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(04/11/19 9:53am)
The Panthers started off the season strong, winning their first four games. Since then, however, they seemed to have lost their momentum. Spring break was supposed to be an opportunity for them to thrive and build off their success from the previous week, but it appears that their glory was rather short-lived, losing five of their seven spring break games in Florida. They struggled in the first half of the week, but they seemed to pull it together, winning two-thirds of the games in the last few days of their trip.
Unfortunately, they were no more successful this weekend against Williams, who is undefeated in the conference. Williams has managed to beat Middlebury in every softball game that the schools have played against each other since 2015. Williams beat the girls by a wider margin than usual, 10-1 and 18-1 on Saturday and 11-1 on Sunday. Over the past few seasons, it has been typical for Williams to win by no more than 6 runs. Two of the three games only went to the 5th inning. That being said, the Panthers made some solid plays during their games. Captain Liza Tarr ’19 had a great weekend; she brought home the team’s only run by slamming in a home run during Saturday’s second game, and on Sunday, she stopped the Ephs from stealing bases. Rookie Sophia Marlino continues establish herself as an asset to the Panthers. On Saturday morning, her deep double allowed Sophie Bolinger ’22 to score the only run of the game. On Sunday morning, she scored in the first inning, the only completed run of the game.
Before break softball was 4-0, but unfortunately, they’re now 6-8. The Panthers have high hopes for Wednesday against Keene State, who they haven’t played in the past several years. Keene State doesn’t seem to be having the best season either, as of Monday April 8, 2019, they’re 5-11.
(04/11/19 9:52am)
Happy (kind of) spring everyone!
Old and New Notes:
1. Thank you to everyone who has shared feedback or ideas with go/heysga. We encourage everyone to use it as a resource.
2. Election season is upon us! Please be sure to check your emails for the candidates’ statements of intent. Also, if you are interested in being part of SGA in a non-elected position, please keep your eye out for opportunities.
3. As we reach the end of the year, please take advantage of opportunities for feedback, whether it be talking to your senators or filling out surveys. Students in leadership positions put a lot of time and energy into their work and can serve the student body when frustrations and ideas are shared.
That’s all for now! Wishing you all a smooth landing as we transition into a new season.
(04/11/19 9:52am)
After a successful midweek game against conference foe, Hamilton, the Middlebury Panthers looked to keep their win streak alive against the Colby Mules this past Saturday. The Panthers seemed fired up for this game right from the start, with chants of “What up, Blue!” echoing throughout Youngman Field. After a back-and-forth game, with great plays coming from both sides, Colby outlasted the Panthers by a score of 14-12. The Panthers still remain ahead of the Mules in the NESCAC standings but drop to 4-6 on the year.
In the first quarter, the Mules put a score on the books first. However, Middlebury quickly rebounded with two shots coming from Zeke Emerson ’20 and up-and-coming star, Will Brossman. Colby was able to settle in for the rest of the quarter, firing back three goals to lead 4-2 at the end of 15 minutes.
After a harsh cross-checking penalty committed by Colby at the start of the second, freshman phenom, Tyler Forbes, scored a man-up goal at the 9:28 mark. Colby responded quickly but then committed yet another penalty to put Middlebury at the advantage. For the next five minutes, it was all Middlebury. Three goals came from three different players, putting the Panthers up 6-5 and giving them a little momentum. However, a lackluster penalty by Alex Farley at the 4:22 mark of the second gave Colby the opportunity to rally off three goals and regain the lead 8-6. In the last seconds of the half, A.J Kucinski fired a shot on goal, assisted by Brossman, to put the Panthers within one.
In the third, the Panthers again had control of the entire quarter. Colby scored first, but the home team was able to respond with three goals of their own. Forbes tallied another on an outstanding shot, meanwhile the upperclassmen on the team contributed their own. At the 2:18 mark in the third quarter, the two teams were tied. In the 4th, the Panthers took a quick lead. Unfortunately, their defense seemed to lose some traction and Colby answered by scoring 4 of the next 5 goals. With a minute left to go in the game, Middlebury was down three until Chase Goree ’20 found the net. However, the deficit was too much to overcome. Colby scored again as the time ran down.
Despite a strong effort, the Panthers fell to 3-4 in conference play. They look to take on Trinity this upcoming weekend at home in a pivotal NESCAC game. With a win, the Panthers can move towards the top of the tightly contested pack as they soon approach the end of April and playoff season.
(04/11/19 9:51am)
(04/11/19 9:51am)
Although it feels like the indoor track season ended only recently, the team is already several meets into the outdoor season. On Saturday, April 6, the team participated in the Amherst Spring Fling with impressive results.
On the team’s performance at this meet, Noah Wagner-Carlberg ’19 said, “Overall this weekend was a very exciting one for Midd Track and Field. The Amherst Spring Fling saw a lot of remarkable performances from our athletes, indicative of our growth over the course of the season and of the work we put in over spring break in San Diego. Most notably we saw terrific marks from both male and female athletes in nearly every field event, including season’s bests and personal bests.”
The women were able to capture second place in a total field of seven teams by obtaining 90 points. There were many crucial contributors to these points. Lucy Lang ’19 came in first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.86. Emily Bulczynski ’22 achieved second place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:08.28. In the pole vault event, Kreager Taber ’19, Molly Colwell ’20, and Leah Granger ’22 were able to get first, second, and fourth respectively. Taber vaulted 3.40 meters, Colwell 3.19 meters, and Granger 2.80 meters. In the long jump event, Alex Cook ’20 jumped 5.51 meters, Simone Ameer ’21 jumped 5.31 meters, and Jackie Topping ’22 jumped 5.26 meters. They captured the first three places in the event. It is also important to note that Helene Rowland ’20 placed first in shot put, Emily Ray ’20 came in first in the discus throw, and Rebecca Gorman ’20 ranked first in the javelin throw.
