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(05/08/08 12:00am)
Author: Samantha Michaels After nine months of drafting and weeks of heated debate, the Student Government Association (SGA) gathered on May 4 to pass the Freedom of (Textbook) Information Bill, which calls for the online publication of course booklists before the start of each semester. Under this resolution, students would gain earlier access to every book's title, author, publisher, publishing date and ISBN number, providing them with an opportunity to potentially avoid high Book Store prices and purchase course materials through alternative, less costly avenues. According to newly elected SGA President Bobby Joe Smith III '09, the Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill is long overdue. The student body has repeatedly voiced its discontent with excessive expenses of books at the College, but due to the Book Store's current monopoly on booklist information - as well as its relatively late disclosure of this information - some students feel they do not have enough time to take advantage of discounted online prices without risking academic penalties. "At most other universities, students can see the booklists when they're registering for classes," said Smith. "I believe that it's our right as students and as consumers to be able to decide where we want to purchase our materials. It's a violation of anti-trust laws to withhold this information from us."Cook SGA Senator Jonathon Kay '11 agreed, "I commend what the Book Store is trying to do, and I know that they are trying to provide us with the lowest cost as possible, but unfortunately that cost is not comparable whatsoever with the Internet cost," said Kay. "We're paying $500 a semester for books, when we could go online and pay $200." Yet although the SGA easily identified this problem many months ago, the process of drafting a bill and coming to a resolution has proven to be long and difficult, involving lengthy negotiations with the Book Store in addition to disagreements among SGA representatives themselves. As explained by SGA Sophomore Senator Vrutika Mody '10, an instrumental leader in the booklist taskforce, the SGA has cooperated with the Book Store since September 2007 and attempted to develop a solution which would be mutually beneficial and agreeable, but the negotiations have failed to produce tangible or satisfactory results. "Instead of alienating the Book Store, we started by working with them," said Mody, who has personally been speaking with Book Store Manager Bob Jansen since the beginning of the year. "It's a really tricky subject, because what you're asking the Book Store to do is to put all of their information online and possibly reduce their own profits."After discussing possibilities with the Book Store, the SGA concluded in the middle of last semester that it would post booklists on the Book Store Web site. According to Smith, however, Jansen retracted his cooperation a few weeks ago when Mody contacted him to clarify logistical plans. Jansen expressed his view of the situation in an online interview. "The real issue for the majority of Middlebury students affecting what a student pays overall each semester for books is not the lack of access to book information, but how timely the Bookstore is able to receive that information from the faculty," he wrote in an e-mail. Moreover, according to Jansen, if students shop for books online the Book Store policy may become more restrictive, with the business only buying-back books originally purchased at the College. In addition, he wrote, the individual packaging and shipping of Internet-purchased books will increase the global carbon footprint. "The bottom line is this," summed up Jansen in the e-mail interview. "It would be better for the majority of students, the environment and the College to support the local Middlebury College Bookstore. [By doing so, students will be] facilitating timely textbook adoptions and allowing the Bookstore to source more used textbooks (and therefore pay more for books at buyback), rather than supporting approaches that would benefit certain individuals over the collective majority."Jansen's decision left the SGA with a difficult choice and a momentous debate - representatives could either keep seeking Book Store cooperation or instead pursue their Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill as an independent initiative - regardless of administrative support. Smith simply stated the SGA's predicament. "We all believe that the booklist should be published, but in what manner?" he said. Fearful of alienating Jansen or putting him on the defensive, many SGA members have argued to continue working with the Book Store. Others have contended that the SGA must be willing to move forward independently if it is to ensure the timely resolution of this issue. At the May 4 SGA meeting, the tide of opinion began tilting heavily toward the latter camp. Ultimately, the SGA decreed that "if a tangible and agreeable effort is not demonstrated by the Book Store over the summer to supply booklists for the fall semester, the SGA will explore other alternatives for providing the information by appealing to the student body and faculty to resolve the situation."Mody rationalized her approval of the bill. "[Jansen and I] have managed to find common ground," she admitted, "but that said, it's been nine months now, and we realized that although we want to be agreeable with the Book Store, there was a lot of momentum from the student body itself. And our constituency is the students - it's not the Book Store. So I think what we agreed on last meeting is that it's really unfair to all these people we've been promising things to, to leave this up in the air, when there are things that we can do about it."Indeed, the SGA has several options. Later this week, Mody will meet again with Jansen to determine the likelihood of Book Store cooperation. Depending upon Jansen's response, the SGA may or may not assemble its own technological team this summer to install an interim, online booklist for the fall, either on Banner Web or its own SGA We site. This would be a rudimentary Internet solution for the short term, involving anything from a Microsoft Word document of booklists to posted course syllabi, because as stated by Ashwin Gargeya '08, "Anything is better than nothing." With initial booklist access provided by August, the SGA will open the issue up for student and faculty input to create an increasingly efficient system for the College's community. Smith believes that the SGA has adequate resources for such an endeavor. "We have enough talent from the student body," he said. "Hiba [Fakhoury '09], my chief-of-staff, is a major in Computer Science and she says that putting up a Web site with all the booklist information would not be very difficult at all." According to Kay, the most challenging obstacle would be persuading professors to respect May submission deadlines for their booklists so that the information is accessible to students in August. Nevertheless, the SGA wants it to be known that although its preferred option was a joint-effort with the Book Store, Jansen's interests are justifiable and his reservations toward working with the SGA are understandable. "Everybody is hesitant about framing this [bill] as a battle against the Book Store," said Smith, "because I don't think that's it at all."Smith, Mody and other SGA representatives sympathize with Jansen's situation. As a private business, the Book Store does attempt to bring affordable books to the students while maintaining the right to seek the best possible profit. "Bob Jansen can't lower the prices because they're contingent upon the wholesale buyers. The SGA understands that he's locked in to the high prices," Smith explained."Still," he continued, "[Jansen] has to compete as a business against other sources. He can't eliminate competition because
that's illegal."Whether or not the Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill is implemented independently or with the Book Store, Smith articulated the SGA's willingness to help Jansen boost his profits through avenues such as a book fair. Jansen, in turn, has reasserted his commitment to the students by proposing a book recycle campaign called "A Book is a Terrible Thing to Waste," planning to allocate the resulting wholesale buyback values to provide free books for designated customers. These efforts, in combination with the newly passed Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill, will hopefully reduce student expenses for course materials next year. In the end, though the precise level and nature of Book Store cooperation remains uncertain, one thing is clear - the SGA is determined to implement its initiative sometime this summer, and one way or another, senators intend to transform their Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill from a written draft to concrete action. "It should be up to the SGA to make sure that [a booklist] is published and it's up to the school to make sure that it's published, whether it's through the Book Store or not," said Smith. "I don't want to undercut the Book Store, but we feel that if we can't come to a resolution with [them] then we should put it up somewhere else.""I serve the students," echoed Kay. "I care about getting [booklist] information out to the students - period."
(05/01/08 12:00am)
Author: Cloe Shasha Students were not speaking up in class on April 25th, but it was not because they had forgone the night's reading. Instead, participants of the National Day of Silence were making a statement that spoke louder than words.The day is a national event, honored by over 6,500 high schools and colleges across the United States. The movement began at the University of Virginia in 1996 and a different person has received a dedication each year. This year, the Day of Silence was held in memory of eighth-grader Lawrence King, who was killed because he was a homosexual.The Middlebury Open Queer Alliance (MOQA) has sponsored this significant day in April for several years. Co-President of MOQA Ryan Tauriainen '08 said was happy to report that the number of Middlebury students that participated in the event grows each year, with this one being no exception."I have not always been the outspoken activist that I am now," Tauriainen said. "I was once 'silenced' - that is, in the closet. Many young people feel as if they cannot be honest with themselves and with the world. I can remember how painful it was to live in shame and I want to make others aware of the silence that I once went through, and of the fact that so many others are currently suffering." Co-President of MOQA Chelsea Guster '11 has participated in the Day of Silence in her hometown for the past three years. As a first-year student, she was excited to lend her experience and devotion to the project to the Middlebury community. "In high school, it was a great way to stand up for a cause I believed in, and continues to be such at Middlebury," said Guster. "As a member of the GLBTQ community, I think participating in the Day of Silence is a simple and effective way to think about, and make others think about, the prejudices we face both on a larger scale and in daily life."MOQA hoped that a range of students, faculty and staff - regardless of their sexual orientation - would participate in the Day of Silence.Because Relay For Life also fell on April 25, remaining silent for the full day posed a problem for some students involved in both events at the College."To be honest, I won't be able to remain silent for the entire day because I want to enjoy Relay for Life and be with my friends," said Jean Lin '10. "But this year, participating meant a lot more to me than it did last year. I designed a shirt that lists some of the reasons that I am part of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement. I have a button with a silenced smiley face on it that says 'Day of Silence.' " Lance Sun '11 has been participating in the Day of Silence for the past five years. He too expressed that difficulty in staying silent for the full day, but was quick to add that the vow of silence is meaningful whether it lasts for five minutes or 24 hours. As a member of MOQA, he encouraged people to speak up and contemplate issues of sexuality that arise in everyday life."We want people to speak up," said Sun. "We want people to think about and question the heterosexist language we use every day. Instead of asking someone, 'How are your Mom and Dad?' why not just ask them, 'How are your parents?' " Christian Morel '11, also a member of MOQA, explained why he felt the need to participate in the Day of Silence. "As a homosexual, I am very sympathetic to anyone who feels persecuted because of their sexual orientation," said Morel. "Participating is a matter of respect for those who suffered in the past and for those who fought for us to feel more comfortable in society.""As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,' " Sun said. "We all have to start speaking up."Sun reiterated that MOQA wants people to finish the Day of Silence with the feeling that injustice still exists in this world and that it is up to our generation to start working towards positive change.
