24 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(03/10/17 3:34am)
On Feb. 22, the Middlebury College American Enterprise Institute Club published a group op-ed in The Campus that extended an “invitation” to the Middlebury College community “to encourage robust discussion and expose the Middlebury Community to diverse thoughts, opinions and understandings on the important topics of today,” according to the authors. The event was a lecture by political scientist and American Enterprise Institute (AEI) WH Brady Scholar, Charles Murray.
Soon after the announcement of Murray’s talk, both students and faculty began organizing in opposition. The reasons why Charles Murray sparked such passionate resistance and controversy are complicated and diverse, and motivations among those opposed to him were varied. Murray is considered one of the leading libertarian academics in the United States and has had significant influence on both political science and policymaking; for example, his work influenced the welfare debate during the 1990s.
Although he was invited to the College to speak on his most recent book, Coming Apart, which attempts to track and explain a growing divide between white “intellectual elite” and white working class people, Murray is best known for his work, “The Bell Curve.” This book has been fiercely debated since its publication in 1994, as it posits links between intelligence and race based on differences in average IQ scores between races.
Parts of his methodology have been challenged, especially his use of certain data to arrive at more general conclusions on the nature versus nurture debate. “The Bell Curve” and some of Murray’s later comments have resulted in his classification as a “white nationalist” by many, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization “dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry,” as stated on their website.
An Invitation to Speak
Murray has spoken at Middlebury before, once in April 2007, on “The Bell Curve.” The event sparked controversy but not to the same extent of last Thursday; it was not covered in The Campus. Last semester, the College chapter of AEI gathered to discuss an invitation for an expert from the organization to deliver a guest lecture. They made a list of academics associated with AEI and submitted it to the national organization.
AEI told the College chapter that Murray had accepted the invitation partly because of his close relationship with the College: he is the parent of a Middlebury graduate. The College chapter was provided funding by the national organization to host Murray and facilitate the talk. “Our goal … was to create a discussion on campus. We thought that his work on “Coming Apart” was really prescient,” AEI Vice President Alexander Khan ’17 said.
In the AEI chapter on campus, the executive board — which made the final decision to bring Murray to campus — disagreed on the best format for his planned lecture. Violet Low-Beinart ’19, a member of the board and a democrat, floated the possibility of treating this event differently than other academic lectures and offered the idea of a moderated panel format.
“We are a diverse group who hold a range of opinions and political ideologies,” she said of the board’s final decision not to pursue a panel format.
Addressing the internal debate, Phil Hoxie ’17.5, president and chair of the AEI executive council, determined that disagreement among board members was due to expectations of social ramifications. “I think the concerns were more of how this would be perceived [by] other people and not wanting to deal with what we’re dealing with right now,” he said.
Organizing Resistance
By evening on Feb. 24, several months after the AEI had scheduled Murray’s talk, the decision to bring Murray to the College had escalated into a campus-wide controversy. Over the weekend of Feb. 25-26, Middlebury Resistance, College Democrats, Wonderbread, other clubs and ad-hoc organizations were already beginning substantive organization efforts. Some of the first goals that emerged were to get the Department of Political Science to rescind its co-sponsorship in the event, to urge President of Middlebury Laurie L. Patton to not appear at the event and to pressure either the College or AEI to retract the invitation altogether.
On Monday, Feb. 27. Professors and students together led organizing efforts, which soon divided into two different groups: those who wished to carry out non-disruptive protests, and those who wished to shut down the event and prevent Murray from speaking.
Arianna Reyes ’18 and Sami Lamont ’17 helped solidify and structure the protests. Both students saw the event as an opportunity to take action and support values they care deeply about. “I was thinking a lot about what’s been going on in the world and how I’ve been really passive before right now in terms of actually organizing,” Reyes said.
Lamont explained that she took a de facto leadership role in the opposition when she realized the opposition energy could use additional direction and structure.
“It was seeing all the ideas floating around just on Facebook and then realizing that we needed a place to consolidate that if anything was going to happen,” she said, commenting on her decision to get involved.
However, both Reyes and Lamont quickly recognized that the protest efforts could never be completely uniform. Reyes focused on the group of students who wished to disrupt the speech, while Lamont instead helped run meetings that brainstormed non-disruptive methods of resistance.
“I was always definitely supportive of a diversity of tactics,” Reyes said. “I wasn’t trying to go against anyone and what they were doing.”
On Wednesday, March 1, the political science department held a community meeting for the purpose of providing a forum to ask questions about the department’s cosponsorship and to discuss the event more generally. In the course of the meeting, political science faculty also revealed internal divisions. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science Bertram Johnson had previously sent an email around that provided insight into the department’s own debate over the sponsorship.
Associate Professor of Political Science Sarah Stroup offered an opening statement that presented her own mixed feelings about the lecture, as well as her thoughts on what made this event so unusual for the department.
“I think that it’s a trope in higher education that we are supposed to make [students] uncomfortable, and I will be honest that most of the time, we do not join you as faculty in that endeavor,” she said. “This is different because we are uncomfortable. Because I am uncomfortable. Because we are asked to be with you and think about what our responsibilities are when we navigate between the free exchange of ideas and our commitment to the community.”
Over an hour, the political science department offered different viewpoints of the controversy, from steadfast defenses of the decision to invite him to campus, to expressions of revulsion at Murray’s views and to encouragements of protest.
A Contentious Afternoon
On March 2, the day of the event, organizers made final efforts to assemble their response with signs, emails and brochures. The Middlebury AEI and the College Republicans clubs, which have partly shared leadership, called for members to arrive at the event as early as possible.
“This has become, for Alexander [Khan] and I, a battle for free speech and liberalism. We do not believe that Dr. Murray is what others claim him to be,” Hoxie wrote in an email.
More than an hour before the talk was penned to begin at 4:30 p.m., students, faculty and community members began lining up outside of McCullough Student Center.
The earliest arrivals were predominantly protesters. Many held signs with declarations like “Respect Resistance,” “F*ck White Supremacy,” “F*ck Eugenics,” and “Charles Murray Is Fake News.” On the lawn nearby, non-student activists gathered, and the flag of the Anti-Fascist movement flapped in the breeze. These activists, and anyone else not part of the college community, were not allowed inside the event.
Finally, the doors to the lecture opened and students went inside — but, due to capacity issues, only a fraction of those outside got seats.
Vice President for Communications and Chief Marketing Officer Bill Burger took the stage and stated the Middlebury guidelines on guest speakers, protests and demonstrations. His short speech incited several responses from the protesters.
“Middlebury College does not allow disruptive behavior at a community event or on campus. Disruptions may include purposefully blocking the view of others,” Burger said. To this, an unidentified student in the crowd said, “And inviting white supremacists.”
Burger continued, “Banners or items that block the audience’s view,” and the crowd immediately raised their signs high in response.
“You’re going to love this next part,” he said. “Noise or action that disrupts the ability of the audience to hear.” At that, the audience burst into cheers, drowning out the rest of Burger’s sentence.
Crowd outbursts and jeers continued through the opening speeches of Khan and Middlebury AEI Executive Council Member Ivan Valladares ’17. When President Patton took stage, she was met with a combination of boos and applause. However, after delivering her remarks, the crowd responded only with applause.
“We are an intellectual community, and part of a job of an intellectual community is to argue. If there ever was a time for Americans to take on arguments that affect us, it is now,” she said.
Murray finally walked on stage, and the crowd erupted into boos and chants. “This is going to be a real anti-climax,” he said. At that point, protesters stood up, turned around and together began reciting a pre-written speech.
“This is not respectful discourse or a debate about free speech,” they said. “These are not ideas that can be fairly debated. It is not ‘representative’ of the other side to give a platform to such dangerous ideologies. There is not a potential for an equal exchange of ideas.”
The speech then transformed into chants. These included: “Who is the enemy? White supremacy!” “Your message is hatred; we cannot tolerate it!” “Charles Murray, go away; Middlebury says ‘no way!’”
After ten minutes, Burger walked on stage again to announce that the format of the talk would transform into an interactive, livestreamed discussion between Murray and moderator Allison Stanger, the Russell J. Leng ’60 professor of international politics and economics. The two moved to an undisclosed location to film their conversation, a backup prepared in advance.
Over the course of Murray and Stanger’s discussion that lasted more than an hour (now available on the Middlebury News Room) some members in the crowd dispersed. But many protesters remained in the auditorium and continued chanting. The protests continued outside, as well, where some spoke into megaphones and sounded off sirens and drums. They had discovered the location of the live stream and made noise outside its window — in the video, their efforts can be heard clearly.
Back inside the auditorium, as administrators attempted to get the livestream projected onto the screen, tensions between protesters and attendees escalated. Students yelled at each other across Wilson Hall. “Respect free speech!” was shouted to some protesters. One protester yelled, “F*ck white supremacy!” to a group of students attempting to view the livestream. In response, one of those viewers shouted, “F*ck censorship!” The altercation ended when the protester yelled back, “F*ck free speech!”
Protesters and attendees alike dispersed as time went on, but a sizeable group of around 20 students continued to chant over Murray’s talk. Many students left to view the speech elsewhere. Outside the McCullough Student Center, a majority of protesters had left by 6 p.m.
About 15 protesters remained standing one entrance to McCullough, still yelling at the window of the room in which Murray was speaking. Among this group were non-student activists. Some protesters wore face masks to conceal their identities. Two masked protesters unfurled a banner that read, “Choke on your silver spoon, you f*cking Nazi.”
As Murray’s talk neared its end, the protesters dispersed around McCullough to cover all the entrances, waiting for his exit.
The events that followed caused the protests to draw attention from national news outlets, but the details and nuances of that day remain uncertain. What is agreed upon by Burger’s statements to the media, Stanger’s public Facebook post, Murray’s statement on AEI’s website and President Patton’s statements to the community is the following claim: When Murray exited the building, escorted by Burger and Stanger, the group was approached by protesters, several with their faces covered and some of whom were non-students. As Stanger and Murray attempted to get inside a car, protesters allegedly placed themselves in their path.
Murray was not physically harmed in the ensuing confrontation, but Stanger suffered from a neck injury following a physical altercation that transpired after she attempted to shield Murray and usher him to their vehicle. Stanger experienced whiplash that evening. On the following Sunday, she was diagnosed with a concussion. She was taken to Porter Hospital on both days.
Beyond this series of events, the nature of the confrontation and its many facets remain disputed. An article on the student-run blog Middbeat, unaffiliated with the administration, shared the perspective of anonymous students who claimed to be present at the conflict. Other recollections have provided contradictory details and viewpoints, and the questions of what happened, who initiated what and who exactly is at fault have ignited widespread and contentious debate, both on and off campus.
Following the day’s events, two seperate investigations are being launched; one an independent investigation by the College, the other an investigation into the confrontation that took place outside of McCullough to be done by the Middlebury Police Department, said President Patton in an email to the community last Monday.
“There is hard work ahead for all of us,” Patton wrote in her email. “Learning to be accountable to one another, and learning to stand in community with one another.”
Community Response
By Friday, March 3, Murray had departed, and students, faculty and staff awoke to a world suddenly focused on their college. The first reports of Stanger’s injury appeared in VTDigger and the Addison Independent, but national news outlets soon began running the story.
Within the College community, many have been asking, “What do these events mean?” In an email sent on Friday, Patton spoke of the event as a disappointing display of a deep divide in College culture.
