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(03/05/03 12:00am)
Author: Pete Faroni Vermont, home to several prominent civil and political advocacy groups, is also the home of Ecologists Linked for Organizing Grassroots Initiatives and Action (ECOLOGIA), an international environmental organization based in Middlebury. The Middlebury Campus recently caught up with Carolyn Schmidt, co-founder and Board Secretary of ECOLOGIA.In the ECOLOGIA office, a poster hangs on the door that bears a saying of Eugene Debs: "While there is a lower class, I am in it." ECOLOGIA works to help this lower class and create a global civil society through its grassroots initiatives. "You can't just look at yourself as removed from the struggles of the world," Schmidt remarked.The Campus: How did ECOLOGIA get started?ECOLOGIA: ECOLOGIA was started in 1989, by my husband Randy Kritkausky and me, as a response to going to the Soviet Union. [It was] coming out of the Cold War times and seeing everything opening up, finding so many points of connection and feeling that there had been many barriers between people: fear, distrust and xenophobia. It's very exciting to think that you're in a position, despite historical chance, to bridge over some of those gaps. So we connected with people from the Soviet Union on a lot of different dimensions, especially on environmental concerns. We were involved with our own environmental issues in northeastern Pennsylvania-(where we lived at the time)-and the people of the Soviet Union had horrendous environmental problems. A lot of the problems were related to the fact that, being in a centralized system, local people had no say in what environmental degradation was done to their land. So one thing led to another, and we ended up forming a non-governmental organization (NGO), ECOLOGIA.The Campus: Is there any relationship between Middlebury College and ECOLOGIA?ECOLOGIA: The Middlebury connection comes in through our daughter, Laurel Kritkausky '99, who was 12 when we went to the Soviet Union for the first time. It was a life-changing experience for all three of us. She ended up going to Middlebury, and after she graduated, she worked for us for four years. She was the director of the Nuclear Communities in Transition Program. She just recently resigned, wanting to do something else after having put four years into this intensive work, mainly in Russia.The Campus: Is your daughter's attendance at the College the reason that your organization is now based out of Middlebury?ECOLOGIA: In the year 2000, we moved ourselves and ECOLOGIA's U.S. headquarters from northeastern Pennsylvania to Middlebury. This decision was certainly influenced by the fact that when we came up to visit our daughter, we began to appreciate more and more the human resources, the culture and the politics of Vermont and the Champlain Valley. The idea of living and working in a personally and professionally supportive climate was very appealing. The Campus: Is having the College in your backyard been an asset in your work?ECOLOGIA: There's a whole appreciation and incorporation of diversity in Vermont, and we feel that, for a lot of reasons, it's not just supportive for us, but it's also a wonderful area to bring international visitors. There's a whole supportive network of students, professors, staff -- the whole institutional orientation of Middlebury as a liberal arts college with an international focus is a terrific source of a lot of support. We have enjoyed getting to know and working with a lot of different people at Middlebury. In particular, Professors David Rosenberg and John Isham, and organizations such as the Rohatyn Center -- they've been very interested to work with us, interested in what we have and in what we're doing, [which is] real-world, grounded roots action. The Campus: How has ECOLOGIA gotten involved with environmental work in other countries?ECOLOGIA: A government is composed of people. We work on a variety of levels internationally, but we do as much as we can to link them. We work to locate individual projects done by community groups in the fields of environment and sustainable development. We have a real world connection with small-scale community groups; they want money so they can buy shovels so they can plant trees. In order to get the project done, people in local government and business leaders work together with them. This has a long-term effect of showing cooperation, but also showing the government that citizen groups can be involved, and that they have a lot to offer. This will open the government officials to more cooperation with citizens group in the future. It will also give the citizens more confidence to get involved.One of the first things we did was to buy a hand-held radiation detector. A lot of the stuff that we took into the Soviet Union on our trips at that time we took in illegally because it was illegal for people to have anything of their own. You couldn't even have your own pH kits. It was illegal to have anything that would let you know about your environment-that was only for the government. Therefore, getting to citizens equipment they could use to find out about their environment was a revolutionary thing. That is what we started doing. With the hand-held radiation detector, the person who got it was able to walk around the nuclear power plant in his country and document evidence, which was used to get other scientists and the workers in the factory to realize that they had a problem and had to look into it to see what they could do to fix it. ECOLOGIA, as an environmental organization, being committed to sustainable development and the future of the planet, strongly encourages everyone everywhere to look into sustainable development for power, both solar power and wind power, not just jump in to supporting nuclear power.The Campus: Has there been any involvement on behalf of ECOLOGIA in seeking international environmental standards?ECOLOGIA: At a top international policy level, we are working on the creation of global greenhouse gas standards for factories to be in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. In many countries this is more of an issue than it is for American companies, in the short run at least. We have two staff members who travel literally all over the world to International Standards Organization (ISO) meetings. Decisions about these standards are made and there is a lot of political involvement. In the ISO, we actually co-chair one committee. You are there, you have a voice and you have a protected legal status.The one main thing that we are focusing on, whatever standards are chosen, is having information available to the public. Who is making sure that you are doing what you say you're doing? It becomes a very complicated process. The ISO's process is industry driven. My main concern is that it not be done behind closed doors.The Campus: With consideration of our country's unique position, has there been any benefit to working on international environmental issues from an American perspective?ECOLOGIA: There is a certain amount of power for people from other countries to come here and to see so much good, particularly the American approach of: "Here's a problem. Lets fix it." It's a really positive, high-morale approach to solving problems, rather than collapsing in despair and frustration. We have had very good experiences with exchange groups -- people can come to the United States and see how we interact with each other and see how citizens relate to government officials. It's the kind of thing that you can talk and talk about, but when someone comes to see it, it is eye-opening.The Campus: To what extent do politics and, in particular, political differences, influence ECOLOGIA's action in other countries?ECOLOGIA: We are primarily an environmental organization -- that was our first real point of connection and it's a wonderful point of connection, especially when working with people in authoritarian countries. We are not coming in and saying "We're promoting human rights. We're promoting dem
ocracy." Rather, we're working together on common problems. If the other things come in as a byproduct of the openness and the opportunities to travel and work with people in their own societies, that's terrific, but our focus is primarily environmental. Regardless of the idiocies of anybody's government you just have to say the key thing, the human thing, which is to connect with other people. However, because of those boundaries you have to make an extra effort. As a human, you see incredible oppression and people living in tremendous fear and with tremendous courage and you respond as a human. As Americans we have a lot more freedom of choice, a lot more optimism about the world we grew up in, and a lot more financial resources. The first thing you ask is, "What can we do as individuals?" So it comes from the citizens -- it's grassroots, as opposed to starting from the government -- and I still feel that it's a very powerful approach that the world needs a lot more of.
(03/05/03 12:00am)
Author: Christian Holt I want to get a haircut. For men, getting a haircut is like robbing a bank: get in, get out, as little blood as possible. For girls like my sister, it's a bi-weekly life-changing event. They ask each other, "Should I keep it up, or down? Should I get streaks? Should I get a 'Hillary Clinton'?" They then seek answers to these questions from mothers, girlfriends and, of course, Cosmo. They don't want a guy's opinion, because let's face it, we suck at this stuff. We don't look at the hair, so you could have a venomous koala up there and we would be none the wiser. So asking my sister whether or not I should get a haircut was a bad idea. She told me that women think that long hair is a sign of sensitivity and sexiness. I'm sorry, ladies, but I just have to stay true to myself. I am neither of those things. I'm a humorist, dang nab it, not Brad "I excrete my own form of kitchen grease" Pitt. So don't expect me to be sexually appealing or capable to pull off the "vacant" look. If you want a humor writer with long hair, go check out Dave Barry. He looks like a drunken Edward Scissorhands cut his mop.My sister also told me that upturned collared shirts are really "hip" now. I never understood how a part of the body could be acquainted with coolness. Let's see what would happen if we replaced the word "hip" with some other parts of the anatomy: "Hey Joe, you look real gallbladder in that shirt!" "Janet, that dress is positively armpit!" And, in my opinion, every guy with an upturned collar looks real sphincter.To some women, nothing says "I'm a wild man," like a polo shirt with its collar turned up. Apparently, we have nothing here at Middlebury but "wild men." But wait, maybe I'm being too hasty. Citizens of the Arctic (a tropical climate compared to Vermont) have hairy chests to serve as insulation against the cold, so maybe my sister has a point. Long hair could be practical during this glacial winter.But I own a jacket, so I asked her why I should bother with the long hair. I explained to her that long hair is just so much harder to maintain. I would actually have to make a concerted effort while showering in the morning. Right now, like most guys, I usually don't wake up focused enough to complete the complicated lather, rinse, repeat. I go in there, pour on the shampoo, body soap, toothpaste and aftershave. Every morning, I smell so tingly fresh that I sweat mouthwash. But with the long hair, the aftershave may get caught in the mess and I may lose a shampoo bottle up there or something. I don't want to even think about combing that rat's nest. My sister told me that I was disgusting, and that girls have enough focus to wash their hair everyday. This is true, but if they are anything like my sister it takes them several hours to complete the process. A girl's morning bathroom ritual could only be timed on a sundial. A guy's cleaning routine, on the other hand, takes approximately 2.4 to 3 minutes tops. Any longer, and the guy will get slapped with a wet towel, and farted on by other guys on the hall. It's a law.To finish: I'm getting a haircut. It's not going to be "hip" or "cool" or even "sexy." But with it short, I don't run the risk of it being mistaken for a mullet. That's a risk no man would want to run.
