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(04/18/18 4:35pm)
Hannah Ross, Middlebury’s general counsel, and Dave Donahue ’91, special assistant to the president, delivered a presentation on the college’s governance structure last Thursday evening to an audience of seven. The talk was part of the “How Midd Works” initiative led by the Student Government Association and President Laurie L. Patton’s senior leadership group (SLG).
Donahue has worked at the college since 1997, serving as associate dean for library and information services, associate vice president of operations in college advancement and dean in student affairs before becoming special assistant to the president. Ross came to Middlebury in 2003 after representing Princeton University in litigation.
The presentation covered a variety of topics including the college’s position as a non-profit, the role of the Board of Trustees, college finances and future projects. The seven students who attended the talk included Community Council co-chair candidate Lynn Travnikova ’20 and SGA Chief of Staff Ish Alam ’18.
Thursday’s event was one of several action items in the “How Midd Works” initiative within the SGA’s and SLG’s Common Agenda. The Common Agenda was developed in an effort to improve the communications and relationship between students and the administration by giving students a better sense of how the college operates and by giving the administration a better sense of student needs.
Due to the small nature of the crowd, the session was uncommonly interactive, with Ross and Donahue taking questions from the students in attendance throughout the presentation.
After a student asked whether the college was building a dam, Ross and Donahue discussed a potential hydroelectric power project. The potential hydro power generator would be at the falls on Otter Creek.
“We are not building a dam,” responded Donahue, “We are exploring with an energy development company the possibility of a hydro project. The idea of taking advantage of a natural resource to have hydro be part of our energy footprint is pretty cool.”
“And fish friendly, that’s what’s very exciting,” Ross said.
Donahue then turned to the new temporary academic building that will be constructed behind Johnson Memorial Building.
“The building probably has a 35 to 50 year useful life. In the end, what got approved by the town is a permanent building,” Donahue said.
“If it works well and we’re all happy with how it’s functioning, it could be there for that long. It could also be moved and repurposed,” he said, explaining that most buildings are built with an intended lifespan of 100 years when they are part of the master plan, which this building is not.
“This building allows us to do a bunch of those projects,” Donahue said, referring to renovations of Warner, Munroe and Johnson, with the new building serving as an “academic swing space” for people to leave those buildings while they are renovated.
Ross and Donahue also provided an overview of the college’s management structure as a non-profit.
“It doesn’t have any kind of owners, shareholders, or investors. It’s not formed for some private interest and it can’t benefit private interest,” Ross said.
The President and Fellows of Middlebury College, the official name of all the Middlebury entities, is a 501(c)3 non-profit, meaning it is a public charity. “It’s a non-profit because it delivers a public benefit or a public service” Ross said, the public benefit or service in this case being higher education.
“Non-profit organizations have a mission that goes towards public benefit or public service,” she continued, adding that “any extra money goes back into that mission.”
Donahue explained that though the college cannot substantially support political causes due to its non-profit designation, “that doesn’t mean we don’t ever take interest in legislation or stake out a position,” he said.
The presentation then shifted to the role that trustees have in managing the college. Though there can be up to 35 trustees, there are only 33 at the moment. Trustees are chosen by a committee made up of 6 trustees, and can serve up to three five year terms. Trustee emeriti are trustees that have served for 15 years and are lifetime trustees, but do not have voting powers.
Being a trustee is a volunteer position, as trustees receive no compensation. The college president is the exception to this rule, and Donahue explained that Patton, as the president, is a voting member of the board.
Ross explained that trustees hold the “ultimate legal and fiduciary responsibilities,” meaning that they are required to act in the interest of others, which in this case means in the interest of Middlebury. “They have to be acting for the benefit of the students of Middlebury.”
This question of what is benefitting students has been raised recently in discussions around divestment.
“They [the trustees] need to make good decisions so that the non-profit can last a long time,” Ross said. “We have an endowment that is intended to allow us to do that forever.”
Ross went on to discuss how tax structure affects the College. “We are tax-exempt, which is an important form of government support, and we also get grants,” Ross said.
Donahue and Ross then addressed a student question: “How is the Middlebury operating budget affected by the recent tax bill that was passed? I know there was some discussion regarding taxation of endowments.”
“We just barely squeaked under that one,” said Ross. “We are still, along with other colleges, advocating that they reconsider this.” Ross said, however, that it is likely that “they will change the wording and increase the tax, and someday it will catch us.”
Donahue and Ross went on to describe Middlebury’s operating budget, which comes from three sources: tuition and fees, donations and the endowment, and government support.
Of the $270 million annual budget, Ross estimated that $50 million came from the endowment, $40 to 45 million from donations, and most of the remainder from tuition and fees.
“We model our budget on a six percent return on the endowment and a five percent spend,” Donahue said, “with the remaining one percent being spent as part of the operating budget.”
(04/18/18 4:30pm)
SGA RECOMMENDS AWARDING CREDIT FOR SUMMER INTERNSHIPS
The Student Government Association (SGA) unanimously passed a bill asking faculty to award academic credit for summer internships in their most recent meeting on Sunday. Junior senator Kailash Raj Pandey ’19 sponsored the bill.
Visit go/internshipsforcredit to view the full bill. The language remains to be finalized.
— Catherine Pollack
SPRING SYMPOSIUM
There will be no class on Friday to allow students to attend the twelfth annual Spring Symposium, where over 350 students will present their academic work in a wide array of academic disciplines.
Presenters represent all four classes, though the majority of presenters are seniors. Oral and poster presentations will be held in Bicentennial Hall, while art projects will be displayed in Johnson.
The day will begin with a welcome address by President Laurie L. Patton at 9 a.m. and conclude with a closing reception at 4:45 p.m.
— Elaine Velie
SGA EARTH DAY EVENT
The SGA Environmental Affairs Committee will host a “Cancel the Apocalypse” fair on Earth Day this Sunday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m in Wilson Hall in McCullough.
Student organizations from the college and local organizations from the Middlebury community will be stationed at tables to share the ways in which they are working to combat climate change. The Sunday Night Environmental Group, Otter Creek Audubon Society, Middlebury Energy Committee, and Middlebury Area Climate Economy Initiative are some of the groups that will be in attendance.
Several individual students will present the actions they’ve taken to protect the environment, including Leif Taranta ’20.5, who spearheaded the switch to reusable to-go containers.
Attendants will also be able to snack on Midd Cakes’ new granola bars.
— Elizabeth Sawyer
TEN O’CLOCK ROSS BACK
10 o’clock Ross reopened on Monday, April 16 after being suspended mid-March due to issues regarding cleanliness. It will run Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m for the rest of the semester.
When 10 o’clock Ross was initially suspended, the SGA called on students to treat both the dining hall and the staff tasked with cleaning it with greater respect.
SGA president Jin Sohn wrote, “the Ross Dining Hall Staff trusts the student body by allowing us to enjoy late-night snacks in the dining hall after hours and we have failed to step up to the task.”
In an email announcing 10 o’clock Ross’ return, Sohn again asked students to clean up after themselves, to notify monitors of liquid spills, not to tamper with the frozen yogurt machine, and to help the monitors and staff ensure it runs smoothly.
The Campus published an editorial on March 21 citing the suspension of 10 o’clock Ross as just one example of students mistreatment of the college staff.
The March suspension was not the first time 10 o’clock Ross had been suspended, as alcohol consumption during 10 o’clock Ross last winter led to similar consequences. But it will hopefully be the last as students act with greater consideration and respect.
— Catherine Pollack
TWO RUNNING FOR COMMUNITY COUNCIL CO-CHAIR
Two candidates are running to fill the position of co-chair of Community Council for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Lynn Claire Travnikova ’20 has served as a commons resident assistant and as the social chair of The Middlebury Bobolinks, an a cappella group. Her campaign website can be accessed at go.middlebury.edu/lynn4cc.
John Gosselin ’20 has served as Atwater senator in the SGA for the past year. He is currently a member of Community Council. His campaign website can be accessed at go.middlebury.edu/jgforcc.
Voting will take place from noon on Thursday, April 19 to noon on Friday, April 20 at go.middlebury.edu/vote.
(04/18/18 9:00am)
The women’s lacrosse team learned a valuable word this past weekend: grit. No. 8 Middlebury clawed its way back to a victory after being down by four goals to Nescac rival No. 11 Trinity twice on Saturday, April 14. The Panthers kept their home crowd on their toes in what made for an exciting, and at times too exciting, game ending with a 14–8 score in the host’s favor. And they bounced back from their first Nescac loss to Colby last weekend, when the Mules dominated the Panthers in at the beginning of both halves on their way to a 14–12 upset.
The back-and-forth affair was another storied matchup between two of the Nescac’s perennial powerhouses in women’s lacrosse, since the two programs have combined to win 13 of the 17 Nescac championships in conference history. Not coincidentally, Kate Livesay ’03 played on three of Middlebury’s eight championship teams, from 2001 to 2003, then coached Trinity to four of its five championship teams, before returning to Vermont to capture one at her alma mater in 2016 in her second year as the Panthers’ head coach.
“Trinity has been one of our rivals over the years, so this game has a special place in our hearts,” said Hayden Garrett ’20. “Kate Livesay came back to Middlebury after coaching at Trinity for a number of years, so there’s yet another thing fueling us to beat Trinity. This year’s sideline was the most enthusiastic sideline I have ever been a part of, and I know that being loud helps fuel everyone on the field. The momentum of goal after goal in the second half allowed us to keep pushing until we left the field with 10 unanswered goals.”
Trinity has had the slight edge in the previous five seasons of this matchup, taking five out of the eight games during that time, but Middlebury won the only matchup last season 10–9 in double overtime and avenged a regular season loss two years ago with wins in the Nescac and NCAA championship games.
The Panthers got off to a rocky start when the visitors quickly seized on the gaps in the Middlebury defense and put up four tallies in the first 10:01 of Saturday’s contest, claiming the foreign field as their own territory.
But there is a reason they play 60 minutes, not 10. Hollis Perticone ’18 fired up her teammates when she put her team on the board and got them back in the game mentally. Perticone had been out for three days of practice due to a virus, but a lack of stamina was nowhere to be seen on the field as she sparked the momentum shift for her teammates. Knowing that her games were numbered as a senior captain preparing to enter her final postseason, she would not let her sickness be an excuse for another Nescac defeat.
Kirsten Murphy ’21 continued her outstanding debut in the blue-and-white with her 15th goal of the season, and Trinity matched her goal to keep Middlebury at an arm’s length. Emily Barnard ’20 and Murphy ignored any obstacles Trinity placed in their way to bring Middlebury within one, which was as close as Middlebury got in the first half. Trinity scored once more in the first 30 minutes and led 6–4 at halftime. Before the game, Livesay certainly would not have been happy to trail by two at that point, but in that moment, she must have been thrilled after her team’s disastrous start.
