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(09/27/18 9:54am)
Three years ago, The Middlebury Campus Editorial Board published “The Coddling of the Middlebury Mind.” The editors critiqued what they perceived as Middlebury’s “culture of protectiveness.” They argued that the college’s emphasis on safe spaces and political correctness insulated students, depriving them of opportunities to confront uncomfortable or offensive viewpoints and thereby become better at refuting them with reason and evidence. “The world-at-large is not Middlebury,” the editors wrote, “and we fear we are leaving here unprepared for the ‘unsafe spaces’ that await us.”
Less than two years after The Campus published that editorial, the Charles Murray incident took place. The protests, which turned violent and left one faculty member injured, came to epitomize progressives’ flawed understanding of freedom of speech as a principle that does not apply to offensive ideas.
In the world beyond Middlebury College, the Supreme Court has repeatedly, clearly and correctly stated that, while we are understandably disturbed by offensive speech, and therefore logically want to silence this speech, it is a key function of the First Amendment to protect hate speech. There are a number of reasons for this, not least of which is the difficulty of deciding who will determine when speech becomes “offensive” and what criteria will be used to make this decision. I, for one, do not want President Trump or Attorney General Sessions deciding what speech they will use the levers of government power to punish because they determine that it is “offensive.”
In the recent case of Snyder v. Phelps (2011), the Court, by a vote of 8-1, held that the First Amendment protected the Westboro Baptist Church’s admittedly offensive and hateful speech, even though it was delivered in the presence of a funeral for a soldier who died in Iraq. The Court acknowledged the odious and homophobic speech at issue and the pain it must have caused the family to endure that speech while burying their son. Nonetheless, both liberal and conservative justices (only Justice Alito dissented) agreed that, while a majority of people may speak back and refute offensive speech, they cannot prohibit it.
The Murray fiasco kindled a national debate within the left. Some scholars, journalists and prominent Democrats demanded a renewed commitment to the open market of ideas. They asserted that if we allow vigorous debates about policies and ideas, liberalism would win based on facts and reason, not censorship.
Others argued that attacks on political correctness reflected a lack of understanding of the challenges that offensive speech inflicts on marginalized groups. Progressives, like New York Times writer Charles Blow, argued that nothing valuable comes from engaging conservatives in discourse. “The Enlightenment,” Blow declared, “must never bow to the Inquisition.”
Blow’s comments, however, represent a problem with modern American political dialogue. While we often hear about how alternative facts and echo chambers have corroded bipartisan conversation, the left has failed to address some of its own issues. One such issue is our tone. Polls show that Americans particularly dislike the righteous condemnation of the left, and that is one of many factors that have driven the Democratic Party into the wilderness (we now control fewer elected positions in the United States than at any time since the 1920s).
Part of that sentiment arises from the idea that the left, particularly on college campuses, should be empowered to censor ideas that it considers offensive, instead of prevailing through open argument based on facts and reason. “When the loudest voices on the left talk about people on the right as either beyond the pale or dupes of their betters,” writes libertarian journalist Katherine Mangu-Ward, “it is with an air of barely concealed smugness.” The left’s tonal issues have handicapped our ability to talk to — let alone appeal to — voters who may help the Democratic Party win some elections. At the risk of stating the obvious, in a democracy, if you consistently lose elections, the other side dictates policy.
Right-wingers have responded to the left’s self-righteousness with increasingly toxic trolling. It is a self-perpetuating cycle of worsening discourse: “the more smugness, the more satisfying it is to poke holes in it; the more toxic the trolling, the greater the sense of moral superiority,” Mangu-Ward notes.
If liberals can restore the primacy of debate and dialogue at Middlebury and beyond, they will win many of these debates. More importantly, they will persuade some previously skeptical voters and thereby restore the Democratic Party’s political relevance. This process starts with dropping demands for censorship in places where we have the power to do so and realizing that we can learn from people who disagree with us. Equally important, we can win some of these arguments as opposed to simply stopping them from happening in the first place.
Joey Lyons is a member of the Middlebury College Class of 2021.
(09/24/18 4:06pm)
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(09/20/18 10:00am)
For three days following the tragedy, the public did not know his name.
It was in the early morning of Saturday, Jan. 13, that Middlebury police found the body of a man who had frozen to death overnight off a path on the Town Green, covered with snow and sleet. The following Monday, local media began to report his identity: Suad Teocanin, a 45-year-old Middlebury resident who had been living at the Charter House during a recent period of homelessness. Following a night of drinking, Teocanin tried to make his way back to the Charter House before apparently collapsing, just yards from the shelter’s front door.
Reports of Teocanin’s death circulated around Middlebury that week, accompanied by photographs of his smiling face, descriptions of his recent homelessness and statements by police that alcohol had been a “significant factor” in his death. What these relatively brief media accounts could not capture, however, was the totality of Teocanin’s experience before his death — a life that began in the Bosnian city of Zvornik and led to ten years of employment at Middlebury College and another decade in the kitchens of several restaurants in town.
To the many people who knew him at the college and in town, Teocanin was not only a friend and coworker, but also a generous neighbor, a fellow immigrant and a bright spot amid the stresses of college life whose broad smile was cited without exception.
“The best antidote”
Teocanin came to America as a war refugee.
From 1992 to 1995, Bosnia was torn apart by ethnic conflict, as Serbian forces targeted the Muslim Bosniak population, burning cities and towns and massacring entire communities. In Teocanin’s hometown of Zvornik, tens of thousands of residents were driven from the area, and almost 4,000 were killed.
Teocanin was not Bosniak, however, but Romani, the historically itinerant ethnic group known colloquially as gypsies. Romani people, persecuted in Bosnia as they are in much of the world, were targeted specifically in the killings that took place in Zvornik. Those who knew Teocanin in Middlebury would recall that he rarely spoke about his life in Bosnia, or about the family he left behind. One former Proctor Dining Hall colleague, however, said Teocanin had spoken of witnessing the deaths of his parents and siblings.
Over 1,700 Bosnian refugees were resettled in Vermont between 1993 and 2004, and Teocanin was one of them. In Middlebury, a small community started to form by the mid-1990s, centered in the Pine Meadow Apartments near the Pulp Mill covered bridge. From their homes in the apartment complex that became known as Little Bosnia, Teocanin and his fellow refugees began to rebuild their lives in Vermont.
Jovanka Jandric was among the Bosnians who settled in Pine Meadow during that time, along with her husband, Refik, and their children. Refik came to the United States first in 1994, to a New Hampshire hospital, having lost both of his legs in Bosnia after stepping on a landmine. Jovanka came with their children several months later, and the family moved to Middlebury.
The older couple found jobs in town — Refik at Danforth Pewter, and Jovanka at the now-closed Greg’s Meat Market — and cared for Teocanin, who, in his early twenties, had arrived in town alone. “I loved him like a son. I’m old enough to be his mother,” Jovanka said. “He was too young.”
Teocanin’s childhood education had been minimal and he never learned to read or write. In order to communicate with his brother, who fled to Germany, Teocanin brought his letters to Jovanka, who would read them and help him compose replies.
Teocanin, after a stint at Mister Up’s restaurant, found his way to the college, where he began work in 1998 as a pot washer in Proctor Dining Hall. His coworkers, several of whom remain at Proctor today, were struck by his ability to adapt in what must have been a daunting new environment.
“You always start out in a different place, not being sure of yourself,” said Claudette Latreille, who still works at the college. Colleagues watched Teocanin transform from an inexperienced new hire who spoke little English to a skilled worker who mastered the language and the intricacies of food service.
“He was the kind of guy who fit in by watching, and then doing what the cooks were doing and saying,” said Richard O’Donohue, now retired, who worked as Proctor’s head chef. Coworkers helped Teocanin study for a driving test, went with him to college hockey games and invited him to Middlebury Union High School to watch their children play sports.
A few years into his time at Proctor, Teocanin began to work in the main dining area known as the servery, and students began to gravitate toward his warmth and near-constant smile.
“College can be a little intense, and literally, Suad was the best antidote for that,” said Megan McElroy Rzezutko ’04, who formed a close bond with Teocanin at Proctor. She recalled the feeling of “being in the library for many hours and then seeing his smiling face, so elated to see you.”
Libby Pingpank ’04 remembered meeting Teocanin soon after her arrival on campus. “It was the first time we were away from home,” she said. “He was just this welcoming, friendly face that we always knew we would see when we went to eat.”
Teocanin became known for stopping by tables to chat and joke with students, and for his vast collection of movies on VHS tape that he offered up as gifts and even as betting payments, when a group of fellow employees began placing bets on football games.
“Suad had some money, but not a whole lot, and he’d make side bets,” O’Donohue said. “When he couldn’t pay the bet, he’d bring in a bag of VHSs. Everybody got to the point of, ‘No, Suad, we’re not doing VHS.’”
To employees like Dawn Boise, the current Proctor manager, memories of Teocanin’s socializing feel like symbols of a bygone era, when the smaller student population meant that staff could talk freely with students without the looming threat of the mealtime rush.
