Most of the work the council does goes on behind the scenes by people whose concern is not the obnoxious showmanship of windbaggery but the benefit of student life. It is a shame, I admit, that the council does tend to attract more than its fair share of windbags and is best known by those few who are so full of themselves. But trust me when I say this, those people rarely succeed in anything worthy of note on the council except for giving the council a bad name, and everybody who sits on the council knows who they are, and no one, let me repeat that, no one respects them.

In fact, most council members are far more concerned by such "windbags" than the gentleman who penned last Friday's letter. For them, such people are not just a nuisance, they poison the work they are trying to accomplish. Council members understand better than anyone else the fact that the muck these people rake seems inevitably to find a quicker route to page one of The Crimson than any benefit they may bring students, a fact which is borne out (I am guessing) by the surprise with which most of you have read the accomplishments of the council that have been listed. The difference is that, instead of infecting the pages of the Crimson with even more cynicism about the role of the council on this campus, they have undertaken the far harder task of working against this trend on behalf of the students. For these efforts, they should ultimately be thanked--or at least left alone. They should not, however, have to suffer abuse from one who idly enjoys their success.

John Paul Rollert '00-'01 is a social studies concentrator in Mather House. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.