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What do librarians do when the library is closed?

The seven librarians in the research and instruction group meet regularly to talk about how we’re connecting community members with library resources. This week, we’ve examined how our work has been affected by the pandemic. While the library is closed, we’ve been using both tried-and-true and experimental forms of communication to help researchers get what they need. To consult in real time with these research and instruction librarians, make appointments using our go links listed below: go.middlebury.edu/amy go.middlebury.edu/brenda go.middlebury.edu/carrie go.middlebury.edu/katrina go.middlebury.edu/leanne go.middlebury.edu/ryan go.middlebury.edu/wendyshook Also know that there are 13 librarians at Middlebury. Find your subject specialist at go.middlebury.edu/liasions. Or, reach them all at go.middlebury.edu/askus/. If you need the library to purchase something, just ask by logging in at go.middlebury.edu/requests. Katrina Spencer: How are you reaching community members and how is this different from normal? Brenda Ellis: I’m still teaching a few library workshops online via Zoom, and for those classes, I create exercises to “flip the classroom” i.e. students complete a guided exercise and we use our online time for demos, discussion and Q&A.  Carrie Macfarlane: I’m still answering questions via email and chat, and I’ve been able to continue to meet with students, via Zoom, for individual research consultations. The main difference is that I’m now more proactive, writing to entire classes and taking advantage of every opportunity I find to tell students how to reach me.  Wendy Shook:  I’m working with faculty to support their technology needs for remote instruction, and helping them rethink how they deliver their course content. In concert with DLINQ, we’ve held drop-in distance learning workshops, and a lot of one-on-one support over Zoom. Katrina: What new challenges does this present and how are they being addressed? Brenda: We’re all adjusting to the new norm of communication online. I miss seeing students face-to-face. It’s my favorite part of my job. Students still email with questions, but I don’t think students realize that they can still request a consultation with us online using our go-links. I’d love to hear from you.  Carrie: I really miss seeing students and faculty in person! But I love the “remote control” feature in Zoom. It allows a student and me to use the same computer. We do lots of searching and revising together in order to uncover the best primary sources and literature reviews. Ryan Clement: Access to materials can be an issue. While many resources are digitized and available to remote students, others aren’t. This includes things like data and maps, and without the ability to get into the library, materials cannot be digitized on demand. Also, students can’t just drop in. Many students would visit my office with quick questions during the busiest times of the semester. Now we have to do more planning ahead. Wendy: Oddly enough, I’m communicating with more faculty and students now. This is, in small part, because I’m more accessible electronically than I might be in Armstrong, and partly because people are having a harder time finding materials. We’ve got your back. Katrina: What are your hopes for the end of the semester? Brenda: The future of work post-college will likely involve more remote work and I see that as a positive.  Doing anything in new ways can feel daunting, but I hope students will feel more confident not only with communicating online, but also navigating and critically evaluating the world of online information. Carrie: Professionally, I hope that students and faculty will remember to contact a librarian even if they think they don’t have a research question. Usually, once someone starts talking about a project, we realize there’s a way we can help.  Personally, I hope we emerge from this crisis in good health. We’re all looking forward to doing all the things we’ve missed. Ryan: I hope that all of our library users experience what we already know — despite the fact that our space and our physical materials are important, our library is much more than those things. Our library is the people and services that make it up. Libraries have been flexing, shifting, and adapting for our communities for decades, and we will continue to do so. Katrina Spencer is the college’s literatures and cultures librarian.

Why don’t more women run for office at Middlebury?

Among the 13 candidates on this year’s Student Government Association (SGA) election ballot, only two were female-identifying. On April 16 and 17, Middlebury students elected the SGA president, representatives and Community Council co-chair for the upcoming school year. Though women have run for and won the presidential seat for the last five years, none ran for the position this spring. Varsha Vijayakumar ’20, the current SGA president, said getting women to run and retaining those who are elected from year to year is a recurring problem. While she acknowledged having a woman leading the SGA may be inspiring, she hasn’t seen a change in the makeup of the senate during her time at the college. Vijayakumar served as a class senator for the two years prior to her presidency. Before her sophomore year, she encouraged several other women to run for their class senator positions. She said that she only ran after none of them decided to. “I don't blame them because at the beginning of this year, I had to write an op-ed in The Campus publicly to get men to stop objectifying me in my role,” she said. Vijayakumar suggested that the election process itself might be a deterrent for female-identifying candidates. Students running for SGA positions include photos of themselves in candidate statements, campaign posters and other promotional outlets. Vijayakumar noted how women in politics beyond Middlebury often face criticism based on their appearances that men are not as often subjected to. This kind of scrutiny may be a concern for female-identifying SGA candidates. “It is nerve wracking to find a picture of yourself that you think looks good, and to hope that people care more about your platform than the shirt you're wearing or the way your makeup is done,” Vijayakumar said. Mariana Tahiri ’22, who was elected junior representative for next year, said she was nervous about running, both because she was the only woman in the junior representative race and because she was the only candidate for her position without any SGA experience. She said running remotely was easier in some respects, explaining that her attitude toward running might have been different had she been on campus. “I definitely would have thought about it more because I really would have had to put my face all over campus,” she said. Tahiri, who described herself as a peacemaker, said she opts to talk things out rather than argue, so when she felt some of her peers were not taking her campaign seriously, she worked to explain why she was interested in running. Regarding the small number of female-identifying candidates in this year’s election, Tahiri pointed to the gender gap in politics as a whole and how it might come into play at Middlebury. She hopes to better understand what barriers face SGA candidates and why students are often apprehensive to run. “Specifically that people feel really scared to really put their names out there,” she said. “Because that's really what we're doing, is that we're introducing ourselves to our entire class, which is a lot of people and that can be very nerve-wracking, that can make people really anxious.” Current member of the First-Year Committee, Khasai Makhulo ’23, was elected sophomore representative this spring. Makhulo said that while she was surprised that so few women ran for SGA positions this year, she is more concerned about her lack of senate experience and that she is an international student than about being one of only a handful of female-identifying representatives on next year’s senate. The two Feb representatives are women, although their elections take place at a different time. Vijayakumar has continued to encourage women to run and reached out to some she believed would be good candidates this spring. As a sophomore senator, Vijayakumar spoke at the Elect Her workshop organized by Chellis House and encouraged women and non-binary students to run for SGA. She said she was unsure the workshop increased the number of women interested in running, but that such workshops are opportunities to provide women with leadership tools and connect them to women in positions of power. She noted the importance of having a network, saying she contacted former SGA presidents to ask how they dealt with descrimination and objectification. Vijayakumar shared a few ideas for increasing representativeness in the SGA overall. She mentioned how reaching out to academic departments and student organizations might be a more effective means of procuring cabinet director nominees. The current process, which began on Sunday, involves collecting nominations from the student body. “I think this year was a huge transition year and a year of rebuilding, essentially, the SGA and what we stand for,” Vijayakumar said. “So, I feel like next year has a really good chance of honing in on the representativeness factor of everybody in the senate.”

