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(10/27/22 10:01am)
Founded by students in 2003, Middlebury College’s educational garden, the Knoll, has become an incredibly important center of climate justice, resiliency, education and community nourishment. The Knoll is a place where people flourish as much as food, where connection between the students and the wider community becomes reciprocal, and where learning, service and transformation take place daily. The Knoll’s 20th anniversary is in 2023, and in honor of this upcoming celebration and all that has become over the past 20 years we would like to share what we love about the Knoll.
(09/30/21 9:58am)
At the end of morning classes at 12:15 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, students begin flooding into Proctor Dining Hall. The food line stretches beyond the doors and out to the Middlebury Chapel. In Ross, the line runs from the serving stations to the Ross Fireplace Lounge and wraps back on itself, leading out into the hall. As Middlebury faces the dual challenges of over-enrollment and understaffing, aspects of student life from dining hall lines to parking tickets have demonstrated the ways the college’s resources are stretched thin.
Dining halls have struggled in the first weeks of the semester, with more students than ever to feed and about half of the staff that they had before the start of the pandemic, according to Michael Gose, who has worked as a dining hall staff member at Middlebury for six years. The crowds that file into the dining hall during rush hour overwhelm the staff, who are working triple their normal workload. As students leave, dishes pile up, and it takes longer to clean them with fewer staff.
In 2019 — when the school was fully enrolled at approximately 2,500 students — the dining hall had one staff member at each station. Now, one person works about three stations at a time, taking on additional responsibilities with more than 300 extra students to serve and clean up after. In addition, all dining hall staff are pulling more overtime hours and have to close stations earlier so they can leave closer to a normal time.
“Dealing with pandemic things [in the dining hall] changed a lot, and now we have to get back to normal, which is a challenge. With Covid, a lot of our staff have left and we have not been able to bring back the amount of workers we need to support us,” Gose said.
The number of dining hall staff members has declined over the past year, as employees have left for other jobs or quit out of concern about contracting Covid-19 from students in the dining halls, according to Gose.
“I don’t remember a time I’ve ever seen the Proc line actually go outside. Ross sometimes got pretty crowded, but I’ve still never seen the lines get this long,” Kristina Pompilio ’23 said.
In an email sent from Dean of Students Derek Doucet on Sept. 23, students were encouraged to eat outside of the lunch rush — if possible.
“We all know that lunchtime on Tuesdays and Thursdays can be hectic,” the email reads, “but there are some ways you can help to spread out traffic, help our friends in dining services, and enhance the dining experience for all. If you don’t have a class that ends at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays (there are approximately 1,300 of you who don’t), consider taking lunch early on those days. Or opt for Atwater, which is less heavily used than Proctor and Ross.”
Along with long wait times in dining halls, students have struggled to find spaces in the college’s parking lots — and have received tickets for parking on grass or in faculty lots as a last resort.
“I have not even used my car yet because I’m afraid I’ll get a ticket if there isn’t parking when I return. Middlebury needs to be more flexible or come up with a solution,” Thea Joseph ’22 said.
Public Safety has ticketed cars parked outside of their permitted lot, or on the grass, where many students have been parking when there are no available spots in the lots close to them.
First year students are required to park their cars in the Q Lot, beside the Mahaney Arts Center on the edge of campus, while sophomores, juniors, and seniors are allocated space in both the Q Lot and in other student lots around campus. The Q Lot — a fifteen minute walk from many upperclassman residences — often has spaces when the far closer R Lot and E Lots are full, but students returning to campus late at night when lots are full are reluctant to walk nearly a mile to their dorms.
“Parking is available on a first-come first-serve basis,” PubSafe said in an email to The Campus. “There is adequate student parking on campus. It just is not always in the lot preferred by the vehicle operator.”
Jonah Joseph ’24 said it still felt like too many passes were distributed to students.
