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Review: Men’s track and field

Men's track and field improved their record to 2–0 on Saturday, beating Hamilton College, 86–54, at home on Dragone Field.  Middlebury swept the jumping events, winning both the long jump and high jump with a staggering 6.81 meters from Max Memeger ’21 and 1.79 meters by Francis Price ’22.  Arden Coleman ’21 also snatched first place in the 100-meter, beating Hamilton’s Joshua Harmsen by three-tenths of a second with a winning time of 11.26 seconds.  Max Cluss ’23 won the 800 for the Panthers, finishing in 1:54.26, while Quinlan McGaugh ’22 took first in the 1500 in 3:58.24.  In the midst of the win, many were reminiscent as this was their last time competing on Dragone Field. The team will finish off their spring season at Williams College next weekend. Bett Sorbo ’24 is looking forward to the last meet of the season, hoping to end it on a good note. “Training this week won’t be too different than the last few weeks. It’s just a matter of continuing to hone in on the things that have already led to our success. Right now, we have the potential to make a serious impression at Williams.” Sorbo said.  The meet is scheduled for Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m.

Sports Recap: May 13

Review: Women's track and field

In their second dual meet of the season, women’s track and field reigned victorious over Hamilton College, 102–69. Out of 18 total events, Middlebury placed first in 14, winning every event they participated in. In the short distance races, Eva Kaiden ’23 placed first in the 100m dash (13.04) for the second week in a row, while Michelle Louis ’24 also took first in the 200m dash (25.87). Gretchen McGrath ’21.5 also climbed atop the leaderboard, winning the 400m dash (59.17).  Saturday also marked senior day for the Panthers, honoring McGrath, Simone Ameer ’21.5, Lauren Boyd ’21, Kate Holly ’21, Kai Milici ’21, Chloe Smith ’21, Victoria Toth ’21 and Emma Walsh ’21. “Our senior class has been such great role models and leaders especially under the circumstances of Covid and having a big team,” McGrath, who will graduate next February, claimed. “I believe we’ve done an awesome job creating this healthy culture of support and care; the entire team knows everyone is there for everyone else.” In the distance races, Katelyn Paese ’22 finished far ahead of the pack in the 800m (2:18.98), while Smith prevailed in the 5000m (18:53.91). Cassie Kearney ’22 also set the Dragone Field record in the 1500m (4:34.09), previously held by Catherine Beck from Tufts University in 2007 (4:35.28). “I hadn’t run the 1500m since freshman year, but I just wanted to go for it,” Kearney delighted. “I’ve been training so hard all throughout the winter, and I feel like I'm the strongest I've ever been as a runner — so I knew I could lay it all out there.” In the 4x100m relay, Middlebury’s team consisting of Liza Toll ’24, Kaiden, Jackie Topping ’22 and Joely Virzi ’24 edged Hamilton by four seconds (50.34). The Panthers also won the 4x400m relay with a squad of Ashley Raynor ’24, Kearney, McGrath and Louis, crossing the finish line in 4:08.13.  In the field events, Cady Barns ’22 was a two-event winner for the second straight week, leaping to wins in the long jump (5.41m) and the triple jump (11.63). Eliza Broughton ’22 similarly impressed in the 3000m steeplechase (11:52.27), while Walsh was Middlebury’s lone victorious thrower in the javelin (30.90m). Women’s track and field will look to stay hot next weekend at Williams College, with action beginning at 11 a.m. 

Review: Women's track and field

In their first competition since March 7, 2020, Middlebury women’s track and field dominated in their season opener, beating Union College 97–58. Middlebury finished first in 14 of 18 events.  Eva Kaiden ’23 had a big day for the Panthers, placing first in the 100-meter dash (13.03) and the 200m dash (26.92) — as well as the 4x100m relay (50.85), where she was joined by Liza Toll ’24, Jackie Topping ’22 and Joely Virzi ’24. “I haven’t run the 4x100 relay since my senior year of high school,” Kaiden said. “Just being out on the track and doing real handoffs felt really nice.” Middlebury also won the 4x400m relay (4:07.67) by eight seconds, a team consisting of Dana Glackin ’22, Michelle Louie ’24, Ashley Raynor ’24 and Gretchen McGrath ’21. Cady Barns ’22 also had a solid day in the field, winning both the long jump (5.32m) and the triple jump (11.36m). Both were personal records for Barns.  “I was at home last semester, working and training, hoping we’d have an outdoor season,” Barns said. “I think that served me well because I feel really fresh coming into the season.” Mary Scott Robinson ’24 dominated in the field events, winning both the hammer throw (38.76m) and the shot put (12.12). Her shot put distance broke the Middlebury record set by Helene Rowland ’20 in 2017 (11.95m).  “Recruiting her, I knew she was a good thrower and that she’d do well for us eventually,” head coach Martin Beatty said. “I didn’t know she would do this at the first meet!” In addition to those who competed at Dragone Field on Saturday, nine Panthers traveled to Tufts to compete in longer distance events against Connecticut College, Wesleyan University, Tufts University and Trinity College. At Tufts, Cassie Kearney ’22 and Nicole Johnson ’22 finished first (2:11.81) and second (2:13.66), respectively, in the 800m. Eliza Broughton ’22 also finished sixth in the 3000m steeplechase.  Middlebury will host Hamilton College this Saturday, May 8, at Dragone Field with the action starting at 12 p.m. 

Review: Men’s track and field

Men’s track and field swiftly defeated Union College at home on Saturday, winning 13 out of 16 events en route to a 93–53 victory.  In the field events, Max Memeger ’22 narrowly beat Union’s Dante Scott by two centimeters in the Long Jump. The men also dominated the Hammer Throw, with Daniel Brey ’22 (44.86), Nathaniel Klein ’21 (42.90) and James Caprio ’21 (41.24) capturing the first three spots, respectively.  The 4x100 meter race was a rookie-heavy event, topped with a photo finish. Nadji Ngbokoli ’24 started the race, going toe-to-toe with Dante Scott before handing it off to Matthew Durst ’21. After racing the straight, Durst passed the baton to Finn Warner ’24 to take it around the second turn, finishing with Aaron Tobias ’24 nudging ahead of Union’s Andrew Fox by two tenths of a second for the win. With the victory, the 4x100m squad now has their eyes set on a bigger goal: the school record. 

