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(10/23/03 12:00am)
Author: Kelsey Rinehart "Stop the tire fire!" was the message of the Oct. 15 public forum aimed at preventing the International Paper Co. (IPC) of Ticonderoga, N.Y., from using tires as a fuel source in its mill boilers. "We are here tonight because we don't want to breathe the smoke of burning tires," said environmental advocate for Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) Ben Davis, who moderated the night's discussion.The forum was held in response to IPC's request to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct a test burn of tire-derived fuel (TDF). In a letter expressing IPC's intention, IPC Mill Manager Chris Mallon stated, "During the 30-day trial, we will maintain compliance with all permit limits." The letter, which is also signed by Lawrence B. Phillips, IPC's environmental scientist, continues, "In addition, we will monitor TDF usage and will limit our TDF firing to a maximum of three tons per hour, as metered into the bark feeder in the wood yard." If granted a permit to use TDF, IPC would shred tires into three-quarter-inch strips after removing 95 percent of the metal in the tires.At the forum, dozens of Addison County residents, including State Senators Gerry Gossens and Claire Ayer of Addison County and State Legislator Steve Maier of Middlebury, listened to three panelists and two representatives of IPC assess the tire-burning issue. Panelists included former University of Vermont professor Jean Richardson, who has done extensive research on dioxin (a potent carcinogen released during tire burning) and other pollutants, Middlebury physician Jack Mayer and David Higbee of the New York-based organization Environmental Advocates. Speaking on behalf of IPC, Mallon and Manager of Technical Services Jay Wilson also gave statements.Mallon began by arguing, "The mill [IPC] is interested in doing this for economic reasons." He noted that fuel prices have skyrocketed recently, although he was also quick to mention that the mill was not asking for regulatory relief. Mallon explained that IPC seeks to conduct a 30-day test during which the boilers would be stocked with up to 73 tons of tires per day. If these tests are successful, IPC would then replace five to 10 percent of its boiler fuel with "tire-derived fuel" (TDF). Mallon further contended that the burning is actually an environmentally friendly way to dispose of unwanted tire piles, a claim that he defended by citing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) approval of the tire burning and its use at plants around the country. "We expect no adverse effects," he concluded.Wilson echoed these sentiments, noting that the Ticonderoga facility has a long history of environmental compliance with local, state and national regulations. Wilson said that IPC uses "state-of-the-art combustion control" and "continuous emissions monitors that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week." He said that these environmentally aware practices would still hold true in the experimental tire burn, when IPC would precisely identify every chemical compound being produced.In opposition to the IPC representatives, the VPIRG stated, "The incineration of tires emits toxic heavy metals including mercury, lead, chromium, beryllium, cadmium and arsenic." VPIRG further noted that the burning also releases dioxin, which the EPA has recognized as the most potent man-made carcinogen known.Higbee also responded to the IPC statements, first noting that there is a minimum of 33 millionstires in New York. As for these tires catching on fire, Higbee cautioned, "it's not if but when," since the tires often end up in hazardous and unmonitored piles. He warned of the severe water and air pollution caused by these accidental tire blazes and suggested the solution of turning tire piles into material for roadbeds, as has been done in Maine. Higbee said that the belief that tires burn so hot that they destroy all pollutants is a fallacy and claimed, "There is no such thing as 'destroy.' When you burn tires, you get energy and pollution." He argued that no level of emissions was acceptable, for once IPC is given a permit, "the plant will have an appetite for burning tires."Richardson, who lives about 27 miles downwind from IPC, stated that such a complex mix of pollutants in emissions not only affects air quality, but also "rains down onto plants and is consumed by animals and people." The pollutants permeate the land and water, infecting fish, produce, livestock and milk with chemicals. Challenging IPC's claims, Richardson said she didn't believe that IPC's boilers were "state-of-the-art." She further noted that the EPA had found that a Wisconsin paper mill, which had tested tires as a fuel source, had actually seen great increases in pollutant levels. "Do we want to be guinea pigs for a test?" Richardson questioned angrily. "Burning tires will allow them to save money, but at what health cost?"Moyer, a Middlebury-based pediatrician, further focused on possible health risks by highlighting the specific effects of toxins on children, pointing out that the EPA regulations are based on adult exposure. Moyer said that Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), many of which are carcinogens, tend to accumulate in breast milk. He noted that during early stages of development, children's DNA is more receptive to carcinogens, and that pollutants can stay in children's bodies longer.The panelists' presentations were followed by questions from the audience, most of which reflected an acute concern. Sen. Gossens asked, "Are you going to test because of the EPA, or to make people feel better? Why a test?" The IPC representatives responded, "We are testing for a long, long list of toxins. We're going to test with the best science there is." They emphasized, however, that they didn't believe the tests would show that these pollutants would be beyond regulation level, and that they were confident that the TDF would be used in the future.However, Jason Gibbs, spokesman for Douglas, stated, "The governor believes that, at a time when states in the East are working to combat air pollution caused by plants in the Midwest, the last thing Vermont needs is a neighbor from across the lake to contribute to that problem."Community residents also strongly voiced their concerns. John Bruckner of Shoreham, who can see the mill from his house, commented that the stench of the fumes that IPC already generates is appalling. "The odor is almost bad enough to cause dry heaves - and that's without burning tires," Bruckner said. "It's disgusting, and you want to throw tires on top of that." For the past two weeks, fellow Shoreham resident Michelle Eagan has been circulating a petition asking for Vermont authorities to intervene in the New York permitting process that would allow IPC to burn tires, and told those at the forum that she had already gathered 80 signatures.Despite the IPC's efforts through the forum to reassure the surrounding community of their safety of the tire-burning practices, Davis is now putting together a letter addressed to the governor, which, he says, "will be signed by many elected officials, groups and citizens." Davis' basic demand is that "the governor should do everything in his power to ensure that there will be no harm to human health and the environment before the test burn takes place. That means mobilizing the Health Deptartment, the Agriculture Deptartment, the Attorney General's Office and the DEC to all weigh in and sign off that Vermonters are safe from the effects of burning tires." Davis said VPIRG has "a very specific list of demands we will insist be met before any burning takes place."The forum was followed by a protest march across the Champlain Bridge on Saturday morning. The VPIRG organized the march, which attracted about 50 people of all ages. Walkers carried signs bearing messages varying from "No Tire Fire" to "Where's the Health Dept.?" and "Where's
Jim Douglas?" Clearly, residents of Vermont feel very strongly about the IPC's tire-burning plans. It appears that the IPC will continue to face strong community opposition should the mill decide to go ahead with adopting the new tire-burning methods.
(10/02/03 12:00am)
Author: Peter Yordan In the wake of another controversial book chronicling the discrepancies between student-athletes and non-athletes in elite liberal arts institutions, attention is once again being focused on Middlebury's admissions policies."Reclaiming the Game", the follow-up to the ground-breaking "The Game of Life", by William G. Bowen and Sarah A. Levin, takes an in-depth look at the place of athletics in the highly selective Ivy League and NESCAC schools. The original book, published in 2000, turned a critical eye toward recruitment policies and selective admissions processes for student-athletes for a number of highly selective academic institutions throughout the country. The book's conclusions were so incendiary - compiling reams of information demonstrating a systematic bias toward admitting athletes despite sub-par academic performance - that they touched off a reform movement among the high-powered NESCAC colleges. Middlebury and its sister schools contracted Bowen, former president of Princeton University and current head of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to conduct a comprehensive audit of their admissions practices. The investigation, published in October 2001, indicated a steadily widening gulf was forming between the scholastic achievements of athletes versus non-athletes in the 11 schools. In response to this disturbing trend Middlebury hastily promised to reduce the number of marginally qualified student-athletes by up to 10 percent by 2006. In an interview with The Campus several weeks ago, Athletic Director Russ Reilly conceded that the reaction to "The Game of Life" "certainly speeded things up, but we had already realized that perhaps we had tilted the balance a little more than it should have been." Reilly, however, also suggested that the book painted too broad a picture of the problems of student athletics."Reclaiming the Game" picks up where the first installment left off uses the information culled from Bowen's NESCAC investigation, along with similar statistics from the Ivy League, to create a fuller and more textured response to the questions raised by "The Game of Life." The authors made use of statistics from the graduating Class of 1999, whereas their previous book had no information past 1989. It explores only the Ivy League and the small liberal arts colleges that make NESCAC and presents not just conclusions but a full panel of proposed reforms to amend the problems it describes.The book observes that due to their small size, liberal arts colleges like Middlebury are disproportionately affected by athletic recruitment compared to large universities. An 80-person football program may not make much of a dent at a school with 10,000 undergraduates, but it forms a notable percentage at a 2,000 person college. "There's no question that in order to field a football team you need to show admissions preference," said Dean of Enrollment Planning Mike Schoenfeld. Bowen and Levin noted that 43 percent of male students at NESCAC schools are athletes, compared to just 25 percent in Ivy League universities."Recruited athletes arrive on campuses with substantially lower SAT scores than their fellow athletes and other students," wrote the authors in an essay in last week's The Chronicle Review. "Recruited high-profile athletes (men playing football, basketball, and hockey) had SAT scores more than 100 points below those of students at large." The authors noted both a trend toward increased academic selectivity as a whole, and increased athletic specialization and emphasis on athletic success among athletic programs. These two trends, they suggest, lead to a dangerous split between athletes and non-athletes.Middlebury's role in this controversy continues to evolve. I think if you would have asked us four years ago we would have said the direction of athletic planning was problematic. The trends were troubling," said Shoenfeld. Since the advent of Bowen's criticism, however, Middlebury and its NESCAC siblings have moved to "close the gap" between admissions standards for athletes