The men were able to get second place in a total field of six teams with 100.50 points. Key contributors included Nick Hendrix ’20 in 200 meter dash where a time of 22.01 pushed him to first place. Jonathan Fisher ’20 got a time of 56.87 to get first in the 400-meter hurdle. The “A” team, composed of Wagner-Carlberg, Hendrix, Matthew Durst ’21, Conor Banky ’19 and Henry Tatum ’21, captured second in the 4x100 relay. In high jump, Fisher and Francis Price ’22 were able to capture third place and a tie for fourth in this event respectively. Nathaniel Klein ’21, Zack Sieb ’21 and James Caprio ’21 obtained the first three places in shot put. Klein threw 14.65 meters, Sieb threw 13.25 meters, and Caprio threw 12.63 meters. Sieb and Caprio also happened to get the first two places respectively in the discus throw. Minhaj Rahman ’19 participated in the hammer throw and placed first with a throw of 55.75 meters.
Fisher mentioned, “I was happy to get a few good jumps in, and I’m proud of my teammate Tim DeLorenzo for clearing 6’0.75” in his first collegiate outdoor meet. The 400 hurdles are always a difficult event, and I’ve had some trouble getting my feet under me after coming back from abroad. I feel like this race was definitely a step in the right direction and gives me momentum going into next week’s meet.”
During this early part of the season, the Panthers have to make sure to work hard to prepare for the later championship meets.
“As with any year of Midd Track and Field, NESCACs is by far the most anticipated competition of the season, and there is already a lot of hype surrounding the event this year,” Wagner-Carlberg mentioned.
Ray adds, “We always want to win NESCACs, but this year the men are looking to keep their title, while the women’s team wants to come out stronger than ever and beat Tufts and Williams at NESCACs. We’re hosting NESCACs this year at Middlebury, so we’re even more determined to have fun and push ourselves to compete at the highest level.”
With the team continuing to strive towards their goals, they will next compete at the Silfen Invitational on both Friday, April 12 and Saturday April 13.
“A lot of the team did not compete in Amherst, so we’re excited to prepare for the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College,” said Ray. “It’s looking like a big meet with a lot of good competitors, which will be good preparation in the month before NESCACs.”
Fisher adds, “The Silfen Invitational at Conn College is shaping up to be an intense meet. It will feature many of the top NESCAC teams, who will be looking to get some good times and distances for the bigger meets coming up in 3-4 weeks. It should be a good preview for the NESCAC championship meet at Middlebury on April 27. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue our hot streak and put together more impressive performances.”
(04/11/19 9:49am)
Members of the Special Olympics club hosted their first spring basketball practice of the spring. The team meets each Sunday from 4 to 5 p.m. in Pepin Gymnasium.
(03/21/19 10:34am)
Within only two months of Green Mountain College’s announcement that it will close after this academic year, Southern Vermont College (SVC) has followed suit. Located in Bennington, VT, the private, liberal arts college announced on March 4 that it too would shut down this summer, to the shock and surprise of many of its students.
In his statement, SVC President David Evans said that the decision to close the college occurred after the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) voted to remove the college’s accreditation “based on institutional resources.” Evans specifically referenced financial problems due to “regional demographics” and “enrollment challenges.”
Evans stressed in his announcement to the SVC community that “NECHE’s concern was limited to SVC’s finances only. The quality of the education we offer, institutional integrity, the transferability of courses and the value of our degrees, are not in question.” SVC’s accreditation will last until Aug. 31, 2019, allowing for students who need the summer to complete graduation requirements to do so.
SVC’s current enrollment is around 330 students, a number that reached a peak of 500 in past years. Seventy of those students are eligible to graduate this year.
The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), a short twenty minute drive from SVC’s campus, has been announced as SVC’s preferred teach-out partner, an agreement that would allow current SVC students to finish their degrees at MCLA.
“We selected MCLA primarily because we have great confidence in their faculty and staff to be supportive of our students and the challenges they are and will be facing, which has already been demonstrated by their outstanding response to our situation,” Evans told The Campus in an email. “They have had teams on campus almost every day since the closure announcement, working with students and our staff to provide advice and options for transferring.”
SVC is also working with Norwich and Castleton Universities to provide other transfer options for students who might not find equivalent degree programs at MCLA.
SVC’s closure will also greatly affect its 100 full-time and 30 part-time staff members.
“The staff and faculty have been distressed because they love our students and the work we do at SVC,” Evans told The Campus. “My sense is that their first impulse has been to protect the students, but of course they face employment issues and all kinds of other uncertainty as well, which is very stressful.”
When asked about the seemingly abrupt nature of the closure announcement, Evans responded, “Ultimately, I’m afraid, there’s simply no good way to do something like announce the closure of a college, because people invest very intense emotions in these institutions for all kinds of very good reasons, and those emotions make our current situation deeply painful for everyone.”
SVC began in 1926 as Saint Joseph College, first located in downtown Bennington. In 1974 the college was turned over to a board of independent trustees and moved to its current spot on the Everett Estate, according to the school’s website.
The closures of Green Mountain College and Southern VT College reflect a greater pattern cropping up across both Vermont and the nation as a result of declining enrollments. Rural states like Vermont are struggling to retain a consistent pool of college-age applicants, causing significant financial problems for their small, private colleges.
