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The mural-covered walls of the Gamut Room have been the setting for many a musical performance, student-band concert or Wednesday Open Mic Party (WOMP) set. But now, the space is home to a new venture: a late-night taco business.
Several professors in the Mathematics and Statistics Department — formerly the Mathematics Department — are spearheading a proposal to add a new statistics major. The Educational Affairs Committee (EAC), made up of six faculty members, is currently writing their formal recommendation, which will be distributed to faculty ahead of the all-faculty vote that will ultimately decide the fate of the proposal on April 7.
The third party vendor AudienceView, which Middleury uses for event ticketing, experienced a nation-wide data breach and notified the school about it on Feb. 23, the college told the community on Sunday. Though administrators were initially told the breach had not impacted anyone affiliated with the college, they later began to receive reports from students that their credit card information appeared to have been stolen.
Mike Thomas, vice president for administration and chief risk officer, plans to leave Middlebury in March and enter a new role as the Chief Financial and Administrative Office at Amherst College.
Febs in the class of 2022.5 participated in a modified version of the “Ski-Down” — a traditional event in Middlebury’s Feb Celebration for 30 years in which graduates ski, sled or walk down the Middlebury College Snow Bowl in their caps and gowns. Due to Feb. 4 weather forecasts showing windchill temperatures of -22 degrees Fahrenheit at the Snow Bowl, the college decided to move the Ski-Down to the Middlebury Chapel hill on campus.
From @middconfessions to Yik Yak, anonymous social media platforms have historically found an audience among Middlebury students. Now, there is a new app that claims to offer a more exclusive and safer alternative to less regulated platforms. Fizz, created by two Stanford University students in 2020, creates an online anonymous platform that is exclusive to a campus community, as users are required to register with their college email.
On Jan. 11, the Office of the President informed the student body that Sujata Moorti, vice president for academic affairs (VPAA) and dean of faculty will be stepping down from these positions this month. The email from President Laurie Patton cited “urgent personal reasons” as the reason for the change. To fill the position, there will be an accelerated internal search for a new VPAA led by the Faculty Council, Patton wrote. In the meantime, Jim Ralph, dean for faculty development and research and professor of American history and culture, will serve as an interim VPAA and Dean of Faculty. When the new VPAA is hired, Ralph will continue serving as Dean of Faculty through the 2023–24 school year.
In a contentious Town of Middlebury Selectboard meeting in late August, wherein several town residents gave public comment about issues related to off-campus student housing, mostly regarding noise and parties, some residents argued that the definition of student housing as having “four or more people” in the April 2022 Amendments to the Zoning & Subdivision Regulations should apply to the entire structure rather than per unit.
Professor of Political Science Matt Dickinson has been traveling around Vermont to give his analysis and predictions on the outcome of the 2022 national midterm elections on Nov. 8.
VTDigger, a newspaper based in Montpelier, Vt., hosted a series of debates this fall in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. The series included the candidates for Vermont’s open U.S. Senate and House seats as well as Vermont’s gubernatorial race.
With 2,790 students enrolled at Middlebury this fall, some have found it harder to secure parking spots on campus. While some students claim that this was due to the Department of Public Safety issuing too many permits, Public Safety says that the issue comes down to illegal parking by some students and limited availability of high-demand lots.
Developers have approved construction of a new cell tower at the Snow Bowl to be placed to the right of the top of the Worth Mountain chair lift. Development has been behind schedule and will likely occur next year before the start of the 2022 ski season.
Content warning: This article contains mentions of suicide.
One year after Middlebury received a $500,000 donation to support anti-racism programming, seven projects have received funding and six have begun in departments across the college. President Laurie Patton currently oversees about half of the donation, which has yet to be allocated, while Chief Diversity Officer Miguel Fernández oversees the remaining $250,000. Of these funds, $200,000 will be spent on the Vermont campus and $50,000 is for the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey (MIIS). The Faculty Committee for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CDEI) received $105,000, used to provide grants to departments or programs working on long-term projects to combat institutional racism. Professor of Film and Media Culture David Miranda Hardy is the chair of the CDEI and oversees the grant process. “The idea of the grants are to find a very specific point of intervention in academic units,” Hardy said. “We felt an infusion of funding could incentivize faculty that are already interested to work in that direction.” Of the projects, six are already in progress, and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. The grants are capped at $8,000 each. One of the seven grants is going to the economics department to support students of color. “The departmental climate for minority students was substantially different than for white students, so they decided to create a system of mentorship that will