Ah yes! Green Mountain Senator continues to drop the hammer.
This weekend, on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Senator Leahy will discuss the recent resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his pledge to help restore the Department of Justice to an agency worthy of its name and great tradition.
Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace airs this Sunday, September 2 at 9 am ET. I hope that you will tune in to watch Senator Leahy discuss this resignation, the urgency of restoring morale in the Justice Department and the people’s trust in a justice system that should not be corrupted by political influence, and his commitment to hold the Bush-Cheney Administration accountable for its actions.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Dwyer
Executive Director
Green Mountain PAC
Photo ID, #90
What is slightly challenging to identify now in a nighttime picture will become all the more challenging in a few years when it ceases to exist as we know it.
ROTC is worth a few points.
A great article from last year on Harvard and ROTC. This is why institutions such as Harvard should get points for officially supporting such programs! They take the heat and allow young men and women the financial support for school which they deserve when they commit to a period of service in our military. In doing so at places like Harvard they recognize service in our armed forces as an honorable elite tradition.
Speaking directly to the newly commissioned officers, Summers said, “America is strong because it is free; America is free because it is strong. And it is strong because of the service of wonderful individuals like those we commission today.”
I thought there wasn’t anything more important that someone could do than to serve their country … so I admire your courage, your devotion as citizens in joining our armed forces at this crucial moment,” he added. Speaking of the University’s sometimes uneasy relationship with ROTC, he said that more could be done “because whatever you think about policy issues … I believe our country is most important, and I believe our country is best served when great universities like this one stand with those who defend the freedom that makes it possible for us to do all the wonderful things that we are able to do here.” Summers also expressed a wish: “I look forward to the day when it is common and doesn’t draw remark when an Ivy League president attends an ROTC commissioning ceremony.”
Why does’nt Williams have an ROTC program?
White House Pay
What is one of the perks of working in the White House? All your friends can read about your salary in the paper! Cheryl Stanton ‘94 makes $125,000 as Associate Counsel to the President. Overpaid? Not these last 6 months . . .
Previous coverage of Stanton here. Stanton, as a right-wing female lawyer with an interest in government service, will probably be nominated for other positions. A judgeship in 2008? You read it in EphBlog first.
Any other Ephs in the salary list?
Road Scholars Report
Did anyone attend the Williams Road Scholars event in July? I think that this is great stuff, although I wish that the College would provide more material on the web (like syllabi and lecture slides). Below is the blurb that was sent out to alumni.
Front Page
Chris Gondeck’s ‘90 podcast, The Invisible Hand, makes the front page of iTunes. What other Ephs can make that claim? If Chris is the leading Eph podcaster, then who is in second?
Dining Services Website
As mentioned in the comments, Williams Dining Services has a new website. Is it just me, or is this a totally different look-and-feel than we see in other new web pages like OCC and Admissions?
Chick is Hot
Dealbreaker admits what we all know to be true.
There comes a time in every Amherst student’s life when she must put aside the feelings of hate that stir in her body for the vile weed that is Williams College and say, in the face of Williams alum Erin Burnett: this chick is hot.
Indeed.
Dealbook links to this article.
For the coming war between CNBC and Rupert Murdoch’s planned Fox Business Channel, the scrappy incumbent is grooming a secret weapon.
That weapon is a petite, blue-eyed brunette who makes her home at a cluttered desk in a cramped studio overlooking the New York Stock Exchange, where she is typically typing furiously on a laptop or asking questions by phone. Erin Burnett, 31, is a co-host on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street (weekdays at 9 a.m. ET), solo anchor of Street Signs (2 p.m. ET) and a frequent guest on network shows, including NBC’s Today. Since making her debut on Squawk during its relaunch in December 2005, the program is up 142% over first quarter 2006 in adults 25-54; Street Signs is up 57% in the demo.
Burnett rises every morning at 5 a.m. and hops in a car bound for the NYSE. Once there, she makes calls, checks e-mail, sets up potential guests and reads the papers–all while getting her hair blown-out and her makeup applied. “She’s a natural,” says Jonathan Wald, senior VP of business news for CNBC. “She’s both energetic and solicitous, but she never appears fawning.”