In addition to GMC and SVC, Goddard College in Plainfield, VT, is on probation with NECHE, and the College of St. Joseph in Rutland, VT, recently suspended its undergraduate program and faces a removal of its accreditation for both its graduate and undergraduate programs.
“More than half of us are facing existential threats,” Evans told The Campus, speaking to the number of VT colleges in danger of closing. “Vermont has a tremendous problem with demographics already, which is a major cause of the challenges our colleges are facing, but at the same time the colleges’ problems are going to make the demographic issues even worse. From an economic and social standpoint, there is nothing good about what is happening to private colleges in Vermont.”
(03/21/19 10:00am)
This past weekend, the Middlebury women’s lacrosse team improved their record to 3-1, defeating fellow NESCAC competition, the Wesleyan Cardinals, 8-7. Momentum shifted back and forth throughout the game, but the Panthers drove in the winning goal with just five minutes on the clock.
Though the Cardinals put up the first point of the game, Middlebury came back with force. Within the next 16 minutes of the contest, three Panthers connected with the net: Casey O’Neill ’19, Emily Barnard ’20 and Jenna McNicholas ’19. After another Wesleyan score, McNicholas put the Panthers up 4-2 for her second goal of the game. By halftime, the Cardinals answered with two of their own goals, tying the score 4-4.
The second half became a back-and-forth battle between the offenses. Wesleyan put up three points, countered by another three Panther goals. With five minutes left, Emma McDonagh ’19 capitalized on a free-position shot. The game ended in an 8-7 Panther victory. “Coming into the game we knew Wesleyan was going to be very competitive and the score reflected this: never being more than two goals apart the whole game,” McDonagh said, “We really tried to focus on taking the game one play at a time and not getting distracted by the end goal. We relied on communication to stay composed and are always reminding each other to be confident.”
McDonagh, along with McNicholas and Barnard, each had two goals on the day. The senior emphasized the defense’s ability to step up against a gritty Wesleyan offense.
“Wesleyan has some really strong attackers that drive hard to cage and our defense did an incredible job stopping them and playing as a unit,” said McDonagh.
Defender Addy Mitchell ’21 kept the Cardinals’ scoring at bay. The sophomore caused six turnovers throughout the contest, while also recording four ground balls.
Ranked sixth in the nation, the team looks to March 23 when they will play Bowdoin in another NESCAC bout. The Polar Bears are 1-3 for the season and 1-2 in NESCAC play. The Panther squad seeks to improve upon their already-impressive season with their motivation and “grit.”
“This team is talented but really embraces hard work and isn’t afraid to play gritty. I think we have stepped up our intensity in practice, and it serves us well in games,” said McDonagh. “We still have a lot of things we can execute better so we will continue to focus on improving during practice to prepare us for our games.”
(03/21/19 9:59am)
Two years ago, students protested and shut down a lecture by Charles Murray, a controversial sociologist whose attempts to link race with intelligence have led many to consider his work racist. The day after the March 2 protest, President Laurie Patton sent an all-school email expressing her disappointment.
“We will be responding in the very near future to the clear violations of Middlebury College policy that occurred inside and outside Wilson Hall,” Patton wrote. Specifically, the protesters violated section C.4 of the Student Handbook, which prohibits “disruptive behavior at community events or on campus.”
Despite this email, few of the students who protested anticipated the extent to which the college would pursue sanctions against them. The investigation and judicial process for students who were identified as having attended the event lasted until late May. The college punished 74 students with sanctions ranging from probation, which functions as a warning and a “first strike,” to official college discipline, which goes on a student’s permanent record.
During the first round of sanctions in March, 48 students were called in to meet with judicial affairs officers and put on probation for the remainder of the semester. The remaining 26 students, who were originally charged with official college discipline, did not receive notice of their punishment until early April.
Many decided to appeal the college’s decision to sanction them with official college discipline, which triggered a longer and more complicated judicial process that culminated in hearings before the college’s Community Judicial Board. Nineteen of those 26 students faced official college discipline for the same charge: remaining in Wilson Hall to protest after the event had been moved to a live stream. These students requested a group hearing to appeal the finding, and were granted permission to go through the process together. Ultimately, all 19 had their punishment reduced and were put on probation for the remainder of the spring and, for those not about to graduate, for two additional semesters.
The students involved, who are now more willing to discuss the judicial process than they were two years ago, recently agreed to speak about their experiences. They reported that going through the judicial process after the protest negatively impacted their mental health, made it more challenging to focus on their studies and permanently changed the way they view the college and administration.
The Impact
Since the students who faced more serious sanctions did not receive notice until the second round of disciplinary action began in early April, many of them spent March on edge.
“The sense of waiting for punishment was hard,” said Matea Mills-Andruk ’18.5. “I felt really overwhelmed. I had friends who didn’t go to the dining hall for a few weeks or a month after the protest and they mostly stayed in their rooms. They missed a lot of class and just became very isolated and alone.”
The waiting was made more stressful for some by the fact that the college used video footage of the protest, often submitted by students, to identify the protesters. Not everybody who protested was identified and called in. This made the process feel confusing and opaque.
Associate Sociology Professor Linus Owens, one of the faculty members chosen by students to attend the hearing, remembered that the length of the judicial process was hard for the students, some of whom came to him for support.
“I think that dragging it out, it really sort of had a terroristic effect on students,” Owens said. “Students were waiting to get called and then not everyone got called and then not everyone got punished the same way. It felt arbitrary and really problematic.”
