The New Year always provides an opportunity for reflection. While BuzzFeed is littered with lists looking back at “14 Animals who Melted your Heart in 2013” and “33 Times Joseph Gordon-Levitt Charmed your Pants Off in 2013,” we have decided to look forward to 2014, with these six headlines we would love to see in the next year.
JusTalks Mandated for all First-Years
Throughout the fall, our editorials advocated for critical engagement in campus issues and better listening to a diversity of perspectives. JusTalks presents a proactive solution for this challenge through a full day of large and small group activities and discussion facilitated by other students to encourage students to think about their own identities, as well as the identities of their peers.
Now at the end of its second occurrence — and the first time it was limited to first-years — JusTalks has proven its ability to draw a crowd and provide a meaningful curriculum. From its inception, JusTalks was meant to be mandatory for students in their first J-term, meaning first-year regs and sophomore febs. J-term provides the ideal space for such an event. By J-term, students have been at Middlebury long enough to be comfortable and have an identity on campus, but not so long that they are fixed in their ways. If events like “Middlebury Uncensored” during Orientation are any indication, this kind of program can help students better understand and engage with their peers and even make new friends who they otherwise may never have met.
To conclude a year that has been dotted by the need for dialogue, from the 9/11 flag incident to Chance the Rapper to the Amy Wax lecture, the administration would be wise to implement a program that mandates the discussions we need to reflect as a community and as individuals when controversy arises.
Students Take Larger Role in Deciding Next President
President Liebowitz’s announcement that he is stepping down in 2015 has sparked discussion about the role of our next President. What qualities should our next President embody? What background is needed? Where could he or she fill in existing gaps? What should be prioritized?
As students, we have a hard time answering these questions because process to select and qualities required for a president are a bit of a mystery. When Liebowitz was selected in 2004, the 16-person selection committee had one student representative: the student co-chair of Community Council. While the co-chair is a student-elected position, one student on a committee of 16 seems to preclude an important stakeholder in this process.
Liebowitz was selected in part because of his strong rapport with the student body, and we are hugely impacted by the College’s decisions in most areas. We would like to be included in this process in a more significant way than we were last time, both directly in the decision process and through transparency along the way. We want to have informed opinions about the kind of President the College needs next, but the administration must keep us in mind along the way in order to meaningfully account for the student voice.
Dish Loss Cut 50 Percent by Collection Program
Dish removal still causes huge monetary losses for the College and showcases a troubling lack of respect for our hardworking staff. If we ever want to be able to eat cereal for breakfast, we need to stop stealing the dishes. It’s disrespectful both to the dining hall staff and to our fellow diners. We need to bring back bowls so we can enjoy our meals without eating oatmeal off a plate.
A new program should require every student group to do a dish collection every year. Tavern has the right idea and should serve as a model for other organizations. The top 28 student organizations by membership should be required to each do a dish retrieval sweep from dorms once a year. That breaks down to one per week. It’s time to mandate this program.
Battell and the Mods Demolished; New Housing Built
For those of us unlucky enough to live in Battell our first year, this issue hits particularly close to home. The converted lounges across campus confirm that we need more housing. Moreover, we need more housing that was not built in the fifties, and preferably are not designed by a prison architect. The risk of student rioting seems substantially lower than when Ross was built. We would prefer housing that allows for the communal living seen in Gifford and other dorms with suites.
Similarly, the Mods were slated for demolition in 2003. While their popularity hinges on the option of communal living without having to enter room draw, they should be replaced with something more permanent and perhaps a little easier on the eye.
We know buildings are expensive, and plans for new first-year housing were slashed with the recession, but the endowment has since recovered and our quality of life is hugely impacted by our living situation. Plus it is expensive to heat and maintain old buildings, particularly buildings with asbestos problems. The speed at which gastro flew around Battell two
years ago is enough of a sign that we need better and more options. That dorm was supposed to be gone by 2015; it is not too late.
Field House Opens on Schedule
It’s been a rough winter for some of our sports teams. Teams are practicing outside long past when it’s usually too cold. The Track team has been frequenting the pool for aqua jogging. Unfortunately, they can’t all cross train in our brand new squash courts, so we need the new field house to open soon too. So far, it appears that construction is going as scheduled. The Squash Center’s timely opening is a good sign. But we know construction often is delayed, and our athletes shouldn’t have to endure another winter of driving to Burlington for proper facilities. We are excited to see what will replace the bubble and will be even more excited if we can see it on schedule.
AAL Credit Changed to be Geographically Balanced
In order to graduate, we are required to meet four “Culture and Civilizations” requirements: NOR focusing on some aspect of northern America (United States and Canada), CMP focusing on the process of comparison between and among civilizations or of the identities of groups within cultures or civilizations, EUR focusing on some aspect of European cultures or civilizations, AAL focusing the culture and civilizations of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. That’s right, we have two requirements for Western civilizations and lump the rest of the world into an acronym for Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Until 2007 it was called “other,” but since then we have changed nothing other than the name. While the NOR requirement can be justified by our institution’s location, the emphasis on European culture over all other cultures trivializes the importance of these cultures and their global impact. For a college that claims to teach students to “engage the world,” we are falling short.
The College, therefore, should adopt the proposed recommendation of a recent petition on “We the MiddKids,” which suggests replacing the AAL and EUR requirements by requiring two courses that focus on some aspects of the cultures and civilizations of AFR (Africa), ASI (Asia), LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), MDE (the Middle East), or EUR (Europe). In a nutshell, all other regions would be considered their own region, and you could chose to take classes in two of six geographic regions instead of separate credits for Europe and then other regions. Not only would this change better reflect the diversity of backgrounds that exist on this campus and expose students to a wider range of cultural impacts, but also it would encourage students to think beyond and question the Western-centered perspective that prevails in many circles we will encounter after graduation.
Artwork by NOLAN ELLSWORTH