“Last night we failed to live up to our core values,” she said in the message. “But I remain hopeful.”
“This was the saddest day of my life,” Stanger posted publicly to Facebook on Saturday, March 4. “We have got to do better by those who feel and are marginalized ... We must all realize the precious inheritance we have as fellow Americans and defend the Constitution against all its enemies, both foreign and domestic.”
For Khan and Hoxie, the disruptions and confrontation took them by surprise and seemed to confirm their fears about the state of freedom of speech on campus.
“If we’re not willing to listen to each other and we’re not willing to listen to what we have to say because we feel that that person might say something that we find offensive, or even hateful, we’re going to be in real trouble,” Hoxie said. “I firmly believe that freedom is one generation away from being extinct. We’re going to vote it away.”
Many students who participated in the protests expressed disappointment at the violent conclusion to events, but they also felt some satisfaction with the effectiveness of the protests within Wilson Hall and a determination to continue pushing these issues in the future.
“[The initial protest] was incredibly successful because we coordinated all of these people to turn around and that was a really powerful statement,” Reyes said. “It was successful because we did get [Murray and Professor Stanger] to leave Wilson Hall.”
Lamont and Reyes do not view the division as one that pits proponents of free speech against those who are willing to restrict free speech in pursuit of some other goal.
“That’s one thing [President Patton] mentions a lot in [her statements on] rhetorical resilience — confidence in debate — and I think one big reason why we were not into talking to Murray is that he’s shown that he’s pretty confident in his ideas and he’s not really about talking to them and engaging and reconsidering,” Lamont said.
For other students, however, the disruption of Murray’s talk and subsequent violence brought to the forefront a significant problem engrained in the community.
“The manner in which he was shut down lacked civility and, in my opinion, did not respect the rights of those students (many who disagree with him ideologically) but who, nevertheless, wanted to hear him speak and/or engage with him at an intellectual level,” said Abdi Mohamed ’18.5.
As of this writing, it is unclear exactly how the community will respond to these events. As Johnson said, “I think one of the more powerful things we can say in this moment is ‘I don’t know’. I don’t really know what’s next.”
Many see the events as having unleashed a deep and possibly irreconcilable gulf between students, while others see them as a way to come together, hash out differences and determine a path to progress. According to Lamont, preperations are already being made for meetings and discussions in the coming weeks.
Khan viewed the events as an opportunity for the community to reassess its values and culture, and to push back against attempts to stifle opposing views. “I don’t want the moral of this story to be that Middlebury couldn’t handle a viewpoint that wasn’t consistent with their own. I think that it’s so necessary and important that we try to change the culture on campus and create one of intellectual diversity.”
In an email sent out on Monday, March 6, President Patton reinforced this call for community building and discussion.
“This week, we will mark the beginning of opportunities for reflection and engagement,” she said. “We have much to discuss — our differences on the question of free speech and on the role of protest being two of the most pressing examples. In addition, I am extending an invitation to everyone to submit community-building ideas for consideration.”
“I’m committed to working on whatever’s next, and I’m grateful for those people on various sides of this who have reached out to have conversations,” Johnson said. “That’s how we’re going to proceed — through having conversations.”
Additional reporting by Christian Jambora and Will DiGravio.
(10/13/16 3:26pm)
Two student leaders of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a national evangelical Christian organization that has a chapter at Middlebury College, were asked to resign their leadership posts by other members in the chapter in January 2015 because of their sexuality. The two students chose not to speak about the incident until now.
The students, Jonathan O’Dell ’18 and Josiah Stork ’15, were approached several times in 2014 by another student board member, who has since graduated. According to Stork, the student told the two that Intervarsity (IVCF) had a national policy against openly gay student leaders, meaning O’Dell and Stork would have to step down.
The board member who asked the two to step down declined multiple requests for comment, and instead directed The Campus to Chris Nichols, the IVCF’s regional director for New England.
Nichols denied that such a national policy against gay student leaders ever existed.
“There is (and has been) no national policy in place in InterVarsity that bars student leaders from serving if they are openly gay,” said Nichols in an email to The Campus on Oct. 4.
Nichols did say that the IVCF expects its leaders “to affirm our doctrinal basis and to share a common approach to faith with the group.” According to IVCF’s website, the doctrinal basis is “the basic Biblical truths of Christianity.”
Interpreting Scripture
While IVCF does not explicitly prohibit gay students from serving as leaders, the student who asked them to step down was interpreting the IVCF policy as Biblical tenet, O’Dell and Stork said.
As much of this was going on, the College IVCF chapter organized a speaker series during Winter Term 2015. The series featured regional directors from IVCF leading discussions based on “close scripture reading.” The series explicitly marketed gender and sexuality as its main theme.
Nichols was one of the speakers at the series and spoke about passages from Romans 1:1-32.
The chapter describes “sinful” acts of humanity that provoke God’s wrath.
“Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error,” the passage reads (Romans 1:27).
Later, it continues, “They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die — yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them” (Romans 1:32).
According to Stork, Nichols’ speech affirmed a traditional homophobic interpretation of these passages, which have been interpreted in many other ways within the religion.
O’Dell and Stork reported their concerns to the College Chaplain’s Office in January 2015. Throughout that spring, O’Dell and Stork met with the Chaplain of the College Laurie Jordan and the other MIVCF leaders during what O’Dell called “negotiations.” A member of the Chaplain’s Office served as a moderator during these meetings, O’Dell said.
“We intentionally did not involve the Judicial Board or the Dean of Students in the process,” Stork said. “We didn’t want to cast a negative light on the religion as a whole because of the actions of a few bigots.”
By notifying only the Chaplain’s Office about the College chapter’s requests, no administrator was made aware of potential violations of the College’s non-discrimination policy. The Chaplain’s Office is a strictly confidential resource, and so it could not relay any information about the incident to proper disciplinary channels.
“In our roles as Chaplains we welcome students to speak with us in a safe, private and confidential environment, and we hold that trust dearly,” said Chaplain Jordan. “Of course, in any given situation, students may speak for themselves, but we will always honor our commitment to confidentiality.”
Revising Policies
Beginning in April 2015, MIVCF’s leaders began revising their constitution at the request of Stork and O’Dell. All student organizations need to have a constitution in order to be officially recognized by the College, and thus eligible for funding from the SGA, said Ellen McKay, a staff member at the Scott Center for Religious Life who directs the Religious Life Council.
The amendments included a provision that allows the entire membership to call new elections by a majority vote. A description of the proposal said it would make leadership changes a formal matter, rather than dependent on informal conversations among the leaders. On May 12, 2015, a quorum of members voted in favor of adopting the proposed amendments.
The membership clause of the constitution has always included the Middlebury non-discrimination statement. However, the statement only ensures non-discrimination in membership and does not specify a policy on leadership positions. According to Stork, this was a point of contention.
“MIVCF shall not discriminate in its membership or activities on the basis of race, creed, color, place of birth, ancestry, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or marital status,” it reads.
MIVCF’s funding is granted by the Religious Life Council, which receives a lump sum and then distributes it to all religious student organizations. The SGA Finance Committee oversees the Religious Life Council, but the council has broad leeway in determining exactly how their funding is allocated.
“As stewards of the student activity fee, we make it our priority to fund organizations equitably,” said Kevin Benscheidt ’17, chair of the SGA Finance Committee. “This news raises interesting questions about the role of the SGA in regards to censorship. However, I can assure you we were never made aware of any discriminatory practices.”
Student organizations are required to undergo a review process every three years, in which they submit reports of their activity to the SGA Constitution Committee. The committee last reviewed MIVCF in Jan. 2015 and approved the MIVCF’s status as a registered organization. The committee will conduct its next review of MIVCF in Jan. 2018.
“Potentially discriminatory practices are definitely taken into account when reviewing a student organization,” said Nick Delehanty ’17, chair of the SGA Constitution Committee. “Notice of an organization failing to comply with College policy would definitely call into question a student organization’s status as an officially recognized organization during the review process.”
National Conversation
The conversation surrounding IVCF’s beliefs on human sexuality is happening at the national level as well.
On Oct. 7, TIME reported that Intervarsity Christian Fellowship USA, the national office, told its 1,300 staff members that “they will be fired if they personally support gay marriage or otherwise disagree with its newly detailed positions on sexuality,” effective November 11, 2016, reads the TIME article.
According to the article, the national office called the decision a process of “involuntary termination” for any staff member who comes forward and disagrees with its positions on human sexuality. Staffers are being asked to come forward voluntarily if they disagree with the theological position. TIME called it a “theological purge.”
In a response statement made the same day, IVCF claimed that the TIME report was not true. “No InterVarsity employee will be fired for their views on gay marriage,” it states.
TIME reported that the decision was the outcome of a four-year internal review on what the Bible teaches about human sexuality.
IVCF confirmed that it had been re-examining its position on human sexuality through a four-year process in which “we reiterated our beliefs on human sexuality and invited our staff to study and to reflect on how our beliefs about Scripture and our hermeneutic approaches to Scripture lead us to those conclusions,” said Greg Jao, InterVarsity vice president and director of campus engagement in the IVCF statement.
It continues, “InterVarsity’s process invited all employees to take 18 months to work through a nine-part curricula, read a variety of resources, and study the relevant biblical texts to conclude whether they were in agreement with InterVarsity’s unchanged position.”
“It’s clear that InterVarsity has their conception of what they believe but that they’re not really being tolerant of a lot of other beliefs that are still within the framework of Christianity,” said Stork. “I think InterVarsity’s by-line has often been, ‘come and see what you believe, figure out who you think Jesus Christ is.’ But, assuming the TIME piece is right, asking people who disagree with their belief patterns to leave is narrowing the score of what they can direct students to, and what they can really claim as far as letting people explore belief.”
(03/23/16 3:14pm)
As the Student Government Association (SGA) begins to discuss how to budget student organizations, namely club sports, it looks to the College for potential financial support; however, the College is confronted with its own short-term fiscal concerns and has started conversations to address where changes can be made in the budget in order to ensure long-term financial stability.
At the end of last semester the College held two open meetings to discuss financial stability. The meetings, held at the College and at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, were hosted by Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Patrick Norton and Provost Susan Baldridge. Over 450 members of the Middlebury community attended the meetings. “The overall message is that while Middlebury’s permanent condition and our long-term outlook are positive, we do have some short-term financial challenges,” Norton said.
Norton described Middlebury’s present situation as a “convergence of factors” which have led to current negative operating margins; a result of total operating expenses exceeding total operating revenues. In the fiscal year 2015 (FY2015), Middlebury experienced an operating margin of negative four percent. This year, the budget is expected to operate at a margin of negative five percent.
In FY2015, Middlebury’s operating expenses totaled $268,455,000 and financed the cost of salaries, wages and employee benefits; food, utilities and supplies (including books and periodicals); travel; debt payments; taxes, insurance and interest. Not included in operating expenses is the price of financial aid.
Total operating revenue, $258,820,000 in FY2015, is a culmination of tuition and other student fees, endowment returns and contributions in the form of donations. Over the past five years, revenue has been constrained by CPI+1, the College’s plan to cap increases in tuition at one percentage point above the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index. Although the program is no longer in place, it lowered revenue growth and affected the College’s budget.
Financial aid expenses have also increased by six percent annually from 2006 to 2015, a result of the College’s dedication to its policy of need-blind admissions.
Another major factor contributing to negative operating margins is a decline in the number of enrollments at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) over the past three years. Although enrollments have stabilized at about 700 students, the College lost important tuition fees they count on for overall revenue.