The beginning of the second half reminded everyone at Kohn Field of the game’s first 10 minutes. Trinity scored the first two goals within the first nine minutes of action. But they began to relax too soon — far too soon.
Something switched in Middlebury’s mindset. It all started with Erin Nicholas ’21 scoring on a free-position shot almost midway through the second half. Murphy followed two minutes later to complete her hat trick, creating her own opportunity by breezing past multiple Trinity defenders. Perticone and Georgia Carroll ’18 then tied the score.
Less than four minutes earlier, Trinity led by four, but they would never lead again. Murphy notched her fourth goal of the game to take the lead three minutes later.
Then Perticone, looking more than healthy, assisted Casey O’Neill ’19 on her first goal of the game. Nicholas put home her ninth goal of the season to bring Middlebury ahead 11–8.
After a little more than six minutes without scoring, which seemed like an eternity after the Panthers’ scoring spree to take the lead, Middlebury’s second-leading scorer, Emma McDonagh ’19, scored her first of the game to extend the lead to four goals. Then Jenna McNicholas ’19 added insult to injury by scoring back-to-back goals in the last three minutes to cap off Middlebury’s remarkable turnaround. At the end of 60 minutes, the scoreboard read Middlebury 14, Trinity eight. And the Panthers’ comeback against their conference rivals was complete.
Middlebury’s win came without defender and two-time All-Nescac performer Evie Keating ’18, who sat out the game because of an injury. Emma Johns ’20 got some of the playing time in Keating’s absence and helped the Panthers clamp down on the Bantams in the second half.
“Evie is currently working through an SI joint injury that she sustained over spring break,” said Garrett. “Not having her on the field has been difficult, as we have had to readjust how we play our defense, but even though she is not presently on the field, her leadership is still so impactful on our team, and I know that she will be back on the field soon and it will be as if she were never injured.”
Julia Keith ’20 posted another strong start in the cage, making nine saves compared to Trinity’s four.
Not only did the win give Livesay and her team bragging rights over her former team, it also kept Middlebury ahead of Trinity in the Nescac standings. The Bantams fell to 5–3 and a fourth-place tie with Bowdoin in the conference, and Middlebury moved to 6–1, half a game behind Tufts and a game behind Amherst in the standings.
Middlebury will square off with No. 6 Tufts on their turf in Medford, Massachusetts, on Saturday, April 21, with an opportunity to leap the Jumbos and move into second place in the Nescac. In fact, the Panthers control their own destiny. If they win their last three games, they will win the Nescac regular-season championship because they beat first-place Amherst earlier this season. After their matchup against Tufts, Middlebury will host Hamilton on Sunday, April 22, in a rescheduled game from earlier this season, and then will travel to Williams on Wednesday, April 25 for the last game of the regular season.
(04/18/18 9:00am)
Both the men’s and women’s golf teams opened their spring seasons last weekend, April 14 to 15.
Over the course of two days, the men’s team competed at the Westport Hampton Inn Invitational, which was hosted by UMass Dartmouth at the Allendale Country Club. The Panthers tied for fourth overall with Husson University, after scoring a two-day total of 326. The winner of the event, Trinity College, scored 606. Other Nescac schools included Tufts and Amherst. Out of a field of 16 teams, Tufts 7th and Amherst placed 12th.
Reid Buzby ’19 led the Panthers in points, shooting 81 and 73 in the first and second rounds. With 154 points combined, Buzby was tied for fourth among all golfers in the Invitational.
For golfers Jeffrey Giguere ’20, Philippe Morin ’19, and Jordan Bessalel ’21, colder temperatures and increased wind speeds made it difficult to improve their scores in the second round.
Giguere started with a score of 75 on the first day, but shot an 80 on day two. Giguere eventually tied for 12th overall.
In his first action since spending the fall abroad, Morin tallied a 78 in his first round, but then struggled to finish with an 81 on day two. Bessalel, a first-year in his first collegiate spring action, started with 76, and then 83. Both tied for 32nd place. Sophomore David Packer ’20 shot a combined 163, finishing in 47th.
“Saturday ended up just being a grind, I did not have my A game and my mistakes were multiplied given the conditions,” said Morin. “Going forward, consistency is what I need to improve on. I know all of the courses in our upcoming schedule and it is just a matter of execution. I have been hitting the shots, just not at the level of consistency towards which I am aiming.”
The women’s team, meanwhile, played at the Vassar Invitational in Poughkeepsie, N.Y, at the Casperkill Golf Club. The invitational was shortened from two rounds to one due to unfavorable weather conditions.
The Panthers finished fourth overall after shooting a combined 329. Blake Yaccino ’20 led Middlebury by shooting an 80, which tied her for ninth on the individual scoreboard. Captains Hope Matthews ’18 and Katharine Fortin ’18 shot an 82 and an 83 respectively, putting them in 15th and 19th on the individual scoreboard. Rounding out the team scorers were Helen Dailey with 84, and Chloe Levins with 89. They were tied for 23rd and 39th. First-year Erika Nakagawa ’21 shot a 90.
Preparing for the Vassar Tournament proved to be a challenge. They were unable to go on a spring break trip this year, and thanks to weather conditions, the team was unable to spend much time practicing on the Ralph.
Fortunately, these setbacks weren’t just limited to the Panthers.
“All teams were in the same place coming into Vassar,” said Fortin, adding they had “little time spent on the course due to the winter weather.
“We hit indoors and practiced our short game until we could get on the course, play the fairways, and putt/chip on very slow greens. Compared to our course, Saturday’s greens were harder and faster, so a quick adjustment was necessary. We had no expectations going into the weekend as it would be our first full 18 holes this spring and we were ready to have fun and enjoy a beautiful day.”
Despite not finishing first, the Panthers are focused on succeeding in the future.
“In the last two tournaments of this spring, we are focusing on honing our short games and staying mentally positive,” Matthews said. “A lot of team conversation before tournaments involves staying focused and confident throughout the entirety of a round, which is really important to ensure each player performs at their best.”
“Spring goes by quickly in three weekends,” Fortin added. “Amherst is looking to have nice weather — knock on wood. We will be practicing indoors until Friday, so our biggest preparation will be reviewing our Saturday rounds and changing our mental games so as to not repeat any mistakes.”
(04/18/18 9:00am)
The Middlebury softball team swept a doubleheader last Friday, April 13, against Hamilton in a Nescac battle, as both games got called after the fifth inning by the mercy rule.
With the wins over Hamilton, the Panthers are back in the hunt for a conference tournament spot.
“Winning these two games against Hamilton was really important for our Nescac play,” senior Kati Daczkowski ’18 said. “Any time we get to compete against another Nescac team, it’s always intense.”
During the first game of the series, Middlebury blanked Hamilton 8–0.
In the first inning, Middlebury got three runners across the plate to take an early 3–0 lead, as a handful of players had a hand in the action.
Two Panthers were on base when senior captain Allison Quigley ’18’s double sent them home; after the initial two runs scored, a sacrifice fly by Kaylee Gumm ’21 finished off first-inning scoring.
“Our offense really proved strong against Hamilton. We were able to load the bases and get the hits to send them home. It was a total-team effort,” Daczkowski added.
The total-team effort continued into the second inning.
An Olivia Bravo ’20 triple and a sacrifice fly by Daczkowski put another two runs on the board for Middlebury. By the end of the second, the Panthers were up five against their competitor.
By the time the game reached the bottom of the fifth, the Panthers still led 5–0 and had Hamilton on the hook for a slaughter-rule finish.
Emily Morris ’21 took advantage of a wild pitch by stealing home to put Middlebury up 6–0. Another two Middlebury scores ended the game for Hamilton, as the Panthers won by an eight-run scoring rule.
Going into the second game of the double header, the Panthers used their confidence both in the field and in the batter’s box to come out with a second eight-run mercy rule finish, this time winning 10–2.
Unlike the first game of the doubleheader, Hamilton started off the scoring in the second game.
But Hamilton’s lead did not last for long, as the Panthers retook the lead in the second.
Melanie Mandell ’20 was driven in by a Kaylee Gumm d’19 double to put the Panthers on the board.
A string of Middlebury hits and runs scored made the score 5–1 in the third inning. By the end of the fourth, the Panthers added enough runs to be up by nine, 10–1. Even though Hamilton scored on a Middlebury error in the top of the fifth, the 10–2 finish was enough for the Continentals to plead mercy.
The Panthers have yet to play their third game against Hamilton, as the third game in the series was postponed due to weather. Next, the Panthers will look to beat another Nescac powerhouse, the Williams Ephs, on Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21.
(04/12/18 12:08am)
Following a two year-long search for additional rehearsal and storage space, the Town Hall Theater has announced its decision to buy The Diner property on Merchants Row. The Diner will continue its regular operations up until THT’s official purchase on June 1. Following this date, the Theater board plans to open a new business — food-related or otherwise — to fill the space until funds are raised to support their future goals of expansion.
“The key point we want to make to the community is we don’t want to shutter the building,” said Douglas Anderson, THT Executive Director and former member of Middlebury College’s theater faculty, in an interview with the Addison County Independent. “We think an empty storefront is bad for downtown. We are actively looking for anyone who has any idea of how to use the building, and we will entertain any idea.”
The Diner was placed on the market about six weeks ago. Its owners, Carl Roesch and Caetlin Harwood, were relieved at its quick purchase, as they had taken some significant financial hits during the town’s bridge construction last year. In late January, Carol’s Hungry Mind Café down the street similarly announced its impending closure as a result of the bridge project’s impact on recent sales.
However, Roesch and Harwood are glad that The Diner’s property will go to a neighbor. “Both Caetlin and I are extremely excited about the THT purchasing the property and expanding,” Roesch said to the Addison County Independent. “Doug has shared his vision with us, and we see it as something that will be great for the community.”
In the meantime, Roesch and Harwood are committed to maintaining The Diner until June 1. “We want to go out with a bang,” Roesch said.
Originally opened in the 1930s as Steve’s Park Diner, The Diner has long been a popular destination for Middlebury residents and College students alike. The breakfast and lunch spot is known for its milkshakes — “the best in town,” as The Diner claims on its website — and its creative daily specials. In particular, many students will miss The Diner’s iconic Nutella Stuffed French Toast.
“It’s pretty sad,” said Logan Wright ’19, of The Diner’s closing. “Every town needs a diner.”
Fortunately for Wright and other Diner regulars, Roesch and Harwood have confirmed with the Addison County Independent that they will be returning to Addison County further in the future with a “new ‘food-driven’ venture.” Additionally, THT Board President Deppman commented on the possible inclusion of an eatery in the theater’s future plans for The Diner space, as one might be beneficial for intermissions and conferences.
