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Joining forces with town, Middlebury repurposes resources and offers support

The college and the wider Middlebury community are closely collaborating to prepare for the rapidly-mounting Covid-19 crisis. Following the college’s decision to suspend in-person classes and evacuate the majority of students on March 10, the college has leveraged resources and unique opportunities that come with the mass exodus of students to support local organizations. The college has partnered with several homeless shelters to feed displaced Addison County residents and is preparing college facilities to aid Porter Medical Center as it copes with the expected influx of patients. “The college, town, and hospital are stronger together than we are alone,” President Laurie Patton said in an email to the Campus. “It's important that we collaborate and assure the community that we are doing so as we face Covid-19.” Donating meals Prior to students leaving campus, the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) worked with commons coordinators and facilities staff to create drop-boxes in each commons office, where departing students could leave non-perishable food items for donation to the Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects (HOPE) food pantry. Donations also came from the dining halls. Dining Services were unable to cancel some food orders as the college decided how long and in what capacity the dining halls would remain operational. While it is standard protocol for the dining halls to donate excess food to HOPE, Charter House and Community Suppers during breaks, the sudden and dramatic decrease of students created a much larger surplus than normal. [gallery ids="49380,49381"] Instead of letting the food go to waste, Dining Services, the CCE and several local organizations worked together to distribute it to those in need throughout the Middlebury community, said Director of Media Relations Sarah Ray on behalf of Bo Cleveland, assistant director of Dining. Dining Services donated perishable and dairy products to the Charter House, a local homeless shelter, and gave non-perishable goods to the HOPE food pantry. The CCE worked with the United Way of Addison County to convene a group of local service providers and discuss how to sustain these services during this crisis. Through this group, the CCE was able to identify areas of community need, according to Jason Duquette-Hoffman, assistant director of the privilege and poverty academic cluster at the CCE. On March 20, the Charter House and John Graham Shelter had to move several former residents to local hotels and motels due to the health risk of the close living quarters of the shelters. As a result, they lost access to the meals that the shelters normally provide them. The CCE coordinated with Dining Services and the shelters' volunteers to feed the 14 evacuees, according to Duquette-Hoffman. After the Charter House closed its warming shelters entirely on March 21, sending the remaining guests to hotels and motels, demand for alimentation assistance rapidly spiked. Again, Middlebury stepped in to close the gap, providing 42 lunches and dinners on March 21 and 42 breakfasts and lunches and 46 dinners March 22, according to Cleaveland. The following week, on March 24, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration David Provost committed the college to providing up to 50 meals to those in need each day as long as the dining halls remain operational, according to Duquette-Hoffman. “In a time when things were changing nearly by the minute, Dining Services was working throughout the weekend and in constant contact with us and community colleagues to understand, adapt to and meet these needs,” Duquette-Hoffman said. “I am deeply grateful for their work and the support of the college in so readily meeting this most critical need.” Individual staff members also stepped up to address community needs. Dining staff at Proctor packaged and provided meals for four families of migrant dairy workers, according to Cleaveland. Lending college spaces The college is temporarily housing Porter Medical Center clinical employees in Munford House residential hall. The employees are all healthy, and none are suspected to have been exposed to Covid-19. By providing them with isolated housing, however, the hospital and college hope to reduce the risk that they will become infected by the larger community and endanger the residents of Helen Porter Nursing and Rehabilitation Center with whom they work, or vice versa. The employees will move into Munford today, according to a campus-wide email. A greatly diminished campus population has dramatically decreased the demand for dining and facilities’ labor. In order to retain staff, the college is also prepared to assign extra facilities and dining staff to work in the town and hospital if they cannot find tasks on campus, according to a campus-wide email on March 18. Given safety and health concerns, staff members would not be mandated to work in this capacity, but instead asked to help if needed, according to Provost. As Covid-19 spreads throughout Vermont, Middlebury is prepared to repurpose Chip Kenyon Arena to host a Department of Health mobile hospital unit in the event that coronavirus cases exceed Porter Medical Center’s current capacity. Porter hosts 25 acute care beds under normal circumstances. The mobile hospital unit at Kenyon could nearly double that capacity, according to the Addison Independent. “The College’s guiding principle is to be ‘on call’ for the community and help in any way it can,” Patton wrote in a joint letter written with Brian Carpenter, chair of the Middlebury select board, and Thomas Thompson, interim president of Porter Hospital. To that end, the college is preparing for scenarios in which it would “share its building, dining, and other infrastructure resources” with the town and hospital, Patton explained in her letter. While the administration is still consulting with town and hospital officials, Patton expects they will be able to announce more details soon. “This work is so critical not only because this community is where we study and learn, but because it is where we (faculty, staff and students) work, live and make our homes, said Duquette-Hoffman, “It is part of what makes Middlebury, Middlebury.”

Optional Pass/D/Fail is community failure

A week since I was asked to leave Middlebury, my family has set up a makeshift office for me in our living room. We bought a WiFi extender so I could Zoom from this basically unused far corner of the house. I’ve been baking, walking my dogs and decluttering our house during my extra week of spring break. My parents will start to work from home this week; thankfully, Covid-19 has only changed their place of work, rather than putting them out of a job altogether. My younger sister is starting her second week of remote learning and has set up her own office in another room in the house. It’s a full house and it’s more family time than I bargained for, but I have everything I need and more to have a successful semester. I am one of many Middlebury students who has gone home to nothing more difficult than a little too much family time. Other Middlebury students are not so lucky. My friend is living with a friend because her parents live abroad and the ticket home is too expensive. Another is returning to an abusive household. Others don’t have internet access, or their parents have lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19, or their younger siblings are home from school and they are expected to watch them while their parents are working. Needless to say, the remainders of their semesters are going to look a lot different than my own. This is why I support universal pass/fail. Universal pass/fail ensures students an equal grading scale as opposed to optional pass/fail, which gives students the choice to opt in or out of traditional grading for the semester. The problem with an optional pass/fail system is that students like me will have no trouble opting in for traditional grading, while others — those with more difficult home situations, for example — might face competing priorities that make pass/fail the only feasible option. I know I do not work any harder than many of my classmates, but I also know that when it comes time to apply to graduate school, our transcripts may say otherwise if I am able to earn letter grades while less-advantaged peers must choose Pass/D/Fail. Plus, graduate schools such as the prestigious Harvard Medical School have already said that they will recognize pass/fail grades as valid to fulfil medical school prerequisites, “provided it is the policy of the college/university to only award pass/fail grades.” I do not think that any student should be punished academically because of their living situations — nor do I think I should be rewarded for coming from a home that is not negatively affected by Covid-19. Only with universal pass/fail will we be able to do right by ALL of our students. What drives the pushback against universal pass/fail is the unwillingness of privileged Middlebury students to forego the unmerited benefits they receive from said privilege. It’s a pattern I’ve seen time and again at Middlebury — I find that oftentimes, students are willing to acknowledge inequity, but fall short when it comes to rectifying it. Students would rather have the semester positively affect their GPA than stand in solidarity with their peers. This petition serves as a litmus test of community empathy. I encourage my peers to reflect on their own reluctance to implement universal pass/fail. If your reason for not signing is because you want a couple of A’s, then you are complicit in perpetuating a system that benefits the privileged and precludes those without means from succeeding. When I wrote this there were only 250 signatories. Although that number continues to increase, there is still a large group of students who have yet to sign. If we really cared about our community and its most vulnerable members in this time of crisis, more students would have signed by now. As a reflection of Middlebury’s commitment to uplift those without means, the response to universal Pass/D/Fail so far has been pretty telling. Lily Colón is a member of the class of 2021.5.

Grading takes center stage as students prepare for unprecedented shift to online classes