Associate Professor of Education Studies Tara Affolter, who helped students organize the protest, agreed that the lack of transparency during the judicial process was stressful for many of her students.
“That sort of thing had a very chilling and detrimental effect on students. They weren’t present for their learning, they weren’t able to engage the ideas or grow from the experience,” she said.
Owens recalls feeling as though the college was responding to national pressures when deciding next steps, a feeling shared by many of the student protesters.
“I think the punishment was driven less by actual college rules than by the need to satisfy national audiences,” Owens said. “There was a huge concern that this was going to cost Middlebury.”
Once the extended judicial process began, many students found it incredibly stressful. One student who was part of the group hearing, who asked to be referred to as Bailey, said that their mental health suffered while the process was underway.
[pullquote speaker="Bailey" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]We were full-time students and we were full-time protesters at that point. I didn’t have any time to even cope with where my mental health was at.[/pullquote]
“I didn’t have any time, was the biggest thing. We were full-time students and we were full-time protesters at that point,” they said. “I didn’t have any time to even cope with where my mental health was at.”
Students were occupied drafting an opening statement, communicating with administrators, supporting one another and lining up character witnesses for the hearing.
The pressures of the judicial process also impacted students’ ability to go about the rest of their lives. Mills-Andruk had to quit one of her jobs during that semester. Sarah Karerat ’18 said she found it difficult to focus on her academics.
“My ability to participate in classes went down,” Karerat said. “It’s exhausting to be that anxious all the time. It definitely took a toll on my mental health, and it took a toll on my relationships.”
According to Sarah Ray, the director of media relations at the college, the judicial process took so long because of the large amount of photo and video evidence that the college needed to review.
“We understood that the student judicial process was a stressful one for many students, particularly since it came at the end of the semester,” she said. “Students were offered expedited paths through the process, which some accepted.”
But accepting an expedited path through the process would have meant not challenging the finding of official college discipline, which many students felt was not a reasonable option.
[pullquote speaker="Sarah Karerat ’18" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]I was 20 years old and I didn’t know what could happen and I was scared.[/pullquote]
“Being low-income and needing to think about graduate school and scholarships and not having access to graduate school in the way that other folks do, it felt like this could really mess with my future,” Karerat said. “I was 20 years old and I didn’t know what could happen and I was scared.”
On top of stress about potential sanctions, students wrestled with a deeper sense of loss.
“The most jarring thing that happened that semester was I felt like I lost home, and that was so horrible,” Karerat said, explaining that during her time in college, Middlebury felt more like home to her than anywhere else. “I didn’t trust Middlebury anymore. I didn’t trust the space. I didn’t know if it was mine. To have that relationship change was really, really difficult.”
Bailey recalled a similar feeling of rejection by the wider college community.
“It really felt like the institution itself, that Laurie Patton, that anyone who was at all involved in the upper levels of the institution was saying, ‘These aren’t Middlebury students, these are thugs, these are radicals and they’re not part of our community,’” they said. “There were students on trial who were literally the heads of incredibly important organizations on campus, and for them to experience this disavowal from the college, and for the college to be like, ‘You’re not part of us anymore,’ it really felt like we were voted off the island. To feel like your home didn’t want you, that was one of the worst feelings.”
The Hearing
Students who went through the hearing recalled that it was also a taxing and emotional experience. Students arrived at the Service Building at 6 p.m. on May 4 along with faculty members, such as Owens, who they chose to attend the hearing for emotional support. They found the entrance lined with police barricades and security with a huge crowd of people gathered to cheer them on as they entered the building.
The hearing lasted around four hours and as part of the process, each student was allowed a character witness to speak on their behalf. Many faculty members served in this role, including Associate Professor of Anthropology Michael Sheridan. Sheridan bought chocolates for the students facing sanctions because he said he figured that they might feel “encircled by dementors.”
“After sitting down in front of the board, I made a point to remain facing directly ahead while holding out the packages of chocolate backwards for someone to take and pass on,” he said. “That was my way to both support the students and express my frustration at the very, very limited ways that our community was communicating with one another.”
According to Karerat, the part of the hearing where the character witnesses read their statements was the most emotional for her.
“There was a lot of crying. A lot of the character witnesses cried and a lot of us cried in response,” she said. “Listening to other people’s character witnesses, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is the most resilient, powerful group of people I know and I am so sad they had to go through this.’”
Mills-Andruk also remembers the emotional impact of the character witness statements.
[pullquote speaker="Sarah Karerat ’18" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Listening to other people’s character witnesses, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is the most resilient, powerful group of people I know and I am so sad they had to go through this.’[/pullquote]
“It was incredible to hear what everyone had done and everyone’s interests and lives and families and where they’re from,” she said. “It was like a song to all of us about our own humanness.”
For many, the trial cemented relationships that had been forming throughout the process.
“There was a strong community that came out of this,” Karerat said. “It was a strange but lovely silver lining. I think some of the strongest bonds come out of trauma or crisis, and we were all going through the same thing. Especially with all the ruptures over this in the wider community, it was really nice to have a group of people I didn’t have to explain myself to.”
The Aftermath
The judicial process culminated a few weeks before the end of the semester. Some of the 19 students who went through the group trial graduated, while others returned the following fall and continued serving their probation.
[pullquote speaker="Associate Professor of Education Studies Tara Affolter" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]I think it’s going to continue to limit and create fear around student protests and protests in general.[/pullquote]
Even though probation does not go on a student’s record, many students reported it impacted their lives on campus. According to Bailey, their probation made any kind of activism, like walkouts and rallies, feel like too big of a risk to take.
