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(09/26/07 12:00am)
Author: Aylie Baker "You wanna buy a snake?" ventured the shorter of the O'Brien brothers, emerging from behind a rack of fluorescent bathing suits and puce-colored dresses to poke his head into the tent. Too quickly, Dave looked up from the pile of '80s gym t-shirts he was pouring through and found himself holding the writhing black creature. "It certainly smells like snake," he laughed uneasily. "You think this one's good," chimed in Sheila, abandoning a customer to join our small group, "We got two bigger ones inside."The day began with good, however innocent, intentions. My friends and I had an early start (11:15 a.m.), grabbed a sufficient breakfast, and pilfered enough apples from Ross dining hall to tide us over for at least a week on the apple-a-day mantra. Bounding down to Ridgeline, we took to the road. Basking in Saturday bliss, we leaned out the windows, drowning any nagging "I-should-be-workings" with a throwback mix on loop.Twenty minutes later, we realized we'd been driving for twenty minutes. Whoever said Snake Mountain was just off campus completely lied. After several failed attempts to find phone service, we opted to venture back towards campus with hopes of driving into network. No luck. Thirty minutes later, we were back at Ridgeline, getting directions from a friend, the fuzzy high of our first drive steadily wearing off. Yet we persisted. We found Snake Mountain Road. After a near road accident involving a cricket, we decided to stop at Sheila's Garage sale where a lucky spotting of a bright teal onesie led to a thorough rummaging of Sheila's '70s and '80s wardrobe. After being delivered a set of collective of directions by the O'Brien family, we left ≠≠≠- still no snake - to find the mountain. A few wrong turns and a false start later, we had reached the summit, where we stretched out on the concrete embankment to take in the hazy view.Truth be told, our morning adventure wound up spanning four hours. The hike to the peak took 45 minutes, not 25 as we had projected. We forgot water, missed lunch, and wound up with stomachaches from all the apples we consumed. Yet driving back, chased by that same O'Brien brother on four wheeler (doing 500 yard wheelies), the day felt perfect. So my advice? Don't Mapquest Snake Mountain. Bring your wallet, pack a lunch, and seek out your own family O'Brien.Aylie Baker '09 is a Features editor from Yarmouth, Maine.
(09/26/07 12:00am)
Author: Thomas Brant and Joseph Bergan "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."These words of Hillel the Elder, a famous Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod and Augustus, form one of the most basic religious teachings in the world. Christians know it as the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you woul have them do unto you."More than two millennia after his death, Hillel's name - and his words - are used as the namesake and mission of the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. Middlebury's Hillel chapter is one of more than 500 at colleges and universities worldwide working to enrich the lives of Jewish students and provoke a renaissance of Jewish life, according to Hillel's web site. Mimi Micner '10, a Hillel board member, explained why the group is popular among many Jewish students. "I knew that when I was away from my family during the holidays there was somewhere I could go to feel at home," said Micner. She said that the main role of Hillel is providing Shabbat services on Friday evenings, which are open to both Jewish and non-Jewish students. "We're totally open to anyone at these services. We often have at least some non-Jewish students show up," she said. In addition to the weekly services, Hillel organizes a few all-campus events every year. One of these is an "apples and honey" feast, held every year during Rosh Hashannah. Apples and honey are a tradtional dish of the Jewish New Year. The group also organizes a Bar Mitzvah party each October, and Micner sets up various community service events, including an alternative spring break trip, a Relay for Life team and volunteer groups at the Vemont Food Bank. The eight-member Hillel board is led by co-presidents Steve Gordon '08 and Michael Winter '08.
(09/26/07 12:00am)
Author: Peter Baumann The Middlebury women's volleyball team kicked off its home schedule last Tuesday with an impressive 3-0 win over St. Michael's College before going 2-2 at the Amherst Classic. After pulling out a 30-27 victory in the first game against the Purple Knights, the Panthers dominated in Pepin Gymnasium, winning the next two games by a combined score of 60-36. The victory was the fifth on the season for the Panthers. Those who showed up to help their team inaugurate the home season were treated to a display of the stifling defense that Middlebury hopes will carry it through NESCAC play. "Our defense is stacked," said co-captain Olivia Minkhorst '09 at the beginning of the season. "I don't think a ball is going to touch the ground." It certainly seemed that way against St. Michael's, with the Middlebury defense recording nine blocks to go along with 40 digs. On Friday, the squad traveled to Massachusetts for the Amherst Classic and kept the momentum going with a well-played 3-0 victory over Johnson and Wales before falling to Brandeis University in the nightcap by an identical score. Not deterred, the team kicked off play on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Westfield State, setting up an afternoon showdown with league rival Amherst, who came in with a perfect record of 10-0. Amherst got off to a quick start in the first game, taking an early 12-4 lead before Middlebury battled back behind strong play from Minkhorst and Lauren Barnett '11. The comeback came up short, though, with Middlebury unable to generate enough offense to complement its strong defensive showing. "I think that our defense was good this weekend," said co-captain Lexie Fisher '08, "but we had a little bit of trouble at times with our hitting and our offense." The offense woke up in game two, as Middlebury was able to stick with Amherst for the first half of the game. However, led by an impressive 20 kills with only two errors, the Lord Jeff offense simply overwhelmed the Middlebury defense with a precise attack that allowed them to take a 2-0 lead overall. Fighting to extend the match, Middlebury came out with extra energy in the third game - the women were jumping higher and spiking harder. "We thought we had it," said Fisher of the hard-fought game. "It was really exciting." The Middlebury offense had far and away its best game, recording 14 kills, and, with the defense continuing its stellar play, the Panthers gave the Lord Jeffs all they could handle. Finally, with her squad up by only a point, 29-28, Amherst first-year Erin Camp extinguished Middlebury's hopes with her fourth service ace of the day, Amherst's 10th overall, to seal a 30-28 victory. All in all, it was a good weekend for the Panthers, who jumped to an impressive three games over .500 with their four-game split. For the team, the thrill of two convincing victories was somewhat abated by their second loss to their league rival in as many games. "That's our second loss to Amherst," said Fisher. "But I think [overall] we played well this weekend."Offensively, Fisher paced the Panthers in the big game against Amherst with nine of the team's 32 kills. But in her mind the real star of the weekend, and the match, was Minkhorst, who was playing out of her customary position because the team was a player short. "She really played well," said Fisher. "She really stepped it up because we were missing a player." Playing at libero instead of in her traditional spot at setter, Minkhorst recorded 14 digs. The Panthers will be setting and digging on Thursday evening, playing host to local rival, Norwich University at 7 p.m. in Pepin Gymnasium.