versus non-athletes. "We're comfortable with the level of progress we've had so far," said Shoenfeld. "We think we've made significant progress, we'll continue with initiatives for further raising the bar. We're very comfortable with our current athletic recruiting."The College has also taken a leading role in reforming Division III athletics on a national scale. In August the Presidents Council of NCAA Division III athletics, working under President McCardell's leadership, proposed a sweeping reform bill aimed at bringing college athletic programs back in line with the Division III core philosophy. Chief among these proposals is one requiring member institutions to audit their admissions policies for athletes versus non-athletes.The school, however, is quick to point out that the changes do not constitute a repudiation of their past admissions decisions. "This isn't about saying that there are people we didn't want here - we are more concerned with the general trends we were seeing," said Shoenfeld. "Our athletics will always be strong because we have good programs that have good student athletes led by good coaches and good people. Regardless of what we do with our athletic recruiting, I can't imagine Middlebury not being competitive."In the wake of another controversial book chronicling the discrepancies between student-athletes and non-athletes in elite liberal arts institutions attention is once again being focused on Middlebury's admissions policies.Reclaiming the Game, the follow-up to the ground-breaking The Game of Life, by William G. Bowen and Sarah A. Levin, takes an in-depth look at the place of athletics in the highly selective Ivy League and NESCAC schools. The original book, published in 2000, turned a critical eye toward recruitment policies and selective admissions processes for student-athletes for a number of highly selective academic institutions throughout the country. The book's conclusions were so incendiary - compiling reams of information demonstrating a systematic bias toward admitting athletes despite sub-par academic performance - that they touched off a reform movement among the high-powered NESCAC colleges. Middlebury and its sister schools contracted Bowen, former president of Princeton University and current head of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to conduct a comprehensive audit of their admissions practices. The investigation, published in October 2001, indicated a steadily widening gulf was forming between the scholastic achievements of athletes vs. non-athletes in the 11 schools. In response to this disturbing trend Middlebury hastily promised to reduce the number of marginally qualified student-athletes by up to 10 percent by 2006. In an interview with the Campus several weeks ago, Athletic Director Russ Reilly conceded that the reaction to The Game of Life "certainly speeded things up, but we had already realized that perhaps we had tilted the balance a little more than it should have been." Reilly, however, also suggested that the book painted too broad a picture of the problems of student athletics.Reclaiming the Game picks up where the first installment left off uses the information culled from Bowen's NESCAC investigation, along with similar statistics from the Ivy League to create a fuller and more textured response to the questions raised by The Game of Life. The authors made use of statistics from the graduating class of 1999, whereas their previous book had no information past 1989. It explores only the Ivy League and the small liberal arts colleges that make NESCAC and presents not just conclusions but a full panel of proposed reforms to amend the problems it describes.The book observes that due to their small size, liberal arts colleges
like Middlebury are disproportionately affected by athletic recruitment compared to large universities. An 80-person football program may not make much of a dent at a school with 10,000 undergraduates, but it forms a notable percentage at a 2000 person college. "There's no question that in order to field a football team you need to show admissions preference," said Dean of Enrollment Planning Mike Schoenfeld. Bowen and Levin noted that 43 percent of male students at NESCAC schools are athletes, compared to just 25 percent in Ivy League universities."Recruited athletes arrive on campuses with substantially lower SAT scores than their fellow athletes and other students," wrote the authors in an essay in last week's The Chronicle Review. "Recruited high-profile athletes (men playing football, basketball, and hockey) had SAT scores more than 100 points below those of students at large." The authors noted both a trend toward increased academic selectivity as a whole, and increased athletic specialization and emphasis on athletic success among athletic programs. These two trends, they suggest, lead to a dangerous split between athletes and non-athletes.Middlebury's role in this controversy continues to evolve. I think if you would have asked us four years ago we would have said the direction of athletic planning was problematic. The trends were troubling," said Shoenfeld. Since the advent of Bowen's criticism, however, Middlebury and its NESCAC siblings have moved to "close the gap" between admissions standards for athletes versus non-athletes. "We're comfortable with the level of progress we've had so far," said Shoenfeld. "We think we've made significant progress, we'll continue with initiatives for further raising the bar. We're very comfortable with our current athletic recruiting."The College has also taken a leading role in reforming Division III athletics on a national scale. In August the Presidents Council of NCAA Division III athletics, working under President McCardell's leadership, proposed a sweeping reform bill aimed at bringing college athletic programs back in line with the Division III core philosophy. Chief among these proposals is one requiring member institutions to audit their admissions policies for athletes versus non-athletes.The school, however, is quick to point out that the changes do not constitute a repudiation of their past admissions decisions. "This isn't about saying that there are people we didn't want here - we are more concerned with the general trends we were seeing," said Shoenfeld. "Our athletics will always be strong because we have good programs that have good student athletes led by good coaches and good people. Regardless of what we do with our athletic recruiting, I can't imagine Middlebury not being competitive."
(10/02/03 12:00am)
Author: Jack Donaldson There are few things more frustrating for an athlete than a lack of cooperation from above. Such was Middlebury's experience this weekend at Taconic Golf Club, Williams College's home course, for the NESCAC Championship. In fact, the Northeastern tear of Hurricane Isabel that ripped through most of New England this past weekend cut a day out of the competition, making Saturday the only opportunity for play. In the single day on the course, Hamilton took the crown with a score of 311, and Middlebury finished ten strokes out of the lead in fourth place. The rain-shortened schedule certainly did not play up to Middlebury's strengths. The Panthers have relied on strong Sundays to make up for lackadaisical Saturdays this year, and this weekend's performance highlighted their Achilles heel. In fact, many of the Panthers felt that they were poised to make a run for the title on Sunday."Despite our admittedly mediocre performance, we were all feeling so confident on Saturday night that we honestly thought we were going to get the gold," said an exasperated Mitch St. Peter, '06.5, referring to the trophy given to the winner at the end of the event, "and it was particularly frustrating, given that they were still ahead of us." St. Peter's scorn was unsurprisingly directed towards the Ephs, the squad's perennially fierce rival. "I'll be honest with you, I can't stand [Williams]. And no one else in the league can either," said Chad Bellmare '07 on Sunday night. "We wanted to beat them so badly that it just got in our heads, especially me and Jay," he added, referring to fellow first-year phenom Jay "Future" Yonamine '07. A purported mental advantage may have aided Williams on their way to a third place finish (318, +34. Amherst finished in second place, one stroke behind Hamilton), but it fails to tell the whole story for the Panthers, since they have played Williams before, with more success than they saw at Taconic. Particularly disappointing was St. Peter, who finished with an 82, including a 42 on the back nine. St. Peter, who usually exudes a monk-like calm on the course, experienced an abnormal loss of touch with his putter, and had an extremely difficult 16th.The 16th proved to be rough for the entire team. "The wind was blowing a gale out there," Yonamine said, who finished with an 80, tied with Bellmare for 2nd place on the Middlebury squad, "And it was particularly brutal on that hole. It just came screaming up the fairway right at us, is was hardly fair." Rounding out the Panthers final tallies were senior leader Chuck Clement, with a 79, and Derek Singer '05, who finished with an 83. This weekend truly belonged to Hamilton though, who brought home the title with strong play from top to bottom. Senior Brian Williams, the Ohio State defector, finished at 70 and won NESCAC player of the year for the second time, and freshman Chris Pike took Rookie of the Year with a 74. This leaves Middlebury smelling blood and hungry for the NESCAC competition in the spring, where they will hopefully be rejoined by the talented Sean Breen '06, who pulled a Bobby Fisher-esque disappearance from competitive play this fall. As for now though, Middlebury still has the New England championship in two weeks in their sights.
(09/25/03 12:00am)
Author: Jack Donaldson After last week's encouraging showing at its own Duke Nelson Invitational, the Middlebury College Men's golf team had an up-and-down week that fortunately does nothing to spoil its championship hopes. On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the Panthers sent several players to Saratoga to play in the Skidmore classic. In a tough field, Middlebury managed a team score of 310 that put it in second place, bested only by the home team. Williams, the Panthers' fiercest rival, finished in third place. Despite its strong finish, Middlebury prepared for the weekend's competition, when it took on the talented NESCAC field at the Williams Invitational. Much has been made of the bad blood between the Panthers and their purple and gold rivals, but it needs to be stressed. "When one of our guys is paired up with [a player] from Williams, it is like the Capulets and the Montagues," said Mitch St. Peter, '06.5, referring to a classic rivalry. "We don't even speak to each other." Needless to say, the stakes were particularly high during the weekend. Adding to the significance of the event was the presence of four other NESCAC schools, including Hamilton, who mercilessly pummeled the field at the Duke Nelson Invitational. Sixteen of the other top New England schools also competed. Stumbling out of the gate, many of Middlebury's top players played an uncharacteristically poor game. Most of the Panthers, including St. Peter, failed to break 80 for the first day. One highlight was senior Charles Clement's 77. "I don't know if some of the younger guys were nervous coming out here or what, but it's certainly understandable," noted Clement, who did not place blame on anybody. Wisely, the Panthers had a team pow-wow on Saturday night to get mentally focused for Sunday's competition. "We knew we weren't out of it yet, and we wanted everyone to know that we were there for them," said St. Peter of the meeting.The chat worked, as Middlebury came out refreshed and cocksure for Sunday's matches. Jay "Future" Yonamine '07 recovered from a Saturday 83 and shot a 75. Fellow first-year Chad Bellmare stunned the gallery by shooting ten strokes better on Sunday, finishing at 76. Because of Sunday's good performances, a disastrous outcome was averted, and Middlebury finished in eighth out of 22. While they missed their chance to again beat Williams, which finished sixth overall, the Panthers will have another chance to do so on a higher stage at the NESCAC Championship on September 28 and 29.
