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(04/24/14 12:58am)
On Monday April 14, Community Council met with Assistant Director of Support Services Melissa Beckwith to discuss upcoming student move-out and to come up with ways to improve the cleanout process.
Beckwith started last week’s meeting by pointing out the problems that exist with the cleanout process.
“We have a really great cleanout process on the facilities end,” Beckwith said. “When I say it is great I mean we are meeting our goal of sending as little to the landfill as possible.”
“The trouble is that the process by which we do that is very inefficient. We have some systems set up to help divert waste and I think some of the student body use these systems and it work pretty well, but the majority [do not],” she continued.
The problem has to do with the sheer amount of things that students throw out said Horticulturist Tim Parsons.
“When students start to move out, they throw everything away all at once,” Parsons said. “For seniors who are about to move across the country, they get rid of almost everything. So what we call dorm cleanout is not our day-to-day recycling, it’s three or four times the stuff all in the space of two weeks.”
This creates tremendous work during campus cleanout for staff members from Facilities Services.
“We are taking staff from landscaping, electrical, plumbing, general services, custodial all areas within facility services to support this process, which leaves them short-staffed in their work,” Beckwith explained.
Finals week, however, is stressful for a lot of students and many have little time to pack, adding to the chaos that surrounds these few days.
“[During the last three years] I’ve had four or three finals during the week and I had to move out technically by noon the day after my finals are done,” Raj Anand ’14 said. “It has always been the worst week of my life. I have to find a place to store everything, if it’s not going to fit, it’s going to the trash.”
For staff, work does not stop even after students have left the campus, as they not only have to collect waste and prepare for commencement but also prepare rooms for reunion and then again for Language Schools.
“During what we call commencement-cleanout-reunion, Facilities have what we call restricted time off,” Beckwith explained. “That means staff cannot put in requests for time off because we need every single person here.”
Members of the Council suggested a variety of approaches to improve the process, ranging from yard sales to providing color-coded garbage bags. In this week’s meeting, Associate Dean of Students Doug Adams announced that a pilot yard sale was being planned.
“We got a subcommittee together to see which offices would be involved and to see what type of interest there was without going too big,” Adams said. “Within the next couple of days we should actually be able to announce how it’s going to work.”
Other ideas that came out of the meeting were also starting to be implemented.
“It was probably from my own personal point of view and from [the point of view of] Facilities the most productive Community Council meeting I’ve been in the three years I’ve been on it,” Parsons said. “Missy [Beckwith] got some really concrete ideas and she’s got a lot of things in motion. She really appreciates our help and speaking as a guy who works down there, I sure appreciate it too.”
The Council was adjourned after a discussion about the honor code.
(03/19/14 11:48pm)
The Spring Student Symposium, in which students present their academic and creative research and thesis work to the community, will begin on the evening of Thursday, April 10. The symposium, which is in its eighth year, is being held a week earlier than in past years to accommodate for Easter the following weekend.
In 2007, 94 students presented at the symposium, which at the time was a one-day event. Over the last few years, the number has increased to more than 300, with 368 students participating in total last year. A Thursday evening keynote address and introductory celebration were added to the program in 2011. Over the past few years, the symposium also saw an increase in the participation of younger students. While this year’s symposium will feature more poster presentations and fewer oral presentations than last year, the total number of participants will be comparable to last year’s number.
“I’m expecting [the number] to be very similar to last year’s, so we’ll probably end up with around 350 students participating in different ways,” said Lisa Gates, Associate Dean for Fellowships and Research and co-chair of the Symposium Committee.
The symposium includes presentations in a variety of formats and across different disciplines.
“The goal has always been to recognize the work that Middlebury students do in a broad spectrum of sub-disciplines,” said Pat Manley, Professor of Geology and co-chair of the Symposium Committee. “It’s a way for the community to see the breadth and depth that our students investigate things in.”
The structure and order of the presentations is also interdisciplinary in nature.
“The members of the Session Committee read through all the abstracts and organize the different sessions,” Gates said. “They look for connections between different disciplines and projects and come up with a really interesting interdisciplinary frame for the session.”
In past years, presentations have proven helpful for underclassmen who are still trying to decide on a major.
“One of the most fabulous things about the symposium is that for underclassmen, it is a great opportunity to see what kinds of work students are doing in different departments and programs, talk to them, [and] get a sense of their research methodologies and the questions they are focusing on,” Gates said.
For presenters, participating in the symposium can be a way to prepare for the real world.