“I know for me there were events and things going on that I didn’t feel comfortable going to because I was worried about how they could progress. I really have no trust in the administration or in the college anymore and so I didn’t want to take any risks,” they said. “It was a very effective silencing of any student that had it.”
Affolter also worries about how the college’s handling of the judicial process will impact future student organizing efforts.
“I think it’s going to continue to limit and create fear around student protests and protests in general,” she said. “I don’t think it’s pedagogically or developmentally appropriate to use fear and vague intimidation as a way to shore things up. That’s not really the best way to get the community that you want.”
Despite everything that happened afterward, Mills-Andruk said that she does not regret protesting.
“If we had not resisted, the message to the rest of the student body, the staff and faculty of the college, alumni, community members in the town of Middlebury, or anyone watching the news, would be of an apathetic campus who did not care about its community,” she said. “The protest was an act of kindness, care, defense, love, desperation and survival.”
All of the students who spoke to The Campus about the judicial process reported wrestling with a complicated or outright negative view of the college in light of their experience.
[pullquote speaker="Sarah Koch ’18.5" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]It felt so clear to me that Middlebury was concerned about their reputation above everything else, to the extent that they couldn’t take any sort of institutional action to care for students.[/pullquote]
“It felt so obvious where loyalties lay and it was not with marginalized students during that process,” said Sarah Koch ’18.5. “It felt so clear to me that Middlebury was concerned about their reputation above everything else, to the extent that they couldn’t take any sort of institutional action to care for students.”
According to Bailey, the aftermath of the protest did permanent damage to their view of the college and the administration.
“It really was like this giant black rain cloud over my time at Middlebury,” they said. “Before this event I had always been like, ‘I love Middlebury, I’m so happy I went here.’ And I still love my life, but I give absolutely no credit to the institution.”
Karerat also reported a shift in her feelings toward the college and the administration as a result of this process, although she felt that she was able to rebuild some of those relationships in her final year on campus.
She added that, despite everything, she hopes that students will continue to organize and advocate to make Middlebury a better place.
“Keep the radical organizing activist energy alive,” she said. “Organizing spaces are great spaces for community and friendship, and they are the best spaces to work to make change, and Middlebury needs to change. It is always going to have room to grow.”
(03/21/19 9:59am)
The Middlebury men’s lacrosse team traveled to Baltimore, MD this past weekend to play in the Mustang Classic. After suffering a 12-6 loss to conference foe, Wesleyan Cardinals, the Panthers rebounded and defeated nationally ranked Dickinson 16-11.
After a 9-2 deficit in the first half of the Wesleyan game, Middlebury tried to surmount a comeback in the latter half of the game. Tyler Forbes ’22 scored quickly at the 12:32 mark to gain some Middlebury momentum. However, the Cardinals’ strong offense responded with two goals in a span of four minutes. Again, the Panthers stayed strong and were able to rattle off three unanswered goals coming from Frank Cosolito ’20 and two from Chase Goree ’20. Down five scores at the start of the fourth quarter, the team was shut down by great goaltending and stifling defense from Wesleyan. Middlebury struggled to get shots the entire game, firing only 17 and scoring six. Forbes and Goree led the team in scoring with two goals a piece. Charles Midgley ’19 played all 60 minutes in goal, saving 17 of the 29 shots coming from Wesleyan.
Despite the loss to start the weekend, Middlebury came out very strong and motivated in the Saturday match-up against Dickinson. To no surprise, the Panthers came out red-hot, scoring the game’s first four goals. AJ Kucinski ’20 tallied two and the other contributions came again from Cosolito and Forbes. After Dickinson responded with three of their own, Forbes and Alderik vanderHeyde ’21 netted each of their own, putting the Panthers up 6-4 at the half.
Just like the start of the game, Middlebury came out shooting in the second half and scored three within the half’s first four minutes. Senior captain Jack Gould scored a beautiful goal at the 13:14 mark, netting one far out and with pace. The goalie had no chance. Dickinson responded with three straight goals of their own yet still remained behind in a 11-7 contest.
At the start of the fourth, Dickinson made it quite a game by closing the gap to just one goal. However, the hot offense of the Panthers picked up and they responded with three of their own, two coming from Forbes. With seven minutes to go in the game, the teams traded goals but Middlebury came out on top 16-11. They never trailed in the game.
Forbes led the team in scoring with five, culminating to a total of 16 goals on the year. Jack Hoelzer ’21 fed the ball and tallied two assists on the day. Again, Midgley played all sixty minutes in goal, this time tallying nine saves on 20 shots.
Men’s lacrosse holds a 2-3 record to begin the year. Their next contest will come against Bowdoin on Saturday, March 23. This is their first home game of the year, and they look to remain in the middle of the pact in the NESCAC conference.
(03/21/19 9:59am)
(03/21/19 9:59am)
UPDATE: Thursday, March 21, 6:12 p.m.
Despite initial speculation that his proposals would not amount to action, President Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing government agencies to ensure that universities uphold principles of “free inquiry.”
On Thursday and in his announcement earlier this month, Trump claimed the order would protect students with right-leaning views on college campuses, generating fears among experts about federal overreach in matters of speech. But the order seems much less intrusive than was originally anticipated, and remains vague about if and how it will monitor the protection of free speech on college campuses.
