March 14, 2005
Harvard's Latest Boycott
Harvard University has been in the news quite a bit of late. First, university president Larry Summers has been raked over the coals for not playing nice with the politically correct crowd regarding his comments on why men and women might be different regarding math and science aptitude.
The latest brouhaha stems from a student's efforts to earn some honest money. Sophomore Michael Kopko has launched a business called Dormaid, a service for dormitory students who would rather party than clean up after themselves.
It's not the faculty doing the protesting this time...the student newspaper Harvard Crimson is behind the boycotting efforts. An editorial states, "By creating yet another differential between the haves and have-nots on campus, Dormaid threatens our student unity."
Kopka is frustrated and confused regarding the Crimson's stance on his fledgling business. "In a free economy it's all about choice, and the Crimson is trying to take choice away from people," he said in an interview.
The problem is, Ivy League schools such as Harvard are as far away from the real world as you can get. Students, both wealthy and not-so-wealthy, go straight from the arms of mommy and daddy into the arms of their Leftist professors...who themselves have been coddled and insulated from the real world in their scholastic cocoons. And that's how you end up with silly boycotts of legal, honest enterprises. The faculty may not be doing this outright, but it has their stamp all over it.
Do those students who plan to boycott plan on giving all money they earn when they enter professional life to people who are less fortunate than they are?
I can't afford to have someone clean my home, but I know people who can and do. Is that fair? The question of fairness shouldn't come into it. People who don't like to clean and can afford to hire someone may be lazy, but they are also giving someone else a chance to earn money honestly through hard work. Is cleaning someone else's home degrading? It depends on your point of view. I know I would rather earn my living by cleaning up after some other slob than by standing in line at the welfare office to accept a check from bloated bureaucrats who don't really care about helping me in the long-term.
Once again, Harvard University is trying to force the unwilling into goosestepping lockstep.
I, for one, hope Kopka's business thrives. If you want to let the Crimson know what you think, e-mail them at letters@thecrimson.com.
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