Cabrini needs t~ focus on prestige, not money

Talking to President Iadarola about the vision for Cabrini's future, it is clear that the goal is to enhance the academic reputation.

The freshmen academic learning communities and hiring of a number of young Ph.0.s are two examples of steps in the right direction. The increase in the size of the honors program is a third, and Cabrini is pushing hard to offer more masters degrees.

But a college can have the best of everything, including acclaimed professors and a bottomless endowment, and still not carry weight as a prestigious institution. Ultimately, it is the academic caliber of the student population that matters. So, with academic prestige in the sights, why does Cabrini continue to accept students who do not seem ready for college?

A new committee on Cabrini's campus is proof that the student population is coHectively sub par for a college growing towards prestige. Links for Intra-institutional Collaboration was developed by

Dr. Richard Neville, acting vice president for student development, Gary Johnson, dean of enrollment services, and Or. Catharine O'Connell, dean of academic affairs, to provide "strategies for minimizing probtematic student behavior in the classroom:

Should a prestigious college really have to figure out how to deal with disruptive classroom behavior? Isn't that a high school issue? It is outrageous that the classroom etiquette of Cabrini students has reached a level that warrants not only its own committee, but for syllabuses to include a note warning students about verbal and physical abuse of professors.

We wonder if the disruptive behavior isn't the result of the admissions standards set by the rolling admissions method.

With rolling admissions, doesn't Cabrini become a fall-back school instead of an elite institution? Rather than sticking strictly to honors-level recruiting, Cabrini becomes the fall-back school for students or the last-minute school for students who wake up in August and say, Ml'dbetter go to college." With an estimated 15 percent freshmen attrition rate comes a serious ethicat issue in accepting students who cannot possibly succeed at $28,000 a year just because we are a tuitiondriven college.

This scenario does not always end with Cabrini accepting students from the bottom of the gene pool though. Students who do not get accepted to other local prestigious schools use Cabrini's rolling admission system to continue their education, and Cabrini ends up with brilliant students.

But for Cabrini to become a top notch school in the Philadelphia area, the administration needs to set aside its money-hungry policies. Instead of accepting low-level students in late July and August, admissions should stick strictly to the goal - prestige - and remember that the students make the college.

What are you doing over spring break?

Snow staff photographers

Nicole Anista, Adriene Baldwin, Kryten Bradley, Rob Cain, Justin Coe, Nate Day, Matt Difalon, Cecelia Francisco, Meghan Franzese, Greg Kerr, Steph Mangold, Holly Orlando, Jim Peterson, Shaun Smith, Annie Turco, Katie Wright

Call for respect of President

I would like to express my concern for the stance that the Loquitur is taking on the war issue. It seems to me that at a time of high level security like this, our country should be banding-together, not splitting a part.

It frustrates me so much when I bear criticism of President Bush, especially when· it's written in our school paper. I understand that part of the great• ness of living in a democracy is the right to free speech, howev• er, when we elected President Bush into office, we were choosing him to take responsibility for making decisions regarding our country. We had the opportunity to choose somectneelse for the job, but America used her right to choose and chose Bush. l personally think that he is doing an excellent job. He is in a very difficult position and is doing exactly what is best for our country. People do not give him enough credit. There are very few people that would do as well as be is with the kind of pressure he is under. People also need to understand that there is more to the war issue than meets the eye. I sincerely doubt that our president would put our country in such serious danger for no reason at all. He is obviously rea1ly worried that horrible things will happen if we do not act. As scary as the prospect of war is, is it scarier than living in fear that terrorists will strike America again? I for one, think not.

America is one of the greatest countries in the world. Are we going to stand by while Saddam tries to make us look like idiots? I personally believe America to be stronger than that. Over the past 200 years we have proven ourselves a great power. Wrthout the Revolutionary War we nevel' would have had that status in the first place. Without the Civil War slavery would still exist. Without

WWIIHitler could have successfully taken over the world. As ironic as it sounds, war in some cases is necessary to make the world a safer place. We need to fight to keep America and the rest of the world safe from Saddam Hussein. If we nip the Iraq situation in the bud now, then maybe in the long run many more lives will be saved. I know many people disagree with this. however I ask that you at least give the president the respect he deserves. After all, we are the ones who gave him the power.

Heather Penny freshman

Hate crime upsets student

This letter is to show my formal outrage at your coverage of the events that took place in the Residence Halls on February 7, 2003. It is a complete and utter travesty that a hate crime took place in Xavier Hall- and you thought it so unimportant that you could not affordthe paper or ink to give the -eventthe proper media attention it deserved. By barely addressing the event in what could be the equivalent of a grammar school paragraph simply compromised the journalistic integrity of the entire st.aff. As writers it is your duty to bring injustices and corrupt acts to the forefronts and challenge the powers that be to do something about it, or maybe you forgot that aspect of your job.

As a student of color I am highly disappointed at your lack of interest in the hate crime. Writing the slogans "White Power" and "Nigger, Nigger!" targets the African American portion of the Cabrini College student body, but the swastika, the world wide symbol of hate and leftist radicalism, affects everyone on the campus. The Loquitur is the only media outlet on the entire campus and you use that power to the disadvantage of campus community. It hurt that the Loquitur could not uphold and defend the rights of the parties offended by the hate crime. My civil rights and the rights of every other morally just and ce1.1teredperson were violated, and no one seems to care.

The Loquitur staff did nothing at all; the call for an investigation was not ignited by a fierce and informative journalistic piece. The guilty party is not.just the sad person or persons who in a drunken stupor wrote the slogans and racial slurs on the wall, but also the group of people who took on the challenge of upholding the morals and rights of its readers. I find the Loquitur guilty of simply doing nothing to inform the community at large. When you choose to have no voice your opinions become null and void. I beg of you not to let that happen, don't become another meaningless face of jargon and hypocrisy that serves no purpose other than to entertain the unenlightened.

Joseph L. Mackie freshman