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“From the Archives” is an opportunity for various writers to visit the Middlebury Special Collections and write about a different artifact each week. The Special Collections boasts hundreds of thousands of historic items, and through this column we encourage writers to explore not only the college’s history, but also the history of the world around us.
Early this semester, an emergency exit alarm was armed on the downstairs door of the fitness center in the Peterson Athletics Complex. Some gym-goers, accustomed to using the door to exit the fitness center, inadvertently set off the alarm by pushing the door. The door is locked from the outside and people must enter through the main entrance of the athletic complex. Using the main entrance means walking around the outside of nearly the entire length of the athletic complex, navigating through corridors inside, before arriving at the fitness center itself.
The recent election for the Addison Central School District (ACSD) board on March 7 ignited debate around the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and in particular, issues surrounding mental health, equity and the structure of the program.
This past J-Term, stickers and posters reading “The MAC is now the CFA” began appearing around campus, including on the sign outside of the building and on bulletin boards around campus.
The Middlebury Board of Trustees met on Jan. 27 and 28 for their winter meeting in Monterey, according to the college’s announcements. The Board reviewed the finances, academic planning and other projects for Middlebury College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS).
Last Thursday, the town of Middlebury kicked off its first Midd Night Stroll of the year, welcoming 1,468 students with discounted deals in stores, live music, and the occasional run in with Santa Claus and his elves.
Assistant Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies Raquel Albarrán is remembered as a loving friend, passionate community leader and a revolutionary scholar.
Leaders of Middlebury’s club sports teams met with Director of Student Involvement & Leadership Development Valerie Nettleton to discuss the implementation of a tier system that will dictate the teams’ budgets, competition and other allocated resources. For some club teams, their new tier categorization impacts the number of competitions they are allowed to participate in each semester or even the number of seasons they can have each year.
Over the past few weeks, The Campus talked with six alumni working in politics and government to hear about their experiences, how Middlebury shaped their careers and the moment they caught the political bug.
Since August, Vermont State Sen. Becca Balint’s (D-Windham) campaign has been under scrutiny for a $1 million contribution from the LGBTQ Victory Fund Federal PAC, which was later revealed to be a donation by a cryptocurrency mogul. The role of money became a central controversy in the Democratic House race between Balint and Vermont Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray.
The Student Government Association (SGA) held elections for the First-Year Senator and Senior Senator positions on Oct. 11 and 12. The new First-Year Senators are Kaveh Abu Khaleel ’26 and Nikita Rodov ’26. Florian Knollman ’23 and Hieu Nguyen ’23 won the senior senator positions in an uncontested election.
Recently, some student employees have reported difficulties logging their hours via the payroll software Oracle, which Middlebury has been using for the past few years.
A few weeks ago, students currently living off campus received an email from Dean of Students Derek Doucet informing them of recent updates for off-campus residences. Doucet noted the problematic behavior from student houses at the end of last academic year, which led to a recent attempt by frustrated neighbors to change town zoning laws.
Around 30 students organized outside The Feminist Resource Center at Chellis House on Tuesday, Sept. 20 and marched to McCullough Lawn to protest The Women’s Center’s participation in the Student Involvement Fair.
A line wound down the stairs of the Grille every Thursday during the fall semester, as students waited for their lunch of the day — a box of sushi. While the sushi was briefly available on the meal plan as part of the college’s efforts to reduce the lunch rush in dining halls, sushi has been a staple available to purchase in the Grille for several years.
