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(05/03/18 11:38pm)
In the past five seasons, the men’s track and field team has finished second, third and fourth at Nescacs, but not first. In fact, the Panthers had never won a Nescac championship … until last Saturday, April 28. On the backs of first-place finishes by Kevin Serrao ’18, Jimmy Martinez ’19, Nicholas Hendrix ’20, the 4x100-meter relay team and the 4x400 team, and bolstered by strong performances in every event, the Panthers supplanted the two-time defending champions, Williams, who have now won only 23 of the 33 Nescac crowns — instead of 23 of 32.
And combined with the women’s team, which finished third, Middlebury track and field improved upon last year’s performance, when the men’s and women’s teams came together to finish seventh at Nescacs.
“Knowing that this was the first Nescac title in program history made last weekend even more special,” said Martinez. “Knowing that we could actually win it this year led to so many spectacular performances. I can’t express how proud I am of everyone for bringing the amount of energy they did.”
Martinez was one of several Panthers who rose to another plane of performance on Saturday. He won the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.02, while Serrao won the 1500-meter race in 3:52.20 and Hendrix crossed first in the 100-meter dash in 10.58.
Two relay teams encapsulated what needed to be a complete team effort if they wanted to unseat Williams and outrace the rest of the Nescac competition. Jackson Bock ’19, Jackson Barnett ’18, Mike Pallozzi ’18 and Hendrix came together to run a 42.29 in the 4x100-meter relay, crossing the finish line five-hundredths of a second before Tufts’ team to win the race. Arden Coleman ’20, William Robertson ’21, Josh Howard ’19 and Martinez beat the entire field by at least two seconds to claim the 4x400-meter relay crown.
Along with these five victories, a Panther finished in the top five of every competition but two on the men’s side. James Mulliken ’18, Nathan Hill ’20, Connor Evans ’19, Matt D’Aquila ’21, Harrison Knowlton ’19, Ascencion Aispuro ’18, Tyler Farrell ’18, Jon Perlman ’19, Sawyer Tadano ’21, Jonathan Fisher ’20, John Natalone ’19, Max Memeger ’21, Nathaniel Klein ’21, Minhaj Rahman ’19 and Brenden Edwards ’18 all chipped in top-five performances. And these spectacular efforts came across all of the events — individual running and relays, jumping and throwing.
The man who has guided Middlebury to this moment is Martin Beatty ’84. Beatty was a sprinter for the track team and a running back on the football team at Middlebury. After graduation, he was an assistant for the track and field, football and women’s basketball teams for a season before leaving to fill similar assistant roles at Trinity. In 1987, he returned to Middlebury as an assistant for the track and field, football and men’s basketball teams. Then, in 1988 he chose to focus on track and field, becoming the head coach. The women’s team has won two Nescac titles under Beatty. Now, in his 30th season at the helm, he has championships with both teams.
“Being the first men’s track team to win Nescacs is something we will never forget,” said Hendrix. “Not having won before definitely served as a motivating factor. We’re especially happy for our coach, Martin Beatty, because he deserves it for all the hard work he’s put in over the last 30 years.”
The women’s team also featured remarkable performances. Kate McCluskey ’18 broke a personal record and placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.13, along with a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.22. Additionally, McCluskey won first place in the 4x400 team race along with Lucy Lang ’19, Kai Milici ’21, and Kate Holly ’21.
“I am so proud of both of our teams this weekend, men and women,” McCluskey said, praising her teammates. “We had a lot of outstanding performances all around, and everyone had a lot of fun doing it. I also really admire the way our team comes together at NESCACs. All day we had people cheering for one another.”
With a time of 4:35.22, Katie Glew ’21 placed fourth in the 1500-meter run. Kate MacCary ’19 secured second place in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:16.57. Kreager Taber ’19 placed second in the pole vault event with a vault of 3.55 meters, while Alex Cook ’20 captured third in the long jump with a jump of 5.44 meters. Finally, Helene Rowland ’20 finished third in the shot put event with an 11.99-meter throw.
“Competing at Nescacs is completely different from any other meet. In my opinion, the team seems to be much more unified and competitive with our overall results, as opposed to our own personal performances” said Devon Player ’18. “As a senior, I look back at all of the positive memories of being a part of this team, and it makes me want to try so much harder to do the best that I can and to cherish the time that I have left with my fellow athletes.”
Camaraderie proved to be a constant theme amongst members of the team.
“The preparation for this meet was a real team effort. When a few of the guys realized there was a chance for us to win, the excitement quickly built,” said Paul Malloy ’18. “From top to bottom, this team has shown an incredible amount of commitment and drive. Everybody knew we had a strong group coming into the season, and we’re so fortunate to have an amazing coaching and training staff that knows how to push our limits so that we could perform our best this weekend. I’m so proud of this team for setting a goal of winning this meet and not letting anything get in the way.”
One of the Cinderella stories for the track and field teams that emerged in last weekend’s championship was that of Isabella “Speck” Alfaro ’18, who spent much of the last five months on crutches due to a high risk of stress fracture. However, after being cleared to run in April, she leapt at the opportunity to compete.
“I didn’t think I would race for Middlebury again until Coach Wilkerson gave me the option to be a wildcard entry at Nescacs,” said Alfaro. “The support from my coaches and team made competing on Saturday incredibly special to me and reminded me why I never quit, even when my doctor told me I wouldn’t have a spring season.
“The track team has always been my favorite part of Middlebury,” Alfaro added, “so to have all my teammates line the track and cheer gave me the biggest smile while I was running down the last straightaway.”
With this spirit of support and pattern of excellence, the track and field teams now look forward to the Division III New England Championships, which start at MIT this afternoon and run until Saturday, May 5.
“This win should propel us into New Englands and some of us into NCAAs,” Martinez said. “Over these next few weeks, expect some sick performances and a lot of qualifiers. The goal is to score some serious points at these meets and crown even more champions.”
