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(11/15/18 10:58am)
MIDDLEBURY – Nearly one year to the day after The Rough Cut arrived at 51 Main St. in downtown Middlebury, the BBQ joint announced its closure. The Rough Cut bid Main Street farewell with a goodbye party last Friday, Nov. 2 to celebrate its last plate of St. Louis Pork Ribs and its final heaping of fried pickles, serving drinks at sharply discounted prices throughout the evening. The self-described “neighborhood bar,” which prides itself on a large beer selection, live music and food with soul, revealed the send off on its Facebook page last week.
“We have some hard news. We’ve made the difficult decision to close,” the post read, continuing to express gratitude to patrons, employees, and the Middlebury community for their support.
Ben Wells, owner of the Marquis Theatre and now former owner of The Rough Cut told the Campus last year that he hoped to create a “positive, warm, energetic environment” for people to enjoy. An outpouring of support and words of regret at the restaurant’s closing via social media stand testament to The Rough Cut’s popularity amongst staff members and the community.
“I’ve never been more heartbroken to leave a place. Thank you Rough Cut for one of the best years of my restaurant life,” said Rebecca Hanleigh, one former employee, commenting on the Facebook farewell.
The team at the BBQ restaurant joins a growing list of small businesses and entrepreneurs in downtown Middlebury that have been forced to shutter their doors within the past year in the face of economic hardship.
The restaurant’s closing date coincides with the lease renewal date for the college-owned property at 51 Main. According to former employee Wynne Ebner ’19, the college let the space at a half-lease. Wells made the tough decision to close after realizing that he would not be able to afford the full lease and also “take care of everybody,” including employees and colleagues.
[pullquote speaker="BEN WELLS" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]The Rough Cut was a lot of fun. It was a lot of hard work ... We did the best we could.[/pullquote]
“I don’t really know what’s happening in Middlebury right now,” Ebner said. “There’ve been definitely days or weeks where it’s been busier — like parents weekend for example. But for the most part … it’s just slow,” she said, describing her experience at The Rough Cut the past couple of months.
“If I knew the answer to why [The Rough Cut] didn’t work out then I’d like to think I would’ve changed it,” Wells said. However, of his working relationship with the college, Wells had only good things to say: “The administration has been incredibly supportive and really went above and beyond in terms of putting us in the best possible position to succeed.”
The college and the town, Wells believes, are inextricably linked, each supporting the other. For that reason he is concerned, like many others, about the “vitality and vibrancy of Main Street.” This is why, he explained, he invested in bringing new and fresh energy to town with the mechanical bull, music stage and other efforts at The Rough Cut.
While succeeding may appear increasingly challenging in light of the turnover of shops and restaurants, Wells believes that not all of the economic hardship can be attributed to contemporary issues, explaining that Middlebury has been “dealing with an awkward downtown layout since time immemorial.”
Despite the challenges residents, students, the administration and business owners will face during Middlebury’s current period of economic hardship, Wells remains optimistic and heartened by the community’s strength.
“Middlebury is still going to be here. We’re all going to be here next year and in five years,” he said, adding that the detrimental effect of the rail bridge construction project is temporary. “And that’s one area that is such a positive relationship with the college and the town: neither of us are going anywhere.”
College students and residents in search of the Southern comfort food, live performances from local musicians and a casual place to watch the game that The Rough Cut offered will now have to turn elsewhere. However, these closures do not mean that Downtown has to become obsolete. Wells believes we all can and should make an effort to revive it.
“The Rough Cut was a lot of fun. It was a lot of hard work. The restaurant industry in general is pretty tough, pretty challenging [and] pretty relentless,” Wells reflected. “Our experience was all of that. We did the best we could.”
If Wells and his team at The Rough Cut did the best they could, he encourages students to do the best that they can do as well.
“I think everybody who lives here — and students are one segment of the community — needs to support local business and support the downtown,” he said. “It makes a real difference in how we all can create the world we want to live in.”
(11/15/18 10:57am)
After 23 years in higher education, Andi Lloyd is leaving Middlebury to pursue a higher calling.
Lloyd, the dean of the faculty and a Biology professor, will leave the college at the end of this academic year to attend divinity school. She is currently applying to schools and plans to become an ordained minister.
“If you had told me that two years ago, I would have been surprised to hear it,” Lloyd said. After all, she only began regularly attending church a little over a year ago.
Lloyd first came to Middlebury as a biology professor in the fall of 1996, straight out of graduate school at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She had attended Dartmouth College as an undergraduate.
“I was really interested in teaching at a liberal arts college, and I loved Vermont. This was my dream job which I didn’t think I’d get, but I applied anyway,” she said.
[pullquote speaker="Andi Lloyd" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]My desire to have a life that included faith is longstanding — it dates back to childhood.[/pullquote]
She accepted her current administrative role in the 2012-13 academic year. “I really liked thinking at the institutional level. I liked thinking about the whole college enterprise,” Lloyd said. It also allowed her to advance the work that brought her to Middlebury.
“Administrative work is exciting because it furthers that thing that I deeply love, which is classroom teaching,” she said. Lloyd has continued to teach biology and ecology classes as well as continued her research on the effects of climate change on northern forests. Now, Lloyd said, “I’m leaving all of that behind.”
She made the decision to leave academia and apply to divinity school within the last year.
“It was one of those life-cracked-open moments of a pathway presenting itself that I had never imagined was there, so it’s a recent turn,” Lloyd said. Although her parents grew up going to church, she only went as a young child and on Christmas.
“My desire to have a life that included faith is longstanding — it dates back to childhood,” she said. “I’ve just been really good at ignoring it for large stretches of my life.”
A little over a year ago, Lloyd finally acknowledged this desire and began regularly attending the congregational church in town.
“It was over the period of three or four months that followed from that— just this deepening sense that I had found the place I was supposed to be,” she said. “I fairly quickly began to think about how much I wanted to be in that world all the time.”
[pullquote speaker="Andi Lloyd" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]There’s a way in which that same interest in thinking about issues of environmental justice and how we are in the world can be approached from the perspective of ministry.[/pullquote]
Divinity schools prepare students for entry into the clergy, and the student’s religious faith is an integral part of their experience — unlike seminaries, however, divinity schools are attached to universities. After earning her Masters of Divinity, Lloyd can be ordained.
Although she will soon stop teaching and end her research, Lloyd sees a link between ecology and divinity. “It doesn’t feel to me like I am entirely leaving that world of biology and ecology behind, I think there are big pieces of it that carry forward,” Lloyd said. “There’s a way in which that same interest in thinking about issues of environmental justice and how we are in the world can be approached from the perspective of ministry.”
She also sees a connection between ethics and one’s obligation to the planet and other species, as well as a similar appreciation for the Earth.
“There’s a lot around reverence for the natural world,” Lloyd said. “Whether I frame that as the person with a PhD in evolutionary biology or whether I frame that as a Christian, there’s surprising overlap there, in terms of just opening oneself up to the amazement of this planet we live on.”
Other scholars have examined the relationship between the natural world and Christian faith. The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School, for example, is dedicated to exploring this connection.
After graduating from divinity school, Lloyd plans to become a pastor at a congregational church.
“The emphasis of the denomination as a whole on social justice and environmental justice, things that are near and dear to my heart, is really, really important,” Lloyd said. “I would love to be back in Vermont, but that’s not mine to decide.”
Lloyd has the uniform support of the congregation in Middlebury and of her family and friends. “I feel so lucky to have the people in my life that I do,” she said. “A surprising number of them have expressed a lack of surprise, and I don’t fully understand where that comes from.”
After more than 20 years working in academia, Lloyd is making an undeniably enormous transition. “There are still big pieces of this that I don’t fully understand,” she said. “I have a sense of amazement looking back at the last year of my life, and that amazement is full of some mysteries, some things that I generally don’t understand.”
(11/08/18 11:00am)
Last Thursday, Middlebury’s two-year-old satirical student publication The Local Noodle launched a successful first print issue. It positively flew off that heater right inside the entrance to Proc, a much-needed face shield for students looking to avoid eye contact with others but unwilling to risk being seen reading The Campus. As the editors of Middlebury’s “biggest waste of time and resources,” we would like to extend our warmest congratulations to “Middlebury’s only news source.” We need more student publications on campus, and the Noodle’s first print edition shows that it is possible for a small group of students to get together and produce an impactful publication.
In their inaugural editorial, the Noodle’s staff outlined their paper’s mission. “Though much of our coverage is comical,” they said, “the main purpose of our journalism is, and has always been, to identify and tackle the real problems here on Middlebury’s campus.”
Though The Local Noodle is not fact-based, it succeeded in using comedy and fiction to address important issues, like sexual assault culture within sports teams and disillusionment with the administration’s carbon neutrality promise, in a way that captures genuine sentiments shared by students. When The Campus tries to cover sensitive topics like sexual assault or the relationship between athlete recruitment and academic rigor, we run into reticent interviewees, data shortages and administrative roadblocks. On the other hand, when The Local Noodle makes up a fictional quotation or statistic, they may not be reporting real news, but their satire can bypass those difficulties and address dark aspects of our campus culture that often go unspoken or unproven but are accepted as realities by many students.
