Communism, the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Brandeis ice skating rink: three ideas that looked much better on paper than when they were put into effect. Brandeis students are now the proud collaborators in a campus project that gives them access to their very own ice skating rink. Though "ice rink" conjures images of hockey and skating, the "rink" part falls a bit short. Roughly the size of a sandbox, the Brandeis rink's uneven surface and perpetual blanket of snow do not make it a very inviting setting for winter pastimes. Ignoring the fact that few students trudge to class clad in their skates, the rink is so confining that a single push will glide you from end to end. One must ask, given the useless nature of the rink: why is it here?

As the Justice reported on Jan. 18, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer had the idea to build the rink as a tribute to curling, his hidden love. Since the rink is actually too small for curling, I'm still confused as to why it's here. Perhaps Sawyer was building a metaphor, suggesting that the world's indifference towards curling is akin to the futility of the rink?

When asked in the article about the use for a rink the size of a single in Reitman, Sawyer said it was "standing around" ice. I'm not sure I'm acquainted with "standing around" ice, but then again, I can't really think of "standing around" anything. Because I missed getting good tickets to Liquid Latex, must I settle for skating in the back?

Still unimpressed with this reason for the rink's existence, I worked harder to uncover a more plausible purpose for its construction. Someone suggested the "childhood dream" argument: maybe Sawyer always wanted an ice skating rink of his own, and realized that Brandeis could help him achieve this lifelong dream.

This answer pains me even more, for everyone knows that childhood dreams are meant to go unfulfilled. If everyone realized their dreams, the world would be full of astronauts, firemen and ballerinas. Most people pick up a healthy cynicism and realize that most ideas are never meant to be brought to fruition. Ideas, like this rink, are best left as fantasies scribbled down on lazy days.

I know I'm heartless for shattering the harmless reveries of some foolish romantic. But there are times to be sappy, and Valentine's Day has past.
I shudder to think that money that could have funded student club activities, helped a financially-challenged student or beautified the campus was burnt for this project. The Justice failed to mention how much money the rink cost, but I feel that any amount is too much. When we funnel thousands into depressing, half-finished game rooms, we don't need to flush more money away on senseless endeavors. This ice rink is the Old Yeller of Brandeis: it ought to be put out of its misery.

Perhaps one day Brandeis will have the money for a real ice rink on which we can skate for fun, cultivate a hockey league and not cower in shame when prospective students ask about it. But if we're going to do that, we should do it well. The rink we have right now, as sentimental and life-affirming as it may be for some, is a sad, pathetic sandbox that someone forgot to bring in from the cold. Come spring, maybe we can turn it into a frog pond or a wishing well. Or better yet, when spring comes and the snow melts, we will have all the resources necessary to launch Dean Sawyer's second secret dream: Brandeis' own mud-wrestling league.