(05/03/18 5:27pm)
In the past five seasons, the men’s track and field team has finished second, third and fourth at Nescacs, but not first. In fact, the Panthers had never won a Nescac championship … until last Saturday, April 28. On the backs of first-place finishes by Kevin Serrao ’18, Jimmy Martinez ’19, Nicholas Hendrix ’20, the 4x100-meter relay team and the 4x400 team, and bolstered by strong performances in every event, the Panthers supplanted the two-time defending champions, Williams, who have now won only 23 of the 33 Nescac crowns — instead of 23 of 32.
And combined with the women’s team, which finished third, Middlebury track and field improved upon last year’s performance, when the men’s and women’s teams came together to finish seventh at Nescacs.
“Knowing that this was the first Nescac title in program history made last weekend even more special,” said Martinez. “Knowing that we could actually win it this year led to so many spectacular performances. I can’t express how proud I am of everyone for bringing the amount of energy they did.”
Martinez was one of several Panthers who rose to another plane of performance on Saturday. He won the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.02, while Serrao won the 1500-meter race in 3:52.20 and Hendrix crossed first in the 100-meter dash in 10.58.
Two relay teams encapsulated what needed to be a complete team effort if they wanted to unseat Williams and outrace the rest of the Nescac competition. Jackson Bock ’19, Jackson Barnett ’18, Mike Pallozzi ’18 and Hendrix came together to run a 42.29 in the 4x100-meter relay, crossing the finish line five-hundredths of a second before Tufts’ team to win the race. Arden Coleman ’20, William Robertson ’21, Josh Howard ’19 and Martinez beat the entire field by at least two seconds to claim the 4x400-meter relay crown.
Along with these five victories, a Panther finished in the top five of every competition but two on the men’s side. James Mulliken ’18, Nathan Hill ’20, Connor Evans ’19, Matt D’Aquila ’21, Harrison Knowlton ’19, Ascencion Aispuro ’18, Tyler Farrell ’18, Jon Perlman ’19, Sawyer Tadano ’21, Jonathan Fisher ’20, John Natalone ’19, Max Memeger ’21, Nathaniel Klein ’21, Minhaj Rahman ’19 and Brenden Edwards ’18 all chipped in top-five performances. And these spectacular efforts came across all of the events — individual running and relays, jumping and throwing.
The man who has guided Middlebury to this moment is Martin Beatty ’84. Beatty was a sprinter for the track team and a running back on the football team at Middlebury. After graduation, he was an assistant for the track and field, football and women’s basketball teams for a season before leaving to fill similar assistant roles at Trinity. In 1987, he returned to Middlebury as an assistant for the track and field, football and men’s basketball teams. Then, in 1988 he chose to focus on track and field, becoming the head coach. The women’s team has won two Nescac titles under Beatty. Now, in his 30th season at the helm, he has championships with both teams.
“Being the first men's track team to win Nescacs is something we will never forget,” said Hendrix. “Not having won before definitely served as a motivating factor. We're especially happy for our coach, Martin Beatty, because he deserves it for all the hard work he's put in over the last 30 years.”
The women’s team also featured remarkable performances. Kate McCluskey ’18 broke a personal record and placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.13, along with a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.22. Additionally, McCluskey won first place in the 4x400 team race along with Lucy Lang ’19, Kai Milici ’21, and Kate Holly ’21.
“I am so proud of both of our teams this weekend, men and women,” McCluskey said, praising her teammates. “We had a lot of outstanding performances all around, and everyone had a lot of fun doing it. I also really admire the way our team comes together at NESCACs. All day we had people cheering for one another.”
With a time of 4:35.22, Katie Glew ’21 placed fourth in the 1500-meter run. Kate MacCary ’19 secured second place in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:16.57. Kreager Taber ’19 placed second in the pole vault event with a vault of 3.55 meters, while Alex Cook ’20 captured third in the long jump with a jump of 5.44 meters. Finally, Helene Rowland ’20 finished third in the shot put event with an 11.99-meter throw.
“Competing at Nescacs is completely different from any other meet. In my opinion, the team seems to be much more unified and competitive with our overall results, as opposed to our own personal performances” said Devon Player ’18. “As a senior, I look back at all of the positive memories of being a part of this team, and it makes me want to try so much harder to do the best that I can and to cherish the time that I have left with my fellow athletes.”
Camaraderie proved to be a constant theme amongst members of the team.
“The preparation for this meet was a real team effort. When a few of the guys realized there was a chance for us to win, the excitement quickly built,” said Paul Malloy ’18. “From top to bottom, this team has shown an incredible amount of commitment and drive. Everybody knew we had a strong group coming into the season, and we're so fortunate to have an amazing coaching and training staff that knows how to push our limits so that we could perform our best this weekend. I'm so proud of this team for setting a goal of winning this meet and not letting anything get in the way.”
One of the Cinderella stories for the track and field teams that emerged in last weekend’s championship was that of Isabella “Speck” Alfaro ’18, who spent much of the last five months on crutches due to a high-risk stress fracture. However, after being cleared to run in April, she leapt at the opportunity to compete.
“I didn’t think I would race for Middlebury again until Coach Wilkerson gave me the option to be a wildcard entry at Nescacs,” said Alfaro. “The support from my coaches and team made competing on Saturday incredibly special to me and reminded me why I never quit, even when my doctor told me I wouldn’t have a spring season.
“The track team has always been my favorite part of Middlebury,” Alfaro added, “so to have all my teammates line the track and cheer gave me the biggest smile while I was running down the last straightaway.”
With this spirit of support and pattern of excellence, the track and field teams now look forward to the Division III New England Championships, which start at MIT this afternoon and run until Saturday, May 5.
“This win should propel us into New Englands and some of us into NCAAs,” Martinez said. “Over these next few weeks, expect some sick performances and a lot of qualifiers. The goal is to score some serious points at these meets and crown even more champions.”