Located right next door to the Town Hall Theater, the purchased space at 66 Merchants Row could not be more ideal. The THT’s long-term plan is to remove the original diner building and construct an addition to the theater— “THT 2.0,” as Anderson calls it. This new building could extend back behind the Clinton Smith carriage house, as far as the diner property reaches, and would solve much of the theater’s trouble with space shortage.
The THT began searching for such a real estate opportunity two years ago, when the theater’s overflow became so great that the board formed a committee whose sole purpose was to find a second property to rent or buy. However, the THT has been dealing with a lack of space for much longer.
“It’s not commonly known, but we were short of space on the day we opened,” Anderson said in an interview with the Addison County Independent. “There is no storage. There is precious little office space. We don’t have a scene shop. We need a second rehearsal space. We’ve known all of this for quite some time.”
Two whole years passed without any luck for the THT committee, which Anderson jokingly blames on Middlebury’s “success” in sustaining businesses.
“There isn’t any leftover space,” Anderson said in the same interview. “What we wouldn’t have given for an abandoned factory or an empty schoolhouse. They just don’t exist.”
When The Diner appeared on the market six weeks ago, the THT board “didn’t even have to discuss it,” Anderson said. The property was exactly what they had been looking for.
Anderson noted that the THT’s plan for the property was indeed a “long-term” one. “It could be three, five or 10 years before we (a) figure out exactly what we need to move into the future, and (b) raise the money to fulfill whatever the dream is,” he said. Astonishingly though, the THT was able to raise the funds ($300,000) to purchase The Diner in just two weeks, thanks to the donations of about 15 generous community members.
“I think it says a lot about people’s desire to keep the arts in the community,” THT board President Benj Deppman said of the pledges in an interview with the Addison County Independent. “It also says a lot about Doug and the quality we put on the stage.”
Doug Anderson originally led the communal purchase of the THT building in 2000, when its previous owners, the Knights of Columbus, could no longer take on the great amount of repairs it needed. Anderson, a resident of Middlebury for 15 years, rallied a group of community members and organizations to support the purchase of the building, which eventually sold for $275,000. According to the THT website, some of the theater’s earliest support came from Middlebury College itself. Anderson reopened the space as a non-profit corporation, and has led the Town Hall Theater to where it is today.
(04/11/18 11:39pm)
Transitioning to college is not easy for anyone, and so one first-year has made it his mission to foster a strong community among the first-year class through sharing stories and photography. On any given day, John Schurer ’21 will attend classes, participate in various student organization meetings and collect the stories of his classmates for posting on his new initiative, MeetMidd. Taking the form of a website, Facebook and Instagram accounts, MeetMidd is a space for members of the Class of 2021 and 2021.5 to share anecdotes about themselves to a wider audience. Over the past few months, it has turned into an entity uniting the community and building relationships among others in the first-year class.
Schurer’s interest in photography started in middle school.
“For the longest time I’ve loved photography and I used to take photos of very typical subjects — things like sunsets, my friends, dogs,” he said. “It wasn’t until I started MeetMidd that I did profile photography, but once I started I almost couldn’t stop.”
He believes that profile photography enables him to combine his interests in photography and getting to know people.
“A photographer doesn’t take a photograph, a photographer makes a photograph,” Schurer said, saying that he aims to capture feelings through composing his subjects.
While he is new to profile photography, Schurer is no stranger to the world of communications, social media and publicity. He currently serves on a host of committees and participates in various extracurricular activities, including MCAB’s Traditions Committee, Wonnacott Commons Council and the SGA’s Publicity Committee, to name a few. Schurer is also one of two First-Year Senators for the Class of 2021, a producer for the Middlebury Moth-Up and the publicity coordinator for the Center for Community Engagement’s Page One Literacy Project.
“The more things I have going on, the more I feel grounded in a place,” he said.
Schurer started MeetMidd with the goal of giving students a chance to share their stories.
“I was inspired by a quote by Maya Angelou, and she once said that ‘there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you,’” he said.
He believes storytelling can be used as empowerment for ourselves and compassion for others. In addition, Schurer aims to capitalize on the intimacy of a small college campus where compassion for others is present.
“When you have a mutual foundation of compassion, respect and understanding, you’re more likely to create a natural dialogue about the issues that are facing the campus,” he said.
The MeetMidd process involves soliciting stories and photos from members of the first-year class. Schurer reaches out to his classmates with an online document asking them to share any anecdote about themselves, in addition to their hometown, commons, academic interests and other personal interests.
On the surface, it seems that MeetMidd has similarities to photographer Brandon Stanton’s “Humans of New York” project, which he started in 2010. However, Schurer clarifies some of the differences. New York City is a large city, and Middlebury’s small community enables its constituents to read a story on MeetMidd and potentially see the subject the next day.
“People are not only reading the posts, but they’re internalizing what they read and doing something about it,” Schurer said. In addition, Humans of New York is often comprised of extemporaneous stories, whereas MeetMidd features stories where the subjects have time to prepare.
Schurer believes that so far, his project has made first-years’ transition to college easier by making it easier to reach out to others and relate to them.
“I think it’s helped people realize that we’re not so different from one another, and it has led to new friendships,” he said. “When you read something about someone on MeetMidd, it undermines some of the preconceived notions that you’ve developed about a person. It helps you learn about them from their own voice.”
In the future, Schurer hopes to represent the entire Class of 2021 and 2021.5 by featuring all of its around 750 members on MeetMidd. He also hopes to expand a similar storytelling model to other aspects of the Middlebury campus, including the administration, faculty and staff.
“In that sense, I’m very excited for the future,” Schurer said, as he hopes to make it more than a first-year project. He also envisions working with different student groups to use similar methods to showcase various people in the community.
With many responsibilities on campus, one may wonder how Schurer balances his commitments.
“I only participate in what I love” he said. “I would never do something if it felt like a tremendous burden to me. If you love what you’re doing you always find a way to make it possible.”
Those wishing to keep up with the project can find @meetmidd on Facebook on Instagram and visit the website at meetmidd.weebly.com. Schurer would like to thank all the students who have participated so far and would also like to express gratitude to his supporters.
“It goes a long way,” he said.
Schurer believes that MeetMidd helps build a strong community at Middlebury through compassion, respect, understanding and kindness. He also thinks that his community building movement will help people realize that they are all imperfect and that is absolutely acceptable. Justifying that what Middlebury needs more than anything is a strong community, Schurer said “[his] intention is to begin with MeetMidd and show everyone why our community is worth fighting for.”
(04/11/18 9:51pm)
Growing up, I always wanted to be able to run long distances. I always wanted to be faster, more “in shape.” I thought my athleticism was defined by my ability to run, rather than how I competed in sports. I was led to believe that the kids able to run the longest distances were the best athletes. With this mindset, I felt behind on conditioning in comparison to my teammates. No matter how hard I practiced, how well I played or how often I ran, I felt defeated.
The constant disappointment led me to try winter track during my freshman year of high school, in order to get in shape for my spring lacrosse season. After a couple months of practice and a few meets, I was frustrated with my lack of progress. I struggled every practice and never felt that I was doing enough — I needed more.
In the midst of an athletic crisis, I made a promise to myself that I would take my anger out in the weight room. As runners dwindled after practice, I’d stay hours later, hitting the weights, working on explosiveness and power. It seemed to come naturally to me.
One night, my track coach approached me and acknowledged my presence in the weight room. He asked me to consider throwing shot put for the team, which would be a great opportunity to exhibit the strength and power I acquired in the weight room. I hesitantly agreed. Little did I know, it would change my life. As I started to throw, I realized my true talent rested in my strength.
I used to think the weight room was a characteristically male-dominated place. I imagined large, muscular boys “pumping iron” for hours on end, listening to hard rap music. I realized that wasn’t the case; I could bench to Taylor Swift or Broadway music without feeling out of place, without feeling judged. The weight room became my safe haven.
Many women are afraid of weightlifting. They don’t want to be bulky. They are scared of being called manly. Though our society is starting to warm up to the idea of the “strong woman,” it has not reached normalcy. Women are still afraid to be viewed in that light.
We’re born into the thought that being healthy is equivalent to being skinny. Healthy is relative. It has no shape or form. Yet, from a young age, our society defines health for us. It tells us that we have to look in the mirror and see a Barbie Doll figure staring back, or else we aren’t in the majority.
Society likes to define “health” and “fitness,” but every body is different. Every individual benefits from being active in different ways. I take pride in listening to my body, rather than forcing myself to be something I’m not. That’s what health is, not whatever society likes to tell us it is.
Throughout my life, I feared being strong. I was afraid to look in the mirror and see muscle; I did not want to be “manly.” I couldn’t help but feel like an outcast for being built differently. Once I started lifting, however, the term “in shape” no longer rang heavily in my ears. I found confidence in the fact that I didn’t need to run miles on end to feel good about myself. My definition of athleticism was not centered around running. I didn’t feel “manly”; I didn’t feel out of place. For the first time in my life, I felt healthy and fit.
Being a strong woman doesn’t scare me anymore; it makes me who I am.
(04/11/18 9:03pm)
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The women’s lacrosse team squared off with Nescac rival Colby on Saturday, April 7, on its home turf at Kohn Field. In a hard-fought battle, No. 15 Colby thwarted two Middlebury comeback attempts to defeat the No. 9 Panthers 14–12, handing them their first conference loss and knocking them out of first place in the standings.
Going into the contest on Saturday, the Panthers knew they were in for a battle, even though the Mules entered with a 1–4 Nescac mark. All four of Colby’s losses came by two goals or fewer.
The Panthers also knew Colby like the back of their hands after playing them three times last season. In 2017, they fell to the Mules in the regular season 9–6. Then, during the Nescac semifinals, they got another opportunity to topple the Mules. But they were unable to finish off any of their fast breaks past the Colby defense in a 10–9 loss.
These hard losses taught the Panthers some valuable lessons, and in the second round of the NCAA tournament, they sought revenge and ended the Mules’ season when Jenna McNicholas ’19 knocked in the game-winning goal in the final seconds to seal a 10–9 victory for the Panthers.
With these fresh memories in their minds, the Panthers and the Mules took the field on Saturday. And in the first 15 minutes of action, Colby proved they were much better than their record indicated, jumping out to a 4–0 lead before Middlebury even had a chance to blink.
Erin Nicholas ’21 got Middlebury on the scoreboard by hammering in a pass from MG Gately ’20. Her goal marked a momentum shift for the Panthers, as teammates Henley Hall ’19 and Kate Zecca ’20 followed her lead, slapping two more shots home.
With Middlebury inching its way back to a tie score, Colby increased its advantage to two when Kendall Smith scored on a free-position shot. Emily Barnard ’20 took the two-goal lead away when she found an opening and narrowed the score to 5–4. Both teams added an additional goal to their totals in the last two minutes of the first half, and Colby led 6–5 at the halfway point.