The transition to remote learning sparked debate about equitable grading during the Covid-19 pandemic, after most students were sent home to continue the spring semester on digital platforms such as Zoom and Panopto. On March 16, Middlebury announced a grading policy that would allow students to continue working toward a letter grade or to opt for a Pass/D/Fail grade in any class. Because of the emergency nature of the pandemic, decisions about changing academic policies — which would typically require several months of debate and be made with the input of a broader range of faculty — have been taken on by the college’s “ad hoc academic continuity group,” composed of five faculty and five faculty administrators. Following the email announcing the new grading system, some students organized a petition — originally titled #NoFailMidd — to advocate for a universal pass/fail grading system. The five student organizers of #NoFailMidd raised concerns in the petition about socioeconomic inequalities inherent in an opt-in Pass/D/Fail system, citing a lack of resources or added responsibilities at home as challenges that might push some students toward the Pass/D/Fail option, while allowing their more privileged peers to pursue GPA-boosting letter grades. Following the launch of #NoFailMidd, other student advocates launched a sister campaign pushing for a Dual A policy modeled after some Harvard students’ “Double A proposal”. The two campaigns have since merged, evolving into #FairGradesMidd. An updated petition and an op-ed in The Campus, written by organizers, have since been publicized. “People have come out and acknowledged how this approach that the college is taking is really blind to privilege,” said Arthur Martins ’22.5, one of the organizers of the petition. “When we talk about any argument that’s about choice, we need to see it as a material reality. If you have two people that have very different material circumstances, you can’t ask them to make the same choice.” Martins said the petition now has over 1,000 signatures. The petition encourages students to contact their representatives from the Student Government Association (SGA), as well as faculty members, to advocate for their prefered grading method. “At Middlebury … everyone had the classroom to go to, everyone could go to the dining hall, have a meal, go back to the library, do their work. All the work that was happening had support, and everyone had access to a very similar structure of support,” Martins said. Other educational institutions across the country have also been grappling with an unprecedented shift to online classes, and the consequences that shift has for existing grading systems. Several other universities have adopted universal pass/fail or similar systems, including undergraduate programs at Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Bowdoin College and MIT, as well law schools at Harvard University and Stanford University. Organizers at Yale University — another institution considering a shift to mandatory pass/fail — sparked the movement with their “No Fail Yale” petition. At Harvard, dynamic debates and frequent stance reversals reflect the complexity of the fair grading movement on all fronts. The college’s undergraduate council — its SGA equivalent — reversed its stance three times in 24 hours on which grading system to endorse, The Harvard Crimson reported earlier this week. The latest update from the college announced that it would follow a universal satisfactory-unsatisfactory grading system. Middlebury’s SGA does not currently plan to endorse any one model, but will hear the different proposals at its Sunday meeting so that it can develop a survey to gauge student opinion. Movements collide The initial #NoFailMidd petition was met with opposition on two fronts: some students called for the opt-in system to continue, while other students believed a Dual A system — where every student receives either an A or an A- in each class — would be fairer. The organizers of #NoFailMidd, who see it as their mission to generate conversation on equitable grading this semester, reached out to the students advocating for Dual A and incorporated their ideas into the new #FairGradesMidd petition, which outlines the strengths of both the universal pass/fail system and the Dual A system. Meanwhile, opponents have voiced concerns, both in class Facebook groups and in Campus op-eds, about students being insufficiently motivated or not properly learning the material if they are not given the option of pursuing letter grades. There are also questions about whether graduate programs that typically require letter grades will accept pass/fail classes taken this semester, and that students — especially seniors — will not have the chance to boost their GPAs with grades from this semester. Priya Kaur, ’22, Yasmine Signey ’22, Nellie Zhang ’23 and Maya David ’23 started a counter petition, titled #OptInMidd, describing the case for a continued opt-in pass/fail system. Advocates of the Dual A system say it can operate as a middle ground between the two proposals. Students would still receive letter grades for their work, but the system would be more uniform and therefore more supportive of students in vulnerable situations, according to Chloe Fleisher ’21.5, an organizer who joined #FairGradesMidd when Dual A was added. Students applying to postgraduate programs, internships and jobs or looking to maintain scholarship eligibility would see their GPA positively impacted, while allowing greater accommodations for their new situations. “This rewards students for the work that they have already done and for being able to work in really adverse conditions in a global pandemic, and basically creates, in my view, the most equitable system,” she said. In an email to The Campus, the organizers of the #OptInMidd counter petition said they were glad that the #NoFailMidd organizers recognized its call for maintaining a grades-based grading system for the semester. “We also support a Dual A grading system, but with some hesitations,” they wrote. The organizers of #OptInMidd expressed hope that under a system like Dual A, Middlebury students would adhere to the Honor Code and work for their grades. But they maintained concerns that students would abuse the system or not put in enough effort to learn the material. “We believe that opt-in Pass/D/Fail encourages students to do their best since they are still graded in the typical manner, but can also provide a choice for all,” the #OptInMidd organizers said. Calling the shots Neither the updated #FairGradesMidd proposal nor the #OptInMidd petition were available when the academic continuity group last met on Thursday morning. But the committee did discuss the universal pass/fail proposal at length. “We are most definitely interested in a solution that guarantees as much equity as possible,’  said Luso-Hispanic Studies Professor Daniel Silva in an email to The Campus. Silva serves on the academic continuity group as a representative for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion faculty committee. “We will be meeting again early next week and will likely discuss the new developments and options,” he added. “Many of our students are facing tremendous challenges back home due to the pandemic that are unimaginable to many other members of the Middlebury community. My hope is that we find a solution that addresses their needs first and foremost.” Some professors have already voiced their support for pass/fail grading. Allison Stanger, a Middlebury professor currently on sabbatical and teaching at Harvard, recently wrote an op-ed for The Chronicle of Higher Education advocating for colleges to move to pass/fail. The Campus reprinted that op-ed online. “It is unjust to assume that there is a level playing field for students who have been forced to leave campus,” Stanger said in an email to The Campus. “We assume that it is so when we bring students together on campus, even though it isn’t the case, but it is a bridge too far to maintain that assumption in a global pandemic.” Going forward, Martins, the #FairGradesMidd organizer, invites students to share testimonials about their experiences, sign onto the various petitions and contact their representatives about the changes they want to see. “I think [students] are already being impacted positively through the process,” Martins said. “This is a grassroots movement … I hope it leaves this question of what can student activism look like, what can engagement with the community really look like? I think that it’s really been a beautiful exercise of community-making.” Editor's note: The Campus has published multiple op-eds on suggestions about grading policy. Read them here. If you would like to submit your own op-ed, please email campus@middlebury.edu.

Current grading options are an equitable compromise

Many Middlebury students have set tangible goals for this semester: to improve their GPAs, to get A’s in certain classes, or to make the Dean’s list. With the current grading options available, the college maintains a sense of normalcy and students can still strive to achieve these goals, making the most of the circumstances they have been dealt.   While some students fear that offering the choice of traditional letter grades alongside the Pass/D/Fail option will put them at a disadvantage, many others see this semester just like any other: an opportunity to perform well in classes to develop a strong resume for graduate school through strengthening their GPAs. Switching to a mandatory pass/fail system would remove the opportunity for students to achieve these goals.  We have been dealt difficult circumstances, not only as students and faculty at Middlebury but as a nation. Challenging situations are unavoidable, and will come and go throughout the course of our lives. We still have a chance to make the most out of this situation and to find opportunity amid crisis. Now is the time to strive to learn and achieve in the face of adversity. When confronted with difficult issues in life, it is in our best interest to remain motivated and seek a sense of normalcy. To remove the ability to achieve letter grades this semester would be to remove fuel from our students’ learning interests, which we need now more than ever.  Despite our best efforts toward equity, every classroom — remote or traditional — advantages some students over others.  Students all have different needs and challenges. In our current remote educational setting, it is the job of the faculty to equip students with the tools to succeed. Frequent communication between faculty and students is an absolute necessity in order to help address these needs. Faculty must be understanding of the unique challenges individuals may have, ranging from family struggles to health to material accessibility. Faculty and students should work together within this current grading structure to tailor this semester to help meet each individual’s needs and support all students in achieving their goals.  At a stressful time like this, other schools’ plans provide helpful examples. For instance some schools, including RIT and Carnegie Mellon have instituted options where the decision to invoke pass/fail can be made after final grades are posted. These options can help alleviate the stress of “Will I be able to succeed in a remote-learning environment?” while still allowing students to be engaged, motivated, and driven to achieve. In these difficult times, we have to be honest with ourselves about our goals and the effort we’re planning on putting into our work. Whether we like it or not, many students are motivated by grades. Are we going to put forth the same effort in a Pass/D/Fail scenario — in which a C is equivalent to an A —  as we are in an environment which allows us to set goals, improve our GPAs and bolster our graduate school resumes? To remove the ability to achieve letter grades this semester would be to remove fuel from our students’ learning interests, which we need now more than ever.  One bright side to this situation is that the entire world is confronting the same circumstances, so there will be a significant amount of understanding and awareness regarding this time. The range and magnitude of this pandemic will leave employers no choice but to be empathetic and recognize that many schools are presently providing pass/fail options. The opportunity to choose between Pass/D/Fail and letter grades is only beneficial: Receiving good grades in a time of stress has the capacity to impress employers, and employers are also likely to be understanding and forgiving if students do invoke pass/fail. I find it difficult to believe that employers will be able to, or even want to, differentiate between applicants who had the option to Pass/D/Fail classes and applicants who were mandated to Pass/D/Fail their courses. As a transfer student in my second semester at Middlebury, I have fewer semesters here than most students in which to build a GPA I feel proud of. Each semester feels critical for me. There are relatively few transfer students at Middlebury, and as a result our voices are not well-represented during this time of critical decision-making. Transfer and first-year students who feel they under-performed in their first semesters are eager to showcase their improvement, in addition to proving to themselves that they can be successful. A mandatory pass-fail option strips them of that ability.  Although no single option presents a perfect scenario for all students, I believe our current grading structure provides versatility and flexibility and permits each individual student to choose an option that best suits their academic goals. To constrain us to a single option fails to support the varying goals of a diverse community of learners.  Tommy Eastman is a member of the class of 2021.

