To the Editor:
John Strayer's column ("Brennan is on the campaign trail" Jan. 13) attacking Jim Brennan '96 could not have been more off track. He criticized Jim for insulting our "collective intelligence" and trying to use the Report of the Committee on the First Year Experience in order to gain votes for next term's elections. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Strayer offers that Jim, as acting Co-President of CUaD, helped to formulate a petition against the Committee's suggestion of freshman dorms. In doing so, he simplified the whole issue because he "did not think that Dartmouth students could handle 30 pages of information." However, if Strayer had bothered to read Jim's column concerning freshman dorms (Jan. 4), he would have noticed that Jim said, "It is important that this winter, as many of us as possible read the Committee's report and formulate our own opinions on its suggestions." Jim did not insult our intelligence, he was merely trying to gather student opinion, while urging us to read the report for ourselves. How can Strayer find anything wrong with this?
There were no ulterior political motives in Jim's actions. Such a vicious attack of personal character was uncalled for, especially when the claims that Strayer made were unfounded. Jim cares about the student body and the implications that such a report would have on all of us. Strayer should find better issues to gripe about instead of one based on false claims.