(05/01/08 12:00am)
Author: Livingston Burgess After the baseball team fell in its opener against Hamilton this weekend, Erich Enns '10 must have decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. Over the course of Saturday's doubleheader, Enns personally drove in more runs than the Continentals were able to plate with their entire lineup, ending game two with eight RBIs and three home runs - both school records. In all, the team racked up wins by scores of 10-2 and 22-7, drawing closer to the .500 mark, and Enns collected 10 RBI and four homers."The pitchers made a lot of mistakes," said Enns. "And it was also a short fence, but, yeah, I just felt really good at the plate. Success in at-bats just kind of builds upon itself." Were it not for that record-setting game, the story of the weekend would likely have been Nick Angstman's '11 very strong pitching in the opener. Angstman went the distance, allowing two runs on five hits and walking only one. The first-year has emerged as one of the Panthers' strongest pitchers this season after Justin Wright's '08 shoulder injury shuffled the rotation, leading starters with a 4.30 earned run average.Middlebury's offensive attack was fully geared up in game two. Mark Shimrock '09 pounded six RBIs and drew a pair of walks and Nick Lefeber '08 joined Shimrock and Enns in sending a ball over the short fences at Hamilton's Royce Field. In that second game, Wright also made his first start of the season, following a pair of relief appearances. He pitched effectively, aided in no small part by the 22 runs handed him, giving up four runs and scattering eight hits over five frames.The busy Panthers also picked up a non-conference win, 11-6, over Castleton State on Sunday, as third baseman John Lanahan '08 went a perfect 4-4 and scored three times. With the win, the team crept to within one game of .500, now a big goal, at 13-14 (4-8 NESCAC). In addition, Enns picked up NESCAC Player of the Week honors for his efforts, joining Shimrock as the second Panther to earn the award this season. Still, despite the accolades, the sophomore credited the team's seniors for guiding the squad, both through this season's difficulties and its successes."Yeah, I had a good weekend, but there's definitely a difference between hitting well and showing good leadership," said Enns. "I think our senior leadership really showed when we were struggling." Enns says their attitude has allowed Middlebury to keep their morale at a high level, leading to performances like this weekend's. The remainder of the Panthers' season will be played in Maine this weekend, with a game at Bowdoin on Friday and two at Bates the next day.
(04/24/08 12:00am)
Author: Kelly Janis On April 20, local residents joined College students on the Town Green for an Earth Day Fair, sponsored by the Addison County Relocalization Network (AcoRN) and the Middlebury Area Global Warming Action Committee (MAGWAC). The two-hour event featured an opening drumming circle, a full schedule of musical performances, samples of local food from the Middlebury Natural Food Co-op and American Flatbread, a costumed children's procession, posters and presentations from eco-conscious organizations and a seed and plant exchange in which participants could swap or give away seeds, seedlings and perennials. Fairgoers also had an opportunity to sign up for the "Way to Go! Commuter Challenge" - an annual program in which Vermonters pledge to elect "cheaper, healthier and more earth-friendly transportation alternatives" in an effort to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 500,000 pounds over the course of a single week.
(04/24/08 12:00am)
Author: Livingston Burgess Entering last weekend's three-game series with NESCAC West Division leader Amherst, the pressure was squarely on the shoulders of the host. Only a sweep could give the Panthers a chance at a spot in the conference tournament. So when Middlebury blew out the Lord Jeffs Friday afternoon, interested parties started holding their collective breath, whispering the what-ifs that follow thin hopes wherever baseball is played. In the middle of Saturday's double-header, though, the wheels came off. With bad breaks and sloppy defense sullying the return of co-captain pitcher Justin Wright '08 from injury, the Panthers dropped both games on the day, falling to 10-12 (2-7 NESCAC).In Friday's opener, pitcher Jack Britton '08 enjoyed the support of a consistent and fundamentally sound offensive attack. The top of the lineup moved runners well to set up Mark Shimrock '09 for his game-high four runs batted in. Erich Enns '10 also homered from the sixth spot to showcase Middlebury's top-to-bottom strength, with eight of the nine starters chalking up hits. When the dust settled, the Panthers had sealed a 14-8 victory.Nick Angstman '11 took the mound the next day and started off cruising through the Amherst nine. He pitched much better than his line would suggest- 4.1 innings, eight hits, six runs, three earned - while his offense staked him to a 7-1 lead going into the fifth inning. A series of singles and an error by third baseman John Lanahan '08, however, put three runs across with one out when Wright made his first appearance on the year. He inherited two runners that quickly became three with a sharp single. The lefty induced a roller to third that might have ended the threat, but Lanahan threw high, pulling catcher Nick Lefeber '08 off home, then booted another grounder with the bases still loaded before Wright could shut the Jeffs down, clinging to a 7-6 lead.In the seventh, it was more of the same, as Amherst laid on single after single to push across two more for a lead that held up when Shimrock went down swinging with the tying run at second."It was really too bad," said Lefeber, who thought Wright was very sharp and only a little off with his command, "that his coming back got overshadowed by that stuff."The final game was out of reach almost as soon as it started, as the rejuvenated Jeff lineup scored five in the first and chased Middlebury starter Chris Hansen '08 after two-thirds of an inning, en route to a 14-8 loss. Nevertheless, Lefeber maintained a positive outlook on the remainder of the season, in spite of the weekend's games. "We've just got to continue to have fun," he said. "We're below .500 right now, and we're not going to finish below .500. It's important for us to get another winning season under our belt."
(04/17/08 12:00am)
Author: Livingston Burgess Between one low-scoring pitching gem and one long, messy run-fest, the baseball team picked up a pair of much-needed victories against Bates on Saturday. The day opened appropriately cold, with snow falling in small flurries as Jack Britton '08 froze the Bobcats' bats, hurling a three-hit complete game on the way to a 4-1 win. By the time the sun had come out, both teams warmed up accordingly as they battled back and forth to a final score of 10-9 in favor of Middlebury.It took the Panthers' tired bats little time to come alive in the first game as they reeled off some textbook hitting. Catcher Nick Lefeber '08 gritted out a leadoff walk and second basement Gabe Broughton '08 fulfilled his two-hole duties with a sharp single ahead of big first baseman Mark Shimrock '09, who brought both home with a shot over the right-field fence.Thus armed, Britton opened up the day's action at the peak of efficiency, taking a low-count perfect game into the fourth, where he first ran into trouble. A walk, a single and a wild pitch wrecked the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout in quick succession, and Bates threatened to cut even further into the Panther lead, but Britton coaxed a harmless fly and minimized the damage. That would be the only real opportunity Bates was to get the whole game. Britton went right back to his previous M.O. and wound up fanning six Bobcats.The nightcap was the reverse of the opener in every way but two - the final victor and Middlebury's penchant for scoring big early. Bates starter Ben Schwartz could not find a rhythm, burying a wild pitch and losing his handle on a borderline passed ball after walking Shimrock to set the table for a run of RBI singles that got Middlebury out of the first up 4-0. Nick Angstman '11 pitched well early, but good fundamental hitting by Bates eventually got the better of him in the third, and he tired in the fifth as the Bobcats pulled ahead. Clutch hitting from Shimrock and Erich Enns '10, much to the delight of Enns' substantial cheering section, gave the Panthers a lead they carried into the seventh to hand to Donald McKillop '11. The first-year opened shakily, walking three and loading the bases in the final frame, but he got a big pickup from third baseman John Lanahan's '08 force-out at the plate and settled down to record a nerve-racking last two outs. Though the wins do not go into the conference column, being played outside the NESCAC's West division, they gave the Panthers a big morale boost and brought them close to the .500 mark.For his efforts over the weekend and otherwise, Shimrock garnered NESCAC Player of the Week honors. In Middlebury's four wins, Shimrock raked for a .538 average and a jaw-dropping 1.724 on base plus slugging percentage. After a mid-week matchup with St. Michael's, he and his comrades will take on division leader Amherst in a three-game set over the weekend with the knowledge that a loss will likely end their already slight hope for a postseason berth.