Make all courses pass/fail now

This is a reprint of a piece published in The Chronicle of Higher Education on March 19. You can see that version here. I’m a visiting professor of government at Harvard, on sabbatical from my regular teaching job at Middlebury College. Like my colleagues around the world, I am trying, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, to remake a course meant to be taught in real time, face to face, into a rewarding distance-learning experience. I am teaching a small seminar and am confident I can make that transition. I am much less confident, however, that I can also grade students fairly when they have relocated around the globe. Some institutions in recent weeks, including MIT and Smith College, have converted all of their courses for the spring semester to mandatory pass/fail to address the extraordinary challenges being faced by their students and faculty. Other colleges should follow their lead. Changing all courses to pass/fail and adding an asterisk to everyone’s transcript would eliminate any problems with fairness while allowing students and faculty to focus on creating a meaningful learning experience in anxious times. In normal times, it makes sense to have individual faculty members determine fair assessment. But these are not normal times. Students were forced to leave campus on short notice and are now scattered around the world. Some will be tuning in from distant time zones, others from situations where a stable internet connection is an unaffordable luxury good. Both Harvard and Middlebury have extended the deadline for converting a course to pass/fail, so students without access at least have that option. But it is unjust that some students should be forced to choose that path while other students continue to receive letter grades. That problem is solved at a stroke by a universitywide policy to switch all classes this semester to pass/fail. Such a policy would also help with the matter of academic honesty in courses that require timed examinations. Questions about fairness only multiply for large lecture courses that have social distancing between faculty members and students embedded in the very structure of regular assessment. My son, a math and computer-science major, reports that one of his friends — a top performer — has been approached by multiple students asking if they could collaborate on assignments, including the final exam, in the new remote world. The student shared his concerns about cheating with the professor, who responded that he would just have to make the exam harder. I can imagine measures to administer exams online in such a way as to minimize dishonesty, but all of these problems evaporate with a mandate from on high to evaluate outcomes using pass/fail. The same is the case for those worried about a negative effect on applications to graduate school. The truth is that everybody would benefit from a pass/fail policy. Faculty members could focus on engaging students for learning in demanding new circumstances. Students would get a respite from direct competition with their peers to focus on both individual growth and doing their part in a common endeavor (a skill we are very much going to need in the months ahead). Parents could focus on loving and nurturing their children rather than worrying about how to assist them in navigating or gaming a new system. Much as it did in shutting down, the university would reaffirm its commitment to the ties that bind us at a time when the world needs it most. If a few institutions lead, others will follow. Some may protest the shift as unfair, because it invalidates the accomplishments of those who were at the top of the grade hierarchy when the regular semester ground to a halt. But what does excellence actually mean when global public health is under siege? The measures that are necessary to contain the pandemic require the strong to sacrifice their short-term selfish interests for the sake of other humans and the sustainability of our democracy. Colleges could reinforce that commitment by recognizing that it will be impossible to decide what is a fair grade when the world seems to be spinning out of control for all of us. It is also a way of acknowledging that what we do together in face-to-face education cannot be replaced with a high-speed internet connection. The pandemic has a way of taking all of us back to core questions about what we value and why, and the matter of grading while the plague rages is no exception. If our purpose in teaching is to engage students in the joy we ourselves have experienced from learning and the life of the mind, removing letter grades from the interaction, especially in dark times, only reinforces our shared commitment. Social distancing to flatten the curve is all about making small sacrifices for the good of others. Myopic, self-interested behavior, after all, is what got us into this predicament. Global problems such as pandemics and climate change can only be addressed collectively; we can’t see each other as competitors in a zero-sum-game. In opposition to both experts and institutions of higher learning, President Trump has insisted that we live in a ruthless, might-makes-right world, where the strong do as they can and the weak as they must. It is up to each and every one of us to prove him wrong, to show that the human instinct to care for others can be stronger than the desire to dominate and dictate, that the hardships that lie ahead of us are also an opportunity to build a world that sustains and rewards empathy and community rather than the unfettered pursuit of power. A "pandemic asterisk" semester for all would be a step in that direction. Allison Stanger is a professor of international politics and economics at Middlebury. She is currently on sabbatical at Harvard University, where she is teaching a course on the politics of virtual realities and holding fellowships with the Edmund J. Safra Center for Ethics and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance.

What happens now that we’re all in long-distance friendships?

The minute I found out we were leaving campus, I knew what I would miss the most: my friends. I felt a sympathetic pang for the seniors who I knew would be missing one of the final steps in their college careers. Then, I took a moment to feel for myself. My fellow first-years and I were also in a crucial developmental stage. I was just starting to get into the rhythm of the second semester. Feeling secure in my classes, I was excited for spring, and I wanted to dig deep into friendships that I felt were just beginning to grow stronger.  But all of that was cut short. I see myself mostly as an introvert. I like to spend time alone to recharge before I can engage in lots of social activity. That’s not to say that I don’t like to spend time with my friends (I do!), it’s just that I need more time than others to prevent myself from becoming overwhelmed. This particular trait has made college slightly difficult, as Midd often feels like a place where extroverts thrive from constant contact. And, as a first-year, coping with loneliness is a big part of learning how to navigate the college social scene.  But being back home now, my biggest concern for my social life is: How do I build deeper connections with people I find special when I already find reaching out in-person difficult? As my good friends know, I’m an analog person. I listen to music from the ’70s, I prefer calling over texting and my average daily screen time is rarely above 30 minutes. I try to stay off social media and prefer to live in the present and focus on those around me. This was easy when I was on campus, where many of my friends lived in my dorm or right nearby — but now, it is considerably more difficult without that physical connection. I have found myself using Snapchat and Instagram more often and being anxious to call people. I don’t want others to feel like I’m intruding, but I also crave a connection with the people I spent so much time with this year. It’s hard to find a balance; I don’t want to be seen as over-eager, yet I want to speak to my friends (even though my biggest update is that I finished re-reading another “Harry Potter” book). It’s during these times that I try to remind myself that if I got a FaceTime or phone call from one of my friends out of the blue, I would be excited to hear from them. In the midst of all this chaos, I have found myself trying to reevaluate which aspects of the interweb and social media I actually value, and which ones get in the way of connecting with others. In order to have the most authentic, nitty-gritty and tangible mode of communication and friendship building I’ve been searching for, I have turned to snail mail. There’s nothing quite like sitting down and writing a letter to make you feel like you are actually connecting and communicating with a person. Letters can act as snapshots of what life is like in that moment. They can be saved and put in a box to be found years later, forever preserving that exchange. A letter is not a message that disappears after 10 seconds and it’s not a post sent en masse. Like conversations held over Atwater breakfasts, or during the long walk from Allen to the AC, or even waiting for Proc paninis to be ready, letter writing is personal and intentional. In this way, it reminds me of friendships at Midd; you know that you’re special when someone has taken the time to write a letter, address an envelope and run all over the house trying to find a stamp. So, give someone you care about that nice feeling and write a letter.  Genevieve Herron is a member of the class of 2023.