Turner House, Homer Harris revoked from rising juniors

After outcry from seniors at the news that two small senior houses were allotted to rising juniors in the superblock process, the assignments may now have been revoked, according to students involved. This year’s superblock process was initially expanded to include Turner House and Homer Harris after the Office of Residential Life received an influx of applicants for superblocks. The reassignment, however, angered many seniors who had been assured that Turner and Homer Harris would be available in the general housing draw.  Rising junior Brooke Laird ’22, the coordinator for the applicants allotted Turner House, told The Campus that her group’s housing assignment was revoked on April 16 through a Zoom call with Assistant Director of Residential Life Kady Shea. “She has notified us that due to the original statement in the housing information, Turner will go back into the regular room draw process for seniors,” Laird said in a statement to The Campus. “This was obviously incredibly hard to hear, because we were enthusiastic about bringing our superblock plans into this space.” Sophie Hochman ’22, a rising junior in the group previously assigned to Homer Harris, received similar news in a Zoom call with Shea and the members of her applicant group. “Basically, as of now, we are not attached to that location,” Hochman told The Campus. “[Shea] very much framed it as ‘putting Homer Harris on pause’ and talked about the many new spaces they are exploring for housing on campus and how they need to do a full survey of those before we can talk further.” The news follows a barrage of objections about the assignments from the rising senior class, many of whom expressed through memes and vitriolic emails to the housing administrators that Middlebury’s senior housing options are already limited. The other superblock assignments at Jewett House, 97 Adirondack View and 48 South Street (KDR), which are traditionally included in the process and were not subject to student protest, remain unaffected by the changes. Shea could not be reached for comment. Associate Dean of Student Life AJ Place did not corroborate the students’ claims and instead told The Campus in an email that no decision had been made regarding the two houses.  “We are exploring options based on the feedback from seniors,” Place said. “We will share out all the information we have about available properties when we release the updated room draw calendar.”   Although no official announcement has been made regarding the tentative reallocation of Turner and Homer Harris, an email sent to all rising seniors on April 9 and co-signed by Shea, Place and Senior Associate Dean of Students Derek Doucet addressed student outrage over the initial superblock process. The email also addressed the erroneous statement left on the 2020-2021 informational website claiming that Turner and Homer Harris would not be available as superblocks, which served as a catalyst for student anger after it was retroactively removed. “We recognize that some of you would have preferred to receive this information ahead of time, and that we inadvertently left text on the room draw page indicating that these spaces would not be offered as superblocks,” the email read. “That was an oversight we acknowledge, and for which we apologize.” As uncertainties surrounding student enrollment this fall have forced Middlebury to rethink its housing conventions, the email also claimed that previously unavailable locations may be added to the senior housing draw for the 2020-2021 year. A following email to all students on April 13, also co-signed by Shea, Place and Doucet, doubled down on this proposal, though a timeline for the remainder of the housing process has not yet been determined. “We will expand housing options for students, which may include both small and large houses not offered before,” the email read. “These spaces will be available and selected in the room draw process based on seniority.” As housing reconfigurations take place, the groups originally assigned to Turner House and Homer Harris hope to find other locations to pursue the superblock themes proposed in their applications. Turner was originally planned to center around relationships, care and consent, while Homer Harris was to be focused on sustainable design.  “We have gotten word that we might be reassigned but have very little information on where or when,” said Hochman. Laird’s group is in a similar position. “We are hopeful that we can work with Kady to find a place for our superblock within the new potential housing options that are being investigated,” she said.

Charlotte Sullivan in Starksboro, Vermont

Charlotte Sullivan Starksboro, Vermont Submitted April 13, 2020 I have been working remotely for about two months now. I really appreciate being able to work from home, as it cuts back on my carbon footprint since I have a very long commute. My job translates well to an online environment, though I do miss meeting with students in person.  I also had Covid symptoms (high fever for several days, dry cough, shortness of breath, tightness in chest) during the first week of March but was not able to be tested. I will likely never know if I had it, which feels very strange. I am grateful to feel OK now, though it took about a month for my lungs to feel normal again.  What has been your greatest worry or day-to-day concern as coronavirus has spread?  My mother in law is the director of a nursing home on Long Island that has over 60 cases of Covid. Many people have died and others have needed to be hospitalized. My husband and I call her every day on her way home from work (she works about 12 hours a day, six days a week) to check in. Since she herself is in a vulnerable population as a senior, we worry about her working so hard and with so many cases nearby. As I am writing this she is still OK, thank goodness, and luckily her facility is not too understaffed.   What has made you happy over the past few weeks? Witnessing the bountiful seasonal changes around my home: wood frogs emerging, coltsfoot blooming, uncovering strawberries from their mulch, mallards on the pond. Also digital dance parties with old friends living in Brooklyn (which happen way later than my usual rural Vermont bedtime). Charlotte Sullivan is a Social Entrepreneurship Associate at the Innovation Hub. 

