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Festival Brings Musical Start of School

The first weekend of the fall semester started with an artistic bang – at least for music lovers. On Sept. 12 and 13, the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB), in collaboration with WRMC, our college radio station, and Middlebury Music United, a student group focusing exclusively on the college music scene, hosted the Start of School Festival, or S.O.S. Festival. The advertising poster had an image of a sinking ship, very appropriate to the predicament we find ourselves in once the academic rhythm gets going. A very sturdy stage was set up on the neatly manicured lawn in front of Voter Hall. While the idea of an outdoor concert appeals because of the freedom of mobility it provides and the chance to smell the fresh air while listening to ear-catching tunes, the weather from past weekend was not particularly cooperative. On Friday, the temperature had dropped to 43 degrees by the time the concert ended just after 11 p.m., and Saturday looked even bleaker in the drizzling rain. With this said, the cool temperatures and sprinkling of rain did not deter the approximately 600 people that attended the festival. The sky might have been rather austere, but the mood of the crowd created a microclimate with the most intense heat and electricity, which was further fueled by the remarkable performances that made the whole experience altogether heartwarming. Audience members moved their heads to the beat. It is not conceivable that all the music performed would have the exact same mood, but one remembers the overall experience and atmosphere included a lot of electric guitars and an a sizzling energy and excitement. The astounding performances were due to the labor of some very gifted musicians. The Friday schedule included Iron Eyes Cody, a student band known particularly for its unique instrumentation and vocal arrangements comprising Evan Allis ’15.5, Renn Mulloy ’15.5, Mark Balderston ’15.5, Rob Shaw ’16, and Noah Stone ’16.5; Caroline Rose, a Burlington-based ‘self-proclaimed modern-day hobo’; San Francisco duo TV Girl and quartet Delicate Steve. The Saturday schedule consisted of student group Milk Chocolate, Modern Diet, Poor Remy, Vunderbar, and DJ Alter Boy. The resulting combination of songs was funky, groovy, rhythmic, mellifluous and electrifying. Matt Butler ’15, one of the two MCAB Concerts Committee Co-Chairs, believes that the concert was a success. “The festival was amazing, despite the cold and the rain,” he said. “Middlebury students love outdoor shows. Both the student turnout and the collaboration between the major music groups on campus are indicative that the music scene here at Middlebury is strong and continuing to grow.” We all respond immediately to sound, and, because sound is the basis of music, it is not unreasonable to hope that music is one of the elements that can bring people together. More important is the fact that most people find it entertaining and pleasurable. MCAB, WRMC and MMU certainly agree. “Despite requiring a lot of planning over the summer from both MCAB and WRMC, we figured there was no better way to kick off the new [academic] year than some solid outdoor music,” Butler said. “Ultimately, we all just want to bring great live music to campus and have a good time.” The crafty idea to host this outdoor concert grew out of a WRMC outdoor concert last year that was hugely popular. “WRMC really set the stage for this event with their hugely successful outdoor concert last year,” Butler said. “This year’s S.O.S Festival was both an expansion and a continuation of the tradition that WRMC established last year.” Extensive collaboration and painstaking preparation ensured the smooth run of the concert. MCAB worked with WMRC’s Charlie Dulik ’17.5 and Aaron Slater ’16 over the summer break to piece the concert together. It always takes a lot of hands on deck to pull off this kind of event. The seamlessness of the performances was truly extraordinary. While I am not entirely familiar with Indie, R&B and Rock, I found the experience delightful and surprisingly stimulating. There was something about the music and the group of people moving and dancing that drew me in and encouraged me to just let go and ‘give liberty unto’ my limbs, whatever movement they made. It felt embarrassing at first, but one realizes that everyone is so absorbed by the music and hardly paying attention to the guy at the back. It was also encouraging to see how mixed and diverse the audience group was relative to the College’s diversity quotient. In the end it was about having a great time and some wicked fun. Hopefully this becomes one of those respected traditions that is upheld at the start of every academic year.

Volleyball Drops Three of Four Matches in Weekend Tournament at UMass-Boston

In their opening weekend of play, the Middlebury women’s volleyball team (1-3) lost three of four matches on Sept. 12 and 13 while competing in the UMass-Boston Tournament against out of conference opponents.  The Panthers opened the weekend in Boston with a loss to Whitman College by a score of three sets to one before winning three straight sets to hand the Western Connecticut State Colonials their first loss of the season with set scores of 25-21, 29-27 and 25-20. Middlebury was winless in Saturday’s contests, falling 3-0 to UMass-Boston and Salisbury.  After jumping out to an early 9-5 advantage in the first set against Whitman, the Panthers conceded eight consecutive points in losing the set. Middlebury then dug themselves a significant hole by dropping the second set, before extending the match by winning the third 25-20. In the fourth and final set, however, the Panthers fell 25-21 to lose the match 3-1.  Olivia Kolodka ’15 led the Panther attack with 12 kills against Whitman and an additional 15 in Friday afternoon’s second matchup versus Western Connecticut State. Defensively, the duo of Lizzy Reed ’15 and Charlotte Devine ’17 combined to tally double-digit dig totals contributing 35 of the team’s 67 in the first match of the weekend.  The team resumed play on Saturday, facing host school UMass-Boston. Despite staying close for much of the first set, the Panthers fell behind late to drop set one 25-22. The second set went much the same way for Middlebury, who fell 25-18 before dropping the match in the third set 24-14. The Panthers could not surmount the Beacons’ 11 aces in the loss. Senior Reed returned to once again anchor the Panther defense with 14 digs.  The Salisbury Gulls gained the advantage over the Panthers, securing victories in all three sets while leading Middlebury in the categories of blocks and digs. Hannah Blackburn ’17 contributed 11 digs, seven kills and four service aces throughout the match’s three sets as the Panthers continued to fight in their fourth and last contest of the weekend. Attempting to overcome the graduation of key players from the 2013-2014 squad, the  Middlebury women’s volleyball team looks to improve on their UMass-Boston Tournament performance in the upcoming home match on Sept. 20 versus NESCAC opponent Bates College. Coming off of a disappointing 2-8 finish in the NESCAC a year ago, the Bobcats are off to a 5-3 start overall this season, and should provide a tough test for the Panthers as they look to start their conference schedule off with a strong performance.

Field Hockey Stays Perfect, Preps for Showdown with Polar Bears

The Middlebury field hockey team extended their perfect start to the 2014 season this weekend, dispatching conference foe Connecticut College by a score of 4-1 on Saturday, Sept. 13 before handily defeating Smith College on Sunday. Entering the road matchup against Conn. College with a 2-0 record on the season, the Panthers yielded what would be the only goal they would allow over the entire weekend to start the game. The Camels’ Berklee Vaillancourt was able to slip a dribbling shot past Panther goalkeeper Emily Knapp ’15 to give her team the early lead. From that point on, however, it was all Middlebury. First-year Hollis Perticone ’18 returned fire for the Panthers, deflecting a feed from Anna Kenyon ’16 into the back of the cage to knot the score at one apiece. Tri-captain Cat Fowler ’15 followed up seven minutes later with a two-on-one goal to give Middlebury a 2-1 advantage going into the halftime break. “We always say that we want to play a possession game and grab the momentum early in the game, and keep that momentum throughout the whole 70 minutes of the game,” Fowler said. In the second half, Middlebury wasted little time adding to their lead, as Midfielder Caroline Knapp ’18 scored just 50 seconds into the period.  Fowler’s second goal of the game stretched the Panther lead to 4-1, where it would stay until the closing whistle. Middlebury dominated the game in every statistical category, holding a 20-9 advantage in shots while earning eight more penalty corners than Conn. College. The Camels took the loss despite the resilient play of goalkeeper Ryley Van der Velde, who recorded 12 saves on 16 shots faced. Back in action on Sunday, Middlebury travelled to Smith for an out-of-conference matchup with the host Pioneers. The game proved to be a one-sided affair, with the Panthers scoring early and often en route to a 9-0 shutout victory over the Pioneers. Lauren Berestecky ’17 shined in the first half against Smith, scoring two goals in the first six minutes to help Middlebury to an early 2-0 lead.  After a 10-minute scoring lull, the Panthers got another pair of goals from Pam Schulman ’17 and tri-captain Alyssa DiMaio ’15 to increase the lead to four midway through the first half.  Berestecky notched her third goal of the game to complete a first-half hat-trick before Shannon Hutteman ’16 capped the onslaught for the Panthers, who carried a 6-0 lead into the half. Sitting on a comfortable lead, the Panthers showed in the second half that they have reloaded on the defensive end after losing several top defenders to graduation a year ago.  Hutteman, Jillian Green ’16 and Lily Taub ’17 anchored the Middlebury unit that held Smith shotless after the break, helping the Panthers rack up a 33-4 shooting advantage in the  course of the game.  Green also got involved on the offensive end, sandwiching her second goal of the year between scores from Kenyon and Perticone to give Middlebury their final margin of victory. Following the weekend’s strong defensive performances, Knapp and the Panthers have allowed just two goals in over 280 minutes of play to begin the season, while scoring 24 goals of their own during that period.  Middlebury has racked up a 101-30 shooting advantage over their opponents in those four games. That streak will be put to the test this Saturday, Sept. 20, when Middlebury hosts fellow perennial NESCAC favorite, Bowdoin in a critical early-season matchup.  The Bowdoin game will also be a rematch of last year’s conference championship game, in which the Panthers came back to force overtime before a goal from DiMaio gave them the NESCAC crown. The Polar Bears – who enter the showdown with a similarly unblemished record of 2-0 – will certainly have that game on their minds as they step onto Kohn field for the first time in 2014. “We are all looking forward to playing Bowdoin, as they are our biggest rivals,” Fowler said. “We want to go into the Saturday matchup confident but humble.”