The seven-page order, obtained by The Chronicle of Higher Education, is entitled “Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities.” The portion of the order regarding free speech states that its purpose is to encourage “free and open debate” and to avoid stifling competing perspectives on campuses.
“Free inquiry is an essential feature of our Nation’s democracy, and it promotes learning, scientific discovery, and economic prosperity,” it reads. “We must encourage institutions to appropriately account for this bedrock principle in their administration of student life.”
While the order is slightly more specific than Trump’s original proposal, it remains vague about logistics. The only details it provides regarding the order’s implementation is that agencies involved in distributing federal research funds to colleges, along with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, will “take appropriate steps” to ensure that recipient institutions of federal research funds “promote free inquiry.” It also clarifies that the order will apply to federal research grants and certain education grants, but will not apply to federal financial aid used for student tuition.
An unnamed senior administration official told Politico Thursday that the order just reinstates what colleges are already supposed to do.
“While many schools — or all schools — are frankly supposed to follow this currently, it will ensure that grant dollars are associated through the grant-making process, and schools will have to certify that they’re following this condition," they said.
Trump described the order as "a clear message to the professors and power structures trying to suppress dissent and keep young Americans — and all Americans, not just young Americans … from challenging rigid, far-left ideology.
"If the university doesn't allow you to speak, we will not give them money — it's very simple," Trump said.
The other part of the order addresses university transparency with students and their families, and seeks to make information about alumni’s average earnings and loan repayment rates available to the public through College Scorecard so that prospective students can make more informed decisions about where they will attend. It also directs the Education Department to create a report examining policy options for risk sharing on student-loan debt.
In response to Thursday’s news, Vice President of Communications Bill Burger did not comment on the specifics of the order but reaffirmed the college’s commitment to free speech.
"Middlebury, as always, is committed to fostering a robust and inclusive public sphere in which diverse points of view can be heard, and where members of our community can participate fully,” he said.
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March 14, 2019
Middlebury and other private universities could be targeted by an executive order that President Donald J. Trump proposed earlier this month, which would withhold federal funding from any institutions that do not uphold “free speech.”
The proposal serves as a response to longstanding complaints on the right that students at liberal universities are vilifying and stifling conservative viewpoints. But university administrators and educators around the country fear the ramifications of an attempt by the president to regulate campus speech.
In his address on the last day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) a four-day gathering of prominent right-wing thinkers, politicians and students in National Harbor, Md., the president avoided specifics but announced that he would sign the order “very soon.” The crowd responded with uproarious applause and chants of “USA! USA!”
Trump was joined onstage by Hayden Williams, a 26-year-old conservative activist who was punched last month while recruiting for a conservative organization and holding a pro-Trump sign at the University of California, Berkeley.
[pullquote speaker="Hayden Williams" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]If these socialist progressives had their way, they would put our Constitution through the paper shredder in a heartbeat.[/pullquote]
“There are so many conservative students around the country who are facing discrimination, harassment and worse if they dare to speak up on campus,” Williams said. “If these socialist progressives had their way, they would put our Constitution through the paper shredder in a heartbeat.”
Trump’s announcement comes two years after the Charles Murray protests at Middlebury, which conservative critics lampooned as an example of suppression of free speech and right-wing views. That same year, students at Claremont McKenna College, a private liberal arts school in California, blocked the door of an auditorium during a conservative writer’s speech. Students involved in both protests were disciplined in the aftermath.
Although Trump named neither college in his speech, both schools have figured into his administration’s recent crusade against suppression of right-wing views on college campuses. In the last two years, congressional Republicans held multiple hearings on campus free speech, and in recent months the Justice Department has filed statements in support of students who have sued their universities for violating their speech rights. Last March, the White House held a panel called “Crisis on College Campus” that identified suppression of free speech as one of the two gravest college dilemmas, alongside opioid addiction. One of the panelists referenced Middlebury as an example of protests turned violent.
Now, Trump’s order seeks to link its defense of free speech with the federal dollars that private colleges collect from the government for research projects. Middlebury received $4,987,440 in federally sponsored research funds in the 2018 fiscal year, more than $3 million of which went to the Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Even more may be at stake for the private research universities which receive billions annually, like John Hopkins University in Maryland, which led all universities with $2.6 billion spent on research during the 2017 Fiscal Year.
Higher Ed Braces Itself
In an email to The Campus, President Laurie L. Patton expressed opposition to Trump’s proposal, saying it “raises many legal and policy questions and would be deeply problematic for the country’s 4,000 institutions of higher education.
“Middlebury believes freedom of expression is essential in higher education and that it allows people who have less power in society to have an equal voice in the public square,” Patton wrote. “While I think the federal government could do many things to help higher education in this country, saddling colleges and universities with an obligation this vague, easily abused, and impossible to administer is not among them.”
[pullquote speaker="President Laurie L. Patton" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Middlebury believes freedom of expression is essential in higher education and that it allows people who have less power in society to have an equal voice in the public square.[/pullquote]
Higher education experts and administrators appear united in their opposition to the proposal. Even those who have staunchly encouraged universities to protect free speech on their campuses, like University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer, have vocalized concerns about the motion.
Middlebury Professor of Political Science Murray Dry, who studies constitutional law and freedom of speech, thinks Trump should reconsider his statement and leave the decision making to the schools in question.
“The colleges and universities, such as Berkeley and Middlebury, are well aware of the problems and have taken steps to assure freedom of speech and to maintain security,” he said.