Love transported, from Vermont to Michigan

Alec Richker ’13.5, Dylan Volk ’16, Micah Raymond ’21 and their dog Lou ("part pit bull, part dragon, part cow") tell their love story from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they are currently quarantined together. [video credit="" align="center"][/video]

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Cayla-and-JC-and-dog

Bar Night to brewery: Starting a business together post-Middlebury

Cayla Marvil ’13.5 and AC Jones ’12.5 had been dating for only six months when they decided to open a business together. A few years later, the couple co-founded Lamplighter Brewing Co. in Cambridge, Mass. Marvil and Jones were first officially introduced to one another in a classic Middlebury setting: the basement of Two Brothers Tavern, when Marvil was a senior and Jones a super senior. They began dating in the fall of 2012. Upon Jones’ graduation, and his subsequent realization that he was “chronically incapable of having a boss,'' the pair began thinking more seriously about opening a brewery. “We both were home brewers and loved beer,” Marvil said. Inspired by the burgeoning craft beer industry in Vermont and with some encouragement from Middlebury friends, Marvil and Jones recall having an “Ah, screw it! Let’s do it” mentality. The pair saw an opportunity in Cambridge because there was not a huge brewery scene there yet, according to Jones. From conception to completion, their business idea continued to be shaped by Middlebury influences. In the original crew of around eight who pursued the idea, five or six were friends of theirs from college. When asked if there were any aspects of Middlebury that prepared them for running a brewery, Marvil answered with little hesitation. [gallery columns="2" ids="50086,50088"] “Drinking a lot in college,” she said with a laugh. She then added, “I think truthfully, everyone at Middlebury works so hard all the time, so it brought this work ethic that’s been incredibly important in opening our own business and needing to spend 16 hours for 20 days straight doing something. The work-hard, play-hard mentality [that exists at Middlebury] is pretty prevalent in brewery culture, too.” Though brewing and bartending are certainly part of the job, Marvil and Jones have come to realize the importance of managing employees and building relationships in a business. “Before the coronavirus hit, we had 54 employees,” Jones said. “I think one of the really valuable things that we came away from Middlebury with is this respect towards each other and knowing how to deal with people.” Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the taproom at Lamplighter has closed until further notice and 38 employees had to be furloughed. Sixteen employees remain working full-time. The couple said that respect and trust play an important role in demarcating the boundaries between their personal lives and their business relationship. Though the couple said maintaining a work-life balance is a bit more difficult and working together occasionally has some downs, their shared entrepreneurial spirit and complementary skill sets makes for a good partnership.  While Marvil takes on the financial planning, administrative tasks, human resources, and marketing and strategy, Jones “does a lot more hands on work-- designing, building, repairing things, as well as focusing on conceptual ideas and larger picture strategy and thinkin” said Marvil. Lamplighter has come a long way since the idea was born in 2013, and in December of last year, the couple were named to the Forbes “30 under 30” list for Food and Drink in 2020. “I wouldn’t want to do this with just anyone else,” said Marvil. “The business or the relationship?” Jones asked Marvil. “I guess both,” she answered.

John Schurer ’21 wins SGA presidential election in landslide victory

The student body elected John Schurer ’21 president of the Student Government Association (SGA) for the upcoming school year. Schurer won by a landslide, receiving 1,081 votes (77.27% of the 1,399 total votes cast). He ran against Arthur Martins ’22.5 and Myles Maxie ’22, who received 183 votes (13.08%) and 135 votes (9.65%) respectively. Schurer intends to tackle the plan for a new student center, changes to the curriculum and issues related to representation and financial accessibility, among other plans. Prior to the election, he announced Sophia Lundberg ’21.5 and Roni Lezama ’22 as his chiefs of staff. "In the last three years, I have worked alongside passionate, innovative, diligent, strong, reliable, and kind SGA Presidents, Jin Sohn ‘18, Nia Robinson ‘19, and Varsha Vijayakumar ‘20, who have instilled in me the virtues of leadership. As I take on this role next year, I will be thinking of you all at every twist and turn," Schurer said in an email to the Campus. "Now, more than ever before, I am eager to get back home, if you know what I mean. The magic of Middlebury awaits." Christian Kummer ’22 won the Community Council co-chair seat with 53.08% of the vote. Kummer ran against Joel Machado ’22, who received 46.92% of the vote. Kummer’s platform pushes for expansion and restructuring of mental health resources, greater outreach to staff and putting an end to vandalism, among many other initiatives. "What makes the Community Council idiosyncratic is its ability to foster cohesive dialogues between students, faculty and staff in real time," Kummer told The Campus. "The group holds significant respect and influence in the eyes of the Senior Leadership Group and yet its potential is often left inactivated. As co-chair, I hope to bring Community Council into the forefront of Middlebury community members’ minds. When there is a proposal or idea circulating around campus, I hope to make a Community Council meeting the first place to go to. Under my leadership, the group’s presence and transparency will expand and equity and access will remain at its core." With voting open for 24 hours, 55.27% of the school participated in the elections (1443 votes). This is compared to 36.81% voter turnout during last year’s spring elections. Turnout has only exceeded 50% one other time in the last four election cycles, reaching 68.3% in 2018 when the divestment referendum questions were included on the ballot. The coronavirus pandemic prompted several changes to this year’s election. Candidates gathered signatures electronically rather than on a physical petition form. The debate on Monday, which featured both presidential and co-chair candidates, took place over Zoom. SGA reimbursed the candidates for the cost of promoting their remote campaigns, refunding up to $100 of the costs incurred by each presidential and co-chair candidate and $25 for representatives. Thomas Khodadad ’22, chair of SGA’s elections council, said this money was intended to cover the cost of creating websites or promoting ads on social media. The SGA has previously only reimbursed candidates for PaperCut expenses. Update Saturday, April 18: This article has been updated with a photo and quote from Christian Kummer '22. 

