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(12/07/17 11:34pm)
In our last editorial for this fall semester, we think it is important to further compound our finals stress by considering some of the dangerous repercussions of the Republican tax plan, a bill passed by the House and Senate that is expected to soon become law.
The plan, touted by many Republican lawmakers as intended to benefit the working and middle classes, will in fact target some of the most vulnerable populations. According to analysis by PBS, the changes include tax hikes for those earning less than $30,000 per year, having disastrous implications for lower income families in particular.
Although the pernicious effects of this legislation are broad, affecting the tax deductibility of school supplies and student loan payments, we have chosen to focus more narrowly on the ways in which the plan targets higher education.
We recognize that much of the conversation has been too heavily slanted away from discussing the effects that the proposal would have on especially vulnerable populations, and appreciate that even having the ability to consider graduate school represents a manifestation of some relative privilege.
At the same time, we acknowledge that enrollment or completion of a graduate program does not guarantee a change in marginalization status of someone, whether that is low-income status, race or gender. Further, for some students at Middlebury, the most immediate effects do not lie in affecting their ability to go to graduate school. The tax hikes for lower income families will be more damaging than a graduate school tax.
The Republican tax plan is, simply put, an attack on systems of higher education, affecting both private and public institutions. Among its provisions, the plan would tax tuition waivers for graduate students, increasing their tax payments by thousands in most cases, by some estimations.
It would also make college and university endowments taxable. We encourage readers to visit an article by news editor Nick Garber, “College Officials Voice Opposition to GOP Tax Bills,” which discusses the proposed endowment and student loan interest tax — with its approval meaning 12 or 13 students could not receive financial aid.
We encourage Middlebury College to make an official statement opposing the bill — especially in the midst of current efforts to support marginalized students.
The immediate effects of the plan are astounding, but its long-term implications are even more bleak. The plan would make elite institutions such as ours even more inaccessible to people of lower incomes. A person of more affluent means will always be able to go to graduate school, just in the way that wealthy institutions like Harvard will always find the resources they need for their graduate schools to thrive.
The real concern here, the people and places being most profoundly hurt by this plan, are those with fewer financial resources — the students and institutions with less private funding. Although those who support this bill may take issue with how liberal many academic institutions have become, those are not the ones which will be most profoundly affected by the plan. The plan would make elitist institutions like ours even more inaccessible to those with less financial stability.
For more vulnerable students, modifications like taxing tuition waivers can be the difference between going to graduate school and pursuing employment after graduation. These are decisions that should not have to be influenced by finances. Regardless of income, all students should have the opportunity to pursue a more advanced degree, should they so choose. Limiting the access to higher education only further inhibits social mobility and suppresses the lower and middle classes in our already oppressive economic systems.
Beyond the independent implications of the plan, there are the broader concerns for our nation’s ability to compete in global economies. Disincentivizing people from pursuing higher education will set us back globally. As Inside Higher Ed reported, more than 50 percent of those studying in STEM fields in graduate schools in the United States are from other countries; at some universities, the number is around 80 percent.
Many of those students will leave our country (especially with the encouragement of our prohibitive federal immigration system), bringing their skills and knowledge elsewhere, in place of keeping that skilled labor here.
For those of us facing already daunting decisions after graduation, the Republican tax plan only adds to those worries. The general uncertainty we already manage will be compounded by the Republican tax plan’s attack on higher education.
For many, the effects of the plan will be an inconvenience. For others, it may radically shift the options available to them for their futures. In a world that should be dedicated to expanding access to education for all, this plan works against an admirable mission under the false claim of benefitting the middle class.
(12/07/17 12:19am)
The women’s basketball team (7–0) defeated Rensselaer (5–3) on Thursday, Nov. 30, 64–54 and Colby-Sawyer (4–1) the next night in overtime by a score of 66–59. On Tuesday, Dec. 5, Middlebury beat Plattsburgh St. 60–33 to move to 7–0, its best start since the 2001-2002 season when the Panthers won their first nine games.
Thursday’s night opener was a special one, as the Panthers’ first home game of the season. The Engineers were firing on all cylinders in the first quarter, taking a 9–2 lead within the first five minutes. The Panthers quickly adjusted their defense and were able to find an offensive spark from Betsy Knox ’20, who finished the quarter with eight points on three of three shooting.
At the start of the second quarter, it was clear that the Panthers were dictating the tempo, finding stops on the defensive end and continuously feeding the ball to Knox, who continued her scoring streak. Unselfish plays by guard Alex Huffman ’19 and Sarah Kaufman ’18 set Knox up to convert three consecutive layups. The Panthers ended the first half with a comfortable six point lead, 29–23, over the Engineers, while Knox finished the half with 17 points.
The halftime talk in their locker room lifted the spirits of the Engineers as they looked more tenacious on the defensive end at the beginning of the second half. The Panthers were a bit overwhelmed as they struggled to space the floor and scored only six points in the third. Rensselaer ended the quarter on a 6–0 run, gaining their first lead since the start of the first quarter. Jumpers from Sabrina Weeks ’18 and free-throws by Maya Davis ’20 kept the score tight. Going into the fourth quarter, Rensselaer led 36–35.
The fourth quarter was huge for the Panthers as they outscored the Engineers by 11, including three consecutive three-pointers — one by Huffman and two by Weeks. A 16–5 run ensued for Middlebury, and the Engineers had no choice but to force the Panthers to line. The Panthers converted nine of their ten free throw attempts in the fourth, securing a comfortable 64–54 win in their first home game. Knox finished with a game high 23 points and Huffman tallied all 13 of her points in the fourth quarter.
Back on the road the next day, the Panthers travelled east to New Hampshire to take on the Chargers of Colby-Sawyer. The Chargers finished the first quarter with a 7–2 run to take an 18–10 advantage. Within the first few minutes of the second, Colby-Sawyer established the game’s biggest lead by either side at 13, with a 25–12 lead. Then the comeback began, spurred purely by Middlebury’s offensive tenacity as the Panthers went on a 15-4 run to cut the lead to 29–27 at the halfway point.
The third quarter saw a flurry of exchanges from both sides with neither side gaining a lead larger than four points. Entering the fourth quarter with a narrow 44-42 point advantage, Davis hit a three and Kaufman nailed a jump shot to give the Panthers a seven point lead. After a few scoreless possessions with the score tied at 54, Davis gave the Panthers a two-point lead with a layup with less than a minute remaining. The Panthers forced up a three-pointer with less than 20 seconds on the clock. The Chargers rebounded the basketball and managed to push it up the court, where Tianna Sugars hit a game-tying jumper with just .9 seconds on the clock. With Middlebury unable to find a shot off the inbounds pass, the bout was scored in overtime.
The Panthers went on to dominate the overtime period, outscoring the Chargers 10–3. Knox opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and Huffman provided another from downtown later in the period. The threes, along with some free throws, iced the game for the Panthers, who took home a 66–59 win.
Davis had a career-high in both points and rebounds with 14 in each statistical category. Her aggressiveness on the boarsd with nine offensive rebounds helped Middlebury outscore Colby-Sawyer on second point chances 15-8. The eight additional rebounds over the opposition proved to be crucial in Friday’s win.
On Tuesday night, Middlebury squashed Plattsburgh State at home 60–33. In the second and third quarters, the Panthers outscored the Cardinals 40–14. Davis led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Emily Wander ’21 and Kira Waldman ’20 both scored seven off the bench. The Panther defense held the Cardinals below 22 percent shooting from the field.
Middlebury returns to the court tonight when it hosts Sage at 7 p.m. Then, the Panthers will travel to Skidmore tomorrow night, Friday, Dec. 8, to play the Thoroughbreds in their final game before final exams.
(12/07/17 12:17am)
The women’s squash team is off to a strong start a pair of sweeps on Saturday, Dec. 2 against Hamilton and St. Lawrence at Hamilton in Clinton, New York. The Panthers dominated with two 9-0 victories, in which a single game was never dropped.
“The opening matches were great!” said team captain Lucy Bostwick ’18. With five new faces and five returning seniors, the Panthers have the depth to push into the No. 13 to 15 range in the ranking.
Last year’s team pulled out 9 wins against top rival teams including Amherst and Bates. Unfortunately, the team did not fare too well at the CSA Team Championships, losing against Dartmouth first round and University of Virginia in the consolation. However, this year the team has higher aspirations, starting off pre-season with a solid national ranking of No. 16.
The big first-year recruiting class is sure to help the team meet their goals this season. Meet the fresh five: Emily Beinkampen ’21, Olivia Cappello ’21, Natalie Madden ’21, Virginia Schaus ’21 and Maren Taylor ’21. All played high level competitive squash in various clubs and teams, they are ready to step up and compete at the collegiate level.
Not to mention all three Panthers that qualified for the CSA Individual Championships last season are returning to compete: Alexa Comai ’19 and Beatrijs Kuijpers ’19 are currently abroad, but Anne Glassie ’20 was playing in the No. 2 slot on the ladder last weekend.
With the win over Hamilton, the Panthers continued their streak of dominance over the Continentals, defeating them for the fourth consecutive time.
Madden began the sweep with her first collegiate win at line three when her opponent, Caitlin Stern, was retired after Madden won the first game 11-2. Additional first victories of their college careers came from Beinkampen at No. 4 (11-4, 11-8, 11-2) and Schaus at No 5 (11-6, 11-4, 11-7).
“It is so nice being able to compete with a team,” said Madden, who like many first-year collegiate squash players are unaccustomed to having the backing of teammates when they are at the junior levels. “When I got nervous, the cheers reminded me that I was playing for Middlebury, not just myself, which helped me compete harder.”
At the top of the ladder senior mainstay Lucy Bostwick ‘18 made the score 7-0 with tallies of 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 against Rafiatou Ouro-Aguy and Anne Glassie ‘20 captured a strong win (11-5, 11-2, 11-8) against Alex M. Infante.
