Changing Gift Deadline Is Unfair To Cabot House

I am writing as a Senior Gift agent who feels that Cabot House has been deeply wronged in this process. For two months--from the beginning of February until April 7--our house worked tirelessly in an attempt to win the Senior Gift Competition.

Knowing that the deadline was April 7, we got many of our pledges in before spring break. This was even emphasized in the senior gift solicitation information and in the worker information meetings.

As we ran toward the finish line, there was no one in sight. However when we finished the race, and had clearly won, we were told that the race had changed and was now extended in duration.

This situation is analogous to Cosmos Ndeti's or Uta Pippig's reaching the finish line of the 26.2 miles Boston Marathon after months of training only to be told that the officials have changed the length of the race while they were running and now they need to run an extra mile.

Such a move would be declared an outrage. Similarly, the legitimacy of the Senior Gift Competition has been compromised. Though the leadership may have wanted to increase participation by extending the deadline, it diminishes the accomplishments of the participants who followed the rules that they were given.

Just because some houses had held their pledges and had not turned them in on time, there is no reason to take the fruits of labor from the rightful victors.

Just like in a marathon, if you do not pace yourself and find that at the end of the race you have a great deal of energy left, there are no extra miles to run. --David Huang '97