Additionally, Middlebury’s growth as a College and a global liberal arts institution has introduced a number of new expenses and natural increases in operating costs.
Revenue sources have also been constrained by outside factors, namely volatile endowment returns over the past few years. Although the College’s endowment, $1,101,054,000 in FY2015, continues to grow, annual distribution of the endowment is determined by investment returns, which are not as stable. Endowment funds, managed and invested by Investure, are available to the College based on an annual distribution policy approved by the Middlebury College Board of Trustees.
The College aims to maintain a five percent return for the endowment but current spending is slightly over and therefore unsustainable for long-term budgeting practices.
Endowment investment policies can remain sustainable as long as the College works to restore a five percent return model. “Our investment philosophy is rooted in both long-term thinking and risk mitigation,” Norton said. “This approach has served us well. It has ensured that our endowment continues to grow and meets our spending needs for current students and faculty and future generations of students and faculty.”
This goal was one of many that Norton and Baldridge outlined at the meetings last fall. The College hopes to reach a positive three percent operating margin by 2019. To accomplish this, Norton and Baldridge introduced a series of plans to re-evaluate undergraduate tuition, room and board prices; compensation costs; financial aid packages; non-salary operating costs; and how long-term debt is financed.
“We are confident that we can achieve the positive operating margins by addressing all the issues described above - and without dramatic changes in any one area,” Norton said.
The College has also resolved to increase enrollment at Monterey and at the College. Norton mentioned plans to introduce ten new undergraduate students per year until enrollment at the College reaches 2,490.
These potential changes are being discussed across various groups on campus including the Faculty Resources Committee, the ad hoc Budget Committee and the Resources Committee of the Board of Trustees. Furthermore, the College will host another round of open meetings this April.
Norton emphasized that changes will be implemented in accordance with the College’s core priorities: “continued focus on academic quality, access and affordability, among other things,” he said.
“We’re looking at every line item in our budget,” Norton said. “We have to figure out how to recycle the dollars we already have.”
The SGA, as it works to refinance its own budget, looks to the College to fill gaps. “There are a lot of things that we fund, especially larger ticket items that are either in partnership with the administration or which we are lobbying to be picked up by the College as opposed to us,” Aaron de Toldeo ’16, the SGA treasurer, said.
“That’s a complete process of negotiation and it’s a long-term process but we don’t feel comfortable even starting when parts of the College are having to reduce their budget,” he added. “Theres no surplus, it’s shortfall.”
(03/09/16 4:26pm)
Last Tuesday, March 8, the Women’s and Gender Studies department honored Elizabeth Dunn ’18 with the Alison Fraker Essay Prize, an annual award that commemorates the memory of Alison Gwen Fraker ’89.
Fraker was a “much-beloved, vocally feminist student” who passed away in a car accident weeks before her graduation. The award ceremony, which is traditionally celebrated on International Women’s Day, is dedicated to her memory and passion for the study and practice of gender equality.
Students are nominated for projects submitted in any department as long as they address issues focused in gender studies. These projects are then presented to a board of faculty who chooses one winner and two honorable mentions.
This year, 13 different projects, completed by 19 students, were nominated. In recent years, nominations have diverged from the traditional essay form and this year included songs, presentations and podcasts, among others.
Director and Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Sujata Moorti and Director of Chellis House Karin Hanta lead the ceremony and presented the awards.
Dunn’s piece, an essay titled “Race Play and Racism,” was nominated and presented by Anson Koch-Rein, a visiting assistant professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies. Koch-Rein commended Dunn’s essay for its success in engaging with the “uncomfortable intersection” between race play and racism “by drawing into the conversation a discussion of racial stereotypes and porn, the history and legacy of rape and sexual exploitation in slavery and writings…theorizing and reflecting on the meaning of race-play scenes”.
“Rather than dismissing race play as either an object of study or immoral practice, the essay engages the possibilities of what it might mean to think through race play,” he said.
One of the two honorable mentions was awarded to Sarah Kotb ’16 for her critical narrative, “The Death of Scheherazade Or How Not to Write About Arab Men.” In her piece, Kotb responds to a class discussion about the novel “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books,” by Azar Nafisi.
Catharine Wright, director of the Writing Program, nominated Kotb and introduced her at the ceremony. Wright called Kotb’s narrative a “brilliant, sarcastic, biting, self-reflective piece about how to situate herself as a feminist between Arab patriarchy and white, western imperialist brand of feminism”.
The next honorable mention was presented by Moorti to Sarah Karerat ’18 for her essay, “Policing Native Sexualities: Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code” in which she examined how a law from mid 19th-century colonial India continues to affect the lives of people a post-colonial Indian society.
“I was very impressed by the scope of the project and and the broad range of discourses Sarah brings to make us understand how the production of a sodomite in India was the product of both colonial and sexual discourses,” Moorti said.
The ceremony, and the award, allow students to engage with issues of gender and sexuality within larger contexts. “One thing I really appreciate was how intersectional everything sounded,” Dunn said. “Nothing just dealt with one issue; they all coalesced around different issues of marginalizing aspects of peoples’ identities. I appreciated this whole event because it was a spotlight on such a wide range of papers and topics.”
(03/09/16 4:19pm)
The College hosted its fifth annual Miracle Network Dance Marathon last Friday, March 4, as part of a nationwide movement to support local children’s hospitals. The 10-hour event supported the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and included dancing, live student performances, local food and celebrations.
Across the country, chapters of For The Kids from over 300 different schools are hosting their own dance marathons to raise money that will go directly to local hospitals. The money will provide child-life care, research and medical equipment for the children and families these hospitals serve. This year the College raised $18,500, crushing last year’s record of $12,000.
Erin Miller ’16.5, president of the committee organizing the event, said that “For The Kids has been a huge part of my College experience…This event provides students and community members not only the opportunity, but the privilege, to make a difference in numerous patient's lives.”
The event brought together hundreds of students, town residents and children from the local hospital and this year, there were over 330 registered participants.
“Our campus rarely rallies together in support of a common cause,” Committee Member Rebecca Berry ’16.5 said. “It is an honor, privilege and responsibility for us to fight for the next generation of children in our community. Dance Marathon brings out the best in [the College].”
Although the event already took place, the College’s For The Kids chapter is working to bring their group to the forefront of a movement happening at large colleges and universities around the country. In addition to raising money through the Dance Marathon and other events, they are hosting the Conquering Disease Spring Symposium from April 5-8 this year.
(02/17/16 4:29pm)
William Finnegan has spent his career writing and reporting for The New Yorker, but his auto-biography, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, exposes a life dedicated to surfing and the search for the perfect wave. This Tuesday, Feb. 23, Finnegan will present his new memoir to the College community and discuss how surfing, writing, reporting and growing up have shaped his life.
Finnegan has been a contributor at The New Yorker since 1984 and a staff writer since 1987. He has been recognized for his work with a number of literary awards, including the John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism, the Edward M. Brecher Award for Achievement in the Field of Media for his article “Deep East Texas” in 1994, the Sidney Hillman Prize for Magazine Reporting for “The Unwanted” and the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism for “Leasing the Rain.” He has also been a National Magazine Award finalist twice and has won two Overseas Press Club awards. His novel, Crossing the Line was selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best nonfiction books of the year.
Finnegan has spent time around the world covering regional wars, famines, coups and organized crime in an effort to uncover the stories that hard news cannot. He started his career with an M.F.A in fiction from the University of Montana and as a creative writer and novelist. However, while working as a teacher in Cape Town in 1980, towards the end of South Africa’s apartheid era, he decided to dedicate his career to journalism. In an interview with the Campus, he said of the experience, “I found myself suddenly losing interest in the sort of fiction I was writing. Only politics seemed important.”
From there, Finnegan began to travel throughout Africa, Central America, South America, Europe, the Balkans, Australia and the United States in search of the people and communities entrenched in the conflicts of some of the most war-torn and crime-ridden areas. “I’m interested in power, conflict, injustice, how people cope,” he said. “I look for people who are living the news, and people whom I can spend a lot of time with, and then, sometimes, when it goes well, I end up with a story that revises, or at least refines, colors in, the conventional understanding of what’s going on in, say, Somalia, or a cartel-dominated part of Mexico.”
Although his career was dominated by politics, Finnegan’s life, and his memoir, reveal a passion and obsession for the “ocean-centered world” of surfing. Although the two did not often go hand-in-hand, “there is a rough similarity between trying to figure out a new wave and trying to figure out a story in an unfamiliar place. You have to get your bearings, learn a lot of highly local information, and start applying it,” he said.
Finnegan, raised in California and Hawaii, spent his childhood learning to surf and devoting his time to the community and culture of surfing. “It’s a world that non-surfers know little about, and it has nothing to do with the surf imagery strewn around pop culture and advertising,” he said.
With his memoir, Finnegan has set off to bring a literary voice to the world of surfing, however disconnected the two might be. Of his decision to focus on surfing, Finnegan said that he was at first against the idea. He said, “Writing about surfing felt like coming out of a certain closet. It was a big part of my life, but not something I liked to talk about.”
He continued, “There was no good reason to write such a book — the world definitely didn’t need it. But I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time and energy chasing waves.”
Finnegan’s devotion to the sport and its influence on his life and work become obvious as he unravels the adventures of his life on the ocean and across the world.
Finnegan will present Barbarian Days this Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the Axinn Center at Starr Library in the Abernathy Room.
(04/29/15 5:40pm)
Recording of the Student Co-Chair of Community Council debate
[audio m4a="http://middleburycampus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SCOCCdebate.m4a"][/audio]
Recording of the SGA Presidential Candidate debate
[audio m4a="http://middleburycampus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SGAPresDebate.m4a"][/audio]
Students crowded into Crossroads Café on Monday night to hear from the three candidates running for Student Co-Chair to the Community Council (SCOCC) and the four candidates running for Student Government Association (SGA) President in two rounds of debates. In a dramatic shift from last years’ uncontested elections, the debates brought to the forefront a variety of concerns that focused on calls for change and a stronger campus community.
Both races are attracting attention for what moderators Kyle Gerstenschlager ’15 and Naila Jahan ’15 called a divided “insiders and outsiders” status. In the race for SGA President, candidates Josh Berlowitz ’16 and Ilana Gratch ’16 are current members of the SGA. Caroline Walters ’16 and Stuart Warren ’17 entered the race without any prior experience on the SGA.
In the race for SCOCC, Durga Jayaraman ’16 currently sits on Community Council (CC), Tiff Chang ’17 was a member of CC last spring and Zak Fisher ’16 enters without prior experience on CC.
Experience, typically considered an asset, was challenged in both debates in light of rising student apathy towards both the SGA and CC. In the SGA debate, the first question after opening statements [SGA 2:06] addressed this apathy [SGA 4:44]. Gratch, Walters and Warren spoke to the importance of recognizing issues that students care about and making changes.
Gratch referenced her platform, which proposes a weekly dinner with the SGA President and six student leaders on campus; Walters called for more transparency and a restructuring of the SGA; Warren applauded various social justice organizations on campus and encouraged the SGA’s “power to combat oppression.”
Berlowitz dissented and defended the accomplishments of the SGA this past year.
“Even activists see the SGA as a conduit for change… People go to the SGA when they want to make a change,” he claimed.