(04/04/18 8:41pm)
In the beneficiary relationship between the college and its donors, the emotional ties that alumni maintain with the larger community cannot be overlooked, as they shape the flow of donations to the college’s office of advancement. This was particularly evident in the fallout from the protests against Charles Murray that roiled campus last year, which may have contributed to a decline in donations last year.
“Our donors pay attention to what happens here. There is no question about that. This instance on March 2 of last year was certainly no exception,” said Alanna Shanley ’99, Middlebury’s executive director of giving.
“At this point, we only have anecdotal evidence about what has happened, and I think time will tell how this plays out in the future. We did see a drop-in participation last year. Is it because of what happened on March 2, or is it because of other factors? Probably a little bit of both. But it’s hard for us to pull that apart.”
According to members of advancement’s “phonathon” team, a student-manned initiative aimed at soliciting small donations via telephone, operations were affected in the immediate aftermath of the protests. The initiative was temporarily paused and after its recommencement, conversations with prospective donors became dominated by requests for information, and sharing of opinions about, the protest.
One phonathon operator, who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters, went on to note that caller opinions were generally split between the necessity of protecting Middlebury’s identity as a “place for many minds” and the need to protect student protesters. From their perspective, people in the former camp tended to be older, but perspectives were largely diverse. In the end, the phonathon program only achieved half of its $300,000 goal.
These concerns proved to be recurrent as the advancement office continued to reach out to alums.
“We spent a lot of time answering questions about what went on. Because of the way the story was picked up in the media, the incident of students protesting within Wilson and the attack on professor Stanger were collapsed,” said Meghan Williamson ’77, vice president for development.
“And so, people thought it was this mob going out from Wilson attacking professor Stanger, and that’s not what happened. So, a lot of my conversations were just to help people understand what did happen. Because the story, as you know, just took off. And it depended on what news outlet you were reading, and some people actually just had a lot of misinformation.”
In addition to clearing away the dust that surrounded the controversy, efforts were made to pacify discontent within the alumni community, which expressed a wide gamut of opinions on the protests. Although no gifts were actually retracted, some potential donors maintained that they would have to “wait and see” about their next gift based on developments on campus.
Bill Burger, the college’s spokesman, said in an interview that the advancement team has been instrumental in maintaining links to donors with particularly serious reservations and allaying their concerns. Although alums from the last five years were generally more sympathetic when the discipline process started, he said, responses and concerns from the wide spectrum of alums were all eventually addressed. It remains to be seen what kind of long term impact may result from this period in the college’s history.
“There’s not one opinion that alumni are expressing on any of the issues that are going on campus,” Shanley said. “The kinds of commentary and feedback that we’re getting are as diverse as I expect you’re seeing among the student body. . . . So I wouldn’t want there to ever be any perception that alumni are universal in the way they’re thinking about this,” she said.
“They just are at a different place in their lives. So they’re peering in, trying to make sense of the situation and relate it to their own experiences, as anybody would,” Shanley said. “Some alumni are absolutely embracing of all change. And some alumni cling to nostalgia.”
For Middlebury, the advancement office forms one of the necessary links between the college and its vast network of alumni. For many alumni, the advancement officers are some of the most consistent links to the college, offering everything from opportunities to donate to financial aid to illuminating information to alumni who were shaken after the protests. Yet despite the advancement office’s central role in the prospects of the college, its activities are largely unknown amongst current students.
In short, the advancement team connects potential donors in the Middlebury community: friends, parents and alumni of Middlebury’s undergraduate and graduate programs. These connections are fostered through the office’s dual strategy of engagement and fundraising. The former involves the organization of major events, such as reunion, homecoming, the alumni leadership conference, faculty lectures and speaking engagements for President Laurie L. Patton. For the fundraising side, print, email and one-on-one meetings are used to raise interest and identify prospective donors, all of which is supported by an extensive network of volunteers.
The annual gifts that the college receives are either spent in the year that they are received, or in the subsequent fiscal year if the resource is not required for the current fiscal year. Gifts are either freely used for any initiative within the Middlebury community, or directed toward specific causes, such as athletics or financial aid, by request of the donor.
The impact of donations in the implementation of financial aid is particularly notable. Endowed funds cover 25 percent of the budget for financial aid for Middlebury undergraduates. Combined with additional funds garnered from expendable annual gifts, these resources make up, on average, 6 percent of the entire operating budget of the college. In other words, it is partly due to endowed and expendable gifts that approximately 44 percent of students at Middlebury are able to receive financial aid.
President Patton and the board of trustees have frequently reaffirmed their goal of not only maintaining this threshold in the face of ballooning tuition cost, but also extending financial aid to 50 percent of the college community, a goal that would require 350 million dollars or about 70 million dollars every year over a five-year period.
In order to help reach this and other financial standards, donation campaigns occur yearly. Outside of these consistent campaigns, the college occasionally undertakes major pledge campaigns whose combined donations can reach the tens of million dollars. These large campaigns begin with a planning phase, followed by a “quiet phase” of requests made to wealthier donors that normally last for two years. After that, a more public phase opens donation requests to the larger pool of potential donors for four to six years.
The most recent of these major campaigns began in 2007, with the goal of raising $500 million. Though the campaign was extended to account for the 2008 financial crisis, by the time it ended in 2015, it had surpassed its goal by $35 million.
Elizabeth Zhou contributed reporting.
(11/30/17 12:21am)
This Saturday, Dec. 2, the International Student Organization (ISO) will put on the 21st rendition of its annual show. The show is a yearly highlight for an organization that also organizes international trivia nights, food preparation workshops, and excursions into the wilds of Vermont.
On a campus where over 10 percent of the student body hails from a country outside the United States, the ISO can be anything from a social network for people wanting to interact with a more diverse range of people to a support network for students feeling out of place in a new culture. During the ISO show, students from a few of the 70+ countries represented at the college are able to present their culture in a more explicit way than they regularly do.
