I would just like to thank Abbe Cochrane for her insightful letter to the editor in the last issue of The Guidon. Since the beginning of this semester, I've had to put up with page after page of tabloid-like reporting on some type of woman's issue.

As I read Abe's letter, I was happy that someone finally spoke out on how these stories are not of grave importance on a campus where the majority is male. Not soon after, I turned the page and saw an entire page devoted to MORE women's issues! I had to laugh when I saw that this section was called "Campus." How are these types of stories related to the Norwich campus community? And hat exactly is the editor's "careful scale when determining what should appear" in The Guidon?

My suggestion is that this "scale" be revised. Being here at Norwich for the past four years, I cannot remember ever seeing so many absurd articles as I have witnessed this semester.

Students rely upon The Guidon for news, not gossip. When The Guidon prints articles such as these, actual news is neglected, and the real victims become the students who fail to know what's going on at their university

Gennifer Moore '02

After four years, I will take away a lot of things from this institution, a good education and many friends among them.

However, there are a lot of things that I don't like about Norwich, the way that the corps conducts itself, and the way that cadets act while hidden from the public eye. While there are some cadets that project the image of the corps and the university in a positive manner, there are also those that give the school a bad name, and in some cases they do both simultaneously.

In just the last few weeks, I have realized that while Norwich has been instilling a sense of responsibility in the cadets and training them to be good leaders, they are also creating a type of person that does not mix well with other types of people. Cadets, in my opinion, generally do not think highly of the civilian population and try to present themselves as better or more qualified to be at this institution. I don't agree with this philosophy.

I understand that Norwich was first a military college, and remains founded on those principles. I also think that should be the main focus of the training that the school tries to instill on its military students. However, I also believe that we are in a unique situation as cadets that very few schools have the opportunity to be a part of.

The fact that we, as cadets, are incorporated with civilian students to comprise one student body presents a "leadership laboratory" challenge that I feel many students in the Corps do not take advantage of. Most cadets, and those of high rank, I may add, fail to understand, or at least see the perspective of those students who have not chosen the military lifestyle at Norwich.

Instead of calling the civilian population "nasty" or "ate-up" they should try to take this very unique opportunity and apply it to how they are going to lead people in the future by learning how to actually deal with people rather than be preoccupied with situations they cannot change.

I feel that the leadership of this school should make an effort to incorporate both lifestyles in order to "produce" better leaders, whether they are being commissioned in the armed forces, or are going on to become leaders of businesses or corporations.

Todd Mansfield, Class of 2002

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