!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); A vast majority of respondents — over 75% — responded with “yes” or “sometimes” when asked if they struggled with their relationship with food or exercise during their time at Middlebury. Nearly half of respondents responded “yes” — a sharp uptick from last years’ 35%. Almost 80% said they knew someone who had. Students have written several op-eds in the last year about this campus’s disordered eating problem and how it has been exacerbated during the pandemic. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Still, 751 respondents reported turning to exercise to relieve mental health struggles, only second to socializing as a means of coping. Additional findings show that more than one out of every 10 respondents frequently turn to alcohol to cope with stress; another 30% do so occasionally. One out of every six students sought counseling during the fall semester, and Counseling Services has seen a marked increase in students showing signs of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts on intake forms this year. Common struggles include isolation, existentialism and grief, according to Associate Director of Clinical Operations Ben Gooch. In the midst of their struggles, respondents overwhelmingly found Middlebury’s mental health resources inadequate, with 80% indicating they were unsatisfied. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Nearly 30% of students had already received the vaccine when the survey closed on April 12, and more than two-thirds of respondents planned on getting vaccinated as soon as possible. Vaccine hesitancy is much more prevalent nationally, where only 30% have the same plans. While only one Middlebury respondent said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated, 13% of the U.S. is dead set against getting vaccinated. Respondents who indicated they would get the vaccine as soon as possible counted for roughly 94% of those who had not yet received it. More than 5% of respondents have tested positive for Covid-19, slightly higher than the roughly 4% in Vermont and lower than the 10% in the U.S..   !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); One in five respondents (20%) reported having survived sexual assault, and 8% of respondents reported experiencing sexual assault on campus. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Gender and race played a large role in who experienced sexual assault. More than half of nonbinary respondents, 25% of female-identifying students and 10% of male-identifying students reported that they have been assaulted. BIPOC respondents reported experiencing sexual assault at a 22% higher rate than white students. Of the 82 respondents who said they were sexually assaulted on campus, only nine chose to report the incident to Middlebury. Several respondents chose not to report because the perpetrators were friends, teammates or intimate partners. “I was too afraid of the social backlash because he was a teammate,” one respondent wrote. “I didn’t think Middlebury would actually punish him and I thought it would be more traumatizing than helpful.” Others cited fears of social repercussions, worries about being victim-blamed and “self-gaslighting” about whether what happened to them truly counted as sexual assault as reasons why they did not report. Many anticipated little support or action from the school and thought the reporting process would exacerbate the trauma they were already dealing with. Five out of the nine students who reported their sexual assaults to the school were dissatisfied with how Middlebury handled their cases. At the beginning of this academic year, the college changed its disciplinary procedures for reported cases of sexual assault following new Title IX guidance from the Department of Education. Major changes include a more stringent definition of sexual assault, a live hearing process for those accused of perpetrating sexual violence and a new informal process for mediating cases of sexual assault when survivors don’t want to seek official discipline or cases don’t fall under the new definition.

This year, 1,041 students completed the third annual Middlebury Zeitgeist survey. This represents 43% of degree-seeking undergraduate students, according to the Spring 2021 Enrollment profile, a compilation of demographic data collected by the Registrar's Office this spring. The 903 on-campus learners in the sample size represent roughly 45% of the student population on campus this semester !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Participants in Zeitgeist 2021 were divided roughly equally among classes. The class of 2024 had the highest number of participants, with 208 respondents.   !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); This year’s survey allowed students to select all racial groups they identify with, meaning that some students are counted more than once in analyses that break down responses by race.  Seventy-one percent of respondents identified as white, compared to 59% of domestic student respondents who identified as white in the Spring 2021 Student Enrollment profile — though the student profile separates international students into a distinct racial and ethnic category.  The second-largest group of respondents — at 12.6% — was students who identified as Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. About 7% of respondents identified as Hispanic or Latinx, and about 2% of respondents identified as Black or African American, while 5.4% of respondents identified as biracial or multiracial. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Respondents were also given the option to indicate multiple gender identities in this year’s survey. Nearly 56% of respondents identified as cisgender female, while only 36% of respondents identified as cisgender male. The remaining respondents identified as nonbinary (nearly 5%), transgender male or female (0.85% combined), or chose not to respond to the question.  The Spring 2021 Enrollment profile, which used a binary classification of gender,  reported that 53.4% of degree-seeking students were women and 46.6% were men. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Nearly 40% of Zeitgeist survey participants are on need-based financial aid, and just under 9% of respondents are first-generation college students. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); There was also an uptick in the number of queer respondents — students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or questioning — at about one-third of respondents, compared to 28% from last year’s survey.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Nearly one in three respondents hail from New England states. One in five students are from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or the D.C. area. Twelve percent of respondents are from the South, 12% are from Pacific states, 9% from the Midwest and 5% are from the Great Lakes region. Nearly 8% of respondents selected “International” as where they are from.  More than half of respondents consider their hometowns to be suburban. Twenty-eight percent are from urban hometowns and 18% are from rural areas, results that are consistent with last year’s Zeitgeist.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); More than half of respondents (52%) attended public high schools, and a third of respondents attended private/parochial day schools. Nine percent attended boarding schools, and 5% attended a charter/magnet school. These demographics are roughly consistent with last year’s results. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Fifteen percent of respondents were varsity athletes. Notably, nearly 40% of all varsity athletes respondents attended private/parochial schools, compared to 31% of non-athletes.  !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Ten percent of this year’s respondents reported having one or two parents who attended Middlebury College. The class of 2024.5 had the highest proportion of legacy or double legacy students, at 15% in total. Differently-Abled Students Nearly 13% of participants identify or have identified themselves as differently-abled. According to the Disability Resource Center (DRC), one in every six students at Middlebury contacted the DRC for a form of disability-related accommodation during the 2019–20 academic year. Major Groups of Respondents Nearly 20% of respondents have yet to declare their major(s). The most popular majors among respondents are Economics (8%) and Environmental Studies (Joint Majors) (8%), followed closely by Neuroscience (6%) and Political Science (5.5%). About one in four students indicated that they have a second major. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); On-campus learners are overrepresented in Zeitgeist results. Eighty-seven percent of Zeitgeist respondents were on-campus students, 7% were remote learners and 5% were taking the semester off. According to the Spring 2021 Enrollment profile, 436 students are studying remotely, comprising 18% of the student body. With 76 remote respondents, 17% of remote students participated in Zeitgeist.  The Fall 2020 semester saw 2,210 on-campus learners, a figure that dropped to 1,998 students this spring, according to the Registrar.

Students struggle to reschedule appointments following halt in Johnson & Johnson vaccine administration

Many students have found their vaccination appointments canceled after Vermont paused the administering of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines through April 23. The decision follows a CDC and FDA recommendation to halt use of the vaccine until a rare blood clotting condition — found in six out of 6.8 million vaccine recipients — is investigated. Although Gov. Phil Scott has declared that students are not currently eligible unless they are permanent residents of Vermont or plan to remain in the state this summer, many who have accessed appointments to receive the J&J vaccine have struggled to reschedule them. Scott tweeted on Tuesday that Vermonters who had made J&J vaccine appointments for April 13 would be contacted about rescheduling. Those affected were instructed to contact the Vermont Department of Health vaccine call center to get an appointment before the end of the month, according to a tweet from the department. Kasey Mazzone ’23 received an email from the Department of Health on April 13 stating that her J&J appointment at Middlebury American Legion — which had originally been scheduled for that afternoon — was canceled. “Your Appointment below has been cancelled. If this was done in error, please visit our website to reschedule,” the email said. Charlie Caldwell ’22 also had an appointment for the J&J vaccine on April 13 at American Legion that was canceled. He received two emails from the Department of Health at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. One mistakenly notified him that a testing appointment had been canceled due to “unforeseen circumstances,” while the other was identical to the email that Mazzone received.  Mazzone later received a call from the department and eventually made an appointment in Middlebury for April 26, and Caldwell scheduled an appointment online for the Moderna vaccine on April 29 in Bennington. But some students were not able to get an April appointment — despite the Department of Health’s efforts.  Aditya Jain ’22, whose appointment for the J&J vaccine at the Hannaford Pharmacy was also cancelled on April 13, was not able to reschedule his appointment through the department until May 14.  “What are the odds, really?” Jain said. “I just kind of laughed it off.”  As an international student, Jain may need to find accommodation in Vermont past the end of finals week or travel back to Vermont in order to receive his second dose. Vermont’s decision to pause J&J appointments through April 23 has led other students to seek appointments well outside of Addison County, as limited availability and weeks-long wait times may inhibit some from receiving both shots of a two-dose vaccine before the end of the semester. Some students have been able to find earlier appointments less than an hour’s drive across the Vermont-New York border. Though most travel is currently restricted to Addison County, students can seek approval from the college to cross state lines for vaccine appointments if the trip can be completed in a single day. Some students scheduled out-of-state appointments within a day of their original appointment and decided not to ask permission to travel. Other students have struggled to find any vaccination appointment after a cancellation. Ananya Manjunath ’23  — whose appointment for the J&J vaccine was canceled on April 13 — also found that nothing was available until the middle of May and most were located more than an hour away from campus. Without a car on campus, Manjunath was worried she could not make it there and has yet to reschedule her appointment.  “I was really hoping that maybe [the health department] would do it for me, since I had already scheduled one and they canceled it due to reasons outside of my control,” Manjunath said. In an email to students sent on April 15, Dean of Students Derek Doucet announced that a plan was in the works to help transport students to vaccine appointments.  “Thus far, appointments have been most readily available in Rutland, and our transportation plan will, at least initially, focus there,” Doucet wrote.  In that same email, Doucet announced that students living or working on campus this summer will be required to be vaccinated. Students staying in Vermont over the summer become eligible on April 19, and the email encouraged students to sign up “immediately” once registration opens. The email stated that all out-of-state students will be eligible beginning on April 30. 

