Letter to the Editor: Lovett is not a toaster

By Robert Duffield     11/9/16 8:00am

To the Editor,

Being a Bakerite, it never really bothered me that Lovett College looked like a toaster (which it does from some angles). However, now I know a current student at Lovett, and I could tell that “Toaster College” was not their favorite nickname.

So before I tease them any more about it, I decided to check whether it is true or not.

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I have a toaster. I can measure the dimensions. I can estimate dimensions for Lovett College. Nope, not even close, Lovett is much (much) larger. However, they are both shaped like rectangular prisms, with length, width and height, so maybe the proportions of those dimensions are the same (or similar) which is why Lovett might look like a toaster.

For a good comparison, I reduced the smallest dimension to 1.00 and divided the other two dimensions by the smallest dimension to keep them proportional. After this simplification,

My Toaster:      1.00 x 1.26 x 1.80

Lovett College: 1.00 x 1.40 x 3.00

Lovett does not look like a toaster, but surely it looks like something.

Cheese Grater:  1 .00 x 1.00 x 2.25

Shoebox (men): 1.00 x 1.40 x 2.70

Lovett looks more like a shoebox, or maybe a 4-slice, extra tall for bagels, toaster. Maybe you have a different shape of toaster, or box of crackers or even a breadbox. Maybe out there is something that has the exact Lovett proportions.

Robert Duffield, Baker College ’87

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