Our College president's grand plans for our College were profiled in BusinessWeek recently. I always get excited to hear about someone associated with Amherst making headlines-it gives me hope that the Amherst bubble will eventually expand to include greater things. President Anthony Marx (or Tony M. as I refer to him amongst my friends), displays the best quality of a college-educated person, one which many people lose immediately after graduating, or one they never had to begin with: idealism. Indeed, Tony Marx's idealistic plans to revolutionize the student bodies of elite colleges is turning heads. If you weren't familiar with the BusinessWeek article, or our president's plans, it can be surmised by the following. Amherst College, seeking to break the current self-perpetuating cycle of class division within college ranks, will seek to have a significant portion of the Amherst College student body (25 percent or so) come from low-income households. Low-income students are those who qualify to receive Pell Grants. Essentially, Amherst College will seek to be more than just a link in the "silver spoon to prep school to elite college to position of influence" progression. What Amherst intends to do is to attempt to be in the front line of social change, 1,600 students at a time.

Inaccessibility to higher education is a reflection of deeper inequalities within our society. It is ironic that institutions of higher learning, especially those at the forefront of proclaiming social injustice, have not come up with a more tangible solution to this major problem in our country. The necessity of this plan makes it not only necessary for Amherst College to be consistent with its ideals, but also to attempt to transition from passive support for social justice to active support. It is a direct challenge to the status quo, in the most difficult and uncomfortable of platforms-class division. This is a personification of combating the social justice that we speak about in the classroom, in Valentine and our dorms. Divestment is a fine idea, but Amherst can't actively change the underlying Sudanese social issues, we can only do our part to influence America's involvement. Amherst College's plan to admit high achieving students from low-income families is an active form of social reform-one that will yield real results. We will be supporting a group of individuals who have faced great challenges (and have overcome them) and we will release them into the world with an education, connections and most of all, the piece of mind to know that they entered a bastion of privilege, were held to the highest of standards and succeeded.

The BusinessWeek article would not have been controversial had it not brought up the challenges that lay ahead. Indeed, there are many challenges to come. We will need more tutoring, more faculty, more financial aid, more alumni giving, a larger endowment and the mental fortitude to know that all the sacrifice will make a difference in the world. Yes, there are challenges. Without even discussing the possible drawbacks, every Amherst student should ask him or herself a few questions. Was getting into college easy? Have you ever accomplished anything without sacrifice? Is having principles easy? The answer for most successful people (which I assume we all aim to be) is "no." Discussing social inequities is difficult, especially when many in the student population are part of the breakaway group from whom the rest of the population is passively being segregated. Discussing issues such as race relations, paternalism, faux liberalism and guilt is always uncomfortable. But to provide a cliché of clichés: "Why does Rice play the University of Texas?" asked John F. Kennedy. The answer is because its hard. Will Amherst take a hit in the rankings? Possibly. Will our faculty feel overwhelmed? Likely. Will those entering students feel alienated? Absolutely.

There should be no question that confronting social divides is difficult, but there should also be no question that for Amherst College to continue to stand on a pulpit and preach to society about society's own ills would be hypocrisy. More than hypocrisy, it would be a poor example to us, the student body, to not see the administration and the College step outside of their comfort zone and make a difference, when they repeatedly call on us to do the same. Tony Marx's plan is beyond the condescending small-scale victories that colleges hide behind to claim they care about society. A food drive here, a donation there, some volunteerism on occasion, can make a difference in a few people's lives, but it should come out of the kindness of the heart of the individual performing these acts, not under the notion of some ideological fulfillment. No, indeed, such ideological fulfillment has to go beyond altruism (something great in its own terms) to activism, the actual sacrifice of one's self for a cause. If we truly revere Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, César Chavez or any other leader of the disenfranchised, than we will honor them with our sacrifice, which is difficult, but which pales in comparison to the sacrifices made before.

Cabeza can be contacted at rcabeza08@amherst.edu