Students quarantined for Covid-19 violations regardless of evidence of exposure

Middlebury students have become accustomed to quarantining when they have been exposed to Covid-19 or as a preemptive move-in measure, but a new and unannounced policy temporarily places students into quarantine housing after they’ve committed Covid-19 policy violations if those violations included high-risk behavior.   This new measure, which Dean of Students Derek Doucet said has impacted around a dozen individuals, puts students in quarantine for Covid-19 protocol violations that the Office of Community Standards deems “a credible allegation of behavior that might lead to transmission.” Doucet said that the policy is designed to combat potential public health risks.  The policy The college enacted the policy of quarantining students who violated Covid-19 guidelines at the beginning of this semester, according to Doucet. Administrators realized that existing disciplinary procedures did not take into account the immediate public health risk posed by certain types of Covid-19 protocol violations like large gatherings in small spaces without masks.  “When we have those incidents, we're really worried about the possibility of exposure and transmission, and so we ask those students to go into quarantine as a public health measure,” Doucet said. “It's not intended as a punitive measure.”  Though this policy has reportedly been in place for months, the college never informed the student body of its implementation.  While the Spring Campus Guide Conduct Expectations section does inform students that they must “participate in isolation and quarantine when directed,” it does not mention the possibility of being placed in quarantine for a Covid-19 rule violation.  Instead, the Contact Tracing, Isolation, and Quarantine section describes quarantine as “a way for individuals who may have been exposed to Covid-19 through close contact with an infected individual to limit their contact with others while it is determined whether they have Covid-19.” Students were not placed in quarantine until up to two days following their violation. Doucet says administrators try to process Covid-19 conduct incident reports and meet with students within the first two days of the incident because “the science suggests that the chance of passing on the virus remains low in that time period.” Students may then be instructed to complete a quarantine if it is found that there is a credible allegation that the student engaged in unsafe behavior.  Unlike students under quarantine as close contacts, who are tested separately at Parton to avoid exposure to other students and in accordance with the exact timing of their day-seven tests, students quarantined for violations are tested at the Virtue Field House during the normal testing times with the rest of the student body, according to Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator Jennifer Kazmeirczak. Doucet said the discrepancy is “related to a different level of perceived risk.” “Quarantining students who have violated the covid guidelines is done out of an abundance of caution because of the heightened chance of exposure. Quarantining close contacts is done when there is known exposure,” Doucet said in an email to The Campus. “Sending students with confirmed exposure into close proximity with others [at general testing] is higher risk than asking a student about whom we're concerned about a heightened possibility of exposure.” Students whose Day Seven test falls outside of the college’s regular testing schedule may be able to schedule a test at Parton or at the Vermont Department of Health’s Creek Road testing center in town, according to Kazmeirczak.  Students quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations also do not receive daily phone call check-ins from the college’s Covid Operations office asking about their health status as close contacts do. They are expected, like all students on campus, to fill out daily Policy Path health surveys for symptoms, according to Kazmeirczak.  The college also does not extend the disciplinary amnesty policy, which allows violations revealed through contact tracing to go undisciplined, to those quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations. Students quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations are not asked who else attended the gathering, but if other students are revealed to have attended, they will not be exempt from disciplinary action, according to Doucet. These students quarantining for conduct violations are not listed on the Covid-19 reporting dashboard, which only displays the number of quarantining close contacts. According to Doucet, that is not an intentional omission, and the college is “considering adding conduct-related quarantine numbers to the dash.” A timeline of a Covid-19 violation quarantine  The Campus spoke to 10 students who were quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations in early March. Here’s a look at how the policy — which was confusing to many of the students quarantined under it — works. 11 p.m. Friday, March 5 - A group of 15–20 first-year students gather in the cavernous student activity room in the basement of Forest Hall on the night of Friday, March 5 to celebrate their return to campus.  11:30 p.m. - 12 a.m. - Several Public Safety officers and Reslife staff members block two of the three entrances and demand IDs from the students. Some bolt for the open exit but others mill about in confusion, unaware that, though a sign on the wall advertised a 30-person occupancy limit, students are only able to gather outside and in groups of ten.  DPS reports 10 students to the Office of Community Standards for Covid-19 violations. Weekend - The cited students go to the dining halls, attend in-person classes, practice with their sports teams and spend time unmasked with close contacts.   Monday, March 8 – Cited students attend in-person classes. Cited students go to mandatory testing. 7 p.m – Students receive an email from Dean of Community Standards Brian Lind asking them to schedule a disciplinary meeting. 3:39 p.m. - Nine of the students receive an email from Dean of Students Derek Doucet instructing them to begin room quarantine immediately and to prepare to move into temporary housing. They receive no guidance about their roommates who had not attended the gathering, with whom they had interacted closely. “We are concerned this gathering could have presented the opportunity for transmission of Covid-19,” Doucet writes in an email to cited students. Doucet says it was unlikely that any students were contagious yet if exposed, but that the choice to isolate students is necessary as they entered the period where transmission of the virus is most likely, had they been exposed to Covid-19 at the Forest gathering.  One cited student reportedly receives no such email. Midday Tuesday, March 8 - Students receive a call from Covid Operations telling them to move into quarantine housing at Porter, about three and a half days after their possible exposure Friday night. Students ask why they were being quarantined, but Covid Operations staff are reportedly not aware of the policy and unable to provide clarity.  Covid Operations Coordinator Daniel Celik confirmed administrators had not informed them of the policy. 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9 - Lind emails students informing them of the disciplinary decision of removal from campus held in abeyance, which means that students will likely be kicked off of campus if they commit another Covid-19 rules violation this semester. They are informed that they will be released from quarantine pending a negative test result and are reminded to get tested at Virtue Field House the next day.  Thursday, March 10 – All students get tested at Virtue Field House alongside the rest of the student body. Friday, March 11 - All 10 students receive negative results and expect to be released from quarantine. Upon further inquiry, they discover that this does not count as a Day Seven test, and they will have to wait until the next general testing day on Monday in order to be released on Tuesday, 11 full days after the gathering. By this point, they have already missed several in-person classes.  Saturday, March 12 - At their request, Doucet allows the students to temporarily leave quarantine and walk to the Department of Health’s Creek Road testing center in town to get tested before the next college-administered student testing day on Monday. Morning of Sunday, March 13 – All students receive negative test results and inform Covid Operations. 4-6 p.m. Sunday, March 13 - All students are released from quarantine — nine days after the Forest Hall gathering and seven days into their quarantine. The gathering is shown to have resulted in no positive cases.