“The symposium is actually modeled after how you would go to a national meeting,” Manley said. “We want students to enjoy themselves but it is also a more professional way of growing. ”
For seniors like Ben Kallas ’14, the symposium will be a chance to showcase their senior work.
“[Given] the amount of work I’ve put into the thesis and the relevant nature of the topic I want to give a presentation to anyone who is interested in hearing about it,” Kallas wrote in an email. His oral presentation will focus on information technology’s effects on insurgents.
Alison Cook ’16, who will be presenting a poster about a research project titled “Optogenetic Control of Neurotransmitter Transport,” is also excited to share her research with a broad audience.
“There is so much incredible work going on behind the scenes … that most people don’t get to see,” Cook wrote in an email. “I think the spring symposium is a great way to let these students share their hard work.”
The keynote speaker, novelist, journalist and activist Vendela Vida ’93, will speak at the Mahaney Center for the Arts on the evening of April 10. Vida will also be moderating one of the oral presentation sessions on Friday, April 11.
“This is a rare occasion for us as a college community to both explore and celebrate the interesting and impressive work that our students are doing through their studies here,” Gates said.
(03/13/14 1:31am)
On Monday Mar. 10, Community Council met to discuss the proposal of the new Chromatic Social House, continuing last week’s discussion. During the meeting, the Council passed the motion to recommend the approval of the house to Ronald Liebowitz, President of the College. This new organization will reside in Prescott House, the former location of Delta.
After the disbandment of Delta last spring, the Residential Life Committee decided to offer it as either a social house or a superblock for the 2014-2015 academic year, and reviewed applications for both. Doug Adams, Associate Dean of Students for Residential and Student Life, discussed the process through which the committee reviewed the applications.
“The final debate process took place overlapping the social house applications and the superblock applications in determining what the best fit is for the campus, what will add to the social scene of the campus and what will diversify the social scene of the campus,” Adams said.
The new Chromatic House will focus on promoting student arts. It will provide more practice and performance space for music students as well as a space to display student artwork. The organization had already been approved by the Student Government Association and the Residential Life Committee when the Community Council meeting took place.
Many members of the Council thought that the house would enrich the social and especially art scene at Middlebury.
“One thing I really see at Middlebury is this desire to create a dichotomy between ‘this is me and this is my resume and this is what I do after class’ and the party scene, which looks so disparate,” said President of the Student Government Association Rachel Liddell ’15. “I think it’s a good message to say your interest as a person can be connected to how you spend a Friday night. […] It’s nice to recognize that this type of socialization is social.”
Luke Carroll Brown ’14, Co-Chair of Community Council, holds a similar view.
“When I came to Middlebury, and for many of my friends, there is this understanding that social houses represent that college scene we saw in movies like Animal House,” Brown said. “That is not at all what it is when you ask the house members, but it is an anticipated understanding of how you act in these circumstances and places … I see broadening our understanding of social houses to be a very good thing, something that might help current social houses that have a more of a fraternal feel and for those that don’t.”
A few members of the Council, however, felt that making the house a social house would not work so well.
“I think this house is a great idea […] but calling it a social house would, in my view, be a real loss,” said Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures Will Nash. “There is a special interest here, which is tied to the curriculum, and that is not what the social house scene is about. […] There is a mechanism for us on campus for us to have people who want to live together who have a common interest that the curriculum serves, and that mechanism is the special interest house.”
Chris Thompson from the Department of Public Safety also voiced his concerns.
“How many nights are you going to have live bands playing down there where people are going to be strolling in with alcohol?” Thompson asked. “Then you have all these artworks on display … The last thing you want is getting someone’s artwork getting destroyed because there are a bunch of kids going down there with alcohol to listen to live music.”
The Council moved to vote on the motion to recommend the approval of Chromatic House as a new social house to President Liebowitz. The motion passed with sixteen in support and one abstention. If President Liebowitz approves the house, it will gain social house status in the fall.
(02/27/14 1:21am)
On Monday, Feb. 17, Community Council continued the ongoing discussion of hard alcohol policies with the Commons Deans. Dean of Brainerd Commons and Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Natasha Chang, Dean of Wonnacott Commons Matt Longman and Dean of Cook Commons Ian Sutherland were present at the meeting.