(09/25/03 12:00am)
Author: Lanford Beard You may not recognize his booming baritone when he's whipped into a hockey-induced frenzy. Perhaps you won't recognize his face behind all that blue paint, but you will no doubt recognize the hair, the thrift store duds and the unabashedly enthusiastic demeanor every time.Michael Kirkland '03.5 is one of Middlebury hockey's most valuable players, even though he's painted up in the stands rather than padded down on the bench.Having cheered for the hockey team with several friends since sophomore year, Kirkland explained, "I love hockey. I love the excitement of the sport and the passion of the fans with whom I am cheering. I only wish my NHL team - the Rangers - were as exciting to watch as Middlebury."For Kirkland, it's all about pride. If loud and proud had its own encyclopedia heading, the accompanying photo would surely be of him thrusting his fist in the air and singing, showing scared, young Febs the ways of this world we call Middlebury, or attending a LOGS meeting.Yes, Kirkland is a Lover of the Garden State. For some, Jersey Pride is a disturbing phenomenon - the heavily industrialized state is, after all, the butt of countless jokes - but true to his roots, Kirkland is not affected by the derision of elitists from Greenwich to Grosse Point.Subconsciously painting a self-portrait, Kirkland described people from Jersey as "vivacious, wild and appreciative of the greatness of the Garden State."He continued, "Jersey is unique, beautiful, active, diverse, inspiring and comforting. It is too bad that so many out-of-staters (who have never actually hung out in the state) allow ignorance to cloud their view of this truth. From beaches to mountains to farmlands to cities to pine barrens to suburbs, Jersey has it all - and Jerseyans are proud people."By now everyone must realize that if Kirkland can love Jersey, he must not be able to hate anything or anything. And, strangely enough, he doesn't.He has a passion for activity that is seemingly symptomatic of ADD or multiple personalities. Like Night Ranger's classic theme song from a fine Michael J. Fox film of the same name the "Secret of [Kirkland's] Success" is that he's livin' 25 hours a day.Speaking of movies, Kirkland shared his love for a fellow '80s film: "Hot Dog, the Movie." It involves "Broomball, nudity, '80s music and dancing, Chinese downhill skiing and great humor" - it's "awesome."And he takes tremendous pride in his cat even though it is deaf and has a neurological disorder that makes the cat "incapable of walking straight or drinking water without dipping his head in and then licking his face."Before he matriculated at Middlebury in February 2000, Kirkland spent a semester in North Queensland, Australia, tutoring Aborigines at a boarding school. True to form, he interspersed morning lessons with afternoons on the beach, playing rugby and engaging in a little bit of carousal in the evenings.Once he hit rural Vermont, Kirkland joined the cross country team, which, he mentioned, "has been one of the highlights of my Middlebury experience."Kirkland's most memorable night at Middlebury occurred last November with the cross country team. He recalled, "We had a great streaking race around Battell Beach and went to Pearsons, where Pete Newell's Lonely Hearts Club Band was playing all Beatles tunes.""That was the night I first hung out with my girlfriend Polly," he mentioned. "She's so special to me and has made my life so much brighter."Another one of the bright spots in his life is his love for all things Feb. Last year he served as senior co-chair of February Orientation.Kirkland also likes to share his enthusiasm for sports in a variety of ways. He plays intramural broomball in the winter and softball in the spring. He also combines his Feb semester teaching experience with his varsity experience by coaching middle school cross country in Otter Valley every day before his own practice.Last but certainly not least, Kirkland extended an all-campus offer for anyone who wants to join him in achieving the ultimate Midd-kid feat this winter. "My goal is to ski every day of January, February and March - without missing one, he said. "If anyone wants in, give me a call."For Kirkland, all this skiing is more than just fun. It is his future. He moves unflinchingly towards graduation without the traditional goals or Wall Street bottom-line-tinged aspirations. He just wants to do what he loves, like he's been doing all his life so far."I want to live on the mountainside of an uncommercialized ski mountain with a hot tub, a beautiful view and a gorgeous wife with whom I will go skiing every day," he explained. "It will happen. Oh, yes, it will happen."
(09/25/03 12:00am)
Author: Greg Duggan "Where I am going to stay?" is a thought that likely crosses the mind of every Middlebury College parent at least once a year, from Fall Family Weekends to Commencement. Tourists flocking to Vermont to enjoy the fall foliage may even steer clear of Middlebury, convinced that, with all the visitors to the College, they could never book one of the town's coveted rooms. One of the perennial dilemmas facing visitors has been the lack of suitable space. Many argue, however, that the opening of Courtyard by Mariott on Route 7 in Middlebury will change all this.After some resistance from local residents and business owners, construction began on Middlebury's Courtyard by Marriott a year ago, and the town's newest lodging facility plans to open its doors in November of this year. A contrast to the bed and breakfasts and inns more typical of the area, the Courtyard will supply a name-brand hotel to the Middlebury area. Currently, the closest large, nationally-known hotels are 45 minutes to an hour away in Burlington and Rutland. While the new hotel may, upon first consideration, seem to bring a new form of competition to the smaller lodging facilities, most people in town involved with tourism feel the addition of a name-brand hotel will only help local business.Although the hotel has only been visible in the town since last fall, the construction process actually began several years ago when applications for building permits were filed in the fall of 1998. At that time, plans for two hotels were proposed to the Middlebury Planning Commission almost simultaneously. Developers submitted plans for hotels with 80 to 90 rooms, both of which would be built in the genre of a Comfort Inn or Hampton Inn. A local businessman, Tony Neri, initially developed the site that would go on to become the Courtyard. He sold the site to Burlington developer Antonio Pomerleau. Pomerleau subsequently leased the land to a Maryland-based organization, Creative Hotel Associates (CHA), which owns and operates a number of hotels in college towns such as Gainesville, Fla., Albuquerque, N.M., and Colorado Springs, Colo. CHA signed a franchise agreement with Marriott to call the hotel a Courtyard.Initially, the plans for the new hotels were rejected by Middlebury's Planning Commission because their generic characteristics failed to meet the standards required by the Town Plan, the Zoning Ordinance and other regulations. Middlebury Town Planner Fred Dunnington explained the original rejection of the hotels by saying, "There's been a tradition of trying to push for a higher quality of development, something that is more in keeping with Vermont-like buildings." The developers of both hotels filed an appeal, and during that time the Courtyard builders modified their plans to fit the atmosphere and architecture of Middlebury. The Planning Commission then approved the Courtyard, but once again rejected the other proposed hotel, which had refused to change its design.When the hotels were first proposed, they met some opposition from citizens and local businesses. While the approval of building permits lies in the hands of the town's Planning Commission, townspeople can form groups to appeal construction and ensure that the Planning Commission is obeying the Town Plan and zoning ordinances. In the case of the two hotels seeking permits in the fall of 1998, business owners, including innkeepers and owners of bed and breakfasts, formed a petition group to protest the construction of the larger hotel. Because of the participation of lodging facility owners, the group's motives were questionable as to whether the petition was simply a way to keep competition from entering the local lodging industry. Dunnington said the group was also concerned about legitimate issues such as the character of the hotels, and "in the end, their contribution made a significant difference in terms of the appearance of the hotel."When completed, the Courtyard will supply an additional 89 rooms to the town of Middlebury. About 3,200 rooms exist in Addison County and neighboring Chittenden County, although hotels in Burlington and South Burlington comprise 62 percent of these rooms. Middlebury has only 155 rooms - 4.5 percent of the regional supply - and visitors often fall victim to this lack of space during busy periods such as graduation, parent weekends, and fall foliage season. Parents and other visitors to the College routinely seek lodging in surrounding towns, occasionally as far away as Rutland or Burlington. The Courtyard will also provide another option for visitors such as sports teams, prospective students, visiting professors and others who do not need or even want the experience offered by an inn.Even innkeepers and bed and breakfast owners do not seem threatened by the presence of the Courtyard. Jim Caple, owner of the Swift House Inn, acknowledged the lack of rooms in Middlebury. "There was clearly a need to add some additional rooms to the area," he said. "There are many weekends where ... we and several other local inns are turning away guests." Caple does not believe the Courtyard will detract any business from the smaller, more intimate lodging facilities, which often attract visitors because of the personalized treatment they offer. Tracey Getty-Sutton, innkeeper at the Waybury Inn feels similarly, saying, "People who are traditional and want to [find] the inn experience will still hunt us down. I think the people who are just in for an overnight to see their kids for a short period of time and won't be in their room a lot won't care where they stay."Marguerite Senecal, from the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, said the Courtyard will only complement the business fostered by inns and bed and breakfasts by offering a different type of lodging experience. Morgan Attwood, general manager of the Courtyard, agreed with the supportive attitude found among his peers in the Middlebury lodging industry. "We're coming to Middlebury to be a contributing and productive member of the community, not a disruptive force. By working with other lodging product owners ... we are able to refer business when we can't accommodate it or when the guest is looking for a different lodging experience thanwe can offer."The presence of the Courtyard will likely benefit other local businesses. The extra people who will be able to stay in town will probably eat in local restaurants and shop at nearby stores. As Caple said, "The addition of the Marriott is going to enhance the town of Middlebury itself. Instead of ... guests traveling to Burlington and Rutland, they are now going to be staying in Middlebury, and since those people will be staying in Middlebury, they're going to be dining here locally, they're going to be shopping locally, and they're going to be spending more time in the town and discovering a lot of the attributes Middlebury has."Even before it has opened, the Courtyard has begun to make its impact on the Middlebury community. When the hotel began accepting reservations for 2004 graduation, it filled up within a week. Most other lodging facilities have booked all of their rooms as well.
(09/25/03 12:00am)
Author: Ian Fleishman The BioBus' summer adventure began last May when 13 Middlebury students took a trip across the country in a school bus fueled by vegetable oil. The trip attracted national attention from media sources such as CNN, USA Today and Howard Stern."We didn't expect any recognition like we got," said Stephen Swank '05.5. "Pulling out of Middlebury it was just our own trip, and we were hoping that maybe one paper would pick it up." However, the trip, which covered 19 states altogether, attracted a great deal of attention. According to Swank, the focus of the trip changed after the group realized how much press they were already receiving from being primarily a climbing trip into a means of promoting the idea of biodiesel as a viable fuel source.Despite group expectations there were, quite surprisingly, no major mechanical problems with the veggie-oil powered bus during the trip. Before the departure from Vermont, it already had close to 200,000 miles on the engine. "Before we left, we were wondering if we were going to make it to Kentucky," admitted Julia Proctor '06.5. "It just cements our point: it works," explained Brian Reavey '05.5, referring to the mechanical success.The students also had no trouble finding fuel for the bus. In the beginning the group had been concerned that restaurants may not be willing to give their vegetable oil. "Other people who did [similar projects] with cars had a hard time looking for vegetable oil," said Samuel Stevenson '05. However, restaurants were eager to give up the oil, which they usually pay to have disposed. "The only place that we got turned down [by] was the McDonald's in Middlebury," laughed Swank.After the trip was completed, the group members looked to sell the bus. Hot Buttered Rum Band, a high altitude blue grass band from the San Francisco area, bought the bus on e-Bay for $2,375.The band, currently using the converted bus to tour, recently played a show in Burlington, but the students who had been involved in Project BioBus were not allowed to enter the concert because they were underage. It turned out well in the end: "They came out of the club and played outside for all of the people who could not get in," said Swank. This was the first direct contact that the band has had with the Middlebury mechanics, aside from some instructions given over the phone explaining how the bus runs.The project members are very pleased with the new owners of the bus. Not only is the Hot Buttered Rum Band very interested in the idea of biodiesel, they are also driving the bus around and giving the project more exposure like it received over the summer months, explained Swank. The money made from selling the bus helped offset the cost of the trip, which ultimately amounted to $80 per group member.The students involved in the trip are currently making further efforts to promote the use of biodiesel here and throughout the world. They are working on plans to repeat their project next summer, in Australia. According to Reavey, the scope of this project could potentially be much larger: "The plan is not going to be a climbing trip, it is going to be a trip to spread the word." As many automobiles in Australia are already run on diesel fuel, Reavey sees the conversion to biodiesel as "a real viable option."The group is currently looking into grants and other possible methods of sponsoring the Australia trip, which would hopefully be made in a double-decker bus.Closer to home, there are also a few cars on campus that now run on vegetable oil, which were converted by Thomas Hand '05.5. One advantage to converting is the money saved on gasoline. Hand's car, for example, is fueled by The Grille.
