EDITORIAL No interest in specialinterest housing

The students at Cabrini College have been criticized with the accusations of being lazy, ignorant and onesided on many topics. Many are overheard saying that Cabrini is not diverse and that students are secluded to a number of cliques. An outsider may suggest that students start to diverge away from the same old "crew." Joining clubs and teams may help an individual broaden their horizons. So how will special-interest housing affect the diversity of this college?

Well let's think. If you take a group of 14-18 students who are all interested in a particular thing and put them in one area of the college, what are the odds that they will socialize with anyone else? It seems that these groups will become mini-sororities or fraternities socializing only with each other. They will walk to class together, eat together and hang out at night together. It would seem that special-interest housing goes against every diversity initiative that Cabrini has started.

Mother Cabrini helped immigrants who came from many diverse cultures and social backgrounds adjust to living in America. Cabrini College should follow that example by helping diverse people learn to live together on this campus, not by creating dormitory "ghettos" that comprise of one dominant interest. The great experience of meeting new and interesting people will be lost under the segregational system of special-interest housing.

Another topic to consider is the community service aspect. The point of community service is to help those who are less fortunate by giving of oneself in an unselfish manner. The college already forces 15 hours of community service on the junior class. How much are these students going to give of themselves if they have to donate their time to live on campus as well? The best volunteer worker is a worker who volunteers, not one who is strong-armed into doing it because their resident status depends on it. That is not teaching the virtues of community service. That is a college trying too hard to look pious.

Special-interest housing is a step back for Cabrini. It will create more cliques, isolate more students, and will turn the college's back on all the diversity initiatives it has instituted in the past. For a college that wants to be the jewel of the Mainline, this doesn't reflect that desire.

"Republicans sleep in single beds, Democrats sleep in double beds. That's why there are more Democrats."

That is how my Uncle Joe, an avowed Clinton hater, justifies the former Prez's popularity. Despite all his political (and moral) enemies, Bill Clinton was the most popular president in this country's history, judging by his approval ratings.

I'll miss the big man, for many different reasons. One is that some of my friends have taken to calling me Clinton Jr., due to supposed similarities in our styles and characters.

I choose to take that as a compliment.

The country is a hell of a lot better off after his eight years in the White House than it was before. He's pointed this out once or twice in speeches. Now, I don't think that he can rightly claim all the credit for the economy's turnaround. It's almost like me saying ''The beer drank on Thursday nights has expanded two hundred percent during my term at Cabrini College." I may have played a role but I didn't do it all by myself.

This brings me to the bottom line of why I enjoyed the Clinton years so much: He knew how to piss people off.

Man, for all those who loved Clinton, there were a whole lot of people who really hated the guy's guts. He has been disgraced, disbarred, investigated and impeached in the past eight years by men who came after him with severe personal vendettas that transcended politics. Kenneth Starr, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, these guys all made it their lives' purposes to bring Clinton down. And, as Clinton leaves the White House but never the public life, his enemies could be appearing on VH-l's "Where Are They Now?" Clinton knew how to make his enemies look like a bunch of jerks.

Clinton did some messed up stuff, don't get me wrong. But I think after a while we came to love him for it. "I did not inhale" could alone have brought a lesser politician down. Coming from him, it was funny, and we just looked the other way. Whitewater could have been the end, but it wasn't because: A. Nobody really understood what that was all about; B. They never proved anything; and C. It seemed like that was all Hillary's fault anyway.

Editor in Chief: Joe Holden

Managing Editor: Stephanie Masucci

Editorial Board

But what could have, and probably should have, brought Clinton down was his extra-marital affairs with at least three women. But we forgave him, time after time. Maybe part of the reason was because of who he fooled around with. I mean, could you find a more motley crew of women for a politician to fool around with? A lounge singer, an unattractive political ade, and an intern- and this guy was the president? At least President Kennedy had Marilyn Monroe.

But coming from Clinton, it all somehow worked. He always seemed like the coolest kid in class, the incorrigble bad boy who the girls pretended to be mad at but couldn't quite mean it. And those who tried to take him down always ended up looking like the jealous geeks, hoping to get even by being tattle-tales.

America loves a winner, and we ridicule our losers. It's been a tumultuous eight years and it was fun seeing the big guy dodge all the bullets. And, regardless of your political beliefs, one fact remains indisputable: Clinton won.

Chris Nielsen is a guest columnist for the Loquitur. He may be Clinton Jr., but he can't play the sax.

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Loquitur is a laboratory newspaper written, edited and produced by students registered in COM 346, 350, 351, 353 and 354. Members of the campus community are invited to work on or submit stories for publication. Only students registered in the above classes, however, are eligible to receive academic credit. Subscription price is $25 per year and is included in the benefits secured in tuition and fees. Loquitur welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be signed and the authorship known to the editors. Names are witheld only in unusual circumstances approved by the editor in chief. Letters to the editor fhould be submitted by noon on Mondays.