(09/19/07 12:00am)
Author: Alex Garlick The cool crisp weather and changing of the leaves you're feeling this week mean one thing: Soon the airwaves will be filled with ads touting things too good to be true, lavish amounts of money will be spent and, on one cold winter morning, children will wake up early to checkÖ the election results! That's right, primary season is coming. New Hampshire's TV screens will be showing more of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton than Peyton Manning and Ryan Seacrest combined. In fact, the 2008 Presidential Election will be a constant headline for the next 15 months or so, and for good reason - it's an event that generates over a billion dollars in economic activity between fundraising, campaign spending, logistics, media attention and John Edwards' haircuts. At this point in the race, the keen political follower is paying more attention to the accountants than the strategists, as each candidate's fundraising total is of the utmost importance. There is a staggering amount of money out there. It's also troubling when you consider that each big check that is cashed from a major interest group will be repaid in one way or another down the line. As Robin Williams suggested in Man of the Year, maybe politicians should dress like NASCAR drivers and wear the logos of all their supporters on their chests. Right now, fundraising totals are more important than what the polls say in Iowa and New Hampshire. Like it or not, a candidate's war chest is the source of media ads, quality field operations and, most importantly, a sign of vitality in the eyes of the media and public. So without further ado, let's take a peek at the fundraising scoreboard for your 2008 Presidential hopefuls. (These statistics are from OpenSecrets.org)Democrats:Hillary Clinton≠≠ : $63,075,927Things started out well for Clinton, but her fundraising lead was cut down in the last quarter. Sources inside the campaign say that despite the reduced money flow, Clinton is refusing to hire ANY interns. Barack Obama ≠: $58,912,520 So far the star of the money race, Obama has gained on the Hill-Billies despite his pledge to not accept cash from registered lobbyists and PACs. Too bad he can't spend it on experience to cover for the fact he's only been in the show for 30-something months now. John Edwards : $23,129,158Another Democrat to eschew PAC funding. He seems to have a pretty good shot in Iowa, which one would hope he would considering he's been running for president for six years now.Republicans:Mitt Romney : $44,432,350The squeaky clean former governor of Massachusetts and his supporters, who I like to call MittWits, are chugging along quite nicely. However, there is no amount of money that can be spent to convince the ideological wing of his party, particularly Evangelicals, that they should support a Mormon president. At least he has the endorsement of HBO's polygamy show, Big Love, which alluded to the governor two weeks ago. Rudy Giuliani : $35,629,265Much like Obama on the Democratic side, the second-place candidate actually won the second quarter of fundraising. It is a lot of money though. It might even be enough to get Roger Clemens to come back and pitch .500 ball for Giuliani's beloved Yankees next year.John McCain : $25,328,694Wait, is this guy still in the race? In all seriousness, the more important number in McCain's campaign is $3,224,428, which is how much money he actually has left after spending furiously to keep his campaign on life support.So can we pencil in Clinton, Obama or Romney for the oval office? Not quite. There is a lot of criticism of our electoral process, but the optimist in me likes to think that there's not a For Sale sign on the lawn at 1600 Pennslyvania Ave. Alex Garlick '08.5, is a Poltical Science and Economics major from Needham, Mass.
(09/19/07 12:00am)
Author: Scott Greene The College expanded an already far-reaching foreign language repertoire by announcing the establishment of the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA), a summer language immersion program for pre-college students, in a press release on Tuesday, Sept 11."The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy is another way in which Middlebury College is strategically addressing the growing need for superior foreign language learning opportunities in this country," President of the College Ronald. D. Liebowitz said in the press release. The MMLA is a joint effort between the Language Schools of Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute of International Studies, a Middlebury affiliate, and will begin in 2008 with four-week residential camps offering Arabic, Chinese, French and Spanish. The initial sessions will take place on the campuses of St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vt., Menlo College in Atherton, Calif., and Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.According to Michael Geisler, vice president for Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Graduate Programs, the creation of MMLA compliments the 2005 acquisition of the Monterey Institute by extending the trajectory of language programs associated with the College."Every summer I get a number of phone calls from parents who really want something like the language schools for their children," said Geisler, who has ultimate oversight over the programs. "We don't accept middle and high school kids for the Middlebury language schools, because the language schools are fairly intensive and the kids usually aren't ready for that intensity."Hence, the MMLA will not attempt to replicate the summer language schools, according to Geisler. In fact, students will only attend an hour of actual class per day during the week. Instead, there will be a heavy emphasis on more informal, extra-curricular learning through fun activities.Macky Gaines, operations manager for Language Schools, agreed."This program was built upon the success of the Language Schools, looking at how we do things, how the immersion works and the 24 hours in language. These camps will be fashioned in that way," she said. "So, they're not affiliated, but rather it is trying to mimic the success of the language schools for the younger kids that are interested."Still, students will be challenged to the point that each camper will receive more language exposure in four weeks with MMLA than during a full year of middle or high school classes. The College projects an initial enrollment of 500 students, and will organize subsequent summer sessions based on enrollment and language demand for the inaugural program. "Through a carefully planned progression of language learning and culture studies designed for beginning to advanced levels, students will be challenged, improve on essential language skills, and have fun," MMLA Director David Toomey said.By creating an opportunity for middle and high school students to study languages at an appropriate level of intensity, Geisler hopes that the MLA will only heighten the desire to study foreign languages among children."We want to give people the opportunity to participate in something that is Middlebury or Monterey from an early age so they get interested in language and pursue languages in their own schools where possible," Geisler said, "or maybe they will then go and ask the school boards for offerings in language."The only relative precedent for the MLA program is Concordia Language Villages, which offers fourteen different languages to younger students in a summer camp-like atmosphere in Minnesota. Still, according to Jamie Northrup, director of institutional collaboration and marketing for the College's language schools and schools abroad, the College has very few peers, if any, in the realm of foreign language learning."There are many other summer programs out there that do some sort of language teaching, none of them do it to the level or the breadth that Middlebury does," Northrup said. "So we don't really have anyone to compare to." "The interesting part about it all, as Middlebury students, we really are seen as the benchmark of high-level language learning," Northrup added. "We now take students from 7th and 8th grade all the way up to Masters Degrees, and it really expands the opportunities that Middlebury students have, and the opportunities are only going to continue to grow."
(09/19/07 12:00am)
Author: Mary Lane He was fined $100,000 - a third of his salary - and suspended for five games. When given his punishment, he acknowledged that what he did was wrong, but he did not know at the time that the rules applied to coaches as well as players. I'm talking about Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, who bought and used steroids to treat his diabetes. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the reason for Wilsons' purchase, but fined and suspended him regardless. So why is it that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gets off without a suspension or any disruption to his team's season after he was found spying on the New York Jets' defensive signals last week?Belichick has been personally fined the NFL maximum of $500,000, while the Pats will have to pay $250,000. For a franchise valued by Forbes at $1.2 billion, $250,000 isn't even a slap on the wrist. It's more like a poke of the finger - annoying but completely inconsequential. New England will lose their first round draft pick if they make the playoffs this year and their second and third picks if they don't. Like they care. They still have San Fran's first round pick (which they got when they gave up their first round pick in the '07 draft). To his credit, Goodell has stood behind his pledge to crack down on the unruly and shameful behavior in the league, but his slack punishment here show both the NFL's tolerance of the Dynasty Boys' repeatedly unscrupulous behavior and the emergence of a new type of crime: the tidy, subtle white-collar indiscretions of franchise leaders. Although the press hadn't exactly brought it into the limelight before the Jets incident, this isn't the first time Belichick's crew has been caught spying on other teams. And everyone around the NFL knows it. LaDainian Tomlinson has never been one to bash other teams, but he mentioned in an ESPN interview that, "so many things have been going on for years now. People complained about things the Patriots were doing -whether it was playbooks or players or what have you," and he was finally glad the league stopped turning a blind eye to it. Tomlinson remained remarkably cool when asked about the ostentatious celebration the Patriots performed on the Chargers logo when they won the divisional playoffs last year at Qualcomm Stadium. There's another blatant example of the league playing favorites. There are rules and regulations for length and type of celebrations, accompanied with hefty fines and here the Patriots were carrying on like rabid banshees. No fine, nothing.What disturbs me most, though, is that the Pats were caught taping other teams' signals twice last year, at Green Bay on Nov. 19 and against Detroit on Dec. 3. When Lions coach Rod Marinelli noticed his defensive coach being filmed, he notified officials who asked the Pats to stop. They resumed filming and were stopped again, then started a third time and were left alone. Belichick said in a press conference that this is in the past: "We're done with it." Oh, come on. This coming from a coach whose unofficial motto seems to be, "If you're not cheating, you're not trying"? (See Rodney Harrison.) You're a disgrace to the game and a danger to the integrity of the entire league, Belichick. Old habits die hard, if ever.