(04/17/08 12:00am)
Author: Andrea Glaessner A woman stopped me in the dining hall and said, "I don't think you're going to eat all those sandwiches here." I said, "You're right. I'm taking these to my friends who don't have time to go to the dining hall right now. They're all students too. Does it matter whether we eat them here or there?" Scrutinizing me with skepticism, she snorted and retorted back, "Yeah, right." Who does she think I am, The Hamburglar? I just want a sandwich to-go, is that too much to ask? The College, at times, feels like a community of rules. Rules can be benign, even positive, as in the Rule of Law, "you rule!," Ja Rule or the Golden Rule. But sometimes rules start to define you - you become a community of rules, and rules are stifling, oppressive reflections of a bureaucratic administration comprised of too many Type A personalities with way too many connections to the Puritan passengers of the Mayflower. Reflecting on your time at Middlebury, ask yourself how many conversations you have had with friends about how the rules are keeping you down. I can think of too many to fit in this column, but I'll go ahead and name a few that come to mind.The study abroad rule. The College will not grant credit to a student seeking to study in a country either at a university or an SIT program without taking two years of the country's language if it is offered at the College. My friend, who has no interest in learning Portuguese, wanted to spend a semester doing an SIT program in Brazil studying GIS in the Amazon. To be clear, the number of Portuguese-speaking people living in the Amazon is pretty low. But the study abroad office has (gasp!) rules to follow! No, you cannot go to Brazil and learn about GIS in the Amazon because the national language of Brazil is Portuguese and if you were a good little Midd-kid, you would have your entire four years of college mapped out before you even got here and taken Portuguese like the rules say you should. End of discussion. Go to Africa because we do not offer Setswana … yet.The off-campus rule. The College permits 60 seniors to live off- campus. The limit of 60 is based on a commitment to the residential nature of the College and an evaluation of the rental market in the town of Middlebury. And here's the best part - if you are one of the lucky 60 eligible by a lottery to escape from the trappings of dorm life for one year, you get $3,000 back from tuition, $1,500 back if you're stupid enough to admit that you will be eating on campus. If the school did actually evaluate the rental market to determine that a whopping 60 empty beds exist in the town of Middlebury (which is a blatant lie), did they happen to notice that $3,000 is nowhere near enough money to pay for a semester of rent, food and other living costs? Why is the amount we pay for room and board not broken down for us on the comprehensive fee Web page and why are off-campus students not reimbursed the full amount? Because rules are rules and I said so.The requests we make are hardly unreasonable. I want to talk to someone who can take a step back, put themselves in my shoes, understand what I am saying and work with me, not against me. Hopefully, someone up there in the ivory tower will read this as an inspiring call to open up just a little bit. We're all trying to coexist in this artificial bubble without going insane. Maybe instead of stress lectures, we should have a rule-breaking day where everyone can break one rule for just one day. At least it would give us a chance to vent.Andrea Glaessner '08.5 is a Local News editor.
(04/10/08 12:00am)
Author: Zamir Ahmed and Peter Baumann Ultimate Frisbee team has two weeks of successThe Middlebury men's Ultimate Frisbee team has enjoyed a highly successful spring season, capturing one tournament title and reaching the finals of another over the past two weeks.The squad traveled down to Georgia for spring break, taking part in the College Southerns and High Tide tournaments. After going 6-2 at College Southerns on March 22-23, the team moved on to High Tide on March 25-27, winning all eight games on the way to taking the tournament title. After back-to-back wins to open the event, the team reeled off four straight 13-8 victories before clobbering Union 13-2 in the semifinals. The final against St. Olaf was a back-and-forth battle for the first half before Middebury pulled away for good, winning 13-7.Coming off its victory over spring break, the team hit the road once again, heading to New Haven, Conn. last weekend for the Yale Cup, which featured the 20 best teams in the Northeast. After going 1-3 in pool play on April 5, Middlebury went on a tear through the bracket. The squad defeated Vermont and Wesleyan in the first two rounds before edging Harvard 10-9 in the semifinals, avenging an earlier loss in the tournament. In the finals, the team lost a close one to Williams, 13-11, to finish in second place.Softball sweeps Skidmore, then is swept by R.P.I. After splitting its four games since its return from Ft. Myers, Fla., the softball team now boasts a 7-7 record as it heads into the meat of its NESCAC schedule. Last Wednesday, the Panthers traveled to Skidmore for a doubleheader against the Thoroughbreds. Middlebury jumped out to an early lead in the opener, scoring four runs in the first two innings on its way to a 5-3 victory. With co-captain Katelyn Cannella '08 sidelined with a shoulder injury, Megan Margel '11 and Leslie Crawford '11 picked up the slack offensively. Margel finished the day 3-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored and Crawford added two runs of her own. Co-captain Brittany Burke '08 was superb in the circle, scattering eight hits over seven innings while striking out three. The Middlebury lineup came out even stronger in game two, scoring 11 runs on 15 hits. Margel had another stellar game offensively, picking up six RBIs while going 5-for-6 at the plate. Geena Constantin '11 continued Middlebury's pitching prowess, giving up only one earned run in her seven innings on the way to an easy 11-3 victory. This Tuesday, the Panthers took the field looking to continue their winning ways against RPI. Unfortunately, the Panthers found the hosts to be much less accommodating than the Thoroughbreds from a week earlier. The Cardinals bounced out to an early 5-0 lead in the opener behind an early home run from Jen Bach, and then weathered a late Panther rally to earn a 5-3 victory. Middlebury received another strong outing from Burke, who gave up five runs on six hits, while also going 2-for-3 at the plate.In the second game, Middlebury pitcher Ali McAnaney '11 gave up only three runs over six innings, but it was not enough as the Panthers were only able to scrape across one of their own against the 15-3 Cardinals. The loss dropped Middlebury to .500 on the year.The Panthers return to action this weekend, hosting a series against Wesleyan. The team will play a single game Friday at 5 p.m. before taking the field Saturday for a twinbill. The first game of that double-header is scheduled to begin at noon.
(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Lea Calderon-Guthe Starting March 7, students, faculty and staff may have noticed a change in the appearance of the Webmail interface along with an increase in mailbox size. Middlebury's Library and Information Services (LIS) department recently upgraded the College's e-mail system from Microsoft Exchange 2003 to Microsoft Exchange 2007 while simultaneously moving from a 32-bit to a 64-bit platform.The platform change came as a routine hardware replacement, as the previous e-mail servers were four years old. In the process of replacing them, the LIS department decided to upgrade them as well."The database being 64-bit makes it much more reliable and robust than a 32-bit platform," said Rick James, manager of Central Systems and Lab Support.Most hardware on campus is on a three- to four-year upgrade rotation, from the desktops in the computer labs and the library to the heavy-duty servers in the four computer rooms on campus, two in the basement of Voter Hall, one in Carr Hall and one in the library."Considering the hardware, it's always best to replace ahead of time, to keep that on a cycle so you don't have any kind of mechanical problems," said Carol Peddie, associate dean of Library and Information Services. "As computers age, they tend to go out of warranty and start to fail, so we like to try to keep up with all the hardware on campus."The main benefit of upgrading the e-mail servers is the additional space. The default mail quota per person increased tenfold, going from 50 megabytes to 500 for students and 100 megabytes to one gigabyte for faculty and staff.Software upgrades are no less important than those in the hardware arena, so as LIS moved the e-mail databases over to their new servers, they also upgraded the e-mail client to Microsoft Exchange 2007. Switching to the new servers meant e-mail services would have to be temporarily unavailable anyway, so it was an ideal time to also install the most recent software. Area Director Tom Cutter cited the importance of keeping up to date software-wise."[Exchange] 2003 support will be discontinued at some point, so we have to stay current with Microsoft's roadmap for e-mail," Cutter said.Though Microsoft Exchange 2007 was released last fall and the College did not upgrade until this spring, updating the software in this manner was in perfect accordance with the College's usual routine. Newer versions of the software the College currently uses may be released, but LIS will not consider an upgrade until the service pack accompanying the new software becomes available. The benefits of upgrading the e-mail system deal mostly with the extra storage space, but James cited Microsoft Exchange 2007 as having increased capabilities as an e-mail client, so the software upgrade did provide additional advantages."In 2000 the Webmail interface and the full Outlook client were very different," James said. "[Exchange] 2003 brought that closer, and [Exchange 2007] is even closer than before. There will be a very common look and feel between the full Outlook version and Webmail - we think that's important."Naomi Berkins '11 was not sure she agreed with James' assertion when she first experienced the new Webmail interface."At first I was kind of annoyed because I liked seeing everything at once, but now that everything is separated by date, it's kind of nice that you know when you got it," Berkins said.Cutter hopes more students will share Berkins' outlook on the new Outlook-like appearance."Obviously we're trying to make things better and add more functionality, we're not trying to take anything away," Cutter saidWhile the change in the appearance of Webmail has made little impact on students, the extra storage space has been generally appreciated."I like the extra space we have for sending and receiving things because I hated getting those little reminders that my mailbox was too full," Berkins said.