College expands on plans to house a larger volume of students 

The college is anticipating housing more students than usual on campus this fall, citing uncertainties about study abroad enrollment. As a result, the Office of Residential Life will be opening new housing that was not previously open to students and releasing more students than usual to live off-campus. Middlebury is expecting “a higher number of students on campus in the fall than in previous years,” according to an email sent to all students on Monday, April 13. In an email to The Campus, Senior Associate Dean of Students Derek Doucet wrote that the college is not anticipating over-enrollment in its first-year class despite this year’s higher-than-normal acceptance rate. Rather, the anticipated boost in on-campus students is primarily due to a decline in the number of students who will be able to study abroad, amidst Covid-19-related restrictions. If no students are able to go abroad this fall, which would be the worst-case scenario, the college would have to house roughly 200 more students on campus than during a typical semester, Doucet said. According to the all-student email, Residential Life will be identifying new housing spaces on campus that were not previously available to students. They will also be releasing more students from the waitlist to live off-campus for the fall semester. A list of newly available residential spaces will be released to students prior to the room draw process, which has been delayed indefinitely. “We’re brainstorming at this stage, and looking at a wide variety of options,” Doucet said. “In the process, we need to explore and balance considerations such as cost, present use, town zoning rules, etc. It’s too soon to share a list, as some options quickly prove unfeasible when explored, and new ideas are frequently being put forward.” The school is looking into converting college-owned houses located on the periphery of campus into student residential spaces, according to Doucet. The college owns a number of properties like this, he said, but making them suitable for student housing is a complicated process.  One complication is that student residential spaces are required to have certain safety features, such as industrial fire safety sprinkler systems, which these houses currently don’t have.  Additionally, town zoning laws prohibit the college from housing more than three unrelated people together in a house that is not already designated as a college residential space. Residential Life will have to collaborate with the town to re-designate these new living spaces to make them available to students. However, despite these restrictions, Doucet is confident that if the school needs to find housing for as many as 200 extra students, they can. “We’ve been charged with finding quality housing for all of those students, so we will,” he said. One way to ensure quality housing options is by increasing the number of students allowed to live off-campus, although Residential Life is wary of this option. The college hopes to keep off-campus approvals as low as it can. “We’re a residential college, and the present situation notwithstanding, see tremendous value in the community living experience here on campus,” Doucet said.  Doucet stressed that these adjustments will be temporary. “We’re trying to address short term crisis-related challenges, not fundamentally alter the housing inventory at the college,” he said. “I do not anticipate any long term increase in off-campus housing.” Students have expressed anxieties about housing since the re-assignment of some small houses as superblocks, and since the announcement of an 8% increase in the admission rate brought up fears of over-enrollment. However, the college maintains that it is not anticipating an unprecedentedly large incoming class. Despite rumors about the return of the modular complex (or “mods”), which were constructed in the late ’90s and were only meant to last 10 years, Doucet says that they are not planning to bring back this housing option at the moment. “We’re not going to take anything off the table, but none of us want to see the mods come back, and we haven’t gotten there yet,” he said.  Having more students on campus will also inevitably impact the college’s course offerings this fall. As such, the college has postponed course registration until mid-summer, per an April 15 email from Dean of Curriculum Suzanne Gurland.

The Campus’s guide to this year’s SGA elections

The bulletin boards in Proctor and Davis may not be plastered with campaign posters this year, but the Student Government Association (SGA) and Community Council (CC) elections for the 2020–2021 academic year are proceeding as planned, taking place this Thursday and Friday. Students will choose between three candidates for president and two for co-chair. Varsha Vijayakumar ’20 and Roni Lezama ’22 currently hold these positions. Voters will also have the chance to vote for their two class “representatives,” the new name for the SGA’s senators. For the first time, there will be only six of these vacant positions this spring, since the SGA voted to remove the five commons senator positions this February. This year’s two Feb representatives were chosen earlier this spring. The Campus will publish a story with information about the candidates for SGA president and CC co-chair this week.  Schedule for the week Monday, April 13 6–7 p.m. EDT SGA president debate 7–8 p.m. CC co-chair debate This year’s debates will be held over Zoom and livestreamed. The Campus is co-moderating these debates, and a recording of the event will be posted to The Campus’ site afterwards. Students can access the debate live at 6 p.m. EDT the day of at go.middlebury.edu/watch. The link will not activate until the event starts. If you have questions for the candidates, you can submit them here before Monday night. Thursday, April 16, 12 p.m. EDT Voting opens. The SGA will send out an all-student email with a link to the voting page. Friday, April 17, 12 p.m. EDT Voting closes. Candidates All students may vote for one SGA president and one co-chair candidate. Students may vote for two candidates for their class representative positions. The candidates are as follows: For SGA president: Arthur Martins ’22.5 Myles Maxie ’22 John Schurer ’21 For CC co-chair: Christian Kummer ’22 Joel Machado ’22 For senior representative: Rodney Adams ’21 Uno Lee ’21 Sam Lyons ’21 For junior representative: Teddy Best ’22 Myles Maxie ’22 Mariana Tahiri ’22 For sophomore representative: Khasai Makhulo ’23 Miguel Sanchez ’23 Correction: This article previously misstated the class year of Joel Machado '22.