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Acceptance rate drops to 15.7%, lowest in years

Middlebury’s acceptance rate dipped almost 10 percentage points to 15.7% from last year’s irregular 24%, marking its lowest point in public record; the acceptance rate for the regular decision round was 13.3%. Nearly 1,900 students received offers of admission out of a record-breaking pool of 11,908 — a 30% jump in applications compared to the year before. Middlebury was not alone in seeing a larger-than-normal applicant pool this year. Peer institutions also saw a significant hike: Amherst saw a 32% increase and Colby broke its own record from last year with a 13% increase. Applications to Colgate more than doubled. Of those admitted, 47% are students of color — a nine percentage-point increase from the previous year. Hailing from 91 countries, 13% of accepted applicants are international students. More than a third of those accepted are first generation students. This is the first class admitted while the college pilots a three-year test-optional policy; nearly half of all applicants did not submit ACT or SAT scores with their application. The college anticipates that roughly 720 students will matriculate next year — 620 in the fall and 100 in February.

Vermont residents of color over 16 to be eligible for Covid-19 vaccine on April 1

All Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) who are permanent Vermont residents over the age of 16 will become eligible for Covid-19 vaccination on Thursday, Apr. 1, Gov. Scott announced today. Any BIPOC individual eligible for the vaccine can also sign up members of their household. The news comes as state officials attempt to combat the slower vaccination rates for BIPOC communities nationwide. As of March 30, 30% of white Vermonters of all ages had received at least one dose of the vaccine. In contrast, only 13.6% of Vermont’s non-white residents had received a dose. Of all non-Hispanic white residents 16 and up, 33.7% had received a dose compared to the 21.0% of BIPOC Vermonters in the same age range.  BIPOC Vermonters have also been disproportionately affected by Covid-19. A December 2020 Vermont Department of Health report found that “BIPOC Vermonters with Covid-19 have significantly higher hospitalization and chronic disease rates,” a trend that is present in other states. At the end of last year, BIPOC residents represented 6% of the state’s population but 18% of Covid-19 cases.  The Vermont Health Department has cooperated with non-profits to sustain BIPOC-focused clinics. The Windham County NAACP leads vaccination clinics in Brattleboro, Bennington and Rutland and a Burlington clinic is operated by Racial Justice Alliance and the Vermont Professionals of Color Network.  Mark Levine, Vermont’s health commissioner, explained in a press conference that vaccination rates continue to lag for BIPOC Vermonters despite the work of targeted, community-based clinics.  “Data that I have shared reveals the almost twofold risk BIPOC face for being hospitalized,” he said. “Now that all Vermont residents who are the highest risk of death from Covid have been vaccinated, we can put focus on preventing the other most serious risk of the virus: hospitalization.” For Levine, both under-vaccination and higher hospitalization rates necessitate further action. “It is unacceptable that this disparity remains for this population placed at higher risk,” he said.  Some BIPOC students at the college were able to make vaccine appointments before the policy was even announced, which has lent to the spread of confusion about eligibility throughout the student body. Call center workers repeatedly signed up BIPOC students and confirmed eligibility based on racial identity. Now, the students are left unsure whether or not they can — or should — show up to their appointments.  Additionally, out-of-state students – even BIPOC students – are not eligible to receive the vaccine in Vermont at any point in the current timeline, according to comments from Gov. Scott’s at a March 30 press briefing.  In an email to Middlebury students on March 31, the college advised students not to cancel appointments and shared that the college has a plan to facilitate vaccination on campus if doses become available. In addition, the college noted that they have been working closely with Vermont government and health officials throughout the pandemic.  The email also reminded students that they can seek approval to travel to their home state for vaccinations if it is within driving distance. All Vermonters over the age of 16 are expected to become eligible on April 19, regardless of race or health conditions.

Direct Your Attention: A more optimistic playlist

Maybe it’s the recent afternoon sunshine or number of days over 60 degrees in the past week, but dammit, I’m feeling optimistic. I’ve spent the last year listening to (and writing about) music that reflects the distant and often lonely existence that quarantine forced us into. Looking into my Apple Music 2020 Replay, I found most of the playlist to be a reflection of a somber year — there wasn’t an exceptional amount to be excited for. But, every once in a while when the day was just right and aligned just so, I found myself jamming out to music that was entirely different; it was happy.  I have assembled a somewhat random assortment of songs that reflect this newfound optimism. Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but springtime is in the air and so is the need for a good time. I’m not a music critic, but I’ve been inspired by the recent editions of “WRMC Radio Roundup” and wish to make a few picks of my own that I hope will offer you the same emotional jumpstart that they did for me.    “Levitating” — Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby This first pick is a two-for-one with a pair of easy selections for this list: Dua Lipa and DaBaby. There are few people in this world that seem more excited to perform than DaBaby. His happiness is palpable and every song he produces or appears on feels as though he couldn’t wait a moment longer to jump on the track. His excitement is infectious and pairs beautifully with his lyrical rhythm. There are few rappers — or musicians for that matter — that can create such movement with their voices that they seem to propel the beat forward, rather than the other way around. On this track, he is paired tremendously with perhaps the only other artist who can match his excitement and movement. Dua Lipa’s voice glides along like a pair of rollerskates, flowing back and forth with such ’70s groove that it is impossible not to admire. This song dominated the summer and with DaBaby’s additions, it has only improved tenfold. It is a match made in disco heaven.    “Peaches” — Justin Bieber feat. Daniel Caesar & GIVĒON I’ll be the first to say it: it’s not cool to hate Justin Bieber anymore. In the artist’s young but bright career, he has lived under the harsh, blinding lights that The Weeknd sings about and that flash from paparazzi cameras. Yet, after his marriage in 2018, Bieber seems to have found stable footing and is recreating his image. “Peaches” pairs Bieber’s love for his wife with an incredibly catchy hook that has been playing in my head nonstop since the song was released two weeks ago. The song is fun and its music video takes it up a notch. Along with Bieber, singular vocal talents Daniel Caesar and GIVĒON take part in the fun, reminiscing about their own affections and crooning about their love. I’m a fan of the new Justin Bieber and his happiness emanates throughout the track right into my ears.    “Peppers and Onions” — Tierra Whack Tierra Whack’s style is as hard to pin down as it is eccentric. She is defining her own genre of music brought out by her lyrical tenacity, rap talent and abnormal beats. Though “Peppers and Onions'' is a reconciliation with her newfound fame and public scrutiny, it ultimately lands on an optimistic tone of appreciating her own individuality. Coming off her eccentric and uniquely built album consisting of 15 one-minute songs, Whack released a pair of singles in late 2020 that proved an even deeper dive into her artistic distinction. “Peppers and Onions'' draws its infectious beat from a combination of whistles and mouth clicks, whose strange combination is enrapturing. Whack inhabits a creative distinctiveness that demands attention. Her music is irreplicable.    “13 Besties” — Henry Hall This song is precisely what its title suggests: an ode to Hall’s 13 best friends. “I don’t see why I can’t show my love to you guys,” sings Hall in the chorus. “13 Besties” is clear in its premise and would otherwise be uninteresting if not for Hall’s patented pairing of humor and near-angelic falsetto. Hall is the son of acclaimed comedian and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and his witty lyrics and lighthearted tones only seem to carry on the lineage. Hall boasts a wide array of best friends yet hints that not all know they’re a part of such a large group. “And despite what Amber says, there aren’t 12 other friends. Bill there’s only you,” insists Hall in his final verse. In a world where friends more easily gather on Zoom than in-person, I’ve had to overcome my jealousy of his 13 best friends in order to fully enjoy the song. It is witty, charming, playful and just well-executed to a point where it does not grow old after a listen or two.    In addition to these songs, I recommend Anderson .Paak’s entire body of work, “If It Feels Good” by Leon Bridges, “New Light” by John Mayer, “No Ordinary” by Labrinth, “Good As Hell” (Remix) by Lizzo feat. Ariana Grande and “65th & Ingleside” by Chance the Rapper.  