(09/25/03 12:00am)
Author: Kerry Krauss Editor's Note: Due to a formatting error, this article did not appear in its entirety last week. The Middlebury Campus regrets this mistake.One of the main perks of fall in Vermont is the apples. We all enjoy the crisp, juicy apples, whether in the dining halls, at the farmers' market in town or freshly picked at a local orchard. For these delicious apples, Vermonters have to thank the many local growers, some of whom have been perfecting the art of growing the fruit for over 100 years.Jenny Blair of Stevens Orchard in Orwell, Vt., said that her farm has been around since the 1890s. "We have many old varieties, and most of our trees are 80 to 100 years old," said Blair. Many of the local farms in Vermont also strive to be environmentally conscious. Meg Brash of Waltham Orchard said that her farm tries to use as little pesticide as possible on her trees. "Our apples are as close to organic as you can get," said Brash. Using less pesticide "not only saves money, but saves the environment as well."Many different varieties of apple, such as the Empire, Cortland, and Macoun, have developed as the apple industry has expanded. Nearly every local farm boasts its own unique variety, but almost all of these varieties have one common parent - the McIntosh. The McIntosh itself accounts for 65 percent of the Vermont apple crop, while its relatives make up an additional 20 percent. An import from Ontario, Canada, discovered in 1796 by John McIntosh, the McIntosh apple became the most widely produced type in Vermont when an extremely cold winter in 1917 devastated most other varieties. This season in particular has been one of the best, according to local growers. "It's been a great season so far, although it was a little late since it was cold and wet in early June," commented Blair, whose farm boasts the Hume apple, another relative of the McIntosh. "But we have so many apples this year that they are literally pushing themselves off the trees."Bill Suhr of Champlain Orchards, which grows McIntosh, Gala, Macoun, Red Cortland, Empire, Golden Supreme, Ginger Gold and Honeycrisp apples, noted that apples are "colored very well this year and there's an above average crop." Suhr pointed to specific weather conditions as beneficial to the crop. "Lots of rain helps the fruit size. Warm sunny days and cool nights help the color," he said.Many orchards employ pickers from all reaches of the world. To the Yankee Kingdom Orchard in West Addison, Vt., a group of pickers from the British West Indies arrive in late August to pick the earliest apples, Paula Reds.Local orchards hold special events throughout the fall to attract tourists and local apple aficionados. Champlain Orchards hosted a rain or shine concert of fiddle tunes and bring-your-own-picnic on Saturday afternoon. Yankee Kingdom advertises its Autumn Harvest Festival, offering visitors from Vermont and New York states the chance to pick, sample, bake into pies and cover with caramel any of their 10 varieties of apple. Though the fruit itself is a delight, many orchards' claim to fame is their freshly pressed apple cider, generally made from McIntosh apples. And, as Yankee Kingdom puts it, "For those of you who have never tasted warm apple cider donuts, get in your cars, get on a plane and come find out what you've been missing."Most all Middlebury residents take advantage of Vermont's bountiful apple harvest each year, from students snagging the fruit on the way out of Proctor to Middlebury residents stopping by the Happy Valley Orchard for an hour of picking.Those who get up early enough on Saturday morning visit the Middlebury Farmers' Market, where they can buy directly from the farmers who gladly hand out fresh samples of their prized fruit. Farmers tell visitors to enjoy the apples while they're here because the season only lasts until early November.
(09/25/03 12:00am)
Author: Ryan Reece The football team ran into a roadblock on Saturday in Middletown, Connecticut. The Wesleyan College Cardinals turned up the intensity during the second half in order to send the Panthers home with a 26-7 loss. Despite holding a narrow lead at the half way mark, the Panthers could not hold on for long against the impressive offensive/defensive presence of the opposing Cardinals. On its first possession, Middlebury looked "game ready" during an impressive 14-play, 80-yard march to the end zone. Tom Cleaver '04 hauled in four catches on the drive and, ultimately found pay dirt on a 14-yard toss from Mike Keenan '05. This was the beginning of what would turn out to be a career day for Cleaver. The senior from Severna Park, Md. finished with eight receptions, a personal best, and 137 of the 163 total passing yards. This inspiring first drive proved to be the end of the Panther offensive attack as this initial scoring strike seemed to awake an intimidating Cardinal defensive juggernaut. For the remainder of the afternoon, the boys from Wesleyan came together to form a staunch and stingy defense that shut down every Panther scoring opportunity.The Cardinals would fumble the following kickoff and give Middlebury amazing field position. However, the Panthers were not able to capitalize because the first play from scrimmage resulted in a fumble of their own. The rest of the first quarter and much of the second gave Middlebury an intense back-and-forth battle until Wesleyan delivered a game breaker with an explosive 69-yard touchdown strike with 1:25 left to play in the half. The ensuing point after would miss and result in a 7-6 Panther advantage at the half. The second half was dominated by the Wesleyan squad as the Cardinals mustered up three unanswered touchdowns, the last of which gave the Panthers the final 10 minutes to rustle up some sort of comeback. The Panthers had opportunities but found themselves unable to reach Cardinals territory. The Panthers did not walk away empty handed. With a game under their belts, the Panthers gained experience and an idea of what they need to do in order to improve. Last Saturday brought some outstanding individual efforts as well. Junior quarterback Mike Keenan turned in a 50 percent completion rate (16 of 32) to accompany his 163 yards through the air while Senior Matt Wolf led the ground attack with 43 yards on 14 carries. The bright spots on defense included a Craig Pittman '04 interception and return for 24 yards, Ernie Miller '05's 11 tackles, which led the defense, and Tim Collard '04 and Phil Reiff '05 each broke through for a sack.The Panthers will be playing at home against Colby on Youngman Field on September 27. The Panthers and the Mules tied for fifth in the NESCAC last year with 4-4 records respectively. Both teams will be looking for an edge in the NESCAC title race. It promises to be a tough, explosive and well fought battle for gridiron dominance.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Michael Crowly The events at last week's World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Canc˙n, Mexico, highlight important issues with respect to the survival of the WTO and the pace of trade liberalization. The WTO provides a concrete framework in which countries can negotiate wide ranging trade issues. It has liberalized world trade to unprecedented levels and to the benefit of every member nation.The failure of the Canc˙n Ministerial Conference to come to an agreement with respect to key issues such as agriculture will weigh heavily on future WTO negotiations, and we can only hope that all parties will be able to eventually reach accord, as the collapse of the multilateral trading system would be detrimental to everyone, bringing back days of closed doors, lost opportunities and economic stagnation. The crux of the failure stems from a disagreement between developed and developing nations regarding agricultural subsidies, with the argument that the subsidies that wealthy nations give to their farmers price poor farmers out of the market, destroying their livelihood. Wealthy nations (particularly the United States, European Union, and Japan) do indeed use agricultural subsidies. These subsidies are essential to their respective domestic economies but nevertheless open to international negotiation. The fact of the matter is that many of our farmers in the United States could not compete and survive without some subsidization, bringing us to the realities of the modern nation state: national security is tied to sovereignty, and political factors shape our policy. Food production is a national security concern. If we had to rely upon other nations for the majority of our food we would find ourselves weakened at the hand of other nations - perhaps even in the same quagmire into which our reliance upon foreign oil has brought us.Secondly, our government cannot simply put its farmers out of business by hanging them out to dry and ever hope to enjoy the support of the American people. They have to respect that they have been elected to serve their constituency. Do we really want to see our farmers - who have been farming here since the earliest days of America, our neighbors right here in Middlebury - lose their jobs and livelihoods to workers in the developing world just like the many tens of thousands of factory workers and computer programmers who watched their jobs flee to China and India?That said, the United States has been especially eager to negotiate with developing nations in order to come to a mutually agreeable solution. We are not violating any WTO rules with our subsidies, and the WTO recognizes the plight of developing nations and awards them "special and differential treatment" which they have used to maintain their own protectionist trade policies in order to support national industries. The WTO divides agricultural subsidies into three "boxes": amber, which are those subsidies that distort trade; blue, which are those that distort production; and green, those which have no effect (i.e. conservation). In recent years 75 percent of our subsidies have been non-trade distorting, leaving us with $24.5 billion in trade distorting subsidies (amber box), and the 2002 Farm Bill signed by President Bush lowers our trade distorting subsides by 20 percent to $20 billion, showing a commitment to WTO rules and the needs of other nations.The European Union, on the other hand, provides over $60 billion in trade distorting subsides and Japan $33 billion, while both maintain significantly higher tariffs on agricultural goods than the United States, whose average agricultural tariff of 12 percent is among the lowest in the world.The developing nations, despite the efforts of the United States, have been relatively unwilling to negotiate, insisting that the developed world give up all agricultural subsidies while giving nothing in return and accepting nothing less. Their stonewalling is severely crippling the process of trade liberalization and hurting both developed and other developing nations. Developing nations maintain some of the highest tariffs on manufactured goods in the world, with the hopes of earning money and building national industries. But this comes at the expense of their consumers and manufacturers elsewhere in the world. Just as developing nations have been seeking concessions on agricultural subsidies, the industrial nations have been seeking concessions with respect to these blatantly high tariffs.In July 2002 the United States created a proposal in which developed countries around the world would lower their trade distorting agricultural subsides 45-80 percent with the goal of eventually phasing them out, while reducing tariffs even further in order to increase market access for developing nations. Many developing nations however, were unwilling to provide similar concessions with respect to lowering their tariffs, and many demanded much more from the developed nations, showing an unwillingness to take the first step and reach a compromise.Hopefully the failure in Canc˙n will underscore the need to reach a compromise, and will drive both sides in future negotiations to be more willing to find a middle ground and to understand that major changes in the multilateral trading system take time.