• Congratulations to new the Student Editor-in-Chiefs Robyn Bahr and Haley Castro.  The first issue is fantastic; I’ll be commenting on a bunch of goodies from the issue.  Kudos as well to the new Indicator EICs Karl Teo Molin and David Vaimberg.  Looking forward, boys!

• President Marx:

We have something like one-third less endowment and so we have to think harder about our situation…If we keep spending at the rate we’re spending, then we are on a trajectory that’s not sustainable in the long term.

The news just keeps getting worse and worse.  We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in just four or five months.  We’re losing on average anywhere from $3 to $4 million dollars every day.  Absolutely stunning.

• The Food Dude:

Every semester, Valentine gives us the option to forego breakfast in lieu of a fat Benjamin’s worth of AC Dollars. What they bury in the fine print however (by which I mean a large table on the back), is that you can still purchase breakfast at Val, for a measly three bucks. So unless you eat breakfast at Val 34 times or more per semester, you’re coming out ahead. Morning people need not worry, as they can get bagels and all the rest on the cheap at Schwemm’s with their AC fortunes. The fact is, anyone who’s not sitting down to 34 large morning meals every four months should take this deal. As a bonus for those who are bad at rationing, your excess AC dollars can be used to buy out the store at Schwemm’s come May or December. I have personally returned home with a veritable bevy of chips and salsa at each semester’s close.

Word, Dude!  I said the same thing in September, minus the part about the “veritable bevy.”

• Jonathan Thrope:

Even before Barack Obama was elected President a few weeks ago, rumors were circulating that College President Anthony Marx was in the running to be Obama’s Secretary of Education. Now that Obama has been elected, additional students have picked up on those rumors, most recently in The Indicator. According to Marx, however, there is no truth to them. “I have the most amazing job I can imagine and I don’t have plans to leave it,” he remarked. “[In Washington D.C.], there are a lot more rumors than positions … I certainly don’t anticipate taking the position.”

Let’s be clear, guys.  There were never rumors that President Marx was in the running for Secretary of Education.  The only time his name had been mentioned was in a suggestion by the non-influential American Association of University Professors [detailed here by Inside Higher Ed].  My prediction for Marx’s next job: Tony will turn down the Presidency of Dartmouth only to take the gig at Columbia when the embattled Lee Bollinger decides to move on.

• The Student Editorial Board:

Interterm, the three-week period between the end of Winter Recess and the start of the spring semester, is supposed to allow students to explore opportunities and interests outside the normal class regimen. Although the College attempts to provide a combination of not-for-credit courses, colloquia, special events and outings, it is hard to believe that many students will return to campus to take a class on Microsoft Excel or to attend the weekly bowling night.

Spot on.  Even with the the economy as it is, the Interterm offerings are awful.

• Claire Rann ‘08 writes in The Indicator that The Indicator should be put online.  I’d link to her article, of course, but irony of ironies, it’s not online!  She manages to insult AmhPub, The Student, and even The Indicator in one article.  Now that takes talent!

• There’s been a lot of recent criticism directed at the CCE.  I think some of it is probably valid, but from a personal standpoint the CCE has been fairly useful.  In President Marx’s letter, it was singled out for a “review” of the “pace of program development.”  But like it or not, the CCE is here (at least for another semester) and we should focus efforts on improving its weak points rather than wishing that it weren’t here.

• Speaking of the letter, why wasn’t it released to the students?  It’s frustrating when I hear about College policy from this guy.  If something is confidential, then it’s confidential.  This clearly wasn’t, so don’t try to keep it from us.  By the way, wasn’t Marx’s rejection of a hiring freeze eerily reminiscent of Barack Obama’s rejection of a spending freeze?  Both want to use a scalpel rather than a hatchet.  Hey, maybe Marx would be a good Secretary of Education after all.

• Get ready for this year’s Spring Concert controversy.  Kudos to Program Board for publicizing an open initial meeting to talk about options.  But I’d like to remind them that the voting process needs reform.  The options (including the total amount of funding going to the event) need to be explained thoroughly.  And the final vote should be a runoff between two - not three - candidates.  I’d like to propose another option that could be voted on: instead of having a concert, every student would get their share of the concert fee returned by check or cash.  Wouldn’t you prefer $60 in your pocket over a ticket to 3EB?

Happy Thanksgiving, guys.