News, opinion, art and comedy must exist together to create an accurate record of student experiences at Middlebury. The Campus has been a part of this record for more than one hundred years. Our community’s contribution to Middlebury’s recorded history — and to the history of college life in the United States — will be incomplete if we do not leave a record of our true, uncensored and occasionally inappropriate thoughts (see: “Size does matter” article on theNoodle’s front page).
The main obstacle to creating an accurate and complete record of student experience is a lack of involvement in publications. The Campus sometimes struggles to find writers, and other publications do not receive enough submissions or have enough dedicated contributors to survive for long. Part of the responsibility rests with us, the editors of The Campus, and the editors of other publications, to be more proactive and inclusive. The Campus, The Local Noodle, Middlebury Geographic, Translingual Magazine and other publications are always looking for submissions, but we could do a better job of reaching out to younger students who we know to be thoughtful writers and invested community members.
Another problem limiting participation is that no publication besides The Campus has a designated workspace at Middlebury. Our Campus office in Hepburn certainly contributes to our permanence as an organization, and we want other publications to have the same access we do. The college could create a “publications hub” in McCullough to facilitate the growth and durability of student publications. It could have a large table for meetings and computers with design software for laying out pages and creating websites. Since no such space currently exists, The Campus has offered (and will continue to offer) help and advice to new student publications on how to navigate the print process.
Middlebury needs more healthy competition between its student publications. Students should have options in what they read, and a variety of publications helps ensure quality.
As Middlebury’s oldest publication, The Campus is often seen as part of the college’s “establishment,” which we acknowledge makes some students hesitant to share their stories with us. Ideally, all students would be able to find their voices reflected in a student publication. Other notable publications, including Beyond the Green, MiddBlog, MiddBeat, The Crampus, The Idle Times and others have risen to fill niches that some students have felt The Campus cannot, but most have fizzled out as the students behind them have graduated.
It’s important to have humor represented in a publication, and this “you-know-what rag” can tell you that this is sometimes at one’s own expense. Especially in this political climate, reading humor pieces can be a welcome reprieve from the seemingly constant barrage of political turmoil.
We are excited to praise The Local Noodle for their first issue. As a publication that has been printing dozens of issues each year for decades, we understand the difficulty of putting out a publication, and we want to make it easier for other publications to endure for future generations of students. Putting a lot of work into an issue, whether factual or funny, is worthwhile and rewarding. Doing so takes a lot of time and energy from dedicated people, and we hope that more students can experience that satisfaction.
(11/08/18 10:59am)
The leaves are falling, the sunsets are earlier and the first signs of winter are approaching. For many, this can mean only one thing: hunting season is in full swing in Vermont. Both on and off campus, plenty of Middlebury residents are gearing up for the annual activity.
In Vermont, there are approximately 68,000 hunters, all of whom are required to take a Hunter’s Education class before becoming licensed. Demographically, hunters run the gamut from children participating in a family tradition to health conscious twenty-somethings looking to incorporate local food into their diets.
“Hunting is sometimes viewed as the sport of the old, white man. And that’s not true at all,” said Nicole Meier, theInformation and Education Specialist at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. “Just because it’s a stereotype doesn’t mean that we need to make the other hunters out there invisible. Hunters like me, who are young females,” she said.
Although to many students it may seem as if a passion for hunting cannot be found on the Middlebury campus, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“There are students that are hunting every season in the area. Maybe not a large number, but they’re there,” said Ira Schiffer, former chaplain at the college and teacher of the Hunter Education J-term workshop. These students are joined by a number of faculty and staff members who also enjoy hunting and act as mentors to students looking to learn. There was no lack of interest in the J-term workshop— it attracted over 35 students last year. However, while there are avid hunters on campus, many are reluctant to disclose openly their hobby for fear of criticism.
“[There are] faculty members who are long time hunters who are very quiet about it because they’re afraid of pushback from colleagues,” said Schiffer. This backlash extends to students, as well, many of whom are reluctant to share their interest with friends.
“I did not feel comfortable talking about hunting on campus, and it was a part of me that I tried to hide for most of my time at Midd,” said Hannah Phelps ’18. “I felt like I would get ridiculed or labeled with misconceptions/stereotypes if anyone found out, even though I strongly believe in the practice of hunting and in getting new people involved.”
Their involvement is often made difficult by misperceptions about hunters’ ethics and their relationship to the animals and their environment. In fact, those who hunt consider it a respectful, educational practice, one which is necessary for the conservation of the environment. They see their hobby as part of maintaining healthy habitats. Especially in Vermont, a state with a large deer population and few natural predators, hunting is integral in keeping the population in check.
“People don't always realize the good hunting can do for wildlife,” explained Phelps. “Without hunters, the deer population has the potential to eat themselves out of house and home, leading to huge spikes and plummets in their population and a decrease in plant diversity,” she added.
For many who are unfamiliar with hunting, the act of shooting an animal may seem cruel and unethical. But many hunters in Vermont resist the stereotype. “I think the reality that people who don’t hunt or aren’t part of that community don’t understand is that the hunter really has a warm, empathetic relationship with the animals that he’s hunting,” said Schiffer.
Part of this relationship is understanding the value of animal life; for example, many hunters consider it irresponsible to simply throw away one’s catch instead of eating it. Not only is shooting an animal a deliberate choice, hunters must also know when not to shoot.
“So many times I’ve had a choice to make. I would rather not shoot an animal and go home with no meat for the table than to damage it and have it go off and suffer,” said Wendy Butler, the current teacher of the Hunter Education workshop.
The J-term workshop offered by Butler gives students a chance to learn about hunting and attain a Hunter Education Certification. The workshop stresses safety, ethics and conservation-mindedness. For some students, it is a chance to explore a hobby that family members are passionate about; for others, such as international students, it is an opportunity to learn about an activity that isn’t available at home.
[pullquote speaker="HANNAH PHELPS '18" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]I did not feel comfortable talking about hunting on campus.[/pullquote]
The class allows students to see the positive aspects of hunting. Not only does it provide a local, sustainable meat source, but it also allows people to intimately connect with nature, without the trappings of modern-day technology.
“There is nothing better than walking into the woods before sunrise and watching it come to life around you,” said Phelps.
For both hunters and non-hunters, there are certain things to do to stay safe during hunting season. For one thing, if you’re considering going running around the local trails, do your best to wear bright colored clothing. Meier recommends that people wear some kind of blaze orange apparel. The color has been shown to be seven times more visible, especially during low light conditions, than any other color. If you’re walking your dog, remember to always keep it on a leash. Lastly, avoid being out in low light conditions like dusk and dawn
(11/08/18 10:57am)
Many female college students have experienced harassment on town roads during their time in Middlebury.
Although there are systems in place to deal with these incidents once reported, silence often surrounds this issue. Students tend not to report these incidents.
In June, Public Safety reported to the college community that a teenage girl who was not a college student running near Porter Hospital was harassed when a car with two 20-something men pulled up alongside her and asked for directions. The passenger grabbed her arm before she was able to get away.
[pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Being catcalled at Middlebury feels different than being catcalled in a city because the population is so much smaller — if I’m alone, there aren’t as many people to potentially witness something and step in.[/pullquote]
A Middlebury student, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Campus a similar story. While running near South Street, a pickup truck with male passengers approached her, and a man in the back seat rolled down the window and flashed her.
“They didn’t stop, but I was very rattled from the entire experience, and was afraid they would come back. I was fully aware that I was far enough out that there would be no one to help me if I found myself in a dangerous situation,” she said.
The student also told The Campus that she has been followed on multiple occasions while running in Middlebury, once by a man on a bike.
“I do not run there anymore because I am afraid for my safety, which is a huge bummer because it is a beautiful route,” she said.
Four female students shared similar stories with The Campus.
They shared experiences of walking down College Street, relaying moments they were catcalled and harassed. Although this is commonplace in many cities and towns, it is perhaps unexpected in idyllic Middlebury, Vermont.
“Being catcalled at Middlebury feels different than being catcalled in a city because the population is so much smaller — if I’m alone, there aren’t as many people to potentially witness something and step in,” said another student, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Living closer to town this year, I feel like I’ve been catcalled on my street and then they see me go into my house, which is scary and unsettling,” she said.
It is because of Middlebury’s small size, though, that the college and town can take steps to eliminate these incidents. But students must first feel comfortable reporting these incidents.
None of the students interviewed by The Campus have ever filed a report.
How to Report
Even when incidents like this occur off campus and involve perpetrators who are unaffiliated with the college, students can still report them to Public Safety or the Title IX Office. Public Safety does not have the ability to pursue or stop vehicles, and anything that occurs either off campus or with a vehicle leaving campus will be reported to the Middlebury Police Department.