A performance, when well done, has the power to transport you to a new place. For a little while you can forget that you’re sitting in a room filled with strangers tensed in anticipation for what is coming. For the length of the performance, you can just let the skill of the people performing sweep you to beautiful and emotional places.
But what happens when the performance includes a melancholy choral piece sung in Zulu,an ebullient Latino song and dance performance, and a Chinese Hip Hop performance, which to many might seem like a contradictory union of east and west?
Here, performance becomes a physical journey as well as an emotional one. The audience can see the ties that bind our small school to the rest of the world and be inspired them. That is the beauty of our surprisingly global student body here at Middlebury. That beauty is made manifest by Middlebury’s annual ISO Show.
This year’s show has a range of performances that reflect the wide breadth of people represented by the ISO. Crowd favorites such as Midd Masti, the South Asian dance troupe and Ingoma, the Afro-inspired a cappella group, will be joined by performances of Ukrainian dance, Indonesian a cappella and K-Pop mashups. Bombastic group performances will alternate with the intimate songs and poetry of individual acts.
“The annual ISO Show is a chance for our international student body to share their diverse cultural backgrounds, and an opportunity for the larger Middlebury community to enjoy them,” club president Roger Dai ’18 said.
“With the semester approaching the end and everything else going on in the country, maybe we all need a care-free night out to indulge ourselves in joyful dances and songs from all over the world. Plus, when else do we get to see so many cultures on the same stage in Middlebury, Vermont?”
If performance becomes a means of voyage, this Saturday’s event will be rewarding trek for its entire audience This Saturday, a truncated performance for families and children will begin at 5:30 p.m. before a full performance at 8:00 p.m in Wilson Hall.
Tickets are available through the Box Office. Prices are $5 for everyone.
(11/09/17 12:16am)
The Middlebury Center for Creativity, Innovation, and Social Entrepreneurship celebrated its 10-year anniversary on Sunday Oct. 29. Alternatively known as the Innovation Hub, the Center welcomed guests to a brunch and roundtable discussion about its programs and successes at its headquarters at 118 South Main Street. In the 10 years since its inception, the Innovation Hub has become deeply intertwined with some critical student programs. From professional development programs like MiddCORE and Oratory Now to student run initiatives such as The Hunt and events out of the Old Stone Mill, the Innovation Hub continues to pursue its goal of helping Middlebury students develop leadership, creative thought, intellectual risk taking and reflection.
The Innovation Hub strives to “provide resources to learn about innovation, build skills, and connect with this [Middlebury] network and with Vermont,” according to Director of Programs Heather Neuwirth ’08. Neuwirth went on to share that the state of Vermont has a rich tradition of entrepreneurship and innovation which works well with the Center’s programs. The Middlebury network also brings in local and globally based mentors that aid student entrepreneurs in developing and implementing their ideas.
The partnerships students find in the Innovation Hub often translate to concrete initiatives. For example, through the Middlebury Entrepreneurs program students like Michelle Yang ’17.5 were able to launch initiatives like the Share to Wear program, a pop-up store in the Old Stone Mill. Through this program, people can rent dresses for a weekend in the same spirit as Airbnb.
In another initiative, Gigi Miller ’18 started the S.T.E.A.M Girls initiative, a weeklong summer program offering weeklong robotics and computer programming workshops to girls who are between 10 and 13 years old.
The results of these two initiatives stress the greater goal of the Middlebury Innovation Hub: offering the means for Middlebury students to enact the changes they wish to see in the world.
“We [the Innovation Hub] really encourage students who might not think they are an entrepreneur to come on down,” Neuwirth said. “They can come down and join programs.” With such a wide range of options and programs, any Middlebury student can benefit greatly from this invitation.
(10/18/17 11:46pm)
Two homicidal bridesmaids drinking away jealousy at their best friend’s wedding. Manic office drones trying their best to recapture the creative dreams that brought them to New York City. Two people falling in love over years of meeting in a pizza parlor. These diverse stories and more were brought to life in this year’s edition of the First Year Show.
Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the 22nd annual First Year Show ran in the Hepburn Zoo. Before an audience of friends and family, a group of new inductees into the Middlebury drama community performed a selection of 10 and 1 minute plays centered on modern life and love in New York City. Although stories about teenage boys trying to summon mermaid lovers in Central Park and a woman falling in love with a parasite did not appeal to my aesthetic, each story deftly touched on the pain, confusion and occasional enlightenment that come with modern love and friendship.
Some vignettes, such as the story of office workers trying to reclaim parts of their artistic passion in the face of spirit-breaking office work or a woman holding on to a parasitic lover whose bleeding her dry, drew laughs as they hit so very close to home for certain members of the audience. Others stood out for the emotional weight they carried, such as the tragic epiphay one character endure as she reflected on the superficiality of social media-driven friendships. Another story captured the joy of two awkward people tongue-tied by love breaking through their shyness to come together.
The range of all these performances created a chaotic but pleasing montage of moments. Although some of these pieces did not resonate with, I still felt drawn in to the sheer enthusiasm that all of the performers approached this event with. That is the magic of the First Year Show. In the presence of their families and friends, performers began their dramatic life at Middlebury with the exuberance that can only come from diving into new experiences. There seemed to be a tangible feeling that, for the students acting and the people watching, that a new juncture in life had been reached. One pregnant with possibilities. The drama scene at Middlebury can only be bettered by their ebullience, energy, and enthusiasm.
(10/05/17 12:14am)
Senior administrators held an open forum with students Tuesday evening, discussing the results of recent student surveys and fielding questions about institutional transparency and student life.
Student attendance at the event was relatively sparse, with the number of students roughly equaling the two dozen administrators present.
“There is a lack of student presence in the room,” conceded Kyle Wright ’19.5, who serves as Community Council Co-Chair. “A lot of students are jaded to an extent that engaging with the administration is deeply taxing, so there’s a certain hump we need to get over in terms of re-engaging students to be able to do this work.”