Private universities already comply with certain requirements to receive federal funding, such as ethical guidelines on research involving human subjects, but have typically enjoyed more leeway on matters of speech. Public universities, on the other hand, must follow certain rules regarding speech set forth by the government. For example, they must apply the same rules about inviting guest speakers to all student organizations, regardless of content, unless it can be proven that a speaker may incite or produce violence.
Trump’s order would most likely hold private universities to similar standards. What this means exactly is unclear, given the ambiguity of his speech. For now, experts can only speculate.
Dry and Matthew Dickinson, also a Political Science professor, both think that if it were implemented, the order would be overseen and implemented by the Department of Education, which would develop rules and procedures for holding universities accountable. But Dickinson wondered if the order will even get that far, suggesting it may be on shaky legal footing.
“It’s not clear to me that (the president) does have the authority to define free speech via an executive order,” Dickinson said. “If he does, and asks his administration to enforce it via withholding of funds, it almost certainly will be litigated in the courts.”
Deciding what is and what is not free speech historically has fallen outside the president’s purview. The courts usually set regulations on speech, and have previously upheld laws restricting what they deemed harmful or violent speech on campuses. Usually, the executive branch has only been involved in such matters during times of war to limit speech posing a “clear and present” danger to society.
In any case, the order has the potential to affect Middlebury and its peers negatively, Dickinson fears.
[pullquote speaker="Matthew Dickinson" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Historically, whenever people in positions of authority try to regulate speech, they typically do so in ways that disproportionately affect politically marginalized groups.[/pullquote]
“Historically, whenever people in positions of authority try to regulate speech, they typically do so in ways that disproportionately affect politically marginalized groups,” he said. “We saw this in the fallout from the Charles Murray protest. The college reacted by clarifying their protest policies. Without passing judgment on the college’s effort, I will say that it is the predictable reaction by those in authority to the damage inflicted on free speech by that incident.
“I would worry that in their effort to protect free speech, the Trump administration may inadvertently weaken protections that are so vital if a liberal arts college is to engage in the free and unfettered exchange of ideas,” he added. “ It is far better, I think, to err on the side of protecting speech from regulation than to rely on the government to define it for us.”
Contradictions & Ambiguities
Others see the proposal as largely symbolic. Lata Nott, executive director of the First Amendment Center at the nonprofit Freedom Forum, told The Campus that she supports the idea of conservative and controversial figures speaking at universities, but sees Trump’s attempt to meddle in the affairs of private universities as an overreach.
Nott finds the proposal strange for a number of reasons. For one, the incident at UC Berkeley, which seemed to precipitate the announcement, involved two adults who were not affiliated with the university in question, which makes Nott wonder where the administration will draw the line.
“Would that mean that anyone who does anything on the university is held accountable?” Nott said. “At what point does the free speech penalty kick in?”
In his speech, Trump told Williams he should sue UC Berkeley for the incident. The public university was already the target of a 2018 lawsuit that alleged it discriminated against conservative speakers, which it settled. Part of the settlement required the school to adopt policies that would make it harder for students to shout down conservative speakers.
Nott also noted that sometimes, government efforts like this one end up injuring the very doctrines they aim to protect. Most recently, states with Republican-led legislatures, including Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia, have passed laws that would require universities to punish students for protesting on public college and university campuses, and other states are following suit.
But Nott argued that these laws are self-defeating because they they limit another manifestation of freedom of speech — the right to protest.
“I’m in support of speakers coming to campus, regardless of what their political stripe is or if they’re offensive,” Nott said. “But protest is also a First Amendment right. You can’t really pick and choose what you want.”
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The Middlebury women’s tennis team, now 2-0, continued their killer start to the season with a 9-0 sweep against No. 20 Brandeis (3-4) this past Saturday in the Nelson Recreation Center.
Once again, the Panthers showed no mercy as they started off the match by taking all three points during doubles play. The team dedicated an extensive portion of their training to honing in on doubles play during the fall and winter seasons, which proved effective on the court. No. 3 tandem of Maddi Stow ’21 and first-year Nora Dahl secured an 8-1 victory over Brandeis’ Sophia He and Ana Hatfield, while the junior duo of Katherine Hughes and Skylar Schossberger doubled the lead with an 8-2 win in the top spot against Olivia Leavitt and Lauren Bertsch. In the No. 2 position, the tandem of Heather Boehm ’20 and Ann Martin Skelly ’21 secured the Panthers’ 3-0 doubles lead with an 8-3 victory over Diana Dehterevich and Karen Khromchenko.
“The Brandeis team is very mentally strong and they will fight until the very last point is played, so we were very happy with how we responded to that challenge,” captain Christina Puccinelli ’19 said.
The Panthers were relentless in singles play as well. Puccinelli made the score 4-0 after she cruised past Khromchenko 6-2, 6-0 in the third spot. At the top of the lineup, Hughes posted a 6-3, 6-3 over Dehterevich, while Boehm triumphed 6-0, 6-3 over Leavitt in the second slot. Schossberger clinched a 6-1, 6-2 win over Bertch in the fourth slot, while Stow gave the Panthers an 8-0 advantage with a 6-1, 6-3 victory at No.5 over He. To top things off, Emily Bian ’21 completed the sweep at the sixth position after she clinched a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory against Hatfield.
“Over the next few weeks, we will be playing against some very strong teams and we can’t wait to see how we stack up against them,” Puccinelli said. “We have had a strong start to the season but there are still many more matches to play before the NCAA’s, so we’re all pretty confident that the best is yet to come.”
The sixth-ranked Panthers will return to the courts for their five-match marathon in California during their spring break trip. Competition will start at Cal State LA on Sunday, March 24 at 1 p.m. eastern. If the team continues to follow their current trajectory, the trip should give them the momentum to continue on their path towards winning the NCAA championship.
