Spring is in the air, and one senses that it is again time for the college students of the land to engage in protest. It all began in the late 1960s, and one of the legacies of that period is that the campuses are evacuated as soon as possible. By May, the student body will be vamoosing. Administrators have discovered that that soft, gentle, spring-like weather breeds discontent among the students, drunken carousal, violence and criminality. It is best to return the inmates to their parents.

An early sign of this seasonal discontent came a week ago at Dartmouth, where a troop of students took over the president’s office and delivered up a 72-point manifesto, which obviously took a lot of work. As Jillian Mayer, a senior, said, “None of those points are just thrown in there because we thought they should be there. People spent a lot of time building this Freedom Budget. I am not willing to prioritize certain things over others when all these issues work toward the same goal.” Is she saying that the points are thrown “in there” because she thought they should not to be there? I am glad the president of Dartmouth has agreed to talk calmly and sensibly with Jillian and her cohorts. Possibly someone will suggest that she makes no sense.