Next up against St. Lawrence, Lily Bogle ’18 cruised by with scores of 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 against Alexandra Brazo at No. 8. In the middle of the ladder, Mira Chugh ’18 made the score 4-0 with another great win (11-0, 11-4, 11-4) against Cindy Yao, while Caroline Jarhling ’18 swept Katie Walsh (11-1, 11-4, 11-4) at the bottom of the ladder. Keeping up the momentum, Natasha Lowitt ’20 defeated Alexandra Limas at No. 7 (11-5, 11-5, 11-3).
“It was so fun to see all of our hard work in practice translate into our matches and to compete against other players besides ourselves,” said Bostwick, the team captain. “Traveling all together for the first time is also such a great bonding experience and is really exciting for the first-years because they get a taste of what J-term will be like. I was really proud of everyone’s hard-work, focus, and sportsmanship; it made me excited for the rest of the season.”
The squash team will return to action at their first home game this Saturday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m. against Dartmouth at the squash courts.
(12/07/17 12:12am)
In their only game of the week, men’s basketball ran past Plattsburgh State 92–68 on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The Panthers, who climbed up to second in the national poll, moved to 5–0, entering their matchup with No. 16 Skidmore on Friday, Dec. 8.
Middlebury took an early 15–4 lead in the first ten minutes of the first half on Tuesday, led by stout defense and some cold shooting by Plattsburgh State. The Cardinals made only two of their first 17 shots. The Panthers extended their first half lead to as many as 14 points when they took a 37–23 lead with 1:58 left, but Plattsburgh St. ended the half on a 7–1 run to cut the deficit to eight.
The Cardinals continued to creep closer to the Panthers out of the break, scoring the first four points to make it a four-point game. Middlebury responded with a 21–3 run to put the Cardinals in a hole they could not climb out of. After a tough first half when he made only two of his eight shots from the field, Matt Folger ’20 heated up in that stretch, going on a 9–0 run of his own.
The Panthers extended their lead to as many as 27, but the game remained pretty even and ended in a 91–68 Middlebury victory.
Middlebury got going from deep and hit nine of their 18 three-point attempts in the second half, including three from Griffin Kornaker ’21. Kornaker made his first appearance in the blue and white, after suffering a preseason injury and sitting out the first four games of the season.
He was one of five Panthers in double figures on Tuesday, finishing with 11 points, while Daly and Folger both scored a game-high 14. Daly added nine assists and eight rebounds, and Folger tallied his second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Jack Farrell ’21 scored a career-high 12 points on five of six shooting, and Hilal Dahleh ’19 tallied 13 points on five of seven shooting.
Next up for the Panthers is the Skidmore game on Friday, Dec. 8 at Saratoga Springs, New York. The Thoroughbreds have proven to be a tough challenge in year’s past. Last year, Middlebury eked out a 72–71 victory, but the season before, Skidmore won 82–77. Three season ago, Middlebury won by one as well, 57–56.
This season, both teams enter the matchup undefeated, Middlebury at 5–0 and Skidmore at 6–0.
(11/30/17 12:09am)
The men’s hockey season is in full swing, with four games under the Panthers’ belts. The Panthers took to the ice on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Kenyon Arena looking to improve on last years run. With an 0–4 start, after their first two weekends of play, the young team is figuring out where it needs work and the pace of Nescac play.
The Panthers dropped the season opener to Colby falling 9–1. Saturday they tightened up their play and challenged Bowdoin in a 2–0 loss.
On Nov. 18, in the season opener, the Mules cruised past the Panthers from the first few minutes of the competition. Colby quickly got to work and broke past the Panther defense. At 2:43 in the opening period, the Mules’ Mike Rudolph found teammate Mario Benicky who tallied the first goal of the contest. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Colby did not take long to double their total within the first five minutes of play as another shot whistled past Panther goalie Stephen Klein ’18.
Less than 20 seconds later, Middlebury’s response came from Brendan Dawson ’20. He kept the Panthers in the game after creating his own opportunity and going the length of the ice for the tally. This cut the Colby lead to one goal as they headed into the second period. Middlebury would be unable to add to their total despite a number of scoring opportunities, including a couple of chances later on in the match.
Building off of momentum, the Mules capitalized on their lead netting three shots past the Panther goalie in the second period. Two of those strikes were on Mule power plays - at the 15:46 and 7:34 marks. The Panthers wasted a golden opportunity in that stanza, failing to score despite having a five on three power play advantage for almost two minutes.
In the last period, Colby continued to exploit a porous Middlebury defense, increasing their advantage by four. Benicky and J.P. Schuhlen each realized a hat trick, which helped to solidify the Mules’ first conference victory of the season.
Klein shared time between the pipes with Brian Ketchabaw ’20 and Henry Cutting ’19. The three netminders had 18, nine, and three saves respectively. Middlebury trailed Colby in shots on goal by 39–23, going a long way to explain the significant score differential.
Trevor Turnbull ’20 reflected on the team’s first appearance.
“I think it was more about execution than strategy,” said Turnbull. “We have a young team that is eager to erase last year’s mistakes, and I think that played against us come game time being that we came out with more nerves than energy.”
These nerves would come up again as Middlebury took to the ice to face Bowdoin the next day on Nov. 19. While the result was not the desired outcome, the Panthers showed a much improved defense that allowed only two goals to the visiting Polar Bears.
Bowdoin, coming off an 8–16–1 season last year, batted the puck past the Panther goalie with 11:43 gone in the first period to capture the early lead. The Panthers had a few opportunities within the first few minutes, but the visitors from Brunswick denied their attempts.
In the second period, the Panthers came to life outshooting the Polar Bears 13–5, but they were unable to capitalize on this significant shot differential.
Bowdoin secured their first triumph of the season with under eight minutes left in the game, when Thomas Dunleavy knocked a rebound past Middlebury.
With under two minutes of play, the Panthers had a power play and were up by two players where they pulled Klein to try to force a goal, and put them on the board. But, Bowdoin’s defense was bulletproof, however, and they were able to maintain their shutout.
The Panthers showed offensive improvement compared to their duel against Colby, by outshooting the Polar Bears 39–27.
“This week we are going to practice keeping our game fast and simple, trying to not do too much with the puck,” said Joey Piccinini ’20 after the opening-weekend thud. “If we are just able to do the little things better, we should see some success in the tournament this weekend.”
While Piccinini’s statement reflected the team’s optimism, it was not enough for the Panthers to come out on top this past weekend against either Lawrence and Norwich. The Panthers kept busy over the break and celebrated Thanksgiving by skating around their home rink at the PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout. The tournament’s contenders included Middlebury, Norwhich, Lawrence, and Plattsburgh State.
The Panthers were knocked out of the main draw with a 6–3 loss to Lawrence, although Middlebury started to show some significant strides as they led 2–1 after one period and were tied half way through the third.
Nonetheless, the Panthers put up a strong fight against Lawrence in Kenyon Arena in the first round. Middlebury came out firing in the first period, with an aggressive offense that the Vikings were not prepared to face. The Panthers wasted no time in penetrating the Lawrence defense, and ultimately found their opportunity.
In the first few minutes, transfer Owen Powers ’20 paved the way for the first goal of the game as he swatted the puck back to Ryan Ashe ’21 after winning a faceoff. It was Michael Fahie ’21 who then found the back of the net and pulled the Panthers ahead. But the Vikings took less than three minutes to respond to the Panthers, equalizing the score. The Panthers proceeded to double their lead when Kamil Tkaczuk ’19 found an opening past the Viking goalie at the 8:59 mark.
Middlebury’s greatest challenge throughout the second period came from numerous penalties. However, the stanza held scoreless until Lawrence was able to breach the Panther defense and climb to 2–2 heading into the final time frame.
With a tie game on the line, the Panthers would have to compete with the intensity they had in the first period in the last 20 minutes.
Three minutes into the last stanza though, Lawrence’s Jake Roeper slid a shot past the Middlebury keeper, lifting them to a one goal advantage. But, the Panthers were able to momentarily erase the Vikings’ lead after Powers skillfully struck a shot past their goalie. This would be Middlebury’s last response to Lawrence, as the Vikings secured their spot in the next round of the tournament slapping back three quick goals past the Middlebury defense and finalizing the total to 6–3.
“The biggest thing for us is tightening up our systems and playing a full 60 minutes,” said Ethan Cohen ’19. “The team we are capable of being has been there in stretches all season, and it was there for much of this weekend.
“Focusing on cutting down on mistakes will get us where we need to be,” Cohen added. “It’s definitely early enough to turn the season around and we believe that we’re capable of doing so.”
Finally, last Saturday Nov. 25, the Panthers looked to take another step forward against the defending national champion, Norwich, in the consolation round. While the Panthers came up short in the tall task, losing 5–1, they had an opportunity to match up in the season’s early going against one of the country’s best.
For the first nine minutes of the matchup, neither team was able to get on the board. It was only off of a power play that Norwich tallied their first goal. Seconds before the 15 minute mark, Fahie tapped in the second goal of his career as a Panther, matching the Cadets’ total and pulling the Panthers even 1–1 with the national champs. Unfortunately, this would be Middlebury’s last scoring play of the tournament.
The Cadets would go on to net four more shots in the last two periods, with no response from the hosts. Middlebury only trailed Norwich 33–27 in shots on goal, but they were not able to capitalize on these opportunities as Cadet goalie Tom Aubrun was stellar, recording 26 saves. Middlebury also failed to exploit three power play opportunities, coming up empty handed on each of them.
Fahie was named to the all-tournament team.
The men’s hockey team will continue to battle for their first victory this weekend against another couple of Nescac rivals. Tomorrow they will be at Connecticut College and Saturday they travel to play at Tufts.
(11/29/17 11:57pm)
The eighth-ranked men’s basketball team swept its first four games of the season for the first time in four years, highlighted by winning its own tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving before winning two games on the road over break.
In the first tournament ever hosted by the men’s basketball team, the Panthers swamped Fitchburg St. 111–72 on Friday, Nov. 17, and dismissed Wentworth 74–58 on Saturday, Nov. 18, to win the tournament. Then, Middlebury went on the road to beat Johnson St. 84–77 on Tuesday, Nov. 21, and Endicott 78–67 on Sunday, Nov. 26.