College dean Katy Smith Abbott began the event by discussing the results of the 2016 CIRP senior survey. The survey is utilized by schools nationwide and conducted at Middlebury every two years, asking graduating seniors a range of questions regarding their time at Middlebury.
The 2016 survey, Smith Abbott said, “brought [the administration’s] attention to the fact that the level of satisfaction with student social life had dropped noticeably between 2010 and 2016.”
Specifically, the number of students who reported being very satisfied with social life at the college dropped from one in five in 2010 to one in 15 in 2016. Meanwhile, those who reported being dissatisfied with social life rose from one in five to one in three.
Within the group of schools that Middlebury considers its “peer institutions,” Middlebury now ranks “at the bottom of the heap in terms of student satisfaction,” Smith Abbott said.
The survey’s troubling findings prompted the college to enlist Jim Terhune ’86, a former dean of students at Colby College, to lead student focus groups in order to interpret the results.
Terhune found the top areas of student concern to be alcohol and partying culture, residential life and the commons system, student social space, diversity and inclusion, and student-administration relations.
With regard to drinking culture, Smith Abbott said the focus groups revealed a need for new social opportunities not involving alcohol.
“Rather than imagining that non-drinkers and moderate drinkers will just figure it out, there’s a need to be more intentional about partnering with that cohort of students to develop a plan for what social life looks like,” she said.
Focus groups revealed mixed perceptions of the commons system, Smith Abbott said. First-years reported positive experiences with residential life, finding that the commons system helped them form relationships and navigate college life.
Considerable dissatisfaction emerged with the Feb program. The often-isolated Feb housing and lack of access to First-Year Counselors contributed to these negative attitudes, Smith Abbott said.
Terhune’s recommendations concerning the commons system included conducting an external review of the commons system, working to increase the number of social houses and integrating Feb and first-year housing.
Terhune also identified discontent about the lack of suitable social spaces on campus. Many identified dining halls as the only social spaces they used regularly.
“What was striking to [Terhune] when he first started talking to students was the extent to which the dining halls played a major role in how students understood social experience,” she said. “So there’s a level of imaginative programming development that still lies ahead for us when thinking about dining spaces.”
Student feedback concerning diversity and inclusion was “both not surprising and really tough,” Smith Abbott said. According to Terhune’s findings, students of color often feel as though they are “less than fully-vested members of the community,” reporting feeling physically unsafe on campus and not valued by the college.
Finally, Terhune found relations between the student body and administration to be “strained”—likely an understatement, Smith Abbott noted. Students largely perceived the administration to be out-of-touch and untrustworthy, concerned more with maintaining the school’s image than responding to the needs of its students.
Smith Abbott stressed the importance of student-administration communications. “Almost every other section of the report is impacted by this section,” she said. “If we’re going to make any headway on any of these recombinations, it will be because we make headway here.”
Administrators addressed these palpable gaps in trust between students and the administration. “It’s based on personal relationships.” Smith-Abbott said in response to a question on concrete steps the college is rebuild ties. “You’re right that if people don’t want to step into those relationships and they don’t trust someone enough to start to build on a more personal level with staff, faculty, and administrators it’s hard to move anything.”
Elizabeth Dunn ’18 followed this question by sharing concerns about the perception that the voices of alumni and trustees are privileged over the voices of current students of the College, and the role that donations play as a “middleman” between what the students want and what the administration is able to do.
There was a “divide in the alumni population as well as among parents about how the situation was treated on campus,” noted Meghan Foley Williamson ’17, an administrator in the Advancement Office. “Some showed great sympathy and empathy with the student situation, while others were quite adamant that there should be more discipline and more stringent policies.”
Williamson went on to note that some donors were not inclined to support Middlebury in the short term but there were others who wanted to continue financial ties. The net result was an almost flat result in fundraising but a small overall decline in donors.
David Donahue ‘91, an assistant to college President Laurie Patton, went on to speak about transparency on the board of trustees, noting that that the entire structure of the trustee board was changed three years ago to add a student constituent overseer who is also part of the college board of overseers.
Finally, Donahue shared that the College is “exploring the possibility for student liaisons to different standing committees to increase student access.” He also said he is willing to sit down with members of the student body for conversations about topical issues.
Judicial dean Karen Guttentag also expressed her hopes on making “structural working more transparent so people’s expectation on where they can go and when are their voices welcome and when are there moment where they may not have a voice and someone else will make a decision and why that might be.”
Faculty dean Andrea Lloyd noted that questions asked by students were “very similar” to those coming from the faculty and that “sense of trust in our community has been broken and that we have serious heeling to do is not unique to students, but something that cuts across community.”
Shifting to more financial matters, financial administrator David Provost stressed that the administration, not the board of trustees, remains the main decision maker. In regards to transparency, Provost and Patton are exploring options for sharing the financial realities of the college such as the fact that it takes “277 million dollars a year to run this institution.”
Provost later shared more justification on the new swipe system in the dining halls, maintaining that students should not be buying lunch for non-students. Provost went on to stress that the swipe system offers new data that could help to better the dining experience.
In response to questions about the possible impact of financial constraints on the college, Provost shared that Middlebury has not been “living within its operating means for five years. The dollars that we bring in from comprehensive fees, release from the endowment and gifts are not covering expenses. Last year that loss was almost 17 million dollars.” Provost continued that when compared to the 1.1 billion dollar endowment of the college this is not truly a crisis. Rather, the college is striving to be more responsible to students and alumni and cutting waste such as 51 Main which drained 200,000 dollars a year.
Dining director Dan Detora stressed that discussions on various options for a meal plan have been brought before various committees and the SGA but more consequential answer necessitates a “serious input from the student body.”
Addressing complaints against the swipe machines, Detora noted efforts are being made to speed up the systems, but the influx of 1400 students at peak lunch hours guarantees a line no matter what.
(10/04/17 11:33pm)
As a Chicago Bears fan, I’ve always found football season a source wasted hope and flat out disappointment.
