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Letters to the Editor

Kerr's elitism unsettling

As a freshman, the entire bicker process is still foreign and seemingly distant. My viewpoint is limited to what I see as I trudge, along with many other freshmen, from club to club on the street, the experiences older friends discuss with me, and the stereotypes that I choose to ignore.

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However, upon reading Justin Kerr's article on open Bicker Feb. 4, I was disgusted not with the process described but with the attitude conveyed. The insulting elitism, masquerading as humor, did not sit well. Last time I checked, Princeton, despite the unfortunate popular opinion of the exterior world, is not a community with a majority of snobs. "If we [all] got past Fred Hargadon," then we are all qualified to attend this prestigious university. We weren't accepted on the basis of our Bicker potential. And, for the record, no one here is "dumber than a nail post."

Comparing the process of Bicker with the college process relegates it to a very imperfect game of chance that leaves plenty of people who are more than qualified feeling quite unhappy. The number of colleges from which one gets acceptance letters is not tantamount to one's intelligence. I watched enough of my over-qualified friends get hosed or deferred/rejected both this year and last to know that. In short, this opinion article is plain chutzpah. One's "self-worth stripped"? Sign-in clubs as "community colleges" and fast food joints? Please. The effect of humor was sorely missed here. Marnie Podos '03

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