Jack Daly ’18 led the way for the Panthers in all four wins, averaging 19.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game so far this season and recording what is believed to be the first triple-double in program history in the season-opener against Fitchburg St.
Middlebury came out firing in their season-opener at home in Pepin Gymnasium on Friday, Nov. 17.
Midway through the first half, the Panthers already held a 36–16 lead over Fitchburg St. And at the end of the first half, Middlebury led 62–27. The team shot 60 percent from the field, including eight of 12 from beyond the arc, and made 18 of 24 free throws, while the Falcons shot only 24 percent from the field.
The second half was much closer as Fitchburg St. shot the ball much better in the second half, but Middlebury was up by enough of a margin that it didn’t matter, as they won very comfortably by the final score of 111–72.
Along with Daly’s triple-double of 10 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, Matt Folger ’20 led the Panthers in scoring with 17 on six of nine shooting and Eric McCord ’19 added 15 off the bench on a perfect seven of seven from the field. All in all, it was a balanced effort for the Panthers, as five players scored in double digits and every player on the roster played and scored.
As a team, the Panthers shot 56 percent from the field and knocked down 12 of their 23 three point attempts. They also assisted on 27 of their 36 baskets.
“Our motto on offense is ‘one more’ and that means we make the extra pass to get a great shot instead of a good shot,” said Daly of the Panthers’ offensive success on Friday. “Our success on offense stems from our passing and everyone’s selflessness. No one cares who gets the credit as long as we put the ball in the hoop. We are playing our up-tempo style to get easy points and look to tire the opponents out. It’s a lot of fun playing on a team that averages 20 assists per game and people take pride in sharing the ball.”
In the championship game of the Middlebury Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 18, Middlebury’s offense cooled from its white-hot pace on Friday, but the Panthers still handled Wentworth 74–58 to win the tournament.
Ahead by only one point with 6:19 remaining in the first half, the Panthers rattled off an 11–2 run over the next three minutes to take a 10-point lead, which was where they stood at halftime leading 38–28.
Wentworth cut the lead to seven points twice in the second half but could never get it lower than that, and the Panthers rode to the 74–58 win. Daly helped seal the Middlebury victory with 20 second-half points on seven of eight shooting, on his way to a career-high 25 points. For his efforts, Daly was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Folger joined Daly on the all-tournament team, adding 15 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks on Saturday. Adisa Majors ’18 also chipped in 14 points on seven of nine from the field and seven rebounds in the win.
After shooting over 50 percent from three-point range against Fitchburg St., the Panthers made only 29 percent of their three-point attempts against the Leopards. Still, the Panthers shot 50 percent from the field and held Wentworth under 60 points and to 36 percent shooting.
“When the shots aren’t falling, we just have to make sure our defense is executing,” Daly said. “We gave up under 60 points against Wentworth, so I’m confident that if we can do that then we will win the game. Coach has been preaching that we must bring intensity, energy and passion to the defensive side.
“We can’t expect perfection this early in the season, but it’s been a great start to the season going 4–0.”
After two days off, Middlebury went on the road for its first away game of the season at Johnson St. on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The Badgers went ahead 16–14 7:19 into the first half, but the Panthers went on a 15–0 run over the next six minutes to take a thirteen-point lead. Middlebury’s lead grew to as great as 17 points, and the Panthers went into the locker with a 44–27 lead.
The Panthers extended their lead to 21 in the first four minutes of the second half, but then the Badgers started to slowly chip away, cutting Middlebury’s lead to as little as eight with just over seven minutes left in the contest. Middlebury responded with a 6–0 spurt, and the lead never fell below 10 until the Badgers hit a shot in garbage time that made the final score 84–77 in Middlebury’s favor.
The pair of Daly and Folger led the Panthers once more. Daly tallied 24 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and eight assists, while Folger added 21 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.
Marqwon Wynn kept the Badgers in the contest by scoring a game-high 29 points, including 17 in the second half.
Middlebury aimed to start 4–0 for the first time in four seasons when it took to the court at Endicott on Sunday, Nov. 26. Last season, the Panthers hosted Endicott on the Sunday after Thanksgiving with a 3–0 record too, but fell to the Gulls 93–89. The Panthers got their revenge in the NCAA Tournament Sectional Semifinal, when they routed the Gulls 89–60. Adding to the intrigue, Endicott entered the contest 2–0 after upsetting No. 7 Babson on its home-court two days prior to its matchup with the Panthers.
This time around, Middlebury would not be denied a 4–0 start, fueled by an 11–0 run to end the first half to take a 38–23 lead into the break. The Panthers extended their lead to 20 in the first five minutes of the second half, but once again, Endicott chipped away at their lead until it was just six with over six minutes to go. Middlebury responded with five quick points, and the game never got any closer, ending in a 78–67 road victory for the Panthers.
“The two games against Johnson St. and Endicott were road games and for the new guys that’s a tough environment to play in,” Daly said. “It’s a learning process at this point in the season and I thought they all did a tremendous job in handling themselves and keeping their composure. We expect teams to make runs on their home court, so it’s important how we handle those runs and in both games we did a great job of answering. A road win is never easy, so to be 2–0 on the road so far is great.”
Daly led the Panthers in scoring with a game-high 19 points and almost had his second triple-double of the season, coming up one rebound and one assist short. Fellow captain Nick Tarantino ’18 tallied a season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Hilal Dahleh ’19 added a career-high 18 points on six of seven shooting, including 4 of five from three-point range.
Endicott’s Keith Brown entered the contest leading the NCAA in scoring with 41.5 ppg, including 45 in the Gulls’ upset victory over Babson, but scored only 15 on 5–13 shooting against Middlebury.
“Coach devised a great defensive plan and we executed it perfectly,” Daly said. “He had five turnovers, and we limited his touches. The coaching staff put us in a great position to slow him down. The rotations were great which was a crucial part in slowing him down.”
Middlebury will return to the court on Tuesday, Dec. 5, when it hosts Plattsburgh St. (0–2) in its final home game before final exams. The two teams last met two seasons ago, when the Panthers defeated the Cardinals 71–49.
(11/16/17 1:25am)
As Republicans in Congress move forward with tax reform legislation, administrators at Middlebury and at colleges across the country have expressed concerns about several provisions that could significantly alter the federal government’s role in higher education.
Most significant is a proposal to impose a 1.4 percent excise tax on the investment income of private schools with endowments worth over $250,000 per full-time student. Middlebury enrolls over 2,500 undergraduate students, with an endowment of $1.1 billion — or about $440,000 per student. It therefore ranks among the 60 to 70 colleges that would face new tax burdens if the legislation passes.
Republican leaders in the House introduced their tax reform bill on Nov. 2; the Senate rolled out its own version on Nov. 9. The endowment tax exists in both bills, along with other provisions that could impact alumni donations, student loans and tuition discounts for college employees.
“There’s a lot in this bill that attacks higher ed,” said David Provost, the college’s treasurer. “It’s clear that they’re coming after us.”
Bill Burger, the college’s spokesman, articulated the college’s opposition to the endowment tax.
“Middlebury’s endowment, like the endowments of other schools, sustain generous financial aid programs that make a high-quality education available to admitted students regardless of their ability to pay,” he said. “The perverse consequence of an endowment tax would be to shift the burden of the cost of higher education to the families that are least able to afford it.”
Provost estimates that a tax of 1.4 percent could have reduced the college’s investment income by up to $600,000 in the past year.
“Our average financial aid package is $45,000,” he said. “That’s 12 or 13 students where we wouldn’t have money to give financial aid.”
Beyond this immediate impact, the college is concerned that passing an endowment tax could embolden Congress to levy additional taxes against private colleges in the future, or to simply raise the endowment tax rate far above 1.4 percent.
“If it starts at 1.4 percent, what’s to say that they won’t make it 5 or 10 percent?” Provost said. “Once it’s in place, where does it stop?”
The endowment tax is not the only provision that has drawn the college’s attention. Both the House and Senate plans call for a significant increase in taxpayers’ standard deduction, which would reduce the incentive to make tax-deductible charitable contributions, such as donations to Middlebury.
“We have a high participation rate of alumni that give,” Provost said. While this provision would not severely harm the college’s finances, “in the context of keeping alumni engaged, it could sting.”
Next, the House bill would eliminate the student loan interest deduction, which currently allows student borrowers to reduce their yearly tax burden by up to $2,500. The Senate bill leaves this deduction intact.
Finally, the House bill would repeal tax breaks for employer-funded educational assistance. Currently, faculty and staff can receive tax-exempt tuition assistance from the college, helping them, or a dependent, take college classes or pursue a degree. This provision, like the student loan deductions, would not impact Middlebury as an institution, but could negatively impact college employees who benefit from the deduction.
Provost, who spent the past weekend at Swarthmore College discussing the tax plan with financial officers from other small liberal arts colleges, said that Middlebury’s senior administrators would meet this week to develop an official response to the legislation. Options could include releasing a joint statement of opposition alongside other selective liberal arts colleges.
Republicans in Congress, anxious for a legislative victory, hope to pass tax reform before the mid-December recess. The House could vote on its bill this week, and is expected to pass it; the Senate is still finalizing details on its own plan, which will likely encounter more opposition. If both bills pass, GOP leaders from both houses would then need to collaborate on a final bill to send to President Trump’s desk.
“I think it’s fair to say that higher education’s view of these tax proposals is well understood in the halls of Congress,” Burger said. “It’s sad that this issue has become so politicized. We hope that the Senate, in particular, will be a place where sound public policy can emerge on this issue.”
(11/16/17 12:54am)
Middlebury’s endowment increased by $74 million in the 2017 fiscal year after an investment return of 13.8 percent, ending the year totaling $1.074 billion. This year’s figure represents an improvement over the previous year’s return rate of −4.5 percent.
Middlebury withdrew $68.5 million from its endowment last year, which funded the college, the Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Middlebury Language Schools, Schools Abroad, the School of the Environment, the Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
In an April 2017 article entitled “Rises in Financial Aid Cause Deficits,” The Campus reported that recent budget deficits had compelled the college to cut spending and attempt to raise endowment funds. Escalating financial aid expenditures were largely responsible for the deficits.