“You used to have a little down time, where you could chat with people,” she said. “Now, you really don’t have time to get to know a lot of the students, which is hard.”
For the students who knew Teocanin, memories of those conversations have only grown in value in the years since their graduation.
“Honestly, when I think back, it’s my advisor and Suad who had the most impact on my time in college,” McElroy Rzezutko said. “There’s obviously faculty and administrators there that are a part of your life, but this was different. It was comforting, and wasn’t forced.”
“He was too good”
After over a decade, Teocanin left the college in 2010 after accepting a voluntary separation package offered by Middlebury following the 2008 financial crisis.
“When he decided to leave, we were pretty upset,” O’Donohue said. “But we couldn’t talk him out of it. He had his mind set.”
Years earlier, during his stint at Mister Up’s, Teocanin had worked alongside Megan Brady. When she and her husband Holmes Jacobs prepared to open Two Brothers Tavern, Brady insisted they hire Teocanin.
“He had a reputation of being a golden soul, a great person, a great work ethic and just a big heart,” Jacobs said.
Teocanin remained at Two Brothers until his death, working his way up from dishwashing to food preparation. There, like at the college, he became a beloved and visible figure, famed for his humor and, of course, his enormous grin. “Even though he had so many things stacked against him, he brought out the best in other people,” Jacobs said.
Work was steady, but Teocanin’s personal life was not. Over the years, the Bosnian community in Middlebury splintered along many of the same ethnic lines that had been present during wartime, and prejudices welled up against Teocanin’s Romani heritage.
“Not so many people liked gypsies,” Jovanka Jandric said. “Some people would open the door for him, some people would close the door.”
To make matters worse, friends say that a girlfriend extorted Teocanin out of what little money he had. Generous to a fault, Teocanin supported her unquestioningly. “Suad was one of those rare people who gave of himself to anyone without expecting anything in return,” Jacobs said.
For years, Teocanin had moved around frequently, often camping or living out of a truck when he had no reliable source of housing. As cold weather approached in the fall of 2017, Jacobs helped Teocanin move into Charter House.
“We’re so grateful for the Charter House,” Jacobs said. “But if he had been less generous with all of his time and money he probably would have had a housing setup that was more permanent.”
“He was too good,” Jovanka Jandric said. “Too naïve.”
“Richer and happier”
Jacobs remembers the day of January 12 vividly.
“It was a really weird, beautiful, sunny, 60-degree January day,” he said. “As the sun fell, the weather turned really quick.”
Temperatures that night dipped to 30 degrees and falling rain turned to snow. And Teocanin failed to make it home to the Charter House after a night of drinking in town.
The amount of alcohol that Teocanin had ingested came as a shock to those who knew him, as alcohol did not seem to play a major role in his life. News of Teocanin’s death left many in the community with the impression that he had long struggled with drinking, a notion that Jacobs feels compelled to refute.
“I don’t believe that he had a real substance abuse problem,” Jacobs said. “But that’s how he died, and that’s perhaps part of the perception that comes from that.”
In the days and weeks following his death, posts made on the Two Brothers Tavern Facebook page memorializing Teocanin garnered hundreds of reactions and dozens of comments.
“We have lost one of the biggest hearts we have ever known,” the first post read. “But deep down, somewhere hard to find tonight, we realize, as we always have, that each of us is so much richer and happier for having had Suad in our lives.”
However, months later, his friends still puzzle over the circumstances of his last night, and why Teocanin was in such a situation in the first place.
“It still confounds me a bit how he was left alone,” Jacobs said. “It’s unclear to me why the police weren’t called sooner to try to find Suad, especially when there had been witnesses to where he was. I feel like a phone call to the police could’ve saved him.”
Of all the ironies surrounding Teocanin’s death, including that he passed out just steps from shelter and that alcohol, a substance he seemed to use only rarely, was involved, what most disturbs those who knew him is the disjunction between the way he lived and the way he died.
“To me, the most horrific thing is that he was alone,” McElroy Rzezutko said. “This person that created such warmth, human-to-human.”
Amid their grief, James and Jacobs planned a memorial befitting Teocanin’s legacy at Middlebury’s Congregational Church. After first offering a small room, a church official eventually agreed to open up the entire building for the January 27 service.
Among the many attendees were Jandric, Jacobs and several Proctor employees. Speakers recounted how Teocanin made an impact on their lives in Middlebury.
“Everyone had a story, even if they didn’t really know Suad, about how he would help them cross the street, or [how] he would hold the door for them when he was walking into their shop with a big smile,” Jacobs said.
Since January, mementos of Teocanin have accumulated inside Two Brothers Tavern. A framed photograph hangs on the wall in the dining area, near the bar. Another sits above the sink, where Teocanin spent many hours washing dishes. And Jacobs is proudest of the life-sized poster of Teocanin, showing him beaming in his cook’s uniform, that now sits in the kitchen to greet Jacobs every day as he walks into work.
“It’s not Suad,” he said. “But it still makes me smile.”
(09/20/18 10:00am)
The community-initiated conversations have been hosted, the survey results analyzed and invitations to facilitated talks no longer populate student inboxes. The next phase of Envisioning Middlebury begins this semester, the phase in which the framework will start to have a concrete impact on the institution. Yet, despite the fact that this process has been in the works for well over a year, many in the broader Middlebury community still do not understand what it is.
That is in part because Envisioning Middlebury is not the typical strategic plan college presidents implement upon assuming their roles. Instead, it is a set of guidelines and values that inform decision-making, big and small, across the institution. Since Envisioning Middlebury’s adoption in 2016, members of every facet of the Middlebury community have engaged in dialogues centered around the future of the institution. Those discussions shaped and informed Envisioning Middlebury, and under President Laurie Patton’s direction, then-Provost Susan Baldrige took the lead in developing the new framework. The Board of Trustees approved the framework last October.
The decision to create a framework, rather than the typical checklist plan, came after issues that arose with the institution’s last 10-year-plan, Knowledge Without Boundaries, implemented under then-President Ronald Liebowitz in 2006.
Knowledge Without Boundaries took a more traditional approach, offering 82 concrete recommendations that were hindered when the 2008 financial crisis interrupted the subsequent fundraising process. According to Vice President of Communications Bill Burger, Envisioning Middlebury is intended to be “crisis proof,” to provide more flexibility and withstand unknown future obstacles.
This fall, the project will move into the implementation stage. With all the major building blocks of the program now in place, centered around a new mission statement, the institution is ready to accept proposals for “first moves” that will lead to changes based on the values and goals laid out in the strategic framework.
FRAMEWORK COMPONENTS
Envisioning Middlebury is comprised of five distinct pieces. First, a new institution-wide mission statement, which emphasizes immersive, engaged and creative learning. Second, a vision statement, which underlines the need for a “robust public sphere” in which citizens work across boundaries. Burger said the goal of the vision statement is to provide a more short-term focus in service of the broader mission statement.
The framework also highlights “distinctions,” or areas in which Middlebury already succeeds, and “directions,” which are areas for growth. Distinctions include Middlebury programs around the world, as well as more local programs like MiddCore and Oratory Now. The “directions” aim in part to bolster existing resources and programs, like the Anderson Freeman Resource Center and the Middlebury School of the Environment. Lastly, the framework includes four principles: promoting community, making intentional choices, responsible use of resources and committing time and space to collective goals.
Burger explained the principles as values that would guide intentional choice making. “That means holding ourselves accountable for the fact that Middlebury tries to do so much, or not allocate sufficient resources to our ambitions.” he said. “We have a tendency to stretch ourselves a little too thin sometimes and so these exist to help check ourselves as an institution.”
The entire framework can be found at go.middlebury.edu/envisioningmiddlebury.
With the framework in place, the Envisioning Middlebury Committee set about developing transformational goals, which the Board endorsed in January 2017. The three goals are to turn Middlebury into a center for persuasive and inclusive dialogue, a laboratory for curricular innovation and experiential learning and a globally networked changemaker. Each goal now has a working group led by a senior administrator who is responsible for brainstorming programs in pursuit of that goal.
ALL OF THE INSTITUTION
The framework also incorporates for the first time each part of Middlebury: the Language Schools, C.V. Starr Schools Abroad, Bread Loaf School of English, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, School of the Environment, Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) and the undergraduate college.
Amy Morsman, interim dean for faculty development and research, believes the broad framework model is particularly useful for an institution with so many branches, though she acknowledged that it may feel undefined.
“It is a set of guidelines and that sometimes can feel frustratingly vague, but Middlebury is a big place and it doesn’t make any sense to create a fixed plan that is one-size fits all,” she said. “Some folks may not like that, but that is the reality of Middlebury, and so our strategic planning process should reflect that.”
The Campus reached out to three of the four undergraduate students who served on the advisory committee. Two felt that the inclusion of MIIS and other branches of the institution in the Envisioning Middlebury process made it harder to address issues specifically related to the college during the conversation phase.