Men's Soccer Powers Past Conn. College

The Middlebury men’s soccer team (2-0-1, 1-0-1) opened the season before classes began with a home draw against ninth-ranked Amherst, followed by two shutout victories this week at home against Norwich and in New London against Connecticut College.  On Sunday, Sept. 7 the men played in front of a large home crowd as they looked to knock off the three-time NESCAC champions.   The Panthers were nearly successful, coming within 20 seconds of the upset, and eventually settling for a double overtime tie.  Both sides recorded shots throughout the game, with an apparent Greg Conrad ’17 goal called back for a handball and a sinking volley from Amherst saved by Greg Sydor ’17.  Sydor recorded his first start for the Panthers in goal with 7 saves.   Middlebury opened the scoring in the 81st minute with a long throw-in from Tim Ogle ’17.  Ogle’s range allowed him to whip the ball towards the goal, where it bounced off an Amherst defender and found the back of the net.   Middlebury tried to hold on for the final nine minutes, and almost did until an Amherst throw-in wasn’t cleared and bounced around the penalty area. Lord Jeff senior Gabriel Wirz smashed a volley past Snydor to tie the game with 20 seconds remaining. Though the Panthers were able to get three shots on goal, the score remained tied throughout the two overtime periods.   “The Amherst tie was definitely deflating, but we had to look back on it as positively as we could,” Defender Deklan Robinsion ’16 said. “A tie against a top team is a solid start.” The Panthers got the draw despite a slight deficit in shots on goal. The Lord Jeffs held a 13-11 advantage in that statistical area. On Wednesday, Sept. 10, Middlebury hosted Norwich in a non-conference game and put up four goals in a routine win.  Luis Echeverria ’17 recorded his first career goal off an assist from Adam Glaser ’17 in the 14th minute. The goal would prove to be enough, but Robinson was able to head home a long throw-in from Ogle 11 minutes later to give the Panthers a two-goal lead headed into halftime.  In the second half, Glaser opened his scoring for the season with two goals. The first was a beautiful shot out of the air from the right side, across the face of the goal; Kirk Horton ’17 recorded the assist on the strike.  Glaser recorded his second goal six minutes later, off an assist from Conrad after a scramble in front of the net.   Both teams cycled out their starters for most of the second half, as Norwich failed to generate scoring chances on a regular basis. Sydor recorded the shutout with two saves. Although the Panther’s starters rested towards the end of the game, the team continued to attack the goal. “Going into these games it’s sometimes tough to get the same atmosphere, as many of them are midweek games, but that’s something that we have to generate from within,” said co-captain Noah Goss-Woliner ’15. “We have to make sure that we come out firing and not concede any goals. Having a good non-conference record is vital if we are trying to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, so being focused and making sure we get results out of this game is crucial.” On Saturday, Sept. 13, Middlebury returned to their NESCAC slate against Conn. College. Two goals to open the second half would be the only scores of the game, as the Panthers shutout the Camels on the road. Conrad provided the assists on both goals, laying off a throw in in the 47th minute for Horton to muscle home, and setting up Glaser’s third goal of the week in the 54th.  Sydor remained solid in goal, saving six shots to keep Conn College off the board. “As a team, we’ve tried to instill a really positive and professional attitude around everything we do and I think that has helped us going into this season,“ Goss-Woliner said. “The younger guys have really stepped up and taken more responsibility, which has translated to production on the field. Greg Sydor has been phenomenal in net and we’ve gotten goals from several sophomores on the offensive end. The younger guys know they play an important role on the team and they have grown into it very nicely.” Robinson’s header against Norwich was to be the only point for an upperclassman on the team, with the sophomore class recording every other assist and goal in the first three games. Sydor earned the shutout, his second at this juncture in the season, with a gritty six-save performance in goal for the Panthers. Middlebury racked up a 14-13 shooting advantage over Conn. College in the game. The Camels failed to score despite totaling 10 corner kicks to Middlebury’s one.  Middlebury sits tied for 3rd in the NESCAC and will next host Bowdoin (1-2-0, 0-2-0) on Saturday, Sept. 20 at noon. The Polar Bears finished fifth in the conference a year ago, one spot ahead of Middlebury.

Compassionately Conservative

When Erin first approached me about writing this column I had some…reservations. I just couldn’t help but feel I had been down the path of being a vocal Republican in a very liberal environment. Well, that would be because I have been down that exact path many times, and I have come to embrace it.  Much like Erin, I grew up in the Bay Area, in Orinda, California. Orinda may be richer than most areas around it (the median household income was $153,945 in 2012), but it is still very Democratic (66 percent of residents voted for Obama in 2012). However I was first introduced to politics while I was attending middle school over the hill in (the Peoples’ Republic of) Berkeley.  When I was in seventh grade, the 2008 primaries were heating up, and many of my friends (who had just discovered the Daily Show and Colbert Report) were interested in either Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama. So, just as Erin did, I went home and talked to my parents about whom they preferred. However, my household is politically split. My mother is a Democrat. She was born in Berkeley and preferred Hillary Clinton. My dad was born in Concord, New Hampshire and grew up in Barre, Vermont. He was torn between John McCain and Mitt Romney. My parents proceeded to explain to me the basics about each of the candidates and about politics in general. However, the only specific I remember from that conversation (my parents are both lawyers, so it was a long conversation for a 13-year-old) was that Mitt Romney was a Mormon, and therefore a religious minority. This was particularly intriguing to me because I am Jewish. The one thing my parents could 100 percent agree on was that it was sad that Mitt may be counted out because many people don’t like Mormons. So the next day at school I told my friends I liked Mitt.  That was a bit of a rough day. Many of my friends were raised with an irrational fear of Republicans. This prompted many questions from classmates, many of which I did not quite know how to field. The one that sticks out the most is “how can you call yourself a real Jew and like Republicans?” If you know me at all, you should understand that this did not prompt me to switch my party affiliation. In fact, I would later wear a “Jewish Americans for McCain” shirt to counterbalance all the “hope and change” paraphernalia.  After the 2008 debacle, I remained a Republican — although a confused one. It wouldn’t be until the 2012 cycle that I would really investigate my early political leanings.  At the end of my junior year, there were two elections that concerned me: the GOP presidential primary and my own campaign for Senior Class President. I had transferred back into the Orinda Public School district after Middle School and attended Miramonte High School. After winning a three-way race for Senior Class President, I had caught the campaign bug — I loved it. Naturally, I closely followed the 2012 presidential election and supported Mitt. It was this campaign that prompted me to watch probably the most influential video on my political ideology, I.O.U.S.A (it’s on Youtube, it’s only 30 minutes long and it’s a great way to put off your reading). This video originally aired on CNN and made the economy and the national debt my #1 issue, and Mitt Romney was my #1 candidate.  To my dismay, I would miss voting in the election by a number of weeks (the struggles of having a December birthday). This left a bitter taste in my mouth — I should have done more to help Mitt. Alas, California was far from competitive that year. Little did I know that in the next few months I would have yet another important discussion with my parents: what to do with my Febmester.  Naturally, my mother thought I should travel around Europe or go to Africa and “save the elephants”. With 2012 in the back of my mind, I decided to go “save the elephants” — just not in Africa. I then soon began my six month (total) tenure at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and I dove head first into politics.  My mother still (jokingly) ponders “where she went wrong.” PHIL HOXIE ' is from Orinda, Calif.

Gucci Mane’s Historic Run

You have probably heard of the rapper Gucci Mane.  You might have a song or two of his.  Or you remember his cameo in 2013’s Spring Breakers, in which he played Big Arch (and actually fell asleep while filming a sex scene).  Perhaps you’ve seen his Bart Simpson chain or his ice cream cone tattoo with lightning bolts coming out of it.  The one on his face. What you might not know is that Gucci Mane, the man they call Guwop, is currently on the most prolific run of record releases in the history of music. Gucci, who is from Alabama, started his rap career in 2005 with the self-released album Trap House, followed by a handful of mixtapes, which are essentially less polished albums that rappers release between albums.  Between that first album and signing with Warner Bros. in mid-2009, Guwop released five albums and 14 mixtapes.  His popularity quickly expanded outside the South, and he was able to release his music through his own record label. At this point, it is probably necessary to spend a little time describing Gucci’s music to those who aren’t familiar.  Gucci is considered one of the modern fathers of the sub-genre of hip-hop known as Trap, the combination of a hazy, promethazene-addled rapping style with snare and bass heavy beats.  His lyrics, like most within the genre, are highly violent, depict heavy weed, molly, and cough syrup consumption and contain relentless misogyny.  If you agree with literally any of the common criticisms of rap, you will probably dislike Gucci Mane’s music.  Hold that thought. Gucci’s 1017 Brick Squad label (the name is a reference to his grandfather’s Bessemer, Alabama address, and a kilo, aka. a brick, of cocaine) continued its success.  However, by the fall of 2013 Gucci’s life was in shambles.  In a span of 15 days, Gucci launched a Twitter tirade aimed at dozens of artists, including Waka Flocka Flame, Nicki Minaj, Drake and countless others with whom he had repeatedly collaborated, was revealed to have defrauded several 1017 rappers and was accused of murdering yet another.  After initially claiming that a former manager hacked his Twitter, he went on to admit he sent the messages and revealed that he was struggling with an addiction to codeine cough syrup. Allow me a quick aside: I was following this story every day as it happened last fall, and I honestly don’t remember experiencing anything like it.  We’re used to watching the lives of public figures from Charlie Sheen to Mike Vick to Tiger Woods crumble.  There’s nothing unique about that.  But in those cases, one event revealed a past of wildly destructive behavior.  What set this apart was that we were watching this dude, in real time, act out similar behavior in a manner that was so insanely self-sabotaging and nonsensical that it defied all understanding.  It was like watching a car crash in slow motion, only if the driver was purposefully ramming into every object in sight while dousing himself in gasoline. The fallout?  Gucci Mane is currently in jail, after pleading guilty to firearm possession by a convicted felon.  He will be out in either 2015 or 2016, depending on if you believe him or the government.  He is reportedly attending rehab in jail.  And somehow, unbelievably, Gucci is putting out more music than ever before. Since going to jail on May 13, 2014, Gucci has released six mixtapes and five albums.  Read that sentence again.  Going back to the beginning of 2013, the total is seventeen and seven.  That rate is pretty much consistent dating back three years.  Even though all the material was pre-recorded, it is hard to imagine that this level of output has ever been reached before. But what is equally amazing is the undying popularity of his music.  All of his mixtapes achieve  hundreds of thousands of downloads, despite the fact that all of his songs are more or less the same.  Which brings us back to the earlier point about his lyrical content.  Gucci Mane embodies, and advocates for, most everything that is popularly disliked about hip-hop, even by its listeners.  However, he is in some senses the most popular individual currently practicing the art, adored by fans who unquestioningly love most everything about hip-hop.  As Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber winkingly adapt pieces of hip-hop culture and whitewash them for mass consumption, Gucci has targeted a decidedly non-mainstream audience.  He is considered by most casual music fans to be somewhat of a joke, known for his drug and legal problems and that bizarre face tattoo (seriously, google it).  But to write him off as such misses the fact that no artist has better employed the Internet as a means to reach a massive audience and that his 1017 label continues to produce popular artists.  He has essentially ignored the standard rules of the industry, and as a result, he deliberately operates out of the sights of America’s consuming class.  Gucci’s historic run is proof that there are pockets of hip-hop culture that Miley Cyrus and the mainstream have yet to claim for their own. LUKE SMITH-STEVES '14 is from New York, N.Y.