While Middlebury aims to admit classes with approximately 42 percent of students on financial aid, this percentage has risen significantly in recent years as a result of the adoption of a need-blind admissions process. Roughly 48 percent of the classes of 2018 and 2019 receive financial aid.
Although the rise in expenses initially caused budgetary strain, Middlebury opted to remain need-blind and reduce spending in other areas.
College treasurer David Provost noted that this year’s endowment gains will not drastically increase financial aid money specifically, and that the college will continue to rely on gifts to fund financial aid.
“This [year’s gain] is compared to a net decrease in endowment of −$100 million in 2015 to 2016. So any one year investment return will not necessarily provide new sources of funds for financial aid,” he said in an email.
“Having said that, financial aid continues to grow at a higher rate (8.5%) than tuition and fees (5%), and we expect that to continue. The long-term strategy has to be that we grow the endowment specifically from gifts for financial aid, and President Patton is committed to leading us in that direction.”
(11/16/17 12:33am)
When Annie Ulrich ’13 describes Atwater Dining Hall, she describes a space that carries a magical dimension mirroring the fantastically bright world of the movie “La La Land.” Ulrich created “Sum of All Parts,” a public art piece at Atwater Dining that fills its high ceiling with more than eight hundred whimsical paper planes made from recycled papers, projects and problem sets.
During regular mealtime hours, lights from the ceiling illuminate the planes’ pages, yellowed with age and exposure and interconnected by cobwebs. The composition of the fleet creates a sense of dynamic movement so that, according to Annie, the planes seem to be in the middle of spiraling forward despite their static position in space.
“When you look at it from the back, through the beautiful large windows at night,” she said, “it feels like that space has something going on after hours, after everyone has left.”
Change seems to be a recurring theme when Ulrich speaks about the installation, which began as a project for her studio art senior independent study course. “Sum of All Parts” was created three times, each time for a different purpose. The piece was remade for Atwater Dining after Ulrich was presented with the CAPP award, a yearly award established by the Committee for Art in Public Places (CAPP) to honor a graduating senior. The most recent recipient of the award is Daniella Silva ’17, whose work is currently on display in the lower lobby of the Axinn Center at Starr Library.
As most CAPP pieces only stay on campus for one to two years, maintenance was not one of Ulrich’s priorities when considering the installation of “Sum of All Parts.” CAPP is now considering either a thorough cleaning of the piece or its removal.
Aided by the liberal use of a hot glue-gun, the paper planes were attached to mechanical wires, which were then attached to hoops that hung from the ceiling of the dining hall. Unfortunately, the same quality that allowed the piece to be easily mounted makes the piece vulnerable to the advances of time. Dust has been collecting in the folds of the paper and a colony of spiders have made their own additions to the piece through a series of artfully interconnected cobwebs.
Richard Saunders, the director of CAPP, says that the installation’s fate has not yet been decided, and sees enthusiasm in the college community to keep the piece.
According to Saunders, the selection process for the recipient of the CAPP award involves an “organic process” that allows members of the community to vote for the work of one of three nominated graduating students to reflect current interests of the student body and highlights of the studio art program. Included in the CAPP award is an agreement that the artwork will be displayed for approximately two years, after which it will be returned to the creator of the piece.
The removal or addition of a new installation is guided by practical considerations requiring a collaborative effort between the Space Management Committee, Campus Facilities and CAPP, which has recently undergone formal reorganization into a bicameral system that Saunders likens to the House and Senate of the American political system.
“There was never a plan to put all the works [of public art] in one location,” Saunders said. “The works are meant to engage, to be placed where people are likely to see them. Many students don’t make it to the Museum in their four years here, and the Public Arts program is an opportunity for unexpected encounters with art.” Often, Saunders added, the public art that seems to fade to the background of our daily lives eventually becomes an integral part of students’ experiences at Middlebury.
Ulrich, who returned to the college after graduation as the college’s associate costume director, echoed this notion. She noticed that other alumni who returned to visit saw the changes in the campus’s appearance as a reflection of changes in the more general campus scene.
“Art transforms a space by its presence but some art is not meant to last” Ulrich said. She points to professional artist Patrick Dougherty’s temporary piece, “So Inclined,” which inhabited the front lawn of the Mahaney Center of the Arts from 2007 to 2011 before practical reasons necessitated its removal. The changes in both Dougherty’s piece and hers reflect a natural process that occurs over time.
“Art doesn’t have to be this monument that just sits there,” Ulrich said. Interactive and accessible, Ulrich’s works are meant to invite viewers not to “come and adore me,” but rather to “come and play with me.”
At the last meeting of the CAPP, Professor Sanford Mirling of the studio art department presented a tri-college public art exchange program with Bennington College and Plattsburg State University. Through this program, three works from the Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota will be on loan for two years to each of the three schools, after which time the schools will exchange the works with each other. As permanent acquisition and maintenance works of art can be expensive, the public art exchange program, as Saunders points out, offers a means for the college to less expensively bring new works of art to campus and take calculated risks by bringing controversial works that will spark discussions in the public sphere and update the public art program to become truly contemporary.
Opportunities for student-directed public art are available through the CAPP fund. Saunders cites the murals in Proctor Dining Hall and at the back of Wright Memorial Theater as works which were either executed or proposed by students.
Ross Commons has also made an effort to bring student-created art into living spaces. Professor Maria Hatjigeorgiou, faculty co-head of Ross Commons, says that accessible art takes a special role in humanizing a living space as crowded as that which the “Rossers” inhabit. Near the Ross Commons Office, she points to the wall on which a collection called “100 Daves” had been displayed. The work was curated by senior Andrew Smith ’17 and its name is a pun on the eponymous final 100 days before seniors graduate from the college. The white brick wall is now empty.
“Look at that,” she said, her tone jokingly disdainful. “That is an institutional wall.”
Hatjigeorgiou speaks about her role in “setting an intellectual tone” for the students in a way that is similar to the presence of art in daily life.
“What we do is invisible,” she says, “but it permeates a space.” She refers to the commons in which a student belongs as the “intellectual home” where he or she individuates. In this process of differentiation, Hatjigeorgiou reasons, art is the medium that, “lends voices to people who may be quiet and introspective, who are not speaking out loud, who need art in their lives.”
“We sometimes have to be cautious with the art we display,” Hatjigeorgiou said, “because it might invite disrespect. We have to create a balance between being hopeful and doing what is practical. But I’m an idealist. I believe in art. Art humanizes.”
(11/16/17 12:02am)
After a thrilling season filled with ups than downs, the women’s soccer team’s 2017 campaign came to a close in the second round of the NCAA tournament this past weekend.
Playing at the field of regional host MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Panthers opened the 64-team tournament with a 1–0 victory over the Western Connecticut State Colonials on Saturday, Nov. 11.
The next day, the team squared off against the Engineers in what promised to be an exciting match as it featured two top-25 teams (No. 13 MIT and No. 17 Middlebury). There was added intrigue, as well, given that it was the Panthers who eliminated MIT from NCAAs in the first round of the 2016 tournament. This time, however, it was the Engineers who outdid the Panthers. After 90 minutes of tenacious soccer from both teams, MIT emerged with a 1–0 victory to send Middlebury home with a final record of 12–4–2.
After getting bounced from the Nescac tournament in the first round three weeks ago, the Panthers found themselves waiting at home while the conference championship concluded the next weekend. Even though they didn’t yet have the assurance that they’d even be invited to the NCAA tournament, Middlebury was hungry for revenge: they went above and beyond in their preparation to put themselves in the best possible position to succeed.
When they did get the call for the NCAA tournament, they were ready, according to Alex Barber ’19:
“MWS came into the NCAAs sharp and ready to play. Even though we didn’t get to compete in the last weekend of the Nescac tournament, we took no time off and instead played a full inter-squad match on that Saturday. We had an intense week of practice leading up to the first weekend of NCAAs, including a 6:30 a.m. practice and a training session at UVM.
“We don’t mess around when it comes to the NCAAs because we know how great of an opportunity it is and how fierce the competition is. It’s all about how bad you want it, and we consistently battle to show it.”
Their preparedness was more than evident in Saturday’s matchup against Western Connecticut St.
Although the Panthers only ended up winning by one goal, the details of the box score offer a little more insight as to how the game really went.Middlebury dominated the game in terms of possession and managed 19 shots to Western Connecticut State’s nine. Some of the negative statistics even pointed to a dominant Panther team: the fact that Middlebury was flagged for offside violations seven times to the Colonials’ one was indicative of how much more time the ball spent on their opponent’s half of the field.
Barber felt that Saturday’s matchup against the Colonials was a high point in the Panthers’ season, at least in terms of their performance.
“We played technically sharp from the beginning and kept the ball on their half for most of the game, creating continuous scoring opportunities for ourselves,” Barber said. “Defensively, we kept their best player from having any dangerous attacking opportunities. I think that game was some of the best soccer we played all season.”
Barber was involved in Middlebury’s best scoring opportunity of the first half when she directed a corner kick into the penalty box around the 27-minute mark. Alissa Huntington ’18 got her head on the cross, but the Colonials’ keeper managed to fend off the attempt with a diving save.
The Panthers, keeping the crowd on their toes, ended up waiting until the 83rd minute to convert on one of their many scoring opportunities. Clare Robinson ’19 crossed a ball to Barber in Colonial territory, who, in turn, found Virginia Charman ’20 with a beautiful one-touch pass. Charman didn’t waste the opportunity. She laced the ball into the upper-left corner of the net to give Middlebury the deciding 1–0 lead. The Colonials made one last attempt that ricocheted off the crossbar in the 86th minute, allowing the Panthers held on for the 1–0 victory to advance to the second round.
Facing an MIT team on Sunday that had just stomped Castleton 7–2 a day before, Middlebury nevertheless felt ready for what their opponent was going to bring.
