editorial

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Winter Carnival tradition wounded by calendar revisions

In a rare outburst of excitement at the weekly Community Council meeting on Monday, student representatives to the Council balked at plans to discard an all-school holiday on the Friday prior to the College's Winter Carnival. The day off will be rescheduled starting in 2009 to coincide with a student research symposium in April.

The decision is a strong blow levied against the College's Winter Carnival. The event - the oldest and largest student-run carnival in the country - has been a beloved institution at the College for 84 years, and while attendance at ski races has lagged in recent years, the unique blend of athletics events and social and cultural programming that characterizes the Carnival has long wowed students, alumni and community members. In a much-appreciated departure from strictly academic enterprises, the annual event fosters school spirit and good-natured play.

The scheduling switch-up stems from a recommendation buried in the hefty tome that constitutes the 2006 Strategic Plan and, unsurprisingly, drew less initial attention after the Plan's adoption than big-ticket efforts to lower the faculty-student ration and boost financial aid offerings. The Board of Trustees approved the more specific changes to the College's academic calendar in May. Few, if any, students knew about the slated change, and Community Council's discussion on Monday only highlighted the fact that the larger community wields no leverage in this debate.

The College already lacks the multitude of long-held traditions that our neighboring schools so fervently love. Fostering new intellectual traditions in the form of student symposia is a laudable goal, but when these new traditions come at the cost of old ones, spirit on campus suffers. Winter Carnival's singularity deserves special recognition, and this scheduling change will, unfortunately, cripple the integrity of the carnival weekend.


Commons party deserves deeper conversations

Cook Commons drew reactions ranging from bemusement to dismay when it moved forward this weekend with a party that included the screening of the R-rated version of a pornographic film. The decision to play the film on a loop during the event ultimately appeared provocative and tasteless without justification but did generate discussion in classrooms, Commons Council meetings and cyberspace across campus. Right or wrong, the reaction elicited by the party draws attention to concerns about gender roles and relationships on campus that could provide the fodder for meaningful debate, if handled with candor and respect.

The film, perhaps a stunt to draw students to the event, contributed little if anything to the party outside of shock value, and did, as many students were quick to acknowledge, send disconcerting messages about sexuality that were degrading to both men and women. But it got students and faculty talking about issues on campus that are ultimately larger than one film. Rather than defending or attacking processes and past decisions, student groups and administrators alike should take this opportunity to engage in a larger dialogue on campus.

The seeds of this conversation have already been planted. This week, the Middlebury Open Queer Alliance (MOQA) kicked off Coming Out Week at the College. The Task Force on the Status of Women at Middlebury convenes today discuss issues ranging from the representation of women at all levels in the College to specific challenges on campus faced by minority women. The issues raised by the Cook event, however, deserve a deeper conversation than the one afforded by a weekend of controversy or a week of programming.