What it means to be W.I.L.D.
Letter to the Editor
We women of Walsh are unhappy. We are unhappy because of the dramatic changes that have been slowly taking over our dorm this past year. We are tired of being referred to as adults yet treated like children. Decisions have been made that directly affect us without our consent or input, so this is our attempt to voice our complaints to a hall staff that continues to turn a deaf ear.
The Wild Woman has been our dorm mascot for a number of years. What most considered to be a fun, harmless, even "silly" representation of Walsh and its residents has turned into a controversial symbol of the authoritative leadership of the hall staff. Without our knowledge or approval, the staff decided to turn the word "wild" into the acronym "W.I.L.D." which stands for "Wise In Life's Decisions." According to this year's hall staff, if "wild" remained undefined, the connotations of the word would reflect poorly on Walshites. This had never been an issue in prior years, and the fact that it has now become one seems ridiculous and unnecessary.
Returning to campus after Christmas break, we were summoned to a mandatory hall-wide meeting in which, among other pressing issues, we were berated for our supposed apathy towards our dorm activities. Today, our dorm-wide dance was canceled because we were two people short of the required 90 needed to hold the dance. Although duLac no longer specifies the precise number of participants necessary to hold a dance, and with 88 sets of tickets sold, clearly we could have broken even if not made money by having this dance. However, the hall staff had arbitrarily set 90 as the minimum number and was unwilling to compromise at 88. Not only was the dance canceled, but there was no room for discussion on this matter. Thus, there are 88 disappointed Walshites this weekend (not to mention numerous men now dateless).
Making wise life decisions is what we've been encouraged to do. And yet, the privilege of making any decisions has not been afforded us this year as Walsh residents. Walsh is one of the smallest dorms on campus, and a turn-out of 88 shows that we are not apathetic towards our dorm life. How apathetic will Walshites become now that our hall staff has yet again used their authority to make decisions we don't agree with? It's not about the acronym; it's not about the dance. It's about the general sense of futility in our efforts to maintain a positive dorm spirit and enjoy our remaining time in Walsh.
A few WILD Women
Walsh Hall
March 1. 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, March 2, 2000