Hard alcohol has been a main topic for Community Council since last spring when President Ron Liebowitz asked the Council to examine the role of hard alcohol on campus as a condition of his approval of the Mill Hard Alcohol Exception. During its meetings in the fall semester about the issue, the Council met with Dean of Students Katy Smith-Abbott and Coach Bob Ritter, co-chairs of the 2011-2012 Task Force on Alcohol and Social Life, Gus Jordan, executive director of Health and Counseling Services, and Barbara McCall, director of health and wellness education. A number of members on the Council felt that it was necessary to continue the conversation surrounding hard alcohol with the Commons Deans.
The deans have a more personal understanding of this issue as they work directly with the students who struggle with substance abuse. The College emphasizes education over punishment for students who abuse alcohol, unlike many peer institutions. All students who have to meet with their deans to discuss their alcohol usage are required to go through the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program that focuses on educating the student to make better informed decisions about alcohol consumption.
“We work most closely around health and safety, ” explained Longman. “It’s very important to me that students feel that our approaches are reasonable. There are some on campus whose perception is […] that the administrators and the deans are not doing enough about [alcohol issues] and are not coming down hard enough. From my standpoint as someone who sits with students following up after these really tough weekends […], it is easier to see it that way [in a distance] but when you’re really with [these students] you realize that this is a human question […] about who we are as a community and how we treat each other.”
The Sober Friend System, which is one of many safety nets that the college implements, was discussed at the meeting. The Council also debated the idea of having the Parton Center for Health and Wellness open on Friday and Saturday nights.
“The same people are asked to be Sober Friends over and over again because they are usually people who are nondrinking, and it’s problematic to continue with the same people taking these caretaking positions,” said Chang about the Sober Friend System. “A second flaw is that at times the Sober Friend will leave the person, which is concerning. I don’t think there’s an easy solution to either of the two programs and I’m don’t feel that those are great enough problems to do away with the Sober Friend system I really feel that the system is part and parcel of the Good Samaritan policy.”
Ann Hanson, Posse Mentor, former Dean of Students and proxy for Dean of Ross Commons Janine Clookey, pointed out that safety nets, while making the campus generally safer, also encourage students to make irresponsible decisions:
“One of really big challenges in grappling with this issue is [to consider whether] you are hampering or enabling students to drink more by having [those] safety nets. In the real world, you can go to the hospital if you drink too much […] We at Middlebury have always struggled with what our philosophy is and I think we try really hard to keep people safe at a huge expense… [By having those safety nets] we are making it easier for students to drink and be irresponsible.”
This week, the Council continued the conversation about financial aid and heard a petition from the residents of Munford house to become an Interest House.
(01/16/14 1:31am)
On Tuesday, Jan. 18, Community Council met to continue brainstorming agenda topics for the spring semester and began conversations concerning the implementation of surveillance cameras on campus.
This week, after hearing from members of the Council who were not present last week, the Council broached the topic of surveillance cameras. Dean of the College and Community Council Co-Chair Shirley Collado explained the context in which the topic emerged. Toward the end of last year, as Community Council discussed “dorm damage, tree damages and thefts that have gone on… [there] was a question about whether or not cameras in any shape of form in any major location on campus would be something we should think about,” according to Collado.
Members of the Council had mixed feelings about the subject. Although contending that the members of the College community generally self-police and are trusting toward others, Tim Parsons, campus horticulturist, spoke about the reality of the world outside of our community.
“While we live in a tight-knit community, we are part of a larger scary world,” Parsons said.
He believed that surveillance cameras could be “another tool in the tool box” that can improve campus security.
Professor of American Studies and English & American Literatures Will Nash, brought up the question of how the surveillance would be used, especially if it would be used against students who engage in underage drinking.
“There is a gradation of how these tapes can be used,” Nash said, “If [the cameras] were to make things more secretive…I think there may be some blowbacks from that and would increase some of our problems.”
Student Government Association President Rachel Liddell ’15 was also concerned about the potential usage of these video tapes.
“I am really nervous about having control of my own image and [positively] portraying myself … I would really prefer if there were not images of me walking into dorms with alcohol on my hands. ”
Implementing surveillance cameras, however, would not be unprecedented in terms of controversial measures taken to increase campus security.
“Years ago, [when the card access system] was introduced, students were very distressed about having cards to access [buildings] and that the college would be able to read when people were going in and out,” Collado said. “But it is a huge advantage to us when something goes very wrong … It was a big decision when we [implemented the card access system], but now it is a pretty normal thing.”
Dean of Students Doug Adams compared the surveillance cameras with the card access system that has now become normal.