Students can also go directly to the police department. The police will ask the victim for a description of the vehicle, the vehicle’s location and its direction of travel.
[pullquote speaker="Title IX Coordinator Sue Ritter ’83" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]“If our students are being impacted by people in town or people who are driving through our campus community we would absolutely want to know because we want to address the behavior and make it stop.[/pullquote]
If the perpetrator is a member of the college community, the victim has the same options for reporting: they can talk to the police, Public Safety or the Title IX Office. Additionally, the student can choose to proceed with disciplinary action through the Title IX Office, regardless of whether the incident occured on campus. The Title IX Office deals primarily with instances of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, but is still a resource for victims of harassment.
“If our students are being impacted by people in town or people who are driving through our campus community, whether it’s yelling things at them or making harmful statements or things like that, we would absolutely want to know because we want to address the behavior and make it stop,” said Title IX Coordinator Sue Ritter ’83. If the perpetrator was unaffiliated with the college, the office would work with police on the issue.
“We don’t have the same investigative power,” Ritter said. “Coordination with the police is really, really important because the evidence-gathering is critical, and to do it right is critical, and we want to make sure we aren’t stepping on each other’s toes.”
On Monday, President Laurie L. Patton announced that Ritter will leave her position on Thursday, Nov. 15. She will replace Dave Donahue ’91 as special assistant to the president, associate secretary to the board and director of community relations (See “Sue Ritter Transitions to New Role”).
The Title IX Office can also work with WomenSafe, Porter Hospital, the State’s Attorney’s Office and other state-wide organizations. The college itself can also report these incidents to the community. It can issue a “timely warning,” part of a federal law that requires colleges and universities to notify their communities of crime threats that are ongoing or may be repeated. The college has issued two timely warnings in the last three years.
Unlike peer institutions, including Trinity, Skidmore and Bates, Middlebury does not have an online reporting system for any type of crime, nor does it have a way to report crimes anonymously to the college.
The college can also disseminate information through the Community Bias Response Team, which alerts the college community to instances of bias, but this ambiguous term excludes instances of assault or harassment.
Ritter acknowledged that more should be done.
“I think probably more needs to be done in terms of town-community discussions around incidents like this when they happen,” Ritter said. “Maybe working more with the Addison Independent and other forums in the town of Middlebury to raise awareness of these types of influences would be a helpful step, too.”
(11/08/18 10:55am)
Naomi and I have been living in Italy for two months now, and one month ago we started studying at the university of Ferrara. Sharing this experience, we have talked a lot about preconceived notions about what living in Italy would be like, first impressions, and our current understanding of living here.
When Naomi told people about her intention to study abroad in Italy, she got a similar reaction every time. People gushed over the idea of pasta for every meal and the Italian countryside. She kind of shrugged and went along with it, but never felt quite comfortable with the romanticization of a country that has nuanced identities. She never felt like she could contradict them, knowing that it could very well be more complicated than that. Based on what we know about study abroad programs in Italy, some students really might have this experience. They might only speak English and live in a tourist center and miss the real particularities of this country. In our situation, however, we are faced with the prospect of confronting these cultural “shocks,” and sometimes they create truly unpleasant challenges. For the last two months, I have been grappling with fitting into a society with which I might not always agree and trying to live up to the pre-imposed expectations of myself and my community that Italy is perfect.
In a lot of ways, these “culture shocks” that we have experienced came unexpectedly. When asked by friends and family if I was nervous to go to Italy before departing, I typically responded, “No.” I thought culture shock was a phenomenon that people only experience when they enter cultures that are much different from their own. I believed that life in a developed European country couldn’t really be that different from the U.S. However, we have found that even subtle differences from how to greet people on the street (or not) to using formal discourse with strangers and professors may cause discomfort.
One of the most challenging parts for us has been adjusting to the Italian university system. We were told before we came that it would be different, but we didn’t know what that really meant. We have been confined by scheduling time conflicts and prerequisites so we both ended up in classes that don’t academically push us. There are no assessments throughout the semester — no papers, projects, or midterms. A student’s entire grade in the class is computed from one final exam. Both Naomi and I will be required to write a junior thesis for history when we return, and we both intend to also write senior theses. However, we don’t feel that this university system is helping us develop the writing skills necessary to compose theses when we return to Middlebury. The main thing that Naomi feels she has learned from her class is how to listen to a nonstop lecture in Italian for two hours. This is meaningful and useful in some ways, but it means that we are missing out on one of our precious eight semesters at Middlebury. As it turns out, we both started study abroad with the intention to stay for the whole year. And yet, neither of us will be attending the University of Ferrara in the spring. We have also found from friends currently studying abroad and who have studied abroad in the past that to leave early for academic reasons is common.
In addition to challenges with the academics, I have also found that the lack of a proper campus, university events, and university-sponsored student groups has made it difficult to both integrate into the university culture and understand what concerns young people in this country. Instead I find that my interactions with the university are limited to the time I spend in class, a feeling that is very different from the life I live at Middlebury.
Naomi and I wanted to write this article mainly to express the frustrations that come along with this experience abroad. It felt like we were required or predisposed to have the best year of our lives, but it has been more complex than that. Given the frustrations that we have faced, I also feel that this experience has had a positive impact on me personally. Being abroad has challenged me to really think about what I am looking for out of my college experience, and how I need to manage the rest of my time in Italy and at Middlebury. This experience has challenged me to think about how I learn and how I take care of myself. I have learned that it takes resilience to live in any foreign country, and even though Naomi and I have decided that the university experience is not what we currently need, I still feel that living in Italy has been valuable because of what I have learned about myself.
(11/08/18 10:54am)
David Provost, the executive vice president for finance and administration, discussed the college’s long-term debt and the ways in which the office is working to stop the continued trend of increased student tuition in a talk on Friday, Nov. 2 as part of SGA’s “How Midd Works” initiative. He outlined the road to financial sustainability in light of the college’s current financial challenges.
Provost said Middlebury has over $278 million in long term debt and has been running noticeable operating deficits in recent years. The challenge, Provost explained, is how to balance Middlebury’s unique situation, including aging buildings and extra costs through the language schools and schools abroad, with the school’s desire to both keep tuition costs relatively low and grow the endowment.
“We can’t keep putting this on students and their families with a five-percent tuition increase,” Provost said, citing the school’s goal to lower the annual increase to near three percent in the next few years.
Since arriving at the college in 2017, Provost has tried to assess areas of possible waste — he noted that academic spaces have a 37-percent utilization rate, and that the college spends between $7 and $8 million yearly on travel expenses. The plan for the financial future, he explained, includes identifying areas of waste while also planning Middlebury more efficiently.
One main tenet of the administration’s plan is workforce planning, a system that will seek to ensure Middlebury is not overstaffed, using retirement incentives and more stringent hiring practices to make the college more financially secure.
Provost emphasized that this system was not about layoffs, but about making sure future faculty are in keeping with the college’s needs. One student from the audience said that some faculty members, however, were worried about who would ultimately be asked to leave.
Another student, Kate Claman ’19, president of MGallery in the Old Stone Mill, expressed frustration at the lack of communication about whether the Old Stone Mill might be sold, a rumor that has persisted.
“Nobody had discussed with us that there was a possibility the space would be sold this year,” she said, noting that MGallery had shows planned through January.
Provost emphasized that all of the college’s financial decisions will be made with the goal of preserving the spirit of the institution and ensuring that both faculty and student organizations are handled compassionately.
In the context of providing insight into a little-known or understood aspect of Middlebury, this forum emphasized how important it is for the college’s students to understand the systems that affect us and take action in ensuring transparent communication.
(11/08/18 2:53am)
Nearly one year to the day after The Rough Cut arrived to 51 Main St. in downtown Middlebury, the BBQ restaurant has announced it will be closing its doors for good after one last hurrah this Friday, Nov. 9. The self-described “neighborhood bar,” which prides itself on a large beer selection, live music and food with soul, revealed the coming closure on its Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have some hard news. We’ve made the difficult decision to close,” the post read, continuing to express gratitude to patrons, employees, and the Middlebury community for their support.
Ben Wells, the owner of The Rough Cut, told The Campus last year that he hoped to create a “positive, warm, energetic environment” for people to enjoy. An outpouring of support and words of regret at the restaurant’s closing via social media stand testament to The Rough Cut’s popularity amongst staff members and the community.
“I’ve never been more heartbroken to leave a place. Thank you Rough Cut for one of the best years of my restaurant life,” said Rebecca Hanleigh, a former employee, commenting on the Facebook farewell.
The team at the BBQ joint has yet to publicly announce the reasons for the abrupt end of service. However, they join a seemingly ever-growing list of small businesses and entrepreneurs in downtown Middlebury that have been forced to shutter their doors within the past year.
College students and residents in search of Southern comfort food, live performances from local musicians and a casual place to watch a sports game will have to turn elsewhere. Starting at 3 p.m. on Friday and lasting “until the beer is gone,” The Rough Cut will host a goodbye party to celebrate its last plate of St. Louis Pork Ribs and its final heaping of fried pickles, serving drinks at sharply discounted prices throughout the evening.