The Student Activities Office emailed student organization leaders last week with updated information about college-sanctioned travel guidelines, including new restrictions on lodging intended to mitigate Covid-19 risks. These standards have the greatest impact on club sports, which resumed competition and travel for the fall season but are not supervised as closely as varsity sports. Other student organizations that travel for competitions or overnight trips are subject to the same guidelines. The new guidelines require student organization leaders to submit a travel request for each overnight trip. These requests, which are processed by the student organization liaison, can take up to three days. Overnight accommodations must be official lodging establishments such as hotels, and there is a strict capacity limit of two students per room. While varsity athletes are tested every Monday, there is no required testing for traveling club sports teams. There are a limited number of testing slots available through the college’s weekly asymptomatic testing program in Virtue Field House. Lily Shannon ’23, president of the women’s club rugby team, expressed their personal anxiety about traveling for competition and the college’s insufficient plan to address that risk. The rugby team’s season has returned to its normal schedule of tournaments, which includes traveling for half of their games. Masks are required during gameplay, but Shannon still feels uneasy about the risks involved in competing. “We are playing a contact sport; we are outside, but it is hard to stay distanced. Since we aren't getting regularly tested, none of us really know what's going on. I fully trust my teammates, but it would be nice if we could have more peace of mind,” Shannon said. As the president of the team, Shannon has encouraged their teammates to sign up for asymptomatic testing, especially after longer travel weekends. “If it were up to me, we would all be tested weekly regardless of athlete status or not, but the fact that we are still traveling out of state and not offered tests is a little concerning,” Shannon said. Marco Fengler ’23, president of the co-ed club soccer team, believes the current guidelines are appropriate for traveling sports teams. Although the team remains cautious about Covid-19, Fengler believes the health risks and exposure are low because the majority of the campus population has been vaccinated. “The college recently reported a significantly low Covid incidence rate, which gives us comfort in holding normal practices,” he said. Fengler said that the wellness of his teammates is always a priority and that the team emphasizes safe playing conditions and injury prevention at each practice. The club soccer team has 180 members, although most players do not attend all practices and only a small group of players travel to tournaments. Last week, the team traveled to Boston, a trip that complied with the current Covid-19 guidelines because the city falls within a 500-mile radius from campus. The men’s and women’s Pranksters frisbee team competed in a tournament at Williams College this past weekend. The game was played on an outside field and every player was required to provide proof of vaccination. With such mitigation guidelines in place, Rae Zeller ’22, captain of the women’s team, told The Campus that health risks were not a major concern at the tournament. However, Zeller felt it was disappointing that the college did not have other safety precautions in place for when club players return to campus, instead relying on team captains to take the initiative to encourage testing. “We did recommend everyone get a test this week and directed them to the free Vermont Health Department asymptomatic testing in town,” said Zeller. “It was also disappointing that this was something we did on our own, and it wasn’t recommended in any communication to club sports that we’ve been getting from the school.”
Since Vermont Coffee Company, supplier of coffee to the college, was sold to Maine-based specialty foods producer Stonewall Kitchen last spring, the company has been able to accelerate its growth while maintaining commitments to social causes and sustainability. Mike Brown, general manager at Vermont Coffee Company, told The Campus that Stonewall Kitchen has acted as a partner in taking the company into its next phase by expanding its retail footprint. Prior to joining Stonewall Kitchen, Vermont Coffee Company exclusively supplied whole bean coffee. Last year, Vermont Coffee Company was in the process of launching a new line of ground coffee, and Stonewall Kitchen embraced the idea and expedited the launch process. “They’ve helped us make connections with retailers and tap into distribution channels, and [are] also helping us invest in manufacturing capabilities that help accelerate our original idea,” Brown said. Vermont Coffee Company is now selling eight types of ground coffee. Even while undergoing accelerated growth and expansion of products, Stonewall Kitchen is focused on maintaining Vermont Coffee Company’s commitment to social justice and the environment. Vermont Coffee Company’s products have remained 100% organic and are produced by roasteries that use 100% renewable gas, according to Brown. Vermont Coffee Company has also maintained its social justice outreach promises through its Friend Philosophy, which has been a value-anchor that differentiates the brand from the larger company at Stonewall Kitchen. For example, Vermont Coffee Company continues to give back to the local community and farmers at coffee origins, focusing specifically on food security initiatives. These commitments are further demonstrated through the introduction of products that give back to the community. “We just launched a new blend of coffee called Friend Blend in 15 pound whole bean bags. The purpose of that is to really strengthen our commitment of giving back, so 5% of the sales of that product will continue our community support,” Brown said. While making the transition to Stonewall Kitchen, the founder of Vermont Coffee Company, Paul Ralston, was hopeful that this partnership would benefit the Middlebury community. Brown emphasized that this is a priority to Stonewall Kitchen; however, they are still evaluating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local community, in hopes of figuring out the best support plan moving forward. The Vermont Coffee Company café in downtown Middlebury has been closed since the pandemic with no plans for reopening soon. However, Ralston has taken it on as a personal project, and he is currently talking to Stonewall about this possibility.