also improve access to professional opportunities,” Hardy said. The theater department is using its grant for curricular revision with the help of experts in decolonizing curricula. The Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies department is using grant money to develop a medical humanities certificate. “This will incorporate a feminist and anti-racist lens to the pre-health track, which was based on experiences of recent alums going into the health profession,” Hardy said. The Luso-Hispanic Studies department is modifying its curriculum to allow for better learning experiences for heritage speakers that have learned Spanish in non-academic settings. Another grant is going to Beyond The Page, a group that combines theater performances with other academic disciplines. The final in-progress project is a student-driven initiative in the education department to develop a sophomore seminar on anti-racism. Additionally, the Writing and Rhetoric Program will soon start a project to enhance anti-racist pedagogies in college writing classes. The Office of Admissions received another $10,000 of the donation to participate in the Ron Brown Scholars Program, a college scholarship and leadership program for Black students, for two years. The Twilight Project received $15,000, allowing Rebekah Irwin, director and curator of Special Collections and Archives, to hire a part-time archivist, Kaitlin Buerge ’13. Buerge, who recently finished her time as an archivist at the completion of the project, was responsible for outreach to underrepresented student groups and for curating and archiving content like social media and student publications and projects. “The Twilight Archivist dedicated technical expertise and time to anti-oppressive cataloging standards, addressing racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other systems of exclusion in our catalog and archival descriptions,” Irwin said in an email to The Campus. Some examples of Buerge’s work include the Reparative Cataloging Project and Community Responses to Anti-Black Racism and Police Violence. A project organized by Professor of Education Studies Tara Affolter received $6,000 in order to fund a series of short films and a live performance exploring what anti-racism would look like within each academic discipline. Affolter has hired six students to interview peers across departments, and also works with Beyond The Page to turn the interviews into a script for a live theater performance. “We want to use the arts to see what we could be, staying in a space of hope and possibility,” Affolter said. The live performance will take place on December 11, with a filmed version to be released in spring 2022. The filmed version will be used to help with faculty professional development spaces such as workshops and faculty meetings. The final $5,000 was set aside to join the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, an organization dedicated to training faculty and students in the professional environment. The balance of $59,000 for ongoing anti-racist projects proposed by the Antiracism Task Force is overseen by Associate Professor of Dance Christal Brown. The Middlebury Institute of International Studies also received funding to hire two graduate assistants to work on anti-racism initiatives and support other anti-racism work at the institute.
While the college has around 2,800 students enrolled this year, the mail center has only 2,628 mailboxes — posing a problem for the 300 or so additional students looking to receive mail. As a solution, the mail center has begun sending mail directly to the houses of certain students. Jacki Galencamp, mail center supervisor, has overseen some changes to accommodate the influx of packages. “Students living off campus and in three college owned houses — 48 South Street, Weybridge House, and Homestead — will be getting their mail and packages sent directly to their houses. Most students living in town were already having their mail and packages sent directly to them and didn't use their on-campus mailbox,” she said. This change was not immediately communicated and caused some initial confusion for students. “I was never told by anyone beforehand that I was supposed to be sending packages to my house, so I ordered packages to the mail center and then they told me,” Tanya Chen ’24, a resident of Weybridge House, said. Will Reed ’23.5, who lives at 48 South Street (known as KDR), was also frustrated with the college’s lack of communication and discovered the policy change after he visited the mail center and was informed by an employee. “But I actually am really, really happy about the change,” Reed said. “It makes it easier for all of the obvious reasons — less back and forth, no unnecessary time wasted.” While Chen said that she is fine with the change overall, it may cause some unintended complications when it comes to her student visa status. “I am an international student, so for tax documents in the U.S., it’s frustrating if my address keeps changing,” Chen said. “If I do have to continue changing my address every year it will be hard to keep up with that.” On-campus students are permitted to keep their student mailbox and address. Other structural changes this year have resulted in adjusted workloads for mail center employees. With increased student enrollment, the college has housed about 60 undergraduates at the Bread Loaf campus for the first time this fall, with others housed at the Inn on the Green and Marriott Hotel in town. There is an additional mail center at Bread Loaf, but the 20 students living at the Inn on the Green and 15 at the Marriott Hotel should still receive their mail from the on-campus mail center. Packages for the college bookstore will also be processed in the mail center due to the limited space of the Crest Room, where the bookstore is now located.