A blowout 21-point loss to the Green Bay Packers seemed like another fitting end for an aggressively mediocre team. The ending of the game saddened me, but it was the beginning that carried the most tension many people tuning in across the country.
As the national anthem played, a few players chose to take the knee in protest of police brutality and racism in the United States. Behind them, members of both team and some fans in the stands linked arms in solidarity and support of their right to protest. All of this comes in direct reaction to the fattest thumbs on Twitter demanding that NFL owners “fire any son of a bitch who disrespects our flag.”
How is it that a piece of cloth can send America’s favorite sport ripping at its own throat? How is it that the act of sitting or kneeling before that piece of cloth can drive parts of this country to their feet in indignation?
It is because, as we all know, this issue is not one of respect for symbols. No one would bother protesting a bundle of stitches. It is the ideas and history swaddled in that flag that drive us to protest and conflict — the ideals of fair play, equity and liberty, nestled right next to a history of slavery, inequality and hatred.
In that flag, we see our America and the rancor surrounding protests before that flag has become a proxy for a far more consequential question: How do we truly perceive this country? Do we stand in respect for what this country claims to represent, or do we kneel in mourning for the death and the destruction this country has perpetuated (and continues to perpetuate) both within its borders and abroad? Can any answer offer an acceptable middle ground?
No one can answer these questions for anyone but his or herself. The truth is, the United States is so ideologically diverse that simply seeing the flag is as likely to remind one of the loving patriotism shown after terror attacks as it is to remind us of the caskets carrying young men sent to Iraqi deserts to secure cheap oil.
Viewed like this, the debate over the flag is not so much of irrational shouting match as a national contemplation of our identity. The winds of change are sweeping across our nation and the flag twists in the sky as another symbol of the tension that change carries with it.
(09/27/17 11:26pm)
The first WRMC show is still memorable. On a chilly September morning, my two co-deejays and I shook ourselves out of our beds, trekked to Proctor , and climbed to the WRMC studio. Excitement kept our heads up as the bell tower struck 4 AM in the morning. We slipped our headphones on our heads, opened our playlist, and became radio rebels, beaming out to all three of our listeners in the Greater Champlain Valley.
Since 1949, WRMC has offered the same excitement to generations of Middlebury College students. Outside of the broadcast booth, events such as Sepomana , the Grooveyard, and S.O.S Fest give the radio station a unique and powerful influence on the live music scene on campus. In order to better understand the structure and misconceptions surrounding WRMC, the Middlebury Campus sat down with the station’s general manager Meghan Daly. The following interview has been edited for clarity.
Middlebury Campus [MC]: What would you say is WRMC’s role on campus?
Meg Daly [MD]: I think WRMC plays a very interesting role on Campus, because it’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, student org on campus. We often have about 150 DJs per semester, but not so many people will show up to every weekly meeting. So I think it’s hard to say what WRMC’s role is because it kind of flies under the radar despite being such a huge org and broadcasting to the entire Champlain Valley. Another part of our role on campus is providing concerts for people. That’s our most visible role.
MC: With events like Sepomana, Grooveyard, and S.O.S fest, WRMC definitely does feel like one of if not the source for live music here on campus. With that kind of responsibility, do you think WRMC does a good job inviting people that appeal to a broad cross section for the community?
MD: That’s another good question. We do want to find acts that will appeal to everyone, but at the same time we want to attract acts that normally wouldn’t come to Vermont. For example, I couldn’t see an act like Noname coming otherwise, because there is not a huge hip-hop scene in Vermont. We’ve booked artists who’ve responded to our emails asking ‘where is Vermont?’ As much as we want to appeal to everyone, there is an intentionality to be bringing artists who are underrepresented on this campus. An act like Noname was the perfect balance of both.
I think sometimes WRMC has a reputation of bringing super obscure artists, but that’s never the intention. We bring them because we think it will be a really good show, and we’re limited by budget too.
MC: Can you talk more about the funding you get for these events?
MD: All of our funding for programming will come through the finance committee. Any profit we do manage to make off of sales will go into are gift accounts to use for things like snacks for a gen board meeting. Suffice it to say that we don’t get as much funding as MCAB, so that’s why they will usually put on bigger concerts than we do. But we just kind of find an artist we like and reach out to their booking agent with dates. I’ve made [the requests] very personal in the past if it’s an artist that I feel very happy about. Often times we’ll get a response like ‘all right, they can come for $10,000’ and we reply that we have maybe a thousand. And they’ll do that. So they highball us quite a lot. But I’m definitely proud for the acts WRMC has brought in the past. I think there have been some pretty special shows in the mix.
MC: When seeing the executive board of WRMC for the first time, I think many people carry the assumption that most if not all of you are culturally tied to the Mill. In your words, what kind of culture do you think WRMC perpetuates for itself?
MD: So… I ran for general manager actively trying to work against that. I’m not part of the Mill, even if I guess I look like it. But, I think two of our board members live there and others have in the past, so it’s not an unfair assumption at all. The board is largely part of this White hipster culture which often congregates in the Mill, at least in years past. My policy has been that we’re not going to have any events in the Mill because I want to break that relationship between the two because I think it does a disservice to both organizations. People who might want to be part of WRMC but dislike the Mill might be scared off by that and vice versa. I think they should be two very distinct organizations. I don’t know when they got so fused together. It’s not a relationship that I want to encourage. But that’s the general impression of WRMC on campus and we’re still trying to figure out how to dispel that notion and not make people feel WRMC is the most pretentious thing ever, especially because there are times in the past where it has been. It’s a tricky thing figuring out the relationship between WRMC and the Mill and convincing people that they are two different things.
But the flip side of that is that when anyone brings a counter cultural artist, people will just call that pretentious. Sometimes it is trying to fill an alternative niche on campus, because sometimes that is necessary. People might want to see something different.
MC: What is it about these two orgs that creates such a feedback loop between them?