(02/26/03 12:00am)
Author: Jonathan White In Defense of DiversityThe College's defense of race as a factor in admissions, witnessed in the brief it filed over the current Supreme Court debate over admissions at the University of Michigan, reaffirms Middlebury's commitment to maintaining and encouraging diversity. Ethnic diversity has created the College community we inhabit today and must remain in place. Without considering race, the College's student body would be remarkably more homogenous, creating a limited learning environment for students of all races. In 1978 in the case of Bakke v. The University of California at Davis, the late Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell stated: "The goal of achieving a diverse student body is sufficiently compelling to justify consideration of race...under some circumstances." The court could proceed with a total denial of race as a factor in college admissions, a stance backed by the Bush administration and one that reverses its 1978 ruling. It could uphold the University of Michigan's policies or it could say that the university's criteria for judging candidates in regard to race must be modified. Though Middlebury is a private school, a sweeping decision against affirmative action could unravel the College's laudable efforts to bring diversity to this rural Vermont campus. As such, Old Chapel's foray into this national debate is a well-received effort to preserve a level of diversity on campus, which albeit not ideal, is nonetheless commendable. Selling the Clean Power Act For Students, VermontersIn his visit to Middlebury College last week, Sen. Jim Jeffords made indirect references to legislation he has introduced to protect air quality in Vermont. The senator introduced the Clean Power Act last spring as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Jeffords' legislation provides leadership on two environmental fronts. It limits sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions from power plants. Additionally, as an alternative to the Bush administration's Clear Skies Initiative, it regulates carbon dioxide emissions.We were disappointed that Jeffords did not present to the Middlebury community the details of his legislation. Students here exalt in the scenic vistas of the Green Mountain State, views too-often diluted on warm days by haze. Eliminating nitrogen and sulfur dioxide emissions, along with mercury is a step towards cleaner air and healthier lungs for students and Vermont residents. The Clean Power Act is relatively unknown to the public. Jeffords should use public appearances, such as that at Mead Chapel last Wednesday, to champion his legislation. We realize that Wednesday's session was an informal question and answer session, but often Jeffords was indirect. He never fully alluded to the specifics of his environmental agenda. Though Jeffords has lost his post on the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Clean Power Act stands a chance in Congress. Jeffords did mention that a handful of moderate Republicans could help propel this legislation. The preservation of the College's pristine surroundings begs action on the Clean Power Act. Not merely is our air in peril, but more dramatic ecological changes in Vermont may come should carbon dioxide go unregulated. Jeffords is leading, but leading requires a vociferous call the for the public to rally behind his ambitious proposal. Ultimately, while we encourage Jeffords' efforts to clean Vermont's air, we hope that Congress finally embraces the call to act on climate change.
(02/26/03 12:00am)
Author: Kelsey Rinehart Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) addressed a large crowd in Mead Chapel last Wednesday in a panel discussion with Middlebury College Student Government Association President Ginny Hunt '03 and Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies Chris Klyza. Jeffords strode in, grinning and waving enthusiastically to the students, faculty and area residents that had packed into Mead Chapel to see him. He received glowing introductions from John Morgenstern '03, who was instrumental in getting Jeffords to come to Middlebury, Faculty Head of Cook Commons and Professor of Italian Patti Zupan and President John McCardell.Jeffords' first words were, "Thank you, Mr. President. It's the first time I've said that in a long time." The crowd erupted in laughter and applause. In an informal conversation addressed to the Middlebury College community, Jeffords spoke about his new autobiography, "An Independent Man," covering topics ranging from global climate change to education to war with Iraq. He then responded to the audience in a question and answer session moderated by Professor of Political Science David Rosenberg.In response to Hunt's question regarding how the daily tests on his values have shaped his political career, Jeffords remarked, "I have always tried to make sure that I listen to people, that I understand what the needs are, and also go out and talk to the people." In response to another question, he mused about the political atmosphere in the South, noting, "The conservative nature of the population in the South leads it to different conclusions on funding of education, in particular."Education was a topic on which Jeffords expressed strong feelings. "I spent years doing what I could by traveling all over this nation, visiting the schools. The systems that we have are far from what we could have. That's the problem with this nation. The Republicans, unfortunately, have a strong feeling that the federal government should not be involved in local education, and they just feel that the states should be able to do that. What I found is that we had to really involve ourselves in improving education," he stressed. On the issue of the Individuals with Disabilities Act, Jeffords said, "I was the ranking member on a subcommittee that dealt with the problems with disabilities, and it was an opportunity for us to understand the horrors of the nation at that time with young people that had disabilities. It was terrible. We said the federal government should provide 40 percent of the funds for the local schools. It's somewhere around 14 percent now. This is horrible. This is the constitutional right of these children to have a free and appropriate education. We have to keep fighting."In his new book, Jeffords reflects on his journey to the nation's capital and his experiences there, relating the crucial lessons he has learned along the way. Born in Rutland in 1934, James Merrill Jeffords went to Rutland public schools, received his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1956 and served three years of active duty with the U.S. Navy before receiving his degree from Harvard Law School in 1962. Among other achievements, Jeffords tested for his black belt in tae kwon do, hardly flinching while he broke the two-inch boards. He resides in Shrewsbury, Vt., with his wife Elizabeth, and has two children, Leonard and Laura. In response to a question posed by Klyza, Jeffords related the strain that his life in politics has placed on his personal life. "It's a very pressured situation. Liz and I made a commitment that no matter what happened, the children would be held as free from that type of pressure as they could be, and that worked pretty well. We had our problems, but we never really were separated. We always had the common enemy -- the kids," he said, causing peals of laughter to resonate in Mead Chapel.The son of Olin M. Jeffords, former Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, Jim Jeffords grew up amid a political atmosphere. "I came from a political family, but not in the traditional sense," Jeffords commented in an interview with The Middlebury Campus. Two noteworthy Vermonters attracted Jeffords to a career in public service. "Ernest Gibson and Leonard Wing -- they were an inspiration to me. I followed their leadership," he said. Gibson made history when he interrupted 80 years of dominating leadership by the Proctor family after being elected Governor of Vermont in 1946. Wing was the celebrated commander of the 43rd Infantry Division in World War II.Since 1966, when the 32-year-old Republican began his career in politics as a state senator from the Rutland district, Jeffords served Vermont as its sole Congressmen for seven terms, from 1975 to 1988, and is currently serving his third term as a senator. Jeffords introduced the federal bottle deposit law and was praised for his "Education for All Handicapped Children" bill during his first term. He went on to catch the public's attention when he moved out of his apartment and into his office, and when he was the only Republican in the House of Representatives to oppose President Reagan's three-year tax cut plan.As a senator, Jeffords immediately voiced his concern over the potentially decimating problem of climate change, calling on U.S. lawmakers to take up the cause of the global environmental movement. In his discussion at Middlebury College, Jeffords said, "We're going to be able to put carbon dioxide into the program, which will bring us into concordance with the Kyoto treaty. There are enough moderate Republicans that are concerned about the environment that we're going to be able to get some good legislation through this year." When asked whether he thought Bush would sign such a bill, Jeffords said, "I don't know. If the public pressure was there. If the public around the country says, 'Hey, we're tired of dying prematurely and how about giving us a chance?' and he would listen to them, then he might sign it." On the local level, Jeffords is known for introducing the bill that keeps Vermont vistas clear of highway billboards. He has become known as an outspoken critic of the environmental policy in all areas.After his first election to office as a Republican, Jeffords gradually moved away from the conservative standpoint, often voicing his opposition to his party's bills. In 1991, Jeffords announced that he would vote against Clarence Thomas' appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice and voted in favor of a five-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns. The next year, Jeffords chose to visit Yugoslavia on an information-gathering trip rather than attend the Republican National Convention. In 1999, the senator announced that he would vote against President Clinton's impeachment.The division between Jeffords and his party came to a head on May 25, 2001, when he abruptly announced that he was leaving the Republican party to be an Independent, to the delight of many and the dismay of others. The select few that witnessed the historic moment wildly chanted, "Thank you, Jim! Thank you, Jim!" and applauded throughout his speech, while others, such as Vermont Republican Chairman Patrick Garahan, expressed opposing sentiments. "He really hurt Bush more than anything. Maybe that's what Senator Jeffords intended to do," he said. At Middlebury, Jeffords commented, "When I made that switch, all over the world, people began to send me things. They're just scared of this nation, what we're going to do to the environment, and scared of what we're going to do now in war, and that's one of the reasons I feel that we have to have a change." Jeffords did not elaborate on this point, much to the dismay of the crowd.Among the disappointed was Mary Kerr, who said she knew Jeffords well after living in Vermont with her husband Joseph for the past 40 years. She came to Middlebury, joined by many others with similar desires, to find out how the senator felt about the situation in Iraq, and what the Congress was doing about it. "I was ready to hear a man who
would speak his mind, other than in reference to his book," Kerr said. She cited a question in which a student referred to Iraq and the role of a seemingly 'silent' congress, saying, "I felt that the senator didn't answer those questions directly. I was disappointed that he didn't really express where he stood in all this." At the book signing, others expressed similar sentiments of frustration. "What about the "silent" Congress?" exclaimed the parent of a prospective student.Despite these criticisms, Jeffords received an enthusiastic standing ovation and signed countless books after the talk. Jeffords commented, "I think one of the value-supporting systems is the college system. I remember, in my days at college, the classes I took and the inspiring people that helped me mold the thoughts I wanted to guide my life by." He stated, "Let me assure you, there are a lot of problems out there right now, so I look forward to doing the best I can to try to solve those problems."
(02/19/03 12:00am)
Author: Jonathan White Renewing a Delicate, But Necessary ConversationNews of sexual assault on campus demands a revival of last year's discussion concerning sexual assault policy. Are victims finding the appropriate support mechanisms and is there an infrastructure in place in which they are comfortable reporting an assault? If not, then the College should create a rape crisis center, open 24 hours a day, that can provide immediate medical assistance and confidential support. Yet addressing the needs of victims is just one step. If there is to be a dialogue, then the subject of rape and date rape, all-too-real concerns on college campuses, must no longer be treated as taboo. Forums and discussions must take place. What constitutes a rape in an environment where sex, alcohol and youth conspire in an often-casual manner to produce poor judgments? If a discussion is to be launched, then victims must feel confident in reporting their cases, seeking confidential counseling, but also, somehow, feel empowered to take steps to actively prevent a similar situation from befalling others. An audience beyond FAM should take up the problem of date rape, and the alcohol and drug consumption that sometimes complicates the issue. An impasse remains until proactive steps are taken by all members of the community to talk about this delicate issue. If this means tackling first the culture behind the problem, the lack of resources for victims, College policy or the blurry line between rape and poor judgment, then let the discussion begin so that these acts might one day stop. If we are concerned about these hideous acts, then we will no longer shroud them in a climate of silence where victims are scared to report their stories. The War Is Only Half the BattleLast weekend's worldwide protests demonstrated that goodwill towards America has undergone an alarming reversal. A mere 17 months ago, the world mourned with the United States over the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001. Yet now America and President Bush have become public enemy number one in the eyes of millions.While confronting Iraq may be the next logical step in the war on terror, this war is already being lost if the estimation of the United States has fallen to all-time lows. Millions marched on Rome and Madrid. London recorded the largest protests ever. Middlebury College students studying in Europe are being informed that anti-Americanism is at an all-time high and are urged to exercise caution. President Bush cannot allow Saddam Hussein to emerge as a martyr in the eyes of a new generation of anti-American zealots in the Middle East. Nor should Bush lose the card of righteousness in defending the free world from international terrorism. That he has represents a clear failure of diplomacy, if not a disregard for the concerns of the international community. By failing to win a clear consensus in the nation and abroad on the merits of proceeding with the war on terror, Bush risks the cultivation of a deeper anti-Americanism not merely in the Middle East, but also in Europe and Asia. This will be detrimental in the long run to fighting the ideological roots of terrorism. That Bush is villainized in the streets by the millions should be cause for caution. Its time for the White House to re-examine its approach, yet on Tuesday the President said that protestors would not change his mind. Diplomacy should not be abandoned as a gesture that the United States understands that fighting terrorism requires worldwide cooperation. Moreover, a vigorous campaign to improve the perception of the United States in the Middle East, perhaps in Europe and Asia too, are steps in the war on terror that should not be overlooked in a rush towards military engagement in Iraq.
