I rejoiced when I saw the article about Love Your Body Day in the last issue of the Mess. St. Olaf needed that. I turned to the ads and found a completely different message, "Lose weight now. Needed, 17 people to be paid to lose weight"

I emailed the Mess editors. The response: "We are a self-sufficient publication that relies upon advertising revenue for weekly funding - which sometimes makes it difficult for us to pick and choose."

OK. Someone has made a decision, weighed the plusses and minuses of publishing unhealthy ads. I see the logic behind that decision, although I'm not certain that I agree with it.

Most bothersome is the fact that, for a college that mandates a course on ethics, we do not have community discussions about ethical consuming, regardless of the resulting answers. The questions of where to draw the line when receiving and spending money are ones that are being made all around us every day, from accepting gifts for buildings on campus, to Coca Cola ads in public schools.

Where would you draw the line if you were in charge? Do the ends justify the means? Whose responsibility is it to make these decisions? I would argue that ultimately, it is all of ours. By remaining ignorant as to who IS making decisions, and choosing to not discuss or get involved, we are making a very pronounced decision of another sort- one that I dont think many of us would be very proud to admit.