Tenure-bound faculty may defer review process to fall

The Covid-19 pandemic has added additional stress for the 10 faculty members undergoing tenure review this spring and the 80–90 junior faculty members on tenure-track positions.  Candidates currently undergoing tenure review can either choose to continue their review as planned during the spring or opt to halt their review and resume in the fall, according to Provost and Executive Vice President Jeff Cason. The college will also be offering junior faculty the opportunity to delay their tenure clocks by a year, regardless of where they are in the process. “For the 10 of us under review, the anxiety of a difficult, fraught period has been exacerbated,” Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies Nicolas Poppe wrote in an email to The Campus. While Poppe has chosen to continue the review process, he noted that stress related to Covid-19 compounded existing tenure review anxieties.  [pullquote speaker="Nicholas Poppe, Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]For the 10 of us under review, the anxiety of a difficult, fraught period has been exacerbated.[/pullquote] Achieving tenure is the culmination of a seven-year process.  Tenure-track professors undergo their first review by the Reappointments Committee in their third year at the college. Granted its successful completion, faculty members then undergo tenure review in the spring semester of their seventh year. During this review, the Promotions Committee evaluates candidates’ teaching abilities through several classroom visits that occur throughout the semester, as well as faculty members’ records of scholarship and service to their academic department.   For Poppe, the classroom visits by members of the Promotions Committee had just begun when it was announced on March 10 that on-campus classes would be suspended and moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic.  “Of the four visits they were able to complete before March 13 [the last day of in-person classes], only one was done in what I would consider to be normal circumstances,” Poppe wrote. He said the three other visits happened on the Wednesday and Friday of the final week of in-person classes. “I trust that the Promotions Committee members understand this, but they were abnormal classes conducted at an extraordinary time. Other colleagues had even fewer visits done before we moved online,” he added. Poppe, like the other faculty who chose to continue with their tenure review, will find out in May whether he has been granted tenure. The decision is based upon the recommendation of the Promotions Committee to President Laurie Patton and with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Upon achieving tenure, the candidate, previously an assistant professor, receives the rank of associate professor with tenure. Tenured faculty members receive, formally, a significant pay increase and, informally, increased academic freedom.  While Poppe expects that the reviews completed this semester will have the same outcome as those from a semester without the uncertainties related to Covid-19, he also noted that this semester’s unordinary events will “impact junior colleagues for years to come,” since they will have one fewer “normal” semester during which they may build up their portfolios and prep for review. Other colleges and universities have also announced alterations to their normal tenure and reappointment policies to ease the pressure of the semester. Amherst College is offering an opt-in policy that allows candidates undergoing tenure review in the fall to extend their tenure clock by one year; candidates scheduled to stand for tenure in a future year may also extend their tenure clocks. Syracuse University, Ohio State University and Creighton University have announced similar policies. Recognizing that extending the tenure clock by a year means another year with an assistant professor salary, the University of Massachusetts Amherst took the policy one step further, allowing faculty to delay the tenure clock and implementing a policy that will retroactively pay faculty who achieve tenure the promotion increment in salary for that missed year.

Town businesses lay-off staff, offer curbside service following state-wide Stay Home order

Middlebury businesses are facing increasing hardship after Governor Phil Scott issued a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order for the state of Vermont on Tuesday, March 24. Issued as an amendment to the state of emergency declared on March 13, the order prohibits the in-person operation of non-essential businesses, forcing stores to resort to delivery and curbside pick-up when possible.  Certain organizations are exempted, including pharmacies, law enforcement and grocery stores. Generally, however, Vermonters are being asked to stay in place until at least April 15 — although Governor Scott can extend it at any time. “I fully recognize the emotional, financial and economic impact of these decisions,” Scott said in a press release on Tuesday, “but based on the best science we have available, these measures are necessary.” In a town where most stores rely on foot traffic and business from college students, these changes have precipitated lay-offs and other austerity measures. Nancie Dunn, owner of Sweet Cecily, closed her business on March 18, “which was difficult and confusing and hurt my heart.” Sweet Cecily is located at 42 Main Street and sells unique gifts and artwork hand-picked by Dunn. Like many business owners, Dunn had to lay off her employees upon closing. “Several [employees] have applied for unemployment benefits to tide them over, and I will be grateful when their first check arrives,” Dunn wrote in an email to The Campus. Dunn will try to continue to make sales on Sweet Cecily’s social media accounts and website by shipping gifts to customers. Other stores, such as The Vermont Book Shop, have taken similar measures. “We’re closed,” said Becky Dayton, owner of The Vermont Book Shop located at 38 Main Street. “Previously, we did curbside pick-up and delivery, but we can no longer continue to do so.” Even though customers cannot have books delivered directly from the store, they can continue to support the store by buying from their affiliated page at bookshop.org.  Hotels and other accommodation businesses, like the Swift House Inn, were forced to shut down completely.  “[The order] didn’t really affect us very much, because we have no reservations for the next three weeks, so we were closed by default anyway,” said Dan Brown, the innkeeper and owner of the Swift House, which closed on March 24.  While Brown says that the Stay Home mandate is the best solution to avoid overcrowding limited state resources, he acknowledges the strain that it puts on businesses.  “Expenses don’t stop when the closed sign goes up,” said Brown, who is hoping to receive support from the federal and local government. “We’ve laid off all of our personnel, but there’s recurring fixed costs that don’t go away.”  Restaurants in Vermont have been restricted to curbside-only service since March 17. Some restaurant owners, such as Justin Wedge of Noonie’s Deli, feel pressure to continue serving customers to keep their businesses afloat. While Noonie’s laid off all employees on March 18, Wedge has continued to deliver and provide curb-side pick up to customers with the help of his wife, Meagan Oberly.  “I have elderly parents whom I live with, and it’s tough coming here,” Wedge said. “I’m trying to be as careful as I can.” Wedge’s wife also suffers from an immunodeficiency called sarcoidosis, which may place her at heightened risk for Covid-19.  “We have to be here or else we’ll lose our deli,” said Wedge. “[My wife] is willing to take the risk, and I’m willing to take the risk. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone.”  Despite these worries, Wedge tries to remain optimistic. “Hopefully, everyone will make it through. Things will get better,” he said. Dunn of Sweet Cecily agreed.  “I know we will survive this,” said Dunn, “and at some point I’ll be reopened, planting pansies in my flower boxes and taking deliveries again with my staff, busy and happy.”  Click here for The Campus’s comprehensive guide to business closures in Middlebury.