Have your Spotify playlists become stale? Is your weekly mix just not cutting it? Maybe it’s time to branch out and listen to something new. The Executive Board of WRMC, Middlebury College’s radio station, has selected a wonderfully wide range of albums, spanning time and genre, for your listening pleasure. Check out these recommendations and let the sounds of summer carry you through the semester. *RIYL (recommended if you like) General Manager’s Pick — Maddie Van Beek ’22.5 Album: “MOTOR FUNCTION” - binki Genre: Indie Pop, Hip-Hop RIYL: PawPaw Rod, JAWNY, austenyo, MICHELLE Blurb: This four-track EP is the perfect soundtrack for the dog days of summer. It’s a short listen at only 10 minutes, and it’s filled to the brim with addictive choruses, magnetic basslines and the occasional break in tempo for a gloomy rap verse. If you were a fan of binki’s smash hit singles “Heybby!” and “Sea Sick,” you’ll love this EP. Tech Director’s Pick — Dan Frazo ’23 Album: “Are You Ok?” - Wasuremono Genre: Atmospheric Pop, Psychedelic, RIYL: Goth Babe, pizzagirl, Arlie, STRFKR Blurb: “Are You Ok?” is the perfect album to listen to as you fall asleep in the sun. Put a drink in your hand, throw on some sunglasses, and let Wasuremono take you on a ride through the best parts of summer. Driven by steady, kindly mixed melodies, the English four-piece produces nothing if not easy listening. Concerts Manager’s Pick — Luke Robins ’23 Album: “a liquid breakfast” - AUDREY NUNA Genre: Hip-Hop, Hyperpop RIYL: 100 Gecs, Rico Nasty, Remi Wolf, Tkay Maidza Blurb: Over-saturated beats, self-confidence to the extreme and funny lyrics. She can sing, she can rap and she can write lyrics like “Jibbitz out the Crocs ’cause get it? I’m mature now.” AUDREY NUNA’s first album is so fun — give it a listen. Spring Programming Director’s Pick — Gennie Herron ’23 Album: “Solar Power” - Lorde Genre: Alt-Pop, Acoustic RIYL: Lorde, HAIM Blurb: At first I was skeptical of this new album. I liked the first two singles she released, but when I first listened to the album, I wasn’t totally vibing with it. However, after sitting down to really listen to it, I started to get in the groove. Plus, some of the songs like “The Path,” “Solar Power” and “Dominoes” just feel summery. You can feel the sun on your skin and wish you were breathing in salty sea air. If you feel down during the cold Vermont months, I would recommend turning back to “Solar Power.” Music Director’s Pick — Chad Kim ’23.5 Album: “Yol” - Altin Gün Genre: Turkish, Psych-Folk, Funk RIYL: Kikagaku Moyo, Los Bitchos, Allah-Las, KGLW Blurb: Going off to a distant land of eternal sunshine boogie? Well, “Yol” by Altin Gün will hypnotize you with its savory melodies and barrels of funk as you meander through the kingdom of the sun. This album demonstrates a collection of continuously evolving tracks that stay fresh in the heat and make watching and smiling at the sun all the more beguiling. Music Director’s Pick — Natalie Penna ’24 Album: “Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing” - The Wonder Years Genre: Pop-Punk, Emo RIYL: The Story So Far, Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck Blurb: Though its 10th anniversary passed earlier this summer, “Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing” is a timeless album. It is packed with loud and catchy pop-punk anthems, constant callbacks to Allen Ginsberg’s America and lyrics so specific and personal that you can’t help but relate to them. Besides being fun to listen to, Suburbia is an exercise in nostalgia. If you want to drive around to songs about being young and stupid, or you have a complicated relationship with your hometown, this one’s for you. Concerts Manager’s Pick — Yardena Carmi ’23 Album: “Little Things/Sparrow ” - Big Thief Genre: Indie Rock, Folk Rock RIYL: Sharon Van Etten, Alex G, Campdogzz Blurb: Big Thief has recently begun putting out new songs for the first time since their hit 2019 album “Two Hands.” The EP’s opener “Little Things,” signals a new direction for the folk group. Over its light, synthy beat, lead singer Adrianne Lenker croons softly about obsessive infatuation. ” Second track “Sparrow,” on the other hand, is classic Big Thief — earthy and acoustic, with the band’s trademark cryptic lyrics and rootsy jamming. An exciting release from a group that’s already been making great stuff for years, the contemplative quality and emotional range of these two songs are perfect for late summer nights. Fall Programming Director’s Pick — Jose Morales ’22 Album: “Cinema” - The Marias Genre: Indie Pop RIYL: No Vacation, Gus Dapperton, Boy Pablo, Her’s Blurb: “CINEMA” is an album I returned to throughout the summer because it is smooth, relaxing and sweet. The album explores the fallout of a relationship, with tracks reflecting its various stages and emotions. The production and instrumentals are soft but carry depth, and Maria’s vocal performances create a warm and calming experience. “Un Million,” “Little by Little” and “Calling U Back” are some of my favorite tracks. I recommend this album if you're looking for an evening jam.