The hosts started the second period of play in a promising way. Barnard recorded her second goal of the day within seconds of the first whistle to knot the score. Despite mounting pressure in a tied conference game, the Mules passed through the usually impermeable Middlebury defense and knocked a shot past the Panther goalie a few minutes later. They continued to score four more unanswered goals to build the largest lead of Saturday’s game. Behind by five, Middlebury took a timeout.
“We knew that we were much better than the way that we were playing so we took a few timeouts to collect ourselves,” said Erin Nicholas ’21 afterwards. “We knew the deficit should not have been what it was.
The Panthers put their heads down and got to work, scoring six of the next seven goals. Kirsten Murphy ’21’s goal with 3:44 remaining tied the game at 12.
“We picked up our energy and our level of play, and built off each other’s momentum,” added Nicholas. “Once we got one goal, the others came a lot easier. It got more and more exciting with each goal. The home field advantage helped a lot with fans and family and playing on our home turf was definitely more comfortable.”
The crowd at Kohn Field came alive as the Panthers fought back into the game. Both teams had multiple opportunities, but it was Colby who capitalized on two of their quick breaks and found the back of the Middlebury net twice to earn a 14–12 victory.
The loss dropped Middlebury to 5–1 in the Nescac and 9–2 overall. Barring results from last night’s late games, the Panthers are in fourth place in the conference standings, behind No. 6 Tufts and No. 4 Amherst with Tufts standing alone at the top. Colby moved into a tie with Hamilton for seventh place in the standings, as both teams sit at 2–4.
Saturday’s game demonstrated just how much parity and competition there is in the Nescac this season.
“The conference is so competitive in the way that any team could win on any given day,” said Zecca. “Unfortunately, Saturday was not our day.”
Saturday’s game is just that, though — one game — and the Panthers know there is still a lot of season left.
“We know that we are the better team,” added Zecca. “It just comes down to putting our beliefs into action. We hope to see Colby again in the postseason so that we get another chance to prove our talent, drive, and desire to win. We don’t need to change our play to beat Colby. We just need to come out strong and play our game.”
One positive from Saturday’s game was the return of goalie Kate Furber ’19 from an injury that sidelined her for the first 10 games of the season. Furber started 24 games in her first two seasons in the blue-and-white and returned on Saturday to relieve Julia Keith ’20. Keith has started all 11 games this season and played admirably in Furber’s absence, with 65 saves for the Nescac’s top defense.
Middlebury’s situation at goalie is not unlike anywhere else on the field — full of depth and ready to withstand any injury that may occur.
“Losing any member of our team, whether they start or not, is always going to have a large impact on our team,” said Zecca. “Furber has worked tirelessly to recover as quickly as possible, but her support and encouragement this past season [have] impacted our game just as much as if she were healthy and playing. One of the most powerful things about our team this year is our depth. Any member of the team can step up and perform when needed, just as Keith, and many other players, have demonstrated so far.”
Despite the hard loss, the team hold their heads up high as they remember what happened the previous year after a harsh reminder of their vulnerability. The team is excited to hopefully face the Mules again in the Nescac tournament. Next up, the Panthers take on No. 8 Trinity on Kohn Field this Saturday, April 14, at 2 p.m., in another important conference matchup against head coach Kate Livesay ’03’s former team with the opportunity to leapfrog the Bantams in the standings.
More importantly, the game will provide another tough test for Middlebury, who needs to continue to improve after having some vulnerabilities exposed last Saturday.
(04/11/18 8:47pm)
Following a hard-fought, 4–3, midweek victory over Plattsburgh, the softball team took to the road to take on No. 17 Amherst (17–2, 5–0) for a three-game set last weekend.
The Panthers fell to the Mammoths on Saturday, April 7, by a final score of 9–4, and dropped both games of their doubleheader on Sunday, April 8, by scores of 3–0 and 7–2. After getting swept on the road, the Panthers stand at .500, 7–7, as they enter the heart of their schedule.
Though the Panthers had solid offensive and defensive efforts, the Mammoths’ pitching, led by 12.2 innings of Lorena Ukanwa and her 10–0 record, kept the Panthers from doing any meaningful damage.
Senior captain Kati Daczkowski ’18 hopes to look forward from the losses and work on facing the next competition, especially in Nescac play.
“We have to keep moving forward and improving our play,” Daczkowski said, “We’re looking forward to this week and new competition.”
The highlight of the week, and potentially the season so far, was the Panthers’ effort against Plattsburgh. On the road at Cardinal Park, on a cold Wednesday, April 4, afternoon, the Panthers used a total-team effort to come from behind and beat Plattsburgh.
The Middlebury captains’ preseason hope to use their small size to their advantage was validated, as every player had a hand in the victory against the Cardinals.
Emily Morris ’21 pitched a great game for the Panthers. On the mound, she recorded seven timely strikeouts to highlight a strong performance. Plattsburgh was only able to get four hits off of her.
The offensive side of the Panthers put in an all-team effort and a strong start. Early in the first inning, after an Allison Quigley ’18 single moved Olivia Bravo ’20 and Melanie Mandell ’20 to second and third, respectively, Taylor Gardner ’18 came up with the bases loaded. Gardner grounded into a would-be fielder’s choice, but an error by the Cardinals’ pitcher allowed her to reach safely as Bravo crossed the plate. With the bases still loaded, Lisa Tarr ’19 stepped up to the plate and struck out. However, a passed ball allowed Tarr to reach safely, and Mandell crossed the plate for the second run on an error in as many batters for the Panthers.
Heading into the fifth, the Panthers trailed the Cardinals 3–2 when, luckily for Middlebury, Bravo continued her stellar day, sending a two-out triple to center. Mandell then came up and hit what seemed to be an inning-ending grounder to the pitcher. However, for the second time in the game an error by the Cardinals’ pitcher extended the inning. A throwing error to first allowed Bravo to score and Mandell to reach base safety.
If things were not already wacky and exciting enough, the Panthers took back the lead in the sixth on a Plattsburgh wild pitch, which allowed Gardner to score what would be the game’s decisive run as the Panthers came out victorious, 4–3.
After some weather-pending midweek action — a doubleheader against Castleton — the Panthers are set to host Hamilton tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. for the first game of an important three-game set, with a doubleheader scheduled to start at noon on Saturday.
(04/04/18 2:11pm)
In 2011, a handful of students gathered in the basement of Ross to talk about what wasn’t being talked about on Middlebury’s campus. How did different experiences of race, class, gender, sexuality and ability impact the lives of Middlebury students? The students who organized this first JusTalks have graduated, but student organizers have kept the effort alive. JusTalks has looked different over the course of those seven years; it’s been incorporated into the First Year Seminars and been an optional weekend event. Two years ago student organizers started hanging posters, collecting signatures and meeting with administrators to make JusTalks into what it is now: a full-day event required for all first years. The event is student-led — those who facilitate the event spend their J-Term in class five hours a day, five days a week, learning to be facilitators, discussing what topics need to be addressed and how to make the experience as fruitful and engaging as possible for all the participants.
The first JusTalks weekend of 2018 took place during J-Term, with over 300 first years in attendance. This coming weekend, the 7th and 8th of April, is your last chance to go if you missed the J-Term sessions. For all the first years who haven’t gone yet: check your email. Find the date you were assigned. Come to ADK at 10:15 a.m. and get on the bus. Do your best to be present throughout the day. Maybe your friends who already went told you it was boring, or just totally sucked. But trust me: this is important.
At first, I wasn’t impressed by the idea of JusTalks. I’m a sophomore myself, and last J-term was a member of the first class to go to the mandatory full-day event at Breadloaf. By the end of the day I was exhausted. Conversations we had barely scratched the surface of the issues, and I was frustrated by the way my peers were tiptoeing around the questions at hand. After JusTalks I went home, took a long nap, and didn’t think much more of it.
But then in March, Charles Murray came, and the whole campus exploded. As first years, I know that you didn’t experience that firsthand. But you’ve seen the lingering impact — the graffiti on parent’s weekend, the emotional “community meetings” in Mead Chapel, the short tempers and strained conversations. And when JusTalks facilitator applications went out this September, I applied. Beyond orientation, there aren’t many universal, uniting experiences at Middlebury. First years live in different commons, take different first-year seminars and can eat in different dining halls. JusTalks is one of the only things here that all students participate in, and we’ve never needed a space to come together more than we do now.
For once, this isn’t some decree from high above, or professors lecturing at you. This event is mandatory because your fellow students have said it needs to be. The topics of conversation matter because they have been decided on by your peers, people who not only care deeply about this community, but belong to it. Speaking as a facilitator, I can tell you this: we’re not pushing some sort of liberal agenda on you. Ask anyone who went — this weekend is about conversations, not lecturing or right answers.
I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of criticisms: it’s too long, it’s too early, we’re not going to have solved anything by the end of the day, we’re not talking about the right things. Believe me when I say that no one is more aware of these shortcomings than the organizers and facilitators. But I hope you’ll make the same choice that we have: that it’s worth it to do the imperfect, incomplete thing. That it’s worth it to show up. We know that the one-day event is not a solution to all of Middlebury’s divisions and inequities. Rather, we hope that it can be the start of a longer conversation, which can continue in dining halls, dorm rooms and classes.
So yes, I’m telling you that you have to go to JusTalks. Not just because it’s mandatory, and not just because of that rumor you heard (which I will neither confirm nor deny) that if you don’t go you’ll get a bad room draw number. You have to go because you’re a member of this community, and your experiences and actions affect the experiences and lives of other students here.
I have a lot of homework this weekend, too. But I’ll be getting up early and facilitating all day because I genuinely think it’s better than nothing, and passionately believe we have to start somewhere. I hope I’ll see you there.
(04/04/18 9:00am)
“You can’t go against God. It’s tough to do,” said Dick Vitale, the beloved ESPN college basketball analyst, when he picked Loyola over Michigan in last Saturday’s Final Four matchup. Vitale was wrong. But only a little.
While Loyola couldn’t hang on to a second half lead against Michigan, Villanova shot the roof off of the Alamodome against KU and the Wolverines on their way to a second national title in three years.
Indeed, the Cinderella didn’t cut down the nets on Monday night, but several participants in our Go Pants! bracket challenge kept the underdog narrative alive.
Some might say the national championship game failed to offer a thrilling finish to a great tournament. But things were close in our bracket challenge. To determine the top spot in the standings, the ESPN computerized ranking had to revert to the tie breaker — points scored in the final. The beneficiary of that was Max Stamler ’19, who finished in a tie for first place with field hockey national champion and ace goal tender Abby Furdak ’21.
“I just chose randomly,” Stamler said of how he picked Villanova to win. Yes, Stamler was yet another participant who filled out a successful bracket with an “ah, what the hell” mentality.