(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Cloe Shasha The Lattice Group, started by Middlebury alumni Astri von Arbin Ahlander '07 and Yelizavetta Kofman '07, is a grassroots campaign that strives to foster communication among young academics about a balance between work and life goals.Inspired by their own search for employment in their senior year of college, Ahlander and Kofman did not feel fulfilled with the idea of working upwards from a traditional menial role that typically characterizes entry-level jobs. They began interviewing their colleagues to find out what they felt about career choices and their futures. "Our peers didn't seem to have realistic expectations for themselves, or they didn't have realistic expectations for others," said Ahlander and Kofman, in an e-mail. "Like the Midd guys we talked to who wanted stay-at-home wives in contrast to the Midd girls who wanted rocket careers and multiple children. How was it all supposed to work out?"Ahlander and Kofman began to investigate American roles in the workforce. Their research left them shocked by the stifling limitations that Americans face in the workforce compared with some other countries' abilities to find a healthy balance. The United States, for example, lacks federally funded parental leave. Also, the Equal Rights Amendment, introduced in 1972, was never passed. "In the 'Middlebury Bubble,' equality generally reigns," said Ahlander and Kofman. "But in the 'real' world, women still do 80 percent of the housework, over 95 percent of Fortune 500 executives are men, and men still face pressures to be primary breadwinners which limits their ability to take on active care-giving roles." Beginning as a seed of an idea at a party during senior week, Ahlander and Kofman developed their nonprofit organization with the support of President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz, the Library and Information Services staff, Human Resources, friends and private donors. They titled it "The Lattice Group" to make an analogy between career goals that can span across many fields and the shape of a lattice. This mentality encourages exploration and passion rather than the highway or ladder approach of education serving towards an upward-reaching goal. Recently, Ahlander and Kofman achieved the positions of official nonprofit executives. "At Middlebury, we're told that we're the best and the brightest, that anything and everything we want is possible if we just work hard enough," Ahlander and Kofman said. "Unfortunately, we're never actually told to think actively about what it is that we really want." The current projects of the Lattice Group involve in-depth interviews with young professionals and college students in the United States, France, Sweden and Russia. Their Web site has information about the work-life balance in those five countries, as well as interviews with well-known professionals. "We post these interviews on our Web site, and they are remarkably insightful," said Ahlander and Kofman in an e-mail. "You learn a lot from speaking with people with more experience. Right now, we have interviews with the legendary literary scout Maria Campbell, [the Museum of Modern Art] Director Glenn Lowry, Dispatch musician Pete Heimbold, Esquire editor Ryan D'Agostino and Bard professor and artist Sigrid Sandström. We also have cool guest blogs."The Web site has active blogs, uploaded videos and posted articles. It serves as a forum to recreate our conception of life in the work world. On the "Journal" page of the Web site, primarily post-college graduates tell stories of their careers, their true dreams and their life goals. One woman wrote about the pressures she feels to be the high-achieving career woman she could be, although she dreams of having children."Twenty-two-year-olds who are women of color, who graduated from top-10 colleges as president of the student body and winner of the neuroscience thesis prize, who entered doctoral programs on prestigious fellowships immediately after college, who are poised to have Ph. D.s at the age of 26 are not supposed to want babies," an anonymous 22-year-old female wrote. "I do."On Dec. 6, Ahlander and Kofman came to Middlebury to lead a Lattice Talk. Students were eager to discuss the work-life balance and the two leaders had an impact on the group, according to Ahlander and Kofman."A significant part of the Lattice Talk was spent focusing on the pressure students feel to work too hard and be trained into working machines on a college level, while topics relating to a greater social context were difficult for them to relate to," Ahlander and Kofman said. "This showed what the real challenge is for The Lattice Group: how to make our generation engage with work-life conflicts on a larger scale; considering the responsibilities of employers and governments in instigating change, and what each individual can do to make this happen."Middlebury students can submit writing to the online journal, which is run by another Middlebury alum, Lauren Westerfield '07. Ahlander and Kofman hope the group will have an impact on current students looking for a new approach to work. "We hope The Lattice Group encourages Middlebury students, and other college students and young professionals in America and abroad, to think about, and perhaps reevaluate, how they will measure success in their own lives," Ahlander and Kofman concluded.
(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Susan Personette I would like to try to clarify some of the issues around the temporary closing of Proctor Hall's Woodstove Lounge. But first, I'd like to apologize for the glitch in communications about this closure that caught some members of our community by surprise. Simply stated, several well-intentioned people associated with the management of the project thought that the other was notifying the campus. Despite the best of intentions, this kind of thing happens. I am truly sorry for the stress or inconvenience it caused. That said, I'll now respond to some of the concerns expressed in the past couple of issues of The Campus and hopefully put some minds at greater ease. The reason the College is undertaking the Terrace waterproofing project this spring is that there is inadequate time to do that work AND the rest of the Proctor renovation in the anticipated September '08 - June '09 construction period, should the project be approved. With a campus that operates on a 12-month basis as we do, finding the "right time" to take a facility off-line for renovations is a perpetual challenge. The College looks at all of the impacts of such an action, weighs them carefully and makes a decision. The purposes of the Terrace reconstruction are to correct a long-standing water infiltration problem in the space below the Terrace, to resurface the Terrace in a safer and more attractive "floor" material for all to enjoy in the warm months and to make the facility accessible to everyone. The 1,500-square-foot space currently used for book rush downstairs will be turned over to student co-curricular activities such as rehearsals, small performances, practices, seminars, dinners, etc. Since a major need for this kind of space emerged out of the Master Plan process, the College would like to address that need as soon as possible. I fully expect that when Proctor reopens in June '09, the short-term loss of the Woodstove Lounge will be more than offset by the longer-term gain of (1) a refreshed and updated Woodstove Lounge and (2) a new student co-curricular facility. A new book rush space will have been incorporated into the expanded and renovated Book Store. The book rush space is not storage space, by the way - it has two active uses. The space is used for retail sales during book rush each semester, during each of three Language School sessions and during book buy-back at the end of each term. It is also the receiving, processing and staging area for all books received by the Book Store. The book rush space must be in the same building as the Book Store because its operations are contiguous with the Book Store's. I was glad to read in The Campus that the Woodstove Lounge is a valuable community resource for students. The College seeks to provide this kind of informal, multi-purpose gathering and social space because we believe they are important to our sense of community. For the two and a half months that the Woodstove Lounge will be used for book rush, a temporary replacement will be set up in the former Crest Room adjacent to the main dining room at Proctor. Most of the old familiar furniture and booths will be moved there. As has been previously written in The Campus, if approved by the Board in May, Proctor will close for renovations during the academic year 2008-2009 and reopen in June '09.? Toward that end, the College is about to re-start the renovation design that was put on hold 15 months ago. As a vital part of the design process at that time, students were invited to attend focus groups with the architects to provide feedback and guidance about the renovation design. Student comments and concerns were critical in defining the essential character of Proctor dining so that what is most cherished about this facility could be preserved and/or enhanced in the new design. I am happy to report that the design process is just starting up again. At an open meeting in April, the architects will present what they've drawn up so far to all interested students and seek their input. I heartily encourage all students who want to express their opinions about the plans for Proctor dining to attend this meeting. Come and let us know what you think! This is your chance -? don't miss the opportunity to help shape Proctor's future. (Date and location to be announced shortly). I hope this helps answer some of the concerns about the Terrace reconstruction project. I am happy to answer more questions about that project or the renovation of Proctor dining. I look forward to seeing students at the open meeting, and to sharing with the campus community a refreshed and renewed Proctor Hall that will serve student needs - even better than it currently does - for the next 10-15 years. Susan Personette is associate vice president for Facilities.
(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen and Mary Lane The Target: Carbon Neutrality It's a race to zero: by 2016, Middlebury hopes to have eliminated its annual carbon "footprint" of over 30,000 metric tons of CO2.The commitment comes as part of the College's May 2006 Strategic Plan, which names "strengthening our environmental leadership and reputation" as one of the school's primary goals in coming years. It is a reputation which has already earned accolades. In September, the environmental news site The Grist named Middlebury as one of the nation's top 15 "green" colleges.Yet the new goal poses a financial challenge to the College. In the midst of a $500 million capital campaign aimed at funding priorities from increased student aid to adding up to 25 new faculty, the College does not yet have a large enough endowment to simply sink money into environmental initiatives. Instead, the hope is that many projects - like the biomass power plant now under construction - will pay for themselves over time through energy conservation.One particularly ambitious aspect of the carbon neutrality goal is already helping to shape the direction of campus planning. According to Sustainability Coordinator Jack Byrne, the College does not plan to rely primarily on carbon offsets - payments that support carbon-lowering activities, like tree planting and solar or wind power installation - to reach its goal, as peers like the College of the Atlantic have done. This limitation means that the College must make changes to its own infrastructure and practices rather than simply paying for those steps to be taken elsewhere."Our goal says that offsets are the last resort for us," explained Byrne. "We're going to try to achieve it by changing the way we operate, from the fuels we burn to the vehicles we run."The College to date has largely steered clear of buying the offsets because the market for them is unregulated. Some carbon-offset providers have been criticized for over-representing the carbon impact of their practices, including counting contributions to already-planned renewable energy facilities as "additional" carbon-offset measures. In short, the College believes that taking care of its own carbon neutrality will make its impact greater than colleges - like the College of the Atlantic - who simply buy offsets.The path to carbon neutrality officially began with the adoption of the Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) into College policy by the Board of Trustees last May. The final product of a working group comprised of students and administrators, the Initiative was a victory for the Sunday Night Group, the student climate change organization whose members decided the year before to push for carbon neutrality on campus."By adopting carbon neutrality, the College is not only living up to its environmental mission, but its academic mission as well," said Jamie Henn '07, one of the initiative's organizers, at the time. "Middlebury prides itself on equipping its students with the skills they need to become leaders, whether it be in business, art, politics or academics. In a world where global