More than 200 students gathered outside on the McCullough lawn the evening of April 24 to honor the life of Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo and other victims of police brutality. Huddled under umbrellas and rain jackets, they sheltered their candles from the cold drizzle as they listened to speeches and observed multiple moments of silence in honor of the lives lost. Jarlenys Mendez ’23 spearheaded the vigil to hold space on campus for students mourning the life of Daunte Wright. “There’s so little chance we get to stop and pause to show respect and honor for the victims,” Mendez said in an interview with The Campus. “Especially with how fast-paced the school moves, it’s important to take a pause to recognize the real world and not be stuck in the Middlebury bubble.” Across the country, protesters have poured onto streets to express anger and demand justice for Wright. Mendez was actively involved in protests in New York City for the Black Lives Matter movement, and she was inspired to pursue activism at Middlebury. Daunte Wright’s funeral was held on April 22, where he was remembered as an outgoing young man and the father of a two-year-old toddler. Mendez, whose own father was 19 years old when she was born, said the event hit close to home for her emotionally. “Seeing his child was definitely painful,” Mendez said. “And to think that at that age to lose your life and leave your child behind you. I’m just sick of it. Each time I hear about another victim — it’s a lot.” Genesis Rodriguez ’23, who attended the vigil, said the atmosphere was heavy with the mourning shared between the students. To Rodriguez, it is the responsibility of Middlebury students to acknowledge the events happening in the world. “We’re in such a privileged space, so it feels necessary to show up for these issues,” Rodriguez said. “These might be conversations I have with my friends, [but], in general they are not talked about on campus.” Although the number of white students at the vigil outweighed the number of students of color, Mendez hoped that such a reality did not drown out the presence of BIPOC students at the event — who she said needed the space for healing. “White people tend to make a lot of things about them, and this vigil wasn’t for white people to feel better. It’s not for them to show they’re here for us. It’s never about the white people,” said Mendez, “I hope they can step aside and acknowledge what is happening, internally and physically by being there.”
Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were killed when a gunman entered three Atlanta spas on March 16. The tragedy drew attention to the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes that has coincided with inflammatory rhetoric surrounding Covid-19 throughout the past year. Following the shooting, various Asian and Asian-American affinity groups at Middlebury have responded to the tragedy, voicing their solidarity alongside each other and working to start larger conversations around anti-Asian racism and oppression. RAISINS (Radical Asians) RAISINS (Radical Asians), a collective of Asian and Asian-American student activists with a focus on community building and social justice, hosted a public forum over Zoom following the shooting. Max Walters ’24, a RAISINS member who spearheaded the event, said the purpose of the forum was for Asian and Asian American students to share their experiences of anti-Asian racism and for non-Asian students to hear those stories. The 16 attendees shared an intimate space to voice vulnerable emotions. “The main reason for me to do this is that I am feeling strained, conflicted and uncertain about what I was feeling, and I was hearing so many different stories and reactions, being angry, sad or devoid of emotions,” Walters said. Many themes were brought up during the event such as the fetishization of Asian women and the myth of the “model minority.” Walters said he felt motivated to speak up as a response to the shooting because he felt the Asian-American experience is often silenced or sidelined in national discussion. Walters hopes that the attention from mainstream media can build momentum for further conversations through RAISINS and in the community. Each year, RAISINS releases a digital zine highlighting a social issue affecting the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. To provide resources and further information on the shooting, RAISINS member Melanie Chow ’22 made revisions and redistributed the RAISINS zine from 2019 on Asian Americans’ sexual experiences. The zine includes historical context of Asian fetishization and the sexualized portrayal of Asian Americans in the media. ASIA (Asian Students in Action) ASIA (Asian Students in Action), a pan-Asian cultural organization aiming to provide structural support for Asian students on campus, helped advertise the RAISINS open forum event. ASIA is currently working on opportunities for workshops, conferences and career-oriented networking, and aims to build community through cultural gatherings and peer connections. Anton Gallegos ’21, co-president of ASIA, emphasized to The Campus the importance of amplifying Middlebury’s Asian voices to uplift other activist work and encouraged Asian and non-Asian students to continue educating themselves. “There’s a lot of value talking amongst yourselves and becoming informed on the history of what’s going on. Make that dedicated effort, and you’ll learn a lot,” Gallegos said. “There is so much room for educating.” SEAS (South East Asian Society) SEAS (South East Asian Society) is the cultural organization for people who are interested in Southeast Asian culture. In the last year, SEAS has been working on community building through bi-weekly meetings, hosting events such as professor talks, trivia, letter writing and cooking. “We’re dancing together for the ISO nocturne show, which lifts our spirits. It’s been about coming together as a community to stand in solidarity and feel each other’s presence,” said Pim Singhatiraj ’21, president of SEAS. KASA (Korean American Student Association) KASA (Korean American Student Association) is a cultural organization established for students with Korean cultural backgrounds or those who appreciate the Korean language and culture. KASA events have previously centered around food, but in the past year, KASA has also been holding regular Korean language table sessions for students to practice speaking Korean, along with weekly language workshops. Following the shooting in Atlanta, KASA sent out an acknowledgement of the event and offered space for support in the organization’s Facebook group. Eunice Choi ’21, co-president of KASA, told The Campus that many members of the group were strongly impacted by the Atlanta shooting, as some of the victims were of Korean descent. Choi, whose mother owns a nail salon, expressed fear and concern for her family’s well-being. “My heart ached for the family members of the victims,” Choi said. “I couldn’t fathom the pain the victims at the moment went through and their family members afterward, but I still resonated a lot with the event, which was really hard for me to take in.” While the shooting in Atlanta was captured by mainstream media, anti-Asian hate and racism is the ongoing reality for members of the Asian community. During the RAISINS public forum event, Walters observed that while everyone expressed grief, most Asian students were unsurprised by the shooting due to the escalating hate and violence against Asian-Americans in the last year. “From my personal experience, I was hearing about these events every day,” Walters said, “So when I heard about the Atlanta shooting, I was not surprised, and I didn’t have a big reaction. Through the talk, I learned that a lot of people felt the same way.” Editor’s note: Rachel Lu ’23 is a member of RAISINS.