“We’re not crying, you’re crying,” the Rough Cut team lamented in their Facebook goodbye.
Look for an updated version of this story in next week’s print issue, on stands Thursday, Nov. 15.
(11/07/18 5:18am)
[video credit="AMELIA POLLARD" align="right"][/video]
Democratic candidate Ruth Hardy was elected to represent Addison County in the state senate, and fellow Democrat Chris Bray was re-elected to a third term. At a victory party for the local Democrats at the Middlebury Inn, Hardy said she feels honored that Addison County residents trusted her to represent them.
“I’m really excited to get to work on their behalf and to learn a lot,” she said. “I’m proud of all the people who worked with me to make this victory happen.”
Bray said that despite having served in the state senate since 2012 and in the house from 2006 to 2010, he had never faced such a competitive field before. “It makes you wonder what people think about the work we’re doing,” he said. “To have such a strong vote affirms that I am on the right track and the county is on the right track.”
Bray said he is excited to work with Hardy in Montpelier. “We’ve been great partners throughout the election,” he said. “We’re two independent-minded people with our own skill sets our own backgrounds. My partner in the senate has been Claire Ayer and I was really hopeful that we would maintain a gender balance in this county.”[pullquote speaker="Chris Bray" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]We’ve been great partners throughout the election.[/pullquote]
Hardy said that among the first projects she wants to tackle at the statehouse is affordable childcare and paid family leave. “That’s something that hasn’t been worked on enough in the legislature,” she said. “It’s really important to me as a mom that we take care of families with young children.” She also mentioned the need to move the ball forward on universal primary care as a crucial early step, alongside keeping Vermont education strong and providing programs for seniors.
Bray echoed many of Hardy’s priorities. “If we want people to be able to enter the workforce securely, there has to be affordable abundant child care available,” he said, adding that he believes universal primary care is the most cost-effective option. He also mentioned his intention to continue past work on his Farm to Plate initiative. Other pillars of his political repertoire include clean energy and water bills.AMELIA POLLARD
In their remarks to the crowd, both candidates doled out a long list of thank yous, including to the Addison County Democratic Party and the college students who were involved in the campaign process. At the end of her speech, Hardy highlighted the four key elements of her platform: healthcare, access to child care for families with young children, strong local schools and services for seniors.
“We’re going to do it all,” she said.
Editor's Note: Ruth Hardy is the spouse of Prof. Jason Mittell, The Campus' academic advisor. Mittell plays no role in any editorial decisions made by the paper. Any questions may be directed to campus@middlebury.edu.
(11/01/18 10:00am)
Until Nov. 9, 2016, running for governor had never been in the playbook. A lifelong environmental activist and decade-long CEO, Christine Hallquist made a sharp professional detour after the election of President Donald Trump.
Hallquist is the first openly transgender person nominated for governor by a major party, and she is taking on Vermont’s incumbent Phil Scott, a Republican, who is finishing his first term. On Election Day, she will appear on the Democratic line.
“I’m not a politico,” she said as she sat down for an interview with The Campus at a picnic table outside Mead Chapel. “I had never marched before, was more a science, engineer-type person. But science isn’t going to solve this. You have to be political.”
After President Trump’s victory, she began participating in a series of marches as a means of dealing with her state of “political depression.” Then she made the leap into politics herself, announcing her candidacy for statewide office in March.
Hallquist arrived in Vermont in 1976 from upstate New York. She quickly settled into her new home while involving herself in an array of local issues, including challenging a mining pit. “I wouldn’t call myself an activist, but I was always doing something,” she said. “That’s what you do in Vermont if you’re responsive — you get involved. But I decided to run for governor without having a clue.”
After spending more than a decade as the chief executive of the Vermont Electric Co-op (VEC), she found that her experience in the utility sector dovetailed neatly with her gubernatorial platform. Hallquist’s political agenda is centered on the junction of economic development and environmental sustainability. The thing that ties the two together, she says, is fiber optic cable, a material made from tiny glass filaments that can transmit data at tremendously high speeds. Currently, only 17 percent of Vermonters have access to fiber optic. Her ultimate goal: providing high-speed internet to all of Vermont.
[pullquote speaker="Christine Hallquist" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]I wouldn’t call myself an activist, but I was always doing something.[/pullquote]
Hallquist is convinced that expanding fiber optic cable across the state would have far-reaching benefits, from drawing young people to the state to reinventing the nature of the dairy industry. For dairy, she envisions a push towards artisanal products that can be sold across the globe via online retailers (she cites the popularity of Vermont maple syrup in Japan as a pioneering industry model). It could even lead to a rebirth of Vermont’s rural communities, she said, many of which remain marginalized due to a lack of internet access.
The emphasis Hallquist places on fiber optic weaves through nearly everything she talks about. In her eyes, fiber optic applies to the range of challenges confronting Vermont: an aging population, a deficit of young people and economic stagnation. Regarding the dairy industry, Hallquist anticipates a looming transformation in the market. “Dairy is a world that’s already shifted,” she said. “We’re producing 30 percent more milk than we did in the 1960s, yet people are consuming fewer dairy products.”
MICHAEL BORENSTEIN
Instead of wholesale milk, she envisions a move towards small-batch, boutique products like organic cheeses, labeled “GMO-Free” and “Made in Vermont” and sold across the world. “That’s where the market is: the artisanal products,” she said.
However, older dairy farmers, who make up the majority of the industry’s demographic, have not had the most enthusiastic response. “Some are migrating, but it’s like any other business; some people made buggy parts while cars were being sold,” she said. “People have a hard time letting go.”
Yet the state’s infrastructure, including fiber optic networks, needs to be there, she said. And the government has the power to spearhead that. She’s emphasized the need for new welfare programs, like Medicare for All — a sharp contrast to Scott’s recent dodging of those sorts of initiatives. Scott’s avoidance has manifested in a slew of vetoes in recent months, which have emerged as a frustration and talking point for Hallquist.
[pullquote speaker="Christine Hallquist" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Some are migrating, but it’s like any other business; some people made buggy parts while cars were being sold.[/pullquote]
Still, she acknowledged that she supported his initial candidacy more than a year before she decided to run against him. “I voted for Phil Scott, but I think I truly represent the electorate of Vermont,” she said. Despite Scott’s shift to the center on some issues, like gun control and marijuana legalization, Hallquist now believes he has more in common with the national Republican Party than with most Vermonters. After all, Hillary Clinton beat Trump easily in Vermont, winning 56.7 percent of the vote to Trump’s 29.3 percent. “He’s just a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” she said of Scott.
Voters in Vermont are known for splitting their tickets on Election Day, pulling the lever for, say, a Democratic state senator but a Republican governor. “That’s been the trend in the state for some time now,” said Eric Davis, professor emeritus of Political Science at the college. “Half the people who didn’t vote for Trump for president voted for Phil Scott.”
In her first days in office, Hallquist says her number one priority would be to pass a raft of bills that Scott has vetoed in the last few months. Those bills would have enacted a minimum wage increase, paid family leave, the monitoring of toxic substances in toys and toxic pollution producer liability. Hallquist hopes to resurrect them all.
“When it comes to a living wage and Medicare for All, that’s not a political issue — that’s called being a civilized society,” she said. “If your leader’s not heading in that direction, you need to fire them and get someone who is.”
[pullquote speaker="Christine Hallquist" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]When it comes to a living wage and Medicare for All, that’s not a political issue — that’s called being a civilized society.[/pullquote]
Hallquist has followed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ national trail in doggedly supporting a government-financed, single-payer system, where all Vermonters could receive healthcare coverage. Although Scott ultimately looks favorably upon Medicare for All, he is not sure the state’s economy can withstand a single-payer system on its own.
Incarceration is another issue she feels passionately about. Hallquist contests that moving people out of prison is not only more humane but will also save money. Her goal is to cut the state’s prison population in half. Last month, Vermont moved over 200 out-of-state inmates to a correctional facility in Mississippi in an effort to save money and deal with overcrowding. Each year, the state spends $73,000 per prisoner and there are currently 500 people behind bars.
The issue of mass incarceration, she said, is entangled in a bevy of other problems currently facing Vermont. Some prisoners battle alcohol and substance abuse, while others struggle with mental illness. Still, others are forced to delay their release for the simple fact that they cannot find an affordable place to live.
MICHAEL BORENSTEIN
Aside from Scott’s policies, Hallquist is also vehemently critical of his leadership. She has often described his management style as one of “command-and-control,” manifesting in “divisional leadership.” Although she has no previous experience in politics, she says her supervision of the VEC allowed her to practice a collaborative form of leadership that she insists is more effective.
She said the way in which Scott “barks orders from Montpelier” needs to be changed. When asked how she planned to bring the leadership approach she established at VEC to the state capitol, she mused that she might remove the lock from her office door and turn the space into a conference room, something she did at the utility company.
