There is a new kind of club on this campus. It is what I like to call a "We will ruin any fun you may attempt to have" club. As a member of the Boxing Club, Climbing Club and ROTC, I seem to encounter these people whose sole purpose as a club seems bent on ruining any fun I try to have.

Let me give a few examples. Just yesterday I found out that people are protesting the Bengal Bouts because it is too violent. Don't worry, I don't think they're protesting the violence of football yet. The claim: it's wrong to go into a ring with the sole purpose of hurting another person. Never mind that we raise thousands of dollars in a charity effort. Never mind that we have one of the safest-run activities in the University. Never mind that hurting another person isn't the purpose.

Another example: I recently took a climbing trip down to Kentucky. We, as a club, frequent the Red River Gorge. It's a beautiful place and the climbs are excellent. However, this year some activists decided that climbers are harmful to the environment. So, instead, they're going to block off the area to all humans. Apparently, mankind was never meant to see nature up close, rather just read about how great it is in National Geographic. Any closer would be just too devastating.

My last example: I am a member of the ROTC program. I will not go into any of the politics of who is right and wrong, but merely posit a question: Is it really true that the primary goal of one of our clubs struggling to gain recognition on this campus is to take away recognition from another? It seems that there is something fundamentally flawed in this concept.

I was listening to the famous Denis Leary song, "A**hole," last night, and started to wonder, "Am I that guy?" I never meant to cross the line from wanting to have a good time or joining a distinguished organization or helping out the needy, into the realm of drinking Natural Ice while driving down the highway in my highly pollutant gas-guzzling automobile while flicking off old ladies and singing the lyrics to the latest Eminem song as I drive by the local Catholic kindergarten.

All this time I just thought I was innocently doing the things I love in life. But perhaps I shouldn't complain, I may be taking away some of the fun of those who continue to pick on me.

Shawn Newburg

sophomore

O'Neill Hall

April 26, 2001

• My own commencement address
  
• Quote of the day
  
• Putting the post-graduation job search into perspective
  
• McVeigh's execution will help to preserve justice
  
• Defending the legitimacy of certain campus clubs
  
• Move parietals back to 9 a.m.