Stanger to take additional year of leave at Stanford and Library of Congress

Political Science Professor Allison Stanger has extended her sabbatical another year after winning awards that will take her to Stanford, Calif. and Washington, D.C. next fall and spring. Stanger, who spent this past year as a fellow and visiting professor at Harvard University, will be the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress for 2020–2021. On a separate appointment, she will also be a fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) during that time. She will spend the year working on her new book, tentatively titled “Consumers vs. Citizens: Social Inequality and Democracy’s Public Sphere in a Big Data World,” she said in an email to The Campus. She noted that the locations of her upcoming posts will position her ideally for this kind of work, since she will be close both to the offices of the government and Silicon Valley. Stanger said she plans on returning to Middlebury for the 2021–22 academic year. “I’m very grateful to both my colleagues in the Political Science Department and to the administration for their exceptional support, and I am looking forward to returning to Middlebury when my fellowships end,” she wrote. “The experiences I have had these past few years should make me a better teacher and resource for Middlebury students.” Stanger was injured by protesters during Charles Murray’s visit to Middlebury in 2017. In the fracas that followed the disrupted talk, Stanger, who mediated the talk and escorted Murray out of the venue, suffered whiplash and a concussion. The following fall, Stanger began what was slated to be a two-year leave. But at the end of the second year, Stanger announced to the Middlebury Political Science faculty and staff her plans to remain off-campus for the 2019–2020 academic year. Stanger is currently a technology and human values senior fellow at Harvard’s Edmund J. Safra Center for Ethics, and is teaching a course at the university (now remotely, from Vermont) called “The Politics of Virtual Realities.” In her email, Stanger added that she was recently appointed to the Science Board of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. The handbook states that the college does not guarantee to faculty “extraordinary leaves” — leaves that last more than one year — but that the college may grant such a leave when a professor is offered “an unusual professional opportunity.” Dean of Faculty Sujata Moorti said that the college prioritizes “departmental and college planning in approving leaves.” The Political Science department in particular typically has between two and four professors on leave in any given year, according to Political Science Department Chair Erik Bleich. Next year, only one other professor — Professor Nadia Horning, who teaches in a different subfield — will be on leave. According to information available on the college’s website, Stanger’s current leave of absence is unpaid by the college. When asked if next year’s leave would also be unpaid, Moorti said Stanger “will be paid by the institutions hosting her.” The CASBS offers stipends to first-time fellows, and an endowment at the Library of Congress funds the chair position, which pays a stipend of $13,500 per month. Nominees for that position are sourced from a number of individuals and are recommended to the Librarian of Congress by a selection committee. Bill Ryan, the director of communications at the Library of Congress, characterized the position as one that “supports exploration of the history of America with special attention to the ethical dimensions of domestic economic, political and social policies.” He said the start and end dates of the chairmanship have not yet been finalized. The CASBS position runs September 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Before the coronavirus led to the cancellation and postponement of all on-campus events, Stanger was scheduled to visit Middlebury April 7 to talk about her most recently published book, “Whistleblowers: Honesty in America from Washington to Trump,” alongside the New York Times’s David Sanger. The book was fortuitously released this September, the same day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. The inquiry was spurred by a whistleblower complaint against the President.  In the months that followed the book’s release, Stanger made a number of high-profile radio and TV appearances, and penned pieces for the New York Times and The Atlantic. In February, Stanger was one of about 50 authors to win a Prose Award from the American Association of Publishers for the book, in the category of Government, Policy and Politics. Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the location of Stanford University. It is located in Stanford, California.

In game-time decision, college ski areas close early to maintain social distancing