The Campus' Fall Sports Preview

Volleyball Going into the 2014 season, the Middlebury volleyball team will have to reload after losing a pair of all-conference outside hitters as they look to improve upon their 18-7 mark from a year ago. After winning the conference championship two years ago in 2012, Middlebury tumbled to sixth in the regular-season NESCAC standings in 2013, and fell to Amherst in the conference quarterfinals – a disappointing finish for a squad that was flush with senior talent. With the departure of Megan Jarchow ’14 and Amy Hart ’14 – who combined for nearly 70 percent of the Panthers’ kills a year ago – Middlebury will look to Olivia Kolodka ’15, Melanie English ’17 and Lizzy Reed ’15 to bolster the attack in 2014. Hannah Blackburn ’17 and Kathryn Haderlein ’16 return as the Panthers’ top setters from last season, and their play will be crucial if Middlebury is to recover from the loss of Jarchow and Hart. After a relatively easy early-season schedule, the Panthers travel to challenge a pair of perennial conference frontrunners in Williams and Amherst on the weekend of Oct. 3-4. With women’s volleyball looking to bolster their resume for postseason play, the regular-season finale at home against Tufts on Nov. 1 will also be an important opportunity. Men's Soccer Filling a defensive unit formerly anchored by graduated seniors ranks among the top priorities for the men’s soccer team in the 2014 season.  Second team all-NESCAC honoree Graham Knisley ’14 was among the seven departing seniors, as was starting goalkeeper Ethan Collins ’14. Co-captain Willie Gevertz ’14.5 returns to the team after receiving a medical waiver for a fifth year of eligibility and will rejoin standout Deklan Robinson ’16 on the back line. Fortunately for Middlebury, they return almost all of their offensive weapons. Every multiple goal-scorer returns for the 2014 season, including NESCAC Rookie of the Year and first team all-NESCAC selection Adam Glaser ’17.  Dan Skayne ’15 and Greg Conrad ’17, who netted five goals apiece last season, also return for the Panthers.  Leading the team in the midfield will be co-Captains Harper Williams ’15 and Noah Goss-Woliner ’15, both of whom have started in that position for multiple years. The men’s team looks to improve on last year’s 9-5-1 (5-4-1) season that ended in the NESCAC quarterfinals with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Williams. Middlebury’s last conference championship came in 2010. “We were young last year and almost broke through, and this year we’re looking to be really good,” Robinson said. “Winning the NESCAC is our goal, along with making the NCAA tournament.”  The men dive right into a tough NESCAC schedule that includes a key trip to Williams on Oct. 1.  Their non-conference games are dispersed throughout the season and will include several mid-week games to complement the weekend conference competition. Cross Country After a successful 2013 season in which the men finished a program-best seventh in the NCAA and the women scored a podium spot in third, the Middlebury cross country teams look to continue as NESCAC and national powerhouses in 2014. The women’s team boasts five of the six top returning runners in the NESCAC. Leading the charge will be track All-Americans Erzsie Nagy ’17 and Alison Maxwell ’15. The team is bolstered this year by the addition of Adrian Walsh ’16, a transfer from Hamilton who boasts an impressive resume of NCAA qualifications in cross country and track from the previous year.  “We just need to stay healthy and continue doing what we have been doing,” Head Coach Nicole Wilkerson said. On the men’s side, the team hopes to continue its surge towards top national finishes. The team will be led by Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Kevin Wood ’15, both of whom translated last year’s cross country success into impressive times on the track in the spring. Sebastian Matt ’16 also looks to be a player in both NESCAC and regional races for the Panthers.  The Panthers play host to the NESCAC Championship this year on Nov. 1. The women look to defend their title on their home course while the men hope to regain the top spot in the conference from 2013 champion Williams. Prior to NESCACs, key races on the schedule include the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams – also home of this years NCAA Regional meet – on Sept. 27 as well as the Open New England Championships at Franklin Park in Boston on Oct. 11, where the Panthers will be pitted against top Division-I talent. Tennis Though their primary competitive seasons are in the spring, the Middlebury men’s and women’s tennis teams will take the court this fall to build upon their strong seasons from last year. The Panther men had an historic season a year ago, falling just short of both conference and national championships – both of which went to NESCAC rival Amherst. En route to the NCAA semifinals, Middlebury had four players selected as All-Americans, with Palmer Campbell ’16 being the sole member of that quartet to return in 2014. Campbell will be joined by second-team All-NESCAC selection Ari Smolyar ’16, Courtney Mountifield ’15 and Jackson Frons ’16 as the top players for the 2014 conference Coach of the Year, Bob Hansen. On the women’s side, Middlebury returns a young, talented team that will be led by sophomore sensation Alexandra Fields ’17, last year’s national Rookie of the Year. With the added experience of NCAA quarterfinalist Ria Gerger ’16 and Kaysee Orozco ’17, the Panthers will have a great chance to surpass last year’s NESCAC semifinal appearance and contend for both a conference and national championship. The competitive highlight of the fall for both the men and women is the ITA championship, which takes place in late September. Though secondary to the spring’s NCAA championship, the ITA will give the Panthers an opportunity to test themselves against top small-college competition and compete for accolades. The men will host an ITA regional on Sept. 26-28 while the women’s tournament will be held in Cambridge, Mass. on that same weekend. Football The Middlebury football team had a historic season a year ago, splitting the NESCAC crown – their first since 2007 – with Wesleyan and Amherst as they finished the year 7-1. If the Panthers are going to play at that same level this fall, the first order of business for NESCAC Coach of the Year Bob Ritter will be to replace record-setting quarterback McCallum Foote ’14, a two-time NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year who racked up over 8,000 passing yards and 77 touchdowns during his time in blue. The task of replacing Foote under center will likely fall to Matt Milano ’16, who will be buoyed by the return of the NESCAC’s most prolific receiving duo in Matt Minno ’16 and Brendan Rankowitz ’15, who combined for 1,200 yards receiving in 2013. The offensive line will be anchored by guard Blake Shapskinsky ’15, while Joey Zelkowitz ’17 figures to see an increased role in the offense as a running back who can catch the ball out of the backfield. Middlebury returns the cornerstone of their defense in middle linebacker Tim Patricia ’16, who recorded a team-best 78 tackles last season. Safety Matt Benedict ’15 and corner Nate Leedy ’17 return for a Panther secondary that held opponents to a stingy 5.5 yards per pass attempt a season ago. Michael Dola ’15 returns as the conference’s premier specialist. The Panthers will face a stiff test in their season opener with a home matchup against Wesleyan on Sept. 20. Middlebury’s home date with Amherst on Oct. 4 and visit to Trinity on Oct. 25 should go a long way towards determining which team will be conference champion in 2014. Women's Soccer After a stellar season last year in which the Middlebury women’s soccer team won the NESCAC championship and made a historic run to the NCAA final four in San Antonio, the Panthers look to return with a young, yet deep squad and to replicate last season’s success. The Panthers will look to their seniors and underclassmen players step up in the places of some key players, including two All-American selections, who have graduated. Goalkeeper Elizabeth Foody ’14, center back Lindsay Kingston ’14 and 2013 NESCAC Player of the Year Julia Favorito ’14 are some of the strong players will not be returning. Captains Katlyn Casey ’15, Sophie Kligler ’15, Hannah Robinson ’16 and Moria Sloan ’15, along with fellow seniors Carter Talgo ’15, Molly Parizeau ’15, Claire Nishioka ’15 and Ali Omsberg ’15, will lead the squad. They will be supported by a number of skilled underclassmen including forwards Krystina Reynolds ’17 and Adrianna Gildner ’17, Amanda Haik ’17 at center back, Katherine Hobbs ’17 at the center holding midfield position and Kate Reinmuth ’17 in goal. The Panthers’ schedule will be difficult this year in the ever-competitive NESCAC with perennial powerhouses Williams and Amherst looking to take the conference crown away from Middlebury. It will be difficult for Middlebury to improve upon last year’s historic 17-2-3 season, but the Panthers appear to have the personnel to do so in 2014. Field Hockey Coming off a season in which they mounted a late comeback to defeat Bowdoin for the program’s second consecutive NESCAC title, the Middlebury field hockey team will rely heavily on their offensive experience as they launch their defense of the conference crown in 2014. Midfielder Cat Fowler ’15 returns as the reigning NESCAC Player of the Year for the Panthers and will look to replicate her team-best 52 points in 2013. Offensive stalwarts Bridget Instrum ’16 and Pam Schulman ’17 combined for another 52 points a year ago and will be key contributors up front this season. Alyssa Dimaio ’15 is a four-year starter and a multi-dimensioned threat in the midfield for Middlebury. On the defensive end, the Panthers will have to reload after losing a pair of all-conference players to graduation. Jillian Green ’16 and Shannon Hutteman ’16 – along with a cohort of underclassmen – will anchor the defense, while Emily Knapp ’15 returns as the starter in goal for Middlebury. A late-season question mark for this team will be their ability to overcome a string of disappointing finishes in the NCAA tournament. Despite being ranked in the top two spots in the nation entering the postseason during each of the last two seasons, the Panthers have not advanced past the quarterfinals since their championship-game appearance in 2011, the current seniors’ first year in the program. Entering the year with a number-five national ranking, the Panthers should face stiff competition this season from Bowdoin, Tufts and Amherst – all of whom appear in the national top 10. Golf The men’s and women’s golf teams arrived at Middlebury a few days early to start their campaigns for a successful fall in 2014.  After a tremendous 2013-2014 season, the men’s team hopes to continue their dominance of the four-team NESCAC and to continue to have a presence at the spring’s NCAA championships. Even though the team will play without its two captains from last year, three of the five players who competed at nationals are returning.  John Louie ’15 – the spring 2014 NESCAC Player of the Year – is part of that group and will add tremendous value to the success of the team. Another formidable force is Eric Laorr ’15, who recorded the Panthers’ best score at NCAAs and who nearly qualified for the national individual tournament.  The women’s team had a down season last year, so their intent is to regain their best form. Many of the same competitors will be returning for the Panthers, with the exception of Monica Chow ’16, who will be abroad during the fall.  Returning seniors and captains Jordan Glatt ’15 and Michelle Peng ’15 look to shoot consistently low scores for Middlebury. The Panthers suffered in 2013-2014 from a lack of consistency and will look to Theodora Yoch ’17 and first-years Kathy Fortin ’18 and Hope Matthews ’18 to provide much-needed depth that could bolster their overall team finishes this fall. The Panthers open their fall in a tournament at NYU on Sept. 13, which will be a good test for the team to see where they need to improve.  