“[In public places] you expect to be on camera […] and it is a normal thing,” Adams said. “One of the things we proved with card access is that there is no intent to track [a student’s] behavior on a regular basis. [Having surveillance cameras] helps the community; it is there as a positive tool.”
Ben Bogin ’15 opposed the additional ways by which students can be monitored.
“You can be really tracked everywhere,” Bogin said, referencing cyber security and public video cameras. “But I don’t think that necessarily justifies adding one more place that people can track us.”
Collado concluded the discussion of surveillance cameras by stating that “it is a huge luxury for us to be having this conversation around the kind of parameters we want to look at as a community,” calling the discussion “important work for Community Council.”
The Community Council previously met last Monday to voice concerns and draft a list of discussion topics for the coming year. New topics include crosswalk safety at night, dorm cleanout and weapon and ammunition storage on campus.
(11/20/13 10:12pm)
On Monday, Nov. 18 Community Council met with Executive Director of Health and Counseling Services Gus Jordan and Director of Health and Wellness Education Barbara McCall to continue the conversation on alcohol and changing the culture that surrounds it.
In last week’s short respite from the ongoing conversation around hard liquor, the Council discussed ways to increase communication between all members of the College community, including students, faculty and staff.
Last week, Community Council Co-Chair Luke Carroll Brown ’14, introduced the topic with a story about Ian Cameron ’13.5, who passed away after a tragic car accident this past summer. Cameron had close friendships with several membes of Ross custodial and dining staff. One woman from the Ross staff, Brown told the members of the Council, “said Ian was her best friend.”
“Whereas so many other students see her just as the individual who cleans their toilet, Ian saw her as someone who helped him at this College and as a friend,” Brown said. Sadly, Cameron’s story is not representative of the whole student body, and the interactions between students and staff are often weak or nonexistent. The best community the College can have, Brown said, “involves communication between all facets of the community.”
He proposed two ideas that would increase communications: a bi-weekly community lunch series and the creation of an award in the memory of Cameron to honor a student who actively interacts with staff and faculty.
Members of the Council proposed many ideas that would encourage communication. Elizabeth Lee ’17 suggested creating an organization which would regularly reach out to other members of the college community. Brook Escobedo, Ex-Officio of Language Schools, called for an expansion of the Friends of International Students (FIS) Host Program, a program which connects international students with hosts from the College community, to encompass domestic students as well. Rachel Liddell ’15, SGA president, suggested smaller informal gatherings of students with staff who contribute tremendously to student life, such as the staff from the Service Building.
A broader examination of the power relations on campus also took place.
“One of the challenges is that some staff members don’t perceive themselves as people who have power in our community,” observed Will Nash, professor of American Studies and English & American Literatures. “They might often perceive students as people with a certain kind of power. People with power must see the power to create a space of trust for people without power. If you don’t do it that way, it doesn’t work.”
In this week’s meeting, the discussion concerning hard liquor and changing campus culture was resumed. Jordan and McCall both offered the Council new perspectives on the issue. They described how the support system for students concerning alcohol abuse at the Parton Center for Health and Wellness operates and were happy to engage in the conversation with Community Council.
A great portion of the discussion centered on the culture of drinking here at Middlebury. Liddell was first to attack the prevalent “work hard play hard” mentality on campus. “A lot of people here do realize that when they drink a lot, it makes their lives harder, not easier,” she said. McCall concurred, calling the mentality “problematic.”
There was also a general consensus in the Council on the dearth of social events on campus that encourage students to attend without having consumed alcohol beforehand. In the meeeting many members concluded that increased institutional efforts and funds committed were necessary to create a more dynamic social scene on campus.
“The fact that we are having a conversation here today is hugely helpful,” said McCall. “Thinking about all the pieces that might fit into the larger puzzle and what Community Council can do to influence all those puzzle pieces [is hugely important]. ”
(11/06/13 11:06pm)
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Community Council met to discuss hard alcohol policies, party registration and party monitors. In the previous meeting, Dean of Students Katy Smith Abbott and Coach Bob Ritter, co-chairs of the 2011-2012 Task Force on Alcohol and Social Life, spoke about Task Force’s report, the role of hard liquor on campus as well as changing the College’s culture around alcohol.
This week’s meeting focused on continuing last week’s discussion where members of the Council unanimously agreed that a ban on hard alcohol would not be effective in changing student behavior.