The college’s ski areas at both the Snow Bowl and Rikert Nordic Center have cut their seasons short. Despite previous plans to stay open for the weekend of March 13, the ski areas had their last day of the season that Saturday — the day before Middlebury students were required to leave campus, and three weeks ahead of their planned closure date of Saturday, April 4. “Making this about community safety was easy with respect to deciding to close,” said Mike Hussey, general manager of Rikert and the Snow Bowl. “It absolutely made sense to all of us involved in the decision making process.” Closure discussions Hussey and his team began discussions about an early closure once they received word on Tuesday, March 10 that Middlebury was suspending in-person classes and sending students home. “On Wednesday the 11, I met with the team at the ski areas and determined that keeping the areas open would not further the cause of ‘social distancing,’” Hussey said. “The Base Lodge [at the Snow Bowl] is a melting pot of a vast cross section of people.” Hussey recommended to Middlebury’s Senior Leadership Group (SLG) that the ski areas close on Friday, March 13. “The decision was initially left to me then the SLG took it up,” Hussey said. After the college announced it was extending its deadline for departures and that Middlebury students were allowed to stay on campus through Sunday, March 15, the two parties agreed to keep the ski areas open through the weekend. Hussey said that the Middlebury ski areas, which publicly announced their closure plans on March 13, were some of the first ski areas in the country to do so. While Vermont has not issued a state order to shut down ski resorts, as was seen in Colorado, Vail Resorts (including Stowe and Okemo), Alterra Resorts (Sugarbush, Stratton) and Powdr Resorts all announced on March 14 that they would close immediately. As a result, the Snow Bowl became a popular backup option on Sunday to skiers who had been left stranded by the immediate closures at other mountains along the Route 100 valley. However, at 8:20 a.m. on Sunday, 10 minutes before the scheduled opening of the lifts, Hussey made the decision to close the mountain as the lodge was already in excess of a 250 person maximum set by the state government of Vermont. “This was initially a hard decision as it was a great opportunity for new customers to experience the Snow Bowl, something we strive for,” Hussey said, “but in reality it was easy because it wasn’t about the Snow Bowl or the skiing but the safety of the people.” Lost revenue and opportunity The need to shut down quickly — sometimes temporarily, sometimes indefinitely — in response to the virus has greatly affected local business across Addison County and Vermont. Hussey said he doesn’t have an estimate yet of lost revenue from the early closure of the ski areas, but did note that the end of March is not typically a highly profitable time. “The main revenue sources are season pass sales, the holidays, and [the college’s] Feb vacations,” said Hussey. “We missed a few weeks of weekend skiing, mostly for pass holders,  and a couple events.” Jack Brady ’21 was one of the many pass holders seeking to take advantage of the last weeks of the season. “I like to get out at least a couple of times a week through the end of March,” Brady said. “The conditions may not be as great towards the end of the season, especially with the amount of snowfall this year, but it is always fun to ski with friends.” Thanks to the decision to keep both campus and the ski areas open into the weekend, Brady was also one of many students able to take advantage of the Snow Bowl’s last days. “I was lucky enough to go to the Snow Bowl on Saturday, which ended up being closing day,” Brady said. “While many students had already left campus the prior day, I enjoyed this last opportunity to ski at the bowl.” Next steps Hussey and his team are still working hard to officially wrap up the ski areas for the season. “Currently, we are able to do the customary closure work for the ski areas as it is primarily independent work on the mountain and office work that can be done remotely,” Hussey said. He does not expect a major disruption in the work plan, with the early closure being close enough to their normal business cycle, but shares the uncertainty that most small business owners are facing amidst the crisis. “That said, we do not know what this pandemic will bring and are planning for how to work effectively in the next months.”

In praise of a humbler, more human Middlebury

Not many would characterize Middlebury’s student-administration relationship as “simple.” Mere weeks ago, the college faced intense, sustained outcry from students protesting Charles Murray’s third controversial invitation to speak on campus. On Murray and other issues, students have critiqued the administration for a lack of forums for accessible, inclusive dialogue, as well as a broader lack of transparency around decision processes. It’s tough to blame these critics: Communication relaying decisions made by the administration often assumes a distant, all-too institutional tone. Like pretty much everything else in our lives, though, that tone — not to mention the broader student-administration relationship — shifted over the past few weeks. Take the days leading up to students’ departure from campus. Per the college’s March 10 email, nearly all students were initially expected to vacate their rooms by the night of Friday, March 13. Responding to students’ stressed objections, though, the college extended that move-out date to late Sunday, allowing more time to book plane tickets or make arrangements to stay with friends. While students were unable to reap the benefits of this extension — like those who had already scrambled to purchase Friday plane tickets — we appreciate the flexibility and humility exhibited in this gesture, which recognized that the original timeline was neither practical nor sympathetic. This same tone imbued administration communication throughout spring break, wending its way into regular emails, social media updates and resource pages from various college bodies. While these updates rarely claimed to have all the answers (many simply alluded to decisions under consideration), they went a long way toward making scattered students feel in the loop. These dispatches weren’t purely informative, either; they contained as much well-wishing and community-building as they did logistics, from photos of seniors at sunrises to poetry courtesy of President Laurie Patton. Plus, rather than silo updates into discrete emails to students, faculty and staff, information was compiled together onto a single, publicly-available page. We’re pleased by how many of these announcements read less like stiff, official college communications and more like the reflections of individuals likewise mourning the loss of our on-campus community. During a crisis which has quite literally stripped us of the comfort of others’ company, such virtual displays of humanity were and continue to be deeply appreciated. Our appreciation extends beyond Facebook posts or emails, to initiatives like Student Emergency Funds and offers to compensate for lost work studies. And comparing Middlebury’s response to that of other schools has only reinforced our sense of pride. Rather than make an immediate decision on, say, commencement proceedings (some schools have cancelled them outright or else intend to stage virtual ceremonies), Middlebury has held off for the time being in order to consider all options — and, in an email sent over spring break, President Patton even asked for students’ help in coming up with those options. The school is also providing staff with a Covid-19 Pay Bank, which will allow them to take off 21 additional sick days without dipping into their regular banks of days. We are pleased by the continued reassurance that wage continuity is one of the college’s priorities, even amidst an uncertain financial situation. This isn’t to say that the college’s response to our current crisis has been perfect. Many students find themselves frustrated or confused by unanswered questions — what, for instance, has Middlebury done with students’ possessions left on campus? Is the college planning to standardize the wide range of teaching approaches individual professors have adopted? Will the 120 students remaining on campus be asked to leave before the semester is over? Others are unsatisfied with current plans for the semester, as the debate around opt-in and universal pass/fail grading indicates. And the remote resumption of classes this week will inevitably be attended by its own fresh set of concerns. While we recognize that confusion and ambiguity are unavoidable during such a sudden, unprecedented period, we ask that the college exercise the same striking flexibility and empathy in addressing these and future issues. As the spring semester carries on, we want the college to continue to value Middlebury’s off-campus community by maintaining a consistent openness to students’ feedback. We’d hope, too, that this accessible, human approach to administration extends beyond our current crisis and into future academic years. Setting inevitable fears and frustrations aside, the last few weeks have left students proud of the college which most of us have, for the moment, left behind. We trust we’ll be just as proud of the one we return to.

