Editorial

This past weekend, Middlebury College celebrated its 88th Winter Carnival — continuing the longest-running student-led Carnival in the country. Apart from the much-appreciated three-day weekend, the College sponsored several performances and events. This weekend also marked the triumphant homecoming of the Ski team — Middlebury’s only Division-I athletic program. Winter Carnival is truly a weekend worthy of merriment and revelry.

The fact that our Carnival is student-led is a point of pride that should be celebrated. MCAB and other student groups perform the majority of publicizing and planning for the weekend’s events rather than relying on the administration. MCAB and the Winter Carnival Committee headed by Liz Gay ‘11 did a fantastic job of advertising events via e-mail and posters. The fireworks were raging and epic, comedian John Mulaney was hilarious and the Ball was well-attended with famous DJs Flosstradamus on the turntables.

The Campus also commends MCAB for reviving old traditions, such as crowning a King and Queen (gender neutral, of course) and using nostalgic, evocative images in the poster and advertisements. The Carnival is relatively unique among our nation’s universities and its rich history should not only be acknowledged, but celebrated. The school’s future is paramount, but we  are also more than two centuries old as an institution. We should not forget Middlebury’s heritage in our quest for progress.

We find the emphasis of tradition to be imperative in our current environment as Middlebury is increasingly forward-looking and perhaps unwittingly ignoring its past. While many of our peer institutions are far more steeped in their illustrious histories, Middlebury is more inclined to focus on expansion and future endeavors. The abolition of the Greek system, though an important step in creating the social culture at Middlebury today, definitely contributed to the uprooting of established traditions and institutions on campus, but this future-conscious inclination has been perpetuated in recent years as well. And this trend is not something deplorable; the College’s emphasis on environmental initiatives, Monterey and expanding the ‘Middlebury Foreign Language’ brand are laudable achievements. But in some respects, the Middlebury ethos seems to ignore much of the school’s 210-year history. Our history is something that all students can rally around, but our campus generally lacks the events and customs to illuminate and highlight it.

The Middlebury administration does a phenomenal job in addressing interest and niche groups among students. Our over 150 student organization are incredibly diverse both in subject matter and constituents. Minority groups and various committees are given a deservedly high degree of interest from deans and faculty. We are very good at compartmentalizing ourselves and highlighting our important differences. But, as a student body and administration, we struggle to rally together. Apart from Winter Carnival, there are very few traditions that are exclusively unique to Middlebury. We acknowledge that it is hard to artificially revive or create ersatz traditions, but we implore the administration to continue supporting the existing ones, like Winter Carnival or the Spring Picnic, and support other all-campus events that are distinctively ‘Middlebury.’

This lack of unifying traditions cannot be hoisted solely upon the administration; the student body shares the responsibility. No matter how much faculty and staff support large-scale events, they cannot offset student apathy. If we value our history and traditions (which we should), then we must not only actively attend, but also participate in the continuation of them. We take pride in the fact that the Winter Carnival is student-run ­— the only way to keep it running is by becoming involved in the tradition.