“I don’t watch much college basketball other than Oregon,” Stamler said of his college basketball fandom. And anyone who follows the ski team roster page as closely as the sports section knows Oregon is Stamler’s home state. “I was disappointed they weren’t in it, especially because of how well they did last year when they made it to the Final Four.”
On his emotions throughout a championship game in which he had pride and a gift card on the line, Stamler said that he didn’t really know he was in line to win until minutes before the final started.
“Somebody told me I was in first before the game,” Stamler reported to us. “I thought that was really cool, especially because I took only five minutes to fill out my bracket.”
An underrated, but all-important, aspect of the final was the tie breaking final score procedure. Had Michigan made a few more shots, Abby Furdak would have come out on top. But it wasn’t meant to be for Furdak.
“There should have been another way it was decided,” Furdak joked when we called to congratulate her after Villanova had cut down the nets. “I don’t watch at all during regular season, but I love March Madness,” said Furdak, the co-first place finisher.
“I made picks based off of past March Madnesses,” Furdak said. “A reason I picked Villanova was because the day I made my picks I happened to walk in and see an interview with the Villanova coach [Jay Wright] and one of their star players [Jalen Brunson].
“I also remember their winning shot two years ago against North Carolina,” Furdak said. “That was awesome.”
When asked if Jay Wright’s excellently put together suits were a factor in her decision, Furdak was the only interviewee who wasn’t completely thrown off by the question.
“I actually didn’t know at all when I made my picks about his suits,” Furdak said, adding without a hitch, “definitely a plus.”
As highlighted before, Furdak might have walked away with the top Amazon gift card had Michigan been able to hit a few of the layups that clanked off the rim or were rejected into the first row. Nevertheless, Stamler’s less-than-kosher prediction of a 69–69 final score got him the top prize.
Albeit only for a few hours, from Michigan’s comeback to Nova’s dismantling of Bill Self’s hapless bunch, Aaron Low ’18 was in first place. Low’s time at the top of the standings was improbable — he almost didn’t enter a bracket because he knew nothing about college basketball.
“Maybe I was just doing my friend a favor,” Low said when asked what led him to enter a bracket into the Go Pants! bracket challenge despite his initial hesitation. And maybe, Low was nagged into submission by one of the sports editors. The world may never know.
Like so many others who finished at the top of our pool, Low filled out his bracket with minimal context.
“I didn’t know much,” Low said about his strategy. “I guess I mainly went with seedings and mostly went with higher seeds unless instructed otherwise.”
Even more so than Renton, Low hadn’t seen more than a cumulative game of basketball in his life. While Villanova’s win pushed Low and many others off of the first page of the rankings, he enjoyed the excitement no less than the next guy.
“Oh, I loved it!” was the way Low described what he thought of the tournament. “I think I’ve watched maybe one game before. I ended up watching a couple. And I watched Michigan beat Houston in the final second. And I listened to Michigan comeback against Loyola on the car ride back with a friend from Chicago to Middlebury last Saturday.”
Toward the other end of the spectrum of college basketball awareness were people like head editor of the newspaper you’re reading right now, Ethan Brady ’18. Brady knew all along who would be cutting down the nets on Monday night.
“I’ve always liked Nova,” Brady said. “They won two years ago in one of the best championships I’ve ever seen. Maybe one of the best college basketball championship finishes ever. I just had a gut feeling they’d win again.”
Brady also picked Michigan to go to the title game as well.
“I picked Michigan to go far because it felt like their year and they were on a hot streak,” Brady said. “I picked UVA in the Final Four, but so did a lot of people. I didn’t see that one coming.”
Following the pattern that we’ve talked about ad nauseam these last few weeks, add Brady to the list of those who didn’t follow the action that closely this year but whose bracket still rose to the top. In terms of the exact amount of college basketball Brady had seen prior to the tournament, he answered firmly: “Zero.”
“I mean, I’m familiar with basketball,” Brady said. “I know which programs are good and I was cautious with the upsets I picked. I only picked upsets when I felt comfortable with the program. I also tried to figure out where teams were poorly seeded and made my picks accordingly.”
One aspect of Brady’s bracket that post-tournament bracketologists will note is that he picked a disproportionate number of teams from Texas to advance.
“I have a soft spot for Texas teams,” Brady said. And that soft spot paid off at times.
“That’s why I picked [correctly, we might add] Texas Tech to go to the Elite Eight,” Brady explained.
However, when asked why he didn’t pick Texas A&M over North Carolina, Brady demurred.
“That was my one failure in this bracket,” he said. “I don’t know why I doubted them. I was thinking too rationally. Or not rationally enough.”
Benjy Renton ’21 was the unlikely leader in the clubhouse at numerous times during the tournament’s first weekend. Renton entered the championship game tied for eighth and with a shot at finishing in the top five. Unlike Low, who was going to enter a bracket because of persistent badgering, Renton was a few minutes away from not even entering a bracket at all.
“I was genuinely surprised at how well my bracket faired,” said Renton, who’s not letting the modicum of minor fame his bracket’s success has brought him get to his head. “I thought autofill was a poor strategy. But it turns out it worked to an extent.”
Renton and Low embody one of the things we hoped to accomplish with the student body wide bracket challenge. He went from almost not filling out a bracket, to excitedly watching as Jay Wright’s bunch cut down the nets on Monday.
“I guess it’s kind of cool,” Renton said. “I remember one of the most emotional games was the one where Kansas beat Duke. I was watching it in a hotel room in South Carolina and it was quite a miracle when they won.”
Renton and the folks who picked Villanova to win it all watched and listened to Monday night’s thumping of Michigan with excitement and glee.
In the first rendition of the bracket challenge article, we addressed how there appeared to be a correlation between being clueless about college basketball and being at the top of the Go Pants! standings. However, it seemed there was equal opportunity bad luck as well. Ben Yamron ’21 is one example. Despite finishing dead last in the bracket challenge, Yamron was a good sport and talked to us about his reflections on the tournament.
Yamron actually managed to correctly predict that a 16 seed would pull off an upset over a one. Unfortunately for Yamron, he picked No. 16 Radford over national champion Villanova and No. 16 Penn over Final Four participant KU.
Asked about his thoughts on why he picked two 16-seeds to beat 1-seeds, Yamron said “I just wanted to see something amazing happen.” He then paused before saying, “Didn’t pan out.”
To be fair to Yamron, he “didn’t know that a 16 has never beaten a one seed.” Like so many others who don’t religiously follow college basketball, Yamron said he considered using the autofill button to assist with his picks.
Apparently, some of Yamron’s fellow swimmers took advantage of the autofill option, especially in earlier, closely seeded games.
“I don’t follow too much college,” Yamron said. “I played all through my childhood so I thought I knew all the ins and outs and it wouldn’t be that hard to predict. I guess I got a little cocky.
“Just randomly, I think I could’ve done better. Odds are if you picked randomly you would have done better than me.”
Some may look at the fact that their brackets, like Yamron’s, were total busts. In the case of the first-year at the bottom of our bracket challenge, only two — just two! — teams he picked to go to the Sweet 16 were still alive. None of the teams he picked for the Elite Eight were still kicking. But down here where the sports section is relegated to the back corner of the newspaper room of Hepburn basement, we think that Yamron’s feat is almost as impressive as picking 14 of the 16 Sweet 16 participants correctly.
“I mean,” Yamron began when we speculated about how impressive it is to finish in the bottom percentile of the 17 million people who filled out a bracket, “it’s not easy to do what I did. I guess you could say there’s a talent to it depending on how you spin it.”
Well, that’s all folks. Thanks for playing in the first annual Go Pants! bracket challenge. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we did.
(04/04/18 9:00am)
Last season, the women’s lacrosse team’s season ended with an 8–4 loss in the NCAA regional final to The College of New Jersey. So when the Panthers faced the Lions on Tuesday, March 27, they sought revenge, but revenge they could not yet get. The Panthers fell to No. 3 TCNJ 10–6 for their first loss of the season.
Even with their loss to TCNJ, Middlebury (9–1) went 3–1 over spring break and stayed undefeated in the Nescac (5–0) by beating No. 18 Bowdoin 14–4 and No. 6 Amherst 11–9, the second-highest ranked Nescac team in the IWLCA Coaches poll. The Panthers also added a victory over Union in midweek play this past Tuesday by a final score of 16–4.
On the first Saturday of spring break, March 24, the Panthers dismantled No. 18 Bowdoin 14–4 on Kohn Field. A balanced attack led Middlebury to victory as 11 different Panthers scored. Kirsten Murphy ’21 continued her excellent debut season by assisting on five goals, a category she leads Middlebury in with 14.
And once more the Middlebury defense dominated, allowing only four goals on 17 shots. Through 10 games, Middlebury’s opponents have scored 4.8 goals per game, the lowest average in the Nescac by almost two goals.
But after winning each of its previous four games by at least 10 goals, Middlebury came crashing back down to earth at TCNJ on Tuesday, March 27. Tied at three at halftime, the Lions outscored the visiting Panthers 7–3 in the second half to secure a 10–6 victory.
Middlebury surrendered more than five goals for the first time this season and scored a season-low six goals.
“Our loss to TCNJ on Tuesday taught us a valuable lesson,” said team captain Georgia Carroll ’18. “Our team has high standards for our play, and if we talk the talk, we have to walk the walk. The Middlebury team that showed up against TCNJ didn’t deserve to win, and we are grateful to have faced competition that held us accountable for our mistakes.”
Middlebury rebounded two days later, when the Panthers defeated Montclair St. 15–7 in their second and final game in New Jersey over the break — their 15 goals tied a season-high. The reigning Nescac Player of the Year, Hollis Perticone ’18, led another balanced offensive effort with three goals. Nine other Panthers got in on the scoring as well.
In their biggest game of the Nescac season thus far, Middlebury fell behind Amherst 2–0 in the first three minutes of last Saturday’s, March 31, game at Kohn Field. Not to be deterred, the Panthers responded with two goals of their own in the next three minutes from Emily Barnard ’20 and Carroll to knot the game at two just 5:17 into the contest.
After Amherst took a 3–2 lead, the Panthers rattled off five of the next six goals and never trailed again, taking a 7–5 lead into the half.
In the second half, the teams traded goals. Every time the Panthers scored, the Mammoths answered back but could never get any closer than two goals. Middlebury earned an 11–9 win, toppling previously-undefeated Amherst to stay undefeated in the Nescac. The Panthers are one of two undefeated teams remaining in conference play, along with Tufts, whom they will play on the last Saturday of the regular season, April 21.
On Tuesday, April 3, Middlebury beat Union 16–4 in its last non-conference game of the regular season, as 11 Panthers scored goals.
Middlebury will play its second game of its current four-game home stretch when it faces No. 21 Colby at Kohn this Saturday, April 7, at noon. The Mules will enter with a 1–4 Nescac record, but each of their four losses have come by one or two goals. They lost to Amherst by one goal and to Tufts by two goals.
