Spring Student Symposium returns in person
The Spring Student Symposium returned in person for the first time since spring 2019 on Friday, April 22.
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The Spring Student Symposium returned in person for the first time since spring 2019 on Friday, April 22.
Volume CXX, Issue 1 (September 16, 2021) Volume CXX, Issue 2 (September 23, 2021)
Over two years after Middlebury unveiled Energy2028 — a plan to divest the endowment from fossil fuels, while investing in renewable energy and environmental education — the college has advanced towards each of these goals while making equity and justice a cornerstone of its work. Jack Byrne, Dean of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability, explained that there are four main pillars of Energy2028: getting to 100% renewable energy, conserving energy on campus, divesting from fossil fuels and integrating sustainability into the educational mission. He noted that progress has been made towards each of these goals but that finding new ways to integrate the goals of Energy2028 with the educational mission of the college will take the longest amount of time. Academics Chair of the Environmental Studies Program Dan Brayton said that Environmental Studies readily adopted the Energy2028 goals as soon as they were presented to them. Consistent with the equity and justice pillar of Energy2028, core faculty in the program are regularly modifying their courses and placing greater emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion. Such changes have already been underway in Contested Grounds, a core Environmental Studies course that Brayton has taught for over a decade alongside other professors. He noted that he now covers texts from three or four Native American writers, an increase from one or zero when he first started teaching the course. In addition, conversations about race and identity are now central to in-class discussions about humans’ relationships to their natural environment. Brayton uses these conversations to pose questions that challenge conventional notions about nature and environmentalism. “Who [traditionally] gets to be an environmentalist in US history? What do environmentalists look like and why? These kinds of questions lead to some really exciting conversations and often some pretty hard conversations,” he said. Progress towards Energy2028 goals in Environmental Studies is largely constrained by limited staffing, Brayton said. He underscored the need for more faculty who are fully affiliated with the program and expressed hope that future faculty are “more representative of global humanity” in their diversity. New courses and initiatives are also being designed for the discipline, some of which extend beyond Middlebury’s Vermont campus. Middlebury Climate Semester, a new study-away program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, will commence in Winter and Spring 2022. According to Brayton, this new program was necessary in order to introduce cross-curricular courses in the humanities. He explained that it will undergo a two-year trial in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, with the potential to continue as a permanent, year-round offering if successful. The study-away program will be directed by Brayton and led jointly by the undergraduate Environmental Studies program in Vermont and the International Environmental Policy (IEP) master’s program in Monterey. The program centers around climate change, environmental justice and international environmental policy, according to Brayton. Brayton sees room for potential growth in undergraduate programming at Monterrey and envisions more environmental studies courses being offered in addition to the Climate Semester program. He also anticipates more students opting to study-away in future years as the partnership continues to develop. “I could imagine more environmental studies offerings at Monterey on top of the Climate Semester — maybe a semester study of the marine environment, maybe a semester study of food and agriculture — these will all be built into the Midd Climate Semester,” he said. “But I can imagine all of these aspects of the Climate Semester kind of building out and becoming bigger.” Justice Energy2028 acknowledges the role of inequity and environmental racism in the climate crisis and aims to make justice a central consideration in all efforts. Byrne described a “do no harm” philosophy in which the equity and justice consequences of a decision, both positive and negative, are considered before taking action. “I think what we want to be sure of is that we're very conscious of the potential consequences from an equity and justice perspective of different ways we would be thinking about achieving some of these goals,” he said. Byrne pointed to a March 2020 op-ed that demanded better treatment for workers at Goodrich Farm — which supplies renewable natural gas to the college as part of an anaerobic digester partnership — following alleged incidences of wage theft and physical and verbal abuse against migrant farmworkers. He echoed the authors’ calls for Middlebury to expand the scope of sustainability to its own labor practices and those of its vendors. “In the dairy industry in Vermont, there are a lot of migrant workers, and we know in general that they are dealing with difficult circumstances and conditions,” Byrne said. “So that was the impetus for us to say ‘we really need to have an explicit framework around justice and equity’ — to make sure that when we do a project like that, we're taking into account opportunities to advance justice from a migrant standpoint or from other perspectives.” Bryne explained that a working subcommittee on justice exists within the college’s Environmental Council and expects to share a preliminary report by the end of the year on next steps in the development of this framework. Kate Goodman ’24 believes that the language surrounding justice in Energy2028 does not go far enough. Goodman, who works as a Climate Action Fellow with the Climate Action Capacity Project (CACP), explained that some students are working to incorporate the theme as a more integral facet of each pillar in Energy2028. “I've heard a million times that justice isn't one of the pillars because it should be incorporated in all other pillars, which I like totally agree with: it shouldn't be separate from conservation, it shouldn't be separate from divestment, it should be incorporated,” she said in an interview with The Campus. “But I think that incorporation just hasn't happened, and it has just meant for [justice] to be left out of the language.” Goodman considers the CACP — which debuted Fall 2020 with its first cohort of fellows — to be an accessible stepping stone to environmental organizing at larger institutions like Middlebury. She explained that although she had prior experience with environmental organizing in high school, she didn’t realize the operational complexity involved in continuing that work at Middlebury ahead of time. With that being said, Goodman underscored the importance of building climate awareness through organic interactions. “I think if you're talking about how we increase climate capacity, I think a lot of the work — the ways I feel that I've helped increase climate capacity — are more natural, like having authentic conversations with friends, other fellows, and people in SNEG [Sunday Night Environmental Group], and less of just individual work on your own,” she said. “But it’s also important to push your own capacity as an individual to know.”