“Rules surrounding alcohol often just push alcohol use and abuse behind doors …,” said Student Government Association President Rachel Liddell ’15. “I just don’t see in my time here a hard alcohol ban ever having a positive influence.”
Dean of the College and Community Council Co-Chair Shirley Collado agreed.
“I don’t think anyone was coming easily to the conclusion that we should ban hard alcohol,” Collado said, but also pointed out that the data regarding hard alcohol on campus is very concerning and that hard liquor is the root of the many problems happening on campus, including alcohol transport, dorm damage and other college policy violations.
A couple members applauded the work of the commons deans and other staff and faculty members around alcohol use. Deans use their personal discretion when they meet with students who have violated alcohol related policies.
“[The deans] are very good at what they do [and it would be a good idea to] even empower them more,” said Horticulturalist Tim Parsons from Facilities Services.
“The problems that come with alcohol abuse are on a case by case basis and to allow discretion for commons deans […] sounded like a very helpful idea,” said Community Council Co-Chair Luke Carroll Brown ’14.
Collado further described the amount of work that staff and faculty members put into noticing and dealing with problems before something severe happens and a student meets with a dean.
“There is a lot of triaging work that happens,” Collado said. “It might come from a custodial worker who’s noticing something and is really concerned [or] a public safety officer who’s noticing something [even though he or she] might not have necessarily cited a student. It is important not to dilute [their work].”
The issue concerning party registration was also discussed at the meeting. Dean of Students Doug Adams pointed out that while there are many responsible students who participate in registered parties, unregistered parties are the true source of problems involving alcohol.
“[We should] find a place within our polices to encourage more registered parties by discouraging unregistered parties,” Adams said, arguing for tougher sanctions against unregistered parties that are “more meaningful and lasting.”
Collado’s email from October, which contained policy changes with regards to party registration, was also mentioned.
“If you read the bulk of the email,” Collado said, “[you would find that] it is great news for the students.”
However, even though the policy changes made the party registering process easier, a few members of the Council still expressed hope for an easier process.
The discussion then turned to the possibility of a party monitor system. Models from other schools were discussed, such as Haverford and Dartmouth which both have students groups to regulate alcohol consumption at parties. But the Council emphasized the importance of considering the differences between the College and the other schools in terms of campus culture, location and size, changes in order to create a system that works.
After a short discussion of creating alternative social events for students to attend, the Council was adjourned.
(10/30/13 8:54pm)
On Thursday Oct. 24, journalist Peter Savodnik ’94 gave a lecture sponsored by the Department of English and American Literature, Ross Commons and the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs titled “Why We Need a New Media Now and What It Will Look Like”, the first lecture in the Meet the Press Lecture Series this year, in the conference room of Robert A. Jones ’59 House.
The room was filled with attendees eager to hear Savodnik, who has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and GQ among other publications and has reported from Russia, China, the Middle East and across the United States, speak about the future of media. In addition to being a graduate of Middlebury College, Savodnik has also taught two Winter Term courses at Middlebury.
“We talked a lot about ideas,” said Harry Zieve-Cohen ’15, who was a student in the class as a first-year. “I sort of found since then that my own interests are in the confluence of literature and politics. It was a more rigorous and [academically] serious ... J-term course than most J-term classes. People should take his class this January.”
In his lecture, Savodnik discussed how Stateless Media, the news company he founded that produces short videos called “shortreals” that deliver news stories in a more exciting and cinematic format, began. The first shortreal he made, “Brothers Shaikh,” is about a British man named Nasser Shaikh who travels from Britain to Sri Lanka to find the hotel where his brother Khuram was murdered and where Khuram’s girlfriend was raped.
Savodnik then spoke about why we need a new form of media. Though for many years he had vowed to remain a print journalist, in recent years Savodnik began realizing the deficiencies of current media. Print journalism is rapidly shrinking, making it no longer a medium that engages the public. “Journalists ... run the distinct risk of becoming more and more like academics, that is, instead of speaking to the whole world, [they are] speaking more and more to each other,” Savodnik said.
The lecture captivated the audience’s attention and caused a spirited discussion in the Q&A session, in which many members of the audience, who have grown up with traditional media, questioned Savodnik’s idea of new media. As the organizer of the Meet the Press Lecture Series, Scholar-in-Residence Sue Halpern from the English and American Literatures department observes, “[t]here were a fair number of skeptics in the audience and ... their pointed questions were useful in helping the rest of us understand Peter Savodnik’s vision.”