(09/19/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen, Brian Fung and Anthony Adragna Role reversal: Donors to make campus visitsAs part of its $500 million "Middlebury Initiative," the College plans to invite potential donors to campus more frequently - with an emphasis on offering a slice of life on campus."Visitors may wish to watch a lab, see student research in action, watch athletic competitions, or just discuss with students what Middlebury is like as a place to study, live and learn," said President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz. "I believe students can be our greatest resource in garnering support for the College."While the Initiative will be launched publicly next month, its pre-public "silent phase" has already secured nearly half of its goal at $230 million - a milestone Liebowitz called exceptional. If successful, the fundraising campaign will be the largest to date in the history of liberal arts colleges.The increased focus on fundraising has, however, forced Liebowitz and other members of his senior staff to spend more time away from the College."Traditionally, the president and fundraisers are on the road a lot visiting prospective donors," said Liebowitz, "but we want to do both, with more of an emphasis on bringing folks here to see us. The nature of philanthropy has changed. Donors today want to be part of what they support."Funds raised as part of the Middlebury Initiative will support three major goals outlined in the College's 2006 strategic plan: improving financial aid, hiring more faculty to keep class sizes down and adding to extra-curricular programs.Military to discuss "Don't ask, don't tell" Members of both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines will hold open discussions of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the coming weeks. The Marines plan to hold their meeting Oct. 9 at 12:30 p.m. in McCardell Bicentennial Hall 104. The Navy has temporarily canceled their session, and will reschedule.In 2005, the visit of one recruiter caused outrage on campus and prompted a symposium on the matter of discrimination in the military. Both the Community Council and faculty passed resolutions asking that employers who cannot sign the College's recruitment policy based on discriminatory employment practices not be allowed on campus. Homosexuals may not enter military service under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz ultimately decided to leave the recruitment policy unchanged, due to the 1997 Solomon Amendment, which stated that schools that did not allow recruiters on campus could lose federal funding. CFA, Niles Ford to host late night dance partySeveral organizations on campus will come together for a late night dance party this Sept. 22, held in the Center for the Arts.New York-based Niles Ford will DJ the party, which will feature Cuban, Brazilian, East/West African rhythms and current hip hop/global house music. The museum will remain open during the event and food will be served in the lobby.The party runs in conjunction with a newly opened exhibit, entitled "Resonance from the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art." Sponsors for the event include MCAB, the Middlebury College Museum of Art, Ross Commons and the Department of Theatre and Dance.
(09/12/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen The College's roll-out and subsequent retraction of its new logo this summer brought administrators face-to-face with a growing reality - the speed and power of Facebook as an organizing medium among college students.Armed only with their computers and disdain for the "Middlebury Leaf," Sarah Franco '08 and Alex Benepe '09 brought more than 700 students together in their group "Just Say No to the Middlebury Logo" within days of the College's announcement of its new graphic identity to accompany a $500 million capital campaign."I first learned about the new logo at the end of May," said Franco. "A friend of my supervisor came by our office, carrying a box with a sign bearing the new logo, and she informed me that that was our new logo."While Franco and Benepe's efforts became united online, their initial impetuses were different."I started a Facebook.com group for the sheer purpose of sharing this logo with my Middlebury friends and poking fun at it," said Franco, adding, "This was purely selfish and not at all altruistic. It wasn't even my intention to stop the logo."Benepe had bigger plans."Almost everyone I know is on Facebook," said Benepe. "It's also extremely rapid - you can invite 400 people to a group in five minutes. And while it may not have the same weight as a real, tangible group of people, it still has numbers that make a strong argument."The short and mostly good-natured fight over the logo pitted Franco, Benepe and their followers against the product of the prestigious New York branding firm Chermayeff & Geismar, creators of the famous NBC "peacock," as well as logos for universities like Cornell and NYU. ""We chose them because they had worked with higher education clients in the past,"" said Michael McKenna, the College's vice president for Communications and a member of the committee that approved the final design. "But it would have been ironic that a symbol that was intended to bring the community together was instead creating friction. After conferring with President Liebowitz, it was decided to honor [the protestors'] feelings."The many members of the protest group shared a few key objections to the logo."When I first saw the new Middlebury College logo, I quickly checked the calendar to make sure it was April 1st," said Franco in her invitation to the Facebook group. "After discovering that this was not the case, my next reaction was to assume that Vermont had successfully seceded from the Union and we were now part of Canada."Franco's thoughts on the logo echoed most students' objections to the non-descript leaf: while some thought it resembled the Canadian maple leaf, others were reminded of a marijuana symbol and still more felt it gave off a "corporate" vibe."Though it is an innovative and smart branding tool, the logo seemed highly corporate," said Noelle Bullion '08, who worked as a student member of the design committee last fall before traveling abroad. "I had feared this since Chermayeff & Geismar is a firm that has a history of successful corporate branding."While many students objected to the substance of the new logo, others were turned off by the College's seeming hesitance to consult students before launching the new identity."After doing some research I realized that this logo had been somewhat created behind our backs," said Benepe. "I know that the intentions were good but it was only shown to a small percentage of students."McKenna, meanwhile, argued that his committee made a strong effort to involve students in the design process. In addition to Carolyn Barnwell '07 and Bullion, the student members of the committee, McKenna and his colleagues consulted members of the Student Government Association (SGA) and the environmental Sunday Night Group."Any creative project like this requires that you let the designers do the work," explained McKenna. "Getting too many people involved too soon can be confusing. There's an old saying, 'a cow is a horse designed by a committee.' So we let C&G do the work, and selected what we thought was best."McKenna said he was surprised by the swift response to the College's announcement - and by the power of Facebook."I was caught off guard by the strong reaction," he said. "Facebook was invented by some guys who lived down the hall from my son in college, and as a result I have always viewed it as student turf and not used it. But when I learned of the anti-logo group I did finally register."For now, both designers and protestors seem happy with the College's decision the "Middlebury Leaf" be kept as a symbol for the $500 million campaign while a revised Middlebury seal - also designed by Chermayeff & Geismar - takes its place in other College correspondence."Their concession reflects their respect for the student body while at the same time still making use of a logo that was designed by a very high profile design firm," said Benepe. "I am quite happy with the compromise."