“I had to keep reminding myself that Envisioning Middlebury was about all of the programs that fall under Middlebury’s umbrella,” said Tabitha Mueller, who graduated last May.
“I’d hoped Envisioning Middlebury would be a campaign to develop and strengthen the undergraduate college, but it took a macro-scale approach rather than a micro-scale one,” she said. “This macro-scale approach may have achieved the administration’s goals, but as a student, I remember getting frustrated because there was so much I hoped to address at the more micro-scale.”
Morgan Rawlings, a MIIS student, served on the advisory committee and wished more students and staff at the institute had participated. She felt the Envisioning Middlebury process was relevant to MIIS and hopes the framework will have an impact in Monterey. She also felt, like many at the college, that students at MIIS did not understand what Envisioning Middlebury was.
NEXT STEPS
Jeffrey Cason, the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, began overseeing Envisioning Middlebury on July 1 after Baldridge stepped down, and has been tasked with moving the framework from conversation to implementation.
“Envisioning Middlebury was designed to hear from as many voices as possible across Middlebury,” Cason said. “Now that those voices have been distilled into strategic directions and transformational goals, we have a solid foundation from which to act, and to build.”
According to Cason, the next stage of the process, which is already underway, is to solicit ideas from programs, departments, offices and self-organized groups on how to move forward within the framework. Cason received initial proposals for programs and initiatives on Sept. 14, though he says the submission process will be ongoing. Working within budget constraints, academic leadership will determine which projects have priority and help refine proposed ideas. “There will also be some great ideas that we will have to say no to, because they require resources that we don’t have or don’t align with the strategic directions,” Cason said.
Cason acknowledged that resource allocation is especially important since Envisioning Middlebury took shape as much of the institution is working to cut costs and rein in financial deficits. But he argued that a strong strategic framework is exactly what Middlebury needs in the face of tough financial decisions. “In a sense, the Envisioning Middlebury process is even more important now, when we know we have to limit our expenses,” he said. “We need to decide what is most important to invest in, and we need to prioritize.”
ENDURING CHANGE
Envisioning Middlebury is designed to create change gradually while asking big, complicated questions about what Middlebury is and where it is going. Given the wide scope of the project, it is unclear whether current students will see the effects of the framework before they graduate. With time, though, the foundation laid so far during Envisioning Middlebury, and the work that has yet to be done, could fundamentally change the character of the institution.
For that to happen, Morsman believes, faculty and staff will need to continue to frame their work with the aforementioned directions and principles in mind. She acknowledged that this can feel like a big ask when everyone is already so busy.
“If people don’t stay engaged, then they are just leaving decisions to be made by a smaller group who have to pay attention to this, and that will reinforce the notion I have heard several times on campus that the administration is ‘just going to do what it wants anyway,’” she said, adding that the framework can create lasting change.
“I see the possibility of a Middlebury that is more focused, more collaborative among faculty and staff as well as students,” she said. “And more in tune with helping learners become highly capable participants and contributors to the world that is developing in this century.”
(09/20/18 10:00am)
An exhibit featuring over 100 exquisite works of Islamic art is now on display at the Middlebury College Museum of Art, making it the first Islamic art exhibition in a Vermont museum in at least 30 years.
Located on the first floor of Mahaney Center for the Arts, this rich collection embodies the long history and intercontinental reach of Islamic art.
“Wondrous Worlds” features artwork in nearly all media, including ceramics, clothing, glassware, jewelry, metalworks, musical instruments, paintings, photographs, prayer rugs and textiles.
Highlights include 19th-century Indonesian crowns (fashioned from palm leaves, gold wire, animal fibers and wood), prayer-books adorned in leather and gold, Egyptian tent hangings inscribed with calligraphic and geometric patterns (measuring 160 square feet) and much more.
“Wondrous Worlds” officially opened at the Middlebury College Museum of Art on Sept. 14 and will stay through Dec. 2.
Middlebury community members and college students gathered for a first look at the exhibit during an opening reception at 5 p.m.
The diverse media presented in “Wondrous Worlds” reflect principles and practices of Islam across the world and throughout time, including pieces that date back to the ninth century as well as contemporary works. However, the exhibit is organized in a thematic sequence rather than a chronological one.
The show opens with an introduction to the Five Pillars of Islam: declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity, fasting for Ramadan and the Hajj Pilgrimage.
The exhibition then expands upon five themes, ranging from calligraphy and architecture to clothing and food. Each theme provides perspective into the utility, artistry and cultural history of the featured objects.
Because the Islamic faith discourages the creation of images of sentient beings, Islamic art is largely dominated by traditional geometric patterns and calligraphy. Not all Islamic art is strictly religious art, as it also includes the art of the varied cultures of Islamic societies.
Cynthia Packert, a professor of Art History and guest curator of the collection, gave opening remarks while guests snacked on tasty Middle Eastern delicacies last Friday. Packert highlighted the cross-cultural nature of the exhibition.
“In the centuries before amazon.com there were still lots of things moving around the planet in both directions,” she said.
The rapid spread of Islam was accompanied by the development of trade networks for material goods. Objects with imagery of carnations, tulips and birds reflect European influence.
Packert also discussed her role in Middlebury’s acquisition of this exhibit, which had been a three-year process.
“Wondrous Worlds” originally opened in February 2016 at the Newark Museum of Art in Newark, N.J.
A few years ago, Packert spoke with the museum’s Curator of Asian Art, Katie Paul, about obtaining Islamic art for Middlebury’s collection. At the time, the Newark Museum was renovating its Islamic art section and Packert’s request inspired Paul to turn the collection into a moving show. Two recent Middlebury graduates were interns at the Newark Museum and helped put together objects and information for the original opening.
Since its inception, “Wondrous Worlds” has had an active life. After its debut in Newark, it moved to Houston, Texas. After its time at Middlebury, it will travel to Emory University.
Packert emphasized the importance of bringing an exhibit like “Wondrous Worlds” to Middlebury.
“It makes all the difference in teaching and understanding the arts if you actually have real works of art to look at,” she said. “My hope is that after seeing this exhibition [audiences] will emerge with a much richer appreciation for the diversity and complexity of the arts of the Islamic world.”
More information can be found at go.middlebury.edu/museum.
(09/13/18 10:00am)
Have you ever wondered what makes the music that so often drifts across campus from Mead Chapel?
It is the sound of the carillon, a bell instrument that plays Bach, Lady Gaga and everything in between.
This summer, Middlebury College hosted its 33rd Summer Carillon Series.
College carillonneur George Matthew Jr. explained that carillons are defined as instruments with 23 bells or more. Matthew played the third and last concerts of the series. When summer language schools are in session, he also plays music from the respective origins of the Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian schools for their graduation ceremonies.
“We all know each other,” Matthew said, “the carillon players throughout the world. People in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia.”
It is through these friendly relations that carillon artists find their way to Middlebury for the long-running Summer Concert Series and through these same networks that Matthew is invited to play at concerts all over the world.
Between the Summer Carillon Series and Matthew and his students, the carillon at Mead Chapel averages over 100 playings a year.
According to Matthew, the bell corresponding to the lowest note on the carillon, an E one octave below middle C, is 2,300 pounds and weighs more than the Liberty Bell. Playing this note on the wooden manual keyboard requires about as much force as stapling together a ten-page paper. After the keyboard at the console is pressed, a clapper connected by wire to the keyboard strikes the corresponding bell in the tower above. Though the bells of Mead Chapel ring clear over almost all of campus, inside the tower, the music of the bells above ismuted and sounds far away.
During the school year, pieces such as Middlebury’s alma mater, various Bach chorale preludes, Hedwig’s Theme from the Harry Potter movie franchise and even a few of Gaga’s billboard hits can occasionally be heard.
Though he doesn’t name favorites, Matthew says that ragtime is a genre for which the carillon works surprisingly well — his European debut, in fact, was an all-ragtime program in Ostende, Belgium. In addition to pieces written for the carillon, any pieces he plays were originally written for the organ or piano and arranged for the carillon, sometimes by Matthew himself, to adjust to the monumental instrument’s unique characteristics.
“Just think of a piano transcribed down a fourth or an octave,” Matthew says. “You wouldn’t want to play very fast on that.”
Matthew’s carillon repertoire ranges from Bach to ragtime to music from around the world, and his students come from a similarly diverse range of musical backgrounds and experiences. Despite varying degrees of exposure to the instrument, most found their way to the carillon at Middlebury serendipitously. When he plays, Matthew leaves to door to the bell tower open and unlocked as an implicit invitation for students to come see the carillon for themselves.
Benjamin Feinstein ’20, who started playing in his freshman year at Middlebury, discovered the carillon “a bit by accident.” Wandering up to the bell tower one day, he found at the carillon Mr. Matthew, who was “super enthusiastic about getting more people involved with lessons and concerts.” Feinstein has been taking lessons on the carillon ever since.