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Abbie Beane Still pining for the lost days of '80s yore, when mullets were hot, cut-offs were cool and Spandex was the way to swing? (Although admittedly, some should never have swung that way.) Pine no more, old kids on the block.CBS Events, one of San JosÈ's largest "theme prop companies," now has a new division dedicated to "Spandex art," claiming to be "spectacular decor" for any occasion. Described as "innovative structures, which provide art and function to create exciting, eye-catching decor for any room or event," Spandex art is made of tension-fabric, which, when installed, appears to defy gravity and is ready to service you in various shapes, sizes and colors."Theme events are our specialty," CBS Events claims. In fact, they do not just settle for managing a store, but own and operate entire warehouses full of Spandex props ready and raring to float. Themes range anywhere from an "African Safari" to a "Mexican Fiesta," somewhere between "Route 66" and "Rio de Janeiro" and then all the way back to "Monte Carlo and the Casino."But to give you an even more transparent picture of what this kind of Spandex theme party would entail, let's choose the "Around the World" theme. Authentic, red "Tori Gates" will depict the Orient, decorated with fans, parasols and hanging lanterns. A rickshaw will be filled with poinsettias and a curved, oriental bridge, complete with statue and surrounded by flowers and trees. In honor of Polynesia, a "Tiki Hut," decorated with nets, beautiful exotic birds and flowers will be surrounded by palm trees. A Tiki God will reign over the area with an island boat dock scene. There will be an anchor, nets, shells, crab trap and even a seagull. When you arrive in France, you'll find a French cafe measuring 10' by 8' with a front porch, two large vases with flowers, trees and a veranda eating table with wine and flowers. From Germany, a Hof Brau scene will include huge German beer barrels, trellis, vines, Oktoberfest posters, flags and garland. In Rome, a replica of one of Venice's famous gondolas will be placed here, filled with flowers and flanked by two Italianite marble-like pillars topped with silver, white and gold glittered florals in black top hats.Depicting the glorious beaches of Mexico, a palapa will be decorated with sombreros, serapes, flowers, birds and mexican artifacts along with a lighted tropical umbrella with hanging plants and a red flower cart with flowers. And the best news is that Allstar Event Services, a division of CBS Events, based out of Las Vegas, Nev., will plan a theme party for you. No crowd is too big or too small, as they have catered to numbers between two and 25,000. You can even request face-painting, clowns, celebrity look-a-likes and a host of other services to compliment your party. I'm only grateful that I found out about these guys before I planned a traditional wedding.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Caroline Stauffer The ease of getting into classes this fall seems to depend on the class, the department - and on who you talk to. "Historical data from MARS registrations over the last three years show that between 80 and 85 percent of classes never close," Secretary of the College Eric Davis said. "Those classes with enrollment pressures tend to be concentrated in a few departments - Spanish and psychology are good examples." Indeed, five departments made up 36 percent of enrollments in the entire College for the 2002-03 academic year, according to Davis. These departments are economics, history, political science, English and psychology. Yet, students in such departments do seem to encounter difficulty enrolling in courses, as do students who have their eye on specific "popular" courses in other departments. These courses constitute what Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alison Byerly calls "pressure points." Interdisciplinary programs, which attract more students because they often satisfy more than one requirement, comprise one pressure point, according to Byerly. For instance, some English courses satisfy requirements for women and gender studies, and some history courses satisfy requirements for environmental studies. Other pressure points occur within departments for very popular courses."We try very hard to make sure there are enough slots so students wishing to do so can take Introduction to Psychology sometime during their first year at Middlebury," Professor of Psychology Michelle McCauley said. "There is not a lot of room for first year students in upper level courses, but this is not a problem with regard to finishing the major."Psychology major Larissa Robtoy '04 agreed that students are able to get the classes they need to finish their majors, but said that it is harder to get into classes as an underclassman. "I can certainly say that I haven't experienced any trouble getting into classes as a senior, but due to the ever increasing popularity of psychology as a major, there are often many freshmen and sophomores who are shut out of classes," she said.According to Davis, the increased size of the class of 2007 did not significantly impact students' chances of getting into classes. "While I was not at the registration for first-year students held in Kenyon Arena earlier this month, colleagues report that most first-year students were able to get the courses they wanted, even though the first-year class was larger than anticipated," he said.Some first-years beg to differ. "At the academic forum, one of the psychology department representatives told me, after hearing of my high number, that I didn't really have a realistic chance of getting into Intro to Psychology because it quickly fills up, but to try and get on some sort of a list to give me a better chance of getting into the class next semester," said Ben Wiechman said. "After I shared this news with my advisor, she helped me pick a class that I had a more realistic shot of getting into."McCauley confirmed that the Psychology Department has grown steadily in popularity over the last 10 years, reflecting a national trend. Furthermore, the Teacher Education and Neuroscience programs have become popular as well, bumping up enrollment in psychology courses. The nature Middlebury College students' courses of sutdy also affects class enrollment. Byerly reported that students are taking on a "more complex schedule than five or 10 years ago." More students are now choosing to complete double and joint majors, requiring a specific selection of courses in more than one department. "Some other liberal arts colleges are more restrictive than Middlebury in not permitting students to major in more than one subject, or requiring students who want to do double majors to present their case for double majoring to a faculty committee," Davis said.Davis and Byerly believe that the majority of students who reported trouble getting into classes this fall were returning students who had not registered using MARS in the spring, or waited to contact faculty over the summer when their classes were already full. "If students register with MARS, we can add new sections of courses if necessary," Byerly said. "Some problems arise when students don't register, and then are disappointed if they can't get into courses when they show up at the beginning of the term." Because the process of hiring faculty must begin well in advance of classes beginning, it is imperative that students enroll accurately in MARS in the spring to allow for the adjustment of the number of sections of classes offered in the next term.The Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) is responsible for recommending new faculty positions to the College, and takes enrollments into consideration in order to decide which departments should receive new positions, along with the administration. "Situations in which students are consistently closed out of classes are taken seriously, and the EAC and the academic administration will attempt to address those situations," Davis said. "At the same time, we have to be mindful of the need to offer a full and balanced liberal arts curriculum that appeals to students with a wide range of academic interests, and to keep the size of the faculty within the overall 11-to-1 student-faculty ratio that has been established as a College policy by the Board of Trustees."It remains to be seen whether getting into classes will be made easier or more difficult when the new Banner technology is implemented for winter and spring enrollment. At a recent psychology social event, students were encouraged to become well versed in the new technology. "The comment was basically that since the registration process will be in real time, the difficulty of getting into classes is expected to increase, and if you don't have a waiver or pre-approval already set up with a member of the psychology department before class registration begins, it might be too late to get a seat in the class if you have to wait a day to get a hold of a faculty member," Robtoy said.Byerly claims that the new technology is "much smoother and provides students with the 'instant gratification' of knowing whether they got into a course right away." It also means students will need to be prepared for registration since it will happen quickly. "Although everyone knows a few anecdotes about students who couldn't get into a specific course the specific term they wanted it, in general this was not a particularly problematic registration period, and there aren't 'too few' courses or professors available," Byerly said. "The teaching resources allocated are appropriate for the number of students registered for courses this term, and consistent with our 11:1 student/faculty ratio."In terms of recommendations for registering classes, Byerly encourages students to be familiar with requirements and try to determine what classes best fit their interests in time for registration to avoid changes during the first week. "Middlebury students have very broad interests, and students should use those interests to look at the curriculum as a whole. If a particular course is full, look at other courses, in the same department or in other departments, that satisfy the same requirements," Byerly said.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Kerry Kraus One of the main perks of fall in Vermont is the apples. We all enjoy the crisp, juicy apples, whether in the dining halls, at the farmers' market in town or freshly picked at a local orchard. For these delicious apples, Vermonters have to thank the many local growers, some of whom have been perfecting the art of growing the fruit for over 100 years. Jenny Blair of Stevens Orchard in Orwell, Vt., said that her farm has been around since the 1890s. "We have many old varieties, and most of our trees are 80 to 100 years old," said Blair. Many of the local farms in Vermont also strive to be environmentally conscious. Meg Brash of Waltham Orchard said that her farm tries to use as little pesticide as possible on her trees. "Our apples are as close to organic as you can get," said Brash. Using less pesticide "not only saves money, but saves the environment as well."Many different varieties of apple, such as the Empire, Cortland, and Macoun, have developed as the years-old apple industry has expanded. Nearly every local farm has one variety that is its own unique fruit, but almost all of these varieties have one common parent - the McIntosh. The McIntosh itself accounts for 65 percent of the Vermont apple crop, while its relatives make up an additional 20 percent. An import from Ontario, Canada, discovered in 1796 by John McIntosh, the McIntosh apple became the most widely produced type in Vermont when an extremely cold winter in 1917 devastated most other varieties. This season in particular has been one of the best, according to local growers. "It's been a great season so far, although it was a little late, since it was cold and wet in early June," commented Blair, whose farm boasts the Hume apple, another relative of the McIntosh. "But we have so many apples this year that they are literally pushing themselves off the trees."Bill Suhr of Champlain Orchards, which grows McIntosh, Gala, Macoun, Red Cortland, Empire, Golden Supreme, Ginger Gold and Honeycrisp apples, noted that apples are "colored very well this year and there's an above average crop." Suhr pointed to specific weather conditions as beneficial to the crop. "Lots of rain helps the fruit size. Warm sunny days and cool nights help the color," he said.Many orchards employ pickers from all reaches of the world. To the Yankee Kingdom Orchard in West Addison, Vt., a group of pickers from the British West Indies arrive in late August to pick the earliest apples, Paula reds.Local orchards hold special events throughout the fall to attract tourists and local apple aficionados. Champlain Orchards will host a rain or shine bring-your-own-picnic and concert of fiddle tunes on Saturday afternoon. Yankee Kingdom advertises its Autumn Harvest Festival, offering visitors from Vermont and New York states the chance to pick, sample, bake into pies and cover with caramel any of their 10 varieties of apple. Though the fruit itself is a delight, many orchards' claim to fame is their freshly pressed apple cider, generally made from McIntosh apples. And, as Yankee Kingdom puts it, "For those of you who have never tasted warm apple cider donuts, get in your cars, get on a plane and come find out what you've been missing."Most all Middlebury residents take advantage of Vermont's bountiful apple harvest each year, from students snagging the fruit on the way out of Proctor to Middlebury residents stopping by the Happy Valley Orchard for an hour of picking. Those who get up early enough on Saturday morning visit the Middlebury Farmers' Market, where they can buy straight from the farmers who gladly hand out fresh samples of their prized fruit. Farmers tell visitors to enjoy the apples while they're here because the season only lasts until early November.