(05/09/07 12:00am)
Author: Leslie Lim The rough final Admissions numbers for the for the College's class of 2011 are in, and the most evident trend is the continued surge of applicants to Middlebury with a record high admissions yield of 47 percent. This year's yield was greater than expected, and the Office of Admissions plans to keep the result in mind for the coming years.With an applicant pool of 7,185 students this year, the College saw a 16 percent increase in applications, following an 18 percent increase the year before. The figures point to almost a 1,000 applicants/year increase over the last two years.Dean of Admissions Robert Clagett, in an interview on May 7, remarked upon the consistency of the rise in applicants."The aggregate behaves consistently," said Clagett. "But this year, due to Middlebury's popularity, [we were] given a boost."Currently, the admissions yield stands at about 47 percent. The number indicates those who plan to matriculate to the College after receiving an offer to enroll here. The yield is higher in admission terms than projected yields of 44 percent, Clagett explained. "It's record-making for Middlebury College," Clagett said. "The highest [yield] in at least a decade."However, the yield does not account for the "summer melt", a term used to describe those students who eventually decline the offer to enroll at the College after being offered a place off the waitlist of another school during the summer months. Usually the "summer melt" consists of seven to eight percent, which Admissions is actually counting on to achieve their hopes for a 2011 class of 603 fall admissions and 90 February admissions. In addition to the yield, the Admissions office found and reported were rises in percentage of international applicants and domestic students of color applicants.The College saw an increase in international applicants, consisting of 1158 students or 16 percent of the applicant pool, up from last year's 14 percent. Other regions such as the Mid-West, the Mid-Atlantic, New England, and the Rockies made-up consistent percentages of the pool, although the overall numbers of students were higher for each category.The number of applicants of domestic students of color rose as well. Combining African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American and Native American students, students of color consisted of 26 percent of matriculates for fall admission, representing 159 students. The result was a rise from the 122 students last year that made up 22 percent of the class of 2010. It was noted that the actual admittance rate could decrease, but because the overall number of applicants had increased by so much, the overall number admitted could still be greater than before."We have a continued emphasis on reaching out to underrepresented groups in general," Clagett said. "To achieve greater socio-economic and racial/ethnic diversity at Middlebury."The new all-expenses paid trip offered to students by Admissions could also have swayed the applicants to choose the College. Offered to 101 students who were "likelies" - some of the best and most appealing applicants - the trip paid for flights and invited them to come experience the College. 57 students out of the 101 likelies accepted, and among the 57 students 24 have decided to matriculate to the College, a 70 percent increase from the 14 likelies who decided to matriculate last year.Admissions also sent out personalized letters of congratulations to all those offered a place at the College. Sixteen full-time staff members handle the immense and lengthy process of admissions - reading applications, conducting interviews, and traveling to promote the College. Each staff member is responsible for about 500 applications, each of which is read by at least two readers. Assistant Director of Admissions Shawn Rae Passalacqua commented on the difficult process of selection, which does not always allow person-to-person interaction. "We don't always have an intimate portrait [of the student]. But while talking about each in committee, we remember names and stories - which is wonderful," Passalacqua said. "We want to enliven the campus, and it isn't about the statistics, but the human aspect [of things]."As to Middlebury's increase in popularity, Passalacqua attributes it to the College as a whole. The attention given to visiting and prospective students by admissions, professors, staff and students gives the Middlebury environment a friendly feeling, he said.Attesting to the quality of experience that may have attracted the increased number of students, Passalacqua recalls the number of thank-you letters the Admissions office receives - even from students who choose to go elsewhere or who were not even accepted."It's a tremendous compliment," Passalacqua said. "And though it doesn't happen everywhere, it isn't rare at Middlebury."And as for improvements next year, Passalacqua ended on a positive note. "It is a collective effort to do all we can - to be more friendly, more environmentally-conscious, more Middlebury!"
(05/09/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen The College's Board of Trustees formally announced a five-year, $500 million fundraising initiative at its meeting this weekend, immediately vaunting $221 million already pledged in a pre-campaign "silent phase." The Board also approved a plan first proposed by members of the Sunday Night Group, for the College to achieve carbon neutrality by 2016.If successful, the $500 million Middlebury Initiative will represent the largest capital campaign in the history of liberal arts colleges, topping a 2005 record of $470 million set by Wellesley College. Comparable efforts now underway at peer institutions within the NESCAC include $400 million initiatives at Williams and Amherst Colleges."We are confident we will reach the $500 million goal," said President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz, "but we also recognize that this is a huge and exciting task ahead of us."The success of the silent phase comes on the heels of a year in which the College out-fundraised every other liberal arts institution, finishing with a $61.5 million total that exceeded expectations by nearly $10 million.Liebowitz and his staff stressed that funds raised by the initiative will be necessary to support two primary goals outlined in the Strategic Plan approved by the Board last May: improved student aid packages to replace loans with grants and the addition to the College's faculty of 25 new professorships.The Initiative "is unusual in that it will not emphasize infrastructure and capital projects," wrote Secretary of the College John Emerson in an e-mail. "Instead, it will focus on strengthening Middlebury's student financial aid programs and on supporting the expansion of the faculty in order to further enhance student-faculty contact."The College's focus on building student-faculty relationships has recently earned the plaudits of national critics like the Princeton Review, which rated Middlebury the highest among NESCAC schools for undergraduates' overall academic experience and the quality of its professors.Even a successful $500 million initiative will leave the College's endowment, now at $887 million, lagging behind those of several perennial competitors with which it shares a "top five" ranking from U.S. News & World Report. Not only do Williams at $1.5 billion and Amherst at $1.3 billion enjoy greater total endowments but, with smaller student bodies, their endowments on a per-student basis more than double the College's.As part of the Middlebury Initiative, the Board considered setting aside a Green Fund of roughly $50 million to finance the College's future environmental initiatives. Though no firm total has been set, the fund will also benefit from a seed gift of $2 million from former Board Chairman Churchill Franklin '71 as well as the support of this year's Senior Class Gift."The Franklin family... has been inspired by the College's commitment to environmental stewardship and leadership," said Liebowitz. "They understand how important the environment is not only to the College's mission, but also to the future beyond the College, and they wanted to help us in all we do in this area."The Board took a more concrete step, however, in officially adopting the Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) into College policy. The final product of a working group comprised of students and administrators, the Initiative represents a victory for the Sunday Night Group, the student climate change organization whose members decided in May 2006 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. "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."The CNI will draw on the Green Fund to finance its programs, which range from changes in campus infrastructure aimed at reducing carbon emissions to education programs designed to foster climate-friendly behavior among members of the College community."One could say that Middlebury College's carbon footprint is trivial when looking at global climate change," said organizer Dave Dolginow '09. "But where do you start? By not only reducing our footprint but also educating our community about the environment as we go, we will have a big impact."The CNI comes amidst a broader movement at the College in favor of climate change action. This April saw the much-publicized success of Scholar-in-Residence in Environmental Studies Bill McKibben's "Step it Up 2007" demonstrations, and in January the Sunday Night Group hosted a regional summit for college students working towards carbon neutrality on their own campuses."It's important to see Middlebury's commitment in the context of a national movement lead by students to make campuses carbon neutral," said Henn. "Someone said recently that Middlebury is becoming for the climate movement what Berkeley was for the student movement in the 1960s."