warming is increasingly defining all of these fields, environmental literacy is just as important as knowing a foreign language."This week, The Campus profiles a few stops on that path to neutrality: the cutting-edge Hillcrest Environmental Center, the renewable biomass power plant, and the Organic Garden.Money Matters: The Greening of Middlebury's financesAs the anticipated costs of green projects on campus added up, the Class of 2007 decided to step up with a $92,000 founding commitment to the "Green Fund." Together with a seed gift of $2 million from former Board Chairman Churchill Franklin '71, the seniors' gift represented the first addition to a fund the Board of Trustees hopes will ultimately total close to $50 million.The fund will support not only carbon neutrality efforts, but also those to educate students and community members through the College's environmental studies programs and colloquia.One of the College's most prominent environmental projects, Weybridge House, will also soon draw support from the Green Fund. Members of the house frequently cook their own meals with foods obtained at the organic co-op in town, and Weybridge has teamed with the College's Organic Garden to host open feasts increasing the visibility of organic food on campus."We try to produce food for the College in a sustainable way by completing the food cycle on campus," said Jay Leshinsky, the Garden's advisor and a member of the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op's Board of Directors. "The garden uses compost made by the College to improve the garden soil. Vegetables grown on that soil are sold to Dining Services, and then Dining Services sends waste to be composted by the College to complete the cycle."In addition to the Green Fund, the College's endowment overall may rightly be described as "greening," with investments being directed away from environmentally or socially irresponsible corporations. The College maintains a list of "do not touch" companies, such as PetroChina, which invest in obsolete energy technologies and have dubious human rights records. In PetroChina's case, the company has been accused of financially fueling the Darfur conflict with its investments in the region's oil market.On several occasions, this moral imperative has gotten in the way of profitable investments - in 2006, the Student Investment Committee, a student-run investment group tasked with managing a portion of the College's endowment, was forced to divest from companies with poor track record. Hillcrest: Beyond "LEED"You cannot step inside the Hillcrest Environmental Center without being reminded of its green features - and that is the point."Instead of constructing a new building for its environmental programs, Middlebury College created a model of resource conservation and energy efficiency with the adaptive reuse of Hillcrest," reads a plaque made of recycled roof shingle by the front door.The Center was renovated in 2007 using 80 percent of the old structure's building materials, and is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council's "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED) program, a national set of guidelines for environmentally sustainable building. LEED standards mandate certain levels of energy and water efficiency above and beyond state minimums. Features from lights that turn off in the absence of motion to extra insulation and double-paned windows help cut down both heating and cooling, while newer toilet designs flush with less than half the water used by their traditional counterparts.Yet the LEED certification does not stand out today quite as much as it used to."LEED standards are almost becoming common now," said Byrne. "What we do goes above and beyond the LEED standard in terms of our focus on local labor and materials. Our preference is always to look first to local forests for our wood, and anyone doing sustainable forestry we go to first."Buying local not only holds down transportation costs, but also pumps dollars into the Addison County economy - one of the poorest in Vermont."It keeps the dollars local, and when you spend dollars locally, they circulate about nine times before leaving Vermont," Byrne explains.That spending adds up. The College spent more than $3 million renovating Hillcrest, a boon to the local contractors and material suppliers hired for the project. And as with the biomass plant, Middlebury hopes that the energy and water savings from Hillcrest's LEED-level features will save money in the long term."So far, the building has performed about 23 percent more efficiently than if it were simply built to the state codes and standards," said Byrne. "We're getting close to one year of occupancy, and once we re
ach that milestone, we'll be able to see the impact over a whole year."If the 23 percent savings figure holds, the energy savings will amount to more than $20,000 annually - not quite enough to cover the cost of renovation, but a welcome statistic in light of rising energy prices.Plunging into biofuelBy the end of the calendar year, the large construction pit behind Parton Health Center will have slowly morphed into a biomass power plant capable of burning over 20,000 tons of wood chips annually. After an $11.9 million investment in the facility, the College is hoping its ability to replace expensive fuel oil with locally grown alternatives will save an even greater expense as gas prices rise.Of the College's entire carbon footprint, 70 percent is produced by the burning of number six fuel oil, an especially heavy grade of fuel used by the school's heating and cooling facilities. The two million gallons of this fuel consumed each year will be cut in half by the new plant.While the carbon savings may be immediate, the financial payback will come over time."The cost of number six fuel oil has increased by about 33 percent in the last year," said Campus Sustainability Coordinator Jack Byrne. "The price of a ton of wood has not increased at all. Particularly with the new price of fuel oil, it would have been nice to already have biomass on line right now."With the price of oil expected to rise even further during the foreseeable future, Byrne said that his office has reduced the biomass plant's estimated "payback period" - the number of years it will take for the savings from burning wood chips to cover the cost of building the plant - from 11 to nine years.Yet such a heavy investment in renewable energy comes with logistical drawbacks - a relatively new industry, biofuels are not often used on the scale that they will be at the College."There is a well established physical infrastructure, from refineries and trucking to heating systems, to support the fossil fuel industry," said Tom McGinn, project manager for the biomass site. "The infrastructure to support biomass energy is much less developed, particularly for applications like our project that go beyond simply residential use."Rather than tapping into the national oil market, the College will look to local producers to fill its need for 20,000 tons of woodchips annually. With an emphasis on keeping down transportation costs, plant managers will ideally look no further than 75 miles from Middlebury for their biofuels."I think that our local alternatives will develop over time as a part of the economic evolution of biomass energy," said McGinn.
(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Maddie Terry This week I write to support and applaud the so-called illegitimate Middlebury Campus, as well as its' Features editors, in light of a March 13 letter to the editor. I trust that, given what I have always understood to be committed adherence of The Campus staff to those "journalistic standards" in contention, the author of last week's opinion was able to read the editor's official apology this week for a byline misattribution. Further, I believe that the added reservation regarding the newspaper's right to edit any work submitted for publication was clearly delineated. Two separate issues were noted in Molly Dwyer's opinion which warrant address. First, what was described as "publishing graphic sexual comments in the place of world news," and second, "[inappropriate and false attribution] of sexual comments."On Sunday, March 9, the parliament in Kosovo proclaimed its Republic territory to be a new, democratic state in a monumental decision. The now multi-ethnic nation was officially established in defiance of both Serbia and of Russia, and in contextual emergence from brutal conflict that claimed approximately 10,000 lives only a decade ago. One might argue that Dwyer holds The Campus to a reasonable standard - to "responsibly provide accurate and legitimate articles and commentary to the Middlebury community." She simultaneously fails to recognize her own inability to generate legitimate commentary, given that she and her colleague had deemed it appropriate to communicate breaking world news through the "Winners and Losers - What's hot and what's not on campus and in pop culture" column. Consistently humorous and lighthearted in nature, past insertions by Mia Lieb-Lappen included comments ranging from revelry in free online episodes of South Park to gripes about discrepancies in the amounts of printer paper consumed by English majors and science majors who "kill lab rats, not trees." It is my firm opinion, then, that a severe misstep would have taken place if news of Kosovo's groundbreaking independence had ultimately been included in the column. Perhaps the column's authors might have considered taking cues from their own letter to the editor, in which they call for The Campus to "[make] an important statement about its standards." I might suggest undertaking a well-researched, articulately written and carefully considered article which would allow The Campus readers to gain a sense of the decision's impact in Kosovo, as well as its global repercussions. Whether or not an article of that nature will be published in the future, I am relieved that readers were spared the highly generalized "comments about foreign affairs" that would otherwise have appeared on March 13 amongst quirky one-liners about spring break in Vail and Black Friday shoppers.In reference to the "gratuitous graphic sexual commentary" said to "hardly exist" in reputable newspapers, Dwyer accused The Campus of deviating from guidelines of significant print publications. The Features editor is also relegated to a particular category of people, described by Dwyer as being "interested in seeking extraneous sexual content … and [who would] be better off [relying on] pornographic magazines rather than their school newspaper." If the inclusion of subjects such as the recent sex toys workshop and masturbation is termed to be extraneous, it seems that a large number of students on campus might be labeled as extraneous themselves. Dina Magaril regaled February readers with a witty and open account of the workshop, noting the "comfortable and tight-knit environment" that was successfully established amongst "a crowd that reached nearly 100 students." That group, whose members I assume Dwyer would redirect towards pornographic material, is about the same size as my own Feb class. I would argue further that, should the same students who are sexually active and open about sexual issues on campus cease to "rely on their school newspaper," The Campus publication and the College campus culture would pay a price. The Middlebury community, comprised of over 2,000 late adolescents reaching the normal and typical stage of sexual discovery and experimentation, should successfully function in its allowance and encouragement of positive and open attitudes about sex. The attitude towards sex expressed in Dwyer's letter is representative of a general mindset that threatens a critical openness and dialogue at Middlebury. I believe The Middlebury Campus, in fact, to be one of the most "legitimate" and important forums for dialogue relating to all aspects of learning, living and interacting as undergraduates. I recognize that as I sip early morning coffee before class on Thursday and flip through this week's issue, over 2,200 copies in addition to that which I peruse will be read by students around me. Shoppers at Shaw's and the Co-op, as well as print subscribers including parents, friends of the College and alumni will read what The Campus contributors have to say. Many of the paper's registered online users will look as well, and e-mail issues will reach approximately 6,500 readers this week. These numbers reflect a readership that is arguably as committed to the publication as the staff is committed to campus journalism, reaching beyond our immediate geographic vicinity with each successive week of publication. Occasional misattributions, misprints, formatting errors and inaccurate quotations have occurred intermittently this year, and are understandable. The inclusion of stimulating, assertive and relevant topics, which should include sex and sex-related issues at Middlebury, is imperative to maintaining a mature, healthy, campus-wide perspective. To render The Middlebury Campus and its staff as less than professional and accountable is to discredit an incredibly hardworking group of writers and editors, and by extension, to discredit the student body benefiting from The Campus. Maddie Terry '08.5 is a Studio Art major from Concord, Mass.