College Arts Prepare for Milestone Year

Every year, the College’s prestigious and innovative arts programs provide students the opportunity to watch, discuss and create moving works that have the potential to inspire scientists and artists alike.  This year, a variety of impressive milestones will be celebrated across many departments, indicating the strong impact the arts have had, and will continue to have, on the College community. Ten years ago, the Department of Music’s Carol Christensen and Town Hall Theater Executive Director Doug Anderson started to produce Broadway musicals during J-term. Now in its 10th anniversary year, the J-term musical is a hit with both students and the larger community. Last year’s production of Les Miserables included over 60 students and tickets sold out only hours after going on sale. This year’s show, Ragtime, is aiming to be equally as impressive. Set in 1900 in New York City, the musical cleverly intertwines the stories of Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side, the upper-class residents of New Rochelle and the people of Harlem. The musical features a clash of cultures and musical styles, and requires about 50 actors and 20 musicians that are able to participate in the show for Winter Term credit. Auditions to participate in the musical, which will be staged at The Town Hall Theater in late January, are Sept. 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. and Sept. 12 from 5 to 8 p.m in Room 221 of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts (CFA). A sign up sheet is available outside of the Music Department office on the third floor of the CFA. Also this weekend, the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) is organizing the S.O.S. (Start of School) Festival in collaboration with the College’s radio station, WRMC, and Middlebury Music United (MMU) on Sept. 12 and 13. The free festival will take place on the green in front of Voter, starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12 with Iron Eyes Cody, a student band known for unique instrumentation and vocal arrangements comprised of Evan Allis ’15.5, Renn Mulloy ’15.5, Mark Balderston ’15.5, Rob Shaw ’16, and Noah Stone ’16.5. Burlington native Caroline Rose and San Francisco duo TV Girl will follow in preparation for the headlining Delicate Steve. The following day, student group Milk Chocolate, or Innocent Tswamuno ‘15 and Mohan Fitzgerald ‘14, will open for a line-up of acts including Modern Diet, Poor Remy and Vunderbar. The Performing Arts Series is celebrating its 95th season with an impressive line-up of internationally acclaimed music, starting with the Grammy Award-winning Takács Quartet’s take on Hayden, Debussy and Beethoven on Sept. 26. “The opening concert of the Performing Arts Series by the Takács Quartet is one of the most exciting events of the fall,” said Director of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts Liza Sacheli. “They are a world-class ensemble, truly one of the best on the planet, and Middlebury is lucky to enjoy a long friendship with them.  I bet it [the concert] will sell out.” The Belcea Quartet, under the leadership of Romanian violinist Corina Belcea, will again enchant audiences with their widely acclaimed playing of Mozart, Brahms and Schubert on Oct. 15. A free concert by The Jupiter String Quartet on Nov. 15 ensures that the world-class entertainment typical to the Performing Arts Series is available to the entire community. To celebrate the 30th and final season of Series Director Paul Nelson, cellist Sophie Shao will perform Hayden, Brahms and a new piece composed by Associate Professor of Music Su Lian Tan in honor of the retiring director on Dec. 5. Tickets to all Performing Arts Series events are $6 for students, and first-years are eligible for one free ticket. More ticket information can be found at go/boxoffice. The Middlebury College Museum of Art opened their fall exhibition, Visual Weimar, 1919–1933, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, displaying a dynamic collection of paintings, drawings and etchings indicative of the German Weimar style. Otto Dix, George Grosz and Kathe Kollwitz are only three of the prominent artists featured in the exhibit who captured the trauma, devastation and suffering of post World War I Germany. Urban landscapes and portraits considering human mutilation, starvation and poverty, as well as the quest for mass entertainment, give the viewers a glimpse into a society torn between participating with and criticizing the rise and reign of Adolf Hitler. The exhibition will close on Dec. 7. The first of two other fall exhibitions is Hyper! Works by Greg Haberny, which features culturally and politically critical pieces with media ranging from melted crayons to Band-Aids, and will run through Oct 26. Picturing Enlightenment: Tibetan Tangkas from the Mead Art Museum is an exhibit showcasing 18 recently cleaned and repaired Tibeten Tangas from Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum that have been inaccessible to scholars and museum visitors for nearly six decades. Professor of Art History Cynthia Packert will give the opening gallery talk on Sept. 12, and the exhibit closes on Dec. 7. Admission to the museum is free. A special double exhibition in the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts and Town Hall Theater by Middlebury-based painter Kate Gridley, is called Passing Through: Portraits of Young Adults, and is running now through Oct. 26. “It [the exhibit] features stunning, lifelike portraits of young adults ages 18-25, roughly the same age as Midd kids,” Sacheli said. “Psychologists have recently identified a new stage of human development and defined it as a key time for individuals to claim their voices and form their identities.  The paintings are riveting, and they’re also accompanied by ‘sound portraits’ and two special talks on Sept. 26 and Oct. 24.” Contemporary playwright David Freeman’s heartwarming comedy Mendel, Inc., is the first of two faculty shows presented this semester by The Department of Theatre. Directed by Professor of Theatre Richard Romagnoli, the play follows a Jewish family’s pursuit of the American Dream in 1920’s New York City and will be staged Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 in honor of the 60th anniversary of Middlebury Hillel. The second faculty show of the semester, Vampire, is a brash and gregarious play penned by British playwright Snoo Wilson which will be directed by Professor of Theatre Cheryl Faraone. Staged Nov. 20 to 22, the piece dramatically and intellectually changes setting throughout, roaming from Victorian England to World War I to a punk dominatrix presiding over a biker’s funeral. Students participating in the College Choir, directed by Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Jeffrey Buettner, are presenting an ambitious array of work after returning from their Summer 2014 tour to Berlin, Prague, Leipzig and Vienna. On Oct. 3 and 5, the Choir will join the Opera Company of Middlebury in presenting a staged concert version of Verdi’s timeless tragedy, La Traviata, at the Town Hall Theater, and on Nov. 20 the group will join three other collegiate Vermont choirs and a professional orchestra as a part of the Vermont Collegiate Choral Consortium. The annual Lessons and Carols for Advent and Christmas concert will take place on Dec. 7. Many other musical student groups promise to have an exciting fall semester, including the African Music and Dance Ensemble, which will present an interactive Nov. 18 concert featuring instruments as varied as bow-harps, gourd shakers, ankle bells and thumb pianos. A few days later, The Sound Investment Jazz Ensemble will showcase their fall repertoire of contemporary jazz and big band era music on Nov. 22, and the College’s Community Chorus, directed by Jeff Rebach, will perform their fall concert on Nov. 23. Every Saturday throughout the semester, free acclaimed foreign and independent films are shown in Dana Auditorium at 3 and 8 p.m. as a part of The Hirschfield International Film Series. Highlights include Inside Llewyn Davis on Sept. 13, a raw exploration of a struggling folk musician in 1960’s New York City, a biopic of Hannah Arendt on Oct. 4 and the 2013 Italian film The Great Beauty on Nov. 15, which follows an aging playboy after he receives a surprise on his 65th birthday. The community will have the opportunity to view the kick-off of the Dance Program’s season on Sept. 18 with a collaborative concert featuring choreography by Middlebury Dance Chair Christal Brown, University of Vermont Dance Chair Paul Besaw and their one-time mentor, Professor Emeritus Jan Van Dyke of the University of North Carolina in NC Dances VT. Emerging student choreographers will showcase their work at the Fall Dance Concert on Nov. 21 and 22 under the direction of Christal Brown. Student works of studio art in a variety of mediums will be on display in the Johnson Building throughout the semester. From Oct. 26 to Nov. 6, Pinhole Photography will feature black and white photographs crafted through direct contact with negatives and exposed through cameras of the students’ own construction and design. Other works include ceramic and oil portraits Sept. 2 through 12, large-scale drawings Sept. 26 to Oct. 3 and silkscreen prints Dec. 1 to 9. Whether viewing a student creation or listening to a world-renowned artist, members of the College community have a unique opportunity to engage with such a wide variety of mediums and talents. As the College celebrates a range of artistic milestones this year, students from all disciplines will have the chance to participate in the next evolving era of creative achievement.

Faculty Pass Symbolic Rejection of K-12, Inc.