(05/09/07 12:00am)
Author: Zamir Ahmed The men's and women's crew teams traveled to Worcester, Mass. on May 5 to take part in the New England Fours Championship, with the women finishing strong in both their races to return home with a first- and third-place finish against competition from throughout the region."New England Fours is one of our favorite regattas," said Women's Captain Brooke Adams '07, "because it unites all of the competition we see during the regular season as well as other rivals like Simmons who we only race during the postseason."The women's varsity 'A' boat, seeded first in the event, started off its day nervously, battling Franklin Pierce in the morning heat for the lead through the race's first 500 meters. Guided by Adams as the boat's coxswain, the team of Miko Heller '07.5, Brett Dollar '09.5, Emily Dawson '08.5 and Captain Kathryn Babin '07 found their rhythm and pulled away the rest of the 2000 meters to finish 12 seconds ahead of Franklin Pierce and qualify for the afternoon's Grand Finals.Buoyed by its impressive finish in the qualifying race, the team went into the finals positive about its ability to pull away from the competition down the stretch."After the morning's race we knew that no matter what happened in the first 500 meters of the race, we had a lot of speed and confidence that we could just get faster over the course of the race," said Babin.In the finals, the team once again found itself down at the start, this time trailing Simmons College for the first 750 meters. The women would not be deterred, however, battling back to pull ahead and coast to the finish line."It's the greatest feeling to have confidence that your boat can calmly and smoothly move right past the competition," said Babin. "We kept pulling away throughout the second half of the race and although they made several attempts at taking back our lead, we finished the race seven seconds ahead of Simmons and in first place."The win was Middlebury's first win at the New England Fours in over a decade, with the last gold medal won in 1996 by the lightweight women's boat."Winning New Englands is almost a surreal experience," said Babin. "It's something I've aspired to all four years of my rowing career at Middlebury and every year we've been getting a little bit faster and little bit closer to that gold medal. This is absolutely the perfect way for the three seniors in that boat to start winding down our time with Midd Crew. I couldn't have asked for a better boat of women to row with."While the women's 'B' boat did not enjoy the same level of success as the 'A' team, the team of coxswain Hana Nagao '09, Maggie Smith '09.5, Dale Freundlich '10, Flora Campbell '09 and Janet Schroeder '08.5 rowed strong in its opening heat, finishing in second place and earning a place in the finals. Competing against a fast field in the finals, the team edged out Bowdoin to claim a third place finish.With the women's crew team only graduating two seniors in Babin and Adams, the team expects to return stronger than ever next year. Leaving collegiate crew competition on a high note, Adams was encouraged that the team would be in good hands next year. "It's been a wonderful senior year having two really competitive women's boats and knowing that our younger teammates have many more seasons on the team to be even faster," said Adams.While the men's boat could not replicate the success of the women, finishing fifth in its opening heat and failing to qualify for the finals, the team believes its youth will turn into an advantage when next year's fall season rolls around."With only one returnee from last year's varsity squad, we were probably the most inexperienced boat in the event," said men's Captain Justin Scott '08, "but there is a great deal of young talent on this team that will undoubtedly produce some impressive results next year."Hoping to build off the success of the New England Fours Championship, the teams will head to Whitney Point, N.Y. for the ECAC Championships on May 12-13 to compete against teams from as far away as Texas and Washington.
(05/02/07 12:00am)
Author: Livingston Burgess The Middlebury women's outdoor track and field team made a strong statement on its home ground Saturday, taking second at the NESCAC championships and fielding five individual event winners. On the men's side, Pat Sedney's '08 and Bobby Marcoux's '07 second place showings paced the team on its way to fifth place.Alexandra Krieg '09 led the home meet off in a big way for Middlebury, outlasting a three-woman lead pack to take the women's 10,000-meter, the day's first race, in 36:41.15 seconds. Krieg also ran the 5,000 meter and placed seventh.Coach Martin Beatty said that starting the meet off with a win was a huge mental boost to the team and the spectators."Just to establish ourselves, especially at a home meet and at the NESCACs, was awesome," he said. "It got people even more pumped up and made everyone else want to go out and put up efforts like hers, which was just superhuman." While Krieg was locked in that battle, Meira Lifson '07 was well on her way to capturing Middlebury's first of two titles in the field events. Lifson took the pole vault championship with a leap of 3.27 meters.Seniors Beth Butler and Claire Schultz capped their NESCAC careers with a one-two finish in the women's 800-meter, which Butler led from the start and controlled for every step. She spent the first lap on the heels of Williams' Katie Howard and willed her way to a spectacular second lap. "The last lap was pure adrenaline, everyone screaming, on my home track, at the NESCACs, my senior year," said Butler. After the stretch run, she and Schultz joined hands in celebration. "It was great for us to both pull it through."Butler's co-captain, Mary Frederickson '07, finished out a perfect record at the NESCACs with her fourth javelin championship in as many tries. This time the competition was not even close. Frederickson's throw of 40.47 meters in the finals was 6.82 meters farther than her closest opponent, Hamilton's Laura Belden.In another dominating performance, the women's 4x800 meter relay team made it a race for second when Butler gapped the chase pack within the first lap. Kara Plunkett '07, Susanna Merrill '09 and Schultz cruised from there to a 9:21.30 victory.Other high-placing finishers for the women's team included the 4x400 meter team of Simone Weisman '09, Laura Dalton '10, Claire Zutz '10 and Anjuli Demers '10. Demers went out fearlessly in the anchor leg, but was nipped in the home stretch by the team from Bowdoin. Kelley Coughlan '09 took third in the 100-meter hurdles, fifth in the high jump, seventh in the long jump and third in the triple jump to pace Middlebury with 18 points earned. Demonstrating the grit that garnered him captain's honors, Will McDonough '07 hung with the lead pack in the 3000-meter steeplechase for as long as he could, and held off Tufts Chad Uy with pure determination in the final lap to finish seventh in 9:44.55.Middlebury's other men's captains, Pascal Losambe '07 and Marcoux, turned in strong performances of their own. Marcoux was second in the discus with a throw of 47.92 meters, and Losambe was sixth in the shot put and fifth in the hammer throw. His distances were 13.32 meters and 43.73 meters, respectively.Bruce Hallett '10, who took fourth in a stacked men's 1,500-meter field, turned in one of the day's more exciting performances. Colby's Ian London and Williams' Mike Davitian, lined up beside Hallett, held between them a NESCAC record and a reigning title. Hallett, however, ran a gritty race, holding off a charging Polar Bear in the final lap to finish in 4:00.73. "It's a little intimidating," said Hallett, "but I know how they run, and I try to just kind of phase them out and run my own race.I went out trying not to get boxed in, and we were right where we wanted to be at the 800 Ö I feel good about how I ran."First-year Micah Wood, like Hallett, posted good performances in events with strong competition, running in the traditionally crowded 100-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter sprints. In the 100, he was eighth in 11.64 seconds, and took 12th in the 200 in 23.08. Most impressively, he was fifth in the 400 with 50.99, despite running in the first heat, in which no competitors offered a pace off of which he could push himself. He also ran the 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relays. Beatty had high praise for Wood's efforts, and for Demers, who had the same lineup of races. "We rarely let someone do five races in a meet, but they really stepped up, saying they wanted to do it for the team," said Beatty. "To have freshman that committed is just great." Beatty was also very happy with the support of the College community, who came out in large numbers, despite threatening rain, to cheer on the Panthers."I'm very excited about how we were able to host this meet, especially for our seniors," he said. "It's great to be able to showcase track and field here at Middlebury College. People got to see just how exciting the sport can really be."The Panthers still have four more weeks of competition, including the D-III New England championshps, the Open New England championships and the M.I.T. Invitational, before the NCAA championships. Frederickson (javelin), Marcoux (discus), Krieg (5,000-meter), Butler (800-meter), Schultz (800-meter) and Jimmy Butcher (10,000-meter) have already qualified for NCAAs and will compete in Oshkosh, Wisc., May 24-26.