One of Matthew’s accomplishments in teaching the carillon is to help his students see the variety of expressions and possibilities in the carillon. Feinstein said“a giant, echoing contraption” such as the carillon, pieces such as Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” sound “particularly ridiculous” in a good way, but even more contemporary works such as “Into the Unknown” or Harry Potter tracks can feel “very satisfyingly powerful, emotionally.”
As a freshman, Hannah Blake ’21 had been intrigued by the variety of pieces played on the carillon bells throughout the day and wondered, “What the heck is going on up there?”
Though her three years of playing the clarinet in elementary school gave her limited musical background in keyboard instruments, Blake enjoys her weekly lessons with Matthew.
“It’s quite an experience when you play the real one in Mead Chapel knowing the entire campus can hear you,” Blake said.
“There’s something a little nerve-wracking about knowing you’re guaranteed to be heard, but it’s honestly pretty exciting for the same reasons,” Feinstein said.
Coming from a background in English handbells, he is familiar with the dynamics of “working together as an orchestra of sorts,” and “usually prefers to blend in the background” musically, but found the resounding presence of the carillon to be “a fun change of pace.”
Tiansheng Sun ’20 reflects on the nuances of playing an instrument that is meant to be heard from near and far.
“When you inevitably make a mistake,” Sun said, “you can’t panic. You have to smooth it over, and create the illusion that there were no mistakes in the first place.”
The mechanics of playing such a large instrument can present another difficulty.
“The bass notes of the carillon are particularly loud, and sometimes tend to overpower the higher-pitched parts of the melody,” Sun said. “We don’t get this feeling on the practice carillon,” whose sound is produced by a xylophone, he said, so figuring out how to appropriately practice and play in a controlled manner becomes an important issue to resolve.
The only student of Matthew’s with prior experience on the carillon, Abigail Stone ’20.5, had played on a 23-bell carillon in high school as part of a student group.
“We didn’t really have a teacher and we had no idea what we were doing,” Stone says, “but we figured out some basics with our combined music knowledge.”
Stone is thrilled to be playing on Middlebury’s 48-bell carillon, which she views as “a fun challenge to adapt to,” and points out that the larger number of bells means that “there’s a much more diverse array of repertoire that can be played on Middlebury’s carillon.”
Student lessons on the carillon are free, Matthew says, and provided without financial incentive.
Filling the walls of Matthew’s office are posters from concerts in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Russia, where he was the first American to play in St. Petersburg in 2004. Hanging among the posters is a poem by a former student of Matthew’s at Middlebury, which captures the expressiveness and sweeping presence of an instrument that deserves to be heard as more than just background noise.
“Now an evanescent whisper,
Soon a burgeoning cry.
Ever clanging, yet softly shining.
Hark, from on high there
Floats a glorious sound!
Oh, triumphant bells,
Echoing throughout the world.
Breathing, speaking, ceasing not.”
At busy times in the semester when entire days and weeks can seem like a blur, the carillon is a grounding presence. It reminds us to be present, to be aware and to be appreciative of where we are.
(08/29/18 4:33am)
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We spotted the marker of the day’s purpose to the left of the giant stone gates, a sign inscribed in black Sharpie: “Cheese Festival SOLD OUT."
We had decided some weeks before that a summer spent in Vermont called for a quintessential end. Attending the 10th Annual Vermont Cheesemaker’s Festival was our celebratory send-off. I had been studying French at one of the college’s language schools when I learned of the cheese event and immediately thought of my friend Griffin — a fellow French student, cheese lover, and a begrudging lactose intolerant. I sent him a text message with a picture of the poster, a quasi-ironic invitation that somehow evolved into our investing a New York-music-festival amount of money, all to indulge in a ritual well-suited to the state with the highest number of cheesemakers per capita.
The event was held at Shelburne Farms, which sits on 1,400 acres overlooking Lake Champlain. We quickly came to the realization that the ticket price wasn’t the only element of the Cheesemaker’s Festival that mimicked a music festival: with deft arm movements, volunteers directed vehicles to park in meticulous rows while colorful wristbands indicated the various tiers of prestige.
The leisurely hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. left many festival goers, like ourselves, rolling into the event about an hour late; sampling cheeses and ciders for six hours on a humid mid-August day seemed like overkill.
The shuttle bus rattled over the estate’s dirt paths, guiding us along the lake to the cavernous Coach Barn, a temporary temple of cheese. Dismounting the bus, we promptly received a branded tote bag and glasses for sampling wine and beer throughout the day.
Entering the first of two steamy tents and overtly overwhelmed, we were approached by an enthusiastic volunteer. “Not sure where to start?” he inquired. Nope, no idea. Hoping he would tell us there was some structure to the swarms of people flooding the nearly 200 vendors, we were told instead that there wasn’t a clear way to tackle the crowds or the cheese. “I’d suggest heading to a corner and just working your way through,” he offered.
We started at the far right with Jasper Hill Farm. The Northeast Kingdom producer is renowned for its on-site “cellars,” a 22,000-square-foot underground facility devoted to cheese maturation, also known as affinage. Its selection of a dozen cheeses ranged from the spoonable Harbison, a runny substance swaddled in strips of the innermost layer of tree bark to the nutty Haley Bazen Blue, which I deemed one of the day’s frontrunners.
Despite the volunteer’s advice, the crowd was no more penetrable at the far end of the tent. Fifteen minutes in, we had already brushed against a few too many sweaty shoulders for our liking. The aisles were congested and the cheese patrons overly excited. It was the dairy equivalent of a mosh pit.
But I was undeterred. My lifelong love affair with cheese dates to my earliest months. My first two-word combination, in fact, was “more cheese,” and by age four, I was attacking tubs of cream cheese with a spoon. In middle school, while other kids were stuck on Swiss and American, I was consuming ripe slabs of sheep’s milk cheese from the Hudson Valley and stinky rounds of aged goat from southern France.
Despite my amorous relationship with cheese, I was out of my league here. This event was filled with professional cheese purveyors who had come from across the country to sample potential candidates for their shelves. As we ducked out of the tent in search of fresh air, we made our way into the Coach Barn, which had workshops and seminars led by experts in the field. Intrigued, I leaned through the doorway during “The Future of Cheese with Rory Stamp,” only to hear him discussing something along the lines of “prime time cheddaring.” Other seminars included “Cheese Science 101” and “What is a Cheesemonger?”
The festival went well beyond cheese and beer to encompass other forms of dairy. In the courtyard of the Coach Barn, Griffin and I stumbled upon a homemade butter demonstration. Gripping clear, round basins, children churned handles round and round, turning cream into butter. A woman behind the stand offered us sweet-peppercorn and chive butter created moments earlier.
Of course, if anything can reinvigorate two overwhelmed cheese tourists, it is soft butter and fresh air. We were finally ready to head back into the tent. This time, we had a clear goal of finding the makings for a picnic. We spotted Red Hen Baking’s stand, a bakery located just outside of Montpelier, and were instantly allured by the bread’s offbeat ingredients. The company adds polenta or potatoes to bolster flavor and texture.
Adjacent to Red Hen Baking’s stand, family-owned Parish Hill Creamery handed out cheese samples while explaining the unique source of its milk. Co-owners Rachel Schall and Peter Dixon use cream produced at the Putney School’s farm. In keeping with the school’s philosophy, students not only study agriculture but also handle chores on the farm, which include milking cows. That leaves them with a surplus of fresh milk. Parish Hill transforms this raw milk into memorable cheeses, with whimsical names like Humble, Reverie and West-West Blue.
After sampling a dozen more cheeses, we were feeling more than a little sated as the crowds began to thin. At this pause in the action, Griffin remembered to take another lactaid pill. Then we walked past the V.I.P. area where we spied a man, semi-comatose, sprawled on a lawn chair sleeping with his mouth wide open. Hoping to avoid the same fate, we walked toward the lake. As the buzz of cheesemongers faded into the background, the lake’s surface mirrored the gathering clouds above. Griffin waded in up to his knees and, without saying a word, dunked his head in the water.
(07/13/18 8:37pm)
Middlebury administrators have begun implementing a program to reevaluate faculty and staff positions across the institution — a process that, once completed at the end of the next academic year, could result in significant cuts to the college’s workforce.
The plan was announced to college employees in a series of emails late last month, beginning with a June 19 announcement from President Laurie L. Patton concerning “staffing and workforce planning.” In Patton’s message, she noted that the effort would eventually produce “an elective, incentive-based separation plan for staff as well as a set of elective, incentive-based retirement and separation plans for faculty.”
Involuntary layoffs remain a last resort under the plan, and will take place only if an insufficient number of employees accept buyouts and leave by the end of the 2018-2019 academic year. The cuts are part of the college’s ongoing effort to reduce its annual operating deficit, and administrators are hoping to shrink staff compensation costs by $8 million — about 10 percent of today’s level — once the process is complete.
Administrators haven’t yet specified how many of the college’s 1,100 staff positions would be affected, nor have they announced the benchmarks in faculty reductions that they are hoping to reach. The cuts will apply to faculty and staff at the college, and also at Middlebury’s Institute for International Studies in Monterey, California.