Siefer’s Scoop Episode #13: Hans Pessl ’22.5, men’s nordic

This week, Blaise welcomes Hans Pessl ’22.5, a member of the men’s nordic team, on the podcast. A native of Bozeman, Montana, Hans grew up with a pair of skis on his feet. He describes how he first got into racing, how he honed his talent and how his skills ultimately qualified him for a coaching job with the Argentinian nordic team. Hans also explains Winter Carnival week from an athlete’s perspective, his favorite memories on the Middlebury team and his goals for the program. [embed]https://open.spotify.com/episode/402rtqImqLiMd8fvkdiUim?si=xDnpWOU4SCuMnGY7NMDbPw[/embed]

A match made in algorithm: 60% of students participate in the ‘Middlebury Marriage Pact’

Last night, 1,511 students opened their emails to find the name of their “optimal” match. They stared at their screens. They laughed, seeing their friends, or grimaced, recognizing an annoying classmate. They dismissed it or agonized over it, drafting and redrafting the same message over and over again. After all, how do you write an email introducing yourself to your future spouse? The Marriage Pact launched at Middlebury seeking to find each student’s most compatible partner on campus. Entries closed on Monday with nearly 60% of the student population responding, and participating students waited in eager anticipation until they received their matches yesterday. The pact The Marriage Pact — a project originally launched out of a Stanford economics class in 2017 — consists of an algorithm that uses participants’ answers to a 50-question survey designed to find their optimal romantic — or platonic — match.   The Pact’s mission is to find participants’ most compatible long-term partner and marital “backup plan” in case they end up single later in life.  “Among all the people at a school like Middlebury what are the odds that the one person you happen to be friends with because you met them freshman year, or you happen to be in the same a cappella group is actually the best person [who you could make a marriage pact with]?” said Liam McGregor, one of the Marriage Pact creators. "But surely, there's someone at Middlebury who's probably good enough, right? They might not be your soulmate. But, out of all the people, that's probably someone who is good enough for you to marry.” Since its founding, nearly 96,000 people have participated in the pact, forming 43,582 matches and one confirmed marriage. This year, the Stanford team began working with students at 33 colleges to launch the Marriage Pact on their campus, according to Mei-Lan Steimle, Stanford ’21, one of the Middlebury launch team project managers.  Kennedy Coleman ’21, one of the two students at Middlebury who helped bring Marriage Pact to the college, said the ultimate goal of the Marriage Pact at Middlebury is to “bring the community together at a time when we have to be ‘one Panther apart.’” “I'm just excited to be doing something collectively again,” she said. “Having a big chunk of the campus be in on something just feels really good and needed right now.” The matches  Participating students received an email with their match, their email, a list of shared values and how compatible they are compared to other pairs on campus. The top ten matches also received their ranking. From then, it was up to them to decide whether to reach out and chase after love.  However, 260 straight women were left without that option. Consistently across schools, the Marriage Pact is much more popular with straight women than straight, bisexual or pansexual men, leaving a “gap” of extra women with whom there is no one to match. Middlebury Marriage Pact (MMP) launched an Instagram and email campaign calling for men who are attracted to women to “be a hero” and “fill the gap,” but was ultimately forced to cut off romantic pairing for straight women for anyone who filled out the survey after 11:26  p.m. on March 10.  https://twitter.com/taiteishomo/status/1370891374128734208 Any straight female participants after that date were paired off with each other in the most compatible platonic matches.  Out of the 755 pairings, 625 were romantic and 130 platonic. With an odd number of responses, one lonely student was left matchless.   The survey  The survey began with demographic questions like class year, gender identity, sexual orientation, political stance, race and religion before branching into questions designed to get at participants’ core values and life outlook. Questions ranged from asking participants if they “prefer politically incorrect humor” to whether they would run a red light if no one else was on the road.  Your values uniquely represent you,” said McGregor. “[The algorithm] will look at your values and how all of those interact, and [from there] it will look for your ideal partner.”  The Marriage Pact works with school partners to tailor the process to each school. While the majority of the questions remain the same across colleges, local students like Coleman help select a few key questions based on the culture of their campus. The Middlebury Marriage Pact, for example, asked students if they agreed or disagreed with the statement “I keep some ‘friends’ here at Midd because they might be useful to me in the future.”  The Marriage Pact normally contains a question that allows participants to indicate their racial preferences for their matches, which is designed to protect BIPOC participants from racist matches. However, the Middlebury Marriage Pact decided to remove this question for fear that it might inadvertently invalidate or make students of color feel unwelcome on Middlebury’s predominantly white campus, feedback that Steimle has heard from other schools. “The Marriage Pact looks to find the best match possible for each person here on campus,” their online explainer reads. “How devastating would it be if a BIPOC student were matched with someone who was outright racist toward them? The most important thing the Marriage Pact questionnaire can do is discover discrimination like this privately, so that students won’t be exposed to it when they get their match.” Liza Obel-Omia ’21 is excited to receive her match, but worries that, without this option, her match may be expecting a white partner and be disappointed to find out she’s Black or may fetishize her for her skin color, traits she says are easier to ferret out and avoid when meeting people in person.  The MMP does allow participants to exclude potential matches based on religion and political affiliation and asks heterosexual participants if they would feel comfortable having gay children. Similar to the original race question, the idea is to protect LGBTQ+ participants from matching with someone homophobic, according to Steimle.  The participants  Much of the school partners’ job is to create excitement surrounding the Marriage Pact and a fun user experience. In the week leading up to matches, Midd Twitter buzzed with Marriage Pact memes and jokes. On March 13, participants received emails with their “hot takes,” the answers they gave that were the most different from the rest of the school population. Tuesday evening, as participants anxiously waited for their matches to be revealed the next day, they received an email with their matches initials and a taunting message to “stay tuned for matches tomorrow night.” https://twitter.com/miishapokladd/status/1370826401998372870?s=21 A self-described hopeless romantic, Obel-Omia is still hopeful that the Marriage Pact can help her find “the one.”  “I think it’d be a really cute story: to say, ‘Yeah, we both randomly did this thing, and we are meant to be together according to science,’” she said. “I think that's pretty romantic.”  Obel-Omia came to Middlebury expecting to meet her spouse here. Her father, a Middlebury alumnus, met her mother at a summer program at Bread Loaf School of English, and many of his old college buddies met their spouses at Middlebury as well.   Olin Robison, the Middlebury college president from 1975 to 1990, used to greet new classes at commencement by telling everyone: "Look to your left, look to your right: Two out of three of you will marry a Middlebury graduate." According to an article in The New York Times, he took credit for popularizing the myth that two-thirds of Middlebury graduates marry each other.  In reality, between 1915 and 1991, 17% of alumni married other Middlebury graduates, although love was in the air in 1929 when that figure jumped to 29%.  Calin Laine ’23 and Keith Chatinover ’22.5 have both resisted the romantic pull of the Middlebury marriage myth and were both more skeptical about the survey’s chance of success.   Laine doubts he’ll find his future spouse, but he is looking forward to the opportunity to make a new friend. “Best case scenario, maybe I meet somebody new who's interesting and cool,” he said. “Given what's going on with Covid and stuff, it's cool to have the opportunity to get to know somebody who I potentially have never even heard of.”  After initially dismissing the Marriage Pact out of hand, Chatinover was drawn in by the Twitter buzz. He filled out the survey Thursday night with several of his close contacts as they laughed over the questions, drank beer and celebrated the upcoming weekend. For him, falling in love or even having a crush is about intimate personal connection, so he doubts he’ll find his soulmate from an algorithm.  But even the staunch cynics are not completely without hope.   “If I somehow meet the person I end up being with from this, I'm gonna have a lot of crow to eat,” he said. Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly used the phrase "sexual preference" to refer to sexual orientation. An earlier version also misspelled the name of Olin Robison, the Middlebury College president from 1975 to 1990. These errors have been corrected. 