(05/02/07 12:00am)
Author: Thomas Newton It was a dark and stormy afternoon. I was on a mission: to deliver turkey, ham, veggie and roast beef grinders to hungry Super Bowl Sunday football fans. It was one of many fundraising programs I had to partake in for my high school crew team. I, along with teammates, had made the grinders that morning, and now I was on my way to a house in Granby, Conn. to deliver the goods. I was driving my parent's 2004 Volkswagen Touareg, guided by the friendly female voice of its navigation system. "Turn left in 500 feet," she politely requested. I looked at the map on the screen, then at the road ahead and then back at the map. Five hundred feet ahead and to the left was a wall of snow-covered trees. I checked the GPS information and my stomach sank. I had lost the connection with the satellite. My immediate reaction was to take out my cell phone and call my dad for directions but, just as I had lost the satellite connection, no cell tower was to be found. I was one town over from my own and I was lost, with six grinders in the back seat starting to smell.The reason I bring up this little anecdote is to show that, however often overlooked it may be, we, as a global society, have become technologically dependent. Almost everything we do is dependent on technology, from communications to academics and from transportation to recreation; some form of technology has invaded almost every aspect of our lives. Is this a problem? For the most part, no. GPS, in conjunction with cars and airplanes, makes it easier to get from point A to point B, cell phones and the Internet make international and local communication affordable, online databases make research thousands of times easier and digital music, pictures and movies make entertainment easier to store and carry.The problems with technological dependence were exemplified four years ago, on August 14, 2003, when 10 million people in the Canadian province of Ontario and 40 million people in the northeastern part of the U.S. were affected by a massive power outage. New York City shut down, including the iconic lights of Times Square. Metro North trains were stuck between New York and Connecticut for hours, cell phone towers went down, television broadcasts incident were not received by the people affected by the outage as they didn't have access to television and traffic was a mess as signals were out. What does this grave incident, as well as my more frivolous one, tell us? We need to be cautious of the extent to which we rely on technology and in broader terms, electricity. If a terrorist really wanted to paralyze a developed country, all they would have to do is pull the plug on electricity. Communication and transportation would be stopped. There's really nothing to do to stop the further implementation of new technologies, and no reason to resist them, but it's important to realize that our need for these technologies can be a weakness. I know I personally am going to practice reading analog clocks and make sure I know how to use a pay phone.
(05/02/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen The Board of Trustees will meet on campus this Friday to discuss the College's budget, an upcoming $500 million capital campaign, progress on the Strategic Plan it approved last May and a proposal from the Sunday Night Group's "MiddShift" initiative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2016.The meeting will be an important one for MiddShift, whose presentation at the Board's last gathering led to the formation of a Carbon Neutrality Advisory Group comprised of both students and administrators. The group has been working on a written proposal to be reviewed this Friday outlining the potential costs, risks and organizational impact of taking steps towards carbon neutrality - like the purchase of carbon offsets - over the next nine years."Middlebury College should adopt MiddShift because it is an economically viable way to stay at the forefront of environmental leadership," said David Dolginow '09, a student member of the Advisory Group. "MiddShift benefits the College directly because it will reinforce our mission statement, build a greater sense of community and attract talented students and new donors while benefiting the environment. Undoubtedly there are some risks involved in such an institutional change, but they are miniscule when compared to the benefits," he added.Executive Vice President and Treasurer Bob Huth praised the Sunday Night Group's work on the initiative in advance of the Board's meeting."I think the Sunday Night Group has been very successful in helping to educate all of us about the environmental consequences of our individual and collective actions," said Huth.Huth stressed that regardless of whatever support the Board provides for MiddShift, each member of the College community shares in the burden of reducing its carbon footprint."In addition to working with the Sunday Night Group and other campus groups such as the Student Government Association and the Environmental Council, the administration would engage all students, faculty, and staff since this goal can only be accomplished if everyone takes personal responsibility," Huth said.Huth cited as examples of that responsibility energy conservation measures like turning down building heating systems and turning off appliances and lighting. Recent initiatives have included competitions between Commons to reduce energy use and a student campaign to reduce the average temperature of buildings on campus by two degrees.
(05/02/07 12:00am)
Author: Jeff Klein Ok everyone, I am a Yankees fan. But this is an objective statement: the New York Yankees are not in trouble.Yes, I understand that as I am typing this the team is sitting on a 9-13 record, good for last place in the American League East. This might be the latest into a season the Yanks have ever been looking up at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the standings. The pitching staff has been a mess. With injuries to Carl Pavano, Mike Mussina and Chien-Ming Wang the team has been forced to pitch guys with shaky track records.The Yankees even had to call up prized prospect Philip Hughes to pitch last week, blatantly contradicting General Manager Brian Cashman's assertion that he would not call him up until the pitcher was absolutely ready for the big leagues. Hughes was not exactly dazzling in his Major League debut, surrendering four runs and seven hits in four and one-third innings, as the Yankees got blanked by the Blue Jays, 6-0. So why am I not worried?Right now, the Yankees have actually scored the second-most runs in the league with 127. Despite being four games under .500, they also have a positive run differential, meaning they've scored more runs this season than they've given up. If the Yankees were a stock, they would be extremely undervalued at this point. They're not doing well now, but there are strong indicators that they'll improve as time goes on.From a historical standpoint, we can just look at what's happened over the past decade. The Yankees have won the American League East every year since 1997. But it's not just that the team has won the division title for nine straight years, it's how they've won it and against whom. The Yankees have battled adversity before, yet always come out on top by the end of September. Remember last year, when the team was similarly decimated by injuries in the middle of the season and it looked as if the Red Sox were going to run away with the division?Nobody panicked, players came back and suddenly the Yankees could not be stopped while Boston went into a tailspin. So don't discount the power of Yankees mystique, as well as the team's mastery of the Red Sox (excluding the 2004 ALCS, of course).While I fully expect the Yankees to win the division again, I am concerned about the postseason, as every Yankees fan should be. Simply put, the Yankees need better pitching to win a World Series. Look what happened last season, when the supposed experience of the Yanks proved useless against the upstart Detroit Tigers, a team that featured an array of young and powerful arms that completely shut down the Yankees' bats. The Yankees' pitching staff has been old for quite some time, and while the possible addition of Roger Clemens later in the season would undoubtedly bolster the staff, I don't think more age is the best answer for the Yanks. But, come on, why am I actually worried? The Yankees have A-Rod, who has, with his production, suddenly become every Yankee fan's favorite player. Who would have thought?
