Prof: students have ‘intellectual sophistication’ to ignore his ‘choice of trousers’

To the Editor:

Re: “Fashion 103: Intro to Professorial Panache,” Arts, April 15

As a member of the Cornell community for whom careless habit has been a long habit (see The Cornell Lunatic, Spring 1988, page 54), I felt quite amused at Dana Mendelowitz’s “Fashion 103” column. Mendelowitz appeals to path dependence to explain the faculty’s widespread inattention to accoutrement, guessing that we must be suffering from poor role models. The actual reason is much simpler: we have way too many other things to think about. We don’t see costume as a serious issue, because we credit most students with an intellectual sophistication sufficient to base their academic decisions on qualities less superficial than an instructor’s choice of trousers. Although Mendelowitz is right to point out the overlap between pedagogy and showmanship, education is not interchangeable with entertainment and students oughtn’t to expect it to be so. Far from constituting a distraction, perhaps our fashion shortcomings help illustrate that sound scholarship depends on what the facts and theories are, rather than how those facts and theories are clothed.

Prof. Matthew Belmonte, human development

Former Sunnies, American heroes,

write in defense of Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

To the Editor:

Re: “Massacre at Pigeon Forge: A journey to America’s strip mall badlands,” Opinion, April 15

Ted Hamilton’s sojourns to Istanbul and Red Cuba notwithstanding, we draw issue with his unfair portrayal of Pigeon Forge, Tenn. As seasoned alumni, we have had the pleasure and privilege of visiting the areas near Smoky Mountains National Park, and seeing the egalitarian blossoms of the New South spring forward.

Who can forget balancing the majesty of the Smokies with the densest concentration of miniature golf in the United States? Who can relive the dislocating rides at Ghost Town theme park in North Carolina? Who can belittle the wine produced, bottled, and sold on that well-trafficked Route 441?

Although Pigeon Forge may not be as chic as Natick, Mass., Route 441 North boasts the distinction of simultaneously being Route 321 South. If such opposites can coexist on a highway, then perhaps Mr. Hamilton can also embrace the persisting duality of this great American Land.

Joshua Goldman, former Sun News Writer

Carlos Maycotte, former Sun Associate Editor

Adam Schnabel, former Sun Photographer

Justin Weitz, former Sun Columnist