(02/19/03 12:00am)
Author: Laura Rockefeller On Friday, Feb. 14, Anne Bogart, one of the most influential directors in contemporary American theater, spoke to a packed audience in Wright Memorial Theater. She has become well-known through the work that she and Tadashi Suzuki have done with the SITI Company, which they founded in 1992, and for the work that she has done with the Viewpoints theory of acting.Bogart admitted at the start of her talk that her lecture's title, "Six Things I Know for Sure About Being a Director in the American Theatre," was slightly misleading because, "the assumption that you know what you're doing will kill what you're doing." In her discussion of the role of an artist in contemporary society, Bogart placed the most emphasis on the ability to listen and to be ready to react and adapt to change.In presenting the first of her six things -- "recognize, articulate, violate and transcend inherited assumptions" -- Bogart stressed this idea that an actor must always continue to question. She explained that there are three assumptions that she considers extremely detrimental to American Theater: the word "want," the misunderstanding of Stanislavski that American actors have inherited and the all-too-prevalent idea that when an actor finishes school, he or she has finished learning. She encouraged the actors in her audience not to take the easy way out by simply asking their director, "What do you want?" but rather to "get deeply involved in what you're doing." She commented that after listening to the Security Council Reports on Iraq on the radio that morning, she had become increasingly aware of the need for people to express themselves and to articulate their ideas and feelings. As she said, "The business of theater is the business of articulation."The example that Bogart gave to support her second point, "Consider context," seemed to resonate with her whole audience. She explained, "I am now looking at the world through the lens of potential war." Bogart claimed that the effect of a single production can be drastically altered by the context from which its audience comes. She commented that, when directing a production, she asks herself, "Who is there, and what is the audience bringing with them?" She explained, "I have to consider the world we are turning into" and how that will effect people's perceptions of her work.While being mindful of the audience, Bogart explained that directors and actors also have to "choose high stakes." She pointed out that in theater, "one must attempt something, or else the work you do has no energy." In purely statistical terms, she stated that, out of the 10 richest corporations in America, seven are media outlets. In this sense, live theater, as one of the few media that is not controlled by big business, has a heightened responsibility to take risks and "do extraordinary things." Theater is free to articulate and examine controversial ideas and to explore areas where television might fear to tread."Cultivate aesthetic arrest" was the fourth piece of advice that Bogart imparted to her eager listeners. She took her example for this point from James Joyce's novel, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," in which he describes two types of art, static and kinetic. Joyce was an advocate of static art -- art that stops you. Bogart explained, "What this static art creates is something called aesthetic arrest." As an audience member, one is forced to bring out your experiences to meet the piece of art before him or her. She commented, "It's very easy to make everybody in the audience feel the same thing -- I call it fascism." What she sees as a director's challenge is to have her art meet each member of the audience and force that person to really encounter her work. "In this climate," she remarked, "I don't see how we can do anything but ... create art that is present."Bogart then confided in the audience that her new favorite word is "attitude." Her fifth point, "Attitude determines outcome," was an attempt to undermine the stigma that she believes Americans place on the word "attitude." She explained that she sees attitude not as a bad thing but as "an outwardly directed energy that changes depending on what it comes into contact with." A strong and positive attitude is something Bogart seeks in her actors. She said that actors censor themselves too much. Instead, they need to feel freer to share their energy with the audience.Lastly, Bogart advised her audience to "welcome resistance." Especially in such an uncertain and dangerous time, Bogart emphasized that we must all ask ourselves, "Where are we going and what can we do?" She said, however, that she had not as yet been able to find an attitude with which to deal with the burgeoning war with Iraq. "I literally have no words," she said, looking down and not at her audience for the first time in the talk.On the following afternoon Bogart put some of her points into practice in a workshop in the Center for the Arts Dance Theater. Twenty-two acting, directing and dance students and a handful of professors attended the workshop. All of the exercises she had the students try were physical and designed to help them listen better to the other people on stage with them, so that they would be more open to reacting to changes in their energies and attitudes. It was amazing how the exercises Bogart had them do could change people from moving around the stage without any direction - except to be aware of the other actors - into something that looked and felt like a choreographed dance.The comments from the students who participated in the workshop were overwhelmingly enthusiastic They said she had shown how powerful it could be when a company of actors opens itself to the reasons they are on stage and of the other actors with whom they were performing.
(02/19/03 12:00am)
Author: Ronald Liebowitz In his memorandum in Nov. 2002, President McCardell reported on the financial challenges facing the College as a result of the current national economic downturn and the related decrease in the value of our endowment. He also outlined the general approach that the College administration would take to deal with these challenges. The College's most immediate response to the increased financial pressures was to look to our fundraising programs -- and to our alumni/alumnae and friends -- as a source of additional revenue. Consequently, we have increased our fundraising goals, over the next two years, by approximately $30 million beyond our original plans. These new resources will be additions to our endowment, and will generate more funds to support our operating budget.However, because more vigorous fundraising alone cannot compensate for the full impact of the economic downturn, the effect of which would leave us with an estimated $11 million deficit in fiscal year 2005 if we did not tackle the challenge, it has also been necessary to make significant reductions in the budget. The executive council of the College (members of the council are listed at the end of this letter) has been working for the past several months to evaluate various options for reducing the budget -- options that have come from departments all over campus. We have been guided in our discussions and deliberations by our focus on students, by a commitment to retain need-blind admissions and meet the full need of students offered admission, by the desire to maintain the excellence of our core academic program, and by the importance of preserving a sense of community on campus. This last principle echoes President McCardell's position in his November letter to the community in which he stated we would not balance next year's budget by laying off staff members.While it is crucial that we all understand the seriousness of the College's financial condition, it is also important to know that the College is not in the midst of a financial crisis. The endowment, though reduced in value, is still substantial, and its strength has allowed the trustees to authorize a temporary increase in the amount we draw from it to support the operating budget. Our current work and financial planning is designed to ensure that our reliance on the endowment declines over the next five years, so that our spending rate -- the percentage of the average value of the endowment we use each year--returns to five percent by fiscal year 2009.We have not instituted across-the-board measures that would have imposed percentage cuts on all programs and departments. Instead, we have worked with individual departments and directors, identifying activities that could be reduced in scope to produce the savings needed to balance the budget. As a result of this process, we have developed financial projections for the next six fiscal years (from 2004 to 2009) that balance the budget without compromising the College's ability to provide an excellent educational experience for our students. It has been a difficult process to decide which budget-saving measures to recommend to the president, but I am fully confident that the actions we have taken will be both effective and responsible. The measures we recommended to be incorporated into next year's budget are listed below in summary form. Some of these measures increase College revenues, while others reduce the budget. In the next few weeks, department heads, supervisors and budget administrators will provide more detailed information about specific decisions, along with the impact they will have on College operations.Revenue enhancements: increase fundraising goals (for the endowment) by $30 million over the next two years; increase student enrollment to 2,350 one year earlier than planned; selective implementation of fees for non-College use of facilities.College-wide efficiencies: extend the life cycle of some College equipment; replace some print publications with online publications.Streamline events/programs: suspend, for the time being, off-campus winter term courses; reduce the number of all-campus large gatherings; limit Snow Bowl shuttle to a Friday-Sunday schedule; provide fewer amenities for Commencement and other campus-wide events.Departmental efficiencies: implement budget reductions in printing, travel, office supplies, and catering across College offices; reduce College overtime by 10 percent.Staffing: scrutinize, at both the Vice Presidential level and on the Staff Resources Committee, requests to fill vacant positions or to renew term positions; approve fewer requests for new staff; reduce projected salary and benefits pool from levels established before the economic downturn.Reserve for Maintenance and Modernization: reduce the amount of funds set aside for maintaining and modernizing the College's physical infrastructure from approximately $7 million to $6 million; this change will still leave Middlebury in the top tier of colleges in terms of the level of funding set aside for maintaining and modernizing infrastructure.These are examples of the kind of reductions we have recommended to the president. There is more to be done. The economic climate will remain uncertain for some time. It will be the responsibility of all of us who serve this institution to continue the efforts we have begun to streamline our operations, while preserving our core programs and activities. During the past few months, many of us have had to take a close look at what we do and how we do it. We achieved our goal of producing balanced budgets by focusing on things we considered to be non-essential to our core mission, and without laying off any staff members. We were compelled to begin evaluating the effectiveness of our programs and their centrality to our core mission, and of devising efficiencies that would permit us to accomplish our mission with fewer resources. This process, still ongoing, will also permit us to emerge from our financial challenges fiscally stronger and with our attention focused closely on the most important things we do.As we work together as a community, I am confident that, if we are mindful of the fiscal health of the College, and mindful of opportunities to conserve our resources, we can preserve the excellent educational opportunities that make Middlebury the distinguished college it is, and of which all of us are a part. Sincerely,Ronald D. Liebowitz ProvostMembers of the Executive CouncilKristen AndersonPhil BenoitRebecca BrodiganEric DavisBarbara Doyle-WilchBetsy EtchellsDavid GinevanAnn HansonSally HollandMary HurlieRobert HuthRonald LiebowitzDrew MacanRobert SchineMike SchoenfeldEditor's NoteThis letter was originally intended for publication in the Feb. 12. edition of The Middlebury Campus. The letter appears here in the same form as it did in a student-wide e-mail distributed Feb. 12.
