Letters
Letters Religious writing "What the Religious Right Can Teach the New Democrats" [Jon Meacham, April] may end up as one of the groundbreaking articles for which The Washington Monthly is famous....
...If geography comes naturally to you, just take geography courses...
...How do you measure its success...
...The Harvard University School of Public Health recently recognized this quality by including it in its traditional Mediterranean Diet recommendations, which also include pasta, polenta, olive oil, and fresh fruits and vegetables...
...The Brown faculty did not adopt the proposal wholesale...
...and possessions: one year, $38...
...Students plan the liberal education component of their studies in consultation with faculty advisers, rather than being told what to study (apparently a radical idea for Mr...
...Welfare money is derived from taxation...
...The students are used by the institutions to advance institutional ends that often have little to do with genuine education...
...Lewis describes: Have the loser pay both sets of court costs, but limit the payback of all other legal expenses, for attorneys, detectives, etc...
...money that has been taken from the people for redistribution, regardless of their desires in the matter) is quite wrong...
...Prestigious research universities turn out more Ph.D.s than other strong research universities can absorb...
...They debated it rigorously and revised it several times before adoption...
...Segal affects the confident ease of an insider, and his breezy, clever style might strike some readers as convincing...
...1993 The Washington Monthly Co...
...I don't make much money defending and processing "illegal aliens" through an unbelievably complicated and arbitrary morass of immigration law and regulations...
...For Canadian and foreign subscriptions, add $7 for surface delivery...
...Ultimately, there is no good health reason to start drinking or to drink more...
...Printed in U.SA...
...He also asserts that wine "complements food as part of an optimal diet and lifestyle...
...Second class postage paid at Mechanicsburg, PA...
...But he then goes on to mention "dozens of scientific studies" documenting the protective effects of alcoholic beverages on heart disease...
...SHEILA E. BLUMSTEIN Dean of the College, Brown University Providence, Rhode Island 2 The Washington Monthly/July/August 1993 The Washington Monthly Editor in Chief Charles Peters Publisher Mary T. Beiro Editors Christopher Georges, Jon Meacham, David Segal Contributing Editors Jonathan Alter, Thomas N. Bethell, Tom Bethell, Taylor Branch, Matthew Cooper, Gregg Easterbrook, James Fallows, Paul Glastris, Mickey Kaus, Phil Keisling, Michael Kinsley, Nicholas Lemann, Suzannah Lessard, Arthur Levine, Timothy Noah, Joseph Nocera, Leonard Reed, John Rothchild, Jonathan Rowe, Walter Shapiro, Scott Shuger, Steven Waldman Editorial Advisory Board Graham Allison, James David Barber, Edgar Cahn, David Halberstam, Murray Kempton, Richard Reeves, Hugh Sidey Production Manager Sridhar Tallapragada Advertising Director Jennifer L. Schindeler Assistant to the Editor Pam Matthews Interns Jennifer Elsea, Danny Franklin, Spencer Freedman, Nicholas Joseph, Jennifer Levitsky, Genevieve Murphy Proofers Gladys Bant a, Elise Berkman, John Kalajian, Linda Mclntyre, Jack Shellenberger, Nina Teicholz, Valerie Worthington Subscription rates: U.S...
...Brown has no requirements and therefore is easy...
...The ancient secrets of modern nutrition should not be denied...
...Wine is not medicine...
...However, more recent wine-specific studies have reported on non-health benefits enjoyed by moderate wine consumers...
...Consumer surveys show that most people who drink wine do so in moderation and for pleasure, mainly to enhance meals and social occasions...
...air mail delivery add $32...
...News' ranking of universities, Brown came in at number 18, dead last among the Ivies and behind relative upstarts like Rice University and Northwestern...
...But, as my article suggested, the prepackaging of booze as a health food isn't so simple or straightforward...
...Consumers should not be denied the scientific information demonstrating that moderate wine drinking can be part of a well-balanced lifestyle...
...The idea that a dialogue can be carried on with evangelical Christians that could be of benefit to society in the discussion of values is new territory for the mainstream press...
...Rules like that are what give Brown its "vacation school" reputation...
...Although I like your publication, I am finally tired of your universal lawyer-bashing...
...Also, new research suggests that it may be the grapes—not necessarily the alcohol—that reduce the risk of coronary heart disease...
...Blumstein brought one up, I'll bring up another...
...I just wish that they made up a higher proportion of practicing attorneys...
...Published monthly except combined July/August and January/February issues by The Washington Monthly Company, 1611 Connecticut Ave...
...Nonsense...