Her campaign coffers — totaling $415,000 — are equally rooted in a cooperative effort. As reported to the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office in mid-October, the bulk of her fundraising has come from small donations. Indeed, more than 3,000 contributions were in the amount of $100 or less. Though Scott’s total contributions exceeded $500,000, only 1,100 came from donations of $100 or less, according to the same report.
“We’ve put all of our money into a ground game,” Hallquist said. “We have over 300 volunteers in the field, 30 people on staff. And we probably make 10,000 to 12,000 phone calls a night.”
Her old-fashioned campaign tactics — phone banking, door-knocking and postcard-writing — are similar to ones that Sanders spearheaded across the country during his 2016 presidential bid. And they have been used by a wave of other progressive candidates running for office this election season, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist who pulled off a stunning primary upset against longtime Democratic congressman Joseph Crowley of New York City.
Though Hallquist’s base of support is centered in Vermont, donations have poured in from across the country. Because of her status as the first transgender person to win a major party nomination, national media coverage spiked in the days following her primary win, with profiles in The New York Times and Washington Post. Sanders’s media team in Washington estimated that more than 3,000 news stories were written on Hallquist globally after the primary, in which she won 48 percent of the vote.
[pullquote speaker="Christine Hallquist" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]If there’s anything we’ve learned in Vermont and nationally, it’s that we have an underbelly of racism that’s finally exposed itself to white people.[/pullquote]
Despite the historic nature of her candidacy and her status as a national role model for transgender youth, Hallquist believes that it is another difficult issue that college students should be paying more attention to: racism. “If there’s anything we’ve learned in Vermont and nationally, it’s that we have an underbelly of racism that’s finally exposed itself to white people,” she said. “People of color have known for a long time that this is a problem that hasn’t been solved.”
Hallquist’s progressive platform and activism have also piqued the interest of Middlebury students. The student organization Sunday Night Environmental Group has held phonebanks for her campaign, and last month, the College Democrats hosted an event that featured a documentary made by Hallquist’s son about her transition, accompanied by a Q&A discussion, though this was advertised as an explicitly apolitical event.
Regardless of the outcome on Nov. 6, Hallquist’s candidacy will have had a profound impact on not only the LGBTQ community, but the state’s Democratic Party. The legacy of her campaign in Vermont has transcended her status as the first transgender person nominated for governor. With her progressive agenda, she’s pushed for the state’s legislative reality to match the Green Mountain state’s crunchy reputation.
(11/01/18 9:57am)
For 21 years, Dave Donahue has worked to bridge the town-gown divide. As chief of staff for President Patton and the director of community relations, he has been the college’s voice in the local community, discussing construction projects at selectboard meetings, fielding questions from residents in town and leading community organizations.
On Nov. 2, he will step down from his role in the administration to take a position as senior vice president and chief of staff at the Ultimate Medical Academy in Tampa Bay, Florida. There, he will be working with a school largely based online and with a student population of 15,000, many of whom come from backgrounds vastly different from those of Middlebury students.
Donahue admitted that his decision to leave took other adminstrators by surprise, given his long tenure at the college. He began his life at Middlebury in 1987, playing football and lacrosse as a recruited athlete. An East Coast native, he fell in love with the idea of attending an academically rigorous school surrounded by Vermont’s natural beauty.
After graduation, Donahue worked in consulting for five years at Accenture’s government and educational division, flying from city to city on a weekly basis. But when his role moved him further away from education, he looked for a way back.
“I wanted to work with education systems. But I was pretty removed by that time,” Donahue explained.
That’s when he reached out to his alma mater. After speaking with Ann Hanson, the current dean of Ross Commons and the dean of student affairs at the time, he was convinced that he wanted to be at a school again. In the summer of 1997, he accepted a position as the assistant dean of students.
What began as a junior role in the student affairs office turned into a decade-long association with the college, moving across various administrative roles until settling into his current job ten years ago as the chief of staff for the president and director of community relations.
[pullquote speaker="Nick Artim" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]He’s always been a top notch professional. We’re gonna hate to see him leave, because he’s been such a good person to work with.[/pullquote]
It was a tenure marked by community, both within the college and beyond. One of his earliest memories was of advising the inter-house council, a committee holding social houses responsible for infractions — a role that challenged the new administrator.
“I felt like I was drinking from the firehose back then,” he said, laughing. “But I was fortunate to have Ann Hanson and Matt Longman who were really good mentors to me.”
Later as director of community relations, he facilitated the college’s contributions to some of Middlebury’s most ambitious and contentious projects, from the Cross Street Bridge construction to the relocation of the town offices. Along the way, his professional and personal circles broadened to encompass members of the local community. He became a trusted liaison, playing a vital role in strengthening the relationship between the town and the college.
“He’s just one of these people with high integrity. We knew we could trust him, often as the main contact to the college,” said Nick Artim, a member of the town selectboard who has worked with Donahue for the past nine years.
Still, his role has not come without challenges. Between 2013 and 2015, Donahue helped move forward a project to relocate the decrepit town offices from their site across Twilight Hall to their current location next to Ilsley public library. The college spent more than five million dollars on the plan, acquiring ownership of the land that once held the offices and building a public park on the property.
In town meetings and forums leading up to the construction, residents engaged in heated debates, as some protested the college’s increasing reach into town and others griped at what they saw as an unnecessary expenditure. Even in the thick of these tensions, Donahue remained a professional arbitrator, always ready with a knowledgeable perspective and willing to have a conversation in his easy-going way.
"He’s always been a top notch professional. We’re gonna hate to see him leave, because he’s been such a good person to work with,” Artim said.
As for Donahue, whose Middlebury career centered around connecting the town and the college, he’s proud to leave the community with a physical space to do just that.
“It’s great to see to see the park get used in the summer for movies and music, and to see people just hang out, to see kids playing in it. It’s a community asset,” he said.
Even outside of his official capacity, Donahue has been proactively involved in the community, helping to launch the Maple Run in 2009 and, until recently, chairing the Addison County Chamber of Commerce. He has also served on the board of the Better Middlebury Partnership, volunteered on the Cornwall school board, and coached the high school lacrosse team.
“I show up, and not show up representing the college’s agenda necessarily, but show up and say, ‘Hey, how do we make this place a better place to live, work, and play?’” he explained. “In the end, that’s going to be good for the college.”
Intentional or not, Donahue’s presence around town has made him an effective and authentic spokesperson for the college. He has gone to great lengths to engage with residents, even those who see the college as a tax-evading, inconsiderate neighbor. He spoke of one particular encounter with a town resident.
“We sat down for coffee. I ended up coaching his daughter in a sport, we ended up spending time on the sidelines,” he said. “And in the end, while he wishes the college would do more, I think he has come to a different understanding of what we do.”
These conversations made him one of the most visible members of the Middlebury community. With his active involvement came the fear that his departure might leave a gap in the relationship between the college and the town. But Donahue is confident that the relationship he helped to build will only continue to strengthen.
“We’re in a time now where there’s a lot of people not named Dave Donahue who have an interest in town,” he said. “Number one is Laurie Patton, who loves small town engagement, loves the dynamic of a small town, loves community organizations from the town hall theater to the Sheldon museum, to the Middlebury community center.”
Town residents and leaders share the optimism, recognizing the role he played in bringing the two communities closer together and leaving them with a better relationship going forward.
“He had brought others in, even before he decided to leave,” explained Rob Carter, president of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce. “It won’t be Dave, and his particular personality, the knowledge he has from his experience at the college, but I think there’s going to be a good handoff of responsibility.”
As Donahue leaves the college, he wants students to share the love for community that he held. The college’s responsibility to work for a better town extends beyond the administration — students, he said, must also learn about the lives people lead past the secluded hills of campus.
“I would challenge students, whether it’s volunteering with an organization, or just maybe exploring with a friend five miles further down that road you’ve never been before,” Donahue said.
This same appreciation for community that has helped him succeed at Middlebury is what has made his decision to leave that much harder. “The relationships I’ve built with the people here at the school but also in town,” he said. “that’s the part that I’m gonna miss.”
(11/01/18 9:54am)
In an increasingly nationalized political environment, it’s easy to think that Vermont politics doesn’t matter — Clinton carried the state by 25 points in 2016 and our U.S. Senator is a democratic socialist. That’s why many students are surprised to learn that the governor, Phil Scott, is a Republican and a favorite to win re-election next week.
This year alone he has vetoed bills that would have mandated paid family leave, increased the minimum wage, implemented stronger regulations on toxic chemicals and supported public schools. Right now, liberals in Vermont are fighting to protect their seats in the state legislature and win a veto-proof majority.
Personally, I’m helping out Chris Bray and Ruth Hardy for Addison County’s Senate seats and other Democratic county candidates. Through his work in Montpelier, Bray has proven himself a fighter for the environment and food access. Hardy is a first-time candidate — she used to work at the college and now leads Emerge Vermont, an organization that trains women to run successful campaigns for elected positions. You should not support or volunteer for them blindly on party affiliation — make an informed choice.