The SGA debate then moved to the issue of inclusivity in terms of marginalized identity and fostering a stronger campus community [SGA 1:10.55]. After a bill passed by the SGA, funding was allocated to hire a new counselor for the Health and Wellness staff, passed a resolution on sexual respect and created the Director of Sexual and Relationship Respect position. However, all four candidates still pointed to a lack of support for marginalized groups in many areas of the College.
Warren spoke first and called upon the candidates to re-evaluate their use of the words diversity and inclusivity: “Too often inclusivity and diversity are used as empty euphemisms,” he said. He referred to his platform, which outlines a plan to make the campus more accessible for students who are not able-bodied, creating a community of sexual respect and making mental health issues a community concern. Warren’s desire to combat oppression and marginalization remained the backbone of his arguments throughout the debate.
Berlowitz spoke next and outlined a number of concrete plans for combatting a lack of inclusivity. He proposed a more financially accessible study abroad program, a student-run pub night, and a renovation of McCullough.
“I’m running on community. Fostering community and forging connections with each and every Middlebury student,” he said.
In her response, Gratch promoted the community support section of her proposal, which includes creating cultural competency resources on campus. She also maintained that the “SGA can be utilized as a microphone to give a voice to students who have been working tirelessly on
these issues.”
She added: “It’s not my job to co-opt the activism that’s been going on for years here, but I feel incredibly strongly that I can provide a microphone.”
Finally, Walters outlined a plan to engage more students.
“There are three priorities that we need to focus on,” she said.
Walters asserted the importance of supporting the first generation mentorship program, allocating more resources on campus for students in need of mental health support and the importance of following through with the SGA legislation made on sexual respect.
The next question asked the candidates to describe their top priority [SGA 17:55]. Gratch outlined more plans for community support including a peer counseling service, Walters called again for transparency, Warren reiterated his desire to combat oppression and Berlowitz emphasized ensuring that all of the College’s resources are available to every student.
The candidates also responded to more specific concerns about mental health issues on campus [SGA 22:53], their experiences as leaders [SGA 29:09], how they plan to branch out and reach a wide variety of students [SGA 34:20], what plans they have for addressing environmental issues [SGA 39:43], the student activities fee and finally [SGA 59:05], their position on the use of surveillance cameras [SGA 1:08.43].
The debate intensified in response to concerns about communication between the SGA, the administration and students [SGA 45:23]. Warren captured the attention of the candidates and the audience when he asked, “Why do so many students not want to listen to the SGA? I would suggest it’s because they believe that it doesn’t have the power to make the changes on issues that they actually care about, so they listen to other clubs and organizations that are more related to
their interests.”
He added later: “I think what we should actually do is try to make the SGA deal with issues that students value intrinsically and are not coerced to go talk about extrinsically.”
Gratch, Walters and Burlowitz echoed each other in their defenses against Warren’s claims that the SGA does not represent marginalized students and cannot garner diverse student opinions.
The SCOCC debates also addressed issues of inclusivity and communication. The SCOCC debate began with a discussion about the purpose of the CC [SCOCC 2:51], a group of faculty, staff and students that meet weekly to discuss non-academic issues on campus. All three candidates pointed to the importance of diversity on the board.
“In an ideal world, the committee would be able to get a whole opinion of the campus community by having people from cultural organizations and sports teams and NARPS and everything. The point of the committee is to let students weigh in on what they think would be good for Middlebury,”
Jayaraman said.
Later, Jayaraman spoke to the importance of inclusivity again [SCOCC 12:20].
“Sometimes what I’ve struggled with and what we struggle with in decision-making is not having all parties on this campus represented,” she said.
She continued: “I think if people are given a platform to voice their opinions, they will. Its just that people don’t know that platform exists now.”
Fisher agreed with Jayaraman and added: “I don’t think I need to remake the wheel, I just need to let people know that the wheel exists.”
Chang also spoke to inclusivity and outlined a cultural competency plan that includes competency training for faculty, mandating JusTalks and distribution requirement reforms including a new “dynamics and differences in power” requirement.
The SCOCC debate also addressed the issue of surveillance cameras [SCOCC 6:13]. Earlier on Monday, the CC had voted down a proposal to draft a guidelines document for the possible implementation of surveillance cameras in limited areas. Fisher rejected the idea of security cameras: ”We have a rock solid sense of community,” he said.
He added: “It’s important that we have a place where everyone is comfortable and everyone can trust each other.”
Jayaraman, who had voted yes to the proposal earlier that day, defended her position and claimed that the cameras could help limit the number of thefts on campus, some of which have been linked to people outside of the College who are not held to the same community standards as members of the College. She voted yes to “a more informed position,” she said.
Chang offered a mixed opinion. “In general, surveillance cameras erode a sense of trust, but really what it comes down to is a cost and benefit analysis,” she said. “What I asked them to do is bring in all of the stakeholders, I wanted them to bring in the people of color, the people who would be most affected by this particular cost of the cameras.”
The candidates also spoke about the benefits of being part of the CC [SCOCC 17:31], the AAL distribution requirement [SCOCC 22:03], the role of the CC in promoting staff needs [SCOCC 28:25] and how to make the CC a more effective tool for carrying out and implementing proposals [SCOCC 32:53].
Both of Monday’s debates garnered attention on social media, including YikYak. Posts during and after the debates confirmed the contentious nature of this year’s election and indicate that it will not go unnoticed.
Listen to an audio recording of the debate at middleburycampus.com
(04/15/15 6:04pm)
Early this year, HBO released “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” a six-part documentary examining Robert Alan Durst, an alleged serial killer and person of interest in over four missing person cases. Recently it has been discovered that Durst is also connected to the College. Durst lived in Middlebury briefly and police are now labeling him as a person of interest in the 1971 case of a missing College student, Lynne Schulze.
The documentary delves into the complexities of Durst’s life as the son of New York City real estate tycoon Seymour Durst, his wife’s disappearance in the 1980s and his connection to a number of murders over the past half-century but does not mention the connection to Middlebury.
In 2012, the FBI contacted Middlebury Chief of Police Tom Hanley and for the first time, a link between Durst and Schulze was made. Schulze, a first-year at the College, was last seen at 2:15 p.m. on Dec. 10, 1971 at a bus stop in front of what is now the Dunkin Donuts in town. Schulze was supposed to take a final exam that afternoon, but never attended. Schulze, who was 18 when she went missing, has been presumed dead.
The building where Schulze was last seen sits directly across from 15 Court Street where Durst and his then-girlfriend but soon-to-be wife, Kathleen, owned a health foods store from 1971-1972 called All Good Things. The home where Durst lived was searched, but nothing notable was discovered.
“They were in the same approximate place at the same approximate time. We don’t know if they ever had any personal contact,” Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley said of Durst and Schulze. “(Durst) is a person that is very interesting to us.”
During his time in Middlebury, Durst was an unsuspicious part of the community. Students at the College often visited Durst’s store and its advertisements appeared in a number of issues of the Campus in 1971 and 1972.
Middlebury resident Tim Brown has been a part of the Middlebury community his entire life and recalls meeting Durst on a number of occasions. Brown’s father purchased the building at 13 Court Street, which Brown now owns, in the 1920s and opened an auto shop.
In 1971, when Durst opened All Good Things, Brown was returning from service to help his father in business. He recalls going into Durst’s store often because it had something he liked, “possibly some sort of nut,” he said.
“He was kind of a strange person. You could never really get close to him or talk to him. A minute or two and he was off doing something else,” Brown added of his interactions with Durst.
Brown also recalls seeing students in Durst’s store often. “It was very strange, that place,” he said.
Paula Israel, who owns the store Wild Mountain Thyme downtown with her husband, has a different memory of Durst. Her husband Allen was friendly with Durst and in 1976, she and her husband had dinner with Durst and his wife when they came back to Vermont for a visit.
“[Durst was] quirky, in a fun, sarcastic way. He was intelligent, in a New Yorker way… crabby too, in a funny way,” said Israel.
As new information about Durst is being released, his connection to Lynne Schulze seems to grow. However, in 1971, Durst seemed as innocent as Brown or Israel.
Schulze went missing on Dec. 10, 1971 and not until Jan. 28, 1972 was there a piece in The Campus about her whereabouts. In the bottom left corner of the first page, her photo was featured with a caption asking for information. Nothing about her disappearance appeared after that.
On the same day, the same picture of Schulze appeared in the Addison County Independent. However, a longer article and an editorial accompanied the photo. Mentions and inquiries about Schulze appeared in the Independent until mid-February and then there was nothing more said about the case, although the investigation has continued.
The editorial that accompanied the first mention of Schulze in the Independent was written as a personal account by Celine Slator, Associate Editor of the Independent. She claimed to have seen Schulze at a restaurant, therefore raising questions about the validity of claims that Schulze was killed. Slator maintains that Schulze seems to have run away.
“I am well aware that whenever a lost person story breaks, you have reports of sightings from dozens of different sources. Most of them are based on a fleeting glance. I had far more than a fleeting glance, and that is why I noted a startling resemblance,” she wrote.
Durst’s lawyers have maintained that he had no involvement in the disappearance of Schulze. However, on the season finale of “The Jinx”, Durst was recorded in the bathroom saying, “There it is. You’re caught…What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
Durst is currently being held at a Louisiana prison and for federal and state gun charges.
(02/18/15 9:29pm)
The SGA met last Sunday for their first meeting of the spring semester and opened discussion around creating a committee to work with the administration in their plans to increase student tuition, among other initiatives.
Senator Josh Berlowitz ’16 introduced the resolution “Opposing the Administration’s Plans to Increase Tuition” and presented a plan to give students representation in the conversations to be held around tuition increases.
Berlowitz suggested creating a group similar to a previous SGA Comprehensive Fee committee that would work with the College Board of Trustees throughout this process.
He also emphasized the importance of administrative transparency and accountability. He noted that the email announcing these possible tuition increases, sent by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz, was not clear enough in its intentions.
“This is another example of them trying to hide something that directly affects students,” Berlowitz said.
Berlowitz also expressed concern for how these changes might affect the College’s financial aid policies. Many other Senators agreed with this potential problem and emphasized the importance of preserving the College’s need-blind policy.
Other Senators also shared Berlowitz’s unease and supported his call for more transparency and administrative accountability. However, some Senators were apprehensive to take the approach that Berlowitz proposed. Senator Aaron deToledo ’16 expressed concern for the adversarial tone of the resolution.
Other Senators agreed with this concern. Senator Michael Brady ’17.5 argued that in order to make changes, the SGA would need to “play nice” with the administration and the Trustees.
Senator Sophie Vaughan ’17 brought up questions surrounding the logistics of creating a new committee. She inquired how students would be chosen and what students would be represented on this committee, both important aspects of the resolution.
In the discussion many Senators also claimed their support of the proposed tuition increases. Berlowitz agreed with this support but also called for a review of current expenses. He pointed to the privileges that the College offers students and suggested that the College works to make those privileges more efficient.
“The mentality that student’s can afford to pay more so they should pay more is bogus,” he said.
Senator Zak Fisher ’16 agreed with Berlowitz’s points on privilege. “You might say we live like gods,” he said.Fisher also noted that the College is competing in a marketplace in which these privileges are considered crucial to the College’s success.
The proposal was not passed as it currently stands but plans were made to open dialogue with the administration as the SGA continues to develop the resolution.
At the meeting, the board also looked at the results of the 2015 SGA Student Life survey. They discussed student particiaption and the need for more male participation. They also mentioned but ultimately postponed the discussion of a bill proposing to extend Thanksgiving break.