Midd students scramble to get home as Covid-19 shuts down programs abroad

While students on Middlebury’s Vermont campus worried last week about when they would next see friends, how to navigate remote coursework and where to go after school shut down, those enrolled in programs abroad were confronting the same worries, but with an added caveat: To make it home, many of them would have to travel halfway across the world amid a rapidly-spreading global pandemic. Concerns over the Covid-19 virus have led colleges around the world to cancel study-abroad programs, and Middlebury’s own 16 programs have suffered the same fate. The college’s schools in China and Italy closed earlier this spring as the virus spread in those countries. Between March 10 and March 13, all remaining Middlebury schools abroad, from programs in Europe to Latin America, suspended their operations. The college later put out a call for all students remaining in foreign countries — those in externally-sponsored programs or who had stayed in host countries after their Middlebury programs canceled — to return to the U.S on March 19, the day the State Department issued a Level Four Global Travel Advisory. The result was several days of chaos and uncertainty for roughly 250 Middlebury students whose study abroad experiences had forcibly come to an end, as they sought to find their way home amid quickly-implemented travel bans and emerging facts about a mostly-unknown virus. “‘Chaotic’ is the best way to describe it,” said Porter Bowman ’21.5, who was studying in Stockholm, Sweden through an independent program canceled on March 11. Communication breakdowns Students reported that occasionally poor communication from program coordinators, combined with rumors and bewildering information bites from national news sources, increased the stress of navigating cancellation of their programs and journeys home. Kenzo Okazaki ’21 was enrolled in Middlebury’s CMRS program in Oxford, England, which was suspended on March 10. Students in his program became confused that morning, Okazaki said, after some of them received screenshots of the March 10 email in which Professor Héctor Vila leaked that the college would send students home from its Vermont campus later that week. Several nervous hours passed between when students first read Vila’s email and when they finally learned the fate of their own program from coordinators. “I think everyone was frustrated that there wasn’t much of a heads up that our program might be shut down, so that at least people could start thinking about leaving more than six days in advance,” Okazaki said. Abroad program coordinators have had to work “around the clock” to give direction to the movements of hundreds of students in programs across many time zones, according to Dean of International Programs Carlos Vélez. Vélez said the study abroad office made “every effort” to make decisions and update students on their programs’ status as quickly as possible, but that in any given country, information about travel advisories and restrictions “would change without warning, both from U.S. and local agencies.” “One of the biggest challenges has been the relentless pace at which things have changed during this crisis,” he said. Sometimes, lack of transparency from parties beyond students’ host institutions — like the president of the United States — caused problems. For students enrolled with Bowman in the DIS (Study Abroad in Scandinavia) Stockholm program, the hours between President Trump’s March 11 press conference, which aired at 2 a.m. Stockholm time on March 12, and the program’s official cancellation three hours later were “chaos.” During that press conference, Trump announced he was banning all non-essential travel to and from Europe effective that Friday, failing to mention that U.S. citizens would still be able to travel freely. After the conference, assuming they would be unable to get back into the U.S., the Americans in Bowman’s program frantically rushed to make travel plans even without receiving confirmation that their program had ended. “It was crazy,” Bowman said. “Flights were going like concert tickets.” In an open letter written by Helene Gusman ’21 (who studied in Yaroslavl, Russia) and Megan Salmon ’21 (Santiago, Chile) and circulated the week of March 9, students in programs abroad called on the administration to provide clarity on their situations. They had never received President Laurie Patton’s email outlining the Vermont campus’s plan to shut down, according to the letter, and had to wait hours and sometimes days before receiving clarity on the status of specific schools abroad. Vélez later clarified that messages sent to the “all student” mailbox are typically sent to students in abroad programs, but that a technical issue prevented the delivery of some such messages that week. Gusman and Salmon’s letter received signatures from 40 students around the world; however, its writers ultimately chose not to send it to the administration after Trump announced his travel ban and abroad programs began to provide more information to students. Trump’s travel ban caused panic for students across Europe. Gretchen Doyle ’21.5, who was studying in Middlebury’s program in Madrid, Spain, said she received a call from a friend at 5 a.m. local time on March 12 alerting her of the travel ban. Like Bowman, she was so concerned that she immediately bought a plane ticket home to New Jersey without waiting for confirmation of her program’s cancellation. Doyle recognized the challenges posed to abroad program coordinators in uncertain times, but said she was still frustrated by a lack of communication from Middlebury. “After Trump announced the travel ban and the majority of us had bought tickets to fly home, we didn’t hear anything from our program for a long time,” Doyle said. “I don’t blame anyone for the way things were handled because it was a stressful time for everyone, but I was frustrated.” As confusing as Trump’s language in his press conference was for students, Vélez said that it was equally disruptive for the study abroad office. Though the press conference made it seem as though the travel ban would apply to all travelers, the study abroad office was not certain this was the case and decided to wait to make announcements until the U.S. State Department released its official proclamation on the travel ban, Vélez said. “At that point, close to midnight in Vermont, all of our program directors communicated the correct information to all of our students abroad,” Vélez said. Students worry about academic continuity Just as students enrolled at Middlebury in Vermont worry about how coursework will continue as the college shifts to remote learning, those in programs abroad are wondering how curricula taught in different languages and across time zones will translate to life at home. Okazaki’s coursework within the CMRS-Oxford program was largely focused on individual research in Oxford’s libraries, and weekly one-on-one check-ins with professors during which students are given rigorous feedback on written work. That intimate structure will not be easily replicated thousands of miles away from Oxford’s famed libraries, he said. “The idea was to use Oxford's library and to become familiar with the resources you can get there that you can't get anywhere else in the world,” Okazaki said. “Well, now we are anywhere else in the world without a library.” Other students, like Lila Sternberg-Sher ’21.5, had not even begun classes at their host universities when their programs shut down. Students in Sternberg-Sher’s Middlebury program in Temuco, Chile — as well as in all other programs in Latin America, where local university classes begin in mid-March — were given the option of receiving full refunds and forgoing academic credit for the semester or taking online classes through Middlebury’s program in Chile (not the public university where they had planned on taking classes). Sternberg-Sher, a linguistics major, said she was disappointed that she will have to pass up on in-person linguistics research she was planning on doing in Temuco, but still plans to take remote classes from home. “I’m lucky enough to be set up well within my major that it shouldn’t be a huge issue for me,” she said, adding that the Chile program is well-equipped for remote learning after navigating university shut-downs last fall. Many students expressed relief that the Pass/D/Fail option would extend to those in abroad programs, like Hailey Kent ’21.5, who is directly enrolled in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where classes began in January. “This did not make for a very academically fulfilling semester, and I am glad that Middlebury is extending its pass/fail policy to students abroad because I feel my grades are not accurate representations of the quality of the work I have completed,” she wrote in an email to The Campus. Experiential learning Though the week of March 9 was mostly stressful for students, many said it was eye-opening to see the varied responses of governments and populations of their host countries during one of the more frantic times in recent history. In Madrid, Doyle and other students were surprised by the lax approach residents seemed to take to the virus in a city that news outlets have reported as a Covid-19 hotspot. They watched Madrid’s metro system, restaurants, cafes and sporting events running like normal, even as they heard from friends in the U.S that worry over the virus was heightening there. “There were people out in the central park, Retiro, and out at bars until the day I left,” said Lilly Kuhn ’21.5. Jess Cohen ’21, who was studying at the main public university in Buenos Aires, Argentina through a Middlebury program, observed similarly low concern over Covid-19 at first. Students’ host families, he said, were quick to denounce anxiety over the virus as overblown, and students in the program were similarly unworried. Once the Argentine government began to shut down public spaces on March 13 (the day Middlebury canceled its program there), Cohen said the seriousness of the situation began to sink in. No matter the reaction of varying countries’ populations, students said worry over the virus significantly impacted the truncated time they had in their host countries. “I read the news every night before going to bed and right when I woke up, and I usually couldn’t sleep through the night,” Doyle said. “It was difficult to immerse ourselves fully in Spanish culture because we didn’t know how much longer we’d be there, so it wasn’t the study abroad experience I had hoped for, to say the least.” Some students, disappointed at the prospect of losing a semester of language and cultural immersion, pondered staying in their host countries even after Middlebury had suspended programs or their host universities had closed entirely. Cohen initially planned to continue living with his host family and taking remote classes after the Middlebury program in Buenos Aires was suspended. By doing so, he thought, he could still obtain the Spanish-immersion experience he had gone to Argentina for in the first place while weathering the storm of Covid-19 in an area that seemed relatively unaffected. “I felt like all of the students in my program who had decided to leave were surprised that I was going to stay — but they had all wanted to stay,” he said. In the 24 hours after he made his initial decision, though, as Cohen watched the city shut down, he decided to head back to his home in Colorado. Even Buenos Aires, a part of the world that was largely untouched by the virus at the time of the Middlebury program’s cancellation, was closing bars, soccer stadiums, museums and restaurants — steps that were being replicated around the world to prepare for unknown effects of the rapidly-spreading pandemic. “Streets that were usually totally full of people and cars were completely dead,” Cohen said. “All the shops other than the grocery stores and a couple of cafes were closed that normally would be full.” Cohen scrambled to buy a ticket home on Saturday, March 14, and got one of the last flights out of the country before Argentina shut its borders on Sunday. Okazaki said that, between the Oxford program’s cancellation on Tuesday and his Sunday departure, there wasn’t much time to be preoccupied. When he finally found his seat on a direct flight from Heathrow to Salt Lake City, though, he said a sense of calm washed over him. “As soon as I got on the plane I realized how relieved I was and how lucky I was to get out of there,” Okazaki said. “I got home and realized that the U.K. was going to start being shut down, and realized how much crisis I had averted.” Editor’s note: Porter Bowman ’21.5 is a news correspondent for The Campus.

The college’s ‘first priority’: continuing staff wages

Editor's Note: On April 7, the college committed to continuing staff wages through June 30, 2020, regardless of an employees' accrued time off, through the Covid Pay Bank, or sick leave.  As storefronts and institutions shutter their doors to ward off the spread of Covid-19, thousands of employees are being laid off across the country. At Middlebury — the largest employer in Addison County — the college’s crisis management team has developed a roadmap for maintaining staff wages after most students departed during the unfolding pandemic.  The plan, shared with the community in an email Wednesday, outlines the college’s goal of continuing both staff work and compensation in the coming months, laying out nine “tenets” in support of this objective. This commitment to pay staff in full will “continue to be evaluated on a month-to-month” basis, according to the email. For many Middlebury employees, from groundskeepers to cooks, employment revolves around the 2,500 students who typically reside on campus. With fewer than 140 students now remaining in the dormitories, much of that work is dissipating. Moreover, the college expects to refund students for these unused services, which creates a gap in financing.  “We are committed to wage continuity as our first priority for as long as possible,” said Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration David Provost in an email to The Campus. “We are doing this knowing that we will be making a significant refund for unused dining and room charges, an obligation that reflects our commitment to our students.”  The commitment to continue paying staff applies to all benefits-eligible employees, meaning both full-time workers and workers who work at least 50%, plus one hour, of a full-time schedule. Examples of part-time workers excluded under the plan are high school students who work a limited number of hours in the dining halls, according to Provost.  The college’s response to the dwindled demand for certain services is to move some employees into different jobs. As of now, there are around 70 dining employees who will soon be temporarily transferred to facilities. These employees’ work will focus on deep-cleaning college buildings and landscaping, according to Sarah Ray, the director of media relations for the college.  Patti McCaffrey, a cook in Atwater dining hall, is one of these employees who will be moving to work with the custodial team. She said that in the past week, the dining staff cleaned Atwater as she had never seen it cleaned before. Usually, they clean tabletops and floors. This time, they were also disinfecting chair legs and walls. “Usually we mop the floor, but we don’t usually do walls,” she said. “This time we did.” Some employees expressed worry about continuing with business as usual during a health crisis. One staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from management, cited having a child at home with respiratory problems as a reason for their concern. They fear that continuing to work on campus will put their family at risk. “All the people who can’t work from home, they are expected to be here, working every day,” they said. “That’s not really safe for us. I have family members who are extremely vulnerable to this virus. I’d much rather be at home with them.” The staff member said the college has yet to provide protective gear for employees who are still reporting to work on campus. McCaffrey says employees are wearing gloves as usual, but that she suspects masks will be provided if the situation at the college becomes severe. “We have to feed these remaining students somehow,” she said. “Even if it gets so bad that we’re pre-boxing food and leaving it at their doors. That’s when they’ll probably have us wearing masks.”  The college’s plan also provides a so-called Covid-19 Pay Bank. This bank gives staff an additional 21 sick days to stay home if they or a family member becomes ill with the virus. Staff can use the four weeks without dipping into their regular banks of sick days. Middlebury’s staff plan for the viral crisis is comparable to other colleges’ plans--and in many cases, it is more generous. Tufts University has committed to pay employees if they need to quarantine, but did not specify how many days they will grant full compensation. Bowdoin College will assess compensation on a case-by-case basis, and advised staff to contact their supervisors for additional information if they become sick.  But staff are now facing another dilemma: childcare, which has long been in high demand in Addison County, even in the best of times. “While I appreciate that [the Pay Bank] is 21 days, the only issue I have is now I have to make the decision to use it in order to take care of my kids or save it in case I get sick,” said Erin Jones-Poppe, the college bookstore manager. In accordance with Vermont’s mandate to close all “non-essential” childcare facilities, many daycare centers in the Middlebury area have stopped operating. Otter Creek Child Center in Middlebury closed on Tuesday, March 17. The daycare only had 11 kids on the final day of operation, according to its executive director, Linda January. The center usually has 45. “I haven’t received any pushback from family members,” January said. “Most families opted to keep their children home before we even closed. They get it.” The college’s outreach to the wider community also holds uncertainty for staff. In an open letter to the community co-written with other community leaders, President Patton offered some of the college’s infrastructure — such as buildings — as local officials prepare for the worst.  President Patton said the college had already drained the ice hockey rink so that the arena could be used as a “portable hospital, if necessary” during an interview with the Addison Independent. As coordination between the hospital and the college is still in the planning stage, it is at this point unclear how the relationship might impact Middlebury staff’s responsibilities. Although administrators are already in communication with local health officials, Provost clarified that no staff member would be required to work if there is future collaboration with Porter Hospital. He insisted that the college would only ask staff members to help if needed. “From my perspective, I think the college is really going to bat for staff and trying to do what they can," McCaffrey said. "When I look at neighbors having to file for unemployment, I feel pretty good about what the college is doing.”