...Finally, to set the record straight, funding for nearly all the epidemiological data on the subject of wine and health has come from independent universities and government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, not the wine industry...
...No one disputes the existence of independent scientific research suggesting that alcohol may be good for the heart...
...For now they seem to be getting enough of what they want to be more or less satisfied...
...One might say that getting the teachers back into the classrooms and making them teach more classes would be a good beginning, but if the teachers saw that as a punishment and the managers found it rewarding, then the wrong people would profit, and the institutionalization of education would probably be advanced...
...More than 90 percent of Brown's seniors gain admission to the graduate or professional school of their choice...
...The curriculum has evolved and grown over the last 23 years, and now includes some 1,700 courses and 85 majors...
...CHARLES PLATT New York, New York Absent professors Your article ["Class Dismissed," Jon Meacham, May] overlooked a factor pushing universities toward research...
...We called it Pixy Dust: "Just sprinkle it over the battlefield and everyone lays down and goes to sleep...
...JOHN GRUHL Lincoln, Nebraska Class war When you choose anew to natter at academe I hope you will try to find someone better informed, more familiar, or both, with that little world than Jon Meacham (or others who have appeared in your pages...
...By contrast, private wealth is usually accumulated through transactions where there is free will on both sides and no implicit threat...
...Hardly...
...In sharp contrast to Mr...
...For example, a corporation's total legal retainer fees for each year could be proportionally allocated based on all the trials in which they are involved, using attorney hours in court as a measure...
...My point, however, is still that the Brown curriculum is rigged so that a person could win that terrific credential without furrowing, let alone moistening, the brow...
...A nonlethal chemical would certainly be a lot easier to evade than the multitude of lethal agents that are already available...
...Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope...
...I know that Ira can take care of himself, but I want to be certain your readers know that when Segal talks about the Brown curriculum, he is hopelessly uninformed and dead wrong...
...Brown's curriculum is starting to look thin and dated...
...If you cannot distinguish between lawyer-lobbyists, lawyer-politicians, legal-aid lawyers, solo practitioners, prosecutors, corporate lawyers, etc., and the wide range of people on the ethical scale in each of these categories, then you are simply intellectually lazy...
...After all, it's an Ivy League school—attracting and educating smart people who can then use their degrees to find gainful employment is the least Brown can do...
...the money is taken from them whether they like it or not, and the penalties for non-compliance are severe...
...Real reform comes when it, and not piecemeal solutions, is advanced, and when the real clientele (obviously not the students and certainly not the faculty) want them...
...It is simply bad journalism...
...De Luca first insists "the California wine industry does not consider wine to be a health tonic nor do we advocate drinking for health reasons...
...Grade inflation...
...If I win, chances are, as a private citizen, I get all my expenses back, unless they truly fight the suit "on the cheap...
...For change of address, please provide six weeks' notice and include old address label...
...If this is not possible, some are determined to remake their current department in the image of their former one...
...I don't put much stock in college surveys, but since Ms...
...For reprint rights for all or part of an article call S.Tallapragada at (202) 4620128...
...And you need only 30 credits worth of those courses for a diploma...
...In subsequent years, they have monitored it closely and made judicious revisions periodically...
...Every academic major requires a set of courses as rigorous as any in the country, and graduates must also demonstrate writing competency...
...Strong support for the curriculum continues among faculty and students and a recent independent Yankelovich survey showed that more than 89 percent of graduates would go to Brown again, and 92 percent want the Brown experience for their children...
...Of course, for corporations keeping counsel on permanent retainer, attorney costs would have to be allocated fairly, particularly to keep a losing company from claiming that almost nothing was spent on their legal expenses...
...ISSN 0043-0633...
...Break-It," May...
...Either way, they want an environment most conducive to research and a reward structure that matches...
...Wrong again...
...Dozens of scientific studies have documented that a moderate amount of alcohol, consumed as wine, beer, or spirits, is associated with a 25-45 percent lower risk of heart disease, which refutes Mr...
...two years, $72...
...There is a great need for reform in higher education, which has become all too institutionalized...
...Segal...
...ROGER HORN Clarion, Pennsylania July/August 1993/The Washington Monthly 5...
...And Segal's vision of a craven faculty adopting the Magaziner/Maxwell curriculum without a whimper, lest it face student violence—no way...
...Reprints of articles are available to individuals or schools at $2.00 each (prepaid...
...Sherwood's characterization, the California wine industry does not consider wine to be a health tonic nor do we advocate drinking for health reasons...
...I suspect that the idea is more attractive than it is practical—a liberal's equivalent to Star Wars...
...Brown graduates are actively sought by the nation's top medical, law, business, and graduate schools, as well as by the leading organizations in both the public and private sector...