On Tuesday, May 13, the faculty voted overwhelmingly to cut ties with K12, Inc., the corporation with which the College partnered to create Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL). The 95 to 16 vote — with three abstentions — was only symbolic, but sent a strong message to President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz and the Board of Trustees. “The faculty has done what it can,” wrote French Professor Paula Schwartz, who introduced the motion. “The rest is up to the Board of Trustees.” The Campus first reported on the impending vote on May 7. Despite the vote, Liebowitz found a silver lining. “The faculty of the College have raised important questions about our corporate partners. The Board of Trustees, of which I am part, is engaging this issue on a number of levels.  I was pleased that faculty colleagues made clear that its non-binding, sense-of-the-faculty vote was not a referendum on MIL itself: MIL continues to provide language education to thousands of pre-college students who otherwise would not have that opportunity, and provides us with a greater understanding of the challenges and great potential of hybrid (bricks and mortar plus online) teaching and learning, which are important goals of the venture,” he said. “I understood the vote to be an almost unanimous affirmation of our common values as a liberal arts college and intellectual community, and an insistence that those who would partner with us, whether from the profit- or non-profit worlds, share those values,” wrote Economics Professor Peter Matthews in an email. The renewed scrutiny on MIL will no doubt be added to the list of important issues already on the docket for next fall, including revising the AAL distribution requirements and the search for a new President of the College. Additional reporting by CLAIRE ABBADI 

Faculty Motion Rebuffs MIL

On Tuesday, May 13 the faculty will vote on a motion to sever the College’s ties with K12, Inc., the corporation that the College has partnered with to create Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL), a foreign language education program for K-12 students. While the motion carries no weight — only the Board of Trustees has the power to sever ties with K12 — it is the most salient push back to one of President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz’s efforts. “The business practices of K12, Inc. are at odds with the integrity, reputation, and educational mission of the College,” said the motion, which was obtained by the Campus. French Professor Paula Schwartz submitted the motion. In an email to the entire faculty on May 2 — also obtained by the Campus — Schwartz summarized the accusations into three categories, urging her colleagues to vote in favor of the motion. The first was that K12, Inc. had been sued by a number of states for false claims and dubious practices. Secondly, that MIL’s product had been censored by K12, removing reference to same-sex relationships and unmarried couples in order to conform to Texas Board of Education standards. Thirdly, the email noted that K12, Inc. had come under fire for factual errors that were recently discovered in MIL’s Latin program. Vice President for Communications Bill Burger and Vice President for Pedagogical Development for MIL Aline Germain-Rutherford both denied any allegations that MIL censored content. “We have never been asked to censor, change edit or delete any material from any of our courses by a state or locality as part of some political agenda,” Germain-Rutherford said. “K12 Inc. has never tried to influence our course content. MIL has always been in charge of the content.” Burger echoed Germain-Rutherford, calling Schwartz’s censorship claims a “total falsehood.” “I want to emphasize what I believe is the central narrative of this story: a group of faculty are seeking to end our relationship with MIL. They have made some very serious accusations. We categorically deny those assertions and to my knowledge they have no evidence to support them.” However, Burger did acknowledge that the Latin department did experience issues with MIL. “It was brought to the attention of a faculty member at Middlebury College earlier this year that there were a number of errors in one of the Latin language course marketed and sold by MIL,” he said. “This course was created prior to the joint venture with Middlebury and MIL. An investigation into these course materials confirmed that there were, indeed, a number of errors.” But Burger said that the errors were “quickly corrected,” and that the Latin courses will no longer be marketed as MIL courses. The College first went into partnership with K12 in 2010 and has since created videos for the K-12 market in five languages: Spanish, French, Chinese, German and Arabic. Liebowitz has championed MIL since its creation as an important investment for the College’s brand. “We pursued the initiative for three reasons,” Liebowitz told the faculty at its meeting on April 28. “First, we wanted to retain out leadership in the languages. Our reputation as leaders in teaching languages began 100 years ago with the intensive, immersion Language schools, which introduced a totally new way to teach languages ... The second reason was and is to expand access to language courses for pre-college students. And third, we recognized, especially during the recession, that in order for the College to protect what it valued so much about its residential liberal arts offerings here on campus … we need, eventually, to find ways to increase overall revenue,” concluded Liebowitz. But many faculty members do not buy the College’s explanations. Associate Professor of Education Studies Jonathan Miller-Lane said that he was originally supportive of the College leveraging its language expertise to open new revenue streams. “Why should we not try and leverage our strengths?” he said. “However, given what we now know is happening it turns out to be a poorly executed plan. By far, this is the most appalling thing that I have heard regarding MIL and K-12 Inc. and it leads me to now support the effort to sever all connections with K-12, Inc.” According to Burger, one of the root issues is the reluctance of some faculty to accept that MIL should have a role in Middlebury’s future. But Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies Laurie Essig said that she was indeed worried about MIL’s relationship with K-12, Inc. “It is not in Middlebury’s interest as an institution of higher learning to be so closely allied with a business that is far less interested in education than it is the replacement of face to face learning with online ‘learning,’” she said. “Their unproved record as educators, their for profit motive and their highly politicized agenda ought to give us pause — but because it hurts learning. And Middlebury is dedicated to just that.” Miller-Lane called the idea that we need to “face the facts” of K-12 market “specious.” “We are doing this to make a buck, period. We are choosing to enter this market and we can choose to leave. We must now make clear what our standards are.”

Vermont Senate Increases Minimum Wage

On May 5, the Vermont Senate passed a four-year, multi-tier plan to raise the minimum wage in Vermont to $10.50 per hour by 2018. In 2019, annual cost-of-living wage adjustments will resume. The bill is just one example of the flurry of legislative activity due to the Senate’s self-imposed May 10 deadline. The bill differs from one passed earlier this year by the House, which will bring the minimum wage to $10.10 next January. Governor Shumlin’s plan would have increased the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2017, in three separate stages. Governor Shumlin has strongly pushed for a minimum wage bill since meeting with President Obama at a conference in March. “Although we are seeing some economic recovery and turnaround,” he said at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, “we know that the folks at the bottom are not seeing prosperity.” An amendment proposed by Sen. Peter Galbraith (D-Windham) that would have required companies with over 50 employees to pay at least 12 dollars an hour was defeated in an 18-10 vote. A second amendment proposed by Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland), that would have given employers a 12-week period before paying increased wages, was also defeated. One national study showed that if adjusted for inflation since 1968, the minimum hourly wage in Vermont would be $10.66. Some studies estimate that the new wage hike will collectively increase the paychecks of around 20,000 Vermonters by 30 million dollars. Even prior to the bill, Vermont’s $8.73 hourly wage was the highest in the Northeast, and fourth highest in the county. Yet, some local businesses are concerned that Vermont’s higher rate will make them less competitive. Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) also expressed concern for the profit-margins for small businesses in her district. To many people living in Caledonia, “shopping locally means going to New Hampshire,” she said in an interview. “Our little stores have come and gone and are operating on a small margin.” Another concern is that the bill may negatively affect Vermonters currently on welfare programs. Sen. Kevin Mullin (R-Rutland), chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, said the committee will be examining, “ ... what happens with the Earned Income Tax Credit, what happens with state benefits programs, and things like that.” Mullin also expressed concern that the bill skirts the fundamental problem: Vermont is an unattractive state for complex industries to set up shop. “To be honest with you, it doesn’t matter if it’s $8 or $13,” he said. “It’s not enough to live on in a costly state like Vermont. We need better jobs.” Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden), who owns an organic farm, adopted a more nuanced stance. He admits that the bill may hurt his business directly, but his market will expand ifconsumers “had more money in their pockets” to buy his food. Yet the general response to the bill has been positive. In April, a survey conducted by Sen. Bill Doyle (R-Washington) suggested that 71 percent of Vermonters were in favor of raising the minimum wage, 20 percent were opposed to a hike and 10 percent were unsure. Some experts estimate that the livable wage in Vermont is $12.48 per hour. Accordingly, in Doyle’s survey just 26 percent of respondents claimed that living in Vermont was “affordable.” “This bill is an effective step in helping Vermont’s low-income workers support their families,” Rep. Helen Head (D-South Burlington) said. “And it will enable people to put that money back into the state economy by spending at local businesses.” House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morrisville) also praised the bill as an important step toward allowing many more Vermonters to meet their most “basic needs.” “A Vermonter working full time and making the minimum wage cannot afford health care, housing or food without government subsidies,” Smith said.