A June 27 email from David Provost, Middlebury’s executive vice president for finance and administration, and Karen Miller, the vice president for human resources, said that human resources would soon begin working with staff vice presidents across the institution to develop plans for each department. Those plans could result in redesigned departments and job responsibilities, and, eventually, a smaller overall workforce.
“We want to emphasize that workforce planning does not mean increasing the workload for fewer people,” Provost and Miller wrote. “It means prioritizing work and stopping less important work so that the workload is sustainable.”
Bill Burger, the college’s vice president for communications and marketing, told a reporter on Thursday that every department has already held internal meetings.
“Those are discussions to help people with questions they might have, to talk about how the workforce planning will take place in those departments,” he said. “There are also some Middlebury-wide discussions in workforce planning, so we’re really just in the early stages of this process.”
The first staff buyouts will be announced around October, but only for the small number of departments whose responsibilities are slated to be merged into the Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium — a cost-saving partnership founded in 2013 between Middlebury, Champlain College and Saint Michael’s College. Services that could be affected include payroll, accounts payable and benefits administration.
For the rest of Middlebury’s staff, buyouts are expected to be announced around April 2019 for the departments identified through the workforce planning process.
“We will contemplate an involuntary reduction in force only if we do not meet our goals,” read the email from Provost and Miller.
Buyouts for faculty, meanwhile, would necessarily be structured differently from those of staff, due to the existence of tenure. Provost and Miller said only that buyouts for faculty at the college, and in Monterey, would be announced “later this year.”
Nick Garber is one of the paper's managing editors.
A version of this article was originally published in the Addison Independent.
(05/09/18 11:35pm)
Over the past year, the legal use of marijuana has been attracting more and more attention in Vermont. Just last month, PhytoCare, a cannabis company from Waterbury, opened the state’s fifth licensed medical marijuana dispensary in Bennington.
The dispensary is capitalizing on the interest in cannabis as a treatment option for a variety of medical conditions. Owners of PhytoCare expected about 20 registered patients at opening day, but demand swelled, and 86 people had already registered, according to the VTDigger.
With more interest, laws governing the legal use of marijuana continue to evolve. But the changes have been accompanied by some confusion. What’s legal and what’s not? Where can you buy weed? Can’t you just smoke already?
It’s high time that The Campus bring together all the recent news and laws to give a snapshot of marijuana regulation, production and consumption in the state today.
(Almost) Legal
Signed into law in January, Bill H.511 is the most significant victory for the legalization movement so far, allowing recreational marijuana use for adults over the age of 21. It will go into effect on July 1, meaning that possession today is still illegal. And there will be limits.
Compared to the laws of other states that have legalized recreational use, Vermont’s is one of the strictest. The bill removes penalties for possessing up to one ounce of marijuana. But buying or selling in the state remains illegal. Instead, people can grow up to two mature and four immature plants at home.
There are also provisions in the bill that increase criminal penalties for those who sell to minors.
Medical Use Continues to Rise
Since 2004, when the first medical marijuana law passed the legislature, the number of patients has grown every year to reach around 5,000 today, according to data from the Vermont Marijuana Registry. Every patient is required to register with one of five licensed dispensaries, and is only permitted to purchase treatments from that facility. The highly regulated system leaves little room for loopholes often associated with medical use.
Because H.511 doesn’t allow for the establishment of a full-fledged recreational marketplace, these dispensaries maintain a monopoly over the commercial production and sale of marijuana in Vermont. That means if any changes happen, they are likely to be the first to profit, writes VPR.
The new dispensary in Bennington, for example, is now hoping to create a cultivation facility nearby. And if the plan goes forward, owning infrastructure that can grow plants on a large scale would position them well to take advantage of any opportunities that may soon come up in the recreational space.
Meanwhile, new state laws are continuing to facilitate medical marijuana. Last June, Act 65 went into effect, authorizing existing dispensaries to open one additional branch each, as well as to allow for a sixth license when the number of patients reaches 7,000. Due to this law, several dispensaries are looking at new locations, including Middlebury, in which to build additional branches.
The Push to Tax and Regulate
According to a 2015 report by Rand Corporation, people in Vermont collectively spend about $165 million every year on marijuana. For the state, the figure represents a significant potential source of tax revenue.
Supporters of legalization are itching to take the system to the next stage— implementing a full tax and regulate structure that states like Colorado have. In fact, two weeks ago, lawmakers in the Vermont House brought up a bill hoping to do exactly that. The bill faced fierce resistance from both Democrats and Republicans, which, with the legislative session ending in a few weeks, would leave little time to flesh out specific details. As a result, the house voted 106 to 28 against the plan.
Still, many lawmakers are hesitant to vote for full legalization. Governor Phil Scott has repeatedly said that he would only consider new bills when his marijuana advisory commission comes back with recommendations on addressing safety concerns.
In particular, police are concerned about the difficulty of issuing marijuana-related DUIs, since there are no breathalyzers for the drug. A proposal in the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee would have authorized the use of roadside saliva testing, but that was also rejected last week. Without a clear threshold to determine influence, lawmakers felt that the test was unreasonable.
H.511 will remain the standard for the near future.
Still Prohibited at the College
Despite the shifts in the state, Middlebury’s policies have not changed. The general council sent a notice to the school community in response to Vermont’s legalization reiterating this message, highlighting federal law and student health as main concerns.
Because the drug is still prohibited on the federal level, any easing of Middlebury rules would jeopardize its access to federal funds. With more than $22 million of federal financial aid money at stake, it’s unlikely that the school will consider easing its guidelines.
(05/09/18 10:02pm)
President Laurie L. Patton announced changes this week within the senior leadership group, the 17-member advisory council. A nine-member cabinet will be formed out of that group to “improve the efficiency of decision making” in Old Chapel.
The new cabinet represents some of Patton’s closest advisors. It includes provost Jeff Cason, treasurer David Provost, spokesman Bill Burger, diversity officer Miguel Fernandez, advancement VP Colleen Fitzpatrick, human resources VP Karen Miller, general counsel Hannah Ross, dean of students Baishakhi Taylor, and chief of staff Dave Donahue.
The non-cabinet members of the senior leadership group include admissions dean Greg Buckles, academic officials Andi Lloyd and Tim Spears, philanthropic advisor Mike Schoenfeld, and representatives from the schools — Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Stephen Snyder and Carlos Velez.
With the announcement, Patton fulfilled a pledge to faculty to maintain the costs of SLG and to shrink its size. But the change to a smaller cabinet does not demonstrate an actual change in executive compensation. In an interview, spokesman Bill Burger said that compensation is not increased or decreased when a person is either designated or removed from a senior leadership position.
“Just because they are not sitting on the senior leadership group does not mean that you (do not) need that person in the job they have,” Burger said. “You could make a decision to not have the head of schools abroad and the language schools sit in the (senior leadership) group, it still does not mean you do not need the head of schools abroad and language schools,” he said.
Provost added, “Their pay is for their job, whether they are on one committee or another.”
When asked where the cost-saving measures would occur if compensation was not altered by shrinking the size of the SLG, Provost and Burger pointed to a more long-term strategy of either merging roles or organization restructuring after key individuals resign.
“When Katy Smith Abbott stepped down, (Patton) took two student life positions and made it one,” Provost said. “So that is one fewer SLG member. That demonstrates (Patton’s) commitment to that. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of that.”
Burger added, “You might have people leave over time and then you do not replace them — that is a possibility. Sometimes these (changes) are done through organizational changes.”
The announcement comes at a time of increased scrutiny for administrators, who faced criticism for the practice of “stay bonuses” involved in the 2015 presidential transition.
During Patton’s briefing at the faculty meeting, she cited that costs of the SLG were already $300,000 less than the previous year. In an interview with The Campus, Provost supported Patton’s claim by citing a lack of increases for executives in the previous year.
“Last year there was zero [net change] for anyone with a salary of $200,000 and above — no increases for senior leadership last year,” he said.
According to research done by faculty, executive bonuses and payouts were above market-competitive rates. In the context of the college’s financial crisis and increasing tuition fees, some argued that these policies were a gross mismanagement of college finances.
Treasurer David Provost has argued that stay bonus payouts appearing on the 990 tax form made executive pay look higher in some years, but that base compensation has consistently been in line with market rates.
The bonuses effectively encourage key officials to remain at Middlebury during presidential transitions, two administrators said, and that years that appear especially high in executive compensation are the result of stay bonuses and should not be viewed as the norm.
Two officials close to the president said that while she intended to reduce the number and size of stay bonuses, she would not commit to ending the practice altogether.
“I’m still interested in maintaining a very modest use of these bonuses because they are used in higher ed to prevent a kind of constant searching and turning over,” Patton said during a faculty meeting in February. “But as you saw from the data, my interest and commitment to them is very modest. They are one tool among many, and I am committed to moving to most of those other tools before we do that.”