(03/13/08 12:00am)
Author: Michelle Constant The College's Initiative fundraising campaign has raised $273 million toward its $500 million goal as of Feb. 29, according to top administrators. The College had raised $234 million during the initative's silent phase before taking it public in October. According to Ann Crumb, associate vice president for College Advancement, the Initiative represents an effort largely to support the Strategic Plan. Some of the areas the fundraising will be used for is the United World College, offering financial aid with an international focus. Additional funds will go toward hiring 25 new faculty members over the next few years to allow for smaller classes and more time for professors and students to meet individually. The Department for College Advancement hopes to educate donors about the kinds of programs they can support through philanthropy. Included in that effort are new events like the upcoming Student Research Symposium, which will showcase a number of self-driven student projects this April."We are trying to tell stories that pull the campus together," said Crumb. "It's about people. It's about what's going on inside."According to Crumb, 80 to 90 percent of the money donated to the Initiative goes toward an "unrestricted," non-earmarked fund. However, some larger donors request to establish scholarships in their names with their donations.
(03/13/08 12:00am)
Author: Kelly Janis On March 8 and 9, an unfavorable brew of heavy winds and freezing rain conspired to coat power lines with ice, topple trees and leave thousands of Vermont homes and businesses cloaked beneath an unwelcome shroud of darkness.According to Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) spokesperson Ann Warrell, approximately 20,000 customers were affected by the weekend power outage, 12,000 of whom were without services at its peak. CVPS - which worked around the clock for two days to remedy the situation - was unable to restore electricity to an estimated 500 of these customers until Monday evening. Addison County suffered a particularly harsh blow in relation to the rest of the state."Most of the customers that were affected were in Addison County," Warrell said, citing the heavy concentration of power loss in the 20 towns CVPS designates as its Middlebury District. "And it stands to reason that there were certainly more customers in Addison County than anywhere else which were affected for the duration of the outage."The event provoked its share of disruptions at the College, which was without power from approximately 4:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. on Sunday. The lack of electricity temporarily closed Proctor and The Grille, cancelled the entirety of the day's planned programming on WRMC 91.1 FM, delayed the start of the NESCAC Championship women's hockey game between Colby and Amherst by one hour and caused a number of alarms and elevators to malfunction. In the wider community, the loss of electricity produced a subsequent loss of profits.Employees at Steve's Park Diner on Merchant's Row reported that, aside from complaints from customers that they lacked electricity at home, it was business as usual on Sunday morning. Business at the Middlebury Market and Sama's Café on College Street, however, took a significant hit."The weather on Saturday killed us to begin with," said café employee Scott Sunderland, referring to inclement conditions which caused temperatures to plunge, made roads slick and, consequently, kept the bulk of customers at bay.The following day's outage exacerbated the lull. The market - which typically opens its doors at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday - did not begin doing business until 11 a.m. The café, meanwhile, remained closed all day. The latter occurrence was especially problematic in light of the fact that, according to Sunderland, approximately 50 percent of the establishment's revenue originates at the prepared foods counter."It definitely affected us," Sunderland said. "It stunk.""People lost hours, and the money that comes with them," said Middlebury Market employee Bekah Shafer. She added that her father, who owns the Marquis Theater on Main Street, also ran into trouble staging a Sunday afternoon benefit concert for the Addison County Humane Society."He couldn't set up for it in the dark," she said.Although the show went on as planned - albeit with a late start - a number of the band's members were unable to attend. "They live out in the [country] and still didn't have power," Shafer said.Despite such inevitable inconveniences, Warrell said the CVPS handles each successive outage with greater swiftness and skill."We've noticed that storm severity has become a little worse over the last several years," she said. "As a result, we've become much more skilled in preparing for and managing problems."Vital in so doing, Warrell said, is being armed with appropriate foreknowledge."We're more aggressive in watching the weather," she said. "We actually use a meteorological service to track weather patterns. When we know that a storm is coming our way, we look at what sort of winds and precipitation it might contain, and we strategize."CVPS's efficiency benefits as a result."Now, we are able to get people back online more quickly," Warrell said.
(03/06/08 12:00am)
Author: Jake Cohen You may have seen a whole bunch of bald-headed students running around campus this week. No, it is not the rebirth of an "American History X" cult - it is the men's swim team. This weekend the team finished in fourth place in the NESCAC championship after three days of intense competition. Ten school records were set, four individual titles were captured and a total of 16 Middlebury finishers qualified for Nationals. And, to top it off, Peter Solomon, who is in his 10th season, was named Coach of the Year.Despite a series of injuries, sicknesses and other adversities, the men's swim team fully recuperated and established itself as a force to be seriously considered in the NESCAC. There were four standout stars this weekend: Schuyler Beeman '10, Kevin O'Rourke '09, John Dillon '10 and Ryan Marklewitz '11. All four competitors set school records and all of them qualified for the national meet in Oxford, Ohio on March 20-22. O'Rourke won both the 500- and 200-yard freestyle events and Beeman took first in the 50-yard freestyle. Dillon won the 100-yard fly title and is currently ranked second in the nation going into the big show. At the start of the meet, Marklewitz was plagued by illness and was thought to be unfit to compete. Lo and behold, the first-year rose to the occasion on the second day of the meet and placed second in both freestyle distance events and shattered previous school records in both.Times have certainly changed. Upperclassmen will remember well that the swim team's season was canceled two years ago after allegations of violating college rules. "That was absolutely the low point of my career," said tri-captain Robbie Burton '08 of his sophomore year. But that tarnished reputation served as fuel for the upperclassmen who wanted to restore the integrity of the team. "This meet was the culmination of the revival of the swim team," said Burton. "We did it - the team is alive, well and thriving. It's something the senior class takes a lot of pride in."Since the incident two years ago, the team has rallied beyond belief and created one of the tightest knit groups in all of Middlebury athletics. Alumnus Alex Demas '06 attended the meet and explained that the swim team used to be about "the development of a brotherhood, a fellowship of sharing this incredible bond and amazing journey from the winter training trip all the way to this exact event."That is exactly what the team managed to do this season. Patrick "Cob" Burton '10 was impressed with the way the team meshed this year. "After spending so much time together both in the pool and out, we formed inseparable bonds," he said. "The dedication to the development of that chemistry from top to bottom, senior to freshman, was fantastic." The elder Burton echoed his brother's sentiments. "There were no cliques on the team," he said. "You swim for the team, not for yourself. Everyone was swimming for everyone." It was this selflessness that made the swim team so close and will continue to distinguish the Panthers for years. Led by veteran seniors, the team has finally returned to the pinnacle of that camaraderie.
(03/06/08 12:00am)
Author: Peter Baumann Like any other Middlebury student, I complain a lot. I don't understand why our 2006 Strategic Plan placed an emphasis on recruiting new faculty in order to improve our faculty-to-student ratio, yet the additions seem awfully slow in coming, at least when staring at 35+ student seminars. Perhaps that's less about faculty recruitment than about blown admissions numbers, but the net result is a watered-down learning experience - and a step backward in an area that the school identified as vitally important less than three years ago.I also don't understand the logic behind the Proctor renovation. Suppose I get over the hassle of having all three dining halls tucked away on half the campus and how packed the Atwater and Ross dining rooms will be. I still have yet to hear a decent explanation for why the Proctor work can't begin during summer vacation to at least compress the headaches. It sure seems that the College has made the conscious choice to avoid inconveniencing its Summer Spanish Language School students, who pay a fraction of the tuition of their full-time counterparts. Come to think of it, I don't understand the ambiguity of our alcohol policy, especially when I see students being written-up for enjoying a beer in their room while un-registered keggers go unpunished. I don't understand why a dorm as large as Hepburn has only one TV, which is located in a room that can be "reserved" during the football playoffs. I don't understand why a school with our resources has a Web-registration system that crashes every time registration comes around. So I guess there is a lot about Middlebury that I don't get, even that I don't like. But when it comes right down to it, most of my gripes are marginal. To be fair, there's a lot I really like about this place. I love the passion each of my professors brings to class day in and day out. Even when I don't agree with their methods, their policies or their grades, I can't help but be impressed by how they never, ever take a day off. I love the gamble the College took a couple of decades ago to dip deep into their endowment to improve facilities on campus. Every time I walk into Kenyon, the New Library, John McCardell Bicentennial Hall, the CFA, Atwater Suites and Dining Hall or look at the soon-to-be-completed Axinn-Starr Center, I take pride in the financial risk the Board of Trustees decided to take. While the drama and effort surrounding the College's current $500 million capital campaign may be an ill-advised offshoot of that initial success, I'm proud that my school went against conventional wisdom in order to provide a better product. I love how I still get e-mails from my Intro to American Politics professor, detailing the intricacies of American electoral politics. He didn't just teach me for a semester - he continues to teach me each time I open one of his frequent e-mails. And I love how Middlebury was willing to admit that the commons system had more than its fair share of flaws. The administration stepped back and maintained what worked (a support-system within the general college community), while jettisoning what didn't (the drastic housing imbalance). I love that the Career Services Office provides funding for student internships. That's one of the best examples of the College making sure that every student has equal opportunities, regardless of their socio-economic background. I love how hard the school tries to integrate itself with the town instead of becoming an island unto itself. While I don't always agree with their actions (a chocolate bar?), I really applaud the effort. I think the town does, too.I love how good our athletic teams are and I love even more how well the athletes are integrated into the general college community. It's pretty cool to watch an All-American play, but it's even cooler to have him help you out in your Econ study group the next day. Most of all, I love the support that that I feel on this campus - from friends who are quick to help pick you up, to deans who are willing to give you a second chance when you really screw up; from first-year professors who still stop by to chat in the library, to coaches who care more about developing you as a person than they do about developing you as a player. This campus is full of people who work hard at making sure that nobody falls between the cracks and every student leaves the College a better and more prepared person than they were when they entered. In the end, gripes aside, isn't that why we're here? All in all I give Middlebury about a B+ on the grading scale that they are constantly using to evaluate me. And speaking as a habitual B+ student - with several notable exceptions, both up and down - if I were them, I'd take it. Peter Baumann '10 is a Political Science major from Denver, Colo.