The Ongoing Need for Affirmative Action

Affirmative action doesn’t work and it’s unconstitutional. The state cannot change destructive culture that inhibits black success. Those who benefit from affirmative action are unqualified. Do you believe these statements, dear reader? Despite the often cited election of President Obama and the de jure de-segregation of American society, racial minorities still navigate structural and institutional racism today. In this context, affirmative action is necessary to correct for past discrimination, prevent further discrimination and create opportunities that were previously denied to people of color and women. However, the most recent Supreme Court decision (Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action) upheld the right of Michigan citizens to bar the state from using affirmative action in university admissions, which adds Michigan to eight other states that have outlawed affirmative action. In a blistering dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argues for affirmative action and asserts the importance of dialogue around race. “We ought not sit back and wish away, rather than confront, the racial inequality that exists in our society,” she writes. “It is this view that works harm, by perpetuating the facile notion that what makes race matter is acknowledging the simple truth that race does matter.” This ruling comes within a year of Shelby County v. Holder, the decision that gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act. These decisions represent an attack on policies meant to correct for past barriers to social mobility and opportunity. Still, most opponents instead see affirmative action as discrimination against white people. The rhetoric of anti-affirmative action arguments is disconcerting. Phrases like “they’re taking our spots” use language of entitlement and displacement. By naming the spots for college admission as “ours,” affirmative action opponents suggest that those spots should be in their possession and that minority students who benefit from affirmative action are displacing those who really deserve admission. Although until the 20th century, college seats were primarily available only to white, wealthy men, it is in part for this reason that affirmative action exists: to open up college admission to historically marginalized groups and avoid the continued practice of saving those spots for the privileged. Anti-affirmative action rhetoric of who “deserves” the “spot” is also prevalent at Middlebury. Although Middlebury pledged its support for affirmative action, several faculty and students continue to contest it. According to a number of students of color at Middlebury, two beliefs — that affirmative action threatens existing privilege and that students of color are not qualified for admission — are commonly heard. One writer of this piece, Maya Doig-Acuña, shared that after she was admitted to Middlebury, many of her friends complained, saying: “you’re so lucky — being black makes it so much easier to get into college,” and “affirmative action makes it harder for white people to get into school.” After attending the presentation of “Race, Sex and the Constitution,” another writer, Lily Andrews, has repeatedly heard that “all views deserve to be shared” and that arguments against affirmative action simply represent one benign side in an intellectual debate. If this is true, then racist statements like “students of color are unqualified” are legitimized. When a policy affects real people’s lives, it should not be debated in this way. Writer Alex Jackman contributes another experience: during a class discussion on affirmative action in the fall, Professor Dry presented an unfair dichotomy to his class: he asked, would you prefer to be a single black student in a classroom at a college that does not practice affirmative action and thereby not be questioned on your admission? Or to be one of several minority students in a classroom at an affirmative action college where white peers were empowered to make assumptions about your intellectual aptitude and how you were accepted? To limit the question of affirmative action in this way is restrictive and dangerous and obscures other possibilities that exist for minority students, what they can offer and how they should be treated. We cannot equate affirmative action with academic ineptitude or create environments where some students are empowered to question their peers’ worthiness. All students work hard to get into colleges and we need a paradigm shift so that we can begin to appreciate this and the value all students bring to the classroom. Students at Middlebury also tend to overlook ex-nominated forms of affirmative action, namely athletics and legacy. Preference for athletes manifests as coaches choose the students they recruit to be admitted; when it comes to many sports on campus, athletes from white, wealthy schools are privileged. When it comes to legacy, we must remember that Middlebury was exclusively open to white men and although Middlebury is now need-blind for U.S. students, remains most accessible to wealthy, white families with legacies of higher education. One national activist group, Angry White Guys for Affirmative Action, writes, “it is hypocritical and profoundly wrong to call affirmative action for minorities “racism in reverse,” while treating affirmative action for bankers, farmers, white men of power, as entitlements.” It is also ironic that white women — the largest beneficiaries of affirmative action — are at the forefront of protesting this policy. We support affirmative action because we recognize the ongoing prevalence of hiring and admittance prejudices, the lasting effects of historical barriers to opportunity and the need to take active steps to redress these effects and create greater equity. We need affirmative action because we do not all have the same opportunities. Rather, unequal historical advantage and access to social mobility structure our admissions into elite colleges and obscure the talent and worth of students who cannot put name-brand schools and programs on their applications. Class-based affirmative action is also necessary, but we cannot replace race-based policies because that ignores intersectionality. We value racial diversity in the classroom; however, arguments that defend affirmative action solely because it provides diverse classroom experiences for white students are troubling. There is a progress narrative we have bought into about race: the laws are signed, we elected a black president, so race is no longer an issue. But when we live in a country where the rights of people of color are constantly contested and their lives constantly reexamined, there is still work to do. Affirmative action is not up for debate. Signed by Alex Jackman ’14 , Lily Andrews ’14, Maya Doig-Acuña ’16, Afi Yellow-Duke ’15, Kya Adetoro ’13, Kate McCreary ’15, Cooper Redpath ’14, Katie Linder ’15, Molly Stuart ’15.5, Jasmine Ross ’16, Marcella Maki ’14, Greta Neubauer ‘14.5, Brita Fisher ’15, Joanna Georgakas ’14, Feliz Baca ’14, Alice Oshima ’15, Katie Willis ’13, Molly McShane ’16.5, Philip Williams ’15, Josh Swartz ’14.5, Elizabeth Dunn, Ally Yanson ’14, Maddie Dai ’14, Ashley Guzman ’13, Jackie Park ’15, Alexander Chaballier ’16.5, Cooper Couch ’14.5.

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Men’s Golf Holds on to Win NESCAC Title

The Middlebury golf teams completed their regular seasons this weekend, with the men capturing the NESCAC championship on their home course on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27, and the women traveling to Williams for the Northeast Elite Invitational. The men played host to Williams, Trinity and Amherst at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course and won the event with a weekend score of 625. They defeated runner-up Williams by one stroke and third-place Trinity by four, with Amherst finishing 35 strokes behind the Panthers. The NESCAC crown is the third team title for Middlebury in four years, and the program’s sixth overall. With the win, the team automatically qualifies for the NCAA championships to be held at Grandover Resort in Grandover, N.C. on May 13-16. On Saturday, Middlebury took advantage of their home course, and for the first time this season came out strong on the first day of play, jumping out to an eleven-stroke lead.  The Panthers were led on day one by one-over rounds of 72 from Rob Donahoe ’14 and Fitz Bowen ’17.  Charlie Garcia ’15 sat in a tie for third going into Sunday after carding a 75.  Max Alley ’14 shot 80 and John Louie ’15 shot 84, giving the Panthers a one-day team score of 299. Playing with the lead for the first time this season, Middlebury dropped shots early on a cold, wet, windy day two on the course. Bowen led the Panthers on Sunday by shooting a round of 77.  The first-year tied for the best round on both Saturday and Sunday and took home medalist honors on the weekend. “This weekend my goal was to attack the course from tee to green, and stay conservative when I had a putter in my hands,” said Bowen.  “The greens were difficult to judge and I knew that if I played two rounds without a three-putt, I would be in contention.” Bowen finished four strokes in front of Williams senior and 2013 champion Cody Semmelrock to become the first first-year to win the tournament since 2006. Donahoe was second for the Panthers after shooting 82 on Sunday to finish tied for third. Garcia finished tied for sixth after matching Donahoe’s 82 on day two. Alley shot 85 for 15th place, and Louie shot 87 to finish in 20th place. Garcia’s round looked to be in shambles after a quadruple bogey on the par-five 11th, a hole that gave most of the Panthers fits on Sunday. “I sat nine over on the 12th tee and I thought the championship was slipping through my fingertips,” said Garcia. “Coach Beaney pulled me aside and said, ‘We need you to grind it out. There is a lot of golf left. I know you are mad but the past is the past.’ I ended up getting up and down for par on five out of my last seven holes, which was vital.” Williams nearly made up their 12-stroke deficit, thanks to consistent play across the board, but Middlebury’s strong play down the stretch held off the Eph’s charge. At the Division-III NCAAs, the Panthers look to become the first NESCAC team to make the 15-team cut at the tournament. The Panthers missed the cut by 14 strokes the last time they made the tournament, in 2011-12. On the women’s side, the Panthers played at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, MA at the final tournament of the season.  In the tournament, Middlebury played against the usual slate of NESCAC opponents and Methodist University, who won the tournament by two strokes. Ithaca College finished third, fourteen strokes behind Methodist, followed by Middlebury in fourth place with a weekend total of 676. While the third straight week of finishing behind Williams and Ithaca would seem to take the wind out of the team’s sails, top Middlebury scorer Jordan Glatt ’15 does not see it as such. “This season’s outcome has only made us more determined to improve next year and overtake Williams and Ithaca at the top of the leaderboard,” said Glatt. Glatt led the Panthers over the weekend, as she has for much of the spring season with rounds of 78 and 85, landing her in 12th place. Monica Chow ’16 shot 82 and 83 to finish tied for 15th, Michelle Peng ’16 shot 88 and 82 to finish 22th.  She was able to lower her score by 6 strokes despite the tough conditions. “The second day the wind really picked up, which made the conditions much tougher at an already challenging course,” said Peng. “Going into the second round I tried to relax and not overthink things.” Because the NESCAC does not sponsor a women’s golf championship, the Williams tournament marks the end of the season for the team. Caroline Kenter ’14 played in her final tournament at Middlebury and shot 83 and 97 to finish 29th.  Theodora Yoch ’17 rounded out the competing Panthers and finished 31st. The team – which failed to qualify for the NCAA championship – will welcome two new recruits in the fall to replace departing senior captain Kenter.

Panthers’ Season Hanging By A Thread

Despite going on an early 6-0 run in the first half, the third-seeded Middlebury was upset by sixth-seeded Colby this past Saturday, April 26, in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC women’s lacrosse tournament.  This is the second time that Middlebury has lost to the Mules this season, as Middlebury was outscored a week ago 14-11 in a regular-season matchup between the two teams. Middlebury was first to score on Saturday with Laurel Pascal ’16 netting an unassisted goal two minutes into the game. Her goal initiated a six-goal scoring streak for Middlebury, of which Pascal scored four goals and Katie Ritter ’15 scored two. Colby remained silent on the offensive end until the last seven minutes of the opening half when Mule Sara Miller scored off of a pass from Alex Mintz. Miller’s goal began a late-half Colby run, with the Mules scoring five unanswered goals to make the score 6-5 in favor of Middlebury going into the second half. Colby continued their run one minute into the second half, with Lindsey McKenna scoring off of a pass from Katharine Eddy to tie the game. Middlebury was able to stop the barrage with a goal from first-year Mary O’Connell ’17. After another Colby goal from McKenna tied the game at seven, Middlebury was able to gain some traction with goals from Katie Ritter and Megan Griffin ’16. This effort would not be enough, however, when Mule Sara Miller scored off of a free-position shot and started a four-goal scoring streak that left Colby up 11-9 with 2:18 left in the game. Though a goal from Middlebury’s Liza Herzog ‘14 with two minutes left in the game and a subsequent Middlebury possession gave the Panthers a chance with a minute remaining, they were unable to convert and Colby ran out the clock to win the game. “We started out strong which is something we’ve been trying to do all season, and we got the ball back when we were down at the end and they were stalling – two amazing accomplishments for us,” said senior defender Hannah Deoul ’14. Middlebury captain and goalkeeper Alyssa Palomba ’14 finished the day in goal with a save percentage of .352, stopping six of the 17 shots that Colby put on goal. The Panthers vastly improved their clearing game from their last meeting with Colby, successfully clearing 17 of 21 clears, including all 13 of their attempts in the first half. Middlebury was also outshot on the game by a slight margin of 24-21 and controlled 10 of 21 draws. Pascal and Ritter led the Panthers, finishing with five and four points respectively. Erin Benotti ’14, Herzog and Pascal each finished with three ground balls, helping the Panthers beat the Mules in the ground ball game by a score of 16-13. While Colby will travel to Hartford, Conn. to play Trinity in the NESCAC semifinals, the future of Middlebury’s season remains uncertain. With their conference tournament coming to a premature end in the quarterfinal round, the Panthers will have to wait for the NCAA committee’s at-large selections to see if their season will continue in the national tournament. The NCAA has taken four NESCAC teams each of the past several years, but the Panthers’ spot in that top four is far from assured after upset losses in two of their final three conference games. If they fail to make the top four, or if the committee decides to take only three teams from the conference, it would be the first time since 2010 that Middlebury has failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Ephs End Men’s Lax’s Disappointing Season

