Brainless Tuesdays: Where Did Our Trays Go?

Its really shaping up to be Pomona's week. First their Professor, Director, Actor, Expert, Alma Martinez answered life's most pressing question, 'Why do Mexicans drink beer on Sundays?' Oh, the intellectual relief. But is that all the glory we have for Pomona College this week?

No Sir. Turns out, Pomona students discovered the single, largest most-evil threat to face our 5C students ever. By now you must have guessed what I'm talking about -- Dining Hall Trays!!

Run for your lives!!

Frank Hall (South Campus, Pomona; Go past Big Bridges, turn left) will have no trays on Tuesdays. So now, Frank has bad food and it has no trays. A winning combination, eh?

'Trayless Tuesdays' is the brainchild of Grace Vermeer, Joanna Ladd and Allison Rossman, Co-Presidents, The Campus Climate Challenge. The group defended their coercion and determination to impose a certain way of life on everyone else by stating, 'It is about a weekly reminder that each student, with a minimal change to his or her routine, can make a tiny difference in the food production and waste regimes that hurt our environment and society.'

Now we like to keep our posts local and relevant here at The Claremont Conservative, but I must make an exception:

Congressmen John Campbell, from California's 48th District, recently proposed the 'Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is Act of 2008.'

This bill will amend the Tax Code to allow individuals to make voluntary donations to the federal government above and beyond their normal tax liability, and actually put a line on the IRS tax form to make it easier to make donations.

Last week, Presidential Candidate Senator Hillary Clinton stated that "We didn't ask for George Bush's tax cuts. We didn't want them, and we didn't need them."

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal printed an editorial that proclaimed:

“If the former first lady feels so strongly that she should pay more taxes, we suggest she lay off the middle class and instead write a personal check to the U.S. Treasury for the difference between the Clinton and Bush tax rates."

It’s time Senator Clinton and other high-profile liberals like Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL), Warren Buffett, and Barbra Streisand who have publicly stated that Americans should pay more taxes, to put their money where their mouth is.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. If you think sparing a tray is going to save the environment or alter the food chain, don't take one. Just don't force everyone else to follow your lead. By using such administrative coercion, you reveal the weakness of your cause, argument and logic.

Also, the 5C's share many facilities, which include the dining halls. We have a payment scheme that allows us to use our meal cards on the other campuses. So we are indirectly paying for Frank. Pomona students are probably used to radical nuts in the ASPC committees and sub-committees wasting their money, but this involves the other colleges. Without any vote or consent, you have denied us access to a service that we already paid for.

So maybe The Campus Climate Challenge Presidents might take a second to think about their policy and reverse the decision, right?

No, they did the exact opposite. They sent out an email to Pomona students yesterday, condemning the 'resistance that has sprung up.'

Dear Students - (Please DO NOT respond to this email. Inquiries should be directed to: Grace Vermeer, Joanna Ladd or Allison Rossman at TraylessTuesdayTeam@gmail.com)

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In response to complaints about Trayless Tuesdays:

We are sure you all noticed that trays were gone on Tuesday. We understand how this change may throw off your meal time routine, and expected a certain amount of dissent.

However, we were incredibly shocked and disappointed by the pettiness and immaturity displayed by the resistance that has sprung up.
Counter-campaigns to waste more food on other days and hoard trays are not only counterproductive but appear unnecessarily rude and malicious.

We want to reiterate that our campaign is not about removing trays. It is about a popular culture that tells students that, since we have been blessed with abundance and a set of rights that allows us to waste, we should. It is about the misconception that food produced for us is a renewable, infinite resource. It is about a weekly reminder that each student, with a minimal change to his or her routine, can make a tiny difference in the food production and waste regimes that hurt our environment and society.

We also want to be clear that the dining hall staff is not at fault here and should not be blamed or punished. Though we worked with dining services management in designing and setting up our campaign, this is a student led initiative.

That being said, we as your peers welcome and look forward to your comments, complaints, and criticisms. Please forward them respectfully to TraylessTuesdayTeam@gmail.com

Thank you,

The Campus Climate Challenge
Grace Vermeer, Joanna Ladd and Allison Rossman - Co-Presidents

'Blessed with abundance'? I think what they really mean is a diversified college endowment with alternative invesmtments in Timberlands, Gold and Commercial Real Estate. Seems a lot less renewable than food, eh?
What misconception? What food shortages? Do we really need to debate the Malthusian Catastrophe again?

Maybe its time groups like The Campus Climate Challenge realized that there's a difference between weekly reminders and coercion, that students are cheated out of their pockets when promised services are taken away or compromised for their noble cause.