Just like EphBlog!? On the hotness issue:
Does it matter that some critics see her as just another pretty anchor? “Let’s be honest,” Burnett says. “It is a factor. Initially. But if you want to be good and if you want to be at the top of your game, you have to know the material, and you have to love it. Otherwise, regardless of your looks or your age or whatever, you won’t have any staying power.”
Correct. Burnett would not have gotten hired (or been successfu) if she were not both attractive and smart. Previous discussion here.
Do you think it is a coincidence that so many attractive women work at CNBC? I don’t. If Erin were ugly, she would not have the job that she has. This doesn’t mean (obviously!) that she also isn’t smart and hard-working, but only the PC police would pretend that sex doesn’t sell.
And not just at CNBC! Do you think that the Goldman Sachs recruiters are blind? Do you think that it is a coincidence that so many junior GS analysts are also attractive? Wrong! Note that this is not just true of female GS hires from Williams (i.e., Erin Burnett and Bethany McLean ‘92) but also of male hires (Richard Georgi ‘87).
Words of wisdom for fall interviews.
Comment Policy
There seems to be some confusion about our policy regarding comments.
Ephblog is also removing comments.
I added one this morning to the Bozeman post questioning whether sending Maxim is ever appropriate. It was deleted and comments seem to have been disabled for that story. What’s going on?
As always, a good play to start is with the FAQ.
Why did you delete my comment?
Because it was rude or obnoxious or off-topic or trollish. We delete comments all the time. We welcome deletion suggestions from readers. Our goal is to create an Eph conversation, an on-line analogue to all the discussion and debate which occurs in the classes and dining halls of Williams. Sharp comments and pointed rebukes are welcome. If you think that someone’s argument is stupid or racist or pathetic, then write that (and back it up). But (true) comments like “Dave is ugly” will be removed. The truth is no defense against a charge of bad manners.
Note that comment removal is always a judgment call. Various authors — including our soon-to-be-announced Board of Directors — have the power to remove/edit any comment/post at any time. Eric Smith and I end up doing most of the removal, but others can and do. Also, we occasionally set up the post to not allow comments at all. Any author has the power to edit/delete comments on the thread that he starts.
In the case of the Bozeman post, Stewart’s intention was to notify EphBlog readers about Bozeman’s contact information. He thought that at least one of the comments was obnoxiously off-topic. He was unaware of the magic button in MovableType that allows one to turn off comments for a specific post. He has decided not to allow comments on this thread and, I suspect, future Adopt-An-Eph postings.
And this is his right as an EphBlog author. If you don’t like it, then the solution is simple: Join EphBlog! Start a thread yourself. If, for example, you think it would be interesting to talk about the Eph distribution among the enlisted and officer ranks, then start that conversation. If you wonder about how many Ephs like Maxim and whether or not they should, you can talk about that.
Since our policies are always evolving, please suggest your preferred changes below. Comments on this thread are open!
Would Williams College exist without Williamstown?
“Williamstown was established in 1753 as a plantation called West Hoosac and renamed Williamstown in 1765, when Col. Ephraim Williams bequeathed his estate to the town to establish a free school. (Williams now costs more than $40,000 a year). Students of Williams College, which was chartered in 1793, call themselves the Ephs, pronounced “eefs,” in his honor.”
Simple answer. No. It was given to “Ephs” by the town, from a townie. It is named after a townie. So are all of you alum.
All the banter in recent posts that the town somehow owes the College for its existance and hence the college has a right to do whatever it so desires, damn the town, is just pointless.
Learn The Words
First Years arrive on August 28. Does that mean that their JAs are already on campus? Back in the day, JAs did orientation at the end of the prior school year and arrived just a bit before the freshmen. Several years ago (when?) this was changed to having JA orientation just before first year arrival. Either way, now is time for my annual suggestion: Teach all the first years the words to The Mountains. I just e-mailed the JA Co-presidents, asking them to pass it on to their fellow JAs. Do we have any JA readers who can let us know if they did?
Here is the letter from 2004. This year’s was much the same, with date changes and slight editing. Previous efforts here and here.
Will this work? Well, if the previous 15 years are any guide, No! But windmills need tilting at.
Photo ID, #89
This is the back of a dorm. Which dorm?
Likely unnecessary hint: The front of this dorm has already appeared in a Photo ID.