Today, The Campus presents its eighth issue of the spring semester. The stories [post_grid id='55231'] Today's Front Page https://issuu.com/middleburycampus/docs/front_page_5_6_21
In designing this year’s survey, The Campus’ Zeitgeist team reviewed questions from last year’s survey (both those that were on the survey itself and others that were submitted but did not make it into the survey) and then distributed a form to solicit potential survey questions from members of The Campus’ editorial board. After consolidating the questions and in careful consultation with other editors, members of the Zeitgeist team generated 58 survey questions in total, including 16 demographic questions. The Campus distributed the survey in all-student email on the evening of April 4, 2021. Responses were open for 8 days, until midnight on April 12. The survey was also distributed on The Campus’ social media platforms, posting at frequent intervals until the deadline. Upon receiving the email, respondents followed an anonymous link to the survey hosted on Qualtrics. This link ensured that no personally identifiable data as to the respondent’s computer or location could be tracked. After completing the survey, respondents had the option to enter a raffle on a separate Google Form, which ensured that the participants’ identifying information for the raffle and the survey data were not linked. Following the demographic questions, this year’s survey questions were grouped into six general categories: Academics and the Institution, Social Life, Love and Relationships, Mental and Physical Health, Politics, and Community. Survey respondents were encouraged to answer all the questions, but none of the non-demographic questions were mandatory. All demographic questions offered an “I prefer not to answer” option. The survey data was stored on the Qualtrics platform and was distributed to a small group of reporters in sections via Google Drive. Sharing permissions for the Google Drive folder were deleted after the completion of data analysis. Data remained only on the devices of reporters and never shared externally.When analyzing the data, the team did not examine specific entries or attempt to extract the entirety of a respondent’s data, but worked with the data as a whole to survey general trends. In order to protect the confidentiality of respondents, we have chosen not to disclose or report the responses of groups with 5 or fewer members in demographic breakdowns. In total, 1,041 students responded out of Middlebury’s degree-seeking undergraduate student population of 2,434, making the response rate 42.77%.The findings were then compiled and published in the April 29 edition of The Campus. In total, 12 students were closely involved with the making of this year’s Zeitgeist.