(02/12/03 12:00am)
Author: Andrea Gissing Sounding Off Against SUVsA group of students from Stanford University is starting a campaign to raise awareness of the contributions made by sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to environmental and political problems. The campaign, named "SUV SOS," plans to educate faculty and students about automobile consumption and especially SUV oil consumption among the Stanford and broader national community by tying it to global climate change and dependence on foreign oil.Seniors Jonathan Neril and Josh Bushinsky, an international relations major and an earth systems major respectively, are leading the campaign.Neril thought that the issue of SUV use was especially pertinent to the university community because of the large number of SUVs owned and driven by Stanford students. "We want to make people aware that SUV consumption is a national security issue and a global environment issue, not just a personal choice," Neril said."The idea is that the technology to make these cars more efficient is out there and it's been sitting on the shelves for decades," said Bushinsky, continuing that since the automotive industry has focused on things like car size and horsepower instead of emissions, there has been a decline in average fuel efficiency since the late 80s. He has been amazed by the student response that the campaign has had since the group's first meeting on Jan. 29. So far, the group has concentrated on gathering student attention through e-mails. They are currently planning a protest on Feb. 14 at the Burlingame auto mall where students will try and raise media attention through speeches, chants and spoken-word protests.Source: U-Wire.comModern Technique Mixes Things UpStephen Webber, a professor of music production and engineering at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, has been trying to integrate a more modern musical style into the college's curriculum: turntablism. Webber has designed a course that would teach students the technical and musical basics of hip-hop turntable techniques, which involves manipulating a record against the needle to create percussive sounds and beats. The college turned down the idea of the Class in 2000 because the provost disapproved and again in 2001 when the executive vice president rejected it because of budget constraints. Despite the opposition to the course, Webber wrote and published "Turntable Technique: The Art of the DJ," the first musical method book for aspiring hip-hop DJs. He used interviews, photographs and traditional musical notation to create a series of lessons and exercises that anyone wishing to learn could practice. The book became one of Berklee Press' best-selling titles, which encouraged college's administrators to reconsider the course. If Berklee approves the course, it will be the first hip-hop performance class to be offered at a conservatory, applying Western notation and theory to an oral tradition. Courses on hip-hop music and culture have become increasingly common at colleges in the past 10 years. However, they are predominantly cultural or analytic in their approach, not instructional or practical.Source: The New York TimesHarvard To Return Donation From Jane FondaHarvard University has announced that because of the continued downturn in the stock market, along with new university rules regarding research centers, it would return most of a donation that Jane Fonda pledged to the Graduate School of Education. The $12.5 million donation, which was made two years ago, was going towards the establishment of a major research center on sex and education. The university is also giving up its plans for the center. The decision to discontinue the project and return the donation was a mutual decision between Harvard and Fonda.A spokeswoman for the School of Education said that Harvard would return a large portion of the $6.5 million that Fonda had already given to the university. The stock market slump has also prevented Fonda from completing the second half of the gift. The portion of the donation that will be kept by the university will be used to support a curriculum development project that will address teachers' understanding of sex, race and class, and the impact those have on the educational experience of students. Fonda's donation was the largest single donation in the Graduate School of Education's 83-year history.Source: The New York Times
(12/04/02 12:00am)
Author: Nicole Maddox The Middlebury College Student Government Association (SGA) and Community Council have gone almost unnoticed on campus this fall, but the governing bodies project many more undertakings for the coming term. Although outwardly the SGA has appeared rather passive in its contribution to campus leadership, it has been dedicatedly working behind the scenes on a number of minor adjustments and preparing for major changes in the winter and spring. This September, the Community Council began busily moving through its fall agenda. The year began with a restructuring of the Social House and Academic Interest House review process. The council eliminated many "non-achievable" regulations, and prioritized the evaluative criteria to focus on the issues faced by degree of importance. "The regulations that houses may not engage in life-threatening hazing events or drug or alcohol distributions are most important," the Community Council report stated. "Gender distribution is less important." Additionally, the council voted on and approved two new recommendations in regard to the College's academic dishonesty policy. Both policy changes refined the power of the Academic Judicial Board, allowing the board to withhold the degree for up to a year of a student found guilty of cheating for up to two years after the student's graduation. The Community Council also authorized a group of several students and faculty members to begin the Carbon Reduction Initiative. Working with the Environmental Council, the group sought "to find ways in which the College can reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change." The SGA in turn revised several Finance Committee guidelines, easing the expenditure of allotted funds for student organizations. They have also overseen adjustments in the dining schedule, established environmental goals for the year at the inaugural Environmental Summit and updated its Web site to increase student access to SGA issues and documents. Signs of the SGA's future work can already be observed, as across campus holes and wires are beginning to emerge from doorways, preparing for the new Enhanced Access System to be implemented in Winter Term. The system will be monitored by the SGA throughout its installment and activation. Also tested in Winter Term will be an expanded MiddRides route. The trial period will extend service to Frog Hollow Wednesday through Saturday. The SGA also plans enhanced Grille service and a campus-wide "Student Life Survey" -- both projected for Winter Term. Through winter and spring, the SGA will revise their constitution, although the date of completion has not yet been established.
(11/20/02 12:00am)
Author: Jonathan White As fall turns to winter, meteorologists and scientists will be watching Mother Nature's every move in Vermont. Was this weekend's snowfall a prelude to a cold and snowy winter? Will balmy temperatures prevail? However this winter turns out, it will offer scientists the chance to continue sorting out the swirling questions surrounding climate change. The New England Regional Assessment by the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program, a committee established in 1990 by then-President George H. W. Bush, concluded that New England's climate is a degree warmer than it was a century ago. Vermont's average temperatures have jumped 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit in this time period. Some states in New England, notably Rhode Island, have seen average temperatures rise by as much as two degrees.The report also indicates that New England's climate will warm between six and 10 degrees this century. Visiting Scholar in Environmental Studies Bill McKibben warned last week that if such trends materialize, "Those postcard images of Vermont, you can toss out the window. That Vermont won't exist." Vermont's blazing autumns, snowy winters and pleasant summers will be but calling cards of a time gone by. Accordingly, the state's tourism and agricultural industries would be noticeably affected by these changes.An analysis released earlier this fall by the Associated Press showed that maple syrup production has declined in Vermont over the past century. Eighty years ago, Vermont produced nearly 1.6 million gallons of maple syrup. Production quantity now hovers under 800,000 gallons. While changes in lifestyle and economic patterns are partly responsible for this decrease, warmer winter temperatures are also to blame. Milder winters cause sugar maple trees to generate lower quantities of sap, yielding less syrup. Winter temperatures averaged three degrees warmer in the 1990s than they did in the 1890s.Chris Granstrom, who owns and operates a strawberry farm in New Haven, observed, "Different farmers will be affected in different ways." Granstrom reflected that maple syrup producers are absorbing the impact of a changed season, while other farmers are comparatively less affected.Granstrom said that a common perception is that cold is the biggest adversary for
(11/13/02 12:00am)
Author: [no author name found] Allison Barker '04Hometown: Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec and Baltimore, Md.Major: Environmental Studies-Geography major, Spanish minor.Activities: Co-president (with Naomi Andrews '03) of the Middlebury Progressives, and a student recycling center worker.My Beliefs: In a "globalizing" world I believe it is necessary to put social and environmental responsibility at the forefront of our thinking, rather than letting economics become the overwhelmingly dominant force. As a nation which acts as a global leader, I believe that it is our responsibility to ensure that our relations with other countries focus on equal positive opportunities for everyone; thus we should move away from our old imperialistic practices and begin to look at north-south relationships on more equal grounds. I am also a strong believer in grassroots action, and thus I would suggest that not only do changes need to be made in terms of our interactions on a global level, but I would also suggest that changes need to come from a local level. We need to revise our currently unsustainable consumption patterns. Our modern system of food production is environmentally unsound, and I would advocate local changes to move consumers towards bioregional food production, where food is locally grown and eaten. Furthermore I would say that consumption clearly extends past food; our clothing, for example, is for the most part manufactured by large corporations in sweatshops in the Third World where labor, human rights and environmental abuses run rampant. So what I strive for is not that we all run off and become hippies and live in the woods eating berries, but I am asking for an American cultural revolution.However, despite how we sometimes act, the United States is not the whole world. In order for environmental and social changes to occur in the global south they need to be initiated by movements of people on a local level. The only way for us as a developed nation to aid this process is by dropping Third World debt and giving the global south the technology to empower [its people] to act environmentally responsibly in their own development process. These are my goals, my dream, my mission, and I understand this to be fully idealistic; however I am not a woman bent around words. I am also a realist and that is why I am an activist not a writer.How I Got Involved: I got involved in activism after my freshman year of high school, when I spent a summer in rural Bolivia working in a museum. Bolivia has the highest poverty rate in South America, and after learning what real poverty is I began working for a group called Student Sharing for the Homeless in Baltimore. The summer before my senior year of high school some friends and I started an anti-sweatshop activist and education group. We went around to local high schools and colleges doing in classroom programs about labor rights abuses. That was my basic springboard into learning about the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). Is Middlebury adequately activist? There are only a handful of politically active people in the Middlebury community. However, there are many people who are politically oriented; these are people who are attuned to the issues, are capable of serious discussion and can occasionally be coaxed away from their busy lives to make a statement every now and then. I definitely do not think there are enough activists at Middlebury, I don't think that the College really teaches students the idea of civic responsibility, however, I think education and political orientation is a good first step. Gabe Epperson '03Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah. Major: Environmental Studies-Human EcologyActivities: Executive Board of The New LeftMy Beliefs: 1. Sustainability: Americans consume a disproportionate amount of the world's resources and we're encouraging other countries to develop by adopting our lifestyle. The math's pretty simple. We're already putting too much strain on the world's resources; once you factor in population growth and global warming you have total ecological collapse — it's already happening. I'm not advocating lowering our living standards; instead, I advocate quality over quantity. Who needs to eat lots of junk food and have 10 pairs of jeans? We can consume new goods and materials, but they should be recycled. How much junk is already circulating, not being used or sitting in a landfill? We can produce everything we need without extracting any more raw materials. I advocate efficiency and long-term resource management for the good of the environment and the human species.2. Progressive planning: This is a simple concept: plan with foresight as opposed to hindsight. For every one dollar put into education, $100 are saved on law enforcement and welfare. We're just putting Band-Aids on our societal problems. I would say the same thing when it comes to terrorism. Terrorism is a symptom of gross international inequalities. If people have access to resources, jobs and politics (via democratic governments) they will not resort to terrorism. The war on terrorism is a sham — we're attacking the cancer of our world by hacking it off instead of trying to find a cure.How I Got Involved: I took Professor of Geography Tamar Mayer's "Geography of Development" and "Human Impact on the Global Environment." Also, I spent some time abroad; it gives you a different perspective on the United States and the world.Is