A Day on College Hill

As some of you may know, April 15th-16th brought A Day on College Hill (ADOCH) to Brown, when about 700 accepted students descended on our campus to see all that Brown has to offer. Now, to most Brown students, all ADOCH meant was that some classes were more crowded than usual, or that hoards of wide-eyed accepted students were moving in packs in the Ratty. But to the hundreds of students who beat the odds and were accepted to Brown, these days meant much more than that. To many of the accepted students, ADOCH was the make or break factor that would dictate the next four years of their lives. Clearly, they were trying to observe as much as possible and take in all aspects of Brown’s campus — the good, the bad, and the liberal. My hat is off to those who planned this year’s ADOCH; all reports claim that it was not only one of the best that Brown has ever had, but also that it was head-and-shoulders above similar programs at our peer institutions. I know first-hand about the long nights and earlier mornings that were required to pull off an event of this size so seamlessly, and as such I cannot give enough congratulations to those who gave many long hours to a good cause.

So what made me so mad about this otherwise great event?

It is no secret that Brown students like to protest. Whether it is trying to dance troops home, or stupidly getting arrested while protesting in Washington, D.C., I politely roll my eyes and keep walking. However, the protests that sprung up on campus during ADOCH really got under my skin. When the accepted students were coming to campus for ADOCH they were greeted by not one, not two, but three demonstrations, each more ridiculous than the last.

The first demonstration was on Lincoln field and consisted of 40,000 little red flags, each representing ten people killed in the Darfur region of Sudan. While I think all the money spent on those flags could have gone to other things — like, oh I don’t know, aid for the people in Darfur — I do not have that big of a problem with this because Lincoln Field looked kind of pretty with all the red flags on it. One of the good things about this protest was that it was not overtly in your face. Sadly, it only went downhill from there.

On the Main Green, right next to the tent that was put up for ADOCH, there was a protest comprised of pictures from the violence and genocide in Burma. There were wooden stakes hammered into the ground and pictures of emaciated, dejected, and overall dismal individuals who were directly affected by the violence and genocide in this region. So this one was pretty bad because it was right up in your face, destroying the Main Green, but at least there was still some artistic value to it.

The third and final demonstration was also on the Main Green, right in between the tent that was set up, and Faunce House, the location of registration for ADOCH; it came in the form of a graveyard. This graveyard, which accepted students had to walk through in order to get to the welcome tent, was set up for all of those individuals who died in trying to cross the border between the United States and Mexico. There was also a sign that informed students that more people have died trying to illegally enter this country than there were people who entered the Brown Class of 2011. Not only did this display make the Main Green look awful, but also it was in terribly poor taste. How the administration did not take issue with this was beyond me because this graveyard was despicable. From Cozzetto: This is my own opinion, but do you want to mention how ‘raising awareness’ for these issues is completely ridiculous on Brown’s campus, in that it assumes we (and the pre-frosh) have no idea what’s going on in Darfur, or Burma, or on the border? It could possibly go with your (excellent) argument that the money could have been better spent. Feel free to ignore this comment; it’s just a topic that came up when I was discussing the protests with others -Kristina 4/25/08 3:05 PM

It never ceases to amaze me how close-minded some people at this school can be. These demonstrations overlapped with ADOCH as a calculated attempt to alter the perception of Brown to the accepted students. By walking around campus over the course of the last week, one would feel that Brown was over the top with political activism; this probably turned off many students from our University. People may call me an optimist, but in my heart of hearts, I believe most Brown students are not as liberal as people think. The problem that I see time and time again on this campus is that people mindlessly follow what others do, never considering to take a step back so as to think about what it is they are doing or why they are doing it. Some of the smartest, brightest people I know who attend this school, when pressed on their actual political beliefs, fold under the pressure because they do not truly know what they are. They are certainly good at telling you what they have heard on the news or read in The Brown Daily Herald, or the same tired lines that their peers have given.

These protests during ADOCH are a classic example of this unfortunate tendency. It seems that these protests were planned specifically to start the brainwashing and the indoctrination of the new crop of “good” liberals. I cannot stress this point enough: after reading this article, please just take a step back and think about what you truly believe and why you believe that; it can only make you a stronger, better rounded person. It is a shame that this event had to be scarred by such tasteless protests. All I can hope for is that more dissenting voices start to arise, and continue to make Brown an interesting place.