With Thanksgiving this past weekend and finals on the horizon, a 1L’s time is precious. I had just enough time this weekend to pull my head out of the books and peruse some Ivy newspaper websites. Here’s a sampling of what I found:

In Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Pennsylvanian, the editorial board of the DP complained in an editorial about having classes on the day before Thanksgiving.

“As can be seen on the accompanying chart, many other schools start their Thanksgiving breaks on Wednesday, and a few even give students an entire week off. With Penn expanding next year's winter break by a full week, the University acknowledges how important breaks are for students. Since so few classes are held anyway, it’s high time Wednesday before Thanksgiving became an official University holiday.”

The chart lists Cornell as having its break start on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which, while true, is deceiving since the break (for undergrads, I still had class until 2:30) starts at 1 p.m. that day, meaning that most students still actually have class. While the DP may have a good point, it might want to get its facts straight before it brings its suggestion to Penn’s administration.

That said, getting the entire day off might not be such a bad idea. One problem, though: if the DP gets its wish, how long before there’s an editorial asking for Tuesday off as well? Or the whole week?

Speaking of which, in Wednesday’s issue of The Harvard Crimson, Adam A. Solomon argued that Harvard students should have the whole week off.

“College already necessarily separates students from their families for extended periods of time: whenever a legitimate opportunity arises to return home, the University should accommodate the understandable desire of students for a respite from books and college life. Feelings of guilt or irresponsibility should not be the norm when contemplating going home for Thanksgiving.”

Tear. Although frankly, he had me until this argument:

“For anybody who didn’t board in high school, college life can be quite an unnatural shock. Students are suddenly removed from their familiar domiciles and thrust into a world of independence, responsibility, and uncertainty.”

For anybody who didn’t board in high school? Did most Harvard students “board” in high school? And if the writer “boarded” in high school, who is he to talk about the feelings of those who did not? A bit out of touch with the rest of the world, are we?

In Tuesday’s issue of The Dartmouth, Jacob Baron takes on the real important issues.

“First, why does the Courtyard Cafe stop serving pancakes, waffles and French toast at 11:00 a.m.? The cutoff seems artificial, and it is a great inconvenience. For the many students who love traditional sweet breakfasts but for whom sleep is decidedly more important in the morning, the policy can be irritating. And it does not seem that much would have to be changed in order to remove the 11:00 breakfast cutoff. If there is waffle batter left over at 11:23, and a student orders a waffle, why not serve one?”

Is this really an appropriate topic for a column in a college newspaper? I feel like this is something that should be pinned to the comment board in the dining hall, no?

In the Friday, November 17 issue of The Brown Daily Herald, David Leipziger wrote a clever, yet slightly obnoxious column clamoring for a concentration in vocabulary at Brown.

“This article is not a denigration of existing departments here. I don't mean to sound pedantic when I derogate such fine degree programs as the history of mathematics. Nor do I mean to come across as fustian, aureate, euphuistic or grandiloquent. If I do, kindly exculpate me for my bloviation in light of the salient tractate which I hopefully have enucleated. Yes, countless puissant graduates of everyday programs have succeeded in the world - almost all, in fact, without the aid of an exhaustive vocabulary.”

Pretty gelastic if you ask me (I can use fancy words too).

In the Friday, November 17 issue of The Columbia Spectator, J.D. Porter, it seems, tried to equate Ivy League football and the Iraq War.

“The similarities between Columbia football and the Iraq War don’t end with mutual catastrophic failure. As "fans," we can take a page from our nation's disastrous foreign policy to determine how we should handle team spirit. Just as we support the troops and not the war — putting yellow bumper stickers on our cars but still sending them to be maimed and killed in the desert — so can we support our football players. For the sake of their heroic struggle, and Columbia's image, we must support the players without actually going to the games or trying to make the program better. That would just be a waste of time.”

Man, Columbia ended up 5-5 this season. Could you imagine what they’d be saying if they were 2-8 like last year? Our team was 5-5, and considering their records during my four-and-a-half years on The Hill, I’d say that’s pretty encouraging. Onward and upward.

Good luck on finals everyone, and have a great break.

Eric Finkelstein ’06 is a former Sun managing editor and is currently a first-year student in the Law School. He can be contacted at ejf33@cornell.edu. Saturdays Excepted appears alternate Mondays this semester.