Last season, Colby beat Middlebury twice, in the regular season and in the Nescac semifinals, before the Panthers avenged their losses with a 10–9 win in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Colby’s home turf.
As always, the Panthers have to get up for every game in the Nescac, one of the toughest conferences in DIII women’s lacrosse. Right now, eight of the conference’s 11 teams are ranked in the top 25, including four in the top 10. Even as the Panthers stand at the top of the conference currently, they realize that could change in a second if they fail to play up to their ability.
“We try not to think too much about the standings,” Carroll said. “It’s always anyone’s game, especially in the Nescac.”
As the TCNJ game taught the Panthers, they cannot just show up if they expect to beat the best teams in the nation. Of course, the team has demonstrated it can beat really good teams, even dominate them at times — look no further than their win against No. 6 Amherst and blowouts of No. 18 Bowdoin and No. 14 Wesleyan.
With four ranked opponents still on the horizon in the regular season, the Panthers have an opportunity to prove they belong in the conversation for a national title, improve upon the weaknesses revealed over spring break, and earn the top seed in the Nescac playoffs for the second straight season.
(04/04/18 9:00am)
The Panther softball team entered their season as a small, close-knit team looking to win. Throughout their training trip over spring break, the squad hit the field and successfully put a few wins under their belts. After a promising 6–4 spring break trip, the Panthers are excited for the season ahead.
Middlebury started off strong, winning their first two games against Allegheny and Thomas College in Clermont, Florida, to open the season. Both games were characterized by valiant effort from the Panthers. The opener against Allegheny was a back-and-forth affair until the seventh inning, when Liza Tarr ’19’s double sent senior captain Allison Quigley ’18 home, sealing the team’s first win of the season in walk-off fashion, 4–3.
In their second game, the Panthers showed their resilience, which will be key for future success throughout the season, especially given their small roster. Down 5–0 entering the bottom of the seventh, Middlebury came back, guns blazing, to win.
The Panthers cut into the deficit in the bottom of the seventh, where a four-run inning got them squarely back into the game. Their efforts were spearheaded by a pair of first-years, Emily Moore ’21 and Kaylee Gumm ’21. Moore had a 2-RBI triple down the left-field line that brought in Tarr and Taylor Gardner ’18, and then Gumm brought Moore home with a two-run blast to center, making the score 5–4. In the fifth inning the Panthers added four more runs behind a pair of doubles from Tarr and Kati Daczkowski ’18.
Senior captain Gardner put the squad on her back at times during the first two games. Her sacrifice bunt against Allegheny enabled the Panthers to eke out a win, while she went 2-for-3 with a double against Thomas. The captain believes the team’s early success will be important for the season ahead.
“We had great team chemistry and determination to win. We competed against really good teams, which will be awesome going into our Nescac weekends,” Gardner said.
A series of wins and losses came after the first two games. Some highlights included a huge win over Juniata College, where the Panthers came out on top, 6–3. The game emphasized the Panthers’ strength at the plate. Gardner, Tarr, Daczkowski and Emily Moore ’21 each had a hand in the Panthers’ offensive success.
In addition to the Panthers’ offense, Quigley and first-year Emily Morris ’21 had key pitching efforts for the squad. Though the Panthers saw success offensively in the earlier games, the team is hoping to work on execution to assist their dominant defense, led by Quigley’s and Morris’s presence on the rubber.
“Our pitchers and catchers worked really well together,” captain Ali Della Volpe ’18 said. “We need to execute our offense earlier on in games, and especially when we have runners on base.”
Though the Panthers fell to four teams throughout the break, they held strong performances on the field and in the batting cage. Their six wins against Allegheny, Thomas, Juniata, Mount Mary, Buffalo State, and D’Youville showed the strength of the Panther squad. After this trip, the team knows what it needs to do to win.
“We remained really cohesive throughout [the games] and were resilient against tougher teams,” Daczkowski said. “We have a lot of people in new positions, so we just need to work out the kinks by Nescac play.”
The next thing the team is looking forward to, Daczkowski said, is “winning.”
The captains are excited for what lies ahead. The team’s games in Florida were a testament to the next step in the season, and the squad is looking past their losses and working to ensure a successful season.
“Our team was disappointed that we did not walk away with a few more wins, but we learned that we can definitely compete with any team,” Della Volpe said. “We saw what our group can do this year, and we feel confident going into Nescac play.”
After a midweek doubleheader yesterday, Wednesday, April 3, at Plattsburgh, the Panthers will be back in action starting tomorrow in Amherst, Massachusetts, where they will start a three-game series with the 12th-ranked Mammoths.
(03/22/18 1:42am)
MIDDLEBURY — Last Wednesday morning in New York City, students laid down in the streets. In Washington, D.C., they congregated on Capitol Hill. In Middlebury, high schoolers from Middlebury Union High School (MUHS) braved the snow on the Cross Street Bridge to protest gun violence alongside thousands of their peers from across the country. The MUHS students, joined on the bridge by teachers, community members, faculty and students from the college, stood in silence for 17 minutes to honor the 17 people who were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School in Parkland, Fl. last month.
The organizers of the event, which took place on March 14, sought to both commemorate the lives lost in Parkland and demand stricter gun control laws from state and national legislators. Theo Wells-Spackman, a sophomore at MUHS, spoke to the dual nature of the protest at the event.
“Those 17 minutes of silence were to remember the lives lost in Parkland, and to all the families who lost students there, our hearts are with you,” he said into a megaphone. “But we’re also here to demand change. Something has to happen in government. What is there right now is not enough.”
While high schoolers elsewhere walked out of their classes to protest gun violence, students at MUHS woke up Wednesday morning to a snow day. Although the weather made it difficult for some students to attend the event, both sides of the bridge were almost completely covered with protesters by 10 a.m. Many carried signs and chanted slogans such as “We want change” and “No more silence, end gun violence.”
Although there was no physical walkout at the March 14 protest, over 100 student demonstrators, determined to practice their acts of civil disobedience, stepped out of their classes and observed 17 minutes of silence the following Monday, March 19. After the moments of silence, 17 students read short bios for each of the victims.
“Just getting up and leaving class is typically something we would never do, at least I would never do, and it just shows how serious I am about it” said MUHS junior Marina Herren-Lage, who helped organize the protest. “I think to a lot of the teachers at our school recognize that the students who are participating in this are typically very good students, so if we’re leaving and we’re showing them that this matters enough to us, than I think that will just get our message across in a more powerful way.”
The protests in Middlebury and around the U.S. were organized in response to the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, in which a former student shot and killed 14 students and three staff members and injured 17 others using an AR-15 style rifle. This type of rifle has been used in five of the six deadliest mass shootings of the past six years.
In the wake of the shooting, around 20 students from MSD, the Florida high school, formed a gun control advocacy organization called Never Again MSD. The group has lobbied U.S. lawmakers to take tougher stances on gun control measures and has publicly criticized high-profile legislators, like Florida senator Marco Rubio, who have accepted donations from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
MUHS sophomore Sabina Ward, who helped plan the protest, said that she drew inspiration from the Parkland survivors.
“I think the fact that the Parkland students haven’t let people forget about them and are really really fighting and pushing has completely changed the game, because it’s obviously inspired students across the country and really taught us that we can use our voices and we can make change if we’re dedicated enough,” she said.
Ward also noted that she was influenced by the 2016 Pulse massacre in Orlando, in which a shooter opened fire in a gay nightclub and killed 49 people.
“I was in middle school when that happened and had just come out to my family and friends,” she said. “To have that happen just days after, that is the moment when I realized that I might not be safe being who I am as a person, and now I’m not safe being who I am as a student.”
On March 7, MUHS principal William D. Lawson emailed students expressing his support for the protests.
“I write to let you know that I share and support the goals of the many students and others who are voicing their urgent concern with school safety and the unfortunate incidents of gun-related violence that have plagued our schools across the country,” he wrote, adding that students would not face consequences for missing class for the walkout but would require parental permission for the march to the bridge.
“Immediately after the Florida school shooting, students in school were sharing/voicing their anxiety around the issue of school violence and safety,” Lawson said in an interview with The Campus. “I felt that it was important for them to give voice to their concerns and to take some reasonable actions that might serve to improve the current conditions. Psychologists tell us that these actions will help students re-balance their anxiety by giving them a sense of control.”
Ward said that the email got mixed responses at MUHS.
“We were really hoping to make a statement with leaving class, without permission,” she said. “A lot of us thought sure, it would be nice to not get detention, but at the same time, the civil disobedience part of it has kind of been taken away from our hands.”
The email came nearly two weeks after Vermont Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe sent out a memorandum asking superintendents not to encourage protests that would disrupt classes or pose safety threats to students leaving school without permission. Lawson noted that he coordinated with local police officers to ensure students’ security for the protest in town.
The assemblage of college students and faculty that joined the high schoolers on the bridge was in part led by Julian Gerson ’18, co-founder and president of Middlebury Students Against Gun Violence (MSAGV). Gerson and Cooper Babbitt ’18.5 founded MSAGV after the Parkland shooting and have been holding weekly meetings since.
Gerson created a Facebook event to advertise the protest and was aided by the SGA, which sent out a school-wide email about the event the day prior. Gerson also gratefully noted that there was support for the protest from many professors, who permitted and encouraged their students to miss class to attend.
Gerson said it was important to him to show solidarity with the MUHS protestors.
“I think it takes a lot of bravery and a lot of vulnerability to be a 17 year old organizing this big thing and I just wanted to make sure they had people there, supporting them, and that they knew this was a cause that a lot of people had their backs on,” he said.
“It was so powerful to see all of the college students there,” said Herren-Lage. “It was really wonderful to be able to combine forces and do it as one group because I think that’s really the point of this movement.”
Going forward, MSAGV will focus its efforts mainly on carrying out on-campus advocacy work and influencing gun control legislation.
Despite the impressive turnout and support from the school, MUHS senior and protest organizer Andrea Boe noted that the event was not unanimously supported.
“We have a pretty split community where there are a lot of very liberal people, but there’s also a big enough community who are very protective of their gun rights and the second amendment,” she said. “So I think we definitely had a huge community that was for the protests but also a smaller and slightly quieter community that was not.”
Vermont has a complicated history with gun control. Although a blue state in many respects, it has some of the laxest gun laws in the country. The dangers of these weak laws became apparent when last month, just days after the Parkland shooting, officials from Rutland County thwarted the plans of an 18-year-old from Poultney, Vt. who intended to shoot up Fair Haven Union High School in Fair Haven, Vt. The boy was preparing to buy a 9 mm Glock and an AR-15, both which he would have legally been able to purchase. He had planned to carry out the shooting Mar. 14.
The obstructed Fair Haven shooting proved influential within Vermont politics. Vt. Governor Phil Scott, a Republican and once-fervent opponent to gun control laws, has begun pursuing limitations on gun ownership as a result.