NESCAC announces return of conference play after year-long hiatus

In-conference play in the NESCAC will resume in mid-April — roughly 13 months after competition was paused due to Covid-19 — the league’s presidents announced on Tuesday afternoon. “While we will not be able to conduct athletics seasons as usual at Middlebury, we do plan to organize practices and limited competitive games with regional opponents,” an all-school email sent to students on Tuesday read. “NESCAC is currently developing schedules that are regional and limited in nature, and they will be released later in March.” Each institution will make their own determination regarding participation, according to a press release, but competition will only commence if at least six NESCAC teams agree to play. Schedules will be limited to regional opponents and will span from mid-April to mid-May.  Competition will look different, with “special Covid-19-related protocols” set to be in place. An announcement from the college says that the protocols for competition have been developed in consultation with the medical and Covid-19 operations teams and the NESCAC Athletic Directors, and that they will meet or exceed state and CDC guidelines.  When asked if this decision was expected, Jordyn Johnson ’23, a member of women’s softball, said she had “no idea.”  “I prepare for the worst these days,” she said.  Johnson says the team convened as soon as the news broke on Tuesday afternoon. At the meeting, head softball coach Kelly Bevere ’99 stressed that her players should remain vigilant in  taking all the necessary health precautions. If someone on the squad tests positive, the entire team will have to quarantine, a scenario that would jeopardize their season.  “Everyone is excited,” Johnson said. “Right after the decision, I was like ‘I need to go hit.’ So I went and hit for 45 minutes, and I got a blister. That’s how you know you haven’t hit in a while.”  For some squads, putting a team into play this spring might present a challenge. The women’s lacrosse team, for instance, only has four members on campus, possibly forcing an opt-out. A similar dilemma faces the men’s lacrosse team, which only has around six members on campus. Other programs have limited numbers on campus, too, like men’s baseball.  Information will continue to roll out in the next few weeks as the NESCAC clarifies scheduling and specific procedures. In-conference play in the NESCAC will resume in mid-April — roughly 13 months after competition was paused due to Covid-19 — the league’s presidents announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Uprooted