Creative Commuter
Great Boston Globe feature on Peter Detwiler 1983. This dude makes me feel like such a slacker. (Then again, rowing 20 miles arguably makes for an easier commute than fighting through the red line hordes on the metro platform).
Shirtless
Marcos Sahm ‘04 notes this Gawker post on Brook Perlin’s ‘96 girlfriend Katie Couric.
Less than a month after her CBS debut, she attended a cancer fund-raiser in Manhattan where she was introduced to a tall, good-looking young man by the name of Brooks Perlin. Unlike the self-made types Katie had been attracted to in the past – Jay Monahan, Tom Werner, and Chris Botti – Perlin came from a family of privilege. And at thirty-three years of age, he was, biologically speaking, young enough to be forty-nine-year-old Katie’s son.
Perlin grew up in the tony suburban community of Darien, Connecticut. After graduating from Hotchkiss (the same elite boarding school attended by Tom Werner), he went to Williams College. There he was known as a jock who liked to parade around – a la John F. Kennedy Jr. – without his shirt on.
Though Katie found herself drawn to the young and energetic Perlin, their nearly seventeen-year age difference gave her pause. But when Perlin called for a date, Katie couldn’t resist saying yes.
The irresistible allure of an Eph man . . .
I should stop right there.
Anyway, this excerpt is from a forthcoming biography of Couric. See Gawker for more details and lots of snarky commentary. And people say that EphBlog is mean! Prior posts here.
John Bozeman ‘98 – Deployed to Iraq
John Bozeman ‘98 is now re-deployed to Iraq. He’ll be there for a year and would enjoy hearing from fellow Ephs. His mailing address is:
Sgt John L. Bozeman
MITT 0730
Unit 42719
FPO AP 96426-2719
If you are interesting in sending a Support Package (I have found that the Priority Mail Flat Rate Box is the least expensive shipping method), John has asked for three things:
________________________________________________________________
Since we will not be going to the same place as my previous deployments or doing the same sort of stuff, I suspect I will need more support.
Mach 3 razors,
Copenhagen Long Cut,
and Laffy Taffy
will be the staples. As for other stuff, I will have to get there and be without it for a while to know what I really need.
________________________________________________________________
All Marines also appreciate Good Coffee, Baby Wipes (try living in 120 degree weather, fully clothed and without showering for weeks at a time), beef jerky and MAXIM Magazine.
Thank you for supporting our deployed Ephs.
Stewart Menking ‘79
Another (Not a Better) College Ranking System
Apparently some believe that the best way to counter the influence of the admittedly flawed US News & World Report college rankings is to come up with a competing system, even if that system is almost certainly substantially more flawed than that which we already have. And I don’t say this out of a sense of loyalty to my alma mater or indignance over the fact that the Washington Monthly college rankings only has Williams ranked 8th in their liberal arts college category. Or at least I don’t make this argument exclusively for those reasons.
Look, I think it’s great for a college to prize upward mobility or something as ultimately amorphous as “service,” which the Washington Monthly ratings privilege. And I know that the goal of this ranking is to assess what the magazine calls the “common good.” But ultimately the goal of college is to educate and to produce knowledge. That is the best way to serve the common good.
I also only looked at the methodology briefly, but I simply do not see how Presbyterian College can earn a number one ranking given that within the paltry and arbitrary academic categories of the ratings Presbyterian does not rank at all, but beyond that, other than ROTC participation, that South Carolina college also appears underwhelming in the other categories as well. And why ROTC? Why not medical school applicants and acceptances? Lawyers who go on to do pro bono work? People who go on to teach in inner city schools, or work in nonprofits, or who work with the infirm? The more I think about it, the more this particular ranking system seems like a shoddy exercise in contrarianism couched in the accoutrements of an elusive and ill-defined “common good.”
At the risk of coming across as elitist, it is impossible to take seriously a national ranking of liberal arts colleges in which Presbyterian Collage ranks higher than Amherst, Swarthmore, Middlebury, and Williams, never mind in which it is considered the number one college in the nation in the category. In the case of higher education, a certain level of elitism is good as long as the elitism corresponds with merit as opposed to entitlement. Better to err on the side of promoting excellence and relying on those who graduate from your institution to do well and good in the world than to set up arbitrary and mushy benchmarks for virtue.