“I have thought for quite some time that Vermont was immune to this type of thing,” Scott said in Montpelier the week after the shooting.
Herren-Lage, whose father worked at Fair Haven high school until this year, talked of a similar feeling of immunity.
“I have friends that have always said, ‘Oh, it will never happen to us,’ but we really can never say that,” she said. “It’s genuinely terrifying to walk into school everyday and see all my friends and not necessarily know if I’m going to see them again.”
Lawson echoed her sentiments. “I have to say that there is not a morning that I don’t get up thinking about the bad possibilities that could happen to my students, colleagues or frankly to myself,” he said.
(03/21/18 10:43pm)
In an op-ed published in last week’s edition of The Campus, Professor Noah Graham discussed the massive paychecks allotted to top administrators at the college. During the 2015–2016 fiscal year, these included numbers like $482,773 for the Monterey President/Special Advisor for Initiatives and $458,932 for the Vice President for Finance and Treasurer. A commenter on Graham’s op-ed wrote that they were “embarrassed, infuriated, and pained by this information. Everyone knows that Middlebury College is not a beacon of equity and inclusion, but I did not realize that the situation was this dire — that our own administrators were perpetuating the income gap that I am sure they speak frequently of closing.” Truly appalling, however, is the stark contrast posed by a comparison of these paychecks to those on a spreadsheet of Middlebury staff pay ranges, where some yearly salaries amount to as little as $22,165.00. (It should be acknowledged that some staff work part time, thereby lowering this number.) Such inequality, while extremely pronounced, is not surprising; income inequality exists across the U.S., and the Middlebury College community is no exception. At the same time, Middlebury compares itself to 21 institutions — NESCAC and other liberal arts colleges — and finds itself among the upper echelon for exempt (salaried) workers, but just above the median for non-exempt (hourly) workers.
The workers who belong to the latter category form the vanguard of day-to-day staff interaction with students at Middlebury College, and wage inequality is just one injustice they face: we are all aware that the students with whom the dining hall and custodial staff interact on a daily basis behave disrespectfully and embarrassingly towards these workers. As a board, we would like to call for the improved treatment of Middlebury’s wage-earning staff on the part of both the administration and the student body. The administration, on its part, should increase non-exempt workers’ abysmally low wages. We as students can, and must, elevate our behavior in dining halls, dorms and other campus spaces from that of children to that of the college-age adults we are.
A recent example of student misconduct came last week when the SGA sent out an email announcing the suspension of 10 o’clock Ross. The email identified issues with “cleanliness, including ice cream spills, dirty dishes, and general disarray.” The email went on to point out how “the Ross Dining Hall Staff trusts the student body by allowing us to enjoy late-night snacks in the dining hall after hours and we have failed to step up to the task.” This is not the first cancellation of 10 o’clock Ross: last year, the discovery of beer bottles and other uncleanliness led to a similar suspension.
Students’ behavior indicates a severe lack of consideration for our staff, which manifests weeknight after weeknight. We are better than this; dining hall staff should under no circumstances be called upon to clean up childlike messes made by adult students. It’s hard to blame Ross Dining Hall for a suspension that seems so fitting; students are acting like elementary school kids, and as a result are having their ice cream and sugared cereal privileges taken away.
A similar pattern of thoughtlessness occurs in dorms. The custodial staff routinely has to deal with problems beyond what should be reasonably expected of them. Among these are dirty dishes, left out in the hallway by students too lazy to return them to their rightful dining hall. An email to residents of Coffrin Hall called for improved student behavior in light of beer cans being left in hallways, signs being ripped off of doors and vomit in bathrooms. On a floor in Milliken Hall, a custodial staff member has taken to leaving notes, often humorous in nature, in an attempt to make students realize that their actions have tangible consequences. “My mother works with disabled elementary school kids,” reads a note above the hall garbage cans, “and even they know how to recycle.” This indicates that the normal systems of response — which consists largely of hall-wide emails sent out by RAs — are not enough to keep students mindful of staff. Whether it be food fights in Ross, people drunkenly leaving behind their plates on St. Patrick’s Day or students leaving dirty dishes in hallways, students constantly act in ways that make the lives of staff members more unpleasant.
Another example of this lack of respect has arisen with the new swipe system implemented in dining halls. Students interact with dining hall workers every time they get a meal, swiping in inches away from a seated staff member. “If people forget their card, they get pretty upset with me,” says a worker at Ross who is responsible for overseeing the new swipe system. “I don’t make the rules, I’m just following them.”
Overall, the significance of students’ lack of consideration for staff cannot be overstated. Staff are working diligently to perform duties beyond the scope of their responsibilities while receiving inadequate compensation for the duties within their job descriptions. We are not arguing that paying non-exempt workers more would justify current student treatment towards them — regardless of income level, this treatment is unacceptable. Paying them more would, however, demonstrate that the Middlebury community values them and their jobs.
The President of Kentucky State University set a glowing precedent in 2014, taking a $90,000 pay cut and distributing it among the university’s lowest income employees. As a result, 24 employees salaries raised from $7.25 to $10.25 per hour, representing a huge increase in yearly earnings. “This is not a gift,” said President Burse, “it’s an investment.” We are not asking for anyone at Middlebury to take a pay cut, as such band-aid action does not challenge or alter systemic issues at the root of wage inequality. However, the ethos of Burse’s action applies; by treating staff with financial respect and care, we invest in the school the same way we do when paying out large “stay bonuses” to various administrators. Middlebury’s administration should apply this same ethos in considering future pay rates for non-exempt employees.
While profound disparities in Middlebury’s pay scale staff are beyond students’ ability to change, treatment of staff remains very much within student control. This means recycling, so that custodial staff do not have to do it for us. This means returning our own dirty dishes to the dining hall when we’ve finished our most recent unlimited meal. And it means recognizing that the staff are not in charge of systems like swipe-ins, however personally irritating we might find them. We as students may not be able to increase paychecks, but we can at least try to account for the difference in basic human decency.
(03/21/18 10:42pm)
As faculty members who helped to spread the word about the Mar. 14 school walkout led by students from the Middlebury Union High School, we were gratified to see such a large turnout this morning from the college community, including President Patton. It is heartening that so many Middlebury students, faculty, staff and other community members joined in solidarity with young people at the forefront of social change.
We are distressed, however, with some of the content of an “all staff” email that our staff colleagues received at 2:00 p.m. on Mar. 13, on the eve of the march.
That email stated that “[the institution’s] obligation is to conduct classes and provide services to our students. In order to provide these services we need all of our scheduled classes taught and offices opened and staffed.” If the leaders of the institution expected scheduled classes to be taught during the walkout, why wasn’t this (or a comparable) note sent to all faculty? Are the expectations about “employees’ engagement in protests and civic activity” different for faculty and staff? If so, why?
The “all staff” email went on to say that “[i]f staff choose to take time off for such activities, they should follow the college’s regular time-off policy by requesting time off in advance, and supervisors should review and approve those requests keeping in mind our need to maintain normal operations.” It is not clear to us that all staff would have had the time — from 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday to 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday — to secure such approvals from their supervisors. Moreover, we are concerned about the possibly intimidating effect of this email’s iteration of staff responsibilities, particularly since the email’s ostensible function as a “reminder” about the need to request permission for an absence from work is belied by its timing right before the protest. Furthermore, Middlebury faculty (as far as we know) were certainly not asked to secure permission from their department chairs, program heads and/or the Dean of Faculty to participate in this civic event. Is this a double standard? If so, why is this appropriate?
We do not doubt the sincerity of the email’s final sentiments: “We are supportive of your civic engagement, and encourage you to increase your awareness of the issues of our times.” Indeed, it is precisely because we are certain that the college’s leadership feels this way that we hope, upon the occasion of the next comparable community event, that staff and faculty will be treated in the same manner. Regarding robust civic engagement in the public sphere, the faculty’s status should never be privileged.
Laurie Essig, Gender, Feminist & Sexuality Studies;
Jon Isham, Economics and Environmental Studies;
Michael Sheridan, Sociology/Anthropology;
Marion Wells, English & American Literatures
(03/21/18 10:34pm)
We kids, the youth of America, those of us still figuring out who we are and what we want to do and whether or not we really do know anything after all, have more power than we could ever know. This is a realization I arrived at on the Cross Street Bridge, as I looked into the eyes of adults — many of them professors at the college — and saw fear and humility and pride, but certainly not a single answer.
No, it was we kids — planned by a few articulate and courageous 16- and 17-year-olds from Middlebury Union High — who had organized and led the Walkout Against Gun Violence, not because we were more Facebook adept or knew how to make better signs than the adults, but rather because we are burdened by the weight of innocence.
It is not we kids who have compromised our integrity by bending our will to NRA campaign donations, nor is it we who have stood aside complacently as these shootings have grown more frequent and more destructive. Yet when anyone sees their defenseless classmate shot, their body brutalized and their memory violated through systemic inaction and hollow, meaningless offers of thoughts and prayers, it is us. We have grown up in an America where toddlers are trained for active shooter drills, where kids halfway through puberty hear a loud sound in first period English and instinctively text their parents that they love them, where students have to stream out of their schools by the thousands, wiping the sleep from their eyes, to plead with the adults who make the decisions to change something so that they don’t have to worry about getting shot while they’re trying to figure out who to ask to prom. The urgent voices of David Hogg and Emma González and Theo Spackman-Wells cannot be silenced because they are loud and they are innocent and they are right. We are innocent because no one else is.
At 10 years old, I was a fifth grader who cared only about his dog and convincing his parents that he was responsible enough to scooter to school alone. It was also then that I got suspended from school for getting into a fight. A friend of mine — or someone I thought was a friend — had come up to me at recess and pushed me, hard. A few minutes later, he came back and did it again. When I saw him circling back a third time, I walked up to him and told him in no uncertain terms that if he pushed me again, I would punch him in the face.
He pushed me, I punched him, and 10 minutes later — recess a distant memory — all I could think about was how urgently my principal needed to invest in more comfortable chairs. I cried as I was lectured about the principles of verbal de-escalation and pacifism. I sobbed even more when I was taken home, ashamed of my actions and embarrassed that I had disappointed my parents. But we didn’t go home — instead, my Mom took me to my favorite restaurant, where she bought me a burger and a massive slab of chocolate cake. She told me that I had acted exactly as I should have. “When someone is mistreating you,” a mother explained to a boy whose tears had turned his cake molten, “you have no choice but to stand up for yourself, even if that means placing yourself in a precarious, vulnerable situation. Otherwise, nothing will ever change.”