Since the 1960s, Middlebury has conducted intermittent diversity climate assessments every six to seven years, according to Chief Diversity Officer Miguel Fernández. The most recent of these initiatives is the Action Plan for Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a multi-year plan published in September by the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (OIDEI). OIDEI began writing the plan in fall of 2019 and circulated the plan to key stakeholders in the spring. Like many of its predecessors, publication of the 2020 Action Plan followed a discrete campus or national event: in this case, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolisis police officer last summer, which set off a fresh wave of protests about racial justice and equity in communities around the country. The plan is ambitious in both objective and scope, aiming to “identify and implement strategies that will engage the entire campus community in the work of fostering greater access, equity, inclusion, and full participation for Middlebury students, staff, and faculty.” Though Fernández and Directory of Equity and Inclusion Renee Wells spearheaded the Action Plan, they consulted numerous constituencies, including students, faculty, staff, administration, trustees, committees and alumni. They also looked at nearly two dozen reports, assessments and data to identify the institutional barriers that are mentioned in the report. From the feedback they received, the original plan underwent several iterations of revision. “Diversity plans often present lofty goals but lack specificity and strategy and therefore lead to ‘diversity clutter’ with a host of disconnected initiatives,” reads the Action Plan. To avoid these usual pitfalls and increase accountability, the Plan is broken into five foci: Faculty and Staff; Students; Fostering and Restoring Community; Accessibility; and Transparency and Accountability. For each of the 61 initiatives described, the Action Plan details the responsible units, a proposed timeline and a measure of accountability which delegates the responsibilities of the initiative. Still, the Action Plan introduction specifies the document should be viewed as a “roadmap,” not a “mandate.” When asked to confirm if strategies in the Plan would definitely be accomplished, Fernández acknowledged that fiscal realities as well as student and faculty initiatives could slightly shift the Plan’s approach. Wells said that the timeline may accommodate strategies as they become financially feasible. “Our goal is that all of this gets accomplished and more,” Fernández said. This Middlebury Campus investigation reports on the progress of the initiatives in the Action Plan with a particular focus on those with a proposed timeline of the 2020-2021 academic year. This project is split into five sections — one for each the Action Plan — and is the product of dozens of interviews with staff, students, committees and administrators. “The United States of America has not solved racism or issues of equity and inclusion in 200- plus years. I do not expect Middlebury will resolve it in five years,” said Fernandez in an interview with The Campus. “So I'm sure there is going to be plenty of work to do in five years, [but] I hope we'll be in a much better place.” Introduction by Hannah Bensen '21.
The section of the Action Plan for Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that focuses on students is broken down into four categories of initiatives: recruitment, financial aid, development and support. Renee Wells, Director of Education for Equity and Inclusion, hopes that these initiatives address the questions about community “How do you help students understand what it means to be a part of a community and to foster community with and for others?” Wells said. Wells, working alongside Chief Diversity Officer Miguel Fernández and a variety of other staff members across the college, have aimed to interact with students when there are opportunities to engage with the entire student body, specifically through ResLife and Orientation. Fernández has also aimed to increase the amount of direct student feedback for the respective initiatives, and has met consistently with Concerned Students of Middlebury and the SGA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. They hope to use these initiatives to make DEI a key component of the Middlebury experience across all parts of campus and academic life. “Part of what it means to be at Middlebury is to be a part of a community and to think about how you are part of a community in a way that's intentional,” Wells said. Out of 15 total initiatives in the student section of the Action Plan, eight have been completed, four have been partially completed, one is unknown, and four have not yet been completed. The initiatives that have not been completed at all have completion dates in future years. Recruitment Nicole Curvin, Dean of Admissions, has relied on demographic data and institutional research to integrate DEI initiatives into several aspects of the admissions process. Strategy #1 is to increase the admission of historically underrepresented groups. Curvin reports that 40% of the incoming class of 2025 is BIPOC. In 2019, for comparison, only 27% of the student body were BIPOC. Strategy #2 outlines the creation of a Student Ambassador Program, which was formed in the last academic year in order to reach underrepresented prospective students. The program, which typically sends ambassadors to high schools around the country, has temporarily moved online because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We plan to continue to develop this program and eventually return to in-person visits with high school students once it is safe to do so,” Curvin said. Strategy #3 involves introducing DEI as a core value in the recruitment process. This has involved training staff and student employees on DEI in a variety of ways. “In the past two years, we hosted facilitators during our annual staff retreat and as we embarked on application review to consider how we approach our evaluation of lived experiences and school context,” Curvin said. Staff have also read texts, listened to podcasts, and attended conferences and workshops focused on DEI in order to better understand how to best recruit a diverse student body. “We become better recruiters by understanding and acknowledging our applicant pool for who they are,” Curvin said. Strategy #4, to increase the accessibility of campus visits, has been put on pause as in-person campus tours did not resume until May 6. Now that in-person tours are allowed, Curvin hopes to consult the community about how to make them more accessible to all prospective students. “We have already begun discussions and have added features to our website and videos to support prospective students,” Curvin said. Financial Aid Strategy #5 outlines a plan to offer opportunities for critical conversations about DEI among staff in both Admissions and Financial Aid, both of which have taken part in DEI workshops. ResLife staff have also attended four mandatory DEI workshops this year, according to Dean of Student Life AJ Place. According to Kim Downs-Burns, associate vice president of student financial services (SFS), SFS has initiated several strategies to implement DEI in their work that aim to better support low-income students. The SFS office has met with incoming Posse cohorts to review financial aid decisions, collaborated with other NESCAC schools to reach out to low-income students to answer questions about financial aid, worked with SGA to provide an emergency assistance fund for J-term, and participated in Discover Middlebury to meet first-generation students. Strategy #6 aims to increase accessibility to Middlebury by creating a financial aid policy that goes “beyond need blind and covering full demonstrated need.” One example of this policy that the college has started implementing, according to Downs-Burns, is that many students in Posse cohorts receive financial aid that goes