(05/07/03 12:00am)
Author: Charlie Goulding "It's an industry, it's the norm, and I don't buy it," stated Robert Schine, dean of faculty and father of a high school student, in discussing the College Board and the way in which the Advanced Placement (AP) exam has permeated academia. Debate has surged in recent months with regard to the college's stance on AP exams. In particular, the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) has questioned the current policy of awarding Middlebury College credit for scoring, in most cases, a four or a five on an AP exam. "It is the view of the EAC that a college degree should represent work done at the college level," stated Secretary of the College Eric Davis.Scrutiny of this kind boils down to a debate over the inherent nature of a college degree. "Are we a credentialing institution or an educational institution?" summarized Mike Schoenfeld, dean of enrollment planning and a member of the EAC. Other colleges like Harvard University, Amherst College and Hamilton College have already limited the academic weight typically awarded APs. Harvard first-year Todd Bartels stated, "the only thing APs allow you to do here is make you eligible for Sophomore Standing, which few people choose to pursue anyway." With regard to this change, Harvard Admissions Director Marlyn McGath-Lewis commented how the changes reflect "what a Harvard degree is worth" (Princeton Review).Debate of this kind has called into question not only the inherent nature of a college degree, but also the intriguing relationship between academia and the College Board (the maker of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and AP) exams. Few deny the rapid, imperial growth of the College Board. To what extent, however, does this rapid imperialization put a strain on the tenuous relationship between academia and the corporate world? Who is the College Board?A Brief History The College Board is a non-profit organization founded in 1900 "whose mission is to prepare, inspire and connect students to college and opportunity." Initially, the College Board was composed of only a handful of colleges who wished to consolidate and simplify the transition process from secondary school to college. The College Board implemented the "common placement exam" to eradicate the hassles associated with individual colleges forcing each incoming student to take a plethora of entrance exams. This test would later be renamed the SAT.The AP exam dates back to the 1950s, when two concurrent studies, one by the Ford Foundation for the Advancement of Studies, and one by Kenyon College, concluded that "high schools and colleges could and should work together to avoid repetition in coursework in the high-school and college levels and allow motivated students to work at the height of their capabilities and advance as quickly as possible."The Ford Foundation, and other educational initiatives emanating from the corporate world, can be understood within the milieu of the post-World War II, Cold War era. The partnership of corporate America and the educational system is therefore as responsible for the inception of the College Board and its AP program as are America's colleges and universities.After a successful pilot program involving 12 renowned prep-schools offering classes for college credit at 12 select colleges, the 24 schools decided to consolidate their efforts under the auspices of the College Board, who took over administration of the program in 1955. The College Board sought the services of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in order to provide a test with which to evaluate participants of the newly dubbed "Advanced Placement Program" (www.collegeboard.com).The ETS, like the College Board, is a not-for-profit organization. The ETS creates standardized tests such as the SAT and AP, which are then administered by the College Board. Both the College Board and the ETS enjoy tax-exempt status due to the educational nature of their service under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code Publication 557 (www.irs.gov). Rapid Proliferation and Academic ConsequencesThe College Board has enjoyed a rapid expansion of its programs and testing services within the past decade, particularly with respect to its AP program. In 1997, 581,544 students took 921,601 AP exams. Last year, 937,951 students took 1,585,516 exams. Thus, over this time span, the number of students taking the AP test has risen 61 percent, and the number of tests administered grew by 72 percent (www.collegeboard.com).The proliferation of AP testing has had many ramifications for the structure and nature of academia. Stated Schoenfeld, "in many high-schools, honors programs for exceptional students have been replaced by AP programs."Furthermore, the pressure to inundate one's transcript with AP credits pervades the academic life of many high schools. "I felt inclined to take as many AP's as I could, as if they were some sort of achievement trophy," stated Bartels. "I took 10 in total and I can think of no benefit to them except as a way to impress admissions officers." Megan Hutchin '05 commented, "I took six AP classes total. I hated math and science, but I took Calculus AP, Statistics AP and Biology AP anyway - and killed myself in the process. All the other kids in my grade were doing the same thing, so I basically felt like I had to also in order to keep up."Hutchin added that she thought the AP program provided students with an opportunity to challenge themselves. "I took five AP's," remarked Phil Koretz '05.5, "because I wanted to take the most challenging courses available. I feel fine about having done so, but I'd feel better if my AP courses were on par with the quality of my college classes. Thus far they haven't been."Schine summarized, "my perception is that it's the norm at many high-schools with lots of talented students to try to adorn transcripts with as many AP's as possible. Students are arriving at our doorsteps with a heap of credits."In 1997, 326 first-years entered Middlebury with a total of 1,105 AP credits. This year, 333 students boast 1,508 credits, a 36 percent increase, according to the College Registrar's Office. Interestingly, while the number of credits has grown, the number of students carrying them has remained stable. Thus, at least in Middlebury's case, the College Board has failed to extend the AP exam to a more diversified population. Instead, these numbers indicate that the privileged few are simply "upping the admissions ante" among themselves, accruing as many credits as possible in an effort to distinguish themselves as worthy candidates. As an anonymous student put it, "at select places, people assume that if you aren't taking an insane amount of AP courses, then you aren't serious about going to college."Academic SanctityRegardless of how effective AP courses are as a replacement for honors classes, the role of the AP in academia has clearly transgressed its intended purpose. Both Schine and Schoenfeld concurred that the purpose of AP is to allow talented students to get a head start in a subject of their choosing so as to "hit the ground running," upon arrival at college. Many students enter college with eight or more credits to their name - sometimes two full years of college - often in courses in which they have no interest to pursue. Many feel the proliferation of the AP program has had deleterious effects on the quality of high-school academics. "It completely poisons the motives of what education is all about," stated Hutchin. "For example, when I took AP Bio, we just raced through all the material, regardless of whether we understood the material or not. Everything felt so planned - it was like taking a year-long prep course so we could pass an exam. No one cared whether we understood what was going on."Schine indicated that while many high schools offer exceptional AP courses, "there are some courses out there specifically designed to do well on the exam. I think that's a problem. I w
ould surmise that when a course is taught well for the purpose of scoring well on an exam, a student's education is not being served." "At my daughter's school they teach to the test. Period," added one Middlebury resident, voicing a common criticism of the AP program with reference to her daughter's high school. The College Board and the ETS have made an entire industry out of standardized testing and test preparation. "They make a tremendous amount of money," stated Schoenfeld. The College Board and the ETS have turned testing and the demand for test preparation help into a billion dollar industry, with companies such as the Princeton Review benefiting mightily. Test preparation books, tutors and the tests themselves, have built the world of standardized testing into a billion dollar industry. "I heard somebody make the analogy of a part church, part used car dealer," continued Schoenfeld. "I suppose you could extend that to the College Board: the church part sets high standards for you and pushes you to excel. Then the used-car part says: you gotta pay us to do it all for you."The NumbersThe College Board 2000-2001 Annual Report states that the College Board received $325 million in total revenue for the fiscal year, a $25 million, eight percent, increase from the previous year (www.collegeboard.com). "Clearly this is what we would call a 'growth business,'" stated Robert Gordon, a New York City based Certified Public Accountant. The College Board also reported $311 million in total expenses, of which $123 million or 39.6 percent were attributed to "unrestricted net assets." Gordon continued, "This company has a lot of what we call 'leverage' - they basically have a monopoly on a veritable cash cow business." "Any economist would tell you a company with a lot of leverage should be able to reduce expenses with respect to revenues. In this instance, expenses parallel revenues, and it appears as though they've been lumping all their expenses into their unrestricted net assets, which include employee payment and facility expenses. I can't tell what they are exactly because they don't say, but I'd be curious to see how much the executives of these companies make."On Nov. 23, 2002, in an article entitled "Corporate Culture, Big Pay Come to Non-Profit Testing," the New York Times reported: "the ETS, the not-for-profit that produces the AP, SAT and GRE exams, last year gave one time bonuses of as much as $366,000 to 15 of its officers. It went on to say that Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, makes over $400,000 yearly while Kurt Landgraf, head of the ETS, makes $800,000 annually, which is more money than all but two college presidents earn (www.nytimes.com)."A not-for-profit would be in violation of its tax-exempt status if it was found to be cashing out large portions of its expenses in the form of executive bonuses," said Gordon. "What they should be doing is using their excess revenue to cut costs, thereby allowing them to lower the fees of the tests they provide."The AP currently costs $80 per test, the highest figure in the test's history. Given that 1.5 million APs were administered last year, the College Board made approximately $120 million on AP tests alone last year.Davis added, "It's an expensive test. One of our chief concerns regarding the AP is that it's not equally available to all U.S. students."On condition of anonymity, one of the Princeton Review's highest-ranking Master Tutor's, concluded "The College Board's a non-profit, but you should see where they work. Beautiful golf course, everything. It's like a country club." Princeton Review Master Tutors charge $250/hour for their services and knowledge.A Flawed Paradigm?The Advanced Placement program set a precedent for collusion between the corporate world and America's colleges which has not only persisted but flourished. Few doubt that the College Board has succeeded in consolidating America's educational system, and in promoting diversity for America's students. The free reign and burgeoning power awarded the College Board within today's educational structure, however, should and must spark a discourse among colleges nationwide. "The SAT is no longer the innocent little test it was," stated Schoenfeld.Indeed, while the college spends time defining what a Middlebury diploma truly means, an equally important question to ask is: what role must America's colleges play in regulating the power and influence of the College Board? "If it were to be done, that's something which I hope is done in unison, amongst all colleges," opined Schine. Meanwhile, the weight colleges award APs with respect to admissions perpetuates the AP problem. "The argument then translates back to tacit support for the College Board," noted Schoenfeld, "and consequently back to the institution itself."