From the bright red of the Japanese Maple outside the Emma Willard House, the warm yellow Ginkgos in front of Mead Memorial Chapel, the hot pink Rhododendrons behind Forest Hall or the blazing orange Sugar Maples outside Battell, the campus boasts stunning sights year-round. For the most part, other than snapping daily nature photos to post or send to family members, you probably pay little attention to the other trees that surround you on campus. With all that has happened over the past year, it’s especially easy to lose the memories of foliage that fill out the edges of the most dramatic turning points and salient traumas. However, even though so much has changed since departing from campus last March, one thing has remained constant: our beloved campus itself.    The Darkest Day Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 1:08 p.m.  Campus horticulturist Tim Parsons was walking across campus, ready to prune trees, when he suddenly received the text. Ding. “Date Change: Middlebury College will begin spring break this Friday, March 13, after classes end, which is one week earlier than scheduled. This will be a two-week break with classes resuming — remotely — on Monday, March 30. Remain Home After Break: Following spring break, students who can will be expected to remain at home and not return to campus until further notice.” “I knew from the moment I read the screenshotted email, it was not going to be good,” Parsons said. “It just seemed off. Everything was so up in the air, and nobody knew what to do, or what to say. People get used to predictability, stability and it just felt off.” Parsons noted that although the reckless acts of vandalism across campus and in town during the last week were apparent, the damage did not seem to have targeted trees as student vandalism often has in the past.  “I mostly saw signs being torn down, not trees that students are often keen to uproot,” he said. “It was yet another thing that felt odd.”   Speaking for the Trees It is the deeply rooted love for the campus and Middlebury College community that makes Tim Parsons’ job both rewarding and a tall order. Middlebury’s campus horticulturist since 2006, Parsons’ knowledge of the college’s greenery borders on encyclopedic. A Vermont-certified horticulturist and a certified arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture, Parsons was in the green industry for more than 25 years, running his own landscape design company and a garden center for nearly 10 years. Additionally, Parsons is a past president of Greenworks, The Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association and was chosen in 2003 as the Young Nurseryman of the Year by the New England Nursery Association. Although he grew up in Connecticut, he has lived in Vermont for 22 years and now lives at the base of Snake Mountain in Weybridge, Vermont with his wife, three daughters and “too many gardens.” At Middlebury, Parsons’ responsibilities include the care and maintenance of the colleges’ robust urban forest, full landscape design and installation measures, and management of the sustainable turfgrass of the athletic fields. Along with caring for the abundance of trees on campus, Parsons has taught a “Trees and the Urban Forest” course several times, led field trips for other courses, and marshals a popular “Campus Tree Tour” each fall during Homecoming. He also writes a blog — appropriately titled “The Middlebury Landscape” — and is a member of multiple college committees such as the Master Plan Implementation Committee, the Emergency Response Team and Community Council. He has also served on the Environmental Council. “I love everything about my job, but seeing how the college landscape makes people happy is the most rewarding part,” Parsons said.   Withering Life Phenology — which comes from the greek “phaino,” meaning to show or appear — is the study of recurring life cycles of the living things around us, the seasonal experiences of insects, plants, mammals and the relationship of time to weather and climate. Parsons compares this to the collective experience between the environment and people during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a landscaper, Parsons observed that the quiet looming over campus relates to the “natural ebb and flow of things.”  “I don’t know the exact class schedules all that well, but people certainly know when classes are out,” he said. Parsons said after a majority of students left campus mid-March, he would walk to a certain part of campus where there are usually clusters of students studying or socializing, but there was no one there. “The first week or so it’s nice to ride on those silly Gators and not be in the way of folks, but after that, it just wasn’t the same,” he said. “It was just really sad.” “I remember the CFA parking lot is filled with crab apples. When those come to bloom they are absolutely spectacular,” Parsons said. “I was actually quite excited to see them this spring because I had never seen them bloom without any cars in the lot, so I made a specific point to walk to campus to see them.” But the crabapples did not bloom. “Horticulturally, trees and shrubs sort of had their own pandemic too,” Parsons said. “We had a severe drought and it didn't rain for weeks on end. Lawns turned brown, leaves started to fall early, and wherever I looked, plants looked lifeless, much like how I felt.” Parsons explained that like people and the pandemic, it can take years for the trees to fully recover from damage.  “I spent the whole summer watering trees, and I don't remember a year it was this dry for a long time,” he said. “I had hoped that some of the high traffic locations would receive a much-needed break, but the drought was so bad, there wasn't much of a difference.” Throughout the summer, Parsons took solo walks around campus, checking in to make sure everything was still okay. He noted that the treasured hot pink Rhododendrons behind Forest Hall did, in fact, bloom as usual, a stark reminder of the loss of spring, and especially graduation. According to Parsons, the bright flowering bushes were planted there to serve as the original ceremony location, with chairs extending out across Battell Beach. After planning for the commencement ceremony all Winter, Memorial Day weekend eventually came that May, and with no students to graduate, Parsons had that weekend off for the first time in 15 years. “When the students are gone after commencement and before language schools, it’s peaceful and nice, but after a couple of weeks of that, everyone’s ready for the energy to come back,” he said. “The whole point to working at the school is to help the students out, and that’s why we’re here, so it just doesn’t really feel right when campus is empty.”   Instagram Updates Known for sharing snapshots of the college’s picturesque landscape, his family, sleeping pets and even an occasional baked good or two, Parsons’ Instagram (@middland) also happens to be a favorite account for many Middlebury students. His captions shared are pure musings that bring Parsons’ love for the small joys in life to the public eye. On March 13, Parsons wrote, “Adopted a plant today, I named it Riley. Goodbye to all my student friends leaving today, hoping to see you again.” And on a photo of an empty campus, a sarcastic, “Day one at Middlebury College. 9:00, sidewalks filled as students walk to class.” Parsons continued these logs the rest of the month, updating his followers on the life they abruptly left behind on campus. “Day three at Middlebury College. Cross country trail, missing the runners on the blue sky day.” “Day four. One of my traditions after the students move out is looking for rocks geology students don't want to bring home and leave in parking lots. Here's this year's finds. Anybody want to ID?” “Day five, quiet.” As warmer weather arrived in Middlebury, Parsons continued to updated his small but mighty fanbase on the still life coming back to campus, highlighting the blossoming of White Siberian squill, serviceberry, daffodils, magnolias, the redbud trees in front of Axinn and the green grass beginning to show on the lawns. And on May 24, a picture of a flowering crabapple tree.  “Today would have been the day I decorated the commencement stage at Middlebury College then waited to see my former students and friends march in. So to them, I say so long, good bye, come back soon. Wish you could be here. #middseniorcelebration.” One student commented, “I miss the campus trees,” to which Parsons replied, “and they miss you!” Parsons’ consistent updates continued throughout the summer, increasing as the date drew nearer for the August return to campus. He posted photos of the Adirondack chairs in storage, ready to be set outside again for use, renovated outdoor classroom spaces for the new norm of safe, socially distant learning and a shot of the Brobdingnagian tents outside of McCullough wittily captured, “Intense.”  And in October, Parsons called to action his growing fan base to fundraise for financial aid at the college. “As the Middlebury College arborist I've learned that the strength and resilience of our urban forest is based upon its diversity,” he commented. “If you can, help the ‘MoveMidd’ effort to help keep Middlebury the inclusive space it is. Link in bio, I figured out how to do that.” Nearly half of all Middlebury students receive financial aid, and as the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues, disproportionately affecting students of color, that number grows and the need for student academic funding rises. “It’s important for everyone to have the opportunity to learn here, regardless of their background,” Parsons said. Parsons’ fall semester updates petered out in December, ending with a quintessential photo of Mead Memorial Chapel that read, “And, just like that, campus empties out again, and it's just the cold trees and I. Hopefully students are returning in a couple months, if everyone can get their act together. For everyone that left for the semester, here is today at Middlebury College. We'll try and keep the snow around for your return.”   Staff Shifting The college’s organic garden, The Knoll, holds a founding mission to educate and nourish its community. This came into clear focus when the onset of the pandemic left many staff and community members without a steady source of income.  As the pandemic continued throughout the year, staff concerns related to employment and compensation continued to loom large. A week after students left campus, the college committed to full wage continuity and no layoffs through June 30, a pledge administrators have since tentatively extended to next July in their new 2021 budget. Although the college set up the Covid-19 pay bank to support staff members throughout the pandemic, many staff who cannot work remotely still needed to use their own combined time off (CTO) to cover their days stuck at home. While many staff members have remained at home, others have begun to return to campus on staggered work schedules. In anticipation of the community’s emergency food needs over the summer and fall, combined with the issues regarding staff employment hours, the college gave The Knoll permission to grow produce to meet community emergency food needs, and granted approval to bring in dining employees for paid full-time work over the summer. Parsons’ wife Nancy, a chef in Atwater Dining, was one of the individuals relocated there. “I enjoyed getting to work with people I otherwise never would have,” Nancy said. “Bringing staff members from other departments to work here was necessary,” Megan Brakeley ‘06, The Knoll’s current manager, said. “Even though life on campus stopped, life at The Knoll did not.” “We missed the students this year because we connect with a lot of them in close quarters through dining, and you just grow to love them,” Nancy said. “With proper social distancing, safety measures and the change in schedules, that has drastically changed.” Spaces that once connected students and staff don’t exist in the same form these days, and dining staff have taken notice.  “Students aren’t gathering in dining halls anymore, so we’ve completely lost all sense of community that happens in those spaces,” she continued. “It is one of the most drastic changes to campus life, and something not easily recreated in a pandemic-safe manner.”   Returning Where We Left Off Just as Dining Services prepared for another round of individually packaged meals, the Grounds Department was also busy preparing for students to return to Middlebury for the spring semester, an ominous time that marked a year since the campus was abandoned.  “I’m always amazed at how smart and resilient plants are, and that’s exactly like Middlebury now,” Parsons said. Before students returned, Parsons said, larger tents were installed across campus and the golf course was groomed for cross country skiing. The carpentry shop got busy building forty new adirondack chairs to add to the fleet to promote outside socializing, and the grounds crew assembled portable fire pits. “Pro tip for students? Bring marshmallows,” Parsons quipped. “I’m really looking forward to having campus come alive again,” Parsons said that winter. “It’s comforting to know that we’ll all be together once again, and hopefully not have to miss out on another spring here.”   Symbol of Our Strength  From the growth around the pond behind the Mahaney Center for the Arts to the comforting line of trees between Axinn and Davis Library, the ivy-covered walls of Battell Hall to the unexpected diversity of the woods around the Trail Around Middlebury, the greenery of Middlebury College holds an important place on campus and within the hearts of Panthers young and old. And after a long, cold winter away from campus, Middlebury now invites the arrival of warmer weather, the opening of forsythia and the return of lifeo to campus as the harbingers of spring. Author’s Note: Middlebury College sits on land belonging to the Abenaki Nation, and we have all contributed and been complicit in the brutal colonization of this Indigenous land. The Western Abenaki are the traditional caretakers of this Vermont area Ndakinna, or homeland. We give our gratitude to the Abenaki Elders and Indigenous inhabitants of Turtle Island past and present, and are thankful for the opportunity to share in the bounty and protection of this environment.