Middlebury adequately activist? Politically active means that you're not living in a bubble. You're aware of your responsibilities and how your daily decision-making affects people in other parts of the world. If you're living in the Middlebury Bubble, you're not adequately active in determining your future. You may be preparing yourself for a successful career, but what happens when your life's work becomes obsolete? It will happen if people continue to be oblivious. Imagine Sept. 11 on a large scale — what good will the stock market be then? I don't think that everyone needs to be in a political organization or attend rallies, but we should all be educated about important political issues so we can make voting and purchasing decisions that are informed. Ben Brouwer '04Hometown: Lopez Island, Wash.Major: Environmental Studies-GeographyActivities: Co-president (with Rachel Cotton '03.5) of Environmental Quality (EQ), Yellow Bike program coordinatorMy Beliefs: My interests and concerns in the field of activism are admittedly broad. Generally I am concerned about the inequities and injustices in the world that contribute to or are a root cause of environmental degradation, violence, poverty, racism and discrimination of all forms. More specifically I am interested in discovering how we as individuals, as members of Middlebury College or as citizens of the United States perpetuate these broadly defined problems, and more importantly how we can limit our negative influence and work proactively for positive changes locally and abroad. The issues I have taken to heart include transportation reform as a way of reducing our contribution to global climate change and the range of problems associated with cars and SUVs, marching for peace as a means of voicing opposition to the looming war in Iraq and addressing the question of how investments of the Middlebury endowment can be changed to passively and proactively effect social and environmental change. How I Got Involved: I first became involved with activism at Middlebury in my freshman year as a reaction to the material excess, sense of entitlement and apathy I initially noticed on this campus. Ben Gore '04 and I, as roommates spring of our freshman year, worked on the Ban SUV campaign (which, incidentally, was a huge political failure but was incredibly educational for us and at least a little provocative for t
he rest of the campus). I wasn't seriously involved in activism during my high school years but my relatively progressive family and hometown set me up for my current beliefs and involvement.Is Middlebury adequately activist? I'm gradually becoming more excited about the activist nature of this campus and larger community. The fact that we had at least 1,000 people show up on a rainy Sunday night for a peace march is an impressive testament to the growing activist atmosphere of Middlebury. I think the opportunity exists for all of us to take our education, beliefs and inspiration provided by our faculty to a new level of personal involvement and direct action (driving less, buying less, making peace). Ultimately it's the coalition of active students, motivating faculty and staff and local community members that make the activist network broad and all-inclusive. Joya Scott '03.5Hometown: Northhampton, Mass.Major: Theater major; French minor.Activities: Co-president (with Elizabeth Brookbank '04) of Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM), co-founder of the new Unitarian-Universalist Society and one of the directors of the 2003 "Vagina Monologues"/V-Day event. Also was a primary organizer of October's "24 Hours for Peace."My Beliefs: I think all the issues I get involved with share certain elements in common. Often, it comes down to human rights in one form or another. I'm interested in women's issues because I don't believe we've reached true equality. I'm interested in peace-building work because I think every person deserves to grow up in an environment free of violence. I'm also enraged by our government right now; I think the Bush administration's agenda is utterly counterproductive in terms of both domestic and foreign policy. Bush stole the 2000 election with the help of the Republican officials in Florida and their deliberate disenfranchisement of thousands of eligible voters. This administration is not leading us towards a more sustainable, peaceful future; instead, they're doing the exact opposite. I am disgusted by the fact that big corporations are in bed with the administration and have stolen the power away from the people, where it belongs. I'm sick of being lied to; we need leaders we can at least trust to tell us in whose interest they are acting. So these are the things that motivate me to action ... anything involving building democracy, human rights, and peace. And since my major, and my big interest, is theater, I am always looking for ways to combine politics and the arts — I think that's where the truly fascinating stuff is. Using art as a metaphor for real political situations, you can create some very powerful material that hopefully makes people question their preconceptions about society.How I Got Involved: I think you get to a point where, if you're paying attention to world events and getting your information from good sources (not necessarily the corporate media), then you are just compelled to act. There is injustice out there (or right here!), and you have to do something. Where your conscience and your natural inclination to be interested in an issue intersect, you can't sit still — you have to help. Even if you can only do a little, every tiny action has an important influence on our world that we may never fully understand. Also, I really do believe that the personal is political, cliché as it might be to say that. For instance, it's hard to talk about feminism without looking at personal relationships. Society is made up of individuals and individual relationships. It's all interwoven, and I think that we should examine these things to see how social systems impact us in our daily lives.Is Middlebury adequately activist? I don't think that our community is adequately activist, but it is increasingly so. I've seen a lot of stuff recently that never would have happened here in the past. A lot of new activist groups have formed, like the Middlebury Initiative for Sustainable Development (MISD) and the New Left. These organizations and the 1,500 people that came out to protest Ari Fleischer '82 and the potential war in Iraq are proof of the fact that people do care. Even people who have never been involved in politics are getting active, and I hope it continues. It is easy to understand why students here can be somewhat apathetic — we're all so busy with schoolwork and other commitments, and the issues are so complicated that they often seem inaccessible. But it is changing, slowly but surely.
(11/13/02 12:00am)
Author: Andrea Gissing Ball State U. Students Take Shelter as Tornado HitsStudents at Ball State University sought shelter in lower levels of residence halls and departmental buildings Sunday afternoon as violent winds rushed through east-central Indiana. The tornado touched down in Blackford County a little after 2 p.m. Sunday. Three people were trapped in a supermarket when the roof partially collapsed and a wall was blown out. Ball State geography professor David Arnold, supervisor of the university's storm-chasing team, said that the winds at the supermarket were probably 80 to 90 miles per hour. Arnold explained the violent storm was not necessarily a tornado, but was the result of a micro-burst, or straight-line wind, that can sometimes be stronger and can do more damage than tornadoes.Arnold noted that the likelihood of tornadoes to occur in November is almost as high as that of the usual tornado season, the period of time from April through June. "Fall is a transition season, and there is a tremendous difference in temperatures," he explained. Tornadic activity often occurs once every two years; already this season two violent storms have caused concern in the east central areas of the state. Pertaining to wind damage, Arnold said people should be most concerned about roof damage. If the roof of a building is not securely anchored to its foundation, it can easily be picked up by a strong wind; once the roof is off, the rest of the building normally collapses. A resident assistant at Tichenor Hall, a residence hall at Ball State said the past two tornado warnings were the first time he has participated in such safety precautions in his five years as Ball State a student.Source: U-WireUVM Officer Investigated for Racial ProfilingA police officer working at the University of Vermont (UVM) has been reassigned to office work following allegations of racial profiling. The officer reportedly handcuffed a female student at gunpoint last Wednesday during a search for a male armed robbery suspect. Both the suspect and the female student are black; that is the only physical similarity they share.Daniel Fogel, president of UVM, wrote a campus-wide e-mail saying: "While not prejudging the outcome of the investigation of police conduct, we all understand that the detention of an innocent student raises serious questions about the campus climate for persons of color." The suspect held up a 19-year-old walking in Tupper Hall, a residence hall on UVM's East Campus around 3 p.m. The suspect has not yet been caught. University officials are investigating the racial profiling claims leveled against the officer.Source: The Rutland HeraldStanford, Yale Change Early Admissions PolicyStanford University and Yale University announced Nov. 7 that they would no longer offer the binding early decision option to applicants. The change in policy for both institutions will not take affect until next year's admission cycle for the Class of 2008. Under both Yale and Stanford's policies, students will only be able to apply early to one school. The change would also give all applicants more flexibility and time to consider their options.Yale President Richard Levin announced on Wednesday that Yale would adopt a non-binding early action policy beginning next fall. This announcement came almost one year after he initiated a national debate on early admissions policies. Levin said the decision was the first step made towards encouraging the elimination of all early admissions programs. He expressed concern that high school students making a binding decision so early in the year, saying some students were strategizing instead of choosing their first choice schools, putting students applying for financial aid were disadvantaged.Hours after Levin made his statement, Stanford University President John Hennessy announced that Stanford would no longer offer its binding early decision to applicants. The new policy proposed is a "unique blend of traditional early action and early decision options offered by other colleges." According to Christina Wire, associate dean of undergraduate admissions at Stanford, the new policy "is certainly closer to early action than it is to early decision, however we have not thought of a specific name for it yet." It differs from regular early action policies in that the policy does not allow early applicants to file early applications at other institutions. "This new policy offers those who have set their hearts on attending Stanford the opportunity to apply early in their senior year without the additional pressure of having to commit before they are ready," Hennessy said. Source: The Stanford Daily and The Yale Daily News
(10/16/02 12:00am)
Author: [no author name found] Another "Right to Listen"Last Sunday's protests may have overshadowed another important event — the building and raising of a symbolic closet by members of Middlebury's Open and Queer Alliance, or moqa. The closet, a colorful and poignant amalgam of slogans and plyboard, will stand on the front lawn of the McCullough Student Center for the duration of Coming Out Week.The closet — and the series of lectures, panel discussions and informal conversations that will last until Saturday — is an important reminder of the pervasiveness of stereotypes about homosexual men and women in and outside Middlebury. Despite the good intentions of the College to promote a vision of inclusiveness and diversity on campus, these stereotypes continue at Middlebury, forming one division among many between the numerous racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and sexual orientation groups on campus.The events scheduled for this week, however, are one means of addressing one of these divides. One hopes that attendance at these events will be as jubilant and conducive to dialogue as Sunday's demonstrations in front of Mead Chapel.A Warm Autumn in VermontOctober seems hotter this year, a fact that belies a trend few understand and even fewer want to acknowledge: The warming of the earth's climate. Discussion on global climate change and efforts to mitigate it have lessened since the war on terror began, making the little hope for change that existed at the start of the Bush presidency appear all the more futile to grasp on to.But this should not be a cause for despondency; quite the opposite, in fact. The drive for greater energy efficiency, more reliance on alternative fuel sources and increasing awareness on topics related to global warming have never been more important. In Vermont — and especially at Middlebury — we have an obligation to continue this fight, and the warmer temperatures that marked this autumn are ample enough reason to do so.Imagine, for a moment, a Vermont where seasonality no longer exists. Warm rains, to borrow from Bill McKibben, replace the wet snows of January; the sharp light of a cold autumn day is blocked by a warm haze; the cooling breezes of July are transformed into the cloying humidity of a Virginia summer. This is the future we have in store for us, despite the rhetoric of some in the various echelons of state and federal government. Vermont has made positive steps in the effort to stave off the effects of climate change: Last spring, the city of Burlington pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions; this summer, Governor Howard Dean, along with other New England governors, promised to increase the number of energy-efficient cars in the state's vehicle fleet. Middlebury, too, has done its share by building structures with local materials and monitors to control energy use.But more is necessary. The next governor of Vermont needs to act on Dean's pledge, and press for reform of state laws without comprising the quality of Vermont's natural environment. The College must extend its commitment to environmental building, and take added measures to reduce water and energy consumption and vehicle usage, which will certainly spike as Middlebury expands. Our region, and our world, stands on the cusp of devastating change, and the need to act could never be more urgent.