Please don't take a vacation in the middle of a global pandemic

As I boarded the final leg of my journey home, a 12-hour flight from Boston to Honolulu, I was overcome with emotion. Not only had the process of moving out of Middlebury been exhausting, but it had also been extremely hard to decide where I was going to go after leaving campus. In the end, I decided to fly home. Upon arrival, I would immediately self-isolate to mitigate any possible Covid-19 exposure to my local community. Still, as I walked down the jetway, I was barely sure of my decision — and so I was shocked when the plane quickly filled up with tourists. A woman behind me gave an explanation. She had the next two weeks off from her work as a school teacher, and had always wanted to go to Hawaiʻi. When she saw how cheap the tickets were, she just had to buy them. I was stunned. This woman was vacationing to the most remote major city in the world, to the state with the seventh oldest population in the country, in the middle of what had just been declared a global pandemic. I immediately thought of my friends who work in the tourism industry and live with their grandparents (­a common situation in the islands). Working in close proximity to tourists, they’re at high risk for contracting the disease and passing it along to their family members. Every tourist’s decision to vacation jeopardizes the lives of my friends and their families.   I’m aware of how upsetting the drastic change to spring break plans can be. I’m also aware of the seemingly incredible travel opportunities presented by low airplane fares and plummeting hotel prices. But right now, your decisions as a traveler, as a tourist, are bound to have unintended consequences. At present, any travel disregards social distancing recommendations suggested by doctors and actively harms international efforts to minimize the transmission of Covid-19. For some — namely those traveling home — such transgressions are necessary evils. For others, however, these recommendations are simply white noise to be tuned out on their cheap flights to exotic locales. Even under normal circumstances, tourism has an outsized impact on local communities. On one hand, it often drives local economies, creating jobs and expanding businesses. On the other hand, members of these communities are often made to watch as their homes are turned into effective theme parks for wealthy out-of-towners. Given the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment, these impacts are multiplied exponentially. The societal impacts are compounded by much more serious health risks. Residents of these often geographically isolated locations are already at high risk for a pandemic. The very isolation that makes getaways so enticing also makes it harder for necessary supplies to reach the destinations in question. The locales’ healthcare infrastructure is most likely already susceptible to overload. Moreover, placing a further burden on already delicate food and resource supply chains could prove to be debilitating for locals. Such repercussions are so likely that the Governor of Hawaiʻi is asking tourists to stay out for a month.  Corona-tourism isn’t confined to the 50th State. Masses of vacationers are flocking to the slopes of Vermont during this crisis. The beaches of South Florida are filled with college students continuing spring break plans. In the time between when my plane landed and this piece was published, the number of cases in the state of Hawaiʻi rose from 2 to 37. Out of the 37 cases, 35 are believed to have been contracted from out-of-state travel. And the still-crowded beaches of Waikiki indicate that the worst is yet to come. The responsibility of flattening the Covid-19 infection curve lies upon all of us. But tourists who use this crisis as an opportunity to vacation should bear the full guilt of actively making things worse and threatening human lives.    Jake Gaughan '22 is one of The Campus’s Opinion editors. He is from Honolulu, Hawaii.

Approximately 175 students approved to stay on campus

In an unprecedented decision meant to address concerns over the global Covid-19 pandemic, the college ordered students to leave campus last Tuesday. While the majority of students were expected to head home, those who wished to remain on campus  — because of travel distance to home, high numbers of Covid-19 cases in their hometowns or other reasons — had the option to petition to remain on Middlebury’s campus. Many who did so, however, were disappointed, as deans tasked with communicating the decisions pushed most applicants to find alternatives. At the same time, most of the students The Campus spoke with expressed understanding of the college’s safety concerns as the number of Covid-19 cases in Vermont increases.  Now, even those who were eventually granted permission to stay face uncertainty about the rest of the semester, as the college contemplates closing its campus to students completely depending on continual reassessments, according to emails sent by deans to students remaining on campus. From 2,500 to 175 Administrators originally predicted that a few hundred students would be allowed to remain on campus. Ultimately, they permitted roughly 175 students to stay, according to an email sent by President Laurie Patton Saturday night. By Wednesday, March 18, as major U.S. cities instituted lockdowns and the U.S. closed its border with Canada, some students left campus for home; now, fewer than 140 students remain physically on campus, according to Dean of Students Baishakhi Taylor. Deans were expected to tell students who petitioned to stay whether they could remain on campus for at least three weeks by Friday, March 13, the same day students were originally told to leave campus. The college later moved the departure deadline to Sunday.  The tight turnaround left students who were denied permission — many of whom were confident their situations warranted staying on campus — scrambling to find alternatives. The college advised those who were able to stay with family or friends stateside, which many are now doing, and is offering financial aid to those who need help traveling. Deans were unable to respond for comment before this story was published. But many of the emails students received from their deans emphasized the importance of getting as many students off-campus as possible due to safety concerns arising from a potential Covid-19 outbreak. The emails encouraged students to exhaust all other potential options before petitioning to stay. Donovan Compton ’23, a U.S. citizen who calls Italy home, had his petition to remain on campus rejected. With Italy on lockdown, he says returning home to that country’s Veneto region — one of the regions most heavily-affected by Covid-19 in the country — is not an option.  “If I were to actually attempt to go back to Italy … I would most likely not be able to access the country, and in the case I would be let into Italy, my parents wouldn't be able to retrieve me at the airport since the roads are blockaded so as to make driving extremely limited,” he wrote in an email to The Campus.  Compton’s request to stay was denied through a mass email sent to many students in Ross Commons. He said the decision so surprised him that he screamed aloud upon reading the email. While Compton has family in the states, they are all located in Seattle, another coronavirus epicenter. For now, he is staying with family friends in Massachusetts. Shahmeer Chaudhary ’21, who is from Dubai, also had his request to stay on campus denied.  “The decision did surprise me,” Chaudhary wrote in an email to The Campus. “I did not feel like I had any room or opportunity to negotiate. In fact, I was told by my dean, ‘You’re welcome to stop by and talk with me about that, but the answer will unfortunately be the same.’ I felt like I was out of options and the administration was unwilling to even hear me out.” Domestic students also had concerns about leaving campus. Kai Milici ’21 is from Seattle and petitioned to remain on campus. She did not plan to stay there indefinitely, but felt that she needed a few more days beyond the Sunday move-out date to assess whether it would be smarter to return home or to stay with friends on the East Coast. When Milici’s application was denied she, like many of her peers, reacted with frustration.  “I felt like I was being forced into a potentially dangerous situation,” she said, adding she was stressed by how the required self-quarantine would exacerbate existing feelings of isolation. But in hindsight, with the possibility of travel restrictions and lockdowns looming in the coming days and weeks, she understands the college’s decision. Milici has since returned to Seattle, where she said the high degree of social isolation has already resulted in increased stress. She does not expect to be able to leave for “at least a couple of months.” While she hopes to return to the East Coast to participate in summer internship opportunities, she is grappling with the potential that this may no longer be a possibility depending on how the situation progresses. Tre Stephens ’21 was granted permission to remain on campus. Stephens is from Chicago, Illinois and petitioned to stay due to “extraordinary personal circumstances” regarding his home situation. He explained that he wrote to his dean out of fear, more than anything else. “I wanted to stress that if I am requested to leave campus, I will literally have no place to go,” Stephens wrote in the email he sent to his dean. “I am honestly scared. Please please please consider letting me stay.” This past summer, the stove in Stephens’ house exploded, causing a house fire that so completely destroyed the house that his family is currently living with other relatives. Stephens simply does not have a home to return to, he said.  The school initially denied Stephens’ request, instead offering to pay for his travel home. Stephens responded with another plea to stay. In his email, he wrote that he was not able to stay with family and close friends because they said they did not have space for him. Following this secondary plea, Stephens was granted permission to stay. Many students allowed to remain on campus have been warned that they may need to return home if the situation does not improve when the college re-evaluates its plan in three weeks. An email from Assistant Director of Community Standards Elaine Orozco Hammond to multiple students last week insinuated this possibility. “It is possible we will be back in session, or asking people to leave in a few weeks,” it said. “We are taking this one step at a time.” In that situation, Stephens has no idea what he will do. “Where will I go? How will I get there? Money? Food? Clean clothing? These are all concerns that rush through my mind,” he said. But Stephens believes that college administrators are doing their best to act in the interests of students. Other students applied to remain on campus for health concerns. Marisa Edmondson ’20 is from rural Colorado and has severe asthma. This condition compromises her immune system, and makes her particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. Edmondson’s hometown is a two-hour drive from the nearest hospital, and her health condition posed a serious risk of possible contamination if she tried to fly home, she said. She considered living with friends in Rhode Island indefinitely when the school denied her request, but ultimately decided to road trip home to Colorado, where she will stay in quarantine with her parents. Jake Guaghan ’22, from Honolulu, Hawaii, was denied permission to remain on campus. In his petition to stay, Guaghan cited the length and difficulty of traveling home and the likelihood that he may be exposed to coronavirus while in airports.  At the time of his petition — last Tuesday — he felt that it would be irresponsible to risk the possibility of bringing coronavirus back to an isolated locale. The denial of permission to remain on campus left Guaghan feeling anxious and scared, but not surprised.  “Throughout my time here, I've realized that American students who don't live in the contiguous 48 are often forgotten by the school,” he said. Students from Hawaii and Alaska face many of the same challenges as international students, he said, but there are no institutional structures to assist these students. Owen Marsh ’20, from Scarsdale, New York, where there are multiple confirmed cases of Covid-19, has also been denied permission to remain on campus. After a middle school teacher in his town tested positive, many have been placed in quarantine.  Those living in Scarsdale are only leaving their homes when it is absolutely necessary and are constantly maintaining a distance of six feet away from all other people, according to Marsh’s parents. He was surprised, he said, when he received an email alerting him that he would not be able to remain on campus.  “I am lucky enough to have friends who have been willing to house me, but I don't know how long that will last, and I am sure that there are many much less fortunate than me,” Marsh said.  As of now, Marsh plans to move from place to place and avoid returning home. He hopes to be back at Middlebury before May — but at the time, it is unclear whether or not that will happen. Gaughan’s plans changed constantly throughout the two days following the denial of his request to remain on campus. Ultimately, he has decided to go home. Given the escalating crisis, he is concerned that if he remains in the continental U.S., he would eventually be unable to return home. During his flight home, another passenger seated in the row in front of Gaughan fell ill. The passenger was quarantined mid-flight and required the assistance of emergency medical services to deplane.  “While no one knows necessarily with what he is afflicted, I couldn’t help but think about how this type of scenario was exactly what I outlined in my petition to stay on campus,” Gaughan wrote in an email to The Campus on Saturday night. Returning home will also impact the lives of students beyond the possible transmission of Covid-19. Due to the six-hour time difference between Vermont and Hawaii, there is the possibility that Gaughan will need to take his online courses at 2 a.m. Chaudhary, the student from Dubai, expressed similar concerns. Dubai has a nine-hour time difference from Vermont. He is worried about how this will impact his ability to partake in classes that many professors are planning to conduct in a “video-chat” format. Chaudhary said he is anxious about the impact returning home could have in the long-term, especially because he is hoping to do an internship in the states this summer. Jiaqi Li ’22 is from China and, like Stephens, was granted permission to remain on campus. Li was concerned that flying home was not a viable option for her logistically or financially.  “I love Middlebury College dearly and at present, I truly consider this my home, my only home. The news on Tuesday really made me feel as if my world is falling apart, when the support system I rely on is no longer feasible,” she wrote in the email she sent to her dean requesting permission to remain on campus. If Li’s request to stay had been denied, she felt that the best option would have been to explore housing options in Middlebury, off-campus, with the financial support of the college. “This is a scary time for all of us. I know many people were sad to leave for multiple reasons, and for some of us leaving has never truly been an option,” Stephens said. Editor’s note: Jake Gaughan and Owen Marsh are both Opinion editors for The Campus.