(03/06/08 12:00am)
Author: Kelly Janis On March 3, Middlebury residents convened in the Municipal Gymnasium on Main St. for the annual Town Meeting, an over-200-year-old tradition which gathers registered voters together in communities statewide to discuss civically relevant issues, approve the subsequent year's budget and elect local officials. Select Board members John Tenny and Dean George opened this year's meeting - moderated by Governor Jim Douglas '72, a Middlebury resident - with a dedication of the town report to the police and fire departments for their efforts in the wake of the Oct. 22 freight train derailment in downtown Middlebury. "We often wonder at the expense and the work and the organization of having such complete police and fire services in our community," Tenny said. "But here we saw firsthand - and quite emphatically - the need and the benefit of having this great team.""It's my pleasure to support both Chief [of Police Thomas] Hanley and [Fire] Chief [Rick] Cole for the outstanding work that they did in controlling a situation that clearly could have been devastating to this community," George said.Following the board members' remarks, Hanley and Cole received a standing ovation on behalf of their departments.Next, Director of Parks and Recreation Tom Anderson presented the Bob Collins Award for Outstanding Service in Recreation to John Myer for his work with the youth soccer program."Whenever we've run into the natural little glitches and problems, he's always maintained a terrific sense of humor," Anderson said. "He's been a real pleasure to work with."The meeting then progressed to discussion of the articles placed before voters in a "warning" notice distributed in advance of the meeting. The first order of business was to determine whether "to act upon the reports of the Town Officers as submitted by the Authors" - that is, to approve the 89-page document released by the Town detailing the operations of the Select Board, town departments, social service agencies and regional organizations in the course of the past year.The resolution passed quickly, permitting the meeting's focus to turn to the town's proposed budget of $6,776,857 for the 2009 fiscal year, $5,423,004 of which is to be raised by taxes. Each member of the Select Board presented a particular facet of the budget.Victor Nuovo explained the administrative segment, seeking to rationalize the $68,666 increase contained within it."Most of these increases are a result of an increase in compensation and benefits for town employees," Nuovo said. "As someone who has been on the Select Board for two years, I think we are indeed very well-served by those in the administrative offices, and these are certainly modest increases.""It is a bittersweet moment for me," Selectman Bill Perkins said as he rose to address the meeting on the subject of Ilsley Public Library's budget, "because I did lose [my wife] Virginia last year, and she was a big part of the library. I'm sad in that regard, but I'm happy to speak for the library." Perkins went on to detail Ilsley's highly active year, loaning over 100,000 books, 37,000 DVDs and 12,600 audio books. In addition, more than 400 groups met at the library, with over 4,500 individuals in attendance. There are currently over 8,000 library card holders, Perkins said, a quarter of whom live outside of Middlebury and pay membership fees.Don Keeler followed with a presentation of the police and fire budgets, which he said the board "supports wholeheartedly.""It's hard to criticize the fire department when they did such a beautiful job of saving our town," Keeler said when no one raised objections to the station's proposed budget.Keeler also praised the efforts of public works employees."When it's snowing tonight, there are people out there salting and sanding," he said.Craig Bingham announced the allocation of funds to Hospice Volunteer Services and WomenSafe, remarking that support of such endeavors "is a testament to the goodwill of the voters of the Town of Middlebury."Janelle Ashley presented the recreation budget, Joe Colangelo spoke on health insurance and George detailed impending capital improvement projects - including technology upgrades at Ilsley Public Library and paving projects on various town roads - while Tenny concluded with issues of revenue.Tenny spoke in particular of "the difficulty the Town faces year after year … as we see state and federal funding on which the town has traditionally been able to rely for basic levels of support" fail to increase in step with inflation."I can't help but think if the federal government weren't spending billions of dollars on a useless war in Iraq, it might have a little more money for towns like Middlebury," quipped resident Greg Dennis, implicitly hearkening back to last year's meeting, during which voters passed a symbolic resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the impeachment of President George W. Bush.Voters approved the budget by a wide majority, and proceeded to authorize the Board of Selectmen to finance the purchase of town vehicles and equipment - including a police cruiser, motor grader, compactor, mowing attachment and shoulder machine - by borrowing $378,000 in funds over the course of the next five years. After officials moved swiftly to decide to "collect taxes on real and personal property," according to the meeting agenda, the segment of the meeting devoted to "transact[ing] other business proper to be done" arrived, granting meeting attendees the opportunity to raise topics they regarded worthy of consideration.Rich Hennessy expressed lingering concerns about railroad safety, Executive Director of the Town Hall Theater Doug Anderson thanked the town for its support of the theater's restoration efforts and Elizabeth Ottinger questioned Tenny about his affiliation with the construction company involved in the proposal to bring a Staples storefront to Middlebury.Finally, resident Scott Burns expressed concern for the first-year College student who has been missing since Feb. 5. "What can we do to help find Nicholas Garza?" he asked.Hanley assured residents that investigators are working diligently toward the matter's resolution."It's certainly something we're all concerned about," he said. "We've been putting in yeoman's hours in the past three weeks, running our staff down. Right now, the investigation is ongoing. It's continuing."Hanley reiterated the importance of furnishing police with any information which may constitute a potential lead."We solicit any and all information," he said. "We follow up any and all leads. Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you see or hear anything, let us know."With this, the official meeting adjourned. Immediately thereafter, a public hearing commenced with respect to Articles 6 through 8 on the warning, which concern the issue of general obligation bonds totaling $16,000,000 for application to the Cross Street Bridge project, amendment of the Town Charter to permit the leverage of a local tax on sales, rooms, meals and alcoholic beverages and the election of town officials.The latter three Articles were voted on by Australian Ballot on March 4. Results of the vote were not available at the time of press.
(03/06/08 12:00am)
Author: Nicole Lam, Mary Lane and Derek Schlickeisen James Carville, the "Ragin' Cajun" who helped elect Bill Clinton president in 1992, once said that good communications is all about storytelling. It is a lesson not lost on Michael McKenna, the College's vice president for Communications."We are the College's storytellers," he explained.McKenna's Communications Department employs 16 people, from graphics and Web site designers to writers to spokespersons responsible for handling press relations, in its mission to build a unique Middlebury "brand" in the public eye."The whole idea is to get past the 'Club Midd' image," McKenna said. "When I came here, the trustees believed we certainly weren't getting the credit we deserved for being such a wonderful place. Our job is to show how are we different, and why people should care? That's our job."This week, The Campus looks at how Middlebury's storytellers work to make the transition from "Club Midd" to "Liberal Arts, Global Action," the College's new tagline as it embarks on a $500 million capital campaign and looks to cement its place among the top few liberal arts schools in America.Just as it did with Carville's campaign for Clinton, McKenna and his team's work for Middlebury starts in a "war room," the converted town courtroom where McKenna and nearly all of his staff work together in open cubicles."The space we have is really set up like a city newspaper room or a creative department at an ad agency," said McKenna. "That lends itself to collaboration and brainstorming, the fluid interaction you need when you're creating media communications."It is a war room with an important mission: in a new Strategic Plan approved in May 2006, the College identified stronger communications and setting the College apart from its peers as necessities."Middlebury should demonstrate its unique differences and societal relevance," the plan reads. "[The College should] continue concerted efforts to raise Middlebury's visibility externally and develop an approach to its own publications and communications tools that consistently reflect the objectives of its various constituencies."McKenna's own resume reveals the depth of Middlebury's commitment to re-shaping its image. A graduate of Wesleyan University, McKenna served as President and CEO of Marsteller Advertising, a unit of the worldwide advertising firm Burson-Marsteller that counts NASCAR and Merrill-Lynch among its clients.McKenna brings to the Middlebury job an approach that has suited Marsteller's corporate clients in the past. When the College wanted to put out a new viewbook for prospective applicants, he turned to a time-tested tool common to professional advertising agencies: the focus group. Working with prospective students and their parents, admitted students who were coming to Middlebury, as well as applicants who chose to enroll elsewhere, McKenna and his team picked apart the old viewbook and built a new one from the ground up."People said there was way too much writing," he said. "They said they wanted it to be simpler, with much more bullet-pointed information. And they said it looked like every other college admissions booklet, with scenes of students walking across campus in the fall. They said every one of these places looks exactly the same. So we decided to see if we couldn't make ours a little different. It's all based on research."Pamela Fogg, the Department's art director, explained that the once-complex viewbook was boiled down into three main themes, each chosen because it offered something that made Middlebury different from other college."We took three things - community on campus, our environmental mission and the College's global reach - and wove all of the standard messages you find in college viewbooks into them," said Fogg. "We saw those as the main differentiators." It is an approach that seems to be succeeding, with prospective applicants citing the College's environmental reputation and its internationally-oriented programs - from languages here in Middlebury to schools overseas - as forming their first impressions of the school."I was definitely into the environment and languages parts of Middlebury," said Jason Poe, a prospective member of the class of 2012 visiting campus for the first time. "So much of the mail I got from Middlebury was talking about its Spanish or French programs, and the mailing would be printed on recycled paper. It was definitely clear where the priorities were."Even outside of the prospective applicant pool, the College's environmentalism seems to have gotten around."When I tell people I go to Midd, they usually ask if it's that really environmental school," said Jason Jude '08. "I mean, that's if they've heard of it at