(10/16/02 12:00am)
Author: Julie Shumway Incumbent Republican Dean George and Democrat Steve Maier, candidates for Middlebury representative to the Legislature, talk with Local News editor Julie Shumway about the issues Vermonters are discussing in this election.George on his background:I'm a native Vermonter. I grew up in St. Johnsbury, went to the University of Vermont (UVM) and graduated from there in 1971 with a bachelor's in forestry. About seven years ago I first got involved in local government by getting elected to the [Middlebury] town selectboard, which I've been a member of since then. And two years ago I retired from my full-time job as a state police officer after 29 years, took about a week off and started running for the Legislature....On being an incumbent :It clearly benefits me a great deal. By having two years' experience, you now are quite familiar with the process, how to move things through the Legislature, how to get things done, that sort of thing. By the end of the first two-year period people have each legislator figured out in terms of their integrity, the kind of work they do and so forth. When you go back in the second time, you're going to be considered for leadership roles in different committees.... On jobs and the economy:I'm still on the selectboard of Middlebury; that really works nicely for me because I can relate local issues to state issues and try to mediate the two. Talking about business interests in Middlebury, Middlebury has Exchange Street, which is an excellent example of a good industrial development program that was started many years ago and has been very successful. From the state's perspective, it's all about making sure if somebody wants to establish a responsible business, that we not stand in the way. We don't want to do things to discourage businesses from expanding or providing quality jobs. We certainly want to protect the environment in Vermont, but at the same time it's important for people to want to come to Vermont to establish their businesses, with good-quality, high-paying jobs.... On single-payer healthcare:I'm not convinced that it's the way to go right now. I still think that in Vermont in particular there are a lot of things we've closed the door to, that could provide better competition for insurance companies — while still having a threshold that people who can't afford or don't have that option open to them have healthcare access. We have a highly beneficial Medicaid program in Vermont and it's expensive, and we have to pay for that, but it works.... On Act 60:I think there are parts of Act 60 which are outstanding. There are parts that deal with the equity between different school systems around the state and try to equalize some minimum standard in terms of money spent on kids. The funding is that part that's become controversial. The funding pool is the most controversial. We went through this last year: there's a compromise out there, but we didn't get to it.Two years ago we [Middlebury] were a receiving town exclusively, which means that we benefited by Act 60. Last year, we began sending money back into the pool.... On school choice:I recommended some changes to the floor that would make it palatable for a lot more of the school districts. One of those was to make sure that school choice didn't become a burden on other schools, so we put a cap on how many students could actually leave a school. I don't support school choice outside of the public school system. I think in Vermont it would be too much of an impact to keep the public school system viable. In Middlebury, because of the quality of the schools we've got, we would benefit from that, because those dollars would then come into our school system and reduce the overall cost.... On transportation:I'm looking to go back to the House Transportation Committee. The chair of that committee, who's been the chair for 16 years, is not running again and there are a couple of us who are interested. That's a focal point of mine.Maier on his background:I went to Williams College, which may not get me a lot of votes on the Middlebury campus! That was 25 years ago; I graduated in 1978 and I have a master's degree in environmental law from the Vermont Law School. We first moved to Vermont from 1984 to 1985 because my wife teaches at the College, in the math department. Most of my career has been involved in environmental work, mostly in the public sector. I sort of worked in increasingly more local forms of government, starting off working for the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] in Washington, D.C., right after school. After we moved to Vermont, I worked for the state environmental department in Montpelier and in Waterbury.... On jobs and the economy:I think a lot of times, politicians and other folks in Vermont have created what I consider largely a false dichotomy between environmentalism and jobs and the economy. I think Vermont is better off economically today for our environmental protection strategies and programs of the past. I think what we should be focusing on in terms of new jobs in Vermont is working in encouragement of smaller businesses. A lot of economic development activity in Vermont, historically, has been to try to lure some big company to come into the area. I just think the more likely road to success would be, rather than go out and find another big company that's going to employ 5,000 people, go out there and find 100 businesses in different sectors that would each employ 50 people. Not only is that more realistic to the scale and scope of Vermont, but it would present a more diversified economy when you're done, so we wouldn't be dependent on the decisions of one particular corporation and how they react to the increasingly global economic factors that affect businesses everywhere....On single-payer healthcare:I think it should be one option that we should be looking at carefully. I'm intrigued by it. I know there's concern on the one side about a government-controlled healthcare system and how that could be run efficiently; on the other hand in Vermont we have something close to that going on already. We have only a couple of insurance companies that are servicing Vermont. I tend more in the direction of trying to have a program that addresses the basic healthcare needs of all Vermonters. That's my bottom line, and whether it's through a single-payer system or additional requirements on the insurance industry is less important to me.... On Act 60:I think that most people believe in the basic goals of Act 60. And I'm open to a variety of ideas about how to make it better; there was one made at the end of the last session by current lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin — he calls it "Act 60 in English." One of the big criticisms of Act 60 is that it's just too complicated, and so this would have helped with that and would have technically eliminated the sharing pool, and yet it still would have redistributed money from wealthier communities to other communities in a way that would have provided for the basic objectives of Act 60. What I think is the biggest issue, however, with education funding in Vermont, is that we in Vermont have one of the largest reliances on property tax to pay for our schools of any state in the country. The governor has recently decreased the amount of general fund money going into education, and I think we ought to increase it. The only thing that happens when you decrease it is you put the pressure on local school districts — which I understand is one of the things he's trying to do, he's trying to get them to get their budgets in line — but it's only going to result in almost every case in increasing the local property tax, which is what makes people so angry.... On school choice:I'm first and foremost a supporter of the public school system as one of the most important government functions that we have here in the United States, and while I think school choice in some u
rban areas might be more viable, in Vermont however we just don't have the ability to pull it off. If, in effect, you allowed free choice in Addison County, you'd quickly get a place where kids from Bridport or Shoreham or Cornwall or Weybridge might choose to come to Middlebury, and those schools are so small that even the movement of three or four kids would have significant impacts on their budgets, which then creates a downward spiral: Less money, cut budgets, less resources, less equipment, less technology, less teachers.... On the environment:One of the frustrations I've had, on a personal level, has been the lack of conversation that I've had with people about environmental issues. Much of my career has been in the environmental area, and my concern and my reason for want-ing to run is to make a difference as far as this place, this planet that we of my generation are leaving for your generation and for my kids' generation. And I think that all this noise that we're dealing with in our lives, related to healthcare and property taxes, is less important in the long-term than the decisions that we make as an economy, both nationally and globally, that are affecting the environment. And looking at climate change and the impacts that that's going to have sociologically, economically and ecologically all over the globe in the coming years, I think it's the biggest and most dramatic thing we're going to face as a society. So I would hope that I can at least inform people about that issue if I get elected, and move the debate a little bit on that issue. We had a bill that should have passed, could have passed last year, on renewably energy initiatives here in Vermont. That's one small step we could take to move that agenda in the right direction and to put in place tax credits and help out. We also have several small businesses here in Vermont that could really grow — wind energy especially, but also solar. We also have a good technology base, people who can mix and match those energy ideas with good technology and really put us in the forefront on those issues. To me, that would be a great place for our economy to move, as well.
(10/09/02 12:00am)
Author: Khairani Barokka On the evening of Oct. 7, Ben Scotch, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, gave a passionate lecture entitled "Liberty vs. Security? Progress Report on the USA. Patriot Act in the Robert A. Jones '59 House conference room. Scotch is part of a nationwide movement of people rallying against the USA. Patriot Act in the belief that we can and should have both liberty and security, and that civil liberties rights should not be compromised during the war on terrorism. The USA. Patriot (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, introduced in October 2001, has forced many people to question the nature of liberty and security in the United States after Sept. 11, 2001.This well-attended event was sponsored by the Political Science Department, the Center for International Affairs, College Democrats and College Progressives and was organized by Ashley Price '03.5. It took place as one of hundreds of events that were held nationwide as part of the Alliance for Justice's First Monday 2002 program. This program aims to highlight the ways in which civil liberties have been affected by laws and policies introduced in the wake of Sept. 11. Scotch's lecture was preceded by the documentary "Of Rights and Wrongs: The Threat to America's Freedoms."The documentary featured actress Susan Sarandon, several respected historians and civil liberties experts such as Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Roger Wilkins. The music of Bruce Springsteen accompanied a narrative about individuals whose civil rights have been abused in the climate of fear that has overtaken the United States this past year. The documentary focused on government agencies that have utilized laws such as the USA. Patriot Act. In his lecture, Scotch recommended "resisting the question of 'liberty or security?'" and instead encouraged the audience to understand that "civil liberties are part of a web that provides security … If you remove part of that web, you're going to lose a part of your security. Liberties are at the heart of security." And this security, Scotch firmly believes, is currently undermined by the USA Patriot Act.Scotch began explaining the act by deconstructing its dense language. He chose not to utter the word "patriot" in his references to the act, preferring to call it "USAPA." He said that he does not see patriotism as "bad" per se, but thinks that it can forge a clear path to censorship — patriotism leads to unity, which leads to unanimity, which leads to conformity, and this conformity leads to censorship. Scotch urged the audience to look closely at the text of USA Patriot. He believes the act has changed the way the laws are interpreted by reducing the role the courts have in enforcing the act, and by "blurring the lines between foreign intelligence investigations and criminal law enforcement." Scotch illustrated this by discussing act subsections 215 and 216.Subsection 215 states that law enforcement authority is able to obtain an order requiring that "any tangible things" be produced. The order is needed "to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities," with no mention of "probable cause" or "specific and articulate facts." Subsection 215 also says that U.S. citizens may be targets of a search, but that search may not be based only on their First Amendment activities. Finally, the target of a search is not allowed to tell anyone besides an attorney about the order to produce "any tangible things."Subsection 216 of the USAPA gives court authorization for "pen register, trap and trace surveillance," meaning that law enforcers may track who emails and calls whom, their addresses, numbers, and the times they communicate. Historically, the authorities may not access email and phone call content. However, this subsection of the act says that if the request is "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation," an order may be obtained. And, Scotch notes, "since e-mail 'packets' make no such distinctions, the promise not to look at the content of messages in unenforceable." This leads to the enabling of Carnivore — "the most massive Internet eavesdropping tool yet devised," the results from which are required to be reported to Congress. Unlike 215, 216 will not expire in 2005.Scotch also drew attention to the indirect effects of USAPA, such as self-censorship. Another perceived problem is the underlying message behind the act's consequences, such as racial profiling. Scotch encouraged the audience to take action. "I don't think all is lost by any means," he said, "I think it's good to see a film like ["Of Rights and Wrongs"], as a warning. But don't think that you don't have power, whatever the color of your skin. Don't hesitate to get down and dirty with the details. This is not a battle that has by any means been lost. Your generation has to save us."Price was satisfied with the evening. She stated that she felt such an event needed to be held to address the less-discussed domestic impacts of the war on terrorism and how it relates to the possibility of a war with Iraq in the very near future. Regarding this war, she said, "I think it will really have an effect on people here."