above and beyond their demonstrated need. SFS has also worked to use fundraising as a way to increase financial support available. “One of our upcoming fundraising campaigns is prioritizing new gift funds to expand our current pool of eligible students,” said Downs-Burns. Strategy #7 also addresses accessibility by aiming to reduce the barrier of the cost of course materials such as textbooks. “SFS has done some work analyzing the costs of textbooks, average course costs, and comparing textbook allowances with what our peer institutions offer in their aid packages,” Fernández said. SFS already conducts an annual review of their average textbook costs compared to peer institutions. More work will continue on the project in upcoming semesters. “Currently Midd incorporates a $1000 annual book allowance in the individual student aid budgets which is the median of all Consortium of Financing Higher Education (COFHE) colleges,” said Downs-Burns. COFHE contains 35 other selective liberal arts colleges. In the fall of 2020, 489 students qualified for SFS’ book advance program, but many students didn’t take advantage of their qualification, which has led SFS to reevaluate the program. SFS plans to work with the Office of Advancement to fundraise for a book grant program to assist aid recipients with purchasing textbooks, which has been hampered by Covid-19 costs. “Currently the funding is limited, but we hope a successful pilot will lead to an increase in eligible students,” Downs-Burns said. Fernández will be working on the textbook accessibility initiative, as well as Strategy #8, which aims to grow an endowed fund to enable students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to participate in the full Middlebury experience, including funding for travel home or trips to Burlington. An endowed fund entails investments of capital that can be periodically withdrawn. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for funds has been so high that all donated funds have been put in use and not placed in an endowed fund. According to Fernández, President Patton plans to make the fund a priority in upcoming fundraising campaigns. The college aims to have the textbook accessibility initiative complete within the next year, while the endowed funds for underprivileged students is expected to be completed in two years. Development Strategy #9 extends Wells’s work with DEI workshops to student leaders in Orientation, ResLife, International Student Services, MiddSafe, SGA, and other student organizations. Similarly, Strategy #10 aims to embed DEI into Orientation programming, and Strategy #11 outlines increasing opportunities for critical conversations among the general student body. “I have been meeting weekly with the JusTalks students throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, and they have developed and facilitated dozens of peer education workshops during the fall, J-term, and spring semesters,” Wells said. JusTalks also collaborated with Orientation to offer workshops for the class of 2024.5. While the scale of activities has been inhibited by social distancing requirements, there are plans to expand these initiatives once operations go back to normal. Amanda Reinhardt, Director of Student Activities, said that the virtual workshops are just the beginning. “As we start planning for MiddView 2021 and Feb Orientation 2022, we will continue to explore ways to incorporate and assess additional DEI content into Middlebury’s Orientation programming in order to meet the goals outlined in the Action Plan,” Reinhardt said. Rob Moeller, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Residential Education and Innovation has been involved in adding DEI components to the ResLife program. “This spring we have been partnering with the Anti-Racist Task Force to join and support their work fostering these important conversations. ResLife has also been working in collaboration with JusTalks to hold workshops for first-year [residential hall] communities in-person and virtually this past fall and in the planning process for doing the same this spring,” Moeller said. To help with these initiatives, Crystal Jones, who will join the staff in July as the inaugural Assistant Director of Education for Equity and Inclusion, will help to develop and facilitate these critical conversations. Strategy #12 aims to provide more mental health resources to students and support for historically underrepresented groups. Moeller has worked with ResLife to create skill building sessions on making friends, addressing friendship myths and creating panels for students to discuss navigating the social contexts of Middlebury. “Additional collaborations are underway with CTLR to help reduce stress by offering tried and true time management strategies,” Moeller said. Maddie Hope, Assistant Director of Health and Wellness Education, has also worked with ResLife to promote mental health strategies through several events and training. Some of these events include ProjectConnect, stressbuster series, speed friending events, mental health peer educator workshops and ResLife student staff training. Support As listed in Strategy #13, the College plans to join the Consortium on High Achievement and Success (CHAS) to focus on advancing the academic success of BIPOC students at selective liberal arts institutions by 2023. Strategy #14 is a broad goal, hoping to increase resources to underrepresented groups, specifically in the Parton Center for Health and Wellness and Anderson Freeman Resource Center (AFC). The initiative to assess staffing at the AFC has been initiated and a new director will be starting July 1. “We have just hired a new Director of Counseling who is a person of color and has years of experience providing counseling to these communities,” Fernández said. The new director, Alberto Soto, specializes in advocating for diverse populations and the intersection of social justice and mental health, according to Fernández. Ben Gooch, associate director of clinical operations for counseling services, said that social justice practices and experiences with multicultural counseling are a required component of counselings’ application process. “We work with programs that we know have a strong stance on supporting underserved communities and training their future counselors to be social justice advocates and allies,” Gooch said. The counseling department has also recently adopted a new model of counseling called the Flexible Care Model (FCM). FCM, which Soto is an expert in, aims to move care away from systems that perpetuate white and Eurocentric concepts of counseling. “Our overall goal with this model is to increase immediate access to counseling for students, incorporate multicultural counseling understandings into our session to make sure that we are providing good care that takes into account the diversity of our campus community, and to provide more options to students for what their relationship to counseling can look like,” Gooch said. The counseling deparment also participates in anti-racist reading groups and training oppurtunities. The Center for Health and Wellness has also collaborated across departments to form working groups for specific issues. “An example of this is our Trans Care Working Group, which is designed to help make sure staff are up-to-date on the best practices and to work toward dismantling barriers to care for trans-identifying students,” Gooch said. The Office of the President has completed Strategy #15 by creating a taskforce that has been meeting since the start of the year to explore the creation of a center to support LGBTQ+ students. Fernández explained that there is a multi-year plan to move forward. “The first year, we will work to find a designated lounge or another existing meeting space; the second year, we will explore the possibility of using a College-owned house; and during a subsequent year, once the new student center is built, we recommend that the center for LGBTQ+ students be located there,” said Fernández.