It is important to be involved in local politics. Despite artificial barriers that too many students construct between themselves and the larger Vermont and Addison County communities, we are members of those communities. We can vote here, we can volunteer here and we can make a difference here.
The national implications of this election — which party will control the U.S. House and Senate — are certainly of tremendous importance. Majorities could decide the future of immigration policy, court nominees, healthcare access, social safety nets, women’s and LGBTQA+ rights, gun safety and ongoing investigations of the executive branch. This could be the most consequential midterm election of our lifetimes. Over the summer, I was working as a press assistant for Jason Crow, the Democratic nominee for a competitive U.S. House seat outside of Denver, Colorado, fighting for progressive ideals.
Examining the ballot from top to bottom is vitally important. This past decade, Democrats have lost nearly 1,000 seats at the state level across the country. The idea of a “Blue Wave” gives many liberals hope of winning back these seats during a depressing time. Yet waves don’t just happen on their own. Election fundamentals are an important factor, but waves only materialize when we vote and volunteer.
Check online at go/Dems2018 to see volunteer opportunities between now and Election Day in Middlebury for Democratic candidates. Feel free to reach out at aplotch@middlebury.edu.
Editor’s Note: Plotch is not currently employed by any campaign or political organization, all views expressed here are his own.
(11/01/18 9:52am)
Men’s golf ended its fall season on a high note, when it finished in third place among 23 teams at the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association Championship (NEIGA). The tournament took place from Saturday, Oct. 21 to Sunday, Oct. 22, and was held at the Captains Golf Course, a par-72 course in Brewster, Mass. Brewster, which is located on the bayside of Cape Cod, would have offered the Panthers a coastal retreat from the chilly and landlocked mountains of Vermont. But the weather on the first day was extremely far from ideal. The temperature hovered around the low 40s and was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 20 miles per hour.
The team’s performance was hot in spite of the cold temperatures. Middlebury’s third-place finish was the result of a two-day total of 618, just shy of first-place Babson’s 613 and second-place Williams’ 614. Rounding out the top five were Husson University, which totaled 627, and Nichols College with 628. The other NESCAC rivals that competed, Tufts and Bates, landed at seventh and 22nd, respectively.
The Panthers’ solid outing could be attributed to the strong individual performances of senior captains Reid Buzby and Philippe Morin, as well as junior David Packer. Buzby took home first-place-medalist honors, scoring 73 in the first round and 72 in the second. His overall total of 145 was just one above par. Morin finished in fourth place, which is remarkable considering that he was tied for 17th after the first round. He ultimately carded a total of 151. Packer, meanwhile, managed to tie for eighth place after scoring 154. He showed consistency throughout the tournament, scoring a 77 on both days. The other Panther golfers, Chris Thompson ’22 and David McDaniel ’19, tied for 75th and 106th, respectively.
The explanation behind Buzby’s success could be his ability to excel in difficult weather. “I knew going into the tournament the conditions were going to be really tough,” he said. “I usually perform better than most people in bad conditions, so I was really confident [that] I would have a good chance of winning if I stuck to my normal game.”
Regional ties also could have played a role in Buzby’s performance. “I’m from San Francisco and I play at a course out there by the ocean, so it gets really windy and cold at all times of the year,” he said. “I’ve gotten really comfortable playing in the wind and cold, while most people are playing in hot and sunny conditions over the summer.”
With men’s golf not returning to action until the spring, Buzby will no longer need to compete in harsh conditions, provided that winter doesn’t last into April. The team will now set its sights on the NESCAC Championship, which will take place at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course from Saturday, April 27 to Sunday, April 28, 2019. This comes after Middlebury finished first at the NESCAC qualifier in September, winning the right to host the championship.
“Individually, I am hoping to bring some of the momentum I had from these last few tournaments into the spring season, and get as many wins as I can during my last year,” Buzby said.
While for the next several months Ralph Myhre will lose all of its leaves, be covered in snow and experience less sunlight, one thing will remain constant: the hope that Middlebury golf will soon reign victorious.
(11/01/18 9:48am)
As our taxi inched along, I watched all the students in their school uniforms, adults on their way to work and the countless Yaoundéens in the street, selling papayas, corrosols (my new favorite fruit), plantains, credit for telephone calls, fabric, tires and really anything you can imagine, and all I could feel was happiness. At 8 a.m., I arrived (surprisingly on time) and met up with my classmates for our étude de terrain or field trip, as if nothing had happened. We climbed into the bus with my professeur de géographie, and started off for the village of Okola, to walk around a cocoa plantation, talk to the Cameroonians working there, and of course, to suck on the sweet inside that envelopes the cocoa beans as we walked through the forest. The village was just a bit north of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon and the city of about three million people where I’ve been studying for more than two months now.
As we bumped around on the bus (you’d be hard pressed to find a street in Yaoundé without bumps and holes), it didn’t feel like I had just gotten off a plane at 4:30 a.m. from Casablanca, Morocco. It didn’t feel like I had just spent an entire week exploring Morocco, staying in Rabat and visiting the beautiful surrounding cities by train and bus. It didn’t feel like the country of Cameroon, situated between West and Central Africa, had just elected the same president, Paul Biya, for the seventh time, after having lived under his power for 36 years. Middlebury’s decision to send us to Morocco for a week felt like a dream. I understood the reasoning: the necessity to avoid possible election violence breaking out after the announcement of the results, which could have caused the airports to close and trap us inside the country.
When I first came to Cameroon, I never expected to be asked by my host parents: “Et toi? Tu as vécu pendant combien de conditions présidentielles aux États-Unis?” which is French for the question: how many American presidents have served during your lifetime? The answer for me is four. The answer for my host siblings, even my 25-year-old sister, is one. In the month leading up to the election, you could see the evidence of Paul Biya’s (and the state’s) power everywhere in the streets. The posters of his face were everywhere, on billboards, the walls of stores and houses. His face was on t-shirts, dresses, hats, backpacks, umbrellas and more, which people received for free at organized meetings. There were eight other candidates, but they were hardly visible.
The week before the election, we were told not to discuss politics in the shared taxis (the main form of public transportation) and on the streets. There was a rumor that people were positioned in Yaoundé, trying to find secessionists and stop their voices from spreading throughout the city. The secessionist movement in the country is part of the Anglophone crisis, a long-running conflict that intensified in Cameroon in 2016 between English-speaking separatists and a national government dominated by French speakers. The police presence grew in various locations. There was another rumor that a series of random arrests was going on throughout the city. When we went out, we had to carry copies of our passports with us. The phone connection went in and out, making communication harder. However, no violence or anything of significance occurred in Yaoundé leading up to Oct. 7, the jour de vote. Walking through the streets, I could feel in so many people the hunger and readiness for a change of power. On election day, the streets were eerily calm, especially for Yaoundé, a city of bustling disorder. It was said that it would take two weeks for the Supreme Court to officially announce the election results, on Oct. 22.
A week and three days after the election, the students of Middlebury’s School in Cameroon were abruptly told that we would be leaving for Morocco (a North African country that speaks Arabic and French) for a week, with the possibility that we wouldn’t be able to return. I was devastated. At the airport in Yaoundé, the program director told me, “Tu vas rentrer au Cameroun, Emily,” or, “You’re going to come back to Cameroon, Emily” and I took her words to heart. Luckily, she was right. We watched Paul Biya’s smiling face from Rabat, Morocco, as it was announced that he had won 71 percent of the vote (but who really knows how much of the vote he won given that the government also falsely claimed that Transparency International watched over the election process, according to a statement on the organization’s website). Following the results, there have been small incidences of violence in the Anglophone region, as well as a peaceful protest march in Douala, another major city, organized against fraud during the election.
It saddens me to imagine the future of Cameroon under the power of an 85-year-old president, who has failed to follow through on initiatives for his people in his 36 years of power. However, I know that this October’s election awakened the spirit of many Cameroonians. I’m sad for my adopted country and its questionable democracy, but I’m also a little bit hopeful. Now that I’m back, I just get to appreciate everything in Cameroon: my host family, my classmates, the markets, the rainy season and all the adventures, a little bit more.
Editor’s note: Cameroon held national elections on Oct.7. On Oct. 17, students participating in the college’s study abroad program in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, were flown to Morocco on short notice amid concerns that the threat of violence following the announcement of election results would shutter airports and trap students in the country. All students returned safely to Yaoundé on Oct. 26. Yaoundé has not been stricken by election violence that other parts of Cameroon have seen, and the step to extract the students was precautionary. In this piece, Emily Ray ’20 reflects on this experience.
(10/25/18 9:57am)
Editor's note: a video of the event can be viewed here.
Professors Allison Stanger and Keegan Callanan criticized ideological homogeneity at the college and emphasized empathy and free thinking in response to controversial ideas at a Princeton University panel discussion last month.