all. But the first two things that come up are usually our intellectual ability and the environmental activism."The mission does not stop there, however. In addition to helping re-brand Middlebury as part of the Strategic Plan, the Communications Department is responsible for the messaging associated with the potentially record-setting $500 million "Middlebury Initiative" launched this fall."You can't build someplace like Middlebury from scratch," said McKenna. "What we're doing is identifying what's so different and compelling about the College that it's worth $500 million in support for donors."For the Initiative (so named because they wanted people to understand it's more than a fundraising campaign), McKenna and his team conceived of a two-part communications plan based on personal stories and the idea of a journey."We talk about the Initiative as a journey - not just 'give us money, see you later,'" explained McKenna. "We invite donors to take part in that journey with their support and with the printed literature."Invitations sent to local alumni chapters for Initiative receptions this April say it all."Middlebury is in a unique position to define the kind of liberal arts college that will best meet the needs of its students and the world in the 21st century," the card reads. The message is part of the overall theme "Liberal Arts, Global Action" that Middlebury has attached to its fundraising."It's not just this little college up in Vermont, but one that really has a global footprint," said McKenna. "It doesn't mean everyone's going to go out and become global business leaders or diplomats, but they will have a sense of being part of something bigger."At the same time, however, the College is trying not to lose its rhetorical focus on the individual as it plays up an increasingly global scale. In addition to a mock "passport" for the journey in which donors will partake when they support the Initiative, the College recently produced a pamphlet entitled "Self-described." The piece profiles dozens of students, faculty and staff at Middlebury, emphasizing the diversity of individual experiences possible at the College experiences made possible by the Initiative."We tell stories with the initiative," said Fogg. "It's less institutional, it's more first-person."The new focus on personal stories once again came from the focus groups McKenna and his team conducted. The old book, participants said, did not show how their own experience at Middlebury would differ from what they might get at another school."We've actually seen people citing the 'self-described' piece in their admissions essays," said Maggie Paine '79, director of college communications. "And that's really unheard of."For all of their focus on the College's national image and global reach, the storytellers take a back seat when it comes to shaping perceptions right here in Vermont. Without regular access to the focus group-tested mailers and sleek Web videos aimed at donors and potential applicants, town residents build their ow
n image of Middlebury from a broad variety of sources - with sometimes unexpected results. "The first thing I think of is Geraldine Ferraro's son," said Geoffrey Abernethy, an employee at Main Street Stationary. "That was the only thing I knew about Middlebury College before I moved here from Los Angeles in 1992."Celebrity relations aside, Abernethy - in what became a pattern in speaking with Middlebury residents - said his perceptions of the College are largely shaped by what he hears about in the local media."One thing I read about recently was the ban on Wikipedia," he said, "and John McCardell's deciding to make an issue about lowering the drinking age."Still other residents, however, form their opinions of the College based on their interactions with students and faculty who frequent their businesses in town."I love them," said Middlebury Discount Beverage Company owner Joe Cotroneo of Middlebury students. "This town's my favorite place in the world. I mean, my business is selling beer."Both Abernethy and Cotroneo said that they and their neighbors have a largely favorable impression of the College and its students."I think people around here really do have a good attitude towards the College," said Abernethy. "There's lots of bright, dedicated people who go here. People my age usually complain about 'kids these days,' but I just don't see the problem here at Middlebury."Cotroneo added that, particularly in his business, he was grateful that Middlebury is a college town."Without the College, we'd just be another regular town," he said. "The economic impact is huge."
(02/28/08 12:00am)
Author: Mary Lane and Derek Schlickeisen For some aspiring college students, the long process of applications and anticipation ends the day the coveted "fat envelope" arrives.Yet for others, getting in does not matter quite as much as getting enough - financial aid, that is. For 41 percent of students here at the College (soon to be 43 percent), the question of financial aid was one they discussed with Kim Downs and her associates in the Student Financial Services office, which she directs. While Emma Willard may be the public face of Middlebury's admissions, the folks in Meeker House are tasked with making what has become one of the most expensive colleges in the country affordable for those admitted. Their decisions, The Campus found, offer students in need not only a path to higher education, but also a series of challenges along the way.As the College and its peer schools work quickly to beef up their financial aid packages, need across the nation is rising, whether from the recent economic downturn or from the increase in the socio-economic diversity of the College's applicant pool. Our spread this week examines both the administrative and the student life sides of the financial aid question.Chances are that if you do not receive financial aid, one or more of your close friends does: with one of the nation's highest costs of attendance, the College offers some form of financial assistance to nearly half of its students. With aid taking on an increasingly prominent role in the College's fundraising, Middlebury certainly hopes that better aid offers will draw students to the College.But how will it impact their lives once they get here?Alexandra Fisher '10, a French and Environmental Studies double major, saw the financial aid package she receives from Middlebury impact her decision to study abroad. "I was thinking of going to Madagascar, but you can't use Middlebury financial aid for non-Middlebury programs abroad," explained Fisher, whose total aid each year comes to $27,110, including an $18, 360 grant from the College. Having already taken out a $4,000 Federal Perkins Loan, Fisher was ultimately unable to study in Madagascar. "I decided on France because there's a Middlebury program there," she said. "I would have had to take out more loans to do the program in Africa, so I didn't go." Fisher's family is expected to cover approximately $25,000 of her tuition during each of her four years at Middlebury. The Perkins Loan will not be sufficient to cover all of her costs, she estimates. "For the next two years it's most likely that I'm going to have to take out more substantial loans on my own that are not part of the College's aid," she said. In accordance with the College's policy, all academic and merit scholarship money Fisher received did not go towards reducing the contribution she and her family must make. "I received a total of $3,450 in scholarships, including a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship," Fisher said. "It didn't affect the amount of money my family had to pay but it was subtracted from the grant aid I received from Middlebury."According to Director of Student Financial Services Kim Downs, the College's policy in all situations like Fisher's in which students receive outside aid, such as scholarships and merit grants, is to "replace the self-help component - loan and work - of an institutional award." Downs explained that, "Because Middlebury College meets full need, any 'outside' funding received by the student must be considered in the aid award."Fisher's family will be receiving more aid from Middlebury next year, however, as her brother will be starting Penn State University in fall 2008.Downs emphasized the importance of families such as Fisher's notifying the school of financial changes times, as the College evaluates students' circumstances each year in order to adjust aid packages. "If something changes, for example a parent is laid off, someone is injured, etc., then we look at that and adjust accordingly," she said. "We tell students we want to hear about that and take that into account."When deciding what college to attend, Fisher preferred Middlebury from the start, despite its giving her the smallest aid package. "Pomona, Bucknell and Colby all gave me more aid, but I wanted to go here, much to the dismay of my parents," Fisher said, citing the higher rankings of Pomona and Middlebury as factors separating them from Bucknell and Colby. "I definitely wanted to go to Middlebury all along, because it has such a good and established Environmental Studies program," Fisher said. "It's the oldest one out there." Although her financial situation at Middlebury did not affect her choice of majors, the need to pay back her loans is a factor in Fisher's plans beyond commencement. "I'm going to have to get a job right away rather than going into the Peace Corps or law school, which is what I want to do." Fisher said. "I haven't really thought about what kind of job I'm going to get, I'm just hoping everything is going to work itself out." Zachary Bills '11 does not qualify for financial aid, but receives no help from his parents in paying for his Middlebury education. "My tuition is paid for by my uncle, which is about $22,000 each year," he said. Bills parents paid for his private middle and secondary school education, telling him he was on his own for college. "My father had the attitude that he didn't receive any help from his parents and so he had no problem cutting me loose for college," Bills explained. "I pay $2,960 of my own money each semester for room and board," he said. "I haven't had to take out a loan yet because I worked all summer and devoted my life savings and funds to pay for Middlebury.""The school doesn't have any obligation to help me out," Bills acknowledged of his difficult circumstance. "Yes, I'm going to come out of school with a lot of debt but I'm invested in my education and it will pay back for itself tenfold."Bills sees his financial circumstances as motivation for his academics at Middlebury, particularly his study of Chinese. "I'm planning on doing something profitable, obviously, because I need to pay off my college debt," he said. "I'm not taking Chinese to work for a volunteer program and teach kids to speak English. I'm going with Chinese because I can use it for a lucrative career." Like Fisher, such a payoff after graduation was Bills' reason for attending Middlebury in spite of his lack of financial assistance in avoiding post-graduation debt. "I'm at Midd because they have the best language programs in the world, and it will give me that extra edge in the market," he said.Stephanie Ellis '08, was offered financial aid in the form of a work-study program when she applied in 2003, but later turned it down. "They gave me a work-study offer which they estimated would turn out $1,200 a year," she said of the program which would have made her eligible for on-campus jobs open only to work-study students. "They suggested I use it to pay for the $1,000-1,200 of projected personal expenses each year." Although she initially planned to do the program, Ellis soon changed her mind at the advice of her father. "My dad said, 'What's $1,200 compared to what we have to pay anyways?'" Ellis said. "He said he'd rather have me take advantage of other college experiences than be tied down to work-study."