(02/12/15 3:19am)
When the op-ed “It’s Actually Just a Game” was published in the Campus on Jan. 22, what followed was an explosion of conversation about athletics on campus. With almost 60 comments online and multiple responses to the opinion piece, the topic dominated conversations until the end of Winter Term.
In light of this, the College has been forced to consider a divide between the athletes and non-athletes on campus. This divide has given rise to a number of questions surrounding the role of athletics at a school like Middlebury and the existence of athletic privileges.
As a member of the NCAA and NESCAC divisions, the College athletic department abides by two sets of rules, both of which strive to create an athletic environment consistent with a commitment to academics. However, as the College and so many other institutions have discovered, finding the right balance between athletics and higher education can be difficult.
The NESCAC established itself as a conference in 1999 and currently sponsors 26 conference championships for 11 institutions. NESCAC member schools offer an average of 30 varsity sports programs. The College offers 31 varsity programs and 15 Club programs, putting it near the top of that list. The decision to offer certain sports as varsity programs versus Club programs at the College was made in collaboration with the other members of the NESCAC years ago.
Because 28% of the student body is involved in the varsity sports program, the College has committed itself to supporting the varsity sports program on many different levels. These commitments must work in harmony with the College’s dedication to academics and a diverse and engaged student body.
Financial
Each year, the College budget reflects a number of different needs. According to the College’s budget office, “Budget decisions reflect the College’s mission and core values. Our top priorities are our academic program and our need-blind admissions policy for U.S. students.”
In the 2014 fiscal year, the College’s budget was $292 million. Of this, approximately $5 million (or 1.7%) is allocated to the athletics department on a yearly basis.
According to Athletics Director Erin Quinn, budgets are constructed to pay for the essential elements of each varsity program, including items such as food, lodging, travel and the basic equipment. This process is the same across all varsity sports at the College, including the Alpine and Nordic ski teams and the Squash teams, all of which are not traditional Division III sports but instead compete with only one division. In these sports, the College and other DIII institutions compete against DI institutions, while retaining the DIII classification and following DIII rules.
Specialized equipment is not anticipated in these budgets but can be applied for through the same process as any other department of the College.
“Some of the stuff that students might say that they paid for themselves might be the choices of those students to buy those things…Things that go beyond what a normal budget might cover, that a team arguably could do without, shouldn’t necessarily be covered by the budget,” Quinn said. He added that if the budget does not provide the entire cost of an item, teams may raise money and then families often contribute the difference; for example, spring trips are not fully funded by the budget. (see spread in Features)
Other organizations on campus are not included in the College’s budget. They rely on the comprehensive Student Activities fee, which was $407 per student for 2014. This money is pooled together and allocated to student organizations through the SGA Finance Committee.
Between last spring and this fall, approximately 140 clubs came in for both budget and new money requests, including a number of Club sports programs. Club sports rely on the Student Activities fee for all expenses except that of any coaches.
According to Katie Linder ’15, captain of the Women’s Rugby Club team and SGA Athletic Affairs Committee chair, figuring out finances is a large part of Club sports. “Staying in hotels the night before versus driving up at five in the morning is something that we would love but we make it work, it’s the only way we know how to operate. It’s a process, but we get as much money as we need… I can’t say that I wouldn’t like more money, but it’s manageable,” she said.
SGA Treasurer Ilana Gratch ’16.5 said, “It’s not that we run out of money, it’s that we have to discern which requests are going to have the widest reach and be the most beneficial to the most students because, at the end of the day, it’s coming from the Students Activities fee which we all paid for. It is a finite amount of money so we can’t fund everything.”
Because athletic facilities are open to the College and town communities, a separate section of the College budget provides for these facilities. However, the construction of the new Virtue Field House and the Squash Courts was not included in these numbers. The $46 million project was the first of its size completely funded by donors, many who have previously given to the College’s financial aid, to academic programs, or to other College initiatives outside of Athletics.
Although College fundraising efforts are not directed towards athletics, research shows that often athletics are a source of inspiration for alumni donations. In 2006, Professor of Economics Jessica Holmes published a paper using 15 years of data from the College which concluded that alumni, regardless of whether they were involved with athletics or not, tend to donate to the College when athletics are doing well or when academics are doing poorly. Although the data is not recent, these results remain relevant to the College according to David K. Smith ‘42 Professor of Applied Economics Phani Wunnava.
Tim Spears, Vice President for Academic Development and a leader in fundraising efforts at the College, said, “In the larger world of intercollegiate athletics, one of the reasons why booster clubs exist at universities and the like is because through successful athletics programs, you raise awareness for the school and build loyalty. There may be merit to this approach, but that’s not the strategy that’s at work at a place like Middlebury.”
Admissions
Under NESCAC guidelines, the College may not admit recruited athletes until they have gone through the same process as any other applicant. However, coaches can get feedback from Admissions about where to prioritize their recruiting and, according to Dean of Admissions Greg Buckles, “The boundaries of that get pushed a lot.”
Recruited athletes are often given extra and earlier advance notice as to their viability as a candidate for the College based on criteria set by the NESCAC, which can often lead athletes to premature assumptions about their admittance. Instances have occurred where students in the recruitment process have claimed a “commitment” to the College similar to those allowed at Division 1 institutions. As a matter of protocol and process, Buckles said, Admissions will track down these claims to correct them when they see them.
“[The NESCAC recruiting process] is at the same time the most confounding but also the most noble undertaking of any athletic conference I know of,” said Buckles. “In other words, it’s complicated, it can be confusing, frustrating, and sometimes it will seem like it’s hypocritical but, in the end, it works well. We keep a lid on the appropriate amount of emphasis on athletics and at the same time we’re very successful.”
Recruitment success is a significant part of assessing the performance of Coaches, and so they are part of the admissions conversation. However, the same process exists for the Arts department. Through the same evaluative system as the Athletics department, members of the Arts may convey to admissions which candidates they would like to see admitted. Furthermore, any department or any faculty member can oversee potential candidates in whom they have an interest and may open a conversation with Admissions.
In the Athletics department, the ability to evaluate applicants has proven beneficial to the overall application process. In any given year, about 25 percent of the incoming class is recruited athletes. This number has remained constant while the total number of recruited athletes who apply has been shrinking (see graphic on front page).
The recruiting process also encourages more athletes to apply Early Decision. In 2014, 44 percent of Early Decision 1 applicants who enrolled were recruited athletes. “The upside of that is that interestingly leaves room for more non-athletes because it’s typically one-for-one…That leaves us, in some sense, with more room to consider a whole host of other needs and goals for the class,” said Buckles.
The recruiting process at the College across all varsity sports is consistent with those of the ten other NESCAC institutions. This process is one of the most restrictive in the country and has caused a lack of diversity in athletics. Between these restrictions and a lack of resources to travel extensively or reach out to athletes, Coaches are often limited to those athletes who have the ability and the connection to NESCAC institutions to approach coaches themselves.
“Almost everywhere else, a lot of times athletic conferences and athletic teams will support more diversity…As we’ve made great progress and strides in the overall student body…that has not been reflected in the athletic teams as much,” Buckles said.
“A coach puts together the class holistically just the way the College does,” Quinn said. “We try to be very consistent and we try to have the athletic department be representative of the College. We have some limitations on our ability to recruit as broadly due to practical, financial considerations as well as NESCAC restrictions on recruiting. The NESCAC has looked carefully at some of these practices as well. How can we create the most diverse pool as possible? Are there league restrictions that prohibit us from doing so?”
One way a lack of diversity in athletics might be addressed is by looking at athlete GPAs or how financial aid is allocated to athletes and non-athletes on campus. According to Quinn, athlete GPAs are tracked internally by the Athletics Department periodically to evaluate the academic success of student-athletes, but these numbers are not open to the public, just as GPA numbers are not available for any other campus constituencies.
Additionally, because of the College’s need-blind policy, financial aid numbers for specific groups are not tracked except through annual audits on the Student Financial Aid office, of which the results are not shared unless an issue becomes apparent.
Time Commitment
Students’ commitment to athletics is often seen as a diversion from the College’s commitment to academics. Although the College outlines specific procedures for students, coaches, and professors, it is often left to the discretion of those involved how to balance athletics and academics.
“One of the things that we think about a lot as faculty is student time and whether or not students have the time that they need to devote to their academics,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Andi Lloyd. “What’s the right amount of time to devote to academics relative to extracurricular activities? It’s a question about time as a scarce resource.”
Lloyd also commented on claims that student-athletes are given access to easier classes. Although unaware of any specific practices concerning this she said, “The kinds of things I hear—and the kinds of conversations I have with my advisees—have more to do with time management than with taking easier classes… I think people are making choices about classes based on any number of different factors, including athletics and other extra-curricular commitments. I would not define it as an issue of athletic privilege in the sense that it is playing out at other schools.”
By College and NESCAC regulations, varsity athletes are limited in the amount of time they are allowed to practice, how long their season is, and how many games they may compete in, among other things. However, the time commitment to a varsity sport is still substantial and, for many students, a deciding factor for participation.
“I came in and I picked rugby because I wanted to learn the sport but also because I didn’t want to try to play a varsity sport,” Linder said.
She added, “We have a lot of girls who played sports in high school and didn’t want the commitment of a varsity sport because it’s a huge time commitment and we’re sort of looking for a middle ground where it was a structure, a team, but wasn’t that much of a high competitiveness level.”
Lloyd added that this conversation extends beyond athletics. “Having been here for almost 20 years, I have seen that students find any number of different pathways through this place, they distinguish themselves in any number of different ways, they find a range of things outside of the classroom in order to stretch themselves and challenge themselves, and athletics is one of those things but, it’s not the only thing,” she said.
Social Life
The divide between athletes and non-athletes on campus goes beyond areas in the budget, admissions and time commitments. The op-ed published in The Campus, a response by basketball player Jake Nidenberg ’16, and another published on Middbeat by Lizzy Weiss ’17 and Aleck Silva-Pinto ’16 are all part of the ongoing conversation around this divide.
Many have pointed to freshman orientation as the origin of this separation between athletes and non-athletes. In the 2015 SGA student life survey, participants were asked if they think the staggered arrival of fall athletes, international and non-athlete domestic students during orientation impacts relationships between different groups. Results showed that 16.13 percent of participants saw a positive impact, 59.04 percent saw a negative impact, and 24.83 percent saw no impact.
In their column “NARPs” in the Campus, Maddie Webb ’17 and Izzy Fleming ’17 have explored how non-athletes at the College can get involved with both athletics and other activities on campus. “‘NARPs’ is a term I had never heard before I came to Middlebury,” Webb said. “Most people use it as a term of endearment but there are also people who use it to put other people down.”
She added, “There are so many people on this campus who think that sports are everything and you are nothing without athletic ability and so a point of our column is to not only take back the term NARPs but to show people all the opportunities there are on campus to get involved that they might not have known about.”
As head of the SGA Athletic Committee, Linder works to bridge this gap. “A lot of what we do is how to get more people to come to games and support the team and school spirit…I think we run into issues less with privilege and more with the disconnect between athletes and non-athletes and trying to find ways to make a connection between those two sides,” she said.
Whether athletics are seen as an outlet for extra privileges or a source of diversity and connection on campus can be attributed to how students at the College embrace the divide. “This is college, and we love to refer to Middlebury as a bubble, and that’s not a bad thing—to an extent, it should be a bubble,” Spears said. “This place, of all places, of all moments in students’ lives, should be where people are crossing those boundaries and getting to know people who are different from one another.”