The topic of journalism relates further to America’s troubled democratic regime. Many problems that plague the government today seem to be closely connected to the condition of the media.
“At this point in time it’s questionable whether we have either a free press, given the corporate ownership of so many media outlets, or a functioning democracy, as evidence by the government shutdown among other gerrymandered disasters,” Halpern wrote in an email. “What makes so-called new media important is the possibility of reinvigorating the press, in part by bypassing the constraints of traditional media.”
“Without a healthy media, democracy cannot function,” Zieve-Cohen said. “Indeed, I don’t think it’s a stretch to trace many of American democracy’s current problems to our present lack of a mature and intelligent media.”
Campus journalism seems to embody in some respects the idea of new media, as shown by many projects on campus.
“Because students are already familiar and comfortable and used to multimedia as consumers,” wrote Halpern, “and because there are so many students here who have multimedia skills themselves, Middlebury students are already doing this kind of work themselves. MiddBeat is a good example. The audio-visual profiles done by the Narrative Journalism fellows is another, as is the ‘Portraits (in) Justice’ project, and there are many others.”
(10/30/13 6:14pm)
On Thursday, Oct. 10, student organization Divest Middlebury held its first organized meeting of the academic year. The event confirmed that student interest in the divestment movement is still alive and well on campus, in spite of an email sent by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz over the summer rejecting immediate divestment.
During the 2012-2013 academic year, a series of protests, panels and discussions were organized by students with the goal of encouraging the College’s Board of Trustees to divest the College’s endowment from companies that deal with fossil fuels.
An email sent by Liebowitz to the student body on Aug. 28 announced that, at present, the College cannot divest from companies in the fossil fuel sector.
“At this time, too many of these questions either raise serious concerns or remain unanswered for the board to support divestment,” Liebowitz wrote. “Given its fiduciary responsibilities, the board cannot look past the lack of proven alternative investment models, the difficulty and material cost of withdrawing from a complex portfolio of investments, and the uncertainties and risks that divestment would create.”
In the wake of the President’s email, members of Divest Middlebury are now seeking new and different angles from which to approach divestment. Despite the College’s refusal of immediate divestment, those involved in the movement on campus remain optimistic.
“It gave legitimacy to the campaign,” said Adrian Leong ’16, one of Divest Middlebury’s leaders, with regard to Liebowitz’s email. “It showed that the campaign actually made a difference … This whole promise that he made in his email is really significant to the revolution of our endowment policies.”
With renewed optimism, students groups such as the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Club and Divest Middlebury have held events that aim to argue for divestment in a new way. The Oct. 10 Divest Middlebury event sought to introduce those unfamiliar with the concept of divestment to the movement. The number of students in attendance, however, was unimpressive.
“Only a handful of people who were not involved with the movement came and asked us questions,” Leong said. “It shows that we have a lot of outreaching to do.”
After a meeting on Friday, Oct. 17, the College’s Board of Trustees was confronted with SRI and Divest Middlebury students holding “open office hours” outside of Old Chapel.
“Something we are really interested in is having face to face conversations with trustees about divestment,” said SRI co-president Jeannie Bartlett ’15. “We are hopeful that in the February trustee meeting they might hold open office hours, but since we did not get to have that for right now, we decided to have student open office hours.”
While the members of Divest Middlebury remain committed to the movement, a number of students are in agreement with the message expressed in Liebowitz’s email, arguing that the College’s fiduciary responsibilities should be its priority.
Divestment may prove to be a feasible strategy in the long run,” wrote Ben Wiggins ’14 in an email. “But given the lack of concrete evidence and current logistical problems with its implementation, I don’t believe it should be pursued as vigorously as some students are doing now.”
Students engaging in the divestment movement have looked to the College’s anticipated action regarding its endowment, as outlined in Liebowitz’s email, with patient optimism. Liebowitz announced that the College Investment Committee, which includes students, plans to “work to develop a set of stronger ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) principles” to be applied to the College’s investment portfolio with the goal of identifying “companies and mangers who invest with certain principles in mind and those who consistently do not.”
Liebowitz’s email also announced that the College will be increasing the amount of the endowment directed toward ESG investments, “including those focused on clean energy, green building projects and other efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and benefit the environment.”
“The campaign to divest from South Africa during the apartheid took seven years, so while we don’t expect our campaign to take that long, it’s just not the case that we would give up after one year,” said SRI co-president Virginia Wiltshire-Gordon ’16.