Senate’s 16-15 vote on Monday approving the removal of Easter recess made one thing clear: the Student Senate failed to uphold the interests of the Gettysburg College student body.  Instead of voting on behalf of the constituents who elected them, the Senate fell prey to a dizzying and convoluted explanation involving schedules and semester start dates, hardly problems worthy of student concern.  In similar discussions surrounding the break period last year, a poll of 50 students by The Gettysburgian overwhelmingly opposed the removal of the break period.  Despite this evidence and the vocal concerns of 15 senators at Monday’s meeting, the Senate rushed through a vote without consulting the student body that they were elected to represent.

As a senator who has proudly served the Class of 2013, I am deeply concerned by the careless vote of 16 of my colleagues, two of which are on the Executive Board.  This issue at stake here is not the recess; the issue is the hasty judgment of the Senate.  While we routinely disagree on issues affecting our campus, we must not forget the purpose of our office, to serve the students of Gettysburg College and, according to the Senate Constitution, “to act as a forum of public opinion.”  Monday night that promise was broken and it is my sincerest desire that Senate will learn from this mishap and ensure in the future that each motion made, each opinion expressed, and each vote cast are clear reflections of the wants of the student body.

This session of Student Senate has been the most active body in recent years, yet when faced with an issue of great significance to the student body Senate backed down, allowing the faculty to decide which recesses are appropriate to observe.  If the elected senators, and these 16 students in particular, are to serve as active leaders, how then can they consciously serve as a rubber stamp to the objectives of the administration or faculty?  We have seen the effects of Senate upholding the views of administrators before when it was swindled into allocating $200 of the student activities fee toward the new athletic center.  The student body, like in the recess debate, was not consulted and Senate was won over by smooth talking administrators.  The time for Senate to flex its muscle and show a backbone is long overdue.  I call on my colleagues to uphold the oath they all recited when sworn in and vigilantly defend the values of the student body.

Our mission is simple, to protect the interests of the students, not to serve at the beck and call of the administration or faculty.  Students have a voice and we must make sure that we let it ring loud and clear.  I have faith in Senate that even the most intense debates will not stop the institution from functioning as designed and the will of the students will be defended.

This year, as part of Allies Week, comedian Heather Gold came to Gettysburg College and performed for a group of students who didn’t seem to know quite what to expect from the self-proclaimed “love child of Sarah Silverman and Rachel Maddow.” Equal parts raunchy, serious, awkward, and inspirational, her routine opened doors for the LGBTQQ community here on campus and opened the eyes of everyone less aware. It was more than just cracking jokes, mocking politicians, and making fun of people in the audience—although there was plenty of that too—it was an introduction to the life of Heather Gold, an extraordinary person.

She started by telling us about herself: what it was like growing up a Jew in Niagara Falls (which was a town built for a weekend’s stay, not nineteen years of life), going to Yale (which only had, like, one gay bar and it was scary) and then law school (she only went so she wouldn’t get kicked out of the country); her first kiss with a boy and her first kiss with a girl; her struggle to get pregnant and her recent divorce; her totally embarrassing crush on Sarah Palin. I could go on—she talked for three hours, although only a few (myself included) stayed the whole time.

Heather Gold saw the problem with Gettysburg College students after only a few slightly uncomfortable chuckles at some of her funniest, most queer material—we’re all, apparently, repressed, and need to get laid as soon as possible. She had gotten a chance to meet some of the members of Allies before the show, and they must have told her how difficult it was to be openly gay/bisexual on this campus (although it is surely true in many other places as well), particularly when it comes to meeting people, because by the end of the night (after nearly two hours of comedy, stories, and general chitchat) she was openly advocating for everyone to explore their queer side. She went around and asked everyone if they had ever been attracted to a member of the opposite sex, and, if so, would they consider a more serious relationship.

Only she asked it in a much more blunt and to-the-point sort of way. Which may sound terrifying to some, but I found it incredibly liberating. So many people tiptoe around the issue of sexuality—it’s refreshing to meet someone who is willing to step right up to the plate and be direct about it. And she listened to everyone’s answers, and she accepted all of them, and she understood—not without a fair amount of innuendo and jocularity, which lightened what could have been a very tense atmosphere otherwise.

