky. This all sounds well and good, but is this practical, can we truly expect companies to ignore the vast profit potential in this technology? Should this tech­nology be more highly regulated than it is now? These are questions that simply do not have easy answers.

: Sports : continued from page 11

: he could rebound the b-ball, he couldn't shoot it . · very well, but since he never refereed their games, : it paid to hold on to him. That is until they did

trade him, and to the Druids no less. Story time over. With barely two minutes left in the game, the

: Druids were up one and saw Speakmen drib-. bling the ball not five feet from the Guardian . : bench. That's when the taunting began. They . · dared him to shoot it. It's their fault he shot it. : : Butit'shisfaultitwentin,andSpeakmendrained . · his second three pointer of the evening, putting : : the Druids up 4 over surprisingly quiet Guard- . · ian squad. Indeed the typically low scoring :

Speakmen led the Druids in A-team points with 14, and gave the Druids a nice lead going into the final minute.

For what was an incredibly exciting game, the : last minute was utterly painful to watch. Not : · because the Druid victory was in doubt. It's just · : that the last 43 seconds took 10 minutes to play. . · This is no exaggeration. In fact, it took 5 min- · : utes just to get the clock down to 37.9 seconds. : · Basically the Guardians fouled every chance they · : got in an attempt to get the ball back. If anyone · · knows of an instance where this actually worked · : withamargingreaterthan3,pleasedon'ttellme, · · and forget it yourself because this is the reason · : ·why basketball games here get really boring. To · · the surprise of no one, it didn't work that Tues-: day, and the Guardians lost by 5 to the Druid 80. · After the game, which Lauren Shofer said was : "So awesome," Randy Pennell was asked how : · he felt about his historic game. In a typical dis- · : play of modesty, Pennell directed the praise back : · to the Druids "because for some reason, no- · : body ever comes out to cheer for us." Pennell : · also added, ''You know we're still the baddest ·

SOB's in the intramural league." Further ques- · tioning revealed that it was to the :Michael Jack­son 1989 bad to which he was referring.

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''IYI final(y get to see Mari(yn." The Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, on his

death bed.

By Mr. Pickens, Director of Athletics

Athlete of the Week honors this week for the men goes to yet another young baskeball playing member of our community-Julian Heines. This past week Mr. Heines, the son of tutor :Miss Heines, showed he's got some skills while playing for Mr. Travis' Greens. In Sunday's contest Mr. Heines was truly feeling it, lighting up the scoreboard repeatedly, and also handling the ball well and dishing off like a pro. Unfortunately, Julian's efforts were not enough to overcome Mr. Riney's Golds, who now remain the only team left in the winner's bracket of the March Madness Tournament.

Athlete of the Week honors this week for the women is rightfully bestowed, methinks, not on an individual, but an entire team. Talk­ing about :Miss Gregory's White Team, who played superbly as a unit, and defeated a much stronger team (at least on paper anyway), :Miss Habegger's Reds. Kudos to: :Misses Gregory, Cox, Umemoto, Krasniewicz, Martin, Leichman, and Strickland.

Calling All Kunai: the women's spring soc-S cer season begins next week, April 2 at 4:15. ?

Get out your cleats and come on down and run and get some fresh air.

Also starting next week is this year's experk­ment with a new game: Ultimate Frisbee. Ultf.;t mate will be played on Tuesday afterno starting April 2, at 4 pm. This is a co-ed and all levels of skill are invited to come o and play.

And yet one more spring sport gets un way next week on Friday, April 5: The Sp ·

Soccer Tourney.

16 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OPINION PIECE

In Favor of the Polity Court By Robert Abbott, '04 Delegate Council President

l\fr. MacLean and j\fr. Tallent graciously allowed me to read their article submitted to this week's Gadfly. I find myself at a loss for words- perhaps this is because they have used them all up. I am confident that a short and honest clarification of the facts will be helpful to the Polity.

Last week an Act of Council was passed in the Delegate Council which reads as such: "The Delegate Council may establish a Pol­ity Court and define its procedures and ju­risdiction." The passing of the Act in no way establishes or necessitates a Polity Court at any time. The only proposal on the table for the Court's structure is a jury of five ran­domly selected students and an administra­tor selected from the student body. No at­torneys. No judges.

There are three concerns mentioned in the article: The passing of the act was un­fair. There is no need, either constitutional or popular for the Polity Court. The court is contrary to the spirit of the college.

I would answer the first objection as such. If the act were a mandate to create a court, then the Polity would have reason to be concerned that the Act passed swiftly and without being widely publicized. The Act, however, is not such. It is a provision which allows the council to enact a court only if the council agrees on what form it should take. I would draw your attention to the Act itself, "The Delegate Council may estab­lish ... " This process of determining the court's procedures will continue during the remaining part of this year and include ample oppurtunity for the polity to voice its opin­ion.

Each delegate also has a different opin­ion of the court, each of which is being heard. Despite this diversity, when it was voted on, only Mr. Tallent objected to the .\ct. Every delegate was personally consulted during the week before the act was intro­duced and regardless of their concerns as to what form the court should take, agreed to vote on the Act and pass it. This decision was made rationally and only after careful consideration of the difference between

passing the provision of the act and the es­tablishment of the court. Only the former has been done.

The constitutional need for the court is plain. It is implied in the existence of Polity laws. If the Polity is willing to establish laws, regardless of how many violations there are, there should be provision to en­force them. However easy it is to interpret the constitution to suit one's own purposes, we cannot ignore the real necessity the Pol­ity has created by establishing law. The au­thors of the article have used the words 'can' and 'ought' to differentiate two ways of intepreting law, thoguh they have reversed them. We ought to establish the Polity Court ,\ct, we can establish the coU:rt, if we so choose.

In answer to the objection that there is not a great popular demand for a court: if the college were so unruly as to require a judicial system for its survival, I would not be returning for my Junior Year. Most com­munities do not institute programs because they are in desperate need of them. By the time a need is desperate it is too late to efefectively act. The court will answer what I can only hope will be infrequent violations.

In part, because the court would be used infrequently it would not have a large effecct on the spirit of the college. I do not pre­sume to understand this spirit to such a degree as to impose my perceptions of it on the Polity. I imagine that the court would be presented as a service to the community, having to be used only infrequently. I would ask whether the article's characterization of both the college and the effect the court would haye on it are in any way provable or simply speculation. I would also cite the example of the Sante Fe campus, which maintains a moderately active court, and has certainly not turned into a vigorously liti­gious battle ground.

The provision of the court should not be decided on the basis of whether or not cases are being addressed effectively by the administration. It is a question as to whether certain cases should be handled by the students. Currently Ms. Seeger is obliged to enforce three laws which the administra­tion never approved. There is no reason for

her to do so. It is in our best interests to be responsible for our own regulation.

I would encourage the polity to look be­yond 1-fr. Talent's and Mr. MacLean's mildly rhetorical manner and try to see what I be­lieve are very real concerns about the court. There is a distinct possibility that the court should never be enacted. We need to con­sider the procedures of the court carefully before we would ever allow it to be estab­lished. The Polity needs to look back at the constitution and see if the necessity for a court should be maintained, that is to say, whether we wish to maintain our commit­ment to self-regulating laws

But in the end the question that the pol­ity needs to consider, is whether we wish to be self governing. The polity court is not an imposition of external authority; it is an acceptance of the responsibility we have al­ready taken up.

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