(09/25/02 12:00am)
Author: Katy Saunders This past weekend representatives from 28 colleges and universities gathered together with environmental leaders and advocacy groups from around the northeast at Skidmore College for the first conference of the Northeast Campuses for Climate Action.The conference, which was patterned after a similar meeting at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., in February, brought together students, faculty and staff from different institutions to address the issue of climate change and to share what is happening on various campuses.Lori DelNegro, visiting assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Jon Isham, assistant professor of economics, and Helen Young, associate professor of biology, joined Andrea Hamre '05, Doug Dagan '02.5 and Katy Saunders '02.5 to represent the Middlebury College Carbon Neutral committee at the conference. The goal of this committee, which grew out of last year's Environmental Council, is to assess Middlebury's impact on climate change and to make recommendations on how the College, on both the individual and the institutional level, might reduce their emission of greenhouse gases, the cause of global climate change.Ross Gelbspan, a retired Pulitzer prize-winning journalist formally of The Boston Globe, opened the conference. Gelbspan's talk, which drew primarily from research presented in his book, "The Heat is On," illuminated the continuous efforts of fossil fuel industries to hijack the science of climate change and plant seeds of doubt in the minds of politicians, journalists and the public that are, in fact, without the support of any significant scientific findings.Climate change, said Gelbspan, is in fact the most peer-reviewed issue in the history of scientific study, and any disbelief of its threat stops at the borders of the United States.On the second day of the conference, participants discussed ways in which the institutions can reduce their impact on climate change. While the schools represented were at various stages of the process, all participants recognized the need for their institutions to make significant reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions.A certain level of these gases, such as carbon dioxide, is normal in the atmosphere, and can be handled by the earth's systems, but the level of carbon dioxide has risen over the past century to well above the level that had remained relatively constant for 10,000 years.One of the ways to reduce emissions is to invest in renewable and sustainable energy sources. Several mid-Atlantic colleges have already committed to buy a certain amount of their power from renewable energy sources, and this trend is growing across the country.Native Energy, a Vermont-based company that attended the conference, offers customers a chance to invest in new and future wind power projects as a way to offset their current consumption of fossil fuels. Another such company, Green Mountain Power of Vermont, offers the chance to purchase green energy that will be included in one's energy grid.Though it was just one of the schools participating in the conference, Middlebury was recognized as an environmental leader by fellow participants. The College has done much to retrofit old buildings and make sure that older technologies are running as efficiently as they can.What became clear to conference participants, however, is the need for all colleges and universities to take the next step, which is a significant reduction in the use of energy on campus, and a commitment to developing renewable and sustainable energy sources.In a final address on Saturday night, Bill Moomaw of Tufts University spoke of the relevance of climate change to campuses across the country. "Universities are about education and research. I can think of no better issue on which to do education and research," he commented.The Middlebury College group attending the conference was excited by what is happening on campuses across the country. "It was tremendously motivating to hear people's passion in the subject to remind us of the urgency of the problem," said Young, who pointed out that it was satisfying to see Middlebury College "among the leaders in small colleges in energy saving and plans for carbon neutrality."The group expressed its commitment to the issue of climate change and the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. They noted they hope to begin the process in the next few months by making recommendations to Middlebury College on how, as a community, the institution can reduce its impact on climate change.(For more information on Ross Gelbspan and the current news regarding climate change go to www.heatisonline.org.)
(09/25/02 12:00am)
Author: Abbie Beane The old farm of Conrad Ormsby remains an imposingly handsome panorama, just as it looked 60 years ago in the photographs taken by Fritz Henley. Henley was one of the nine photographers sent on assignment by the U.S. government to capture proof of a 1930s and '40s Vermont in need of economic and agricultural assistance.Ormsby, one of the men whose picture now hangs in the Middlebury College Museum of Art's new exhibition, "Looking Back at 1930s Vermont," still lives on his family's farm in Montpelier, Vt., next to his sister Marilyn Ormsby Piro, also in the photograph, which was taken of the Ormsby family gathered around the dinner table; at the time, Conrad was just 11 and Marilyn, 14. Though it is difficult for the remaining Ormsbys to clearly remember every detail of this era as they were adolescents at the time, after a second sitting with these two the stories behind the photographic exhibit came more clearly into focus.Through speaking with Conrad and Marilyn 60 years later, one is allowed to zoom in more closely on 1930s and '40s Vermont, taking a deeper look inside the photograph and behind the art.The Campus: First of all, how did the Farm Security Administration (FSA) find your family in particular?Conrad: Gordon Loveless often came to talk to my father, giving him canning [of food] advice. He was part of the extension aid service, which was a federal thing, so maybe that's how Henley [with the FSA] found us."The Campus: After seeing the exhibit at the Museum of Art did you feel that it accurately and comprehensively captured the essence of the era?Conrad: Yes — I think it fit the times. And I was pleased to see rural and urban pictures together. But Rutland was more of a manufacturing town than it is today and the granite industry has dwindled in Barre due to some storm shed fires. Burlington is also larger now.Marilyn: Yes — the exhibit was very broad. Of course it didn't cover everything that happened back then, but it couldn't have.The Campus: Which photos from the exhibit did you think were most emotionally evocative or relevant? Conrad: Well, I think it depends on who looks at the photos as to what memories they brought up. I liked the one taken in Woodstock with the horse pulling the trash wagon.Conrad then explained that people during the 1940s did not often go downtown, as gas was rationed during World War II and what available gas there was had to be used for the tractors. Along the same lines, society had to use butcher carts and milk wagons to distribute meat and dairy products — a sled was pulled during the winter months.Marilyn: I loved the one of the women sharing secrets at the fair, although at the time there was some controversy over it [the photo]. The photographer was criticized for being "frivolous" [by taking pictures of such ordinary gossip sessions]. The Campus: What was one of your most enduring memories from this era, regarding politics, the economy?Conrad: I remember that there was lots of talk — mixed feelings over FDR's [Franklin D. Roosevelt's] new programs [some of which were intended to help farmers in Vermont]. Vermont was very Republican and FDR was a Democrat. People were skeptical of them [the programs], but people benefited from them.Conrad then remarked that he used to call Roosevelt's New Deal programs "alphabet soup." There was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Public Works Administration (PWA) and a whole reel of others. Conrad: But the CCC put a lot of people to work during the Depression. People who lost their jobs could build dams, like the ones in Waterbury and East Barre today. These dams were necessary due to a devastating flood in 1927, which fell particularly hard on Montpelier and Barre.The Campus: Did people feel that the New Deal programs and the FSA were effective here? Did the government do too much? Not enough?Conrad: I'm not really comfortable answering that. I think there were a lot of hard-core Republicans who could find fault with everything [every program implemented]. Some people thought it was too much. I couldn't keep track of all the letters. But yes, the programs did help. A lot of people I knew worked for the CCC — people who otherwise wouldn't have had jobs.The Campus: What do you remember happening after the New Deal programs faded in 1945 and supposedly had done their job? How did things unfold?Conrad: The war changed a lot. Many didn't come back to Vermont and if they did, they had new ideas. Women also did a lot more. They were in responsible positions for the first time. More farms had electricity. A lot of cooperative utilities formed like the Rural Electrification Administration (REA).The programs changed farming a lot. And all the farms were better I think, not just ours. Also, before the war and the programs, there were not too many tractors and after, there were more than there had been. They [the government] continued to try and help farmers make their land more productive. One way was if you added phosphate to your manure you could get subsidies. Most all was administered by the "county committee," which got farmers to sign up for these programs.Conrad also mentioned that as for the economy, there was only a gradual improvement within the next ten years.The Campus: Do you think the exhibit, or rather, publicly displaying these photos, was a good idea?Marilyn: I think so. It displayed a small percentage of the photographers' work, but it's great that they [the photos] be shown.The Campus: What is one thing from this era that you would have kept the same?Marilyn: The neighborhoods were much closer in those days. I used to know everyone in all the farms and all the houses and now I may recognize a face, but not know a name.Conrad: But back then everyone was so involved in agriculture; people were at home most of the day. But the change came as part of growing up, not just as part of the times.The Campus: Do you have any questions for me?Conrad: I was wondering how Middlebury College was given these photos instead of UVM (University of Vermont), a state institution.In search of the answer to this question, I inquired of the the College's Museum Director Doug Perkins. He responded that, "somewhere around 1990 Richard Saunders, the director [of the Museum], saw on exhibit at St. Lawrence University of a group of photographs from the 1930s, some of which were taken in Vermont. He then contacted St. Lawrence and discovered that the original negatives for all of the FSA photos were housed in the Library of Congress and, on further investigation, he learned that he (or anyone for that matter) could order copies of the negatives on microfilm, totaling 1,600 images,""As for the images, the original negatives remain and will always remain in the collection of the Library of Congress," Perkins said with assurance.When asked why Saunders chose this exhibit at this time, Saunders replied, "I always felt there were many amazing images here that the museum visitors would enjoy." He continued, "'Looking Back at Vermont' helps to remind us all why our history, our climate, our landscape, our community, our traditions, and our neighbors make the Green Mountain State a place we treasure."When the exhibit closes on Dec. 1, the museum may give the photos to the State House in Montpelier, or failing that, may offer them to various departments and/or buildings on campus. Yet, one thing that will remain are questions about this era and about the results the FSA produced in Vermont, proving that the issues here are not as easy to figure out as distinguishing black from white.