One That Got Away
Ben Slingerland will not be an Eph.
The package from the Georgetown University men’s soccer team arrived at Ben Slingerland’s home in Beverly about six days before his graduation this spring from St. John’s Prep.
Inside was one thick packet, some 20-plus pages, and a yellow laminated card outlining the program’s summer fitness plan for its freshman recruits. For the next 12 weeks, Slingerland would be a prisoner to that workout regimen, and he considers it the best ball and chain he’s ever received.
He took the package, jetted to his room, and hopped onto the Internet, just to look again at Georgetown’s roster for the fall season.
While he was online, he looked down the list of the school’s top recruits, seeing all the big names, seeing some names he didn’t recognize, and finally seeing that his name was nowhere on the list. It was his team, and it didn’t even mention him.
Not a good sign.
The seniors at the Catholic school in Danvers graduated May 20. Slingerland went to the track at Gordon College in Wenham on May 21.
Georgetown soccer coach Brian Wiese would be impressed.
“If you’re not committed to do the work in the summer,” Wiese said, “you’re not going to last in Division 1 athletics.”
Those packets are what turn summer vacation into an extended fall sports season, and, nowadays, almost any athlete prepping for the next level can expect to receive one.
Slingerland could have gone to a Division 3 school and become a star. He was Williams College’s top recruit. But he wanted to go to Georgetown.
“The Division 1 program appealed to me more because I felt if I had gone to Williams, I probably would been coming in here,” he said, holding his right hand high above his left to show the difference in talent level. “Going to Georgetown, I’d have to work my way up. I’m one of the most competitive people out there. So I love just having to work for everything and just having a challenge.”
Good luck. Comments:
1) How does one know that one is the “top recruit” at Williams? Does Coach Mike Russo hand out a trophy?
2) Was Slingerland admitted regular decision and then turned down Williams? Any applicant with Williams-level academics and the ability to play Division 1 soccer would probably be able to get into Harvard/Yale/Princeton. I suspect that Slingerland was not an AR 1 or 2.
3) Should we be upset that he is not at Williams? No! This is one more spot on the team that is available for a more academically qualified Eph. Are you the last guy to make the team this fall? Did you get the last starting slot? You have Slingerland to thank. Remember the “tipped off” Ephs!
4) Did Singerland make the right choice? Hard to know! If he ends up working hard, making the team and eventually starting at Georgetown, then his choice was reasonable. If he ends up not playing much, even quiting the team, he might have been better off at Williams. Would you rather star at Williams or ride the bench at Georgetown?
Cramer Country
What Eph has been viewed the most times on YouTube? Tough to know! This and this are certainly contenders.
Among the most viewed videos this month is one featuring Erin Burnett ‘98. This version, however, includes more from Burnett.
Comments:
1) Whatever CNBC is paying Burnett, it isn’t enough to put up with the likes of Cramer.
2) I think most hedge fund professionals have seen this video. It is hilarious, although perhaps a bit confusing to the layEph. When I first saw it, I didn’t realize that the interviewer was Burnett. My mistake.
3) The Fed did decrease the discount rate last Friday, as Cramer suggested.
Historical Rankings
Thanks to a comment in this thread, here are the historical rankings from U.S. News and World Report. Comments:
1) This list does not include the latest (2008) ranks.
2) Younger Ephs may not recall that Williams was not #1 for a ten year stretch from 1994 to 2003. Those were our years in the wilderness.
3) Is it a coincidence that Williams has done so much better since Morty became president? I doubt it! I bet that Morty is very aware of the rankings and how important doing well is in the global marketplace for elite students.
4) What does the future hold? Again, we need someone to crunch the numbers and methodology more thoroughly, but my sense is that Williams is safe in the top 3 for years to come. It also seems that the recent expansion in class size at Amherst will prevent them from challenging us for at least a few years since they will lag on the faculty:student ratio and class sizes until they do some more hiring.
Mexico City Policy
An Eph writes:
Does Williams do anything to violate the Mexico City policy, which requires nongovernmental organizations to agree as a condition of their receipt of federal funds not to perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning? I bet it does.
I have no idea.
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