“Having played MIT in the first round last year,” Barber explained, “we know what kind of team they are and how they like to play. They play technical and pretty soccer, just how we like to play. Both teams had lots of scoring opportunities and it was a very exciting game, but ultimately, we were unable to find the back of the net in time to score a goal and tie it up.
“MIT is a great team, and we finished the game with our heads held high, knowing that we are a great soccer team that had a fantastic season.”
Head coach Peter Kim didn’t feel that the team came out flat on Sunday or that they were dealing with a victory hangover, either.
“We were capable of winning both games this weekend, to be sure,” Kim said. “Unfortunately, we had difficulty finishing goals this season, and that ended up being the story of the match on Sunday. We created plenty of chances to score, and should’ve finished a few more than we did.”
Middlebury led Sunday’s match in shot attempts, 11–10, but only managed to put two of those on target to the Engineers’ five. Once MIT scored what was to be the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute, the Panthers found themselves playing a frustrating game of catch-up for the rest of the match, colored by shot attempt after shot attempt that seemed to miss by just inches.
In the first half, Eliza Robinson ’21 had a free kick sail high and a second attempt corralled by the MIT goalie in the span of a minute. Eliza Van Voorhis ’21 connected with a header from a Barber corner-kick but missed over the crossbar. In the second half, Robinson had another attempt sail just over the top of the goal. Although possession went back and forth, the Panthers were mostly held away from the Engineers’ penalty box. When the official’s whistled sounded to signal MIT’s 1–0 victory, Middlebury’s season was over.
On the whole, Kim had some very positive things to offer about the Panthers’ season.
“I’ll remember this season as one of resiliency,” Kim said. “We suffered setbacks in a few key games that we felt we should have won, but those results only strengthened our resolve.
“I’m impressed by how we battled back and earned a NCAA tournament berth, then played some excellent soccer in Cambridge. We out-possessed and outshot Western Connecticut St. by a large margin and pinned MIT in their own half for significant portions of the game.
“It was a heartbreaking way to finish the year,” Kim said, “but the final result doesn’t take away from the effort the players put in. Hopefully younger players learned how hard they have to work in order to succeed, both individually and as a team. As for the seniors, they are largely responsible for the resiliency that this team showed. While a Nescac run would have been fitting for them, they can be very proud of the team that they built. They left a lasting legacy and will be sorely missed.”
Barber looked back on the season just as fondly, if not even more so — largely thanks to the close relationships she developed with her teammates over its course.
“Since we graduated 11 seniors last year, it was important to reassess our personnel and figure out who was going to fill important roles on the team that were vacated,” Barber said. “I was consistently blown away by the amount of talent on this team, and how deep our bench is. We didn’t just play with 11 starters the whole season, we played with everyone.”
But she saved her most touching words for her teammates about to graduate: Huntington, Maddie Morgan ’18, Emma Shumway ’18 and Rebecca Palacios ’18.
“Our four seniors have given our team and the soccer program endless dedication, heart and laughs,” Barber said. “They have showed us what it means to work for something you want badly and win, and what it looks like to smile and be grateful in the face of defeat. Alissa, Maddie, Emma and Becca are such special and intelligent individuals, and we will miss them so much as they go off to do amazing things with their lives.”
(11/09/17 12:26am)
A small group of students met in Chellis House for a information session on Planned Parenthood on Oct. 19. Paige Feeser, the Vermont Public Affairs Organizer for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, led the session. Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM) hosted the event, reestablishing the Generation Action initiative, the collegiate activist branch of Planned Parenthood.
Feeser welcomed the group and, arranging the seats in a circle, shared her own experience working with Planned Parenthood. She admitted that she did not initially feel the same passion for the organization as her colleagues until the Supreme Court struck down the Massachusetts “buffer zone” law in June 2014, siding with abortion opponents.
“I really for the first time saw this systemic oppression that is happening in that our country does not fully support women and the choices that they make about their own bodies,” Feeser said. “It was from there that I said I can’t stand idle.“
Feeser then launched into discussion, stating that she wanted to give the group a basic understanding of Planned Parenthood so that they could understand the organization on both a national and local level when talking to other people on campus. She explained that there are three important elements to the organization, the first being healthcare.
“We are a trusted healthcare provider, and in fact we’ve been providing healthcare for over a hundred years,” Feeser said. “We provide a wealth of different services, including abortion, but really our focus is both reproductive and sexual health.”
The second element is education.
“We truly believe that all people should be able to make voluntary choices about their health,” she said. “So we’re providing education during people’s appointments, during counseling sessions, we are providing 24/7 up-to-date information on our website.” Feeser also discussed Planned Parenthood’s peer educator program, which offers high school students sexual education training that they can then use to teach their fellow students.
The third element is advocacy, which is a critical piece in ensuring that people have access to healthcare and education services.
“Our mission statement is to provide, promote, and protect access to reproductive healthcare and sexuality education so that all people can make voluntary choices about their healthcare,” Feeser said.
Feeser also gave a few of Planned Parenthood’s northern New England statistics.
“We have 21 health centers across Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Last year we served 41,956 patients,” she said. “The majority of our patients are in their 20s, and that is interesting because it challenges what most people think, that people who use our services the most are in their teens.”
There are many other misconceptions about the organization. For example many people assume that patients only go to Planned Parenthood in times of crisis, such as an unplanned pregnancy or STI. But Feeser repeated that the organization offers many different services.
“[In the Northern New England branch], abortion care is at six percent, five percent pregnancy testing and five percent other counseling,” she said. “[Health care for transgender individuals] is a service that is up and coming in our health centers, as well as lab-testing.” She also mentioned other services, such as birth control, cancer screenings for both males and females, preconception education, STD preventatives and men’s health care, including erectile dysfunction treatment.
Feeser mentioned another myth about who uses services at Planned Parenthood. 87 percent of patients in Northern New England are women and 13 percent are men.
“Even amongst our supporters I hear all the time, ‘Planned Parenthood is a women’s organization.’ We’re trying to break that and certainly we are really working to bring more males into our health center, and really putting a focus on LGBT care as well,” Feeser said.
Feeser then turned the discussion back to the students and discussed sexual education and awareness in a school environment, a topic that the student organizations have been taking on recently. Natalie Cheung ’18, who attended the session, is working with other students to start a sexual education initiative on campus, but the students who attended Feeser’s talk felt that people should receive sex education before college.
FAM president Cara Eisenstein ’18 acknowledged that there are already sex-positive education organizations on campus, but she thinks that increasing this number is important.
“I think it’s great that there are a couple of different organizations doing similar and somewhat overlapping things, but with a different main focus, because that way the labor can be divided,” she said. She also mentioned that FAM and a few other organizations and individuals are working to bring a sex educator from O.School, an online sexual education platform, to campus in early December.
Eisenstein has also been working with Feeser on Planned Parenthood advocacy for the past few months.
“I think that as someone from Vermont who is relatively young, Paige is a great window into Planned Parenthood for students at Middlebury [who are interested in being] part of Generation Action,” she said. “I’m really glad we were able to reinstitute Generation Action on campus because it is an important organization for helping young people get involved in the fight for reproductive justice and focusing on advancing the goals of feminism through an intersectional lens.”
FAM is incorporating Generation Action into its meetings every Wednesday from 9-10 p.m. in the Chellis House. The club plans to have a tabling event in Proctor within the next few weeks in order to draw attention to current events surrounding reproductive justice.
(11/09/17 12:16am)
The Middlebury Center for Creativity, Innovation, and Social Entrepreneurship celebrated its 10-year anniversary on Sunday Oct. 29. Alternatively known as the Innovation Hub, the Center welcomed guests to a brunch and roundtable discussion about its programs and successes at its headquarters at 118 South Main Street. In the 10 years since its inception, the Innovation Hub has become deeply intertwined with some critical student programs. From professional development programs like MiddCORE and Oratory Now to student run initiatives such as The Hunt and events out of the Old Stone Mill, the Innovation Hub continues to pursue its goal of helping Middlebury students develop leadership, creative thought, intellectual risk taking and reflection.
The Innovation Hub strives to “provide resources to learn about innovation, build skills, and connect with this [Middlebury] network and with Vermont,” according to Director of Programs Heather Neuwirth ’08. Neuwirth went on to share that the state of Vermont has a rich tradition of entrepreneurship and innovation which works well with the Center’s programs. The Middlebury network also brings in local and globally based mentors that aid student entrepreneurs in developing and implementing their ideas.
The partnerships students find in the Innovation Hub often translate to concrete initiatives. For example, through the Middlebury Entrepreneurs program students like Michelle Yang ’17.5 were able to launch initiatives like the Share to Wear program, a pop-up store in the Old Stone Mill. Through this program, people can rent dresses for a weekend in the same spirit as Airbnb.
In another initiative, Gigi Miller ’18 started the S.T.E.A.M Girls initiative, a weeklong summer program offering weeklong robotics and computer programming workshops to girls who are between 10 and 13 years old.
The results of these two initiatives stress the greater goal of the Middlebury Innovation Hub: offering the means for Middlebury students to enact the changes they wish to see in the world.
“We [the Innovation Hub] really encourage students who might not think they are an entrepreneur to come on down,” Neuwirth said. “They can come down and join programs.” With such a wide range of options and programs, any Middlebury student can benefit greatly from this invitation.
(11/08/17 5:48pm)
VERGENNES — On Oct. 31, Christian Kruse became the new owner of local eatery Vergennes Laundry. Back in 2010, previous owners Didier and Julianne Murat created a French-inspired bakery out of the original laundromat that had a home at 257 Main Street in Vergennes. This year, Didier and Julianne are moving on from their restaurant, creating an opportunity for acclaimed chef Christian Kruse.
After attending the New England Culinary Institute, Chef Kruse completed two internships at Basin Harbor, a resort in Vergennes. He has since worked in Seattle and Salt Lake City and for the last 13 years he was back at Basin Harbor, totaling over 15 years in the industry. In 2012, the Beach family, who own the resort, offered him the opportunity to be their next executive chef, and he was more recently promoted to food and beverage director/executive chef.