Onward: How The Campus is continuing its coverage

We had three Covid-19-related stories on the docket a week and a half ago. Now, it’s hard to think about — and report on — almost anything else. A lot has changed since then. We’ve since shared goodbyes, packed up our commons-office-provided boxes and dispersed around the world.  Some watched their friends leave, unable to return to their own homes themselves. Some of us worried about work-study; others grappled with food insecurity.  As the dust settles, so many questions linger: What will online classes look like?  What are the implications of the suspension for the town of Middlebury? Will the college provide its staff with financial security as operations come to a grinding halt? The Campus is committed to continuing our investigation into these questions — and the coverage of the diverse narratives of our greater Middlebury community.  Amid the ambiguity and uncertainty of current events, we want to provide a sense of clarity. And during a time when we are the furthest apart physically, we want to be a platform that helps Middlebury stay connected. What can you expect from us? The show must go on. The Campus will continue its coverage remotely, online. We will publish stories as they are ready this and next week, and will re-assume regular Thursday coverage on April 2, the first Thursday after spring break.  Our weekly newsletter will also highlight the key stories from the week, so don’t forget to sign up for it here. That newsletter will start back up on April 2 as well. We see ourselves as a forum to amplify voices that can no longer chat around dining hall tables, greet each other between classes and convene at local coffee shops and teahouses in town.  As we scatter geographically, we want to explore what remoteness means for the different members of our community. This is work we cannot do alone. Here are some ways to get involved: Help us with coverage: Let us know if you’re interested in joining our team of writers — no prior experience necessary and the commitment is flexible. Express your opinion: Tell us what you’re thinking by submitting an opinion piece or a letter to the editor. Keep us in the loop: Know something that’s going on or want us to explore a certain topic? Drop us a tip. Tell your story: We want to fill our (virtual) pages with stories from every corner of the now-dispersed Middlebury. Send us a short story about your experience, or email us if you’re interested in contributing regularly with tales from your living room couch, quarantined city or quiet dorm room. We will have prompts regularly for potential letters to the editor (200 words) and op-eds (800 words). This week’s prompt is about all the feels that came with last week’s announcement. Our mission is to serve our readers and to reflect the goings-on and spirit of the college in this extraordinary time, so please stay in touch. We are looking forward to seeing you engage with — and participate in — our coverage this semester.

A plea for international students

The following letter was sent via email to members of the Senior Leadership Group (SLG) on Wednesday, March 11. A list of SLG members is available here. The list was also shared with the college’s commons deans, heads and coordinators, whose names can be found here, as well as the Student Activities Office and the Office of International Student and Scholar Services. Parts of this letter have been lightly edited to comply with The Campus’ style guidelines. Dear President Patton, Dean Taylor, Provost Cason, members of the SLG, and commons deans, We are afraid. As the International Students’ Organization Executive Board, we are distressed about the impact the administration’s decision to evacuate campus will have on the international student population. Although we come from over 74 countries and territories and distinct cultural backgrounds, the recent developments have united the international student community through the fear that we will be disproportionately affected if requested to leave Middlebury. First, we want to assure you that we take your requests to find alternatives to staying on campus seriously. We acknowledge the reasons motivating the college’s decision, and we are doing everything in our personal capacities to come up with reasonable plans.  However, the decision to evacuate Middlebury poses an inequitable and disproportionate burden on us. While the college has been supportive in offering financial assistance to traveling, there are other serious concerns about our living conditions beyond Middlebury. For many of us, Middlebury is a sanctuary and the most reliable provider of housing, dining and resources that ensures our wellbeing. In addition to our support networks being hundreds to thousands of miles away, they are not all able to accomodate us at this point. Some of us do not have homes to go back to, and many others depend on their incomes from Middlebury to support their families.  Sending us to other students’ homes instead of our own does not address the core of the problem. Instead, it transfers the college’s responsibility to look after us to third parties. It is unfair to shift your commitment to house, feed, and support us onto the families of our friends and other members of the community. It is unreasonable for the college to impose on them the financial burden of indefinitely — or even temporarily — supporting and sustaining us. If financial support is being made available for traveling, the question remains whether international students will be awarded a living allowance for the periods during which they are asked to be removed from campus. We urge you to consider how the college has brought many of us here on scholarships precisely because of our considerable needs and disadvantages. Our situation requires special consideration. While we acknowledge that much of what is happening is beyond the college’s control, we urge you to consider how domestic students are generally not similarly affected by being sent home as we are. We feel wary of making decisions on returning home or committing to stay in the United States when little is known on how travel restrictions will evolve over the coming weeks. We look to the administration for assurances that there are plans in place to assist the relocation of international students from their domestic hosts should the school decide not to continue the semester, and to support their decision to return from abroad when invited back. Additionally, whereas the CDC has not issued domestic travel restrictions, travelling internationally poses a higher risk to our own health and to the health of those around us. In requiring that we leave campus and financing our travels abroad, the college exposes us to contagion. Beyond our personal health, there are concerns that, due to being potentially exposed to the virus during high-risk travel, international students would not be as easily reintegrated to the college community. Again, we urge you to consider that the decision to evacuate us has severe implications that may not be present for other people requesting to stay. We request that you situate your reviews on stay approvals around the pressing needs of international students. We are not residents of this country, we do not have far-reaching access to support networks here and we do not have assurances of being able to come back should things deteriorate.  This is an unprecedented situation and we call on you to consider our cases in a caring and understanding manner. Some of us have already been denied stay on campus and many of us are frightened by the prospect of having to scramble for alternatives as the college turns us away. We urge you to be lenient and considerate as you review our applications and work thoroughly with us before requesting our departure. We call Middlebury home, and we are confident you will not overlook our plight in these trying times. We call on you to: Compensate for the financial burden of leaving campus by covering not only travel expenses, but considering living allowances for the duration of leave, particularly for students who have exceptional financial needs; Accommodate students who are not able to return to their home countries and those who would not be able to reenter the United States due to travel bans or visa status concerns; Acknowledge the unfairness of transferring the college’s responsibility to provide housing, dining and resources to international students onto other students’ friends, families, and communities; Seriously evaluate the health and contagion risks posed by requesting international students travel through long distances and major transportation hubs to and from home; Recognize that a lack and distance of communication — though not the intention — breeds an environment of anxiety and fear where students are panicking because they feel unsupported and lost; Understand that Middlebury College is a sanctuary for many international students who cannot return to unstable or hostile conditions in their home communities. Signed, The ISO Executive Board Arthur Martins '22.5, Masud Tyree Lewis '22, Kelly Zhou '22, Claire Moy  '22, Monique Santoso '21, Husam AlZubaidy '23 and Ariana Popa ’22

