As Edgar Allen Poe once wrote, “To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.” In what is yet another example of Williams College caving to the demands of the physically- and mentally-small Nonner majority, the spring sports season is likely to be canceled.
With this decision, the College has made its priorities clear for all to see: the lifelong dream of winning the championship of the best conference in the third best division of college sports is nothing compared to the supposed benefits of being “alive.” But what is it to be alive if not to dream? Forsooth, students of the College, will you stand for this injustice?
The College has given no indication that it will stand up to the Nonners’ radical demands to try and avoid infection and death. In failing to find a way to hold athletic competition, President Mandel has blatantly acted as if athletics are not the primary mission of this institution. This flies in the face of everything the college has done thus far. If they truly cared about “intellectuals,” then why wouldn’t they recruit them? Indeed, suddenly choosing to bow to Big Nonner would only be a good plan if the mission of this college were academic.
The explicit privilege of the Nonner class couldn’t be clearer. Multiple senior administrators, not even trying to hide their biases, have admitted that the decision to cancel sports was influenced by a desire to protect the lives of Nonners. This blatant favoritism cuts against the College’s core values of recruiting athletes, prioritizing legacy students, and for many years only admitting white men.
This is not a call for special treatment from the College. Student athletes have asked for nothing more than to be the only extracurricular allowed to compete and travel.
In the wise words of American founding father Patrick Henry: “They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.”
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