(01/21/15 7:52pm)
The Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE) will bring together members of the College community, the town of Middlebury and key players in the world of public health to discuss how social entrepreneurs can impact and inspire global health at its fourth annual symposium this week. The symposium, “Social Entrepreneurship and the Future of Global Health,” will be held starting today through Jan. 24.
Highlights of the symposium are two keynote speakers, Jennifer Staple-Clark and Dr. Mitch Besser, who will both receive the 2015 MCSE Vision Awards, a number of workshops, roundtable discussions and the College’s first hackathon.
Associate Director of MCSE Heather Neuwirth has been a leader in organizing the MCSE symposiums for the past four years. She said that global health was chosen as the topic for this year’s symposium because “interest in global health is growing as we realize that health is inextricably linked to all of our biggest global challenges.”
She also referenced MCSE’s connection to global health on campus through their relationship to the Global Health minor and the College’s GlobeMed chapter.
Staple-Clark and Besser will both offer a unique perspective to how global health and social entrepreneurship are and should be related. Tonight Staple-Clark, along with Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Svea Closser and two students, will engage in a discussion titled “Responsible Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship.”
Staple-Clark is the founder and CEO of Unite for Sight, a non-profit organization that works to eliminate barriers between patients and accessing the care they need. The organization focuses on eye care and partners with local eye clinics to identify community-specific issues that make receiving effective eye care for patients living in extreme poverty especially difficult.
Staple-Clark founded the organization in her dorm room during her sophomore year at Yale University and works around the world to help inspire students in social entrepreneurship.
“One of our goals at the CSE is to bring in speakers that share a relatable pathway for our students and community,” said Neuwirth. “[Staple-Clark]…saw an opportunity as a student, has iterated and taken risks.”
Tomorrow night, Besser will participate in a conversation with Coordinator of Global Health Programs Pamela Berenbaum. Besser founded an organization, mothers2mothers, after recognizing a lack of education and support for mothers suffering from HIV/AIDS while working at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in South Africa.
His organization employs mothers already suffering from HIV/AIDS to be Mentor Mothers and work alongside doctors and nurses to help educate and support future mothers with or without HIV.
“[Besser] is someone who had an idea and stepped outside of his regular role and now it’s a whole organization doing great work,” said Berenbaum.
She continued, “I will be asking him a lot of questions about his process; how he went from being a regular guy from New Jersey to being an entrepreneur, an innovator and a change maker…I’m hoping that the audience will be inspired and maybe even entertained but most importantly, comforted by the idea that anybody can do this and really take away that inspiration.”
Berenbaum, a member of both the College community and the global health community, emphasized the constant need for innovation in global health.
“I would like to see the [global health] field embrace change and embrace improvement no matter what form it’s in…It’s important to criticize what we do and have a skeptical eye but I would like to see the doors left wide open for any ideas people have with any method,” she said.
The symposium will also feature a number of events where attendees will be encouraged to participate, including four workshops and the MiddHackathon.
Two of the workshops this year will use Skype to engage with active members in the global health field. The workshops will be with Jennifer Foth ’08, a program coordinator at Vaccines at Clinton Health Access Initiative from Uganda and two Mentor Mothers from mothers2mothers, Queen and Nozi, who will be speaking from South Africa.
“I don’t think it would be fair to discuss global health without people who are working in global health in developing environments so it makes all the sense to bring in these voices and to have our community engage with them,” said CSE Program and Outreach Associate Mustafa Babak.
As the College’s first hackathon, it will introduce a new kind of collaboration as students, faculty, staff and community members work to create a PSA focused on solving some of the most pressing issues in the global health world. A panel of judges will decide on the best PSA, which will then be translated into all of the languages offered by the College and released across a number of media forums.
Babak, who helped to organize the MiddHackathon, said, “A Hackathon is a tremendous tool to curate talents and capabilities towards solving a very specific challenge. I think the hackathon itself can be a tool around the world to bring in these experts to solve a challenging problem. For us, we are offering this tool at this symposium because we want to inspire our students at the College to get them familiar with this concept.”
Organizers of the symposium emphasized the importance of collaboration and inspiration as key tools for creating change.
Jon Isham, professor of economics and director of MCSE, said, “We hope that the symposium helps our attendees to reflect on the role they can play in effecting social change, connect with others, analyze selected global health challenges of our time, and engage in solution building.”
Berenbaum also spoke to the importance of this symposium. “I’m hoping that the symposium draws in a crowd of people that aren’t just the global health students on campus because global health is completely inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary,” she said. “I’m hoping they come and recognize that something like innovation or entrepreneurship or social change really requires a large skill set and any one person doesn’t need to have all the skills but you need to recognize who else you might need to pull in to help you.”
(12/03/14 6:21pm)
In a campus-wide email sent Wednesday, Dean of the College and Vice President for Student Affairs Shirley Collado announced the approval of a new Intercultural Center in Carr Hall that will serve to provide students with a space to embrace diversity on campus.
The proposal was introduced last spring in response to student concern that the College lacked a space dedicated to providing for students of color, first-generation students, LGBTQ students and others who have historically been underrepresented or marginalized in higher education.
The new Intercultural Center will offer a space concentrated on combining student life and academics and work with the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and the PALANA (Pan-African, Latino, Asian and Native American) Academic Interest House.
“The new center will serve the entire campus community and will build on Middlebury’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and the academic mission of the Center for Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE),” Collado said. “The combination of these centers in Carr Hall will offer substantive opportunities for students, faculty and staff to interact across academic and student life.”
Collado added that the College hopes to launch the center in fall 2015. There are still a number of details that need to be addressed before the center can open but its approval has marked the most important step in its creation.
“The implementation phase of the new center will begin this coming spring and summer and will include: the naming, space usage, access and cosmetic renovations. We hope that several students will want to be involved in the implementation phase of the new center. We are very grateful for the broad support for the creation of this important resource for students and the larger college community,” Collado said.
Following Collado’s departure this January, Roberto Lint Sagarena, current director of the CCSRE and Associate Professor of American Studies, who, as of the approval of the center, will become its director and will oversee the operation along with Jennifer Herrera, Assistant Director of Student Activities and Miguel Fernandez, Interim Chief Diversity Officer as of Jan. 1 and Professor of Spanish. The process will also rely on support and input from students, crucial staff and faculty, and members of the administration.
One of the most immediate phases of the implementation process is determining how the space in Carr Hall will be used. The Space Committee met before Thanksgiving break to review the request for the center and, at their regular meeting in Janury, will review additional information on space use and costs for the renovations. January and the spring semester will also see the naming of the center and the decisions regarding space usage.
On Monday, Sagarena, Herrera and Fernandez led a group of students in an informal tour of Carr Hall to discuss the use of the space. Students were encouraged to offer suggestions on the use of different rooms and what they would like to see in the new center. “This building will be your space,” Herrera said to the group.
Fernandez added, “I would like this center to be a special place that welcomes and embraces difference … A place that brings groups together who want to work on improving the environment of diversity on campus.”
(10/29/14 10:09pm)
Rana Abdelhamid ’15 was quoted in an article in USA Today on Oct. 10 in response to Bill Maher’s criticism of Islam on his talk show, Real Time with Bill Maher. Abdelhamid’s personal experience and her knowledge of this global issue inspired her to start the organization Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) and have made her one of the leading voices in the Muslim American community.
The USA Today article discussed the impact that negative comments made by the media have on Muslim Americans. According to the article, people in the media such as Bill Maher and Sam Harris are still vocalizing the stigma of those billions of people who identify as Muslim.
WISE was founded in the summer of 2010 by Abdelhamid as “a self-defense, leadership and mentorship program for young Muslim women in New York City,” according to its website.
“It’s an organization that really aims to provide young women with the skills they need to be professionally empowered, to be physically empowered, to be emotionally empowered,” Abdelhamid said.
Abdelhamid’s experience dealing with negativity towards Muslim Americans started when she was faced with violence in New York because of her identity. Inspired by this experience and her background in Shotakon karate, Abdelhamid began working with 12 young Muslim American girls in her community that summer to help create a safe space for them.
“We talked about identity and about creating safe spaces. We talked about what it means to be a Muslim woman in the United States and how that contributes to our political and personal ambitions,” she said.
From her time with these girls, Abdelhamid realized the impact she could have on her community and decided to continue building the program.
“As soon as I worked with these young women I was able to realize how significant it was, particularly because one girl faced violence on the streets as I did. I realized this isn’t just about my personal experience but it’s about my community.”
Abdelhamid was able to continue her work in the Muslim American community with the help of the College and Center for Social Entrepreneurship, which helped her create WISE.
Abdelhamid has also worked with Professor of Political Science Erik Bleich on research about the representation of Muslims in the media after 9/11. According to the WISE website, hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs have increased by 1,600 percent since 9/11. Abdelhamid and Bleich are discovering the role media has played in this surge.
Their research shows that the media as a whole is not to blame for the negativity.
“We are focused on the headlines and the tone of the headlines (positive, negative, or neither), but we cannot say much about how headlines affect society. However, we can say that the notion that the media has been largely negative about Muslims is wrong. So if there is Islamophobia in society (and there is) it may have less to do with media coverage than many people previously thought,” said Bleich.
Abdelhamid still raised concerns about the impact of the media in society. “The negative stories [in the media] affected me so much more because that’s what continues to come up in the news feeds...What happens is it increases aggression towards my community and it increases aggression towards people who are visibly Muslim, unfortunately,” Bleich said.
“I think its very important with all the things that are happening in the Middle East and with everything going on in the world right now that people understand the implications of what they’re saying…a majority of the people affected by terrorism and the radicalization of these beliefs are Muslims and people don’t recognize that…People need to have a more nuanced understanding of what’s happening,” she added.
Abdelhamid has been the recipient of many awards in the past and most recently she was presented with the Leo Nevas Human Rights Youth Award from the United Nations Association of the United States of America.
At a ceremony held for the winners, Abdelhamid was able to meet with prominent leaders in the Muslim community and the United Nations including Queen Rania of Jordan, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Samantha Power, United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
“People [at the award ceremony] were thanking me for the work that we’re doing and I think for us, this is so important because it provides legitimacy for our work when there are some challenges that we face both inside and outside of the community especially as young people and as women trying to do this,” Abdelhamid said. “So having received this award provides us with credibility in that we’re being recognized by an international organization and we’re seen as an organization that should be taken seriously.”
(10/09/14 2:40am)
Public Safety released its annual Security and Fire Safety Report on Wednesday, Oct. 1st, which indicated several variances from the 2013 report, most notably, an increase in the number of forcible sexual offenses from five in 2012 to seventeen in 2013.
The report defines forcible sexual offenses as “[a] sexual act directed against another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent. This includes forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and forcible fondling.”
In the all school email from Director of Public Safety Elizabeth Burchard, the increase of forcible sexual offenses was outlined, as was the possibility that this increase may have emerged from an increased effort to encourage victims to report incidents of sexual misconduct.
“While the increase in reports of sexual violence is an area of particular concern, it may be a consequence of our efforts to encourage individuals to report violations. Middlebury will continue to engage in education and prevention efforts related to sexual assault,” Burchard wrote.
However, the increasing number of reported assaults does not seem to be a trend that only the College has been dealing with. According to the Boston Globe, which released an article, “Sexual assault reports climb at area Colleges,” on Oct. 6,“forcible sexual offenses” rose nearly 40 percent between 2012 and 2013 at two-dozen of New England’s largest colleges.