He was also invited to cook at the James Beard House on January 2016 in New York City and was awarded Chef of the Year for 2016 by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Just recently, Kruse won the Culinary Cup hosted by the Cancer Patient Support Foundation at the University of Vermont’s Davis Center.
Now, he will take his talents to the popular Vergennes eatery. Vergennes Laundry is known for its pastries, coffee and seasonal dinners that use fresh, local ingredients.
“I had seen that they were for sale on a website and had reached out to them. I had been in talks with them for the past year but nothing serious until Basin Harbor and [I] mutually decided that it was time for me to open my own place,” Kruse said. “With the years of experience and confidence, it was an easy decision at this point in my career. I didn’t want to look back five years from now and regret not pursuing my dream.”
Vergennes Laundry will see some changes, though Kruse will keep a few local favorites on the menu. He plans to keep “some of the coffee, pastries and breads.”
“I will be train[ing] for the next two weeks with them and hopefully getting a good sense of what I will be offering my guests,” Kruse said. “My expertise and passion is for fine dining, so I will be expanding on that in the restaurant. I will be introducing fine food in a welcoming and casual vibe without sacrificing quality and creativity.”
Kruse will definitely bring some additional options to customers, including the “Chef’s Table” dining experience, a classic brunch and wine-paired dinners. Vergennes Laundry closed its doors temporarily on Oct. 31. After a few weeks of transition and some minor renovations, they are planning a soft opening the week of Nov. 27 and will officially open on Dec. 6.
In terms of his goals for the restaurant as a whole, Kruse said, “First and foremost, serving [a high-]quality product that my guests can say as they walk out of my restaurant/bakery … was one of their best meals, is my first goal. Providing an amazing work environment for my employees is another. And lastly, to share my love, drive and passion for cooking and showcasing my creativity with the wonderful produce and meats that Addison County has to offer. I have had the honor to helm the position as food and beverage director of a resort but now am ready to carry that under my own name. I am truly excited about my future and can’t wait to share it with the rest of the world.”
(11/08/17 5:39pm)
In the Nescac tournament this past weekend, the volleyball team fell in the first round to Bowdoin 3–2 (25–22, 25–18, 17–25, 25–27, 10–15) on Friday, Nov. 3. The match at Tufts, a neutral site, was close throughout, marking a heartbreaking end to the Panther’s season.
With a 9–8 lead in the opening set, the Panthers strung together a 4–0 run that included a pair of kills from Eliana Schaefer ’18. Their lead ballooned to as great as six, 17–11, before the Polar Bears clawed their way back to a three point-deficit. Middlebury countered, using three kills by Sarah Staver ’19 to put together a 6–1 run and take a commanding 23–15 lead. Bowdoin surged back, winning the next five points before a Becca Raffel ’18 kill stopped the run. Emily Kolodka ‘18 ended the set moments later with a kill of her own to seal the set for Middlebury.
In the second set the Panthers again used a 4-0 run to give themselves a lead 12–7 behind two kills from Isabel Sessions ’19. Bowdoin returned fire to, once again, bring themselves to within three, but a block by Alice Roberts ’18 put the Panthers back up by four. Middlebury won five of the next seven points to achieve a two-set lead. In the set, they limited the Polar Bears to a hitting percentage below .200 while hitting .400 themselves.
In the third set, at an 8–8 tie, Bowdoin went on a run to go ahead 16–10. Sessions used a kill to bring the Panthers to within five at 18–13, but the Polar Bears retaliated by winning the next six points, eventually taking the third set.
In the fourth, Middlebury jumped out to a quick 5–1 lead but was on the wrong end of a 10-2 streak and went down 11–7. The rest of the set was a back and forth affair, seeing ties at 14 apiece, 15, 16, 21, and 24. Down to set point at 24–25, Emma Walsh ’21 recorded a kill to extend the set, but Bowdoin won the next two points to even the match. Bowdoin went ahead in the final set after a 6–1 run to put them up 9–4. Middlebury was unable to recover, as the Polar Bears took the final set 15–10 and the match as well.
Sessions led the attack with 17 kills, while Raffel (11) and Staver (10) also had double-digit kills. Walsh paced the Panthers with 39 assists and added 10 digs while Alper secured a team-high 16 digs.
Sessions had a career year, demolishing her season-high of kills, 273 in 2016, with 304 this year. Walsh made a splash in her first year with 512 assists, and her 9.48 assists per set ranked third in the Nescac. Another first-year, Shea Golden ’21, ranked in the top five in the conference in service aces per set with 0.43. Staver contributed 78 blocks on the season to lead the team with Schaefer just behind with 76.
Seniors Raffel, Kolodka, Roberts, and Schaefer finish their four year careers with a 64–37 record and one Nescac championship in 2016. Raffel ends her career fifth place all-time on the Panther kill leaderboard with 1,163 over her four years.
Although the season did not end as hoped, Raffel has nothing but good memories of her career, “The past four years have been an incredible experience playing for MCVB and I’m excited to see what the team accomplishes in the future.”
Roberts finishes with 473 kills while Kolodka leaves with 1,163 career digs to place her ninth in program history. Schaefer capped off her career with a career-season and totaled 449 kills and 162 assists in her time in a Panther uniform.
“The seniors have contributed in every way this season, fostering a family like dynamic that is evident on and off the court,” said Alper about her departing teammates. “We will miss the four seniors immensely next year but we are so excited to see what they will accomplish next. We are fueled to take back the NESCAC title in their honor.”
Coach Sarah Raunecker said the seniors were “the backbone of the team. All four were starters and major contributors to the box score, but on top of that, they were great teammates.”
While their contributions on the court cannot be understated, their attributes off it were just as impressive.
“I’m so proud of them,” said Raunecker. “I think it’s says a lot about the respect they’ve garnered over their careers that all four were selected for the NEWVA Senior Classic honoring the top seniors in New England. We will have some big holes to fill next year, both offensively and defensively. I’m really going to miss them.”
(11/08/17 5:37pm)
Despite falling to Hamilton in the first round of the Nescac tournament, the women’s soccer team received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament when the bracket was announced on Monday, Nov. 6.
No. 17 Middlebury will travel to MIT to play Western Connecticut State in the first round on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 1:30 P. M. No. 13 MIT, the host of the regional, will play Castleton in the other first round matchup at 11 A. M., and the winners of first round games will face-off on Sunday at noon for a chance to advance to the final sixteen teams of DIII women’s soccer.
The Panthers fell to Hamilton 1–0, but before that game, they last lost on Sept. 23. In that stretch of time, Middlebury went 8–0–1 to finish third in the Nescac regular season standings. Their regular season performance earned them an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
In addition to Middlebury, Nescac champion Williams, Connecticut College, Hamilton and Tufts also made the tournament.
Western Connecticut State, the Panthers’ first round opponent, earned a berth by winning the Little East Conference Championship.
MIT won the Newmac championship and enters the tournament ranked 13th in the country.
Castleton, whom Middlebury beat 3–0 earlier in the season, earned its spot by winning the North Atlantic Conference.
(11/08/17 5:33pm)
On November 1, 2017, the Houston Astros of the American League defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League 5–1 in Game 7 of the World Series, capping off a captivating championship matchup that featured some of the most exciting playoff baseball that fans of the game have seen in years. Here, we’d like to look back on a few of the factors that made this hard-fought battle so uniquely exciting.
—2017 marked the first time in the free agent era (i.e. from 1976 onward) that two 100+ win teams faced off in the World Series. The last such meeting took place in 1970 between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds.
—Coincidentally, Los Angeles and Houston are arguably the two Major League teams that rely most heavily on advanced analytics to run their teams. The Dodgers, for example, distributed cards to each of their outfielders that not only told them where to stand for each different batter in the Astros’ lineup, but also factored in for the different pitchers that the Dodgers were using as well.
—Los Angeles had only lost one playoff game coming into the World Series, a 3–2 defeat at the hands of Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the NLCS (the Dodgers won Game 5 to take the series four games to one). They won the rest of their playoff games by two runs or more.
The Astros, on the other hand, had faced a bit of a tougher road: three of their seven playoff wins prior to the World Series were decided by only one run, and they had to climb back from a 3–2 deficit in the ALCS to defeat the New York Yankees in seven games.
—That being said, both teams had at least one thing in common: neither had lost a home game in the playoffs thus far. But when it came to the World Series, the Astros would take wins on the road from the Dodgers — Games 2 and 7 — and Los Angeles would win game 4 on Houston’s home turf.
—On October 24, the recorded temperature for the first pitch of Game 1 was 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest World Series game on record before that? October 27, Game 1 of the 2001 World Series, New York Yankees at the Arizona Diamondbacks: 94 degrees.
—Before Game 2 of this season, the Dodgers were 98–0 when in the lead at the top of the 9th inning. A big part of that equation was their closer, Kenley Jensen: he had converted 41 of 42 save opportunities, sported a 1.32 ERA and a 15.57 strikeout/walk ratio, and held opposing batters to a .177 average. However, Jansen blew the lead in Game 2 by giving up a solo Marwin Gonzalez home run in the ninth inning, allowing the Astros to knot the score at 3–3.
—But, Game 2 was remarkable for reasons beyond that as well. The Dodgers and Astros combined to hit eight home runs over the course of the game, a World Series record. What’s more, five of those home runs came in extra innings: Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa of the Astros hit back-to-back shots in the top of the tenth, to which Yasiel Puig responded with one of his own in the bottom of the inning. George Springer responded for Houston with a two-run bomb in the top of the 11th, and although Charlie Culberson tried to bring the Dodgers back with a solo blast in the bottom of the 11th, it ultimately wasn’t enough as Los Angeles fell, 7–6.
—Game 5, a ten-inning, 25-run affair, saw the Dodgers slip from the lead on three separate occasions, defy expectations by coming back from a three-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game, and ultimately to blow it in the bottom of the 10th. The losing pitcher? Kenley Jansen.
—Down 3–2 in the series, Los Angeles looked to be down for the count: the Astros had won every single game that Justin Verlander (their Game 6 pitcher) had started since they added him to the roster on August 31. Verlander took a 1–0 lead into the sixth inning, having only allowed one hit to that point. However, he gave up two runs on the inning and the Astros went on to lose, 3–1.