The event, titled “Speak Freely: Lessons from Middlebury and Evergreen State,” centered on the duo’s reflections in the aftermath of the March 2017 protests of Charles Murray, the controversial conservative author whom protesters labeled a white supremacist.
Stanger had engaged in a back-and-forth with Murray via a livestream after the protest. On their way out of the building, after their exchange, Stanger was assaulted.
At Princeton, Stanger said she views what happened to her during Murray’s visit as “somewhat of a gift,” in that it deepened her empathy and opened her mind.
“I don’t have any regrets for what I did,” she said at the panel. “I would do exactly the same thing over again, and I have learned so much through that experience and talking to people around the country about it and related issues concerning our country and our democracy.”’
Stanger repeatedly stressed the importance of empathy, particularly for those with whom one might not agree. She encouraged her audience to use an open mind when engaging with those who are unlike them.
“I really think that you can be a positive force in the fight against racism and injustice by simply thinking for yourself, encouraging others to do the same and listening empathetically to those with whom you disagree,” Stanger said. “I would put it this way: bell curves don’t matter. Individuals do.”
Callanan spoke after Stanger on the panel. Reflecting on Murray’s visit and on his own experience as a professor, he described the college as “ideologically homogeneous” and a place where leftist politics often shape the curriculum, not unlike many of its peer institutions. Callanan criticized the behavior of some of his fellow faculty members in the lead-up to the protest.
“There are even some professors who see their role as mobilizing for left-wing political causes rather than seeking the truth,” Callanan said. “They are scholars in the same way Al Capone was a beverage distributor.”
Callanan warned against pursuing inclusion through censorship, and stressed his belief that inclusivity can only be achieved through open inquiry. He cited the protest as an example of silencing speech in the name of inclusivity.
“Real academic inclusion in its fullest sense is inclusion in a community of truth-seeking through open inquiry,” Callanan said. “Freedom of inquiry is the value most emphatically under threat when speakers like Charles Murray are silenced or no-platformed,” he said.
Since the protest, Stanger has publicly spoken about the incident several times, at universities, conferences, on television and in New York Times op-eds. Stanger also testified before the United States Senate about the protest, during which she condemned the actions of her colleagues in the Sociology/Anthropology Department, accusing them of rallying students to protest. The department chair, Michael Sheridan, in a letter to the editor published in The Campus, said her claim was untrue.
Stanger’s public appearances, as documented in a March 2018 article in The Campus, have been a contentious subject among some members of the faculty.
“I think that the story of what happened last year has cohered into a single dominant narrative, but overall I think there are other stories of what happened too and a lot of those other perspectives have not gotten into that dominant narrative, precisely because they’re small, they’re local, they’re personal, they’re not amplified on the national stage,” Sheridan told The Campus in March.
The Campus reached out to both Stanger and Callanan for comment on the Princeton lecture via email. When asked why they continue to speak publicly about the event, Stanger identified what she believes to be the gravity of current threats to freedom of speech as her main motivation.
“Because I believe both freedom of expression and democracy are currently in grave danger, I am speaking out whenever given the opportunity,” she wrote in an email. “This authoritarian challenge is global. I am particularly concerned that many younger Americans do not seem to place their understanding of injustices in the United States in comparative and historical perspective. It is the job of educators to provide that broader context and to speak truth to power.”
Callanan said the panel was tied to Princeton first-year students’ summer reading. The students were assigned “Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech” by Keith Whittington.
When reached via email, neither Callanan nor Stanger said whether they were paid to speak on the panel.
The Sept. 14 discussion lasted for about an hour and a half in Princeton’s Arthur Lewis Auditorium. The other two panelists were Heather Heying and her husband Bret Weinstein, two former professors at The Evergreen State College. Weinstein was a prominent critic of the “Day of Absence” at Evergreen State, an event that requested white students and faculty members leave campus for the day. After he and Heying faced confrontations with students and accusations of racism, both professors resigned and sued the college.
The talk was sponsored by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, a program within Princeton University’s Department of Politics. A link to a video of the full panel discussion can be found with the online version of this article at www.middleburycampus.com.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article made a mistake in quoting Professor Callanan. The error has been corrected.
(10/25/18 9:55am)
This fall at the Student Activities Fair, the Pregnancy Resource Center of Addison County had a booth alongside other organizations from town. The booth included shower flip-flops, business cards, pamphlets on parenting classes and healthy relationships and a game of “STD Jeopardy” positioned out front.
The booth was operated by the center’s director, Ms. Joanie Praamsma, who greeted students with a smile and offered her materials. When I introduced myself to Ms. Praamsma as the student who had previously written an article about her Crisis Pregnancy Center in The Middlebury Campus last fall, her smile disappeared. She considered my work an “attack” on her organization. She politely offered me her materials, and I took an example of each pamphlet before leaving the fair.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) often look like healthcare providers. When you drive by the Pregnancy Resource Center of Addison County on Route 7, you might mistake it for a legitimate women’s health resource. It has “free pregnancy testing” posted on large signs in front, and its website states its goal as “empowering women to make informed choices.”
The information that CPCs provide, however, is biased, ill-informed, and designed to intimidate women who may be considering abortion. Last fall, a student — Kelsie Hoppes 18.5 — visited the center to conduct research on how CPCs operate. (Kelsie wrote a blog post about her visit to the local CPC, titled “I Went to a Fake Women’s Health Center, and Here’s What You Need to Know,” for the National Women’s Law Center.) When Kelsie suggested that a fictional friend might be considering an abortion, she was offered a pamphlet outlining the “risks” of the procedure. (You can see the pamphlet here). The pamphlet dramatically exaggerates the risks of abortion and suggests that abortion leads to increased risk of breast cancer and future infertility. Neither of these statements are supported by facts.
Moreover, the center claims to offer post-abortion counseling to those struggling from the “physical and emotional trauma of abortion.” The center includes a description of “Post Abortion Stress Syndrome,” a fictitious mental disorder that the Diagnostic Standards Manual — used by psychologists to define and diagnose mental disorders — does not recognize as legitimate.
In fact, a study from 2015 found that the majority of women who have abortions feel confident that their decision was the correct one, and do not struggle with emotional distress. While the Pregnancy Resource Center of Addison County’s website claims that it offers “evidence-based” information, it is clear that its information is ill-informed and biased, and that it intentionally associates abortion with medical risk and trauma.
Following the Student Activities Fair, a group of students mobilized to take action against the local CPC. We met initially to establish our goals and to identify a tangible action that could be taken to protect our campus community from false information and threats to reproductive autonomy. The petition was proposed, with the stated goal of having the Pregnancy Resource Center of Addison County banned from advertising on campus or attending the Student Activities Fair. The language of the petition was then drafted, revised by students and staff, and shared online at go/stoplyingtowomen. At present, the petition has more than 240 signatures from faculty, staff, and concerned students; I am in contact with campus organizations about endorsing the petition.
When I approached the Pregnancy Center’s booth at the student activities fair, I made no effort to misrepresent myself. I introduced myself as the person who had written an article about the center previously and expressed some concern that the center was advertising on campus. The Pregnancy Resource Center, however, intentionally misrepresented itself to the student body. Ms. Praamsma informed me that she did not bring any of the center’s pamphlets on abortion, despite its website clearly disseminating information about abortion. The local CPC intentionally withheld its biased information and marketed itself as a reproductive health resource for the Middlebury community.
CPCs threaten reproductive autonomy. Women should not be scared away from a safe and frequently practiced procedure, and students should not be implicated in the spread of biased and ill-informed information. Sign our petition at go/stoplyingtowomen, and protect your peers’ ability to make informed decisions about their own bodies.
Editor’s note: Victoria Isquith helped organize a petition to bar the Pregnancy Center of Addison County from participation in Middlebury College events. See our front page for news coverage of the petition.
(10/11/18 9:58am)
On July 11, 2018, I joined the London-based group Refugee Tales on the fifth day of their pilgrimage through London’s busy streets, neighborhoods, parks and commercial throughways in an act of protest and in solidarity with refugees and asylum-seekers in the United Kingdom. Inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Refugee Tales stops each night to commune with locals, and listens to stories of refugees by established writers.
Refugee Tales calls for an end to the policy of indefinite detention and the creation of humane policies for migrants fleeing their homelands.
As we walked in solidarity with migrants in London, many across the Atlantic were protesting the inhumane practice of separating children from their parents as they crossed the Mexican border. Closer to Vermont, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 25-year old A (not his full name), a migrant farmer from Addison county, and was holding him at a detention center in New Hampshire, separating him from his family.
These policies are reminiscent of colonial and post-colonial abuses endured by non-white migrants for generations. I think of my own family’s history of migration across the British, Portuguese and Spanish empires, and through four Caribbean countries before we arrived in the United States.
Europeans and North Americans have also experienced migration, some with more privileges than others. Consider the U.S. southerners and the Quebecois migrants who fled to Brazil in the nineteenth century, the intellectuals and artists who sought refuge in Paris, or the thousands of Irish and Jews who left Europe to build new homes in places from Cuba to China. Stories of migration have shaped the lives of many at the college and in the communities where we live.