MD: I’m not too sure what the Mill’s purpose is, but I think it focuses on people with alternative tastes. A lot of people in WRMC have similar tastes for the alternatives. And in the past, our bigger events have been at the Mill so the first time people were introduced to WRMC was at the Mill. A lot of the board has historically been part of the Mill. It makes sense that a lot of people in an art’s house would like music, so it’s natural. But I don’t think the conflation serves either.
MC: How does WRMC go about finding a balance between its alternative tastes and DJ’s who might want a more mainstream style program?
MD: Even though WRMC does tend to gear towards the alternative, we’ve always had a lot of pop shows. This year we’ve tried to be intentional about disregarding hierarchies of taste and saying no genre is inherently better than any other unless it’s blatantly really offensive. But we’ve always had really diverse programming. For example some people are going to start live casting Middlebury Union football games for us. It’s a misrepresentation of WRMC to say that it’s only the alternative, but that is its reputation. I hope that people don’t think they have to seek out a really obscure genre for a good show. Often the best shows just have a cool concept.
MC: When you have an org whose leadership is part of very select groups, does that feed into the perpetuation of its culture and who gets the best times?
On our application, questions of whether you know anyone on the board are to help us remember if someone was really excited about the radio or music in general. It’s helpful in that respect, but I can also see why people might think ‘oh if I don’t know someone on the exec board, what does that mean for me and my show?’
MC: What do you want people to associate WRMC with?
MD: It’s easier to say what I don’t want them to associate us with: pretentious hipster culture. I’m not trying to shirk responsibility for that since WRMC has perpetuated that in the past and probably still perpetuating in ways I’m not aware of and for that I’m sorry and I’m working hard to try not to. I don’t want people to look at radio as something for the hipster weird kids. I want it to be for everyone. I selfishly want people to love radio. I think a big thing is trying to make the music scene at Middlebury more cohesive because you have the Gamut Room crowd or the WRMC crowd and the acapella crowd. All of us are equally invested in the music scene so I think trying to partner and collaborate with them will hopefully be helpful.
MC: What does inclusivity in radio look like?
I think a huge part of it is making WRMC a comfortable space that they can be in without worrying if they’re cool enough. Also there’s a mission statement of no racism, sexism, queer phobia, and just not being a bad person. There have been instances in the past where offensive things were said and we’ve had to talk with people about why it’s not ok. It’s definitely a topic that we’ll be exploring a lot this year. As a general manager I want to be as directly engaged with the question as possible.
MC: Where is WRMC going?
MD: As far as where things are going, I kind of want to flip that back on the DJs because I’m only one person and the board is only 10 people and it’s really up to the DJs to say if they want to engage with that or not and I’m not faulting people who don’t. But the executive board can only do so much to shift the culture and it has to be a collaborative effort between everyone.
I just hope WRMC feels like a fun thing for people to do and that people are interested in it and curious about it. In the past it seems like WRMC could be an unhealthy environment for the amount of time people put in or unhealthy attitudes about music or coolness, but this year I want it to feel like place people are happy to be involved in and they don’t force themselves into it. Obviously, my dream as someone who is absolutely in love with radio is that other people will absolutely fall in love with radio, but that’s my selfish dream and that’s not what needs to happen. I just want people to have a good time and treat each other well and get something out of it. We’re not trying to take over the world. We just want it to serve the people well. It’s something for the 150-200 DJs who feel good spending a few hours a week doing this thing.
(09/14/17 4:02am)
I blessed myself inside your arms one day/Swear to God there I was when the dress/ And the silver buttons fade away/ Miss Mary Mattress geriatrics, f’*** me into open caskets/ I wanna die with this/ I wanna stop seeing my psychiatrist/ She said “pill pop, baby girl/ ‘cause I promise you, you tweaked/ The empty bottled loneliness, this happiness you seek/ The masochism that you preach.
Noname off the drugs/ Noname quit the weed/ Telefone delight, Love is all I need/ My honeybee red black and green, Majestic queen/ This for my homies; my umi [mother] say love/ This for my homies; my umi say love. /This for my homies; my umi say…
So go parts of Noname’s verses on “Lost” and “All I Need”, respectively. The first marks the artist’s debut on Chance the Rapper’s critically acclaimed mixtape Acid Rap while the second graces Noname’s long awaited debut, Telefone. Both are only hints the artist’s deeply personal and poetic style. The combination of silky delivery and multisyllabic soul-searching has become a hallmark of the rapper’s style and preview the talent Noname will bring to Middlebury.
This Friday, September 15th, WRMC, MCAB, and the Gamut Room will welcome Noname as the headliner of S.O.S fest. The annual festival marks an unofficial welcoming for the Middlebury community and Noname’s soulful and introspective compositions are sure to spread a spirit of goodwill for upcoming semester.
Coming from the musical wellspring of Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, Noname has made a steady ascension through her hometown’s music scene and into the world at large. Time in the local YOUmedia program for Young Creators offered a chance to practice the poetic cadences that would later become her hallmark. Later, guest verses on projects with lyricists like Chance the Rapper and Mick Jenkins kept her in the public eye as she prepared for her solo debut. The three year time investment proved worthwhile. Telefone’s eventual release was met with critical acclaim, including recognition on Pitchfork’s 50 best albums of 2016 and Noisey’s 100 best albums of 2016. Noname represents a different side of Hip-Hop than some Middlebury students might be used to. One that is less male dominated and pleasure centric than what is currently popular noted concert organizer Jeremey Alben ‘18. While Noname shares a genre with high energy acts such as T-Pain or Lil Uzi Vert, her performance promises to be a more nuanced event. One that invites listeners to sit, relax, and be emotionally inspired by the beauty of the artist’s work.
Before Noname’s performs, Rubby Paulino ’18 will take serve as the opening act. Boosted by his singles “Confiesa” and “Know Me”, Rubby sets the stage for Noname’s soulful renditions with his own deeply personal works. While his compositions usually use electronic instrumentation, Rubby will be supported by live instruments along with a DJ during his perfomance, adding the intimacy of the night.