Colby Morris ’19 signs minor league contract with the New York Mets

“I’m not going to give up until I get signed.”  Former Middlebury pitcher Colby Morris ’19 was not satisfied with ending his baseball career with an 8-3 defeat to Tufts in the NESCAC Championship. Instead, he was resolute on taking his career to the next level, with the MLB as his ultimate goal. The pitcher got one step closer to realizing that goal in January, signing a minor league contract with the New York Mets organization. Less than two years after his graduation, Morris had catapulted himself from the NESCAC to the minor leagues, becoming the first Panther to sign with an MLB organization since Michael Joseph ’13 (Baltimore Orioles, minor league).  It’s an achievement that follows a distinguished collegiate career punctuated by countless accolades. The 2018 NESCAC Pitcher of the Year has the most career wins (18), innings pitched (256) and career starts (39) in Middlebury history and ranks second all-time in strikeouts (174). The achievement also follows a period of less glamorous work in the lower divisions, including time with the Trois-Rivieres Aigles (Canadian-American Association) and the Milwaukee Milkmen (American Association). During his time in the minor leagues, Morris struggled to find consistent minutes or stability, but his aspirations didn’t falter.  Morris also spent time with Driveline, a player development organization in Washington that uses advanced metrics to maximize their players’ potential.  “When I went there, I had plateaued with velocity for a while at 89–92 (mph), but I guess the movement has changed,” Morris told The Campus. “You never want to be average with anything. With technologies that exist now like Rapsodo and Trackman, you can measure the spin rate and how the ball is moving. So, despite plateauing in velocity, I made my movement stand out as much as I could.” His tangible improvement, driven by minor league experience and technical work with Driveline, positioned Morris as a candidate for Major League clubs. And MLB organizations bit, with the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers both giving Morris a shot. But his potential truly glowed when he trialed with the New York Mets, who eventually offered Morris a minor league deal.  The California native’s next step will be reporting to spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida, following the conclusion of the MLB and AAA-league spring training. There, Morris will be further assessed and assigned to either their Double-A, High-A, or Low-A affiliate — three subdivisions of the minor league.  When asked about Morris’ accomplishment, Mike Leonard, the head baseball coach at Middlebury, didn’t seem surprised. Leonard explained that Morris set the standard for both a Middlebury student-athlete and a Middlebury baseball player, undergirded by an incessant work ethic. At Middlebury, Morris helped spin an 11–23 record during his rookie year into two NESCAC Championship appearances in 2017 and 2019.  “Each year, he understood that it was about bringing others along, and he had to help build that culture and support and mentor others so we had a full team who could help get to the championship,” Leonard said. “We weren’t at that level yet, but he wanted to take us there.”  Leonard added that Morris’ achievement has inspired his current players to elevate their games, inspiring them to dream big about their baseball futures. Only two Panthers have ever played MLB baseball at its highest level, the most recent being Harry Hulihan in 1922. Middlebury watches excitedly as Morris embarks on his journey to become the third.

Supporting staff means supporting fair wages

Tayler* started working full time at Middlebury right after high school, with a starting wage of just over $8 an hour. Twenty-one years later, through Middlebury's compensation program, they are making $14 an hour. A single parent, they find themselves in line at the local food bank several times a month to make ends meet, and HOPE Middlebury helps Christmas come together for their child. Many of Tayler’s fellow service workers at Middlebury also have second jobs, an option unavailable to those without childcare or other support mechanisms. How did we get here as an institution, where over 20 years of service and dedication to Middlebury still merits only a poverty wage? Sure, endowment woes and a poor job market play a role, but one of the deeper problems is more insidious. In the last 20 years, Middlebury has prioritized faculty wage increases over those of staff. Every year, when possible, a sum of money is added to the Middlebury budget for salary increases, which is then distributed to faculty and staff as a percentage increase of their current wage. By my calculations, in most years, rather than dividing wage increases equally between faculty and staff, faculty have gotten a larger percentage increase than staff. In a particularly egregious example from 2001, faculty received an average pay increase of 7.5%, while staff saw only 4.3%. Inflation that year as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was about 3.4%, so faculty got over a 4% raise above inflation, staff less than 1%. More recently, in both 2019 and 2020, faculty saw a 4% increase, while staff saw a mere 2%. However, inflation was greater than 2%, so the value of the staff raise was ultimately canceled out, while faculty wages increased over inflation.  Small changes in the CPI have proportionally larger impacts for lower-wage workers. The cost of items that factor into the CPI can vary by year, but a seemingly minor change in some items can tear a budget apart. For example, a 50-cent increase in the price of gas may barely affect more affluent families, but these same changes can be crippling for a service worker with little discretionary income within their budget. On average, faculty have gotten a 1.4% greater yearly compensation increase compared to staff in the raise pool. Cumulatively, from 2000 until last year, faculty received a 113% increase in salary, while staff have only seen a 73% bump. Subtract inflation, and faculty net a 40% increase, staff only 13%. So, for example, a staff member making $50,000 two decades ago is now making $86,500, while a faculty member at the same starting pay would now be making $106,725.  Middlebury pays staff by length of service — the longer you work here, the greater your wage. Had staff wages not been increased to $14, staff like Tayler who had been working at Middlebury for 20 years would now be making $13.84. If they had received compensation increases at the same rate faculty did, they would instead be earning $17.04. Adjusted for inflation, $14 in 2021 is the equivalent of $9 in 2001.  So, in our pay-by-tenure system, that's only an additional five cents a year over inflation for all of their experience, commitment and dedication. But the starting wage for a new employee at Middlebury is now $14 an hour, so we aren't valuing experience and commitment at all. Imagine working your whole life at an institution and getting the same pay as someone who just walked off the street. When Middlebury raised the starting wage for lower-paid service jobs, it caused this wage compression, where a range of pay for work is now non-existent and independent of the length of service.  How can we do better? Middlebury has proven a strong commitment to staff, seen not only by wage continuity during the Covid-19 shutdowns but by the recent staff reductions during workforce planning without resorting to layoffs. We need to build upon and strengthen this commitment, by first fixing wage compression for affected staff. Long-time workers at Middlebury deserve to be paid more than new hires and should see a one-time increase in pay under our pay-by-tenure system. This needs to be the top priority for the next fiscal year when the Budget Advisory Committee prioritizes items in the budget. All employees of Middlebury need to commit to the "ongoing alignment of staffing and budgets to the strategic goals of the enterprise," but staff cannot do this without our faculty and administrative partners. Faculty and the administration need to decide, post-Covid, where their values lie, and reflect those values in the budget. The solution is not to reduce the number of staff positions, allowing the excess work to roll onto those who remain. Will we go back to pre-pandemic travel and entertainment spending, where catered lunches for departments are prepared by workers who leave work and head to food shelf lines? Or do we build on our current successes some departments have seen in workforce planning and together determine what sacrifices need to be made to return to our student-centric mission? Staff also need a voice in this process and should have representation on the appropriate faculty committees, including Faculty Resources. Staff representation on the Budget Advisory Committee has been a welcome step, but it is not enough.  After a recent Board of Trustee financial decision, the Middlebury AAUP chapter stated the decision was made "without any input from either Faculty Council or the Resources Committee so that also brings up serious concerns about 'faculty governance' if none of the relevant faculty bodies were consulted." The last 20 years of faculty wage increases show that staff need their own voice, without relying on faculty governance. Lastly, let's think of the hundreds of invisible staff cooking meals, cleaning buildings, and doing countless other tasks that keep our institution running. Someone at Middlebury considerably smarter than I once told me if we were brave as an institution, we'd make our starting pay $20/hour, rather than the $14 we pay now. As Karen Miller said, Middlebury needs to become an "employer of choice for the next generation." If faculty and the administration want to achieve this distinction, they need to ensure everyone at Middlebury is fairly compensated. *Editor’s note: “Tayler” is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of a staff member. Tim Parsons is the college’s landscape horticulturist.