(04/30/03 12:00am)
Author: Andreo Niccoleo Zimmermann Runner Nicole Wilkerson's Achilles heel is her achilles heel. Quite literally that is about the only thing that could slow Middlebury's assistant cross-country and track coach down. Following a strong college career at Rice University in Texas and after flirting with making the U.S. track team in the years that followed, the 31 year-old Wilkerson has found a home coaching at Middlebury and running marathons to feed her competitive desire. Just over a week ago she competed in the storied Boston Marathon, finishing as the 44th woman to cross the finish line in a time just over three hours. Marathon running is a recent exploit for Wilkerson as her first 26.2 mile race was in Houston in January 2001. Before that she had raced middle-distance for her high school and college teams. Like anyone who meets success, Nicole started small. "My first race was a turkey trot when I was nine," she said. "It was one mile and I finished in seven minutes or something." Her father and her older sister both provided good examples for Nicole in her younger years. "My sister started running," she said, "and I just did everything she wanted to do."In Shoreham, NY, track ironically enough was the "cool thing to do" according to Wilkerson. Her high school team was some 80 people and it wasn't until her junior year that she started to distinguish herself on the oval. "We'd do cross country and indoor and outdoor track," said Wilkerson. "Oh yeah, we'd do all three and have to shovel the track and everything." At Rice University no one ever had to shovel snow off the track . "I didn't realize until a couple months later," she said, "that this is Texas and it's hot there." A wide-eyed freshman, Wilkerson went out the first day of practice with the upperclassman. "It was maybe six or seven miles and I was hauling ass, almost dying on the back end and trying to hang on. And apparently that was like an easy to medium day according to the upperclassman. I thought 'My god there is no way I am going to handle this.'" Handle it she did, fighting an urge to transfer from Rice early and going on to become an All-American and with a best finish of fourth in the 3,000 meters her final year at Nationals. That attitude that helped propel Wilkerson to success early on in her running career is the same no-nonsense one she brings to her coaching today. "I have no tolerance for laziness and not working hard." she said. "If you are not ready to [work hard] it doesn't matter what program you are in - DI, DII or DIII - don't show up. I don't care how good you are." Part of that hard-nosed attitude stems from Wilkerson's approach to running and racing. It is an approach that emphasizes both team and self. "Racing is a real self test," she said. "You can see what you are made of. It's a true test of strengths and weaknesses."Being hampered by injuries throughout her career, Wilkerson has been tested again and again, not only during her races, but also on her ability to come back. In college, she experienced nine stress fractures and began a long battle with problems in both her left and right achilles tendons. "At U.S. Nationals I had to be carried off the field on a stretcher," she said of one of her post-college competitions. "I wasn't healthy yet at the Olympic trials." Despite that Wilkerson has come close to representing her country in the Atlanta and Sydney games. In an event she started racing "on a whim", the 10,000 meters, she was one of just 18 women to clock in ahead of the "B" standard of 33.24 in the Olympic trials. After her first attempt in 1996, Wilkerson decided the pain in both her achilles was enough and she had surgery . Remarkably her career after that point has been as impressive as it was before the surgery. She went on to coach at Texas A&M for three years before she came to Middlebury. Her husband Keith was offered a job at the University of Vermont just about the time a coaching position opened at Middlebury. "Coming to Vermont was such a pipe dream," she said of the circumstances surrounding their relocation. "It's just amazing it worked out."As Nicole has gotten older, the distances at which she has competed have gotten longer. The one mile turkey trot gave way to the 3,000 meters in college while the 10,000 meters at the U.S. Nationals and Olympic trials have given way to her latest distance - the 26 plus mile marathon. "I've only done three," she admitted. Yet in our interview, she said she has plans to run her third of 2003 and fourth overall - the Burlington marathon in late May. "I never had that much of a desire to run a marathon," Wilkerson said. With her achilles still hurting and her body beat up after the 2000 Olympic trials, she wanted a chance to run in a capacity in which she hadn't run before. Wilkerson and a friend and training partner at Texas A&M joked about racing in the Houston marathon. Joked, that is, until they entered it and raced in January of 2001. "It was nice to be a beginner at something again," she said. Beginner, yeah right! On her desk now sits a plaque which she received for finishing seventh place among women at the Houston marathon. After her move to Middlebury, she went on to run the most grueling of road races down in Hartford this fall and Boston just two weeks ago. Wilkerson had to make the transition from the 10,000 meters to the marathon. Easier said than done. In Houston she doubted whether she would be able to complete the last two tenths of a mile even though the finish line was in sight. Of her strategy now she said, "The first 13 miles of the marathon you want to make sure you don't get too caught up in the excitement of being there and the adrenaline. All I'm really thinking about is the second half of the marathon because that is when the race really starts." Though she fell about 10 minutes shy of her target in the Boston marathon (she finished in 3:05.31), her improvement as been steady just like the track and cross country teams she coaches. "The women's cross country team has been stellar," she noted. Behind a true devotion to the sport and a hunger to both teach and learn from track and cross country runners, she is helping Middlebury become a place where track is the "cool thing to do" again.
(04/23/03 12:00am)
Author: David Barker The ascent was only the beginning. On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to conquer Mt. Everest. The surrounding Himalayan region dug like an ice ax into Hillary, and its hold would bring him back to Nepal soon after the headlines detailing his accomplishment faded. Little is known about Hillary after the sword of England's Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the New Zealander a knight following the triumph of the British expedition. Last Tuesday, Hillary's history became clearer after former National Geographic photographer Anne Keiser, Middlebury College Class of 1970, discussed Hillary's feat in conjunction with the release of her new book, "Sir Edmund Hillary and the People of Everest." Organized by Joy Bloser '06 and sponsored by the Middlebury Mountain Club (MMC), Keiser's speech and slide presentation focused on Hillary's humanitarian aid work in several "Sherpa" Villages in Nepal. Keiser's path collided with Hillary's in 1983 through her work on a National Geographic film that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the successful summit attempt. She quickly became fascinated with Hillary's quiet devotion to the Sherpa people and accompanied him on several of his trips. In the first years following his ascent of Everest, Hillary returned to the region to scale other Himalayan peaks and conduct research on the effects of altitude on the human body, but his lingering presence in the area stemmed from a different motivation. "I came here for the mountains and I stay for the people," Hillary said to Keiser. In 1961, Hillary founded the Himalayan Trust, a grassroots organization that focused on improvements such as education and health services in remote Sherpa communities. Without roads or electricity, the Sherpa's existence centered around growing potatoes and raising yaks. On the 1953 expedition, 36 Sherpas accompanied the 13 mountaineers. Having lived in the shadow of the Himalayas since the 16th century, the Sherpas physical aplomb in high-altitude environments made them valuable climbing partners for the British team. Relationships that Hillary built while scaling the Himalayas served him well when he returned. The Himalayan Trust's first project began in Khumjung, where according to Keiser, Hillary asked the Sherpas what they needed most. If they needed a school, Hillary would respond, "Together, we shall build a school." "Having the Sherpas identify their own needs has kept them engaged in their community and endowed them with the will to take responsibility for their needs," Keiser said. Over the years, the Sherpas have completed 27 schools and two hospitals. Their salaries are covered by the Trust. While the construction process was collaborative, the doctors and teachers are trained Sherpas. Keiser's slides highlighted some of the success stories that have arisen from Hillary's aid to the Sherpa communities. He brought together New Zealand foresters and Nepalese ecologists to establish Sagamartha National Park in order to control the negative effects of tourism on the wilderness surrounding Mount Everest. One of the Sherpas to graduate from the first Khomjung School is now a World Wildlife Fund Director for Asia and the Pacific and has contributed to the reforestation of areas in Sagamartha and around the village. Another Sherpa who is a commercial airlines pilot in Germany became interested in flying after watching supply planes enter and leave the village via the airstrip that Hillary helped build in Khomjung. Both Sherpas received college scholarships from the Trust. Western influences seen in tourism and the popularity of Everest have produced visible changes in the villages and landscape. Hillary and Norgay's successful expedition has been followed by over 1200 other climbers. The impact of eco-tourism has led to the outlawing of wood fires. Sherpa diets based on potatoes have been infiltrated by tooth-rotting soft drinks. Electricity in the villages has brought in computers and cyber cafes. Recently, tourism has dropped 80 percent because of Maoist insurgency in the area.At age 83, Hillary's role in the area is becoming more limited. The Trust is focusing more on transferring responsibilities to the Sherpas in order to continue a strong influx of aid into the Sherpa communities. Royalties from Keiser's book go to non-profit organizations like the Himalayan Trust. New Zealand is also making a substantial donation to the aid effort in recognition of the 50th anniversary of its countryman's feat. After having written three books on Hillary, Keiser's admiration of the modest and determined mountaineer who as a child was too small to play sports remains strong. "While so many people that become famous and globally known use their fame for personal gain, Hillary chose to use his fame to help others [the Sherpas] who really needed help." Fifty years later, the ascent continues.
(04/23/03 12:00am)
Author: Claire Bourne Leah Koenig '04 transferred to Middlebury College from the University of Oregon last fall in large part due to the College's Environmental Studies (ES) program. Since then, she has wasted no time in making a name for herself on campus and in the surrounding community. Most notably, Koenig was recently named a Morris K. Udall Scholar for demonstrating "outstanding potential" in the environmental studies field. Sponsored by the Morris K. Udall Foundation, the scholarship was established in 1992 to propagate its namesake's contribution to wilderness preservation. Udall represented Arizona in the U.S. Congress from 1961 to 1991, championing the rights of Native Americans as well as raising awareness of the country's natural resources. Koenig, an environmental studies major focusing in religion and philosophy, submitted a 600-word essay addressing a speech Udall delivered in 1973 on the U.S. conservation movement. She was required to discuss the central theme of the talk - the need for innovation when it comes to promoting green practices - and how that idea related to her experience and plans for the future. "My own area of interest examines the ways in which religion can be used as a source of environmental inspiration," she wrote. "This approach includes examining religious texts and traditions through an environmental lens and incorporating environmental awareness, activism and education into the ethics and practices of a religious life." As one of 80 Udall Scholars, she will receive $5,000 towards her Middlebury tuition. The interdisciplinary nature of Middlebury's ES program is tailor-made for Koenig's interests. "The department is so perfect for what I wanted," she said. While expanding her knowledge of the environment, religion and philosophy through coursework, Koenig also looks beyond the classroom for ways to apply her understanding of how these three disciplines interact. "Leah shows great initiative," said her advisor, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Heidi Grasswick.In addition to co-organizing an energy and development symposium for next fall, Koenig is currently soliciting submissions for Middlebury-based Spirit in Nature's new periodical, a project which is in the works. "We're putting together a publication made up of writing and artwork from the Middlebury community that typify the values of being in nature," she explained. She is also a strong advocate of educating Vermont citizens about the environment. On May 3, she and other members of Spirit in Nature, along with concerned members of the community, will congregate at the organization's network of forest paths near Ripton to sign a letter to U.S. Senators Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) encouraging them to initiate environmental education legislation.Koenig will intern at Hazon, a Jewish non-profit organization, in New York City this summer. She said she would like to pursue a career in a similar field after graduate work and ultimately find herself teaching environmental studies with a religious focus at an institution of higher learning."I understand that my work is most powerful in combination - as part of a whole," she wrote in her essay to the Udall Foundation. "In order to have an effective critical love of the movement that works towards protecting and honoring the natural world, I understand that my work, like Udall's, must extend far beyond myself."
