(03/18/15 5:47pm)
Last Saturday, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) of Middlebury held a policy conference on divided government.
AEI is a new club at Middlebury based on a public policy think tank in Washington D.C. Thanks to this new voice on campus, students can now tune in to a national network of free political enterprise.
An employee of AEI’s D.C. office, Stan Veuger said, “The company is committed to ideals of freedom and opportunity. We focus on a range of issues: domestic policy and a lot of economic policy.” AEI has come to Middlebury through their campus outreach program, to “bring some more intellectual and political diversity to a lot of debates on campuses that are often more dominated by more aggressive political voices.”
The conference began with a lecture by Professor Shep Melnick of Boston College examining the constitution and divided government, and then featured two panels: one discussing the legislative process and another the legislative agenda of the 114th Congress.
There were appearances by former governor of Vermont Jim Douglass, Political Science department chair Bertram Johnson, Murray Dry and Matthew Dickinson, as well as Veuger of the American Enterprise Institute.
Phil Hoxie ’17.5 and Alexander Khan ’17 organized the event with the help of Dry, who was the faculty sponsor.
Hoxie and Khan “had a desire to organize a club to bring people together; scholars and people who study public policy, to talk about issues of American government,” Dry said.
He mentioned how hard they’d worked to pick panelists and speakers to create an academic and bi-partisan presentation, and was satisfied with the passionate discussion that followed.
When asked what he’d like to see come out of this new club, Hoxie said he saw AEI as a place for the balanced discussion of political issues.
“A real discussion,” he said, “liberal, conservative, doesn’t matter. We want to have a thoughtful, real, articulate, academic discussion on all issues. We picked divided government today because we want to show that our club is non-partisan,” Hoxie said.
“At Middlebury, every political discussion that I’ve experienced has always been very partisan and very politically charged,” Khan said. “I’d rather see a healthy political discussion that allows people to maybe come to realizations about things they hadn’t thought of before.”
Students were particularly impressed with how stimulating the speaker was.
“[The speech by Shep Melnick] was really interesting, it was provocative,” Harry Zieve Cohen ’15 said. “It’s good to hear a different take; someone who doesn’t just reiterate what has become common wisdom and accepted doctrine: that American government doesn’t work and gets nothing done. Its good to have these conversations. We don’t talk in big ways outside of the classroom about our government very often.”
Commenting on the importance of this conference to Middlebury students, Zieve Cohen said, “We care a lot about certain kinds of issues. Environmental issues are an obvious one, and race and poverty have been talked about a lot in the past couple of years.”
“Students don’t quite seem to get that there is a governmental response to these things that they can actually influence, particularly in Vermont,” he continued. “Students should get more involved in the College Democrats, College Republicans and AEI. In America, a lot of politics is local, and here there’s a real opportunity to make a difference.”
Other students thought Melnick raised some interesting points in his speech.
“I really liked his point that divided government is actually a sign that our democracy is working as intended in the Madisonian construct of it,” Peter Dykeman-Birmingham ’18.,5 who attended the event, said.
Some attendees lamented that the panel competed with so many other events and voiced hope that, next time, there would be a better turnout.
There was also some criticism that the panels lacked racial and ethnic diversity, though people were very pleased with the variety of viewpoints represented.
AEI is only just beginning. Their next event is coming up on April 1, featuring Congressman Pallone of New Jersey and Barbara Comstock of Virginia. Mark your calendars and prepare for some invigorating and controversial political conversation.
(03/04/15 4:37pm)
On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Middlebury students brought the stage to life with performances of literary works from the New England Review (NER). This was a night to unify the author with the actor, to revitalize prose through the age-old tradition of spoken word. The event was titled “NER Out Loud,” and involved actors and orators from the sophomore to senior classes reading aloud pieces published in the most recent NER, followed by a reception featuring student works from the literary magazines Sweatervest, Blackbird and Room 404.
Kevin Benscheidt ’17 kicked off the show with a comical yet contemplative discussion of physics and the human condition. Caitlin Duffy ’15.5 filled the space with poetic, dramatic ponderings concerning responsibility, exploration and bravery, and Brenna Christensen ’17 defined and expressed depression with brevity, eloquence and clarity. Jabari Matthew ’17 then brought the audience to consider the complexities of race and the process of challenging authority in the traditional academic system through the piece he read aloud. Melissa MacDonald ’15 successfully conveyed the experience of a deaf person with reality, honesty and sincerity, and Sally Seitz ’17 wrapped up the show by fluently expressing to the audience the pain of a failed marriage.
During the reception, student authors read works ranging from a valiant criticism of public art at Middlebury to a detailed account of personal romance. The audience was well fed with s’mores and, most importantly, well filled with contemplation of beauty, prose, emotion and heart.
This event has been almost a year in the planning and was designed to combine Middlebury publications and raise familiarity with NER, a nationally acclaimed literary magazine published in Middlebury (check out go/ner for more information and some cool sound bites of authors reading their work). Students were selected because of their skills in acting and oratory, and were coached by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Dana Yeaton in the performance of their pieces.
After the performance, Duffy reflected on the short story that she read.
“[The story] is a tricky, complicated piece,” Duffy said. “There were lots of different voices in the text – the author wrote in italics and caps – and it was definitely a struggle and a major concern to convey these in a way that the audience would understand.”
“The process was really fun, and it was nice to get to know NER better,” she added.
Matthew spoke similarly about his experience.
“I had to do a lot of personal work to put myself in the shoes of the author,” Matthew said. “After a while it was easy to relate and I felt like I could bring [my character’s] experiences to life and make them relatable. I want to inspire people to speak, and to get involved in oratory – it is an extremely powerful art form. It’s also a way to break the Middlebury bubble. It’s amazing how stories can break through the isolation here.”
Yeaton explained after the event that he loved working with the performers.
“[The performers] absolutely transcended. They had their best game. It was as if they understood the works better than ever. I couldn’t be happier with what they did. It was incredible, and we must get more people here. This must happen again.”
C3 Post-Doctoral Fellow in Theatre Nathaniel G. Nesmith, an audience member, reflected on his reactions to the performances after the event.
“I found the performances thrilling, intellectually engaging, with lots of emotional substance, and the selection was well thought out,” Nesmith said. “I’ve seen many shows like this, especially with Isaac Shafer in the 70’s space, so I’m accustomed to this kind of thing and I was very impressed.”
Liza Sacheli, Director of the Kevin P. Mahaney Center for the Arts (MCA) spoke about the event with passion and intention.
“We at the MCA want to strengthen the literary presence in the theater, especially with so many amazing writers on campus and Vermont being such fertile ground for writer expression,” Sacheli said. “We can intersect literary arts with performing arts and help the literature to shine.”
The Oratory Society is perfect for this,” she added. “It really hits the sweet spot between writers and actors, so we couldn’t resist bringing in NER. People seemed energized by the process, when you’re reading something aloud you hear all sorts of new things, and this speaks to thousands of years in oral tradition. The live performance creates intimacy; it’s so influenced by the energy and participation of the audience, not at all like Netflix or something where it will be the same again and again.”
This was a night of poetry, beautifully presented on the MCA Concert Hall stage with excitement, joy, vulnerability and just the right amount of performance. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I came away not only feeling thought-provoked but also energized and soothed by the understanding that art really does flourish on this campus. Look out for this event again next year: you can be sure it will be filled with bravery, excitement, innovation and intention.