I think, for at least those fifteen or so people who stayed three hours to talk to Heather Gold—not even listen to or laugh at, but engage in authentic conversation with—her direct approach, her humor, and her interest in every individual was a welcome reprieve from an otherwise generally repressive atmosphere. The Safe Zones for the LGBTQQ community around campus are wonderful, there’s no denying that—but the fact that they have to exist at all is unfortunately not complimentary towards the attitude of the average Gettysburg College student. Heather Gold is someone who deserves the chance to speak to more than just an audience of people seeking acceptance: she needs to speak to those who deny it, because if anyone can raise awareness and support for the  LGBTQQ (which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning, in case you didn’t know) among us, she can. Her confidence in her sexuality and her own willingness to confront sexuality in others spread a little to everyone who saw her speak last Thursday: now it’s our job to pass it on a little further.

For more information about Heather Gold and the work she does advocating LGBTQQ rights, along with other fun stuff visit her website, http://heathergold.com, or look her up on Facebook.

Dear students,

I am writing in response to Kevin Lugo’s article on sustainability at Gettysburg College.  Student support of the College’s sustainability efforts is essential to our success in reducing the College’s carbon footprint. Kevin mentions some of the most substantive accomplishments to date, but achieving true carbon neutrality will require a sustained campus-wide effort over many years.

Kevin’s report on the Sustainability Common Hour on April 15 suggests that we adopt a well-coordinated and innovative approach to achieve a more sustainable community. I applaud and support the cooperative approach adopted by the student organizations that participated, their commitment, and their creativity.

I think the suggestions that Kevin puts forward in his article are all worth considering. The promotion of the appreciation and use of locally grown food is a natural for a community located in one of the nation’s most productive fruit belts. The proposal to create a sustainability council with representatives from all of our community¹s environmentally conscious organizations would provide the framework for planning and implementing joint sustainability initiatives.

The College is making steady progress toward carbon neutrality in 2032, the 200th anniversary of Gettysburg College. By 2015, our goal is to reduce our 2007 emissions by 25 percent. In the short term we are focusing efforts on reducing energy consumption with policy changes, education about the impact of individual changes in behavior, exploration of the replacement of our older heating and lighting systems with new technologies, and the provision of more energy-efficient travel alternatives for our community.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Sustainability Common Hour. Perhaps we should consider making this an annual event to track our progress and brainstorm new ideas.

Sincerely,
Janet Morgan Riggs

The Office of Residence Life has announced they are not renewing the leases for four off-campus houses next year. It doesn’t mean people are being asked to move out this very moment, but that next year there will be that many less off-campus houses to choose from. Which, if you’re an up-and-coming upperclassmen and you’re tired of dorm life, means you might be shit out of luck.

In a school of only 2,600 people, it becomes quickly apparent whose face you’re going to be seeing most often if you live on campus. In a dorm, you see the people in your hallway day in and day out—if you’re lucky, you know and like some of them. There are, however, bound to be people you’d really rather not see. Although it is quite likely that it will happen more and more as life progresses, I can’t help but feel that, if given the choice, most people would choose to move away from all that. In a world of opportunities, why would anyone choose to remain among those they don’t like? Or, if they are of a saintly disposition and don’t hold any particular ill-will towards other humans, then why not choose a more physically appealing living situation? Because 120-odd people living in one building make one hell of a mess.

I admit, I’m only a freshman—but I know dorms. After three years of boarding school, and thus three years of dorm life—single sex dorms, mind you—I’m ready to be done with it all. I’m ready to explore my off-campus options. I want to have a cozy little apartment with the friends I could stand to live with, in a cozy building not situation in the center of campus, which is quite often a busier place than I want it to be. I would sacrifice a short walk to my classes for a little peace and privacy. I would sacrifice ‘dorm pride’ for my own bathroom. Happily. I’m not trying to complain overmuch, or be the person who does nothing but moan about how much they hate their dorm, but I, personally, would welcome a dramatic change in my living situation. If I’m going to spend the rest of my life living independently, then the earlier I learn how to do so, the better, so that one day I don’t get thrown out on my ass with no sense of how to live alone.