Ever since 1971, a group of roughly 100 students has arrived on campus during the snowy month of February, joining the small community of Middlebury students and alumni with half year graduation dates. These students — called “Febs” after their unusual matriculation and graduation month — have often led slightly different paths than students who enter the college during the regular cycle. The college’s February Admissions page describes Febs as members of “a long tradition of adventurous students who aren’t afraid to do things a bit differently.” But being a Feb has changed this year. Instead of traveling, many first-year Febs spent their Febmester in quarantine, while graduating Febs were unable to take part in the traditions they have looked forward to since orientation. While there is not one singular Feb experience, many described feeling especially close to their peers, the presumption of stereotypes — and even certain disadvantages of the program. Febs by the numbers For some, being a Feb is a starkly different experience than being a “Reg” — the colloquial term for those matriculating in September — for better or for worse. For starters, each Feb class is fairly small — around 90 to 100 students. This can be an attractive selling point for those who are interested in the possibility of a close-knit graduating class. Eli Richardson ’23.5 said the program was a significant part of his decision to apply to Middlebury. “I enjoy coming in with a smaller community of people,” Richardson said. “I have interacted with people different from me and grown as a result of it.” But class sizes have shifted significantly in the past year. Many students elected to take a semester off amid pandemic precautions, health concerns and increased financial strain. As a result, some Febs have shifted back into a Reg class year, while some Regs have done the opposite — joining a Feb class with which they did not matriculate. Richardson’s class currently sits at 90 students, the smallest of all the current Feb classes, according to the college’s email list. The senior Feb email list includes 200 students. The Feb community Many Febs have found a kind of instant community among members of their class, bonding during the adjustment period when they first arrive on campus. Charlotte Cahillane ’19.5 noted that the experience of joining Middlebury a semester later than the Reg class had a significant impact on the friends she made. “Based on the nature of starting at the same time and not having easy ways to build community with other classmates, some of my closest folks were Febs from my year,” Cahillane said. Despite initial apprehensiveness about their later start date, Cahillane said that the 2019.5 Febs eventually began to feel more connected to the class of 2019. “You realize everyone is in similar boats and not that much farther ahead than you are,” she said. First-year Febs participate in orientation trips and events each winter, led by Febs in the grades above. This year’s first-year Febs were the first class to have a fully remote orientation; they were also given the option of living together in Forest — where all the first-year Feb counselors (FebYCs) live — or being placed in random housing assignments. Long after the initial orientation, many Febs maintain strong relationships with their smaller class. “The greatest Feb tradition is the sense of camaraderie amongst a subset of students with a single shared experience that persists through your time at Midd,” Noah Fine ’20.5 said. While most Febs do not feel like there is a clear divide between Febs and Regs, they do think there are certain Feb stereotypes that have persisted throughout time. “Febs were people who were enthusiastic, outgoing, a little bit weird, and people who didn't get in during regular admissions, which put a chip on our shoulders,” Colonno said of the stereotypes. Though she graduated a semester early — making her part of a Reg class — Colonno’s friends from Middlebury still call her by her nickname, “Febbie,” 16 years after graduation. Cahillane remembers her classmates being interested in a variety of hobbies and activities, but there were some commonalities that stood out. “A lot of folks were into hiking, being outside… a lot of geography,” Cahillane said. “There's definitely a Feb stereotype that holds up to a certain extent, but there are a bunch of different personalities in my Feb class, and I don't really see a divide between Febs and regs,” Richardson said. While there are no official college demographics for Feb classes, they have often been seen as more white and wealthy than the overall student population. This perception has become so ubiquitous that it is part of campus humor. In 2018, the college’s satirical newspaper, The Local Noodle, ran an article with the headline “Elizabeth Warren to Join Class of 2021.5, Creating Most Diverse Feb Class to Date” featuring Warren’s headshot photoshopped into a picture of students at the college rock climbing wall. Some students described feeling the impact of Feb class demographics. “It definitely shaped my social sphere. Febs historically have been white and upper middle class — not 100% — but those are the folks who can take a semester off,” Cahillane said. For Sophia Lundberg 21.5, the lack of diversity in her Feb class had a significant impact on her social life and mental health at the start of her college experience. “I felt like I tried very hard to be a straight, wealthy, white student for a very long time with varying levels of success before realizing that that’s really tiring and burdensome, and I should just try to embrace my identities and experiences instead,” Lundberg said. Niki Kowsar ’21.5 says that, as an immigrant, she felt out of place in North America — and coming to Middlebury was no different. However, she found her fellow Febs to be empathetic, allowing her to connect with her peers despite demographic differences. “There are activities where wealth, privilege, and access come into play, specifically with traveling and outdoor activities like skiing, golfing, etc., but that's not just specific to the Feb classes, but more so toward the general Middlebury community,” Kowsar said. Lundberg, who is one of the two SGA Vice Presidents, hopes that the college pursues policies that