Vandalism spikes as students prepare to leave campus

Faced with the sudden reality that their semesters would likely be ending, many Middlebury students spent their nights before the mandatory Covid-19-related evacuation partying, drinking and vandalizing the campus and town in abundance. Damage has included broken glass, stolen signs, strewn garbage, smashed furniture and windows, and items thrown into trees. Facilities staff are spending the weekend cleaning up messes across campus.  Normally, two employees must walk the campus twice a week for two hours to clear the campus of trash and hazards outside, explained College Landscape Horticulturist and Staff Council President Tim Parsons. On Thursday and Friday, it took teams of five entire days. “There are seniors seeing people maybe for the last time ever, I get it,” Parsons said. “But why take it out on other people here? You’re part of a community.”  On Friday morning, as a group of five landscapers prepared to secure buildings that will be closed to students in the coming weeks, they reflected on spending the last two days walking around the campus picking up broken glass and demolished items.  One worker said he has seen items like fans and microwaves thrown out of windows, and that at least 10 to 15 soap dispensers have been ripped off the walls in residential halls and smashed. Others expressed concern for dogs and students walking across the campus who might be injured by the shards of glass strewn in the grass and on sidewalks.  Some landscapers had to wrestle bikes, bike racks and other large items down from trees. Government traffic signs, weighing several hundred pounds and buried three feet into the ground, were torn out of the earth and discarded, or are missing entirely.  The sign that designates President Laurie Patton’s parking space was ripped from the ground — it is still missing. According to Custodial Supervisor Dan Celik, other residential hall damages have included smashed windows in Forrest Hall and Battell Hall, a shattered glass door in the Tavern Social House, smashed scaffolding outside Atwater Hall B, broken lights and windows in Chateau, ripped-down hall lights in the Ross complex, a hole smashed into the wall at 48 South Street (KDR House), discharged fire extinguishers in Allen Hall and other ripped signs and bulletin boards around campus. The college has not yet assessed the total cost of the destruction. Damages in residential halls are charged to students based on their location. Damages outside are absorbed by the facilities budget. Parsons said that the damage in the past few days has been worse than that of a typical Senior Week. He theorizes that Senior Week usually has a series of planned activities that keep students off campus or otherwise busy, which can prevent chaos like that which occurred this week. “[Landscaping staff] would have loved to help students and their families pack up their cars,” Parsons said. “But instead, they spent their time picking up broken glass.” Damage also extended into the town of Middlebury. Two Brothers Tavern, a restaurant and bar located a short walk from campus, was hosting its weekly Thursday College Night when its sign was partially pulled off and its American flag torn down. https://www.facebook.com/twobros/posts/3072215259456274 “Small businesses like ours have razor thin profit margins and even less time to pay for and fix such things as those caused by last night's destructive behavior,” Two Brothers wrote in a Facebook post. “Have a little respect when you are here, at home and everywhere you go in the world.”  According to the Facebook post, Two Brothers is now reevaluating the continuation of College Night come fall.

Developing: Middlebury suspends all programs abroad and in Monterey

!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}})}(); Last updated March 20, 2:40 p.m. For updates on the suspension of classes at the Vermont campus, check here. All remaining students abroad Middlebury has advised all remaining students studying abroad on externally sponsored programs to return to the U.S. immediately, according to an update from Dean of International Programs Carlos Vélez. This advisory follows the U.S. Department of State’s Global Level 4 Health Advisory announced on March 19 and will impact 108 students. “These decisions never come easily, and we never could have imagined that we would be suspending all of our programs and calling all of our students home from abroad,” the message read.  The State Department has advised all U.S. citizens to avoid international travel and for those currently abroad to arrange for immediate return to the U.S. Many of the universities where Middlebury students were studying this semester have implemented online learning options so students can complete course work remotely. Read the college's March 20 announcement here. Schools abroad in Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Uruguay Programs suspended on March 13 for spring semester The remaining five Middlebury schools abroad were suspended on Friday, according to an update from Dean of International Programs Carlos Vélez. "Despite the fact that confirmed cases of COVID-19 remain relatively low in your host countries, we are very concerned about the imposition of future travel bans and other restrictions around the globe," the statement said. Students enrolled in the programs in Latin America will be given the option to withdraw from the program with no academic credit and a full tuition refund, or to remain in the program with remote coursework for a full semester of Middlebury credit, according to a Friday email to enrollees' parents from Assistant Director of International Programs Alessandra Capossela. The Campus is currently looking into what the academic options will be for students enrolled in programs in other areas. Read the college's March 13 announcement here. Schools abroad in France, Germany, India, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Russia, Spain Programs suspended on March 12 for spring semester The college suspended eight of its abroad programs on Thursday, two days after the college  suspended on-campus classes at his core campus. An email to all schools abroad students said the decision was based in part on the CDC's newly elevated advisory of all European countries to Level 3 status, as well as the U.S. Department of State's new global health advisory and President Donald Trump's proclamation of a travel ban on foreign nationals from Europe to the U.S. The email asked students to make arrangements to go home "as soon as possible." Read the college's March 12 announcement here. Middlebury Institute for International Studies in Monterey Classes to continue remotely after spring break ends on March 23 The institute had a planned spring break beginning this Friday, March 13. After break, classes will resume remotely on March 23, and will remain so for the rest of the semester.  Read the college’s March 10 announcement here. Middlebury-CMRS program in Oxford Program suspended on March 10 for spring semester The college suspended the Middlebury College CMRS-Oxford Humanities Program in England on March 10. The 35 participating students will complete their studies remotely, including the research project that constitutes a main part of the program. They have been asked to leave the country by March 15.  School abroad in Italy Program suspended on Feb. 20 for spring semester The college suspended its programs in Florence, Rome and Ferrara on Feb. 29, 11 days after the programs there began. Students were given the option to take the semester off and get refunded for the semester’s tuition, or to take online classes taught by professors at Sede Capponi, the Middlebury Center in Florence. Read The Campus’s coverage of those cancellations here. School abroad in China Program suspended on Jan. 28 for spring semester The schools Hangzhou, Kunming and Beijing were closed in late January, before the spring semester began and while the coronavirus was still peaking in the country. The 11 students who had already arrived in China had to evacuate, some of whom were able to reenroll at the college in the spring. Read The Campus’s coverage of those cancellations here. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}})}();

Updates: College details plan to send students home

UPDATE — Thursday, March 12 The college is now allowing students to stay until Sunday, March 15 at 5:00 p.m., according to an email sent to students and parents yesterday. Students who wish to stay until then, but have already indicated to the school they will leave on or before Friday, should fill out this form indicating their plans. The email also promised students who are leaving refunds for room and board "for the time students would have been on campus." "Understanding that students may be returning to campus to finish the semester, we cannot at this time know the amount of the credit or when it will be applied to student accounts," it said. —— Wednesday, March 11 The college released a series of statements Tuesday afternoon elaborating on next steps following its announcement that it will suspend in-person classes indefinitely after March 13. Evacuating campus Students must respond to a form indicating whether they will leave campus or petition to remain on campus for the duration of the semester. The criteria used to determine who can stay on campus will be stricter than for winter break, according to Baishakhi Taylor, vice president for student affairs and dean of students. To gauge whether it is unsafe for a student to return home, the college will consider factors such as travel advisories for those areas. “This is preventative — we want students in safety sooner rather than later,” said Baishakhi Taylor, vice president for student affairs and dean of students.  Dean of Faculty Sujata Moorti and Provost and Executive Vice President Jeffrey Cason have recommended that professors lighten the workload for their classes as students prepare to leave campus. But the decision ultimately rests in the hands of faculty members.  Middlebury students are required to leave campus by Friday at 8 p.m. Amherst College, which yesterday announced a similar plan to suspend classes and asked students to remain home after spring break, is giving students until next Wednesday to depart campus. While departing students will not be required to fully move out of their dorm rooms by Friday night, all of their belongings must be packed in boxes and labeled with their name, student ID number and their building name and room number. Boxing materials can be found in Commons Offices. Posters are plastered around campus with the slogan “Box, label & leave.” Students are encouraged to pack whatever belongings they might need for the remainder of the semester and summer. The college is currently working with SGA to provide break buses to students. The details are still uncertain, but the college will update students as necessary. The college will also provide eligible students with travel-based financial assistance. [gallery ids="48987,48988,48989"] Remote learning Remote learning, beginning on March 30, will remain in effect until the administration gives further notice. Middlebury will re-evaluate the status of remote learning during the first two weeks of April. Moorti has confirmed that classes will end as scheduled on May 11 and professors will adjust their syllabi to accommodate the shortened semester. While some classes are easily transferable to a digital platform, others will be more challenging to shift. Amy Collier, associate provost for digital learning, will be overseeing the remote learning process. Collier cited the unique challenges posed by teaching classes such as language courses and lab sciences remotely.  “We are recognizing that there are some kinds of remote teaching and learning options that are more challenging for faculty and some remote teaching options that are more challenging for students,” Collier said.  Collier is working with faculty on a case-by-case basis to assist professors in translating their classes to a format that will work for both faculty and students. “We're trying to make recommendations based on what we hope will be very inclusive for students and very manageable for faculty and students and that respond to the teaching goals the faculty are bringing to us,” Collier said. Moorti explained that the college is considering the possibility of making all classes pass/fail for the remainder of the semester, in response to requests from students and faculty members. “We are looking into the implications, which are more complicated than they appear,” she said. Making the call Consultation with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Vermont Department of Health informed the college’s decision to suspend classes, according to Taylor.  She explained that a myriad of factors — including the inability to control who comes to campus and concerns about students returning from traveling over spring break — impacted the school’s decision. “We just don't have the capacity — we cannot wait for a case to break on campus because then it's too late in many ways and we are a small school with limited resources,” Taylor said. “The state of Vermont is pretty small. We just don't have the capacity to have testing for everybody and we don't have enough personal protective equipment.”  The Crisis Management Team (CMT) oversees the evolving planning related to Covid-19. The group comprises a variety of stakeholders on campus including Collier, members of the Senior Leadership Group (SLG) and Mark Peluso, director of health services and college and head team physician, among others. Peluso explained that the college’s decision to suspend in part hinged on a policy of what he called “social distancing.” “Social distancing is one of the most effective mitigation strategies when pharmaceutical treatments (vaccines, medications) are not available and there is the potential for high numbers of cases,” Peluso wrote in an email to The Campus. “Close living quarters and shared dining facilities place students at higher risk for exposure if there is an illness outbreak This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly. The Campus will also continue to chart the impact these changes have on the greater Middlebury community over the next few weeks, including how they affect staff, local business owners, and those at the Monterey campus and the C.V. Starr Schools Abroad. Visit middleburycampus.com for updated coverage.