Dorms are so communal that you end up knowing things about people even if you didn’t really want to. Apartments and theme houses, it seems to me, foster a much preferred sense of privacy, that what goes on in the house, or in the room, can actually stay in the house or in the room. On such a small campus, gossip travels quickly—in a hallway of roughly 40 people, gossip travels instantaneously. If someone throws up in the hallway, everyone knows who it is. If someone is always bringing back guys into their room, everyone knows who it is. If someone plays music, everyone knows. If someone has an itch, EVERYONE KNOWS. It’s extremely tiresome for those who like to keep their private lives, well, private.

The same could happen in every apartment building, I know—but living with those in your year pretty much guarantees you’re going to see the same faces you see in class, at parties, in the dining hall. And if you don’t like those faces very much, where do you go to get away from them? Where is someone supposed to escape to? I’d like to go as far away as I can—even if it’s only off this campus by a street or two.

Mary Magdalene, supposed prostitute, would have been so proud of our very own Stine Hall this past Monday (November 30 th). Why? Well, because on this specific Monday, some residents decided to make it a “Monday Funday.” It’s not that I disagree with this behavior, but I do have an early morning class on Tuesdays, and I’m not entirely sure my liver could handle that. But, apparently in Stine they can handle it any night of the week! But that doesn’t mean they actually hold their alcohol (Yeah I’m calling you out Stine)…

So to answer your questions, yes, that is a branch of a pine tree decorated with condoms, a red solo cup, one blonde wig, a green tampon, a “Happy Birthday” sign to Jesus with penises so tastefully drawn on, and of course a hair straightener (no Christmas branch-tree is complete without a hair straightener!!).

But I think only one more thing is really left to be said now. Whatever they had that night is what we ALL need to have to celebrate the Holidays this year, all of them: Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and even that weird shit that goes on in Sweden. Cheers!

I remember when I first got my license back in November of 2006, I was so stoked because after 16.5 years of waiting I could finally be independent, at least to some extent. No longer would I have to wait around for rides or feel constricted. I was no longer an animal who had to be told when he could and could not leave his cage. I was free to set my sights on the horizon and drive. I could follow the sun on its course home because I finally had my right to drive.

Then, I came to Gettysburg College. I never realized how isolated I would feel until my car was taken from me and my only transportation was a Sector 9 longboard. A little side note, longboards are great for on-campus cruising, but once you get off campus, essentially across the train tracks, you will get hassled by cops. It’s happened to me twice already. Fuck that shit.

But, more to the point, cars are the truest form of independence. It can be argued that students can walk or take Freedom Transit to any destination that they would wish to go, yet walking to Wal-Mart is not a feasible option for most, except for the occasional die-hard, and catching Freedom Transit takes planning to make sure that one can actually make the scheduled pickup time. Cars, on the other hand, provide students with an easy, accessible option for getting from point A to point B in a timely manner at their own convenience.

Therein lies the real issue: convenience. That’s what it’s all about these days. Whether you are a graying faculty member or a first-year student, convenience tends to be the underlying factor in many of our actions. I admit, regardless of my environmental impact, I’d rather drive my own car to Wal-Mart or Sheetz or anywhere else, for that matter, on my own time, when it is most convenient for me. That’s just my prerogative.

We all know that the college is suffering from various financial woes, and that there isn’t much space left to use. This being said, I wish to make my own recommendation to the college. Give me my car, please. There are remedies to this situation, such as adding student parking behind the West Building or maybe erecting a parking garage where Stone Lot is. Naysayers can bitch all they want, but I really just want my car. Just give me my car.

As you must be sure by now, this year’s Fall Concert CAB got for us the band Sister Hazel. Now for anyone who was too young to really remember them, Sister Hazel had a hit back in 1997 “All for You.” Thank God they have continued making music, since I truly look forward to the day when I will hear 90s music at parties and feel old just for hearing the music. Their most recent album Release was released in August, and has received fairly good reviews.