Over 120 students remain in near-empty dorms, dining halls

Update: Since this article was published, Dean of Students Baishakhi Taylor told The Campus that students remaining on campus will be allowed to stay until the end of the semester, as long as federal and state governments do not change their policies. See that update in full here. For the approximately 120 students who have remained at Middlebury since in-person classes were discontinued on March 13, campus life is far from what it was just a few weeks ago. As the threat of Covid-19 continues to rise, the college has implemented a series of changes geared towards social distancing and outbreak preparedness. Students are still waiting to hear whether they will be allowed to stay on campus for the remainder of the semester or asked to go home. Nearly all campus buildings, including libraries, Atwater and Ross dining halls, and most residence halls, are closed to the remaining students. Students received an email on Wednesday, March 18 that asked them to relocate to Gifford, Hepburn, and Forest Halls by Saturday, March 21. Last weekend, Meili Huang ’23 packed up her Battell double and moved into a single in Hepburn. Huang said the move-out process was similar to that which many students who left campus experienced the week prior. “They offered the boxes and everything and there was a sign up sheet for asking for people to help, and they will help you move everything,” she said. Xuan He ’20, recounted a similar experience. She said college facilities staff drove students and their boxes between their old and new rooms. “I was really moved to see so many people working together to make sure that students on campus still have a place to stay,” she said. Although the school consolidated students into three residence halls, they strategically assigned rooms in a manner that promotes social distancing. Individual halls within the dorms are at half occupancy at most, and all students are living alone. “The halls are pretty empty, quiet, and it's just kind of weird,” Huang said. No more than two students share a single bathroom and some students have a bathroom to themselves. Custodial staff are working even harder to ensure spaces are clean — He said it seems they are now cleaning the bathrooms daily. Francoise Niyigena ’21, a First Year Counselor who lived in Hadley, said that a piece of paper on the doors of students’ former rooms stated they were approved to stay on campus until the end of spring break. The school has not yet confirmed whether students can live on campus beyond April 5, but some are taking their relocation as a sign that they will be permitted to stay until the end of the semester. Niyigena’s Commons Residence Director said the rooming situation could potentially change depending on Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. The email students received regarding dormitory relocation said that moving would make things easier on staff and that the school had a responsibility to the greater Middlebury community. Niyigena said she thinks this means empty dorms could be repurposed to increase Porter Hospital’s capacity need be. He, who previously lived in the Interfaith House, said her former residence is being converted into a potential quarantine space. Vermont Governor Phil Scott issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 24, asking residents to cease nonessential travel. Niyigena said that students essentially already adhered to such standards prior to the actual order. Students are not permitted to leave the town of Middlebury, and many businesses have closed. Middlebury’s grocery stores are open, but news of a local Shaw’s employee who tested positive for Covid-19 has spread concern among students. At Proctor, the only dining hall that has remained open, staff members serve food in disposable to-go boxes, and students can no longer eat in the dining rooms. “For the last couple of days, the dining hall tables have been removed,” said Niyigena. “There's like a chair wall between us and the staff that are serving us.” Despite these changes, students still have many food options available to them. He said there are usually four or five hot food options as well as some salad bar items, milks and a few different desserts. In order to limit how many people touch food and serving utensils, students can no longer serve themselves. Staff members place each student’s meal into a to-go box for them. “The positive thing about this experience is that now students actually have more interactions — direct interactions — with dining hall staff,” He said. “We say ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’ and they ask us what we would like to have.” Though nearly all campus spaces are now closed to students, MiddExpress and the Grille have remained open with limited hours. Even so, the school discouraged gatherings of more than ten people in an email to on-campus students. The Mail Center is also currently open, but is scheduled to close after April 5. Cater Wang ’21 said that students have been practicing social distancing by standing further from the Mail Center window, and staff now sign for picked-up packages instead of students. “I guess the major difference is just you have less people waiting in line for a package,” he said. In the absence of typical on-campus activities and hang-out spaces — and with coronavirus precautions minimizing face-to-face interaction — students are finding different ways to fill their time and see one another. “For me, I go take walks and try to keep my room sanitized and meditate,” He said. “I meditate quite often or try to do yoga, and sometimes my friends and I do workout sessions outside together.” Huang said she has spent a lot of time in her room doing work and watching TV shows, but she sometimes asks friends if they want to pick up lunch and eat it together. Niyigena has also appreciated small-scale group activities such as evening yoga sessions planned by one of her friends. “Or you do a movie night or have tea or cook together with just like three, four other people, just to kind of have that sense of community,” she said. “I think that's been really, really helpful for me.” While small get-togethers provide a degree of normalcy, students noted how much emptier the campus feels. “I've gone for a couple walks, maybe for like a run around, and you barely see anybody,” said Niyigena. “Or maybe you see like two or three other people, but that's it.”

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