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The defending national champion Panthers in tennis remain undefeated after a home weekend during which they beat two ranked opponents in No. 10 Brandeis and No. 33 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Brandeis made an incredible jump from the mid-20’s in the national rankings after a win over 11th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer. They were the first to arrive at the Nelson Recreation Center to challenge the Panthers. First up were the doubles matches as captain Lubo Cuba ’19 and partner Nate Eazor ’21 secured an 8-6 victory to tally their ninth win as a duo for the year. Aleksander Samets ’20 and Andre Xiao ’21 teamed up to notch their 10th win together in a tight contest that took them to a tiebreak to win 8-7 (7-3). Last off the courts were Peter Martin ’19 and Alex Vanezis ’20 in a new doubles pairing that saw Martin grab his 11th doubles win of the year, completing the sweep for the Panthers and giving them a 3-0 lead going into singles play.
The lead certainly helped the Panthers, as they saw Brandeis secure three wins in the singles portion of the day. First-year Stanley Morris lost a straight-set contest playing up at the No. 2 as the team went without veteran standout Noah Farrell ’19. The defeat was just the second loss of the entire season for Morris. The Panthers, suffering from five of their players playing a spot higher than normal, saw Xiao lose at the No. 3 spot in an incredibly tight third set tiebreak to the Judges’ Adam Tzeng, a four-star recruit out of Eagle, Idaho.
Another Brandeis first-year shined at the No. 5 spot against Middlebury’s Eazor, as four-star recruit Jeffrey Chen cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 victory. However, the experienced Panther squad made the difference down the stretch. Cuba prevailed in a straight-set victory that pushed him to a tiebreak in the second set as he remains undefeated this spring.
Adam Guo ’21 continued his impressive campaign with his fourth straight win of the spring, bringing him to 11-4 overall, all coming from a player who rarely saw time in dual matches. He steamrolled over Brandeis’ Nikhil Das, 6-1, 6-2. Vanezis rounded out the scoring with an easy straight-set victory for his third win of the spring.
The next day would be a little bit different indeed as the Panthers went on to blank the Rensselaer Red Hawks. Bigger tests lie ahead as the Panthers fly out to California just after classes end for their annual spring break trip to California.
Notable competition for the Panthers’ trip includes Division I UC Irvine, who is 9-4 on the year, sitting atop the Big West conference standings. At the end of their trip they will face perhaps some of their most important opponents of the year in recurring west coast rivals No. 14 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
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The Middlebury baseball team (3-2, 0-0) improved its non-conference record to 3-2, after a three-win week facing Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on March 14 (3-4, 0-0) followed by a three-game series against Emory University (7-8, 0-0) on Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17.
Last Thursday, the Panthers showed up on the road against Rensselaer. They rallied for 11 late runs to ease past the Engineers despite a silent first two innings. The game ended up finishing early by the eighth inning because of darkness.
Middlebury blew the game open in the seventh inning, scoring seven runs on just six hits. The squad found 12 hits with five players rounding out the frame with two hits each: right fielder Justin Han ’20, center fielder Henry Strmecki ’21, third baseman Hayden Smith ’20, second baseman Andrew Gough ’22 and left fielder Sam Graf ’19. The team also totaled eight stolen bases.
In his first collegiate start, first-year pitcher Alex Rosario gave up just one run on no hits. Rosario lasted for three innings, and was followed by pitcher George Goldstein ’21 (1-0), who ultimately managed to pick up the win. Goldstein allowed one run on two hits over three innings.
The Panthers also closed out a three-game series against Emory in Atlanta. Middlebury, unaffected by the travel, opened up the fight with a doubleheader sweep, followed by a loss on Sunday. On Saturday, Middlebury totaled 26 runs over the two meetings, beating the Eagles 10-5 and 16-5.
According to pitcher Spencer Shores ’20, this week’s success came from the ability to capitalize on Rensselaer’s and Emory’s mistakes.
“We were able to steal bases and take advantage of walks and errors to score runs,” Shores said. “Our pitching was effective in throwing strikes and being aggressive at hitters, putting our pitchers in advantageous counts to get outs.”
Smith and shortstop Brooks Carroll ’20 led the team during the doubleheader with four runs and four RBIs respectively in each game, including a home run from Carroll. Sophomore pitcher Bobby Sullivan (1-0) managed to capture the win with three innings of relief. Sullivan’s performance limited the Eagles to no runs and just one hit with a pair of strikeouts.
On Sunday, the Panthers fell to the Eagles 8-2 after Emory jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning.
According to Shores, Middlebury gave up too many free opportunities in the field, pitching and hitting.
“Overall, the team played well but miscues in timely situations — whether that be walks, errors, or outs at bat — put us in a tough position to win the game,” Shores said. “Emory’s pitcher was also a very talented and was able to pitch effectively late into the game.”
This week has provided Middlebury with valuable on field experiences the team has lacked at home due to the icy Vermont weather.
“We have proven to ourselves our ability to compete against quality baseball teams,” Shores said. “Emory has gone to the College World Series three of the past five years. Our coaching staff and players have been able to better access what roles individuals need to fill for our success as the season continues.”
The Panthers return to the diamond for their Spring Break trip in Florida beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 23 for a doubleheader versus Lawrence University (1-5, 0-0). Middlebury will play a total of 10 games, including its first NESCAC matchup in a three-game series against Hamilton College (4-1, 0-0).
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