During the same meeting, college treasurer David Provost revealed that beginning in 2009, 11 different retention bonuses were distributed among seven administrators. The compensation ranged from annual amounts of $50,000 to $100,000, with total payouts summing $150,000 to $250,000. His presentation also revealed that Middlebury’s total executive pay of $4.1 million was higher than the $3.6 million average of peer institutions.
Three administrators are have stay bonuses that are still being paid out: provost Jeff Cason, admissions dean Greg Buckles and finance VP Mike Thomas. Bonuses are only paid when the recipient stays at Middlebury for the agreed-upon number of years.
At the faculty meeting in February, Provost reported an additional bonus for President Liebowitz that had not yet been disclosed in form 990 filings. Because the college received an extension to the reporting deadline last November, the amount of this bonus will only be made public on May 15.
(05/03/18 1:12am)
BURLINGTON - This past month, South Burlington’s foremost music venue, Higher Ground, celebrated twenty years of successful operation. The establishment’s prosperity rests on a drive for constant improvement, and its transformative history and lasting impact on the community, including on Middlebury College, embodies this very ambition.
Higher Ground’s conception came out of frustration. One of the founders and a current co-owner, Alex Crothers, had just graduated from the University of Vermont and wanted to create a space for people of all ages to enjoy live music. The other venues in the area served the 21-and-up crowd almost exclusively. Inspired, Crothers enlisted the help of his friend from school, Rob Hintze, to further his vision.
The two began hunting for spaces, when their real estate agent introduced them to Kevin Statesir and his partner, Matt Sutte, both of whom were looking to start a similar project. Soon after, the four partners came together and bought what was once a Denny’s in Winooski, turning it into the first iteration of Higher Ground.
Through occasional performances by Phish, whose guitarist’s brother-in-law is Statesir, the venue gained traction. After six years, a growing base of patrons and a steady stream of national and local acts led to the establishment’s complete reinvention. Higher Ground moved to where it still stands today— in a former movie theater in South Burlington.
The facility boasts the Ballroom, which has a holding capacity of 750 people, and the Showcase Lounge, which has room for 300 others. Along with three bars, Higher Ground can host up to 3,000 people for its outdoors concerts in the warmer months. But the changes haven’t stopped there.
Hintze, Statesir and Sutte have all left Higher Ground amicably, leaving Crothers as Higher Ground’s only original partner still in control. About five years ago, Vermont entrepreneur Alan Newman began working alongside Crothers. To commemorate two decades of growth, Crothers and Newman oversaw the installation of a new sound system in the Ballroom and an updated sound system in the Showcase Lounge. Additionally, Crothers hopes to further expand the facility to accommodate more people; this dream is stalled indefinitely, however, due to logistical obstacles.
While the physical appearance of Higher Ground stays in flux, the venue continues to book recognizable names to attract crowds. Fleet Foxes, Sylvan Esso and Jason Mraz are scheduled to make appearances within the coming months. These industry giants are balanced out with local acts, such as Madaila and Steady Betty, who performed for Higher Ground’s twentieth anniversary.
Higher Ground’s impact on the community is widespread. Vermont native and current Middlebury College first-year, Galen von Wodtke, described his experiences at the venue. “You go there and see people a lot of people you know. And it’s a huge space, but it still feels really intimate. It just brings the community together in a way, and it offers a lot of diverse types of shows for a diverse crowd, which isn’t common in Vermont,” said von Wodtke.
Those new to Vermont, like first-year Rayn Bumstead, also feel Higher Ground’s influence. “Higher Ground gives you a unique experience. You see a show that would sell out a big arena otherwise, but you get to see it in a smaller setting and be a part of a crowd that seems to really enjoy the music,” said Bumstead. “Everyone there is just in it for the music.”
Though Higher Ground is located about forty-five minutes away from Middlebury, this doesn’t stop students from seeking out the venue - especially because of the all-ages policy. This gives students at Middlebury, and students everywhere in Vermont, the opportunity to attend quality shows at a good price regardless of whether they are of legal drinking age.
With two decades of community empowerment under its belt, Higher Ground continues to expand its reach. On May 3, Higher Ground’s new show with Vermont PBS, a local public-broadcasting station, is scheduled to air for the public. The first episode focuses on a performance by a local artist, Kat Wright, at Higher Ground. The show is entitled “Bardo: A Night in the Life” and features tapings of shows paired with conversations with Ryan Miller, another local resident and host of another show that once aired on the network, “Makin’ Friends with Ryan Miller.”
Higher Ground is a Vermont staple for both musicians and music-lovers. Statesir, who only just recently departed from Higher Ground, spoke to the Burlington Free Press about the current state of the venue.
“I’m just hoping to see it continue with the warmth and the community feeling we started out with,” Statesir said. “It’s time for me now, and I really feel the place is in good hands to carry on the tradition and legacy that is so important to me.”
With Crothers and Newman in charge and new developments on the horizon, Higher Ground rings in its twentieth anniversary with the same momentum it’s always had.
Happy birthday, Higher Ground!
(05/02/18 11:01pm)
CW: Domestic Abuse
Andrew Sebald:
I have one older half-sister, one younger sister, a mother and an abusive father. My mother is an alumna of Middlebury, which is what spurred my interest in Middlebury College.
When I was 14 years old, my mom and dad divorced. The separation was violent. My father had always shown abusive tendencies throughout my life, but his anger had intensified significantly the few months before. He started to physically abuse my mother and older sister, and verbally abused me when I even considered challenging his authoritarian control over my family. On the night before the separation, he called the cops on my mom. She had hidden his eleven guns somewhere in fear that he might transition from fists to bullets.
The police strongly encouraged my father to leave that night. For the sake of wanting to maintain our relationship, I tried my best throughout high school to make inroads with my father. All efforts were unsuccessful, but he still lingered in my family’s life. My mom has testified numerous times in court to prevent him from returning with his abuse and guns. He remains in our lives till this day, and I know he probably will be until my own death.
Middlebury Student Financial Services is complicit in that.
My background, although it may not seem to have much to do with my financial situation, provides necessary information for what later unfolded. By the time I applied for Middlebury my senior year of high school, I had not communicated with or seen my father for the better part of a year. I applied Early Decision 1 for Middlebury. My mom and I absolutely trusted that Student Financial Services (SFS) would grant us sufficient financial aid. There is a “need-blind policy,” after all. After I found out about my acceptance, my mother and I were ecstatic. We truly believed that we would qualify for the non-custodial waiver form for the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile.
A crucial part of the CSS Profile for any Middlebury student with divorced parents lies in the non-custodial waiver. When Middlebury SFS assesses the financial information for all students, they assess the income of both parents or guardians partly through the CSS Profile. If you have a non-custodial parent who is not in contact with you, getting them to fill out their part of the profile obviously becomes an issue. The non-custodial waiver’s purpose is to waive the non-custodial parent’s information from the CSS Profile, so that only the custodial parent’s financial information will be assessed. There are conditions, including: more than ten years have to have passed since the student has been in contact with their non-custodial parent. Since my father had abused my family in the last ten years, we didn’t qualify.
We filled out the waiver. We were devastated upon receiving a negative response. Student Financial Services contacted my mom and said that if my father didn’t fill out his part of the CSS Profile, I would not be eligible for financial aid, and therefore effectively enrollment at Middlebury for the 2015–2016 academic year. My mom desperately tried to explain to Student Financial Services that my father was not who he seemed to be. Providing court-ordered evidence, my mother informed SFS by email that “since [2012], my ex-husband has not been allowed to have further contact with the children. I do not know what other kind of documentation you need to consider me a single-parent.”
Student Financial Services ignored us. In an email dated Nov. 18, 2014, my mother offered to provide the 911 call record from when my father called the police on her, along with other reports made by therapists and a parent coordinator, to illustrate my father’s abusive nature. SFS never replied.
Instead, they asked to contact my father directly. My father stated he would “do his part” in paying the college for my tuition on the condition that I would meet with him to discuss my college plans with him. In an email dated Dec. 16, 2014, Student Financial Services instructed me to meet with my father and convince him to fill out his part of my CSS Profile. They apparently believed he had the best of intentions.
Due to binding Early Decision, I had no choice but to accept and meet with my father. We talked. The conversation was in public, so thankfully nothing happened. Still, he did not fill out the form until the day after he received news that I had seen a psychiatrist due to severe anxiety and depression arising from the uncertainty of whether or not I would be enrolled at Middlebury College.
Finally, we got our financial aid. My father had signed his name, so I could finally start at the school of my dreams. That was enough. After being forced to meet with him, attend follow-up counseling sessions, and tolerate anxiety-inducing waiting, my mom and I were glad that the process was done. But since we had not qualified for the non-custodial waiver, since I had been in contact with him during the “last ten years,” my mother would have to cover the family contribution burden for both her and my father’s incomes out of her one salary. She makes much less than my father.
My father, to this day, does not contribute a cent.