It was that brilliant lesson, that there is good trouble and there is bad trouble and, boy, good trouble is sometimes just absolutely necessary. This guided me last Wednesday morning as I helped lead a contingent of hundreds of Middlebury students, faculty, high schoolers and townspeople to the Cross Street Bridge. As we stood there in silence for 17 minutes, many among us intentionally derelict from class or work, the snow-enveloped quiet punctured only by the honking of supportive cars driving by. I was young when my mother had delivered her chocolate-coated wisdom that day and I was still young on that bridge, but for the first time, my youth did feel like an obstacle but rather a platform of immense power. This was good trouble.
Kids don’t typically get involved in the political process. Maybe it’s because a lot of us can’t vote (or don’t know how to), maybe it’s because video games and first kisses are more appealing than tort reform, but whatever the case, it’s contributed to a perception of American youth as apathetic and uninvolved. This criticism is certainly well-founded; we definitely should vote more (it is in our interest, after all). I’m beginning to wonder, however, if the adults of America truly understood the sleeping animal they were prodding as they beseeched America’s youth to get more invested. This is not a small group — the census places the number of Americans between the ages of five and 24 at roughly 83 million — and it’s a group that is as exceptionally talented at harnessing crucial online mediums of communication as it is willing to bravely and boldly contest authority.
After all, if Parkland and the ensuing mass walkouts have proven anything, it’s that the young voices of America have as much of a capacity to resonate loudly and fiercely as they have an unparalleled ability to identify corruption and cowardice in our public servants (just look at Marco Rubio’s humiliation at the hands of Cameron Kasky). We’re fixed in our convictions as well, impossible to placate through phony gestures and empty promises. We certainly have our shortcomings — look no further than the typos in our tweets or the enthusiasm that can verge on aggression as we challenge our elected officials — but those shortcomings are strengths, for they serve as the clearest evidence of our undiluted passion and our inexperienced innocence.
There is little moderation in our policy demands — we have no re-election campaigns to run, no constituents to appease — and the result has been legislators and governors throughout the country, prodded by the thought of the extreme, willing to begin considering change. Since Parkland, there has been a surge of legislative debates over raising the minimum age to buy guns, the expansions of background checks, the banning of automatic weapons, and the closing of loopholes open to domestic abusers. What we lack in refinement, we make up for in resolve.
The push for gun control reform started long ago, led by principled adults and a select few kids often devastated by personal loss. Yet for a very long time, even after the horror of Newtown, nothing changed, with death and fear accepted as the norm. At Parkland, however, something shifted. For the first time, the kids who were forced to huddle in silent closets and locked classrooms for hours, wondering if the last thing they’d ever see was a dark muzzle emerging around a corner, refused to maintain that silence when they emerged into the light.
Something changed in the kids who survived, and as they spoke out, their stubborn activism refusing to evaporate, something clicked in thousands of other kids around the country. I am one of those kids. All of the students who walked out are those kids. For a long time, we’ve been quiet, hoping the adults would do their jobs and keep us safe while we learned how to ride our bikes and ask our crushes out. We aren’t naïve anymore. We know the impact our protests carry and the change our mobilization can effect. Not only can you count on us to stay involved, you can count on us to make our voices heard.
The kids are not all right. But we’re changing that.
(03/21/18 10:24pm)
Despite the Vermont cold front, with temperatures hovering in the teens all weekend, the women’s lacrosse team extended its winning streak to five games. The Panthers easily toppled Wesleyan with a dominant 13–1 win on Saturday, March 17, to move to 5–0 on the season and 3–0 in the Nescac.
To completely annihilate No. 12 Wesleyan — who entered Saturday’s matchup looking like a top Nescac competitor after defeating previously-ranked No. 2 TCNJ on Wednesday, March 14 — like Middlebury did took a complete team effort.
Seven Panthers scored on Saturday, as Middlebury outshot Wesleyan 27–5, with the defense doing their job in limiting Cardinal shot attempts. Evie Keating led the defense on her way to Nescac Player of the Week, which she garnered for forcing six turnovers and collecting four ground balls on Saturday.
You could tell the Panthers felt comfortable on their home turf, as they earned a spot on the scoreboard just moments after the first whistle and never lost their lead after that point. Emma McDonagh ’19 proved her position as a leading scorer when she slapped back the first of her four goals of the contest in the first 18 seconds of play. McDonagh doubled the score when she fired another one past the Wesleyan goalie on a free-position shot just minutes later.
Then it was Casey O’Neill ’19 who gave the Panthers a comfortable lead over the Cardinals after capitalizing on another free-position shot. With Middlebury up 3-0 after less than eight minutes of play, the women were not done yet.
Although the returning players were notching point after point on the board, it was Kirsten Murphy ’21 who made the next three goals happen. First, the first-year glided past the Cardinal defense on her own and hammered the ball past Allegra Grant, the visitors’ goalie. She then assumed a playmaking role, assisting both Georgia Carroll ’18 and Emily Barnard ’20.
Less than 17 minutes into the first half, Middlebury led 7–0.
“We talk a lot about playing as a team — our saying for this year is ‘the pack survives’ — and I think that has translated into our playing style on every part of the field,” said Henley Hall ’19. “While lacrosse is often seen as working on individual skills, a lot of it is team cohesion and reflective glory, or feeling like a teammate’s accomplishments are your own. I think we have also been doing a good job of approaching every game with the same mentality and confidence.”
McDonagh kept the Panthers’ first half momentum going on a free position shot to give herself a hat trick and to increase the Middlebury advantage to seven goals.
The Panthers closed out the half with three more goals, silencing the Cardinals’ hopes until the final 30 minutes of play. Carroll found her second goal of the contest, followed by Jenna McNicholas ’19, who took advantage of a strong assist from Murphy. With under three minutes to go, Barnard successfully breezed past the visitors and knocked in the final goal of the half.
Even though the freezing winds persisted, Middlebury did not let the icy air interfere with their second half of play. McDonagh once again led off the scoring, tallying her 10th goal of the season. After about 40 minutes of unsuccessful Wesleyan attempts to seep past the Panther defense, the Cardinals finally broke through. Abby Manning found the back of the net, despite an impressive attempt at a save by Middlebury goalie Julia Keith ‘20. About three minutes later, Middlebury had a response when O’Neill raced by the Cardinals to extend Middlebury’s double-digit lead. Kate Zecca ’20 completed the competition when she clubbed a shot back in, giving the Panthers a 13–1 victory.
Keith once again protected the net with skill, rejecting four Cardinal balls from her cage.
Middlebury will open its spring break with a matchup against Bowdoin at home on Saturday, March 24, at 12 p.m. The Panthers are seeking revenge after falling by one goal in overtime to their conference rivals around this time last year.
“While we have executed well against all the teams we have played so far, playing Wesleyan this past Saturday was an opportunity for us to take our game to the next level, and I think fortunately we were really able to do that and show ourselves how much potential we have,” said Hall. “We’re going into this week of practice with a lot to be proud of and a lot to work on, and we’re going to prepare for the Bowdoin game just as we do every other game. We’re excited to kick off our spring break trip with a competitive Nescac game.”
(03/21/18 8:43pm)
A group of students and faculty met in Hillcrest for an Planned Parenthood Action Forum, hosted by Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM) on March 8. The forum was led by Paige Feeser, who serves as the Vermont Public Affairs Organizer for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and representative organizer for Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund.
Feeser began her talk with an overview of Planned Parenthood’s story, specifically discussing the organization in the aftermath 2016 election. She said that Republican congressional leaders moved to strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funding in Jan. 2017 in an attempt to fulfill their long time goal of eliminating abortion services. With then-president-elect about to take office, Republicans had taken quick actions to try to move their plan forward.
Federal defunding of Planned Parenthood would inhibit the two-and-a-half million patients who rely on the organization from accessing their healthcare services. Feeser said they were also working to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and block Planned Parenthood from accepting Medicaid reimbursements.
“So basically if a patient comes to us wanting to use Medicaid to pay for their services, we would no longer be able to accept that form of payment.”
Such an action would have had disastrous consequences in a state like Vermont where, according to Feeser, 47 percent of the Planned Parenthood patient base access services using Medicaid funding. “So we knew we were up for the fight of our lives,” she said.
To prevent this, Planned Parenthood worked to identify senators following the inauguration whom they could persuade to take action, among these were Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska senator and Susan Collins, the Maine senator. Volunteers wrote, called, and sought both out in public.
A total of 200,000 volunteers across the country assisted and organized Planned Parenthood events fighting to prevent Medicaid defunding and ACA repeal. Volunteers organized half of the 2400 events, made 250,000 phone calls, and signed 2.5 million petitions.
Collins’s and Murkowski’s votes against Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s July 2017 proposal to partially repeal the ACA, as well as Senator John McCain’s dissenting vote, helped bring down the amendment.
“What an epic, epic time, but we won! We won! We won our first major battle,” Feeser said. “And one of the major things to really emphasize here, is that we can think of the brand, but most importantly what made this most successful was our people.”
With a slide titled “The Urgency of Now,” Feeser moved on to talk about Planned Parenthood in 2018. She explained that because of the special elections that take place in states like Virginia and Alabama, more senators support Planned Parenthood now than in Jan. 2017.
“This helps us potentially avoid another vote against the Affordable Care Act and also entitlement reform,” she said.
At the beginning of 2018, Paul Ryan vocalized plans to implement entitlement program reforms, which would mean deep cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and the ACA. Planned Parenthood has been preparing for attacks on these programs.
When Feeser asked who in the group knew what Title X entailed, only a few people raised their hands.
“This is what they want to have happen,” she said. “They want people to not be educated about how access to birth control and reproductive health is funded.”
Title X is the federal family planning program that provides funding to Planned Parenthood, allowing the organization to provide services to its patients on a sliding pay scale. It includes access to birth control, STI/STD testing and treatment and pregnancy testing. It does not include abortion services.
In February, the Trump administration said it would create new standards on how it would generate money for people who apply for Title X funding. The administration is aiming to provide preferential treatment to providers that promote abstinence-only, natural rhythm method, homeopathic birth control and other related services. This move would potentially exclude providers of more specialized birth control methods like the IUD and Nexplanon, which are 99 percent effective.
“This is the fight that we’ll most likely be fighting this summer,” Feeser said.
Feeser began the forum on a local level, asking the group one thing they would like to change on campus. At the end of the forum, Feeser addressed the group directly and called for a plan of action on a campus level.
“It was really meaningful to hear all the great ideas everyone had,” FAM co-president Cara Eisenstein ’18 said. “We are writing an Op-ed to the Campus about the #Fight4BirthControl campaign we will soon be launching on campus, where our long term goal is to have Middlebury’s administration make a public statement affirming their continued support for including no-cost contraceptives as part of the health insurance plan.”
FAM will petition for this campaign in the library the week after spring break. The club will create a go/link at its meeting on Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. in the Chellis House that will be a resource for information on the sexual and reproductive health services available through the college and in town.
This forum was another installment in the Generation Action initiative, which FAM reestablished this fall with a forum led by Feeser.