(04/25/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen At $46,910, Middlebury will have the second-highest price tag among New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools for the academic year beginning this fall. The higher costs come as the College scrambles to build an endowment comparable to its recent rise in national rankings, while also keeping its promise to replace many student loans with grants.The 2007-2008 comprehensive fee, just below Wesleyan University's, exceeds the NESCAC average by $552. More significantly, however, it also places the cost of attending the College at an average $1,348 more than the pricetag of its top four competitors: Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst and Bowdoin Colleges."The schools with which we most compete now for students are better endowed on a student-by-student basis," said President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz. "The College has risen in the rankings, and so the overlap group has changed quite dramatically over the last fifteen years."Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett explained that Middlebury's smaller endowment on a per-student basis is part of the motivation behind the College's anticipated five-year, $500 million capital campaign. Middlebury's per-student endowment now stands at $322,000, less than half that enjoyed by both Williams and Amherst. Since endowments produce a significant portion of colleges' annual operating budgets, better-endowed institutions enjoy greater financial support for programs like student aid.Clagett said that the size of the College's need-based financial aid packages will expand as the cost of a Middlebury education rises, helping to attract qualified students for whom those costs could be prohibitive. He added, however, that institutions with larger endowments can more easily support expanded student aid."Top colleges all meet the full need of any student who is admitted, so there shouldn't be dramatic differences between our packages," said Clagett. "But institutions that are even better-endowed than Middlebury can afford to have an even lower loan expectation than Middlebury."Liebowitz said that the Strategic Plan approved by the Board of Trustees last May places a long-term emphasis on reducing the loan portion of financial aid packages - a move that follows suit with prominent Ivy League schools like Harvard and Princeton, whose multi-billion dollar endowments have supported the switch to full grants. "We have a sort of bifurcated student body now, where many students on aid get a very large grant - that's why the average grant is about $28,000 - while others pay the full tuition," said Liebowitz. "We would love to have more socioeconomic diversity, and it's a goal that our Strategic Plan talked about, but it's going to take time and a lot of resources."Forty-five percent of students currently attending the College receive some form of financial aid.In working to replace loans with grants, the College hopes not only to better compete with its peer institutions for top students, but also to give those students more financial freedom after graduation."The other driving force is that we want to make sure that the level of debt that students incur here doesn't have an impact on long-term vocational plans," said Clagett. "And our average debts [in recent years] were getting to the point where they could have had that impact."Beginning with the class of 2011, financial aid packages will reduce the average debt held by graduating students from $18,000 to $12,000."For an almost $200,000 education over four years, going $12,000 into debt is not a bad deal, said Clagett. "And at that level it should not be having any impact on post-graduate plans."Accepted students in town on Monday for one of two "Campus Preview" days said they were trying not to let concerns about Middlebury's high price tag influence their final college decision."I think considering how much tuition at top colleges is, you can't really worry about the difference a few hundred dollars more a year makes," said Erin Jackson, a potential matriculate. "There are so many more important factors."
(04/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Alaina Robertson The administration and the student body need to critically think about the new rise in the comprehensive fee. "It still only covers 68 percent of the real cost"Öso what! Why does the administration need another $1.5 million a year? Do we really need bigger and better shows? Can't we be satisfied with our great campus and local bands? How necessary are all of our frivolities? We're here for an education, right? A $2,220 increase may not seem like a lot when viewed against the $44,330 already paid for a Middlebury education, but think about it this way: The 2006 median household income was $46,326. The tuition for one year of Middlebury now exceeds the total income of over 50% of the households in the US. Though Middlebury was never cheap to begin with, increasing the tuition so dramatically is simply closing the door to that many more students who come from families where a 5.25 percent increase makes a difference. Middlebury prides itself on its "diversity," after all, 30 percent of the class of 2010 were minorities or international students and 42 percent of students receive financial aid. But if you look at the average aid package ($26,732) that means that the average student on financial aid can still pay $17,598. No family making under $50,000 can afford to put this much money toward a college education. So a very generous estimation would be that 20 percent of the student body comes from that 50 percent of the country who makes an average living. Where does this put Middlebury? Not in a diverse situation, that's for sure. Why are we moving toward more elitism? The income gap is diverging and every time Middlebury raises its tuition it is excluding another fraction of the population that just can't work out paying an extra thousand dollars or so. We need to ask ourselves, what the value of an institution like Middlebury is when it is educating and enabling only the children of the upper class - these kids were already guaranteed some level of security and success anyway.The counter argument is that Middlebury covers 100 percent of financial need. Did they ever tell you that they establish that need? The aid calculations are not very realistic. For example, the FAFSA will establish that a household making $40,000 with two children in college is expected to spend 14% of their household income on the parental contribution. Do you think that the parents can make ends meet with the $34,500 that leaves them with? (No, parents will most likely choose to send their kids to a place where they can cut costs with off-campus housing, no expensive meal plan, and more employment opportunities than a place like Middlebury.)Diversity is not just about race or ethnicity, it is about class. Middlebury fails miserably on this one. If Middlebury tried to reduce their comprehensive fee, rather than skyrocket it, they would surely find more real diversity in the student body. The "bubble" that we joke about would become less of a bubble of isolation from the real world if Midd tried a little harder to re-create the real-world demographics of the US. There are brilliant, Midd-deserving (and Midd-capable) students in every socio-economic level, why aren't they here?Alaina Robertson is a sophomore who hails from Bellevue, Wash.
(04/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen The largest global warming demonstration in American history took place on April 14, all thanks to an idea conceived by six recent graduates of the College and Scholar-in-Residence Bill McKibben. Step It Up 2007, a campaign of more than 1,400 coordinated demonstrations in all 50 states, called on Congress to pass comprehensive climate change legislation aimed at cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent before 2050.From an online launch in January with the modest goal of organizing 100 events, Step It Up 2007 rapidly grew into a national phenomenon that exceeded McKibben and his students' wildest dreams for the project."Step It Up was an incredible success that surpassed all of our expectations," wrote Jamie Henn '06.5, one of the project's earliest staff members, in an e-mail. "More than thirty senators and congressmen attended rallies. John Edwards attended one of our rallies and pledged 80 percent cuts by 2050. This is becoming a national priority."While the campaign enjoyed widespread support around the nation, organizers were pleased that the idea for the movement originated at the College."Step It Up took the incredible energy around climate change on the Middlebury campus and made it something national," wrote McKibben in an e-mail. "We were able to find people who cared passionately around the country and link them together in amazing ways that really demonstrated to Congress that this is not a second-tier issue for Americans. It's the beginning of a movement."While that movement may end, as McKibben and others hope, in congressional action to curb global warming, it certainly began in part at Middlebury."For anyone who thinks it is difficult to make change from the bubble of Vermont, Step It Up is a testament to the fact that big changes can ripple out from small places," said Jon Warnow '06.5, another one of the project's original staffers.Fellow project member May Boeve '06.5 agreed that Middlebury has a special place in the movement towards action on climate change, adding that the experience for her illustrates the opportunities available to students at the College."For any Middlebury student who has ever considered going out on a limb after graduating," Boeve said, "Step It Up showed me that not only is that possible, it's life changing."With sponsorship from major environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Step It Up 2007 organized rallies at some of the nation's most environmentally symbolic landmarks. Particularly poignant demonstrations took place on top of the once-broken levees in New Orleans, as well as on top of the melting glaciers at Mt. Rainier and underwater near endangered Key West coral reefs."Overall, we have been stunned by the number of successful actions and the reports we have gotten from participants," wrote Henn. "It was a powerful day for many people."The New Orleans demonstration proved to be among the most powerful, with over 500 city residents and activists turning out in red T-shirts that read, "Save New Orleans, Stop Global Warming." Together with many environmental scholars, the event's organizers stressed that they saw a strong connection between climate change and Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the city in 2005."Global warming is going to affect us and our children most," Tulane University student organizer Abbie Kamin reported on the Step It Up Web site. "Global warming is real, we have experienced it firsthand, and we can't afford to wait any longer to address it."More than one thousand marchers also converged on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to form what they called a "human postcard" delivering a simple message to Congress: "80% By 2050!"Though McKibben and his Middlebury graduates purposefully chose to organize local events around the country rather than a "march on Washington" reminiscent of the Civil Rights movement, their efforts have sparked comparisons to both the urgency and the moral imperative of that era.McKibben said "that to stop global warming, we need a cause with all the passion and moral urgency of the 1960s civil rights movement," read a story on Friday in The Philadelphia Enquirer. The Enquirer's home city played host to dozens of students dressed as endangered arctic wildlife who, in the shadow of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, witnessed a modified rendition of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin" that lamented, "The Climate, It Is A-Changin."Will Congress respond to Step It Up's call to action? McKibben certainly hopes so, particularly in light of the Democrats' takeover of both chambers in last November's midterm elections."There's a possibility, especially if control of one or both of the houses of Congress changes hands, that we'll see some legislation finally," McKibben told The Campus just days before the election. "It's beyond belief that the United States hasn't passed a single real law to begin to deal with this problem."In the wake of Saturday's nationwide demonstrations, the banner that now headlines Step It Up's Web offered a pointed challenge: "Your move, Congress."