(04/23/03 12:00am)
Author: Claire Bourne Last August, I fell in love.This wasn't a passing crush. No, this was the real thing. It all began one Sunday morning, a few days before I was due to depart for my long-anticipated semester in Paris. I was scouring the Short Hills Mall for some last-minute items, my head aching from the high-pitched squeal of the fluorescent lights that retailers insist on installing in their establishments, when a calming, translucent glow caught the corner of my eye. I suppose you could say that I had seen the light. I turned and walked over the bleached wooden floor and past the well-groomed, black-clad salespeople. There, in the middle of the modish, spacious Apple store, I beheld Macintosh's sleek titanium PowerBook for the first time. Yes, I had seen the television advertisements. And yes, they were successfully convincing me that I didn't need "the blue screen of death" in my life anymore. So, with my two-and-a-half-year-old Sony Viao on its deathbed, I decided to take the plunge and welcome a Mac into my world.I was not alone. Although the number of Middlebury College students who own Macintosh computers has remained steady over the past few years, the dynamic image of Apple's new models has made them stand out in the sea of generic-looking PC's. Between 13 to 15 percent of the student body uses Macs, while over 100 faculty members own Apples.Those who have been loyal Apple fans for the majority of their computer-using days say they would never switch to Windows-operated machines. Those who have listened to CEO of Apple Steve Jobs and company's advice and taken "the leap of faith" are equally convinced of Macs' virtues. College Computing Support Specialist Mack Roark is a self-proclaimed convert. He used PC's throughout the 80s but began working on Macs in the early 90s when he attended graphic art school. Before this turning point, he says he thought Macs were "toys."The newest line of Apple computers boasts Mac OS X (pronounced oh-ess-ten), an operating system that "makes previous consumer systems, like Mac OS 9 and Windows Me, look like hand-cranked antiques," according to New York Times reporter David Pogue. The difference between Apple's 17-year-old OS 9 system and the newer, user-friendly system is, simply put, Unix - an wholly dependable operating system that renders the latest Macs virtually crashproof.Veiling the hard-to-use Unix system was all part of the plan. Instead of being confronted with a complicated interface (Pogue described using it as "about as much fun as eating sand"), clients are instead pleasantly greeted with a richly lucid, gently animated and accessible software overlay.Macs boast "something for everyone," according to Roark. "Computers are as individual as the people that use them," and Mac users, he maintains, "tend to be more loyal to their computers" and "see them as more than just tools to access things."Computer science major Christopher Shubert '05 cites his PowerMac's reliability and power as reasons for sticking with the Apple brand ever since he began using computers. "It's more comfortable," he says.Despite new Macs' modernized features - protected memory and multitasking, among them - some PC users will never consider replacing their IBM-compatible machines with Apples. Crampus Editor Gregory Eriksen '04 says there is "no way" he would ever switch. When he stepped up to the humor magazine's top post, he was upset to learn that The Middlebury Campus, whose office The Crampus uses to produce its publication, had recently acquired a number of new PowerMac G4s. Although the machines have been "a source of major frustration," Eriksen admits that he is getting better at navigating the machines' idiosyncrasies. "We're on a speaking basis," he affirms.Eriksen took his opinion of Apple's recent advertising campaign all the way to the pages of The Crampus' latest issue, a spoof on Time Magazine entitled Slime. The one-page ad parody depicts McMurphy, the mischievous protagonist of the film adaptation of Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," as one of the "everyday people" Apple employed to describe to the television-watching world the merits of crossing over from PC's to Macs. "The ads were basically saying that you had to be really dumb not to be able to use a PC," Eriksen explains, "but Macs are a pain to use in their own right."Despite the existing "cold war" - Eriksen's tongue-in-cheek description of the conflict between Mac and PC users - few can dispute the aesthetic appeal of the chic titanium PowerBooks, the compact white iMacs and the curvaceous PowerMacs. "They look sexy," says Roark. "When the titanium model came out, people went nuts." There is just something undeniably satisfying about owning a "snazzy, cool, hot-looking" laptop (to borrow Roark's terminology). I will confess that I judged the book by its cover on that fateful day in late August. But I am generally a good judge of character and I don't plan of falling out of love any time soon.
(04/16/03 12:00am)
Author: Carl Larson "Michael Singer is our only hope." This is what I absent-mindedly scrawled on a napkin on Saturday morning. I had just seen two of three proposals for a landscape sculpture adjacent to Middlebury College's new library. Singer did not disappoint and the College will most likely have one of his works on the front campus by the time the library opens. The Committee on Art in Public Places (CAPP) was established to direct funds generated by the One Percent for Art program. This program sets aside one percent of the cost of all college building for public art acquisition. If completed, Singer's "Garden of the Seasons" will be CAPP's biggest project since "Smog." Over the past six months, Jackie Ferrara, Michael Singer and Elyn Zimmerman have been working on plans for a sculptural garden in which passersby may sit, read, relax and meditate. They were given a site (southwest of the new library), a budget (roughly 1 percent of the cost of the library) and various requirements and restrictions. To inform the college community about these artists, the college Museum of Art organized a small exhibit showcasing the three artists' past work. It wasn't until Saturday, though, that the proposals were presented and the decisions made. Elyn Zimmerman made the first presentation. Zimmerman, best known for her work in front of National Geographic's headquarters in Washington, D.C., uses large rocks and water in nearly all of her projects. Her design for the College consisted of a series of concrete, concentric circles 80 feet in diameter placed between Old Chapel and the New Library. Benches, ramps, stairs, bushes, trees and rocks were all part of the plan, but because of budget restrictions, water was absent. Next was Jackie Ferrara's proposal for a 152-foot walkway lined alternately with vines, grasses and seating leading from the library toward Emma Willard House. Like Ferrara's work in urban streets and parks, her proposal was simple, durable and well suited for a high traffic area. Concerns were raised over both artists attention to the site and sensitivity to climate. While Zimmerman's proposal shared design elements with the new library and Ferrara's used some of the same materials, neither was tied well to the site selected. Winter, although acknowledged, did not seem to be thoroughly addressed by either design. Singer's proposal was a relief. Not only did he beautifully address the site and the climate, he also introduced environmental considerations, sensual dimensions and a varied and exciting group of materials. His elaborate presentation included works in California, Brattleboro, Grand Rapids, Stuttgart, the Netherlands and Wellesley College. In discussing his installation at Denver International Airport, he stressed his interest in time and memory. Like many of his works, native plants dominate a landscape of carefully cast and carved concrete and stone elements that appear to be decaying ruins. It looks better than it sounds. In fact, it's beautiful. More moss and weathering do nothing but help his work. His proposal for Middlebury College is no exception. Sited roughly 200 feet up and to the south of the path from the new library, Singer's plan consists of three basic elements: a wall, a sitting area and a water/ice wall. A wall with a trough of trickling water runs downhill alongside the path and breaks at the narrow entrance to a semicircle sitting area. The sitting area is detailed with pavers specially sculpted and designed by Singer. Also in the circular area are a pre-existing tree and a sunken area full of native plantings. The most exciting part of his proposal is a metal mesh wall with water or ice flowing over it, depending on the season. For the skeptics of this element, Singer showed pictures of a much larger ice wall he built in Worcester, Mass. As hard as Zimmerman and Ferrara had tried, the decision to choose Singer was easy. His sensitivity to the site, its architecture, the environment and the holistic human experience could not be ignored. There were concerns that his plan was too ambitious for his budget, but the point was made multiple times that CAPP had selected an artist and not a design. Singer will clearly have to work extensively with Andropogen, a landscape architecture company currently designing the front campus. This, along with budget and logistical concerns, will most likely require modification of his proposed plan. The College Museum of Art will be showing the three artists' work through June 2. Plans are currently being made to publicly display the model for Singer's proposal. The project is slated for completion in time for the opening of the new library.
(04/16/03 12:00am)
Author: Richard Lawless It's a safe assumption that most students at Middlebury College view their time here as an excellent opportunity to expand their horizons. The College's radio station, WRMC, which resides at 91.1 FM on your radio dial, uses this same credo through its promotion of unheard music, diversity of genres, and ambitious concert schedule. As any DJ will hear at the WRMC introductory meeting at the beginning of each semester here, the purpose of WRMC is to offer an alternative to common radio stations, such as Top 40 or classic rock radio. Naturally, this means that when you tune into WRMC, you're not likely to hear the Dixie Chicks or R. Kelly. As a DJ, I have received much criticism from classmates and colleagues about the restrictive, elitist nature of WRMC and its music. But, as a recent Campus survey revealed, roughly 47% of the students surveyed listen to WRMC. The number is not ideal, but it is a significant chunk of the student body. In truth, WRMC is a community, just like any other organization on Middlebury College's campus; it attracts certain students, and detracts others. A handful of students join the WRMC community and become deeply involved with the station and its operations, forming a core group that is similar in nature to the staff of the Campus newspaper or any other organization here.Keeping the station's alternative roots firmly planted will turn off a good deal of the student body from actively listening to WRMC, but I feel that the radio station cannot please everyone. This is inevitably the case with about half of the student body, even with the station's remarkably vast selection of genres, including Hip-Hop, Electronica, Blues, Folk, Jazz, Loud Rock and World, in addition to rock. After all, the entire student body doesn't attend a Hepburn Zoo production, or the Free Friday Film, but these events still take place, and still serve a notable portion of the college community. WRMC is in a unique position in the radio industry. Since the station is funded completely by Middlebury College, advertising revenue is not necessary, and thus the station does not have to play mainstream music in order to attract advertisers. Rather than play Top 40 music like Alice 93.7, or classic rock like The Fox 101.5, WRMC offers a highly diverse selection of music that most listeners probably have not heard before. The logic behind this is that listeners who want pop music can always turn to Alice, and listeners who want classic rock can always turn to The Fox. Competing with these two stations with the same, or similar music catalogues, would not make much sense, because these stations would simply overpower WRMC with more powerful signals pumping out Michelle Branch. Another important factor in supporting the alternative nature of WRMC is the fact that many of today's superstars were yesterday's college radio buzz bands. Arena-rockers R.E.M. were being blasted from college radio stations across the country in the early 1980s. Throughout the 80s, the band built up a strong following through college radio, recording albums every year, and touring relentlessly. By 1988, they made the transition to mainstream radio with "The One I Love", and the rest is history. Most recently, the White Stripes made the crossover to mainstream success with their 2002 album "White Blood Cells", and hit single "Fell In Love With A Girl". After spending a few years on college radio rotation, the duo found themselves on MTV with an award-winning video. Currently, the White Stripes newest album, Elephant, debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard charts, and the band are selling out theaters across the country. It must also be stressed that WRMC does play bands that students have heard of before. When listening to the station, it's not uncommon to hear the Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, Weezer, or Radiohead. As a DJ, my goal is not to alienate people, but rather encourage them to discover something from the massive amount of music that remains un-played on mainstream radio stations that they'll enjoy. There's a whole world of music out there that you can't hear on Alice or The Fox. So please, turn on your radio to 91.1 FM, open your ears, and expand your horizons. You might just like what you hear.