The article also noted that the increase, according to safety specialists, reflects an unprecedented national awareness of the problem of sexual assault, which has encouraged more victims to come forward. The Clery Act, in particular, requires colleges to issue a report on Oct. 1st of each year with all the statistics of alleged crimes.
Despite the notion that the increase stems from more victims coming forward and reporting, the jump from five to fifteen is nevertheless concerning. However, college officials remain optimistic that this truly does reflect an increase in reporting.
“The message of zero tolerance for sexual violence is being heard on local and national levels,” said Dean of the College Shirley Collado. “We are cautiously optimistic that these numbers mean our efforts to increase awareness and make reporting more acceptable to victims of sexual assault are working.”
“Middlebury has actively encouraged the reporting of sexual violence in all of its forms and has established policies and systems to make the process easier and more supportive,” she continued.
However, not all students are as optimistic that the College has done anything to make reporting easier and that this report reflects that.
“I am concerned and troubled by this increase,” said Lily Sawyer ’16. “If the increase in reports of sexual violence is, as the email suggests, a consequence of the administration’s efforts to encourage individuals to report these viola--tions, then I think that’s fabulous. But I have to say that I haven’t personally noticed any difference over the last two years in terms of encouraging victims to speak out. Not that I think Middlebury encourages victims of sexual assault to stay silent, I’m not saying that at all. But I’m not sure that there have been big policy changes or administrative shifts that we can pinpoint as the reason victims feel more comfortable coming forward. I hope that there have been and maybe I just haven’t noticed them.”
One student who was sexually assaulted reached out to the Campus to share her story. The student, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed particular concern not so much with the College’s commitment to having victims report and helping them do so, but with everything after that—from continued support and sensitivity.
“When I realized my academics were really struggling I spoke with my dean and was made aware of more resources that are available,” she said.
“[He] made it clear that the College wants to do everything they can to support me, but then we quickly shifted to speaking about the judicial process. My dean expressed the administration strongly encourages students to take that route. However, I felt that there was a tremendous pressure to take that route.”
“There were multiple points my dean made when trying to encourage me [to report], one of them being the benefit of the campus community and for other potential victims, so I eventually did. However, I felt that the focus on my recovery and healing was more about the case than on my health, which is a weakness in the system,” she continued.
She also pointed out that there did not seem to be much follow-through after the initial reporting took place.
“People in the administration were very helpful, but at the end of the day it always was me that had to go back and follow-up if things weren’t getting better for me,” she said.
“I think it makes it so difficult for a victim, because you are the one that has to reach out to someone and summon up the courage to tell them your story. That takes a lot of effort and it is exhausting. I felt like yes, they wanted to help me and they were concerned and would think about me, but at the same time it wasn’t personal. It often felt scripted, like this is what I was trained to say or ask you about.”
She continued, “One thing that is unfortunate is that I don’t feel like Middlebury plays a role in my healing process. In fact I don’t want to seek help from the Middlebury college professional community. There are negative associations with working with the administration of the campus where it happened. I need to handle this independently of them, because ultimately I was fearful of the power of the administration. Part of coping with a sexual assault is taking back your own control and when you are dealing with people who are in positions of power, however subtle that can be, it is challenging for a victim. It brings back negative memories. This isn’t necessarily their fault, but just came about because of the circumstances from which I was working with them.”
“I want to re-create this home for myself. This whole situation took a toll on my feelings toward the College, but I want to re-create it,” she said.
“There are three players you are dealing with after a assault: the campus community, the assailant and the victim. It seems that Middlebury is doing a good job handling the assailant and the community, but not as great of a job as caring for the victim,” she concluded.
The College, however, continued to try and make progress in this area. Although the Department of Public Safety issued the report, many of the efforts to address the increase in reported “Forcible Sexual Offenses” and to raise awareness about sexual misconduct and sexual identity on campus are made by the administration with the support of the Department of Public Safety.
According to an email sent by Liebowitz on Sept. 8, all alleged violations of the “Policy against Sexual Misconduct, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking” will be reviewed by the the Human Relations Officer instead of the Sexual Misconduct Review Panel.
In the email Liebowitz asserted, “This academic year, we will emphasize prevention strategies and programs to educate students, faculty, and staff with the goal of preventing sexual violence of all kinds.”
In another all-campus email sent on Thursday, Oct. 2, the administration announced another new program. This is the new preferred name and gender pronoun procedure for identification on BannerWeb and subsequently, on all internal College data systems. According to the email, the initiative was prompted by a proposal presented in 2011.
Questions about how to use the new program can be directed to Assistant Director of Student Activities Jennifer Herrera. However, when asked about the importance of the new system, Herrera failed to respond beyond what was said in the all campus email.
According to the email, “The implementation of the preferred name and gender pronoun procedure in BannerWeb puts Middlebury at the forefront of gender identity and expression initiatives nationwide, and is in keeping with our institutional commitment to creating a diverse, welcoming community with full and equal participation for all individuals and groups.”
Burchard said of the increase in the numbers, “We take these numbers seriously and we fully support Middlebury’s efforts to actively encourage the reporting of sexual violence. Public Safety will continue to participate in the college’s education and prevention efforts, and to work with others in the college and local communities.”
Burchard referenced the grant that the College received last year “to enhance the college’s efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence on campus.” She said that as a result of the grant, which allows the College to work closely with outside organizations, the Department of Public Safety “will have the opportunity to collaborate on sexual violence training programs, sharing protocols and best practices.”
(10/01/14 10:39pm)
The Middlebury College Board of Trustees held their first meeting under the new governance structure on Sept. 18 – 21. The bi-annual meeting of the Trustees was held at the College and addressed resolutions regarding the new Identity System and Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality.
The most important outcome of the meeting was its determination of the functionality of the new structure. President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz said of the meeting, “It was both a test of the new structure and really a learning experience for us to find out what needed to be tweaked and adjusted. I think the biggest challenge was for Trustees who were totally used to the old system.”
Under the new structure, what used to be a series of individual committees has been broken down into a group of three Boards of Overseers and a group of six standing committees. The three boards of overseers represent the undergraduate College, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and those “Schools” associated with the College including the Middlebury Language Schools, the Bread Loaf School of English, the C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
Unique to the structure is the representation by the Board of Overseers at the meetings of the committees and vice versa, creating a crossover that allows for completely informed discussions.
The new structure also included student representation for the first time, which could help to alleviate recent complaints against a lack of transparency from the administration.
Liebowitz believes that the College can help other institutions realize the importance of an improved level of governance communication.
“Institutions of governance are recognizing that the world is changing,” said Liebowitz. “The external pressures that are on higher education in general means that Boards need to look at their governance structures, many of which have not changed in decades, including our own, which is why we made our changes,” he said. “Whether or not others follow our lead, we are in the forefront of institutions like us talking about governance,” he concluded.
Last Monday, Liebowitz attended a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Mellon Foundation on the issue of Boards of Governance.
“We’re sort of on the forefront now; we will tweak the system; we will change the system over the next few years once we learn what works and what works less well,” he said.
Liebowitz claimed that the College is only “one-third of the way through.”
He said there are still steps to be taken in respect to changes in faculty and student governance at the College.
“Eventually we think students will have to look at their governance structures,” he said. “Do they need different committees, does a community council really meet the needs of students, and should students be represented differently? What are the issues over which students ought to have oversight?”
The meeting began on Thursday, Sept. 18 with a Trustee orientation and a retreat about faculty governance. The Trustees invited the Faculty Governance-working group and the Faculty Council to the retreat and heard from faculty on what was most important to them about governance.
The three Overseer Boards spent Friday morning doing more orientation in order to be best educated about the different programs. Meetings of the Overseers and the Committees took up the rest of the weekend for the Trustees.
Although the biggest point on the agenda was the new identity system, there was not very much headway made in implementing it. The specific logos of the identity system are proving to be the biggest issue, according to Liebowitz. Although the Trustees did not vote on any logos, there was a consensus that the Identity System is important and the issue of the logos should be figured out soon.
“In terms of showing our so-called logos I believe we are in a good place. It’s going to be a compromise,” said Liebowitz.
The College is going to hold two open meetings on the College and the Monterey Institute of International Studies campuses. Liebowitz says that the College hopes to get feedback from both communities in an effort to confirm and implement the new Identity System by January.
(09/10/14 8:32pm)
Come January, Middlebury College will lose an invaluable member of its community. Shirley M. Collado, Vice President for Student Affairs, Dean of the College, Chief Diversity Officer and the College’s Title IX Coordinator, accepted a new position as Executive Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Executive Vice Provost at Rutgers University – Newark in Newark, NJ.
Collado began at the College in late 2006 as the Vice President for Institutional Planning and Diversity. In July 2010, she moved to her position as Dean of the College.
In her time at the College, Collado has played an instrumental role in a number of initiatives that aim to expand the student experience beyond the classroom. She has been a leader at the College and in higher education in programs for access and student and faculty diversity.
Collado’s decision to take the position at Rutgers did not come easily. However, the opportunity to work at a large, public university with an enormously diverse student body prevailed.
“I was really excited about the opportunity to think about going to another mission driven place that would stretch me in ways that would be pretty significant and allow me to continue to address some of the critical issues that I feel strongly about in higher education. Like access, college persistance, and affordability for all students. What it really means to educate the future student demographics that we’re seeing emerge in high schools,” she said.
At Rutgers, Collado will be working closely with Chancellor Nancy Cantor, another leader in higher education who shares Collado’s values in access and diversity.
Although very different institutions, Collado will be able to continue her work focusing on these core values.
“Making sure that you are creating an environment where all students can thrive is what I will carry with me in terms of our deep commitment here to serving students once you’re a student at Middlebury,” she said. “One of the major initiatives that I’ll be working on there will be overseeing the development of a very dynamic and innovative honors living and learning community which will have a very strong liberal arts, and civically oriented residential component.”
In her transition out of the College, Collado will leave behind a legacy of innovation and commitment to the student body. Her work on the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, MiddCORE, the Center for Careers and Internships, MiddView, the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, and the grant for the Creating Connections Consortium will help to enhance student life at the College long after her departure.
Jon Isham, Director of Center for Social Entrepreneurship and a professor of Economics said of Collado and her time at the College, “Thanks to her, we are a more diverse community, and collectively we are more attuned to the complexities of being a young person in this confounding era. To continue to thrive, our community must lead with empathy and - dare I say - love for each other. Shirley has laid the foundation for such a transformation.”
Collado also worked to diversify the faculty of the College in an effort to offer students a wider range of learning opportunities. Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Andrea Lloyd said that “[Collado] thinks about diversity institutionally, trying to understand how the institution has to evolve in order to achieve our goals. The work of diversifying the faculty, seen from that kind of institutional perspective, becomes woven into the fabric of the place, rather than being seen as somehow separate from the day to day work that we do.”
Although leaving behind a range of programs, Collado professed her faith in the College to resume the work that she did. She was a leader and a role model for the students and faculty, but the administration that will work to continue what she brought to the College.
“Her candid demeanor, constructive criticism, and support helped me immensely over the course of the year. Her commitment to her job and this campus inspired me,” said Rachel Liddell ’15, President of the Student Government for the 2013-2014 school year. “It’s impressive to see someone work so hard but do it with commitment and joy.”