—Game 7 was undoubtedly the most boring matchup of the series. After scoring two runs in the first inning and three in the second, the Astros more or less cruised to a 5–1 victory to seal the first World Series title since the club’s foundation in 1962.
The only other game that had been decided by more than two runs was Game 4, a 6–2 Dodger victory. Even so, that one was tied 1–1 before Los Angeles scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning.
—The Astros and Dodgers combined to hit 25 home runs in the 2017 World Series, shattering the old record of 21. George Springer, the World Series MVP, accounted for five of those home runs by himself, also a World Series record.
—Brandon Morrow of the Dodgers quietly became just the second pitcher to appear in all seven games of a World Series. But he wasn’t the only member of the Los Angeles bullpen to see heavy usage: head coach Dave Roberts made a record 32 pitching changes over the seven-game series.
—Cody Bellinger, the likely NL Rookie of the Year, struck out a record 17 times — almost 2.5 per game — in the World Series, blowing past the old World Series record of 13 and the playoff series record of 16 set by Aaron Judge in the ALCS.
—Both teams smelled something fishy about the World Series, sort of. Pitchers for the Dodgers and the Astros alike (most notably Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish and Houston’s Verlander), as well as their pitching coaches, claimed that the baseballs used in the 2017 World Series were slicker than those employed during the regular season. This allegedly gave them the most amount of trouble with their sliders: conspiracy theorists point to the fact that Kershaw, Darvish, and Verlander all used that pitch with much less success than usual in the series.
(11/08/17 5:31pm)
On a late August day in the middle of the NBA offseason, the news broke that the Cleveland Cavaliers were trading Kyrie Irving, their second-leading scorer and four-time all-star who requested a trade in July, to the Boston Celtics. Many people around the NBA applauded Cleveland for getting the return that they did after it became public knowledge that Irving had requested the trade. They were praising Koby Altman ’05, who became Cleveland’s general manager the same day the news was reported. That same Altman graduated from Middlebury just over twelve years before rising to one of the most powerful positions in the National Basketball Association.
Altman did not take a typical route to head coach Jeff Brown’s Middlebury men’s basketball roster. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, a few blocks from where the Barclays Center is now, and was accepted early decision to Middlebury as a part of the third group of Posse scholars at the college in December 2000. Brown heard that Altman was a potential prospect for his team, so he travelled to New York in December shortly after Altman’s acceptance to Middlebury to see him play.
“The recruiting process for Koby was reversed,” Brown said. “He had decided on Middlebury College before I actually I had a chance to watch him play and see where he might fit in. Watching him play I was really confident he had the ability to help our program.”
Altman arrived on campus the following fall in a big class of four other first-years. Brown was entering his fourth season as head coach of the men’s basketball team, and was still trying to build up a program that had only finished over .500 five times since 1980. That season, Altman appeared in 17 out of 25 games, averaging five minutes and one point per game on a team that went 11–14.
He moved into the starting lineup in his sophomore season, starting 13 out of 24 games and upping his scoring average to seven points per game, along with four assists and three rebounds. In his final two seasons, Altman started the majority of games as a point guard for the Panthers.
Brown remembered Altman as a player who filled his role well as a pass-first point guard.
“As a player, Koby was a ball-handler,” Brown said. “He had quickness and a little bit of craftiness to his game. He handled the ball pretty well, was pretty creative going to the basket and finding his teammates. He was a reliable three-point shoot, but never was a big scorer. But he was certainly a great teammate, a hard worker, a player that really understood the game well, and was really a leader on the floor. ”
The team started to make strides during this time as Brown began to mold the program. In Altman’s junior season, the Panthers finished over .500 for the first time in Brown’s sixth year as head coach. To put Brown’s tenure into context, before he took the helm, only two of the 16 coaches in program history had career records over .500.
Altman was there to see the dawn of a new era in Middlebury men’s basketball. In 2008, the Panthers qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time, and have done so seven times since then, including a run to the Final Four in 2011 when they finished 28–2. They also won four Nescac titles from 2009 to 2017, more than any other team in the conference has in that span. Brown, whose record over 20 years is 336–189 and whose winning percentage is .640 (easily the highest in program history), laid the groundwork for his success, while Altman was at Middlebury. He and his teammates helped Brown to establish the foundation that he built the men’s basketball program on.
While at Middlebury, Altman spoke to Brown a lot about being interested in pursuing a career in professional sports.
“Sports was certainly a passion of his,” Brown said. “He certainly developed some great leadership skills before Middlebury and here at Middlebury.”
Brown saw in Altman many of the important attributes that make for successful coaches and people in professional sports front offices.
“He really was a connector,” Brown said. “He had really strong relationships with all of his teammates, was very engaging, and funny at times. He was really a great leader, with work ethic and communication.
“His personality is so engaging. His teammates really enjoyed speaking with him. He just had one of those personalities that just really kind of captured his teammates.”
When talking about Altman as a person, Brown cracked a smile, as he remembered his former player’s time on his team. Although Altman’s playing career ended after his time under Brown at Middlebury, his leadership skills and engaging personality and his ability to connect people on and off the court, Brown knew, would certainly help him when he left Middlebury.
But after graduating from Middlebury in 2005, Altman went down a different path than a career in professional sports: He took a job at Friedman-Roth Realty, a commercial real estate firm in Manhattan. Back in New York, Altman would take his lunch four blocks away from his office at Xavier High School, where he would spend an hour helping out with the freshman basketball team.
Altman spent three years at Friedman-Roth, then began his basketball in earnest. He left New York to enroll in a master’s program in sports management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While studying at UMass, Altman also joined the men’s basketball coaching staff at Amherst College, of all places, under legendary head coach David Hixon. His first year there (2007–8), Amherst beat Middlebury in their only matchup. Then in Altman’s second season, the Mammoths won in the regular season, but Brown and the Panthers defeated the Mammoths 77–68 in the Nescac championship game for its first conference title.
In his second year at UMass, Altman got paired with his mentor Sean Ford, the director for men’s programs at USA basketball. Through Ford, Altman served as a manager on the USA Under-19 and Under-17 teams that won gold medals in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In his second year with USA basketball, Altman entered the DI ranks for the first time as a graduate assistant at Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference. Then he moved back to New York to become an assistant at Columbia, who was looking for a quantitative assistant coach. It paid off for Altman, who still wanted to break into professional sports. At Columbia, he got connected with Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant.
In 2012, Cleveland hired Altman as their manager of pro personnel. He was there when the Cavs had the first overall pick in the draft twice, he was there when LeBron James returned to Cleveland, and he was there when they won their first NBA championship in team history. After the championship in 2016, Altman was promoted to assistant general manager under David Griffin. The following season, Cleveland returned to the finals, but lost in five games to the Warriors. Griffin’s contract expired after the season, and he and Cleveland parted ways after not coming to terms on an extension.
Altman stepped in as the head of Cleveland’s front office on an interim basis as the ownership conducted its search. 35 days after Griffin and the Cavs parted ways, and high profile candidates like 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups considered and were considered for the job, Cleveland named Altman its next general manager on Monday, July 24, 2017. At 34 years old, the second-youngest general manager in the NBA, Altman took the helm of the team that had appeared in three consecutive finals won its first championship less than two years ago, but then parted ways with the general manager of the team during those years.
If that were not enough pressure to perform, Altman also entered a situation fraught with internal tension. The same day Altman was hired, it was reported that Irving requested a trade from Cleveland. On top of that, rumors swirled around LeBron all summer, wondering whether he would depart after his contract expires at the end of this season.
Altman certainly entered a difficult position, but that is the nature of professional sports management. To trade one of your best players to your biggest conference rival is a difficult choice, but quite probably necessary because of Irving’s request. With so little leverage, Altman did an admiral job turning Irving into Isaiah Thomas, a two-time all-star and Boston’s leading scorer the last three seasons, Jae Crowder, a versatile forward on offense and defense, Ante Zizic, an intriguing young big man, Brooklyn’s 2018 first round pick that could easily turn into a top-5 selection in next year’s draft, and Miami’s 2020 second round pick.
Considering the many steps Altman took from Middlebury to Cleveland, it is easy to forget Altman graduated from Middlebury 10 years ago. He rose very quickly from college student, to real estate agent, to unpaid graduate assistant, to being employed by the Cleveland Cavaliers, to general manager of the Cavaliers. But Brown remembers what Altman told him and envisioned then that Altman could make a mark on professional sports.
“Koby was able to capitalize on his great leadership skills,” Brown said. “I’m certainly not surprised that he has elevated to the level he is at with the Cavaliers.”
(11/08/17 5:28pm)
On the last home game of the season and final home contest for the Class of 2018, the football team routed Hamilton 41–20 after scoring the game’s first 41 points on Saturday, Nov. 4. Middlebury kept hold of the “rocking chair” by defeating the Continentals for the 22nd-straight time in the rivalry.
Hamilton deferred the toss, deciding to kick it off to a dangerous Jimmy Martinez ’19, who returned the ball 21 yards to the Middlebury 31-yard line. Two plays later, Jake Meservy ’19, who took over the offensive reins after a season ending knee injury to starting quarterback Jared Lebowitz, connected with Martinez on a 65-yard bomb. Carter Massengill ’20 completed the extra point and the hosts were off to a 7–0 lead, 45 seconds into the contest.
Three plays later, on Hamilton’s first possession, Kevin Maxwell ’19 forced a fumble, which Middlebury’s John Jackson ’18 recovered on Hamilton’s 37-yard line. On the ensuing play, Peter Scibilia ’21 rushed 15 yards out of bounds to the Hamilton 22, which set up a fantastic look for Meservy. He once again connected with Martinez for the duo’s second touchdown. Massengill completed the kick and Middlebury led 14–0 fewer than 2 minutes into the contest.
The Continentals attempted to move the chains on their next drive, but they failed. After a Hamilton punt, Middlebury started the drive on its own 16-yard line and marched to the Hamilton 31, aided by a Continental offside penalty. From there, Meservy threw his only interception of the game, but Hamilton could not capitalize on them mishap and punted again.