“It’s very clear Middlebury needs more parking,” Jonah said. “And if they don’t provide it, they need to be more flexible.”
Tickets range anywhere from $10 to $50 for parking in the wrong place. Students are also allowed to use most faculty and staff lots during the weekend, but must move their cars back to a student lot before Sunday at midnight.
(04/15/21 10:00am)
Parton Center for Health and Wellness has temporarily cut its “Peace of Mind” sexually transmitted infections (STI) screening program, which previously allowed students to be screened for STIs without exhibiting symptoms. On-campus testing is now limited to students who have had a recent exposure or are exhibiting symptoms of an STI. Some students who have called to ask for Peace of Mind screenings have been unable to get tested and have felt shamed by Parton’s response to their request.
The Vermont Department of Health labs that typically process most of Middlebury’s tests have converted their capacity to Covid-19 testing and are not running STI testing, according to Director of Health Services Sandy Robinson. Parton can send tests to Porter Medical Center, but a shortage of testing supplies and high costs have led Parton to prioritize symptomatic testing over regular screenings.
Screening costs vary depending on a student’s health insurance. Common tests like gonorrhea and chlamydia cost $25 out-of-pocket if run through the VT Department of Health labs, but $222 if run through the Porter Hospital labs. The Gallagher Student Health Insurance provided through the college covers 90% of testing costs, but students on separate insurance or who do not want to use their parents’ insurance may see much higher costs.
Parton’s website recommends that students get Peace of Mind testing every six months if they have multiple partners during that time, yet they do not offer it themselves anymore.
Several STIs — including HPV, chlamydia, gonorrhea and herpes — can be infectious in people not showing symptoms. In the past, Peace of Mind testing was available to catch such asymptomatic cases.
Bethany* ’23.5 tried to get a preventative STI screening when she began seeing a new partner in the fall but was turned down because of limited testing supplies.
“I didn’t end up getting tested at Parton. After the call, I gave up on being tested because I don’t have a car or any access to other health facilities. I got tested as soon as I got home and everything was fine, but it would have been better for my peace of mind to be tested earlier,” Bethany said.
Bethany said she would be happy to go back to Parton if testing was made available again, but the way her call was handled made her less comfortable than when she has been tested at her gynecologist in the past.
“I felt that Parton addressed me in an accusatory manner, almost shaming me for having unprotected sex,” Bethany said.
When Avery* ’24 called Parton in late March for Peace of Mind STI testing, she was told Parton’s supply of STI tests was low due to a lack of funding and was denied a test.
Asymptomatic testing is available to students at Planned Parenthood in Middlebury, where Avery went after being turned away at Parton.
“No questions asked, [Planned Parenthood] offered to help me and set up an appointment. They even gave me a discount because I did not want to use my parents’ health insurance,” Avery said.
Claire* ’23 was able to get tested after explaining to staff that she had been encouraged to get a follow-up test for an STI she had been treated for several months earlier. She had no symptoms at the time, but was able to schedule the follow-up and described feeling supported by the staff member at her appointment. Still, Claire said there were flaws in the system.
“When you call to make an appointment, I honestly would rather not talk to the receptionist,” Claire said. “I had to talk to her about the context of my STI testing, and I would have rather done that virtually or through an appointment-making thing.”
She also had to fill out an online questionnaire — unlike past times she has gotten tested at Parton — asking her to list all of the different types of sexual activity she had engaged in, how many partners, and how much of it was protected versus unprotected, without knowing who at Parton would have access to the information.
Claire said she felt more supported than she had at previous Peace of Mind screenings at Middlebury.
“In past experiences, the people I’ve dealt with were a little more judgemental, or, when I was getting Peace of Mind testing, asked me why I needed it,” Claire said.
Robinson said Parton and the Vermont Department of Health are concerned about the limited testing capacity, and that they look forward to returning to regular testing as soon as possible.
*The names in this article are pseudonyms used to protect the privacy of students interviewed for this article.