During the summer after freshman year, my mom informed me that I would have to take a semester off. Paying for the equivalent of two people had severely affected our financial situation. My mom and I called and emailed SFS. We urged them to revise our award substantially, so I could afford to continue attending Middlebury.
SFS wouldn’t budge. Even though my counselor, court-ordered family counselor, and our parent coordinator all showed evidence that my father was not fit to be a custodial parent, Student Financial Services simply said, “Unfortunately, we are not able to change our decision as your father’s information must be included in our decision for you” in an email dated July 6, 2016. They recommended I talk to my commons dean about taking a semester off.
In J-term 2017, we implored Student Financial Services again. My mom sent a letter to the dean of students at the time, Katy Smith Abbott, who was sympathetic to my situation. She met with me, and later contacted SFS’s Kim Downs-Burns to talk about my circumstances. I talked with Downs-Burns, and explained how significantly SFS making me go to meet my father had impacted both me and my family. I left the office feeling optimistic about the conversation. Maybe the situation would finally be resolved. But when I got our second financial aid revision back, we still were unable to afford the semester. The financial aid was not enough. To this day, I still don’t know why.
Thus, I was forced to take a “gap semester” from Middlebury in fall 2017.
In the end, none of our efforts made any difference. Repeated calls, emails and meetings, and yet we were back to square one. We had talked to the dean of students, a representative of the administration, and yet still ended with the same result of insufficient financial aid due to the refusal of SFS to consider my family’s special circumstance. The despair made me remember what a Student Financial Services employee had told us over the phone. I asked, “If my mom went to court with my father and proved that he was not paying child support, would financial services change my financial aid?”
The employee: “We don’t assess financial aid based on who’s paying for tuition, but the ability that both parents have to pay tuition.”
I would hear that same sentence countless times in the future.
Travis Wayne Sanderson:
The same sentence was said multiple times in Community Council, as well.
In early April 2017, Andrew approached me about his story. I urged him to present his case to Community Council (CC). The Council is the only real conversation body on campus that combines all constituencies — students, staff and faculty — and can summon staff members to report on their policies and activities in various departments on campus. We could get to the bottom of the issue. As Co-Chairs that semester, Katy Smith Abbott and I arranged times for both SFS and Andrew to speak to the Council.
On April 11, SFS’s Kim Downs-Burns and Michael McLaughlin were asked to come to Community Council to answer questions. They emphasized at three separate times that financial aid was assessed based on “ability to pay” and not “willingness to pay.” When asked why, the answer was always some variation of “it’s what our peer schools do.”
According to CC minutes, SFS said that each student’s financial aid case is looked at “individually,” each case taken into account as a “whole picture,” accounting for the “complexity in family situations accordingly.” Exceptions can be made, in theory, to stringent policies in the case of — for example — abusive parents. This was stated at 5:02 p.m. (just to be precise), April 11, and is on public record.
Their words are completely at odds with how they treated Andrew’s case.
On April 18, Andrew explained the above story to Community Council. On April 25, Maleka Stewart ’19 and Charles Rainey ’19 presented a recommendation on the matter of Student Financial Services and the non-custodial waiver. They recognized one of the main issues as the ten-year requirement, which Stewart described as “obscure and unattainable.”
SFS became defensive. On May 2, Katy Smith Abbott reported conversation she had had that week with Kim Downs-Burns to Community Council. According to that meeting’s minutes, Middlebury’s standards for financial aid consideration are mandated by its membership in the 568 Group consortium of “need-blind” institutions.
They reported that if willingness to pay is the rule, then anyone can take advantage of the system to get better financial aid. However, if SFS is indeed capable of accounting for the “complexity in family situations accordingly,” they can certainly distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate claims.
According to the minutes, SFS also informed Katy Smith Abbott that “[SFS’s] policies don’t need to be fixed.”
The 2016–2017 Community Council ended the year without passing the recommendation. We were prevented from action by a combination of time constraints and bylaws confusion. We officially asked the fall 2017 Community Council to review Middlebury’s financial aid policies, particularly the non-custodial waiver form, when the new semester began. Kyle Wright, the fall 2017 co-chair, agreed verbally to take up the case on May 8, 2017.
However, when fall came around, the council apparently had other priorities. According to CC minutes from Oct. 16, 2017, Co-Chair Wright only mentioned the issue in the context of reforming Community Council’s own bylaws. The non-custodial waiver problem itself was left unsolved, and SFS’s questionable policy and policy enforcement unpursued.
I prompted co-chair Baishakhi Taylor and co-chair Tina Brook ’18 to return to the case as co-chair Brook entered her position in J-Term 2018. Co-chair Taylor responded to me in an email dated Feb. 5, 2018, that she “understood Kim Downs-Burns addressed [the issue] when she came to CC last Spring and had a detailed conversation about it.” Co-chair Brook did not reply at all. It is quite possible that they had not read the minutes from spring 2017 that quite clearly illustrated the conversation remained unfinished.
In any case, Community Council also dropped the ball.
Andrew Sebald:
I felt manipulated and lied to by Middlebury’s Student Financial Services. As I stated before, both my mother and I did as much as we could to prove that my father was someone who was not interested in paying for my education, but for almost two years they seemed to brush our questions and qualms aside as if meaningless. Two years is an excruciating amount of time necessary in order to schedule and have a 30-minute appointment with the right person to tell them that the financial aid plan you have been given is thousands of dollars more than you can afford. Policy — which, as Travis noted, is questionably followed — was enough to force me to speak to my abusive father and continue to drain my family and my capacity to continue at Middlebury College.
This article is specifically a critique of the policies of Student Financial Services and how they are being enforced. It is also a critique of the actions of bodies complicit in the continued existence of this problem, like the 2017–2018 Community Council, which failed to take up the issue again until very recently. We hope that the Council follows through with the recommendation they are currently discussing, and returns to supporting students with non-custodial parents on financial aid more actively. The policy has a large impact on the lives of several students here on campus, and the problem cannot continue to remain unspoken within the sunken pockets of Middlebury College students and their parents.
We ask that Middlebury re-consider how it evaluates non-custodial waiver form requests. If “willingness to pay” is not an acceptable rubric, then we ask Student Financial Services to actually follow through on their policy to take the “whole picture” of a student’s complex family situation into account when approving non-custodial waiver forms. Since SFS already claims to do this, as they stated in Community Council, following through should not be an issue.
Secondly, we ask that Student Financial Services look into renegotiating the requirement that non-custodial parents and students not be in contact for ten years to qualify for the waiver. SFS — as well as the 568 Group generally — need to reform financial aid policies that have been put in place before to better suit the needs for students like me at their schools or they need to stop lying about successfully supporting a “need-blind” policy.
Finally, we ask Student Financial Services to reevaluate how they treat student financial aid cases. Instead of treating cases like mine as they do, they could make an active effort to maintain a good relationship with students with non-custodial parents on financial aid at Middlebury. The process is opaque, inaccessible, and decides like a divine force the entire college experience of many students on campus. I applied to this school thinking that our financial aid would be fair based on our circumstances. I applied to this school feeling that my mom would not have to take out loan after loan in order for me to attend here. Frankly, if I had known what was to come, I highly doubt I would have applied to Middlebury College.
(04/26/18 8:51pm)
The same police sirens blare out into the air. The same, yellow crime tape is placed around the scene, marking yet another tragedy in American society. The media picks up the same stories.
But that is often where the similarities end.
Police officers seem to have preconceived notions as black and brown people are villainized in the media. Their lives are expendable. My life, in a sense, seems less important than my white counterparts. Here’s how…
On February 14th — Valentine’s day, an international day of love and affection — a school in Florida was the target of a gruesome, deadly and senseless attack.
It was a safe haven for students, a place to master the disciplines of science and math, English and history; a place they came to develop relationships and one day, hopefully, go to college.
17 students were not going to college; 15 were wounded, left with physical and physiological scars. A community destroyed in a matter of minutes by the hailing bullets of Nikolas Cruz’s AR-15.
The details trickled out.
The FBI received a tip last year about a YouTube comment that could have linked suspicious activity to Nikolas Cruz. No actions were taken.
The security guard, trained and armed to respond to this kind of attack, never entered the building to stop the massacre. Instead, he sought cover outside as young teenagers lost their lives.
After leaving a trail of blood and bodies, Cruz discarded his rifle, camouflaging with fleeing students and got away. After escaping, he walked to Walmart, bought a drink at Subway and even stopped at a McDonalds.
He was arrested at 3:41pm, an hour and thirty minutes after his mass murder — one of the deadliest in American history.
Two seconds is how long police officers took to fire on Tamir Rice, a 12-year playing with a toy gun, when they arrived on the scene.
The officer who shot Laquan McDonald 14 times was on the scene less than 30 seconds before opening fire on the young teenger.
After Parkland, the President of the United States said he would work with the nation’s governor, tweeting he would “Help secure our schools and [tackle] the difficult issue of mental health…” He made no mention of gun violence.