diversify Feb admissions and create strong support systems for Febs throughout their four years at Middlebury. Student leaders aimed to increase awareness about privilege, microaggressions, and anti-racism, among Febs by adding a JusTalks component to this year’s Feb orientation “I think the inclusion of JusTalks was an exceptional first step, but broadly, it's important for Middlebury to admit more racially and socioeconomically diverse groups of students for future Feb classes to bring in different perspectives while ensuring that all students feel valued and accepted,” Kowsar said. The “Febmester” The defining feature of being a Feb is the gap semester, referred to as a “Febmester,” that members of the class take before entering college. Many Febs are grateful for the opportunity to take time off between high school and college without the commitment of a full gap year. Libby Scarpota ’24, formerly a member of the class of 2023.5, was one of the Febs who became a Reg this year, spending the spring working at an environmental nonprofit in Hawaii. But, as a former Feb who matriculated a few weeks before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, Scarpotta was able to spend her Febmester working as an au pair in Italy. “I would highly recommend taking time off school while you're young,” Scarpotta said. “In a sense, it's not like I had a ton of huge responsibilities, and I was able to gain skills and learned a lot as a person.” But Scarpotta also acknowledged that Febmesters full of travel and work experience are not universally accessible. And joining campus in the middle of the semester can also pose a unique set of challenges. “I knew going to Middlebury that I wanted to study languages, so it was really tricky that I couldn't study new languages in the spring… that was why I graduated early,” Colonno said. “I had to do summer school and hustle to get on track.” To some, the lack of immediate access to some aspects of campus life are part of what makes the Feb experience unique. “Being a Feb can make it difficult to join clubs and other activities your first semester but there’s a certain sense of community that Febs thrive off of as a result,” Fine said. Feb graduation A beloved Feb tradition takes place on the day of their graduation: when students ski — or otherwise descend — down the Snow Bowl in their caps and gowns. “I'm not a great skier, so I'm genuinely scared for graduation, but even if you don't ski it is a huge bonding moment,” Melisa Gurkan ’23.5 said. The night before graduation, the Febs are invited to a “Febs and sibs” dinner, where Febs and their siblings head to Atwater Dining Hall for a meal and a party. The morning afterwards, Febs don their caps and gowns to hit the slopes. While most choose to ski, some opt for more creative ways of getting down the slope — including canoes. Feb life during Covid-19 As the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted learning online and forced restrictions on campus social life, many students have chosen to “Feb” themselves and graduate a semester earlier or later than planned. Lundberg knows students who have taken time off for reasons ranging from mental health to simply wanting to have a relaxing semester after a long year of isolation. “I think Covid has just shown many people that it’s OK to have a “non-traditional” college experience,” she said. Febs, once a close-knit identity, are now composed of a large number of Middlebury students, which has shifted what it means to be a member of a mid-year graduating class. “I think [identifying as a Feb] is becoming more irrelevant with the number of people Febbing themselves,” Scaperotta said. Changes in graduation date have caused some to rethink their social circles given that new members of Feb or “Reg” classes may still primarily have friends from their previous class year. “I am nervous about that last semester,” Scarpotta said. “My friends make fun of me that I will have to find freshman friends to live with, but I just hope to meet people in every class year.” The traditional image of the close-knit Feb class has also faced new obstacles this year. Some members of the Class of 2024.5 have struggled to meet other Febs and first-years due to Covid-19 restrictions on campus. Unlike the first years who entered in the fall, class of 2024.5 Febs only had two to three days as Middlebury students before classes began. “There's a sentiment that we didn't have a proper orientation. The regular freshmen had a week of getting to know each other and we were just thrown in,” Julia Lininger-White ’24.5 said. But even without the traditional Feb Orientation and in the absence of typical social activities this year, first-year Febs have still found ways to connect with members of their residence halls or classmates in their first year seminars. The Class of 2020.5 also missed out on some traditional aspects of the Feb experience. Like the Class of 2020, they were not able to have a formal graduation ceremony. Instead, the Super Senior Febs joined a substitute celebration at Alumni Stadium organized by Julia Sinton ’20.5 and Ben Slater ’20.5. While the college has planned an in-person graduation ceremony for the Class of 2021 that remote seniors can attend, remote Febs were not allowed on campus to celebrate with their peers this February. Fine feels lucky that he was not in the class of 2020, self-named the “Class of 19.75,” who were sent home abruptly in March. Instead, he had the option of spending his final semester on campus, enjoying the friendships he had established over several pre-pandemic semesters. Conversely, current sophomore Febs were forced to leave campus only five weeks into their college experience. “The 23.5 class was really small, so right off the bat we were a very close grade,” Gurkan said. “And with Covid, people rushed to stick with the friends they made to have people to talk to over the summer and to go into housing with.” But even without class-wide events and traditional social activities to bring them together, some Febs still feel a close bond with their peers. For Lininger-White, the level of camaraderie is closely connected to the small size of Feb classes. “I think the best thing is having this smaller class,” she said. “When I see a Feb, I know I’ll like them.”