Today British authorities detain tens of thousands of people in eleven ‘immigration removal centers,’ at a cost of over a million pounds per year. While the United States does not practice indefinite detention as a principle, it directs its resources towards immediate deportation. Both policies are inhumane.
Halfway through our pilgrimage, we stop at Queen Mary University, where state-of-the-art buildings surround the old Sephardic Jewish cemetery. Cemeteries and burial sites become important signposts of migration and memory even as modernization destroys the cultural history of the less powerful. At Middlebury, the Christianization and burial of Egyptian prince Amun-Her Khepeshef in the graveyard next to the Rohatyn Centre for Global Affairs exemplifies these tensions.
Migration is connected to the histories of slavery, racism and genocide. It is also connected to scientific innovation and the quest for equality. The Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury and the Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburg document many of these contradictions.
In London, I walk alongside Amazir (not his real name), one of the ten million migrants who have no nationality. He was caught between two countries that refused to recognize him but gladly wanted to conscript him into their armies. Hannah Arendt describes his conundrum in “The Perplexities of the Rights of Man.”
The work of scholar Gloria Anzaldúa reminds us that borders have often crossed people rather than the other way around. Later on our walk in London I meet AJ, a university student studying social work with his own complicated story of crossing borders and detention. AJ, who may have been born in India or Nepal, is still trying to understand his story after having lost his parents.
When we get to Whitechapel, we stop at the Cable Street Mural, commemorating the October 1926 demonstrations against fascists who terrorized the migrant and Jewish residents. Confrontations like the one in Charlottesville are not new in the Atlantic world. The mural documents history, but the astute artists have also found a way to embrace the demographic shifts in the neighborhoods by including South Asian subjects in the mural.
As we leave the park, I meet Patience Agbabi, British Poet Laureate of Canterbury. Agbabi, a child of Nigerian parents, has published the ‘tale’ of Samia (not her real name), a Coptic woman who fled Egypt for the United Kingdom. We talk about poetry’s ability to document suffering and portray the complex truth of Samia’s story. Later that day, I will hear other stories read by the actress Vanessa Redgrave and Neel Mukherjee, author of The Lives of Others.
The sharing of stories is part of a long tradition of healing and activism. Walking with migrants and listening to their stories help us notice the migrant signposts in our surroundings. It also creates a new awareness that can lead to a shift in consciousness. The goals of Refugee Tales align with the ambitions of many groups calling for more humane migration policies.
Today, I look at landscapes and architecture differently. I consciously notice the signposts shaped or touched by migrants globally and locally.
According to the American Immigrant Council, migrants make up 4.5% of Vermont’s population. Historically, these numbers have included Italian and Irish migrants who worked in the mills and helped build St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Towns and businesses with Anglicized French names and the sound of Bosnian in the aisles of Hannaford are potential fragments of the migrant tales waiting to be uncovered.
And then there are the environmental and cultural ironies: The Mexican dairy farmers and Jamaican apple pickers who travel thousands of miles to help produce goods “Made in Vermont.” Migrants have also shaped Middlebury’s curriculum. They have helped prepare our food and take care of our grounds.
In the current climate it is important to recognize the stories and signposts of migrants and refugees. Refugee Tales encourages us to listen, to notice, to walk, and to act to transform our politics. It is a beautiful model for both sides of the Atlantic.
David Herd and Anna Pincus will bring Refugee Tales to the Abernathy Room in Axinn on October 15 (4:30-6:00pm). They will discuss Refugee Tales and read several migrant stories written by established writers in the United Kingdom. Please join us for a cross-Atlantic discussion. Weather permitting, we will take a short walk of solidarity with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from Proctor Hall terrace through the cemetery to the Centre for the Arts beginning at 12 noon.
(10/11/18 9:53am)
Everybody wants to start class on the right note. At Middlebury, the hardest part can be getting into the class. The sign-up period is an intensive two minutes when your webpage is liable to crash, your BannerWeb account might not load, or your slow typing results in missing out on first choice classes. Back-up courses might also be full, triggering a frantic search for any available courses that fit your schedule. There are simple solutions that can reduce the stress and difficulty associated with course registration.
The upperclassmen frequently advise disappointed first-years that registration becomes less stressful with each semester. But that is an improvement in individual standing, not a solution for the larger issue. Any registration system will prioritize upperclassmen. That does not mean the only solution should be waiting to move up the proverbial totem pole. Any system can be improved.
A simple solution to reduce stress and increase the frequency of positive outcomes would be to create a multi-round registration system. The first round would allow everyone to enter their top choice classes. A break between rounds one and two would allow students to identify the availability of second choice courses in a calm environment. The break could be anywhere from an hour to a day. This slight variation on the current system allows time to process and prepare, instead of rushing to find another course in the heat of the moment.
It is worth noting that departments do a great job responding to long wait lists and assisting as many students as possible during the add/drop period. Some courses added new sections due to higher than anticipated registration requests. Adding sections to in-demand classes should be encouraged. It is important to respond to student interest in a subject and assist everyone in developing a course of study that fits their needs.
Adding last-minute sections is an important step in easing the stress and negative feelings that are associated with a bad course registration experience. However, it would be preferable to have the necessary number of sections at the start of the registration process. Adding a new section at the start of the year might be complicated by needing to find open rooms, available professors and a time that works for the greatest number of students. Another simple solution could help avoid the problem of overflowing waitlists for classes without an appropriate number of seats. A survey of interest could be sent to college students before the number of sections for each course is finalized. The survey could ask students to list five courses they are interested in taking during the next semester. Departments would be able to better identify courses that need more sections before registration begins, limiting the need to add sections at the last minute.
The current course registration process can quickly spiral, leaving some students scrambling to create a full schedule. The add/drop period and the creation of new sections can help students recover from the registration period, but it is preferable to have a strong registration system that limits the need for adjustments. A few simple changes will create a calmer system and result in higher student satisfaction.
(09/27/18 9:57am)
Re “Remembering a Former College Employee Who Froze to Death” (news article, Sept. 20):
A note of appreciation for the feature piece about Suad in last week’s edition of The Campus. I’ve shared this among fellow alums and received an influx of notes, as many had not heard the news of his death.
Your piece not only shared what happened, but shed light into the life of someone we knew and cared for. Learning more about Suad brings great joy and an opportunity to reminisce fondly.
I laughed reading Richard O’Donohue’s comments about the VHS tapes, having felt the same way — “not the VHS again” — as Suad so often tried to lend [Libby Pingpank ’04] and me his favorite movies which we’d never have time to watch.
After hearing the tragic news of Suad’s passing last January, I looked for acknowledgement from the college. Middlebury espouses values of welcoming the immigrant and of ending injustice such as homelessness — yet when a tragedy occurred that hit at the core of these issues, nothing was said. Social issues aside, to have had a beloved former employee of 10 years freeze to death one mile from campus and say nothing is wrong. The lack of recognition felt like we were leaving Suad alone all over again as a community.
Thanks to you, this is no longer the case. Suad has been recognized and celebrated by the community he gave so much to. He can be remembered in the best way. And those of us that knew him can find closure about his death. Thank you so much for not only doing the right thing, but for authoring such a well-written and heartfelt piece. If Suad were with us, no doubt he would be smiling ear to ear.
Megan Rzezutko is a member of the Middlebury College class of 2004.
(09/27/18 9:56am)
I hope everyone has had a great start to their semester!
This week, I thought it would be a great idea to talk about something that has been on the minds of many students,--dining changes. Specifically, the recent Grille closure two nights a week and the changes to the dining hall hours that has worried many students. In conversations with Dan Detora and David Provost, we discussed the reasons behind it, how it impacts students, and where to go from here. This is all part of a larger issue concerning space. Because students use the dining hall as a social space, any changes are bound to affect the way students access food and ultimately each other.
While these changes are in dining, they are also part of a bigger financial picture. Currently, we are planning to have an event where David Provost can present on the challenges and changes we now face to a larger student audience. This will allow students to not only understand the issue, but provide them the opportunity to offer informed suggestions about space, dining, and how to better improve these areas. Hopefully this will not be the only event of this nature. Along with MiddWorks, a series that allows students to learn about administrators and what they do, presentations like these can invite students to understand challenges and how they influence Middlebury and its students. More details will be provided in the future, but I hope students see these steps as moves towards transparency and encouraging student involvement.
I also want to take part of this column to talk about space and how important it is to everyone’s experience. We never acknowledge places like the dining halls or McCullough as places to do homework, eat, and socialize until changes make us realize it. Similarly, we fail to acknowledge the general disrespect these same spaces are shown when we leave parts of our meals on the table for someone else to clean up. If we are going to talk about The Grille and dining hall as important centers on campus, we also need to treat them, and the people, that way.
Nia Robinson is the president of the Student Government Association and a member of the Middlebury College Class of 2019.
