The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

Mac Weekly Editorials

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Let students pick their speaker

As the weather gets warmer and the last weeks of school wind down, we can’t help but think about graduation. The commencement ceremony brings out the tradition inherent in academia, as professors dress up in their robes with hoods, students wear square hats and small, symbolic pieces of paper are handed out.

There is one tradition in this pageant, however, that needs to be reexamined. The two featured speakers—the keynote guest speaker and the student speaker—are both chosen by the administration in a very closed process, and to us, this seems foolish.

After four years of learning and growing, the graduating class certainly should be mature enough to responsibly select its own speakers to deliver their final learning moments as undergraduates.

In our view, students in each class, as juniors, should democratically make a short list of speakers, to be narrowed further under the leadership of the to-be graduates, perhaps weeding out the long-shot candidates.

After all, the ceremony is about students—we deserve to be at the helm of the selection process.

More meal plan choices, please

19 meals, 0 flex dollars, $3,374.

14 meals, $75 flex dollars, $3,374.

12 meals, $150 flex dollars, $3,374.

Do these numbers add up?

It seems irrational to charge those students on the full 19 meal plan the same as students who eat only 14 or 12 meals a week in Caf’¨ Mac. Students who choose to eat fewer meals in the dining hall should not be forced to pay as much as those who eat 19.

Bon App’¨tit should put forward a wider range of meal plan choices, and set a corresponding range of prices.

When negotiating a new contract with Bon App’¨tit, Macalester should, in keeping with nationwide college trends, demand that a wider variety of meal plan options be made available to students.

It seems that free choice should be far more of a factor, especially when fatigue of Caf’¨ Mac is a factor in many students’ choices to move off campus.

The opinions expressed above are those of The Mac Weekly, as determined by a board comprised of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editors and Opinion Editors. The perspectives are not representative of Macalester College.

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