The Middlebury men’s lacrosse team suffered a 13-9 loss to Williams in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday, April 26. The loss to Williams was the second loss to the Ephs in four days for the Panthers, with the first coming on April 23 by a tight score of 9-7. With their early exit from the conference tournament, Middlebury sees their season draw to a disappointing close. In the first half of the game, Middlebury scored only one goal, which came from sophomore Tim Giarrusso ’16. In contrast to Middlebury’s lone goal, Williams compiled six goals during the first half. The Panthers were able to find shots in the half – matching Williams’ 11 shots by halftime – but struggled to score on Williams goalkeeper Dan Whittam, who recorded five saves in the opening period. To start out the third quarter, Middlebury got a boost from sophomores Jack Cleary ’16 and Jack Rautiola ’16, who both found the net to cut the Williams lead to three. The Ephs were able to answer, however, beating Panther goalkeeper Nate Gaudio ’14 for two goals of their own. Middlebury’s goal came in succession, a trend that has continued throughout their season. Even though they were able to put together a few runs that included multiple goals, the Panthers were not as effective in their ability to get the ball in the goal. The fourth quarter saw both team hitting their stride on the offensive end. Panther Jon Broome ’16 scored a man-up goal to trim the deficit to 9-5 before Williams responded with a pair of goals that stretched the lead back out to six. Chase Clymer ’15, Broome and Giarrusso put together a three-goal run for Middlebury in the game’s closing minutes, but it was too little too late for the Panthers, who fell by a final score of 13-9. “We played hard but not particularly well against Williams on Saturday at either end of the field,” said head coach Dave Campbell. “I certainly want to give a lot of credit to Williams for playing a great game as well.” Middlebury was unable to win the game despite a significant advantage on face-offs throughout the game, as specialist Harrison Goodkind ’16 won 16 of the 20 face-offs he participated in. The Panthers also picked up five more ground balls than the Ephs, and – though they were outshot by a slight margin – simply failed to take advantage of the scoring opportunities that they had throughout the game. The Ephs played a cleaner game in terms of turnovers, with 15 to Middlebury’s 21. While Gaudio held the Ephs at bay by recording eight saves, his Eph counterpart Whittam played to another level, stopping over half of Middlebury’s shots on goal. With the loss, the Panthers finish their season with an 8-8 overall mark that includes a 6-4 record in conference play. The early exit from postseason play stings a bit more harshly for Middlebury given their disappointing finish to the 2013 season, in which they tied for first in conference regular-season play only to see an upset loss to Wesleyan in the NESCAC semifinals keep them out of the NCAA tournament. “I’m very pleased with how our team progressed over the course of the season,” said Campbell. “It was certainly disappointing to have it end the way it did on Saturday, but I don’t want to lose sight of just how far we came since March.” The Panthers have now failed to qualify for the national tournament during each of the past three seasons, a considerable shortcoming for a program that captured three consecutive national championships from 2000 to 2002. There are thirteen seniors on the Middlebury team who will be graduating this year. The loss of Gaudio leaves a significant hole for the Panthers to fill given his tremendous success minding the net for much of the past three seasons. In addition, midfielder Stephen Seymour ’14 will be missed given the rapid development of his game over the course of this season.  Other seniors who have seen significant playing time this season include midfielders Chris Peterson ’14 and Brian Ayers ’14, and defenders Geoff Vrla ’14 and Darric White ’14. If their 2015 campaign will see the team return to the heights that they aspire to, the Panthers will rely heavily upon offensive stalwarts Jack Rautiola ’16 and Jon Broome ’16. Broome – last year’s NESCAC rookie of the year – has drawn the attention of opposing defenses all season and will merit consideration for the all-conference team.

Men's Golf Swings to 2nd in NESCAC Opener

The Middlebury golf teams traveled for their penultimate regular season tournaments, April 19 and 20, where the women took fifth place in the Jack Leaman Championship hosted by Amherst, and the men were the runners-up at the Williams Spring NESCAC Opener. The weather played a major role in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Last Tuesday’s snowstorm prevented a full week of practice for both teams. Additionally, Taconic golf club amended three holes for the men’s tournament, using temporary greens with buckets for cups. At Amherst, the women shot 331 on Saturday and 324 on Sunday to finish in fifth place overall. Ithaca College and Williams both finished the weekend atop the team leaderboard with a score of 644. Merrimack College (649) and Amherst (650) were third and fourth, respectively. The Panthers were able to improve against NYU and Cortland, two teams that bested them last weekend in Poughkeepsie, NY, finishing 14 strokes clear of NYU and 23 strokes ahead of Cortland. Jordan Glatt ’15 was again Middlebury’s low-scoring player for the weekend, birdieing three of the last five holes to card an 81 on Saturday, and shooting a 79 on day two for a weekend score of 160, tied for sixth in the field. She finished eleven strokes behind the leader Georgiana Salant of Williams, who won the event by a comfortable four strokes. Monica Chow ’16 also had a strong weekend, firing off two consecutive rounds of 81 and finishing tied for 14th. Theodora Yoch ’17 finished tied for 16th one stroke behind Chow after shooting 84 and 79 over the weekend. Rounding out the competing Panthers were capitan Caroline Kenter ’14 (89-85) and Michelle Peng ’15 (85-89) who both finished tied for 36th. Kenter was quick to praise her teammates performance this weekend. “My game isn’t where I wanted it to be this spring, but my teammates have really picked up the slack,” said Kenter. “[Theodora Yoch ’17] has played really well over the last two weeks. It’s exciting to see a freshman with so much skill and potential.” Next week, April 26 and 27, the women will wrap up regular season play by traveling to Williams for the final tournament before a potential NCAA appearance. “As a team, we have ‘team goals’ for every tournament which all five of us try to achieve,” said Yoch. “Next weekend will be our last tournament for the season. Ideally, all of us will play our best, which will let us end things on a good note.” The men’s golf team was in action on the Taconic Golf Club Championship Course in Williamstown, Mass over the weekend. On Saturday, Middlebury shot a combined 307, but for the second weekend in a row dropped 13 strokes off the team total on Sunday to move up to second place behind Williams College. Middlebury was in third place after day one and within striking distance of the Ephs, but the Williams golfers also improved on Sunday to shoot 293 – one better than the Panthers – and extend their lead to eight strokes. The Williams ‘B’ team matched Middlebury’s day two total to move into a tie for third with Hamilton. “We have always been a second day team for some seasons,” said co-Captain Rob Donahoe ’14. “I don’t necessarily change things after day one, but just tweak a couple things and try to play smarter. Knowing the course so well for this weekend should help us to be prepared to shoot a low first round because there won’t be any surprises.” Individually, Greg Palmer of Trinity ran away with the weekend’s tournament with an even-par 142, five strokes ahead of the second-place men. Donahoe returned to the top spot on the team with rounds of 76 and 72, giving him a weekend score of six over par, and a tie for fourth place. Charlie Garcia ’15 notched his second consecutive top ten finish with rounds of 77 and 76. Eric Laorr ’15 and co-Captain Max Alley ’14 both shot consecutive rounds of 77 and tied for 14th place. Fitz Bowen ’17 shot 81 on day one, but managed to take advantage of day two with a score of 74 to move up to one shot behind Laorr and Alley into a tie for 17th. John Louie ’15 recovered from an uncharacteristic 87 on Saturday with a one-over 72 on Sunday to finish alone in 26th place. Next weekend, the men’s team will host Trinity, Amherst and Williams for the NESCAC championships at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course. The opening round will be played on Friday, April 25, with the conference champion being crowned after Saturday’s second round. The winning team will represent the conference at the Division III national championship in North Carolina. Middlebury will look to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years, having won the conference crown in 2012. “We’ll all be more familiar with the course and that much more comfortable out there so I expect the team to come out hot on day one and put ourselves in a better position for the final round,” said Alley.