Covid-19 restrictions, such as room capacity and limiting close contacts, have put a new strain on student social life. Knowing that people have a wide range of risk tolerances when it comes to potential Covid-19 exposure, students also face the added challenge of navigating friendships. “Some people don’t feel comfortable going to team practices outside or they shower at 2 a.m. to avoid people, and there are other people walking around without masks on at night or having crowded parties,” Nhi Dang ’23 said. “It’s a new part of social interactions. You have to make sure everyone is comfortable and on the same page with Covid-19 and it can be awkward if you aren’t.” Some of this discomfort can also manifest when students have had to confront peers who are not following on-campus Covid-19 guidelines. Isabel Linhares ’22, who is studying in person this year, recalled a scenario in which another student was not following physical distancing guidelines in the dining hall line last semester. “I asked them to please back up just a little… they essentially told me I was naïve for expecting folks to social distance properly,” Isabel Linhares ’22 said. The burden of speaking out about peers’ risky behavior often falls on students who are most at risk for severe complications of Covid-19, according to Linhares. Such uncomfortable social situations in the fall have led some students concerned about Covid-19 risk to complete the spring semester remotely. Others, unhappy with what they saw as restrictive Covid-19 safety policies, have also elected to complete their spring coursework online, often from locations with more relaxed approaches to public health. First years and first-year Febs have had the added challenge of forming friendships within the constraints of Covid-19 restrictions. Keziah Wilde ’24 felt that on-campus rules, such as room capacities, made it more challenging to make friends last semester. Even so, Wilde felt that the unusual form social interaction took sometimes had the effect of strengthening students' connections. “There was something binding about things like watching movies outdoors when it’s freezing,” Wilde said. “There is something funny about that, which makes it memorable.” However, Wilde still felt that the rules were an impediment to forming friendships. “It's not like breaking rules looks cool. It just makes it easier to make friends when rules are broken,” Wilde said. “The reason that rules are upheld is because it makes people more comfortable, not actually for preventing Covid.” As the spring semester progresses, some students feel that an increasing number of their peers are violating Covid-19 guidelines. “[After initial weeks] most students seemed to relax not only their own definitions of closely following the guidelines, but also their expectations of others and their willingness to hold each other accountable,” Linhares said. Many students have violated Covid-19 guidelines this year. A survey conducted by The Campus found that 354 out of 550 respondents broke Covid-19 health protocols in the fall semester. In September, 22 students were removed from campus following two Thursday-night gatherings that exceeded occupancy and indoor gathering limits in Atwater suites. The college has reported 126 substantiated rule violations this spring, and two students have been removed from campus. Throughout the four-day midterm recess that took place last week, many students flocked to Lake Dunmore and some gathered in unmasked groups by the lakeshore, prompting an email from Dean of Students Derek Doucet. “In speaking with some of you who were there, it was clear that yesterday’s gathering was the inadvertent result of multiple groups of friends and close contacts all having the same idea of going to Dunmore on a beautiful spring day,” Doucet said in the Saturday morning email. “The final result however was that too many people gathered in one place, and it cannot happen again.” Currently, one student is in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 on April 5, according to the college’s Covid-19 reporting dashboard. Ben Gooch, Associate Director of Clinical Operations at the Center for Health and Wellness, has noticed worrying trends among students that use counseling services. He acknowledges that changes to social life may have played a role. “The level of inconvenience it takes to meet up with people in safe ways has made people less willing to reach out to friends that they may be less close with,” Gooch said. “There's a lot less of running into people in the gym or dining hall in the same way.” Some students struggle with internal debates about whether or not to socialize if it means breaking the rules. “I work with students who mention they feel socially isolated so they want to see people, but when they see people they feel anxiety or discomfort of being caught,” Gooch said. Gooch hasn’t heard from students about pressures to break rules to fit in, but did hear that Covid-19 rules have made some students more isolated. “What Covid has allowed for is that some people naturally gravitate towards spending time alone, and Covid has given permission,” Gooch said. Many students have taken to anonymous social media accounts like the Instagram account @middconfessions to express their frustrations. One post from Feb. 28 reads, “I know Covid restrictions are only gonna be this strict for a little over a week, but I’m so worried [about] missing out [because] I don't want to break them to the extremes of others.” Another post expresses similar worries, “Being the friend group left out of the group due to Covid regulations sucks...I can’t help but feel personally hurt by it.”