Update — Wednesday, May 5 Despite initial projections, MiddCourses is still down. The Campus has not been able to confirm a new estimated date for the return of the site. —— Students who rely heavily on MiddCourses — the site that allows students to anonymously review their professors and classes — may have feared the worst when their attempts to reach the platform brought them to a page stating only that the domain was registered at NameCheap.com. The site became a mainstay for course registration when it was first developed in 2014, allowing students to see student-sourced information about individual classes and professors, including weekly time spent preparing for class, lecture quality and grading expectations. Though MiddCourses is currently out of order, the Student Government Association Innovations and Technology Committee is working to fix the outdated features that led to the site's shutdown. Committee members estimate that MiddCourses will be up and running again in about a week. The committee has also planned some new upgrades for the future. MiddCourses is run through the cloud hosting service Heroku, which requires a working stack of code that makes up all aspects of the website, according to Innovations and Technology Committee Director Lizeth Lucero ’21. In order to continue running, MiddCourses’ stack needed to be regularly updated, but it had not been touched since the creators graduated. The SGA Technology and Innovation Committee is currently upgrading the codebase and checking on any other dependencies to make sure the website can run smoothly in the future. While the site is under maintenance, SGA is also planning to make other upgrades, including adding new professors and courses to the website. SGA also hopes to incorporate textbook reviews on MiddCourses. Lucero hopes this will help students know in advance what textbooks are required for a course, how much they cost and whether they might be able to get them for free. The site was originally conceived as a computer science project by then-SGA Director of Technology Dana Silver ’15 and Teddy Knox ’15. The SGA Innovation and Technology Committee took over the site as part of the Student Project Pipeline (SPP) initiative in spring 2014. The SPP allows students to submit their projects to the SGA to be managed and upgraded even after the student has graduated. SGA members can also acquire projects by reaching out to the original owners. Lucero believes this process ensures that projects remain up-to-date and in line with current students’ needs. In order to browse MiddCourses, students needed to make an account and post two reviews. The platform has received a steady stream of sign-ups each semester, according to Lucero. While the website has been down, Lucero said many students have reached out to inquire about its status, showing that they are eager to use MiddCourses as a course selection resource. Niamh Carty ’23 told The Campus that MiddCourses has been a trusted resource for her during the course selection process, especially when the same class is taught by different professors. “MiddCourses has been so helpful in choosing classes,” Carty said. “Whenever I have been deciding between two courses, I’ve gone onto MiddCourses to see which professor has better reviews. It hasn’t steered me wrong yet, so I definitely trust it a lot.” Professor of Political Science Matt Dickinson is unaware of MiddCourses but recalls its previous iteration, MiddKid, which he found unreliable because his reviews were often erroneously listed on the page for Professor of Computer Science Matt Dickerson. Dickinson is equally unimpressed by MiddKid’s successor, noting that the data captured is likely skewed. “I would guess students who take the time to weigh in on courses outside of the normal course evaluation process are likely motivated by strong views — either very positive or very negative — about a particular course or professor, and thus aren’t likely to be indicative of students’ views in general and therefore wouldn’t be very useful to professors, or other students,” Dickinson said.