Baseball Falls to New Low with Weekend Sweep

The Amherst Lord Jeffs prevailed over the Middlebury Panthers in a three-game series sweep this weekend at Forbes Field. The double-header on Friday, April 18 featured a 3-0 shutout win for Amherst and a 2-1 thriller that Amherst snatched in the tenth inning. Saturday’s contest slipped away from Middlebury and Amherst clubbed its way to an 11-3 win. Despite the losses, Alex Kelly ’14 (6-13, two runs, RBI), Max Araya ’16 (3-8, 2 RBI, 2 BB, HBP) and Joe MacDonald ’16 (3-10, RBI) swung proficiently at the plate and hurlers Eric Truss ’15 and Cooper Byrne ’15 threw heat from the hill. In the first game, the Panthers outhit the Lord Jeffs 9-4 but missed key opportunities to knock runners home. Middlebury was able to load the bases in the second and third innings, but undefeated Amherst slinger Dylan Driscoll wriggled out of the early trouble. Wild pitches and throwing errors in the second and fifth inning led directly to all three runs for Amherst, but otherwise the defense was tight. In the sixth inning, Garrett Werner ’16 bunted for a single and Matt Leach ’15 singled to right, but from that point on the offense puttered. At the end of the day, Middlebury would leave 12 runners on base but could bring none all the way around. “We have been working on becoming a complete team,” Coach Bob Smith said. “Our defense is playing well now, and giving us a chance to win games if we can just score some runs.” To improve the offense, Coach Smith wants smart situational hitting. “Our emphasis this week will be on hitting, of course, and doing the basic things right like bunting people over and scoring people from third base when there are less than two outs.” Hungry for revenge in the second game, Truss and the Panthers kept the Lord Jeffs knotted 0-0 until the fifth inning. An unfortunate bobble gave Amherst a sudden baserunner, who would eventually score on a two-out zinger down the right field line. In the bottom of the seventh, Jason Lock ’17 legged out a leadoff double, then moved to third base on a bunt play. Lock scurried home on a wild pitch to tie the score. The tenth-inning heroics ultimately belonged to Amherst, whose Tyler Jacobs lifted a ball over the leftfield fence for the deciding home run. On Saturday, the weather warmed up but so did the Amherst bats, buoyed by an outgoing wind. Taiki Kasuga of Amherst stepped up with the bases loaded and pinged a ball three-hundred and ninety feet to the centerfield fence that scored three, capping a five-run second inning. Kelly was 4-4 at the plate for Middlebury, scoring two runs with his own legs and knocking one more home with an RBI double. “Kelly has been awesome. He comes every day ready to play and I respect him a lot for that,” Smith said. “He puts a lot of the burden on his shoulders, and it is tough for him, but he has kept us in a lot of games.” This Saturday, April 26, the Panthers will welcome fans to Forbes field for another double-header against Trinity College, followed by a doubleheader with Castleston St. on the road on Sunday. Middlebury also has a handful of weekday games next week, playing back-to-back doubleheaders on Tuesday, April 29 at Skidmore and Wednesday, April 30 at Plymouth St. “We’ve made drastic improvements over the season and a lot of our more recent games could have gone either way with more timely hitting,” Byrne said. “I think we have many reasons to be confident going into next season if we can take some games over these next two weeks against good teams and prove to ourselves that we can do much better going forward.”

Debate Team Competes at Nationals

The College’s Debate Team competed at the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) National Championship last weekend at the University of Pennsylvania. The tournament showcased more than 70 of the best debate teams from around the country competing in six rounds of debate over three days. While the team had a strong showing for their first appearance at the national tournament, they did not advance to the final round. The APDA, started in the early 1980s, is an intercollegiate, student-run debate system that is unique in debate because it is not centered on preparing evidence. Instead, debaters are required to possess a wide breadth of knowledge, as they could be asked to argue about nearly any issue, ranging from political and economic to religious or philosophical. In order to qualify for the National Championship, teams were judged on performance throughout the year, and had to accumulate a certain amount of points by the end of the season. The Middlebury team entered the tournament ranked 20th nationally against larger institutions. Going into the weekend, Billy Prince ’14, the team’s captain, noted that Middlebury “doesn’t have one specific ‘rival’, but we aren’t very fond of Yale.” The weekend competition was a good opportunity for the team to get exposure and experience on a bigger stage in debates against the best competitors in the nation. Elizabeth Lee ’17, who travelled on the team to Pennsylvania, pointed out what a great opportunity Nationals was for Middlebury’s team, especially some of the younger members. Going into the competition, she said “There will be a lot of good competition, and I think I’ll learn a lot.” The College’s debate program is small, but under the guidance of a new coach, Keith Barry (Brandeis University, ’13), and a rigorous practice schedule, the team enjoyed an especially strong year. Barry competed throughout his college career for Brandeis, and during his time there, he was part of the highest ranked debate team in the nation. Prince cited a new practice regimen as one of the main sources of the team’s success. “We’ve been practicing significantly more often and more effectively than at any point in the past,” he said. Barry has been judging practice rounds to simulate competition and has assisted in editing cases. The team has changed the way they prepare for tournaments by videotaping and critiquing both practices and tournaments. This year’s debating season has sent Middlebury debaters all over the world, from the World Universities Debating Championships in Chennai, India, to competitions at Oxford and Cambridge. Some significant accomplishments for the growing program have included a team’s participation in the final round of a tournament, and frequent competition by Middlebury debaters in the selective “out-rounds,” competition excluded to the top ten percent of the field. Nate Rifkin ’15 has proven himself one of the team’s best debaters, moving up in individual national rankings and winning several individual awards this season. According to Lee, the first year participant at the National Championship, the members of the team have contributed greatly to its success. “I think each person brings something really unique.” Prince agreed, noting that a key to their collective success is playing up all of their individual strengths. “We leverage our individual strengths by putting together talks on topics we are familiar with.” The team divides and conquers – each member will put together a talk on something they are specialized in, and then brief the rest of the team so they can all debate on the topic. “For example,” Prince said, “my personal strength is finance, so I would put together a talk to get the team up-to-date on the European debt crisis, and that way [the rest of the team] can leverage that knowledge.” While the group takes competing seriously, there is more to a successful team than pure brainpower. According to some of the debaters, team dynamics have played a significant role in success. Lee said that the team is what really makes the effort worthwhile. “Each person brings something fun to the team, which makes the weekends off campus and at debate tournaments worth it. We are super collaborative and often work together to write cases, come up with smart arguments, and build a strong community.”

Guerrilla Girls Bring Radical Message

As Museum curator Emmie Donadio began her introduction to the talk given by Frida Kahlo in the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts last Thursday, she amended the cursory warning to turn off cell phones with the consolation, “There’s a good chance you won’t be able to hear them anyway.” While her remark was received with amusement in the audience, it also seemed to make sense. After all, we had spent the time after filing into the dance theater jamming to throwback pop songs and looking at a collage of women in ferocious gorilla masks. Frida Kahlo is one of the founding members of the Guerrilla Girls, the anonymous collective that took the art world by storm in the ‘80s with its brash, statistics- and sarcasm-laden posters demanding an end to sexism and discrimination. It was something of a surprise, then, when Frida Kahlo took the stage. Dressed all in black, from low boots to ever-present gorilla mask, Kahlo was soft-spoken, almost quiet. This mildness, of course, did not translate to content of her lecture. Beginning with a series of sexist quotes from luminaries such as Pythagoras, Martin Luther, and Renoir and ending with the advice to “Use the f-word – feminism,” Kahlo’s talk was delivered in the same pithy, humor-laded style as the Guerrilla Girls’ posters. Particularly amusing was her discussion of the Guerrilla Girls’ upcoming book The Hysterical Herstory of Hysteria and How It Was Cured; the book explores the historical pathologizing of female sexuality. The bulk of Kahlo’s presentation was dedicated to a survey of the Guerrilla Girls’ history, explaining the way in which their tactics and message have shifted as the group gained first an audience and then acceptance in the broader art community.  Over time, their posters have moved from being wheat pasted to the streets around museums to being framed within them. While admitting that it’s a “thrill to criticize an institution on its own walls,” Kahlo nonetheless acknowledged that maintaining resistance while working within a system can be a challenge. “What do you do,” she asked, “when the system you’ve spent your entire life attacking suddenly embraces you?” This is a particularly salient question to have asked at the College. There is something seemingly incongruous about seeing the Guerrilla Girls’ inflammatory posters tidily framed and hanging on the quiet gray-green walls of the college museum. Nonetheless, Guerrilla Girls: Art In Action is consonant with other ongoing efforts by the museum to call into question both what kinds of art are suitable for Middlebury audiences as well as how art is defined more generally. “Knowing that an exhibition of performance art was coming to the museum this spring and that the Performance exhibition would be concurrent to some extent with the Guerrilla Girls’ show – and also that next spring we would be presenting an exhibition of work by graffiti or street artists,” Assistant Director and Chief Curator Emmie Donadio said. “I wanted … to explore the broader parameters of 20th century and contemporary art practice.” This question was explored in great detail by the course “Art, Performance and Activism,” taught last J-term by Donadio. The twelve members of the class worked over the month to whittle down the 82 pieces in the Guerrilla Girls’ Compleat Portfolio: 1985-2008 to the 13 posters and ephemera pieces that appear in the exhibition. While revolving around the Guerrilla Girls, the course also worked to thoroughly contextualize their work. “[The course] was designed to some extent to survey the topic of object-less art,” Donadio said. “That means art as a form of activity rather than a means of producing objects.” In pursuit of this goal, students researched and presented on topics ranging from Dada to the Judson Memorial Church to the NEA 4. The course and exhibit were also strongly influenced by an exploration of the 1970s feminist movement, particularly within the art world. “Linda Hershman Leeson’s  video !WAR (Women-Art-Revolution), which we watched in class, turned out to be one of the best ‘finds’ for an introduction to the Guerrilla Girls in the context of feminist art action of the last half-century,” Donadio said. A theme that emerged strongly from both of these sources – object art and feminism – was the importance of collaboration. While the intrusion of the spring semester made on-going collective work on the exhibit difficult, the class nonetheless strove to make sure that each member’s voice would be present in it’s final form. “Each student did research on one of the selected posters and wrote a wall text to accompany it,” Donadio said. “The idea was to present each work in its particular historical context.” Each student also created a visual response to their piece; these were then compiled, along with background information on the Guerrilla Girls, into a zine that accompanies the exhibit. The importance of collaboration was also recognized as extending beyond the efforts of the class. “We had a lot of ideas for interactive features for the exhibition,” Donadio said. “All of the students seemed eager to engage the public and invite them to comment.” Hopefully Kahlo’s talk last Thursday has helped to kick-start this conversation. Those involved with the exhibit emphasized that the issues of sexism and discrimination addressed in the Guerrilla Girls’ work are very much ongoing. “It’s exhausting to look at art prices for male artists and female artists today,” Maisie Ogata ’14 said. “Shouldn’t we help demonstrate to the viewer that we have not reached full equality between male and female artists?” As Kahlo emphasized near the end of her talk, the Guerrilla Girls are not the only voices capable of criticizing the status quo. “People who want to do work like this don’t need us,” she remarked, putting the ball squarely in our court.