From what I have heard of their more recent songs, they are not bad. If you are into southern rock, acoustic rock, post-grunge (whatever that means), and alternative rock then you will enjoy the concert. If you also like standing mostly still at concerts with the occasional swaying listening to generic 90s-sounding music, then you will enjoy the concert. If you want to be able to jump around and dance, you might just want to have an impromptu dance party in your room.

I’m going to say right now that I have misgivings about this. In 2006, CAB thought it would be great to bring Pat Greene, and I still don’t know who that is or if I even got his name spelled right, and I don’t care. CAB decided to hold this concert in the Junction instead of the Ballroom for some ridiculous reason. CAB redeemed itself in 2007 with the MySpace Concert Tour which included Say Anything, HelloGoodbye, an entertaining Japanese band, and a crappy band from LA. It was a good concert. Last year Reel Big Fish and Augustana, along with an unknown band from Virginia entertained us all. Or at least Reel Big Fish and the band from Virginia did. Augustana sucked.

I have seen CAB hit and miss, and I would want to know who the other bands that CAB is supposedly getting are. Otherwise I might decide to skip this concert, despite the lower-priced tickets. At some point, once the names of the other bands performing, if there are any, there will be an update. At the moment the resounding answer to whether or not the concert will be good is a resounding “eh, maybe.”

If you are an upperclassman, then please, read this and reminisce fondly of your first year. But if you are a freshman, like myself, then please, WHINE WITH ME! Are you tired of having to sacrifice your evenings and weekends? Are you sick of wasting your time talking about time management when you could be actually working or—God forbid—having fun? I know I am!

The fact that we all made it into college, and through orientation, and well into the first month of school proves that we have some idea of how to handle college life. It’s not like we all had to struggle through four years (or more) of high school to get here. And it’s not like we’ve all been alive for at least seventeen years now. Chances are we’ve picked up at least one or two life skills to keep us from flunking out completely. So why are we forced to relearn the most basic of concepts? Has our public education system sunk so low that we cannot rely on it to teach us the bare necessities? Must we be retrained in every matter of existence?

You can’t honestly tell me you’ve completely redefined a lifetime of habits based on a few short and memorably awkward sessions with your poor, overtired RA, or a well-meaning employee of the college, or some overly enthusiastic and completely irritating individual that you can’t relate to no matter how hard you try. I think it’s highly unlikely that you’ll find anything significant in some of these first-year experiences, no matter how hard you try.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try—by all means, try. Try and try again. Try to connect to people you don’t know, people who may or may not live down the hall and share the same bathroom with you, and still don’t talk to you.

Try to start a conversation with a bunch of know-it-all almost-nineteen-year-olds who think the entire thing is just bullshit, FYE Leaders. Go on. I’d love to be there if you succeed. Because I haven’t. And I haven’t met anyone who has. Each session contains the awkwardness of orientation coupled with the raw angst of being told what to do, which any self-respecting college student knows is horrendously and egregiously unfair.

Then why do we continue to go and suffer through insufferable lectures upon lectures? Because our housing is at stake! Or maybe some of us have enough respect for our RAs and RCs to attend with enthusiasm. Or maybe some of us genuinely like events such as this, and enjoy the chance to meet new people, discuss issues, ask questions. That’s the golden part of being a first-year—you can ask as many questions as you want, because, truthfully, we don’t know all the answers yet. We’re newcomers to this lifestyle and this campus. Maybe we need a little guidance.

Or maybe we need to grow up and figure it out on our own. Personally, that’s my philosophy. I’d rather stumble around on my own and make as many mistakes as I need to until I figure out where to go and what to do. And if the system is as infallible as they’re trying to convince me it is, then I shouldn’t be able to mess myself up too badly, right?

But I’ll go to the FYE sessions I have to go to, and I’ll smile nice so they will swipe my ID and I will have decent housing next year, and everything will be fine. Never mind what I could be missing out on. Never mind all the work I could be doing, or the friends I could be hanging out with. Never mind anything that is better than sitting there thinking “I could be doing something so much better right now.” I don’t know what I will think, looking back at the end of the year, but I know my real first year experience won’t involve ‘First Year Experiences.’