SOS Fest is scheduled for this Friday at 8PM on the CFA lawn after the all school barbecue. In the company of friends, food, and talented musicians, it promises to be a truly special beginning to the fall semester. After the concert, WRMC and Women of Color will be teaming up for an afterparty at 10:30 p.m. in the Coltrane Lounge.
(09/14/17 4:01am)
This fall, the Mahaney Center for the Arts will celebrate its 25 anniversary in style, bringing to the College an exciting schedule of events showcasing a variety of artistic disciplines. The scheduled performances, exhibits, talks, and film showings are emblematic of the MCA’s vibrant history at the College and its role in connecting students to art from both within and beyond the Middlebury area.
The festivities will commence this weekend with performances from the vertical dance company BANDALOOP, which will be returning to the College after a jaw-dropping show in 2004. The company will also offer free vertical dance workshops at Virtue Field House, as well as a dance technique master class and alumni talk with artistic associate Mark Stuver ’97.5. BANDALOOP’s performance is the first of many must-see events that the MCA is sponsoring this season.
The Campus spoke to Liza Sacheli, director at the MCA, about her experience with and plans for the center.
Middlebury Campus: In your time here, what are some of the most memorable moments or performances that you’ve been able to see in the MCA?
Liza Sacheli: I’ve been at the Mahaney Center for the Arts for 20 years now, so I’ve seen my fair share of memorable moments. Some of the highlights for me have been Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; amazing string quartets like the Emerson, Tokyo, and Takács; world-class pianists Emanuel Ax, Peter Serkin, Krystian Zimerman, and Paul Lewis; theatre companies like Anne Bogart’s SITI Co and the Abbey Theatre of Ireland; and more recently the Nile Project (an amazing East-Central African music/dance/environmental cooperative).
MC: In the aftermath of national and local rifts, what role do you think the MCA can play in healing in our community? What role do you think the artist can play in our society today?
LS: The arts have always been reflective of culture and society. Our programming often explores issues that are on our campus community’s minds. Take last year’s play “Rodney King,” for example. The performer, Roger Guenveur Smith, has made a career out of portraying important figures in African American history. Rodney King came to our national consciousness as a victim of police brutality over 25 years ago, but the issue of race relations and policing is unfortunately still an issue today. The show provided a platform for conversation and exploration — many students took part — and Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz came to moderate a discussion about the show with student, faculty, and community members.
At the same time, we offer plenty of arts experiences that are a “balm” of sorts — an enjoyable, engaging performance can do so much to reduce our stress, offer us a sense of peace or pleasure, and increase our sense of connection to others in the audience and on stage.
MC: How does the MCA interact with the art scene in town? In the state of Vermont? What larger partnerships does the MCA maintain?
LS: We communicate quite a bit with the other cultural organizations in town, like Town Hall Theater, the Sheldon Museum, the Vermont Folk Life Center, and others. We have collaborated closely on events with Town Hall Theater, the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, among many others. Middlebury has a very lively cultural scene. It’s all we can do to not program big events on top of one another.
The MCA also works with national organizations like the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and Americans for the Arts, the International Society of Performing Arts, and regional organizations like the New England Foundation for the Arts. Those relationships help keep us connected to the broader arts scene, and to best practices in our field.
MC: How does the MCA go about attracting talent to rural Vermont? What does the selection process for artists look like?
LS: The Mahaney Center for the Arts staff has developed strong working relationships with a network of artists, agents, and other arts centers throughout the region, nationally, and even internationally. So we hear about what artists are touring, and when. We go out and see hundreds of performances every year. There are some artists we keep an eye on for years, until the time is right to bring them to Middlebury. The Performing Arts Series has a very impressive track record at catching artists while their stars are on the rise — take Yo-Yo Ma, for example. We take lots of suggestions from faculty, students, and staff in the arts departments, and we work with them to complement their own work with the best professional artists we can “import” to campus. And once they perform at Middlebury, their experience at the MCA and with our audience is so good that they’re usually happy to come back.
MC: What does the future hold for the MCA? Do you have a vision for where you’d like the MCA to be in another 25 years? Are there any upcoming programs or initiatives that you’d like to preview.
LS: We have two long term goals: First, we’d love for our Performing Arts Series to continue its nearly century-long tradition of presenting the best in classical and chamber music, but also to broaden its programming to embrace all the incredible and diverse artists the world has to offer. We would love for the diversity of our curriculum and community to be even better represented on our stages. I bet that would make the Arts at Middlebury even more attractive to students, too.
Second, access to the arts is important to us. The Mahaney Center for the Arts team continually works at breaking down the barriers of participation in the arts. We’ve made significant strides in physical accessibility — the MCA is one of the most physically accessible public spaces in the state of Vermont, and we offer assistive listening devices, large-print programs, and priority seating and parking. The MCA has also committed to price accessibility; fully half of the arts events we support are free, and for those that are ticketed, we keep our prices at or below that of other local/regional cultural organizations. We have held the line on $6 top ticket prices for Middlebury students, and we offer several free and discounted ticket programs for them too. But we still have work to do in terms of ensuring equal cultural access to all audiences. That may include rebalancing our program offerings to meet the community’s needs and interests, removing the barriers of formality that often play out in arts events, and/or finding new ways to communicate with and welcome new audiences.
As for upcoming performances, everyone should come to the MCA’s 25th anniversary kickoff with BANDALOOP, the first week of classes! This incredible company combines rock climbing technique with contemporary dance to create spectacular, perspective-bending dances. They’ll perform on the side of the Mahaney Center for the Arts — suspended from the roof on ropes — on Friday September 15. The performances will coincide with the fall all-campus picnic, to be held on the MCA back lawn, and WRMC’s SOSFest, featuring Noname, immediately following on the front lawn. It’ll be a night to remember! All free for Midd kids. Students can also sign up to dance on the wall with BANDALOOP at go/bandaloop.
Visit the MCA’s website to learn more about the upcoming events of the 2017–18 season.