(09/13/02 12:00am)
Author: Tim McCahill With elections less than two months away, Vermont's three candidates for governor are in the full swing of campaigning and debate. The candidates, Democrat Doug Racine, Republican Jim Douglas and independent Cornelius "Con" Hogan, are traveling across the state to spread their views on the key issues in this year's race: unemployment, improving Vermont's economic climate and education.Douglas, a Middlebury alumnus who currently serves as state treasurer, has been a mainstay of Vermont politics since 1972. The Republican, who announced his candidacy in June, has centered his campaign on making the state friendlier to private business. Like most Republicans, the treasurer supports Act 250 — Vermont's Land Use and Development Law, passed in 1970 — but believes the legislation would benefit from revision. Douglas has strongly advocated changing the appeals and permitting process of Act 250 to quicken the pace that businesses can receive permission to build or expand. An improved regulatory climate, the treasurer has argued, will help create more jobs in a state recently devastated by a series of layoffs and business closings, first at IBM in early June and, more recently, at 12 Ames stores across Vermont.Democrat Doug Racine, who some commentators term "Silent Doug" because of his low-key style of campaigning, has adopted a stance quite similar to Douglas' on modifying Act 250. Racine, who currently serves as Vermont's lieutenant governor, has espoused a vision of the state where hi-tech jobs in computing and information technology assume a larger role than more traditional businesses in the manufacturing sector, which has been hardest hit by national recession and changing global trends. Revamping Act 250 by streamlining its permitting process would help lower unemployment, which stands at 3.9 percent across the state.Neither Douglas nor Racine differ widely on how the state's foremost economic law needs to be improved, and both agree that changes should not be made at the expense of Vermont's natural environment. Independent candidate Con Hogan, however, has faulted the "machinery" of the law for being antiquated, and pressed at a gubernatorial debate aired Monday on CCTV for a complete overhaul "from scratch." No stranger to state politics — Hogan served prominently in the Vermont Department of Corrections and worked for most of the 1990s as commissioner for the state's Health and Human Services department — the Republican-turned-independent candidate also has extensive experience in the private sector, and is a primary shareholder in the Montpelier, Vt., company International Coins and Currency.Though not the hot-button issue here as in other states, national debate on school choice has caused the gubernatorial candidates to speak out on the issue. Douglas supports the student's right to switch schools, as does Hogan, who in January proposed a system of "universal school choice" for students throughout the state; Racine, in contrast, voiced strong opposition to school choice in the last session of state Legislature, a move that in early August won him the endorsement of the Vermont charter of the National Education Association.Financing for public education is more of an issue than school choice, primarily because there are fewer schools in Vermont listed as "failing" under the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" program of enhancing the quality of public schooling nationwide. Under the system, a "failing" grade would merit a students' switching schools. Act 60, or the Equal Educational Opportunity Act, was passed in 1997 to link property taxes to spending on schools in an effort to equalize education costs and quality among the state's towns and cities. Controversial since its passage, in recent weeks the law has come under greater scrutiny by lawmakers and candidates because of the methodologies used to collect taxpayer dollars and spread them evenly among Vermont schools. All three candidates for governor agree that Act 60 should be changed, and that its methodology is antiquated and highly complex.As the gubernatorial race draws closer to the Nov. 5 election, political commentators have noted marked differences between this year's candidates and those running for governor in 2000. That year witnessed intense debate around the granting of civil unions to same-sex couples, an issue that sharply divided the contest for governor between then-incumbent Howard Dean and the outspoken and sometimes controversial Republican candidate Ruth Dwyer. Though somewhat less exciting than the 2000 race, this year's election signals the first time since 1984 that neither an incumbent or former governor is campaigning for that office. Furthermore, if none of the three candidates receives more than 50 percent of the popular vote, the Vermont Constitution requires that the Legislature — which most predict will be majority Republican — will choose a governor by secret ballot in January 2003. An undecided electorate of approximately 30 percent remains a factor for the Democrat Racine, who currently leads in the polls but may have to concede the popular vote to Douglas, the Republican, if the Legislature decides who will assume the governorship at the beginning of its next session.A decidedly more tepid race than the one in 2000, the greatest controversy to emerge this election season involves not the campaign for governor but rather for state treasurer. In late August, then-candidate for treasurer, Democrat Ed Flanagan, failed to disclose an additional $100,000 that he spent on his bid for the office. The financial indiscretion generated much bad press for Flanagan, and may have contributed to his losing to contender Jeb Spaulding, a Democrat, at the polls Tuesday.
(05/08/02 12:00am)
Author: Matthew Christ The town of Middlebury, because of its size and centrality, is easy to navigate. What would make the town healthier and more accessible would be an increase in biking and walking to businesses and local merchants. The daily congestion would be lessened, parking would not be as large a problem and we would all make a step towards lessening oil dependence and local air pollution. To achieve these goals, the Middlebury Bike Club has organized two events to raise awareness about the issue and to build excitement about biking to work: the Bike to Work Challenge and the Bike Parade. Ben Brouwer '04, Michael Azzara '02.5 and Zoe Owers '02 were all instrumental in organizing the events. Brouwer is certainly an appropriate member of the community to organize these events because of his biking experience. Last summer he saved 3,600 miles worth of energy by biking home to Washington State from Vermont. He also was one of the founders of the Yellow Bike program. The Bike to Work Challenge, which officially began on May 3, is designed to promote biking and alternate forms of transportation as opposed to single-occupancy vehicles. The challenge will last until May 17, and the contestants include local businesses and different departments at Middlebury College. The contest will be judged according to the percentage of members in each organization that bike, walk or carpool to work. Those who bike are asked to record the number of miles they have biked during the three weeks, and the group with the most miles will be awarded a prize. A prize will also be given to the group with the most members not driving to work.The other event organized by the Bike Club, the Bike Parade, was held last Friday. The parade began at Twilight Hall, went through town, and finished in front of Proctor Hall. Over 75 people participated in the parade, and they carried banners with such phrases as "Make Middlebury Bike Friendly," "More Bikes, Less Cars" and "Celebrate Clean Energy." The parade concluded at the Middlebury College Community May Day celebration. The town provided support in the form of two Middlebury police officers who rode along in the parade to assist in traffic control. In order to gain official parade status, Brouwer had to obtain a permit from the town. The parade hoped not only to raise awareness of the devastating environmental effects caused by single-occupancy vehicles, but also to help improve local bike infrastructure. Issues such as global climate change, international oil dependence, local air pollution and traffic congestion are all effects of excessive single-occupancy vehicle use. Biking, walking and carpooling are methods of transportation that will improve the health, social structure and environment of the community. Improving the biking infrastructure in town would make biking safer and more prevalent. For Brouwer, although "it was spectacular to see 75 bikes going over the bridge in town with traffic stopped in either direction," he wished the events could have focused more on Middlebury student biking because he feels the amount of students driving on such a small campus is obscene.
(05/08/02 12:00am)
Author: Jasmin Johnson The Middlebury College Orchestra (MCO) celebrated popular operas at its last concert of the year. On Friday at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall, they played to an appreciative crowd of almost 190 people, competeing heavily with visting big-name band Guster.MCO is to be much applauded for a spirited performance and the interesting assortment in its repertoire.They began by playing the Leonore Overture No. 3 from Beethoven's opera "Fidelio," one of his most cherished works.This long symphonic overture began on a grave note with the sounds of the bassoon, lower strings and clarinet. The overture is a juxtaposition of these sounds as well as thundering, agitated drums, soon building up to a climatic, brilliant end. The MCO certainly did justice to what Beethoven himself affectionately called his "poor, difficult child." The winners of last January's concerto competition were featured in this concert. The competition is the brainchild of Evan Bennett, conductor of the MCO.He began the competition in 1994, and it has been held almost every year since. Noting that there was a great amount of musical talent at Middlebury College, he organized it to encourage the performance of any genre of music. This year, the competition was adjudicated by the famed Takacs Quartet, "recognized as one of the world's greatest string quartets." John Kuykendall '02, who placed first in the competition, rendered three Italian arias, accompanied by the orchestra. He handled long, florid stretches with ease in "Bella siccome un angelo."This aria was from the opera "Don Pasquale" by Donizetti, one of the greatest masterpieces of comic opera. Kuykendall has, on previous occasion, sung the two Mozart arias "Non siate ritosi" from opera "Cosi fan tutte" and "Non piu Andrai" from the opera "The Marriage of Figaro."He chose these arias because they were "playful and fun." Indeed, Kuykendall was clearly enjoying himself as he performed the arias expressively in his deep baritone. The team of sophomores Katherine Herring, Ian Ausprey and Benjamin Fainstein tied for second place in the concerto competition.Fainstein, a tenor, effortlessly sang his winning aria, the poignant first aria of Handel's opera "Xerxes," "Ombra ma fu," backed by the MCO. Herring and Ausprey performed Bach's concerto for two violins (from the Brandenburg Concertos) with the orchestra's accompaniment as well. "We chose it because it is a piece that everyone loves and that people are familiar with," said Herring. Ausprey agreed, saying it was the kind of piece every violinist plays at least "twice in his or her career." He also said that being able to play for the Takacs Quartet was ample motivation in itself.They both agreed that they enjoyed being accompanied by the orchestra. Bennett said that the enjoyment was mutual. "The orchestra always sounds great when accompanying soloists. They perform well, and I think it is because of that sense of community that is created." The accompaniment of soloists is something that Bennett tries to incorporate in the MCO's concerts. In trying to expose the orchestra to different kinds and forms of orchestral work, Bennett said that working with soloists provided the MCO with a unique opportunity to participate in an interactive performance.Flexibility was important when accompanying soloists or choruses, he said. (In the last concert in mid-March, the orchestra accompanied the Middlebury College Chamber singers as well). Also, when operas or other music with texts were performed, there was another dimension added."There is that intention to convey something through words and through the music," explained Bennet.The music program at the College is exceptional in that it tries to expose students to these various types of orchestral performance. It also offers students the opportunity to write original compositions that could be performed by such the orchestra, the choir or similar large ensembles.In the second half of the concert, the MCO performed two Carmen suites by Bizet. The passages in the suites were some of French opera's most famous. Bizet's inventiveness and the Spanish flavor of the suites provided a welcome change of air. "I chose the suites as a result of the concerto competition," Bennett said, "I thought it would be fun to have more opera."Highly commendable were the flute solo in the Aragonaise and the more popular pieces such as the "Habanera" and the "Chanson du Toreador." The echo effects of a bugle and the booming percussion added Spanish spice to the pieces.Ausprey, who was also the evening's concertmaster, performed "Nocture," a lilting, ballad-like piece with a praiseworthy violin solo. The concert ended with the "Danse Boheme," which, as the title suggests, was a gamut of mystery, tranquility and dance, working up to a frenzied pace at the end. A formidable showing by the 50-member MCO and a clear aide memoire of why Bizet is to be the maestro he is.