Field hockey combats human trafficking in India

A 17-year-old girl, the oldest of six children, was offered the chance to go to leave her town and make money for herself and her family. She was brought by a male acquaintance to Delhi, where she proceeded to work as a maid for a family. By the time she realized she wasn’t being paid, it was too late. Her “friend” was long gone with the money, and she was left with only the hope of being rescued.  This is the labor trafficking story shared by one of the 106 girls who attended the second annual East India Hockey Project (EIHP), a weeklong field hockey camp and tournament aimed at combating trafficking by helping female athletes ages 14–17 gain self-confidence and leadership skills to bring back to their communities. The EIHP is run through a partnership between Middlebury College, the US State Department, the Indian Consulate and the anti-trafficking NGO Shakti Vahini. It was led by head coach Katherine DeLorenzo and assistant coach Rachel Palumbo, with support from five alumnae who attended the first camp in November of 2018 and seven current players: senior Kelly Coyle, junior Erin Nicholas and sophomores Grace Harlan, Riley Marchin, Grace Murphy, Hannah Sullivan and Joan Vera. The program is based in Jharkhand, one of the most remote and impoverished regions in India. Each girl who attended the camp is at a high risk for human trafficking.  “On the surface level, it seems like we’re just playing field hockey, like what is that doing?” Coyle said. “But it’s the small, intangible things about telling the girls to speak up, plus their additional workshops [that teach them] how to use their voice in all those scenarios, that make a difference. Seeing all that together, it made it seem like the impact was a lot bigger than just coming to the field and playing hockey.” Although the camp only ran from January 27 to February 3, the field hockey girls arrived in India on the 5th, along with eight members of Middlebury’s BOLD Scholars, a women’s leadership program. The students all traveled to Delhi and Kolkata together, and while the athletes helped with the EIHP, the BOLD Scholars worked at a school peace fair. During their travels, Baishaki Taylor, vice president for student affairs, and Rebekah Irwin, the director and curator the Special Collections & Archives, taught a special winter term class for the students, focusing on gender in Indian society.  “It’s really easy to come in and do a workshop and leave,” Taylor said. “Given our commitment and our mission statement, we want Middlebury students to be able to leave this campus and be ready to address and actually make meaningful contributions to the communities that they live in, no matter where it is. [We want them to] be able to address some of the world’s most challenging problems, not just go in and do a project. The class part provided some glimpses to get a sense of the differences and similarities the world’s largest democracy has [in common] with the world’s strongest democracy.” It is estimated that over 30,000 young women are trafficked each year from Jharkhand alone, and the EIHP aims to combat this tradition. In addition to practicing field hockey from 8 a.m to 4 p.m each day, the players attended informative workshops. The Shakti Vahini leaders taught the girls practical skills to bring home, such as learning how to spot human traffickers, how to intervene in different situations and how to record evidence on a phone to build a case against a trafficker. At night, the girls were encouraged to share their stories with each other through performative arts, and at the end of the camp, four stories were selected to be professionally reproduced.   “The girls were all inspirations to everyone who traveled from our team,” said Nicholas. “We kept saying the whole trip that we were probably getting out of it more than they were because we were learning from them the whole time. They have been through so much, and then would come to the field everyday so excited to learn. They’d be dancing in circles and laughing and having a great time and finding the joy in every little moment that they had.” At the end of the week, the Panthers hosted a tournament for the girls, an event attended by local press and students and even Marie Royce, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. On the last day, the five most outstanding campers were invited to come to Middlebury in April, where they will have the opportunity to attend the spring field hockey training camp and immerse themselves in the American culture.  “One of the girls who I coached all week had won the ‘Most Outstanding Defensive Player’ award had a smile on her face the entire week,” Coyle said. “She was always giggling, always laughing. But on the last day, she started [crying]. One of the interpreters explained that she had never experienced this kind of attention or award or recognition in her life and it was completely overwhelming for her. [She] received awards and people [were] paying attention to her and honoring her in a way she had never [had] before in [her] life.”

Frances VanderMeer: Leaving a wake at all levels of competition

Senior Frances VanderMeer has had a collegiate athletic career many would dream of.  A captain of the women’s swim team, she has earned All-NESCAC praise, attended NCAAs three out of her four years here and broken her own school record. For VanderMeer, though, swimming is about so much more than an impressive list of accolades.  “I don’t think any of this would have been possible without the team that I have,” said VanderMeer. “It’s great to break your own records and go to NCAAs, but if you don’t have a team behind you, it doesn’t mean nearly as much” VanderMeer has been swimming for as long as she can remember. Her mom rowed at Cornell and her dad was a member of the surf team at the University of California, Santa Barbara —  swimming was a skill they wanted their children to learn as early as possible. VanderMeer joined her first competitive swim team at age seven. But her high school — Notre Dame High School in Elmira, New York — did not have a swim team when VanderMeer began attending (she played tennis instead). The summer before her sophomore year, VanderMeer, her parents and another family worked to create a swim team, which started out as a mere squad of five. Because that team was so small, Middlebury has been her most authentic team experience. She did not always plan to swim in college; during her sophomore year of high school, her parents, both being college athletes, encouraged her to pursue collegiate swimming. VanderMeer was unsure, as she had not yet experienced the bond of being on a team and wondered if swimming in college was something she wanted. Her parents knew from experience, however, how different swimming for a college team would be than VanderMeer’s club and high school experiences.  She expresses her gratitude for having decided to swim in college. “All of those people who were there [my freshman year] and all the people who are here now and everyone in between has made this sport absolutely incredible,” said VanderMeer. “The support that we have for each other as a team, that is what has made this special, and that has been the best part of all of it.” Being able to experience the dynamics of being a part of a close, supportive team has been more meaningful to Vandermeer than her accomplishments in the pool.  Her numerous accolades, however, cannot go unnoticed; she will be attending her third NCAA Division III Championship this year from March 18 to March 21. She earned a qualifying 50-yard freestyle time of 23.60 in the NESCAC tournament, which was her second-straight conference title in the event. She also earned her third straight All-NESCAC honors in the 50-yard backstroke, while simultaneously breaking her own school record in the event with a time of 25.69. Senior teammate Hannah Kredich ’20 spoke about Frances’s strong work ethic. “Even when she went abroad to Bordeaux the fall of her junior year and did not have the opportunity to train as much as she would have at Middlebury, she came back even more determined to improve and work hard, and because of that fire I don’t think it is a coincidence that that was the first year she got an individual title,” said Kredich. Coach Bob Rueppel is excited to watch Frances compete in her final NCAA championship, “Our goal is to achieve what she has never done before so I am very excited to see her perform,” said Rueppel. “I am confident she will have a great week at NCAA’s.” Though Frances is preparing for the competitive race, she stresses that her goal “has never been to get to the [nationals] meet. [My] primary goal was to have fun with it and see where that took me and funny enough, when that’s your goal and you don’t put pressure on yourself, good things tend to happen.” VanderMeer’s composed demeanor carries into her leadership position as a captain of the team. “She has an amazing presence on deck at meets and is someone that, even when she has not had a good swim, will be the first to get right back behind the lanes to cheer for her teammates and to offer words of support and encouragement to anyone who needs it,” said Kredich.  Coach Rueppel also commented on VanderMeer’s leadership skills “Her impact on the group has been incredible,” said Rueppel. “My hope is that her legacy will continue after she graduates.” VanderMeer is an International Politics and Economics major, as well as a member of the Middlebury Consulting Group and the Academic Judicial Board. She will be moving to Washington, D.C. this summer to work at Accenture Federal Services, a consulting firm with a focus on the federal government. In terms of swimming, VanderMeer plans to take a break from the pool for a little while. Without her teammates, swimming would be different. She can see herself coaching in the future, but in the short-term, VanderMeer plans to play more tennis. Swimming will always be important to VanderMeer’s life, though.  “This sport has taught me so much in terms of work ethic, teamwork, getting along with other people, and leading a large group of people, and those lessons will be with me forever,” said VanderMeer. “And in that way, I guess swimming will always be a part of me and what I do.”

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College confirms suspension of on-campus classes in response to coronavirus concerns

For updates on the situation at Middlebury, check here. For updates on the situation at Monterey and at the Middlebury programs abroad, check here. President Laurie Patton confirmed Tuesday afternoon that students will be required to leave campus on Friday, March 13 to begin an extended two-week spring break in response to the Covid-19 viral epidemic. Following this break, Middlebury will begin remote classes on March 30. Students will be expected not to return to campus “until further notice,” according to Patton’s statement.  Students who may be compromised due to additional health conditions are permitted to leave campus before Friday. Those who cannot leave campus — such as some international students and domestic students who will be at a greater risk in their home community — can petition the school to remain on campus, where they will also resume courses digitally.  All students must indicate to the college their intentions to depart or petition to remain on campus. Students who wish to remain on campus must complete the form before 3 p.m. on Thursday, and will be notified of a decision before 9 a.m. on Friday.   The announcement outlines a myriad of other stipulations for the coming weeks. The Campus will continue to update our coverage online as necessary.