The punt travelled to the Hamilton 45 , and Kevin Hopsicker ’18 returned it twelve yards, setting Middlebury up in excellent field position.
Meservy rushed for 13 yards and the offense tacked on 15 more thanks to a Hamilton pass interference penalty, placing the Panthers at the Hamilton four-yard line. Dropping back in the pocket, Merservy found Scibilia for a four-yard reception and his third touchdown pass of the afternoon. Massengill missed the extra point, but the hosts held a 20–0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the two teams struggled for field position, with neither team mustering anything more than a punt for the first five minutes. At the eight-minute mark, however, Middlebury’s defense turned it up a notch. Hamilton quarterback Sam Foley tried to rush for one yard on a fourth-and-one play, but was stopped at the line of scrimmage. Before he was downed, Maxwell forced his second fumble of the game. Wesley Becton ’18 recovered the ball at the Hamilton 45-yard line and took it all the way to the house to give Middlebury a 27–0 lead.
On the ensuing Hamilton drive, Foley was sacked for a four-yard loss by Jackson. On the play, Foley fumbled, which was recovered by Aaron Slodowitz ’18. At the opposing 26-yard line, the Panthers were pushed back 10 yards thanks to a holding penalty. Meservy took the penalty in stride, answering with a 36-yard pass to Frank Cosolito ’20 for his sixth career touchdown and Merservy’s fourth and final of the day.
“Personally, the Hamilton game was a huge confidence boost for me, especially after getting my first start the previous week against one of the best teams in this conference,” said Meservy, who left the game after Middlebury took a 34–0 lead. “It was a really awesome feeling to see Jimmy [Martinez] make a perfect catch and then run down into the end zone to celebrate. Ever since the loss to Trinity, we’ve been eager to make a statement — the Hamilton game gave us that opportunity. I think that the first touchdown coming on the second play of the game helped us get ahead and stay head.”
After throwing the fourth touchdown, I was just so happy that I was able to help send the seniors out with a win on Senior Day; especially guys like Dan, Kasirye, and Lebowitz, who would’ve given anything to be able to play on Saturday.”
Hamilton could not get on the board the entire first half and they struggled to compete with the Panthers’ offense. With a minute and fifty seconds left in the first half, Will Jernigan ’21 went under center for a shot at the Continentals’ struggling defense. Starting at their own 33-yard line, Jernigan completed an 11-yard pass to Tanner Contois ’18 and a 30-yard pass to Martinez giving the Panthers position at the Hamilton 17. After completing a pass to Conrado Banky ’19 for 12 yards to get to the Hamilton five-yard line, the Panthers called a timeout. And with seven seconds left in the half, the Jernigan found Banky again from five yards out, giving the hosts a 41-0 lead and their final touchdown.
Hamilton managed to score three times in the fourth quarter. Their first touchdown came on a four-play, 69-yard possession, but they missed the extra point. They scored again five minutes later on a 6 play, 66-yard possession. Hamilton tried to go for the two-point conversion, but their attempt failed and the hosts maintained a 41–12 lead. The Continental’s final score came around the two-minute mark. Starting at the Middlebury 22-yard line, after a 30-yard punt return, Foley completed a pass 16 yards and a subsequent six-yard pass to Joe Schmidt. Foley completed the two-yard conversion and the final score of the game concluded with a Middlebury win, 41–20.
Meservy finished with 212 yards on 11-16 pass attempts and four touchdowns, while Jernigan went 4–6 for 58 yards. Martinez caught three passes for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jackson had a fulfilling day on defense, finishing with nine tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack. Becton finished closely behind Jackson with seven tackles, an interception and a touchdown after a recovered fumble.
The Panthers close out their season on Saturday, November 11th against Tufts (5–3). With a win, Middlebury would end the season 7–2. If Amherst loses to Williams and Trinity loses to Wesleyan, Middlebury, Amherst, Trinity and Wesleyan would all earn a share of the Nescac championship with records of 7–2. The last time there was a tie for the Nescac championship was 2013 when Amherst, Middlebury and Wesleyan tied for the crown.
(11/03/17 8:01pm)
It's hard to believe that the month of October is already behind us. As I enter my third November as a member of this paper (my first as managing editor), I've come to realize just how easy it is to forget all the great work produced by our staff. Between classes, personal commitments, extracurriculars, and putting out The Campus every Thursday, we don't often take the time to reflect on some of the great reporting and commentary that appears on our pages each week. That's why I've decided that on the first Friday of each month, I will publish a selection of what I consider to be our paper's best and most important work from the previous month. It is my hope that our readership will use this monthly post to both rediscover old stories and find new ones they may have missed.
Of course, most months I will probably leave out a piece that should be included. It is important to note that I will be selecting stories more or less from memory, so I apologize in advance if I leave anyone out! I'm open to suggestions both before and after the post is published. Feel free to comment or email me at wdigravio@middlebury.edu. Also, there may be times when stories by me appear in this post, as is the case this month. In those instances, I will have already reached out to another editor(s) to confirm that it belongs. If you disagree, also feel free to email me or comment!
Now, please enjoy some fabulous work, in no particular order, by our team:
NEWS:
Late-Night Alarm Jolts Atwater Residents From Saturday Slumber
By Elizabeth Sawyer
Students, Admin Confer at Open Forum
By Nick Garber and Dom Tanoh
Campus Is Vandalized, With College Labeled Racist
By Will DiGravio
Patton to Attend Free Speech Conference
By Ethan Brady
Barney Frank, John Sununu Discuss Campus Free Speech, Political Climate
By Nick Garber and Will DiGravio
Students Talk Study-Abroad During Trump Era
By Bochu Ding
Discussing Free Speech, Attorney General Implicates Middlebury
By Nick Garber
LOCAL:
Student Teachers Connect College and Community
By Rebecca Walker
He's 13 Years Old and He's Running For Governor
By Bridget Colliton
Pennies for WomenSafe
By Ally Murphy
OPINION:
Letter: Racial Profiling By Public Safety
By Michael Olinick
Racism and Responsibility
By Laurie Patton
Student Reflects on Surviving Sexual Assault
By David Vargas
For the Culture: Savage
By Josh Claxton
Sharp Left: When the ‘Common Ground’ Is a Swamp
By Tevan Goldberg
I Cover the Waterfront: On the Alt-Weekly
By Will DiGravio
ARTS & SCIENCES:
Women Safe Presents “I Rise”
By Sarah Boyle
Cocoon Storytellers Share Pain and Love
By April Qian
Teach-In Examines Recent Hurricanes
By Asher Lantz
Professor Researches Acid Mine Runoff
By Caroline Jaschke
FEATURES:
Students Navigate Misconceptions and Challenges of Veganism
By Elizabeth Zhou
Professor Delivers Talk on Trauma and (Post)memory
By Benjy Renton
AFC Hosts Dinner in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month
By Haoyang Yu
Annual Security Report Shows Increases in Crime, Sexual Assault
By Sarah Asch
Student Spreads Joy Through Nonprofit Organization
By Eric Masinter
SPORTS:
Activism in the NFL: Two Takes on One Issue
By Rob Erickson
Field Hockey Forges Ahead
By Claire Messersmith
Men’s and Women’s Tennis Holds Own in Cambridge
By Nick Nonnenmacher
Men’s Soccer Sinks Trinity
By Riley Smith
A (Re)Defining Moment for the Quidditch Club
By Emily Bustard
(11/01/17 7:37pm)
On Homecoming weekend, a day filled with returning alums, friends and family, the Middlebury Panthers fell to 5–2 after a 27–5 loss to Trinity College Bantams on Saturday, October, 29. At times they squad look ed promising, but Trinty proved to be well seasoned and ready to extend their 15-game win streak.
On the opening drive, the Bantams took the ball 79 yards on 11 plays for the first score taking an early 7–0 lead. Panthers responded with their own score as Connor Massengill ’19 connected from 28 yards out, cutting into the guests’ 7–3 advantage. Diego Meritus ’19 led the drive with 7 carries while Jake Merservy ’19 completed several passes to bring his team to Trinity’s six-yard line. After Jared Lebowitz ’18 suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 47–14 victory over Bates College, Merservy took the reins at quarterback. Unfortunately, the Panthers could not muster their offense and the defense could only contain the Bantams, a team, at that point, had a 15-game winning streak.
In the second quarter, the Trinity pulled away a little more, scoring four minutes into the second quarter, extending their lead 14–3. Sonny Puzzo led the Bantams down the field, racking up close to 50 rushing yards and aided by a Middlebury face mask penalty.
At the ten-minute mark, Matt Daniel ’19 blocked a punt at Trinity’s 28-yard line Ian Blow ’18 picked the loose ball up and returned in 13-yards to the Bantam five-yard line. The drive looked promising until the Panthers turned it over on downs, four plays later. And in a twist of fate, the Bantams, on the first play of their drive, fumbled. The ball hopped around the edge of the goal line, dangling between the fingertips of several players and was picked up by Puzzo and then tackled for a loss and a two-point safety by Robert Wood ’18.
The defensive unit looked promising, Jourdon Delerme-Brown ’20 backed up his claim saying, “defense is always a fun side of the ball on this team. Everyone loves playing together so the mentality is to just continue to play together regardless of who we play and we tried to do that in this game.”
Unfortunately, the defense received no help from their offensive brethren. Leading 14–5, the Bantams did not look back, recording two field goals and a score in the final two quarters.
For Middlebury, a couple of drives looked promising, as Merservy tried to rally his offensive. With eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and the ball on their own 45-yard line, the Panthers marched up the field. He completed a pass to Maxwell Rye ’19 for 17 yards, rushed for several yards himself and handed the ball off to Drew Jacobs ’18 who rushed for 22 yards on four carries — but could not complete the job as the final play of the drive resulted in an incomplete pass to Conrado Banky ’19.
Middlebury seeks to bounce back with two games remaining in their season. On Saturday, they will compete against the Hamilton Continentals for their final home game before heading down to Connecticut to face the Tufts Jumbos.