As a somewhat concerned editor, I felt I needed to bring to the attention of this campus, that pornography will turn male students gay. This stirring announcement was made by Michael Schwartz, the Chief of Staff for Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn at the Values Voters Conference held this past week in Washington D.C. Mr. Schwartz, who by his own admission was “closely associated with pre-adolescent boys” claims that in order to prevent homosexuality among boys all parents must do is tell their sons that Playboy will turn them gay. He has observed that young boys are the most homophobic of any group, and that by telling them this, homosexuality can essentially be stamped out, at least in boys. Sorry ladies, but at the moment there is nothing to keep you safe from the infliction that is homosexuality.

What does this mean for Gettysburg College? Have the fraternities and independents been supporting their own inflictions that could one day lead to their homosexualization? Is there anything that can be done to prevent this? Indeed there can be, and so I am proposing a measure to be undertaken by all men on campus to in a great conflagration to rid this campus of what is truly the most dangerous addiction on campus: PORN!!! Let us send a message to those dastardly homosexuals trying to turn you gay and let us set light to the centerfolds and spreads of Playboy and Hustler! Let us all rejoice in brotherly love as we watch the subversive DVDs of Girls Gone Wild—and endless numbers of various sexual themes that themselves reach ridiculously high numbers that make you wonder how the heck do they keep finding people to do that and then you start wondering about the production values of the first one because you think it was made back in the like 1980′s only to discover it was really started in 1998 at which point you’re like “wtf, I didn’t even think there was that big of a market for it—melt into each other like cheese onto meat! Let us call for the abandoning and outlawing of all pornographic material from all campus dormitories!

So come! Join the editors and random contributors of the Forum as we cleanse this campus of such evils! Let us prevent the future demasculization of this campus and promote masculinism! Let anyone man who does not enjoy the sight of the vagina realize that their dark and insidious plot to make us all like Cher has come to an end! How’s October 2 at four pm out on Stine Lake for everyone? Girls if you want to keep making out, that’s up to you, and though you will be pressured you will not be forced, just saying it’s really hot, guys you will be beaten up on sight of emotion. Come on now we need to stop this.

Gettysburg College likes to talk about how everyone lives in a globalized world and that students receive the benefits of a liberal arts education to succeed in this globalized world. Yet, for all of this fine talk, it seems that there is a new push to alter the Foreign Language requirement of the Gettysburg Curriculum. Many people profess to be concerned over the fact that students are currently being asked to take up to four out of thirty-two courses in a foreign language.

In reality, taking courses up to the 202 level in a foreign language is neither rigorous nor demanding. When we consider that many students in Europe know multiple languages at our age, it could be viewed as embarrassing that this college only asks us to be proficient up to the 202 level in a certain foreign language. While I am not sure that a comparison between Europe and the United States is productive, considering that Europe is comprised of many smaller countries, thus making the ability to speak multiple languages more useful, it is interesting to note that many in the United States feel no need to learn a second language.

Perhaps it is due to simple complacency: as long as English is the dominant language, people see no reason to learn another one. While this may be acceptable for some people, I would caution living your life by this policy, as English may not be the dominant language forever. Therefore, study of a foreign language, in addition to broadening one’s horizons, may be conducted with an eye firmly fixed on the future.

At this point, most students are aware that the College has been considering changing/amending/altering the foreign language component of the Gettysburg Curriculum. The most interesting proposal was put forth at the most recent faculty meeting and stated that student would only be required to take three semesters of a foreign language, but no matter where they placed in, they would have to do three semesters. Therefore, a student who comes in with an AP credit and places into Spanish 301 would have to take three semesters of 300 level Spanish classes.

Interestingly enough, this proposal would seem to benefit the students, in that it would reduce the number of language courses, and might, in actuality, benefit the foreign language departments. Rather than allowing the student who place out of the 202 level to slide away, they would be required to do three courses at the 300 level, which is half of a minor and between 1/3rd and 1/4th of a major. So, perhaps this proposal is they best way to keep students in line with our globalized world. On the other hand, it may be rather presumptuous of the college to change the requirement without seeking the input of the students, as to whether they prefer the old system or the new system