Middlebury students have spent only a fraction of the last year on campus compared to pre-Covid semesters. They finished the spring 2020 semester online, returned to an abbreviated fall term or took classes remotely, and spent J-Term off-campus. Yet the time spent at Middlebury was spent in Middlebury — students developed a new awareness of the borders of Addison County as travel restrictions kept students near campus and isolated from the rest of the world. Life on campus changed too, with everything from social life to exercise altered by a long and evolving list of rules meant to keep Covid-19 prevalence in the community low. The pandemic transformed college life, and alongside it, students’ relationships with Middlebury. This year, we asked students whether Middlebury felt like home and how the ways they thought about Middlebury have changed since the beginning of the pandemic. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Almost 90% of students said Middlebury at least sometimes feels like home, but there were significant disparities between how white students and students of color viewed Middlebury. While one in two white students said Middlebury felt like home, the same was true for only one in three Hispanic or Latino students, one in three Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander students, and one in five Black students. Black students said Middlebury did not feel like home more than twice as often as white students. Seniors felt far more at home at Middlebury than any other class year, with nearly 60% saying it was home and another 33% saying it was sometimes home. On the other side of the spectrum, first years were a notable standout — only 30% said Middlebury was home, while just over 50% said it sometimes was. Legacy also made a difference in whether students felt at home at Middlebury. Students with two parents who went to Middlebury said they felt at home almost 25 percentage points more than students who had no parents attend Middlebury. How has the way you think about Middlebury changed in the last year? Respondents gave a mix of responses on how their thinking about Middlebury has changed, ranging from “I love it even more than I did before I got here,” to “f*** this school.” Students wrote about how being sent away from Middlebury and later confined to Addison County changed their attachment to the college. Several people referenced stability: “After the school kicked us off campus last year, I’ve felt nervous. I don’t feel like I have a secure home here,” one said. Another wrote that being on campus made them realize “how important having friends nearby and a stable working environment are.” Some mentioned finding new appreciation for the natural beauty of Middlebury, while others spoke about feeling trapped. One student said, “It’s a bit less like home when you’re stuck here and can’t leave.” Connection came up in dozens of responses. Some students wrote about building stronger relationships with their “close contacts,” and how being more intentional with their time helped forge deeper connections to friends. Remote learners wrote about feeling disconnected from the college and from friends, having not been on campus in over a year. Many students both on and off campus wrote about feeling isolated from the community at large. “I just feel less connected to the students here because I never leave my section of campus,” one said. Seniors were especially keen to finish the year. Responses included, “I cannot wait to get out of here, which is something I have not felt to this degree in previous years.”; “I will be glad to be gone.”; “I no longer want to be a student at Middlebury and feel no connection to the school or campus.”and “It won’t be my home forever. It will move on and I will move on.” Several people spoke about Middlebury as only a stepping stone in their life — a fleeting, transitory moment on their way to other goals. Many students spoke about changing perspectives, from lowering expectations for college during Covid-19 to becoming more aware of inequities throughout the pandemic. Rose-colored glasses came up often, as students described losing the idealistic view they had of Middlebury in their first year. Of course, students also spoke about home. “Often when you think about whether you like your college, you think about it as a school, in comparison to other schools,” one student said. “Now I’m thinking of it as a home, in comparison to other homes, and realizing I may never have a home like this again.”
A data journalism piece may tell a thousand words but requires a thousand words of gratitude. First and foremost, we would like to thank the 1,041 survey participants for entrusting us with your stories. This project would not have been possible without you, literally. Sarah Fagan ’22 contributed her incredible artistry with the header graphics for each section. The Campus’ leadership team of Hattie LeFavour ’21, Riley Board ’22 and Bochu Ding ’21 provided the vision, guidance, and oversight needed to make this project operative. Tony Sjodin ’23 provided excellent counsel and leadership in shaping the survey and every step thereafter. Emmanuel Tamrat ’22 breathed life into Zeitgeist with his technical expertise and creativity. Thank you also to Benjy Renton ’21, who spearheaded Zeitgeist last year and provided the infrastructure, troubleshooting skills, technical training workshops and immense additional support. Your generosity and commitment to your work is unparalleled and critical to the success of this project. We also want to extend our gratitude to Executive Director of Food Operations Dan Detora for generously supporting the project by providing declining balance for our raffle. Director of Health and Wellness Barbara McCall, Executive Director of Health and Counseling Services Gus Jordan and ADA Coordinator Jodi Litchfield’s suggestions and input were critical in forming last year’s survey questions regarding mental, sexual and physical health at Middlebury, which were used in this year’s survey. Finally and most importantly, thank you to Campus readers like you who engage with our stories, tell ones of your own and push our coverage to be the best it can be. We hope that you will continue to support Zeitgeist and share your thoughts to continuously improve the project for subsequent years.
Today, The Campus presents its seventh issue of the spring semester. The stories [post_grid id='54917'] Today's Front Page https://issuu.com/middleburycampus/docs/4-15-2021_front_page
Today, The Campus presents its sixth issue of the spring semester. The stories [post_grid id='54784'] Today's Front Page https://issuu.com/middleburycampus/docs/front_page_4-8-21