...SUSAN B. CLAYTON Goleta, California Double your money Reading the article "Tort and Retort: An Exchange" [May] by Charles Peters and Anthony Lewis, I think you both overlooked an obvious variation on the "loser pays" system for tort-associated legal expenses...
...People who are taxed have no say in the matter...
...Send correspondence concerning subscriptions, undelivered copies, and changes of address to Box 587, Mount Morris IL, 61054...
...Murdered sleep Charles Peters' reference to "a nonlethal chemical that would render people unconscious for 24 hours or so" [Tilting At Windmills, June] reminds me that back in the sixties when I was in Air Force R&D, there was some talk about it, but the idea never went anywhere as far as I know...
...NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 462-0128...
...I know that you want to get the message across that academics teach too little and are not particularly good at it when they do, but your writers tend simply to flail at the subject...
...But, as I try to emphasize every six months or so, I very much admire the lawyers who try to live up to the highest ideals of the profession...
...Don't kill the lawyers I am a hard-working lawyer and probably what most people would call unrepentantly idealistic...
...Sour grapes On behalf of the Wine Institute, an association of 450 California wineries, I'm writing to correct some misstatements in Ben Sherwood's article, "Wine and Poses" [May...
...Just the knowledge of its existence would ensure the development of effective countermeasures...
...Admission itself is an achievement...
...Brown does not grant advanced placement credit, and D is not a passing grade...
...De Luca's letter inadvertently captures the fundamental problem with the wine industry's claims about alcohol and health...
...You may feel that the practice of passing wealth from one generation to the next is socially retrogressive, and I agree that it tends to result in a stratified society...
...PAUL N. NASH Arlington, Virginia Trustworthy funds You suggest that there is not much difference between welfare payments and payments from a trust fund established via inherited wealth [Tilting at Windmills, May...
...They do exist...
...We do, however, emphatically rebut the medically and socially invalid political position that portrays any wine consumption as risk-taking behavior...
...Brown is among the top six universities for selection of its students, with 83 percent of admitted applicants coming from the the top 5 percent of their high school classes...
...JOEL S.DAVIS Albuquerque, New Mexico Brown nosing No matter how badly he may have wanted to trash Ira Magaziner, David Segal's sweeping remarks about the Brown University curriculum reveal his ignorance and failure to research his subject ["Mr...
...However, that is a separate issue...
...The author replies: I don't doubt that smart people go to Brown, learn a lot, would want to go again, and land lucrative jobs when they leave...
...As Jacques Barzun has said, the public knows how to get what it wants—witness the demands for sports and other entertainment from putative educational institutions...
...Brown graduates must complete a minimum of 30 courses...
...In the 1993 edition of US...
...So-called moderate alcohol consumption is tricky to define or control—and the public health dangers are considerable...
...rather, I pay my expenses and, at most, only that much again towards theirs...
...The "extras" go to less prestigious schools...
...Postmaster: Send change of address to 7Vie Washington Monthly, Box 587, Mount Morris IL, 61054...
...To equate this private wealth with "public" money (i.e...
...to the lesser of what each of the two sides paid...
...Sherwood's statement that "it's also not entirely clear that it's the alcohol in wine that helps the heart...
...While honors graduates at other universities often account for 50 percent of graduating classes, Brown's faculty has voted that no more than 20 percent of Brown graduates can receive University honors...
...All rights reserved...
...JOHN DE LUCA President, The Wine Institute San Francisco, California The author replies: While claiming to correct so-called "misstatements" in my article, Mr...
...The Washington Monthly is indexed in the Book Review Index, Political Science Abstracts, Public Affairs Information Service, the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, the Social Science Index, and Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory and may be obtained on microfilm from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI 48106...
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...Many of these young faculty are anxious to return to a school like their graduate school...
...Reproduction by any method whatsoever without permission is prohibited...
...Thus, if I sue General Motors and lose, I don't pay millions for the high priced legal team they bring in...
...a solution that solves many of the problems Mr...
...Your point seems to be that in both cases, someone is receiving something without having to work for it...
...Fair enough...
...If you fail one of those courses, you can strike it from the record...
...but if you accept the concept that a person has the right to own property (as I think you must), there's a very fundamental difference between the two types of money...
...De Luca and the wine industry want it both ways...
...It complements food as part of an optimal diet and lifestyle...
...three years, $98...
...PETER HIRSCH New York, New York The editor replies: I do love to bash the greedy Iagos, the Typhoid Marys of paranoia, who make up far too much of the bar...
Vol. 25 • June 1993 • No. 7