(04/11/07 12:00am)
Author: Anthony Adragna The College was buzzing last week with the 60 prospective students who received free trips to the College. The visits were part of the busiest time of year for the Office of Admissions, which also announced plans to introduce more financial aid dollars for qualified students."With a 16 percent increase in applications, competition this year was even more intense," Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett said. "Between the 16 percent increase this year and the 18 percent increase from the year before, we've had an increase in applications of 38 percent over the last two years."The College continued to maintain a very competitive acceptance rate."We had an overall admittance rate of 23 percent," Clagett said. "We admitted 1,658 kids out of 7,185. We're hoping for around 600 for the September class and 90 for the February class. That February number is about 14 lower than this year's class and is part of the scaling back of the Feb program."Clagett attributes the rise in applications to a variety of factors, some of them specific to Middlebury and others part of a national trend. "Some reasons are true of all schools across the country," he said. "Namely, demographically the number of high school graduates is on the rise. There is a good correlation between an increase of graduating high school students and applications at Midd. Additionally, there is the fact that more students are applying to more colleges. So that accounts for some of the rest of the increase." The rise in applications at the College exceeds the rate seen at peer institutions by at least five percent, according to Clagett."There has got to be something different happening at Midd," he said. "The areas for which we are known: environmental science, international studies and languages are catching on in ways we haven't seen in the past. We take a broad approach to global issues. What's happening is that we have a pragmatic twist to our curriculum that many people care about right now."Other NESCAC schools reported increases in applications, according to Clagett. Applications to Bowdoin are up nine percent, Williams increased five percent, Colby rose 10 percent and Amherst applications increased by nine percent, according to data given to the Office of Admissions from other colleges.Last week, the Office of Admissions also facilitated the arrival of the 100 "likely" students who received free trips from the College to come and visit. Students arrived on Thursday and stayed until Friday night. Over 60 students accepted the offer to visit the College.Student Program Director Jackie Hurwitz '07 said the program attempted to give students a variety of activities to try while on campus."We wanted to make sure prospective students would get the most out of their visit, so we tried to offer a wide variety of options that would emphasize Middlebury's academic program, as well as give a taste of daily life on campus," she said. "The schedule was extremely flexible so that students would have the chance to explore what most interested them."Hurwitz said the only challenge the program faced was finding enough available hosts. "The average Midd-kid is understandably very busy, so it was a challenge at first to find available hosts," she said. "However, the actual program ran very smoothly, and all of the feedback I've received has been quite positive."The program offered the students many opportunities to meet Middlebury students outside of the classroom."We had an introductory dinner on Thursday evening and placed prospective students at tables with current students and faculty who shared similar interests," she said. "We also invited visiting students to a number of pre-existing campus events - from plays to symposia - so that they could meet current students in a casual setting and try to gain a better sense of the student body."Students who visited comprise a variety of diverse interests and localities. "One-third [of the visitors] are students of color," said Clagett. "One-half are eligible for grant assistance."Clagett said he expects the number of admitted students who enroll in the College to remain constant. "Our yield is relatively predictable," he said. "43 to 44 percent is our yield of admitted students in the past. My guess is that the factors that could cause the yield to go up and to go down will end up balancing each other out."In addition to sending out the notices of admittance, and hosting the likely students, the administration announced an effort last week to reduce the loan portion of students' aid package by up to $2,500, starting with the Class of 2011. "Our average debt at graduation is higher than many competitors," Clagett said. "We are concerned, beyond whether financial aid is comparable to other schools, that students' debt at graduation will have an impact on post-graduation plans. It would be sad if someone couldn't pursue lower-paying public service jobs because of debts."Clagett said the College hoped that debt would not become a barrier to admissions. "We certainly want to make sure the idea of debt does not affect their decision to apply," he said. "The average debt at graduation is a very important question that is very seldom asked. Our hope is to create even more socioeconomic diversity in the student body."
(03/21/07 12:00am)
Author: Kelsey Smith You've seen him around. Tall, skinny, attractive boy in tight, ripped jeans and old-school Nikes spray-painted gold complete with slap bracelet and very '90s hat with the word "Peck" cocked to the side. And of course, large headphones and a cigarette are always part of the package. Jordan Nassar '07.5 is a Japanese major from Manhattan who brings a little bit of outside counter culture in music and fashion to Middlebury. The Campus took a few minutes to find out a little more about him. The Middlebury Campus: Describe your J-Term project concerning Tokyo's mix of gay, fashion and clubbing culture.Jordan Nassar: I wrote a creative independent 500 project for my Japanese major featuring creative non-fiction vignettes about the intersection of these three cultures. While I was abroad during spring 2006, I met mad awesome people. Some of them work in fashion, some are gay and others DJ or organize club events. I noticed an overlap in these three identities: many of my friends fit that description. I knew I wanted to return to Tokyo and decided to write about it. I wasn't drawing conclusions, I just wanted to show this alternative subculture to others and remember my experiences in the process.TC: Have fashion and clubbing culture always been a part of your identity? Or did they emerge after you came out?JN: I've always liked music and dancing - clubbing came later just because of my age. Fashion-wise, I never wanted to draw attention to myself before coming out because I was always internally afraid of being called gay. When I came out I called myself gay and it was no longer a fear. There's a certain freedom of expression that comes with coming out. These identities linked, however, in Tokyo where my friends ran parties at clubs for fashion kids. TC: Tell me about how your life in Tokyo artistically compares to your life here. JN: Well there are no clubs and not that many gay people at Middlebury, and even fewer people with an interest in fashion that extends outside the newest color of "Ugg." However, I am involved with WRMC as Music Director. That keeps me connected to what's going on in the world musically. In terms of a club, I'm working hard to get the Hamlin Club idea, Xanadu, off the ground. We're having a "dry run" (i.e. no alcohol) with a WRMC dance party Friday, April 6. TC: How do you see yourself making these things a part of your life after college?JN: Tokyo is a place where being involved with the world of fashion and music means being young. Therefore I am planning on going there directly after college. Some of my older friends, who are only 28, own magazines and clubs, and I've been offered jobs through them. I'm thinking I'll follow in their footsteps. I can't think of anything better than being there. Here, people look at me funny because of the way I dress. There, I get offered jobs as a stylist or a fashion editor's assistant. TC: I understand you've also done some modeling?JN: I've been in a few men's fashion magazines. One time I was noticed on the street in Tokyo but the jobs have mostly been organized through friends. There's something ridiculous about getting paid to stand there and wear really nice clothes, but then again I love Vivienne Westwood and Comme des GarÁons. Getting to wear their clothes was sweet because Lord knows I can't afford that. I know it's silly, but I'm getting paid, so I figure, why not?TC: Aside from your Japanese 500 project, you've also done some writing for Sweatervest. Any thoughts of becoming a writer someday?JN: I write for me and about me - it's like keeping a journal but it comes out less frequently and in the form of creative non-fiction. I would love to be a writer because I don't have the urge to settle in one particular place, and I think it would be a good way for me to work and travel at the same time. But at the moment, I'm just going to go with whatever will put food on the table after graduation. -Kelsey Smith
