While I can relate to Marc Snetiker's disappointment at being rejected from so many Ivy League schools, I think he is overlooking some important facts regarding our school's identity ("Sports or smarts?," Oct. 7).
The Ivy League is, in fact, nothing more than a glorified football conference. Just the fact that it's called a "league" demonstrates that the schools banded together many years ago not to create an elite system of universities, but so that similarly privileged upper-class young men could get together and play one of the earliest versions of football.
That these eight schools turned out to become shining beacons of academic excellence is less a result of their membership in the Ivy League and more a factor of the magic of compound interest on their endowments, which are hundreds of years old.
Sitting at the top of the Big Ten standings, many pundits and ESPN personalities regularly argue that Northwestern is the premier combination of athletic and academic excellence. (Stanford gives us a run for our money; however they're a mere 3-3 this year)
If Northwestern were to make a "choice" of one of the "extremes," either academic or athletic excellence, we would lose the part of our identity that defines us as a unique institution - our balance.
-DAVE COLLINS
Communications junior
Be the first to comment on this article!