Erin Quinn, Director of Athletics said of Collado, “She has brought an inclusive and collaborative leadership style which has brought the many diverse elements of the division of Student Life together to greatly enhance the student experience at Middlebury.”
Separate interim officers will succeed Collado to fill the three leadership roles that she carries. President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz will announce these interim officers this fall but will not appoint new people to fill the positions permanently in an effort to allow a new President to play a role in the process.
In her time at the College, Collado has laid the foundations for an innovative and rich campus experience.
“The ethos of this place, the sense of community, the appetite that this environment has to always be better, to play a role in this world as a leader, its really not rhetoric, I feel it, and I’ve seen it in practice,” she said. “So that for me will be one of the greatest gifts that I got from this place. And I hope to be connected to Middlebury in all kinds of ways in the future… I could not feel as prepared and excited as I am if it wasn’t for the kind of experience I’ve gained here and what students have given me here.”
(05/08/14 12:18am)
A ceremony was held this past Tuesday in Crossroads café to honor Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Dana Yeaton with the Marjorie Lamberti Faculty Appreciation Award. The annual award was initiated by the SGA as an opportunity to recognize those faculty members who have made an impact on the College.
The award is student-nominated and given to faculty members who, in the words of retired History Professor Marjorie Lamberti, “have demonstrated excellence in teaching (be it lecture course, seminar, or laboratory) and dedication by giving time, energy, and effective effort in encouraging and supporting students in their search for knowledge and in their intellectual development inside and outside the classroom.”
After students send in nominations, the winner is selected by a committee of SGA members based on the number and quality of the nominations for each faculty member.
Andi Lloyd, dean of the faculty, said, “I appreciate the fact that this award is entirely driven by students— in its initiation and execution, this is an opportunity for students to identify and thank exceptional faculty members. And that gives it special significance.”
Lamberti was a professor at the College from 1964 until her retirement in 2002, specializing in modern European History. Yeaton was also a graduate of the College, and was a student during Lamberti’s time teaching. He has been a member of the faculty since 1998 and part of the theater department since 1999.
“Receiving the Lamberti Award is such an honor because it comes from the students. It’s particularly meaningful for me because when I arrived at Middlebury as an undergraduate in the late ‘70s, Professor Lamberti was already a legend here. Students who couldn’t get into her classes would sometimes attend her lectures for fun. Here was this diminutive figure with enormous intellectual energy, who literally seemed to know everything. We were in awe of her, and I still am,” said Yeaton.
Yeaton teaches many playwriting classes, and as a playwright himself, brings a unique knowledge to his courses. “Because I continue to write plays, I have a special relationship to people who are trying to write plays. I’ve found that getting into a script, whether its mine or somebody else’s, takes the same muscles,” he said. “Working with someone else’s text feels like a combination of therapy and collaboration; no, I’m not the author, but we can still get inside their idea and make discoveries together.”
Many of Yeaton’s plays have received recognition throughout the country. He is also the Founding Director of the Vermont Young Playwrights Project, which, since its start in 1995, has provided high school students a chance to work with professional playwrights, actors and directors.
Yeaton has also taught courses at the University of Vermont and the University of Tennessee. Of working with Middlebury students, Yeaton said, “These are students who want a challenge and you get to play up to that. You raise the bar for them, because that’s what they want. Of course that means raising the bar for yourself.”
He continued, “Students come here eager to find out what it is they’re actually here for. So as a professor, you get to watch people change course and struggle with some of the bigger questions of life. It makes teaching here seem really important.”
Yeaton’s dedication to his students is exemplified in his approach to teaching. “We’re trying to encourage students to broaden their interests, and in the theater department especially, we’re hoping they can see how this particular art form can pull widely varying disciplines together. When we see students doing that, well, it makes you proud,” he said.
(04/30/14 11:42pm)
All bikes on campus will be adorned with a front light courtesy of the student-run, non-profit organization Concussions Speak on Friday, May 2. The detachable snap bike lights will act as a precautionary measure for both bikers and runners around campus to help avoid accidents and subsequently, injuries such as concussions.
Founded by Emma Kitchen ’14.5 and Kaitlin Surdoval ’12 and now run by Kitchen, Sierra Stites ’14.5, Tiffany Chang ’17 and Sophie Kapica ’17. Concussions Speak works to spread awareness about the effects of concussions.
Kitchen and Surdoval started the non-profit in 2012 after both suffered severe concussions and wanted a way to share their stories and spread awareness.
Kitchen enrolled in MiddCORE in January 2012, then worked on MiddSTART and won MiddChallenge in the spring of 2012 to help start the organization. The programs worked as a means for funding that came through grants and donations.
“The goal is to bring more awareness and make it a healthier conversation to talk about your concussions and your experiences and help others recover from theirs,” said Surdoval who remains involved with the organization’s outreach beyond the College.
Kitchen worked with a faculty advisor, Assistant Professor of Writing Hector Vila, and the Office of Public Safety, to put lights on bikes around campus.
Along with putting lights on the bikes, Concussions Speak will also be selling bike lights on May 3 and 4 in front of Proctor Dining Hall. Afterward, they will be available for sale in Wilson Café.
“This is more of a precautionary measure to reduce the number of concussions. We also raise awareness about concussions and about what they are,” Kitchen said. “We want to make sure that there’s a strong community on campus that is there to support those that have had concussions.”
She added, “Bike accidents and running accidents happen because of a lack of awareness of the person and we are trying to make sure that we can reduce those injuries … I think this is a realistic goal to have to raise awareness and reduce injury and this can actually have significant change without that much effort and that much social change by the rider. We’re trying to make it minimal amount of effort from the rider but maximum amount of reduction in the injury.”
Along with initiatives like this one, Concussions Speak also spreads awareness through their website, concussionsspeak.com, the use of social media and at public speaking events. All of the students involved with the organization have suffered from a concussion and use these outlets to share their stories.
“There’s prevention, which is important, but also there’s the conversation and awareness and we’re just more interested in people sharing their stories so everyone knows they’re not alone and knows you can recover at your own rate and hopefully find the support that you need to do so,” Surdoval said.
(04/16/14 11:57pm)
The College bike shop introduced a new bikeshare program giving students, faculty and staff the opportunity to borrow bikes for up to a day from the College. Spearheaded by Paul Quackenbush ’14 and the College bike shop, the pilot program is expected to begin sometime early next week.
The program will allow students to borrow one of eight bikes stationed at the Davis Family Library that have been refurbished by the bike shop.
Quackenbush was inspired to pursue the bikeshare program by the efforts of Ellory Kramer ’13.5 last spring and a similar program from a few years ago called the yellow bikeshare program where yellow bikes were spread around campus for student use. Although the yellow bike program ended because of a lack of accountability, the concept remained of interest.
Kramer received negative feedback last spring, however Quackenbush was able to see the program through with the support of Public Safety Administrator and Museum Manager and Events Coordinator, Wayne Darling, and Circulation Services Manager Dan Frostman.
Support from both the Department of Public Safety and the Library Circulation Services was crucial because of their role in the program.
Darling and the Office of Public Safety help the bike shop with funding by providing them with unclaimed abandoned bikes that can be refurbished and resold.
“We have a role in providing the essential resource that makes the bike shop work both financially and as a facility to create bikes that can be rented or in this case borrowed,” Darling said. “This has become their primary form of funding.”
To maintain accountability, students will have to check the bikes out from the library. Quackenbush worked primarily with Frostman to engage the use of the library check out system.
“Bikes could get stolen and there needs to be some sort of accountability which is why I though to attach it to the library system. I figured we have a good system already for checking things out,” Quackenbush said.
The program is being introduced as a pilot in order to gauge interest and identify any faults.
“The pilot program is to see if there’s anything we’re forgetting,” Quackenbush said. “In order to go to a bigger scale, you are going to need more resources. So if we can demonstrate this is a viable program and there’s interest for it suggests that the school should allocate some resources to it.”
Darling added that this program could lead to an expanded version in the future.
“There was a version of this discussion about three years ago that reached a topping point where we were thinking about multiple places around campus where you could take a bike and drop them off at bike check stations,” he said.
In order to become a part of the program students are required to sign up online at go/bikeshare where the terms and conditions are stated. Once registered, students must go to the bike shop during their office hours to get a sticker on their ID that will indicate to the library that they can borrow a bike.
“I hope it achieves the mission of getting bikes in as many people’s hands as possible. Our whole mission is that bikes are great because they provide freedom,” Quackenbush said. “Many people don’t have cars on campus and I think it’s a shame that they can’t get out more into the surrounding areas and bikes are a great and fun way to do that.”
(04/06/14 8:31pm)
Coffee and snacks are now available for the science buffs on campus thanks to the grand opening of a café kiosk in Bicentennial Hall on Monday, March 31.
The installation of the café was prompted after a WetheMiddKids petition received 247 votes and won the attention of the Student Government Association (SGA). “[Chief of Staff] Danny Zhang ’15 discovered that efforts to put a café in BiHall had been begun but were stalled” SGA President Rachel Liddell ’15 said. “We thought that a café in BiHall would be amazing, so we began to pursue it.”
The SGA Senate voted unanimously to support the petition and created a resolution called S.C.I.E.N.C.E (Supporting Cafés In Environments of New Community Enhancement).
The SGA worked with General Manager of Retail Food Operations David Cannistra and Special Assistant to the President David Donahue to bring the petition to life. President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz approved the movement to go forward with the project about three weeks ago.
Efforts to implement a café in BiHall go as far back as 2006, according to Cannistra. The most recent attempt was last year but the plans were “a little too ambitious for the space” according to him.
Because of past efforts though, the decision to move forward with the café was easy for the administration.
“[The café] seems likes it’s something that’s been needed on campus,” Cannistra said.
The café, located across from Armstrong Library, includes a kiosk of coffee and small snacks with in addition to more substantial food such as sushi from Sushi with Gusto.
“We really just want to get up and going with this so I think it’s just going to stay [a kiosk]” Cannistra said. “[BiHall] is such a beautiful space. They don’t want to do anything to permanently change the place.”
The café will be run in part by student organizations. For their help, the organizations will receive a portion of the profits made while they work. Both GlobeMed and the Track and Field team have already gotten involved with working at the café. Cannistra said that the program will work similarly to that of the Grille’s delivery service, which has been very successful.
According to Co-President of GlobeMed Olivia Wold ’14, the organization received 25 percent of the proceeds made while they worked. She acknowledged that it offers clubs an opportunity to fundraise without all the planning and time commitment that often goes into a fundraising event. “The College does a great job both promoting new ideas for fundraisers, like this one, and also providing guidance when we have our own ideas,” she said.
The café, open from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. then 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. On Mondays through Fridays, Liddell speculated, they “will provide sustenance and caffeine to hard-working people. Students and faculty alike have communicated their desire for such a place for some time.”
“The café will allow [students] to relax and have a cup of coffee and enjoy themselves,” Cannista said. “It’s more of a service that we set up for the students than a money making opportunity.”
According to Cannistra, the café has already been a success.
“The first week went very well as we served 584 customers, and it was well received by,faculty, staff and students alike,” he said.
Along with the café in BiHall, the Rehearsals Café in the lower lobby of the Mahaney Center for the Arts re-opened on April 1 for the rest of the spring semester.
“This started because [President Liebowitz] wanted a sense of community … where people could meet and have a cup of coffee and hang out. I think that was the driving factor. [President Liebowitz] was looking for a sense of community, as far as the CFA as well.”