Fruit of Many Colors
Take a peek into an Ec 10 lecture and you get the impression that Harvard has chosen a representative student of every race, background, dogma and creed. Visit a dining hall, though, and you get the impression that Harvard thinks the only edible plant ovaries come from apples, oranges and bananas.
We're not saying that nary another fruit is ever seen in a dining hall. Why just last week canned pineapple made a cameo appearance on the salad bar, and every so often a pear turns up incognito in the apple bin.
Nor are we saying that the cuisine at Harvard shows a complete lack of diversity. We seem to be doing fine in the grain department-indeed, choosing whether to toast a bagel, a muffin, white bread or multi-grain has left us chasing the shuttle on many early morns. And the spectrum of vegetables isn't poorly represented either-imagine, butternut squash and snow peas on the same night!
But we are saying that Harvard has fallen prey to an unfruitful nearsightedness. Hast not a nectarine eyes, hands, organs, dimensions-or at least a stem and sweet juicy flesh? Is there a reason that mangos and granny smiths cannot sit together on the same fruit table of brotherhood?
The menu alteration doesn't have to be dramatic-although dining hall memberships to the Williams-Sonoma "Fruit of the Month" club would be more than appreciated. But it's about time that Harvard realizes that fruit comes in more than three shapes and sizes. The tasteless elitism has got to stop.
A COMMUNITY OF EQUALS-Adam I. Arenson; FORBIDDEN FRUIT-Lauren E. Baer