The same President sits in his oval office twitter fingers twitching, screaming to his followers after a raid on his personal lawyer’s office:
“It’s a disgrace. It’s, frankly, a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country, in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”
Mr. President, what the actual f*** are you talking about?
Where was your denunciation of Nikolas Cruz and his disgraceful attack against his fellow classmates with an AR-15 that left 17 dead?
Here’s another scenario.
Three years ago Dylan Roof opened fire on a historical all-black church in South Carolina. He killed nine in cold-blood. At 9:30pm on June 17th, he walked away from the massacre.
He told authorities that he “had to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country and you have to go.” He wanted to start a race war. After killing the black church-goers, he calmly walks from the scene.
He was arrested by authorities at a stop light at 10:44 am on June 18th, 245 miles from the scene. No shots were fired. A .45 caliber was found in the car. He was given a bulletproof vest, for his safety. According to several sources, an officer bought him a hamburger because he was hungry.
Looking at these scenarios, I can’t help but think of all the black men and women who have died at the hands of police, many of them in custody, while these two criminals continue to live. While they are behind bars, they have the luxury of breathing, eating and sleeping.
If either one of these men were black, Muslim or Latino, they would have been killed instantly. Arresting him “nicely?” That option would never exist. If they were hungry, officers would most certainly not buy them a cheeseburger.
They would be labeled thugs and criminals. Rapists. Bad hombres. Terrorists unfit for American society.
But why?
Well, it’s simple.
The treatment of the white body in custody is astonishingly lenient, and in comparison to the treatment of the black of body in custody, it is treated royally. They are two bodies in the same space, with totally different treatment.
If Dylan Roof had been black, he’d probably be gunned down on sight. If Nikolas Cruz was a shade darker, the security guard may have shot him right away. Neither would have been spared, I guarantee you that — police officers have proved my hypothesis correct.
On March 18th, Stephon Clark was not spared.
Calls went out to the Sacramento Police department that someone was breaking windows in the Meadowview neighborhood. Clark, a 22-year old African American man stood in his grandmother’s backyard, heading home to his daughters.
Officers emerged unannounced from the depths of darkness. Clark started running. Maybe out of fear.
Police chased him. He turned, hands outstretched. Fearing for their safety, police opened fire. They had been on the scene for less than 20 seconds.
They shot him twenty times.
Twenty Times.
A 21st century execution.
No CPR was administered. For five minutes, he lay on the ground bleeding from eight gunshots wounds. As the life seeped out of him, officers screamed to see his hands. They eventually handcuffed him.
He probably had a weapon on him right?
He did not.
His only “weapon,”a cell phone.
Why couldn’t they use a taser? What if they fired once? How about warning shots?
These officers should try to learn from their European counterparts. Most officers across The Pond carry out their duties without a gun. They rely on things that can still subdue a suspect — mace, batons and the occupational Tasers. I even read at times they will throw heavy fishing nets to overpower suspects. Can America’s police force control its trigger fingers?
When it comes to black and brown people in America, police officers shoot to kill.
Dylan Roof, who had killed nine people out of hatred and Nikolas Cruz, who opened fire on his classmates, killing 17, were not fired upon once. Both are white.
If he was white, Stephon Clark would likely still be alive. Officers would have asked to see his hands, “slowly get on the ground.” If he was white, his daughters would wake up to see him. Instead they are attending his funeral.
If Tamir Rice was white, the police officers would have coaxed the toy gun from his tiny 12-year old hands as he played with it on that wintry, Cleveland day.
If Philando Castile, who was exercising his Second Amendment right, was white, the officer would have respected his right to carry. Castile, explicitly said, “I have a firearm in the glove compartment,” and was shot anyways. His girlfriend and her daughter were witnesses of his murder.
If Laquan McDonald was white he almost surely would have been subdued by police officers carefully. Not a single round would have been fired. They’d calmly ask him to the concrete sidewalk. Instead he was shot sixteen times, several bullets penetrating his body as he lay on the ground, the life seeping out of him.
Freddie Gray in 2015 was arrested and placed into custody on a Baltimore street corner. So of course he was treated the same as Dylan Roof and Nikolas Cruz, right?
No. Instead of a safety vest, Freddie Gray was given a broken spinal cord on the way to the police station. He fell into a coma and later died from his injuries.
This piece originally appeared in the online publication Blurring Boundaries.
(04/26/18 1:00am)
MIDDLEBURY — Standing between the exposed brick walls and raw wooden beams of his office, Evan Deutsch ’12.5 began describing his path from graduation to where he now works, at a design agency he co-founded with fellow Middlebury alum Jon Portman ’13 four years ago. His story— turning down a consulting job in Boston to work for the College’s Center for Creativity, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship before starting his own company—typified the independent, purpose-driven spirit so entrenched in Vermont culture. And over 2,100 Middlebury alumni share this same spirit, living and working in the state today.
Vermont seems to have it all. The landscape is captivating, with snow-peaked mountains rising behind stretches of gentle, rolling hills. For the most part, the people are friendly, down to earth. The pace of life appears manageable, far from the rat-race of New York City or Los Angeles.
But more and more people are leaving, looking for opportunities in bigger cities in different states. Over the past several years, an average of only 35 students from each of Middlebury’s graduating classes have stayed.
For most, the choice is simple. Vermont has few opportunities and high costs of living. Large cities, while expensive, bring jobs that pay more and provide clearer possibilities for the future.
And because the decision to stay in Vermont can be difficult, it attracts a certain type of person— community minded, with a strong sense of purpose. More than 500 Middlebury graduates in Vermont surveyed by the CCI work in the education industry, from teachers in rural towns to administrators in more urban districts. Even business owners are mission-driven, running companies that contribute to the community in addition to increasing their profits.
When Oxbow, Deutsch’s design agency, began to grow, he directed the company towards fulfilling an agenda of positive social impact. “Okay, we’re founding this business, it’s becoming successful,” he said. “How can we use this as a force for good, that amplifies our impact more than as individuals?”
Other alums say the same. “The amazing thing about doing business in Vermont is that social responsibility is part of the genetic code of the way businesses operate. That’s just not the case in other states,” said Benjy Adler ’03.5, founder and owner of The Skinny Pancake franchise.
Principles, like the commitment to local food, are not secondary to Adler’s business. Instead, he sees them as essential to making his restaurant successful. “The rest of the country looks to Vermont on how we are pushing the envelope,” he said. “To be here and to work on local food means that we are at the center of innovation.”
But for all the excitement surrounding Vermont and its culture of authenticity, there are still challenges. Business owners are often deterred by the perception of high taxes and high regulations.
“The community is amazing, but then when it comes down to filing your taxes, you feel like you’re getting screwed a little bit,” said Deutsch. “But it’s a trade-off. We can be in Delaware and not have the community that we have.”
Others struggle with high costs of living, and the lack of job mobility and opportunity. With few high-paying positions in Vermont, even people who may not have thought of becoming entrepreneurs find that Vermont forces them to be creative.
“Looking back on it, I’ve opted to create my own job more often than not. A lot of that is due to my personality, but there are also fewer job options,” said Chris Howell ’04, founder of a local food tour company. “It was tough making it work in the beginning— I held other jobs ranging from produce delivery driver to supporting developmentally disabled teens.”
Students, perceiving these difficulties, increasingly move away from Vermont, contributing to an outward migration of college graduates and exacerbating the trends of an aging population and stagnant workforce.
To make matters worse, many Vermonters now leave the state after high school. Despite the opportunity of going to schools like UVM, the Vermont State Colleges or Middlebury, over 45% of high school graduates leave the state— and many don’t return. While most states depend on their colleges and universities to increase the number of young workers they can attract and retain, Vermont has to invest in other measures.
“We have to try to encourage young people to become part of our community,” explains Jim Douglas ’72, the former governor of Vermont. Since his time in office, various agencies in the state government have regularly developed incentives to increase the workforce. The current administration, for example, will soon begin a program called “Stay to Stay”, setting up vacation weekends that include visits with businesses and realtors.
Colleges, including Middlebury, are also hoping to show students that there are opportunities in Vermont. “Too many students think that there’s no jobs. But there are,” said Peggy Burns, director of the CCI. “We want to facilitate a path for students to make informed decisions, and I think that Middlebury graduates can contribute to a more vibrant and robust culture here.”
At the end of the day, Vermont provides an opportunity unlike any other for those willing to stay.
As Adler explained, “The cold honest truth is, Vermont needs good people. That’s not a reason for anyone to choose to stay here, but the companies that are hiring are hungry. There’s a shortage, and I certainly appreciate it every time someone chooses to stay in Vermont.”
(04/19/18 1:10am)
MIDDLEBURY — Located fifteen minutes north of Middlebury’s campus is a small farm called Treleven, where many Middlebury students have spent long nights. Why? For a process called lambing.
Annually, each night during a multi-week-long stretch, students leave the College and make their way to the farm, returning early the next morning in dirty shoes, fatigued, smelling and exhilarated. They spend the hours in the Treleven barn, keeping the farm’s flock of sheep company, watching the pregnant ewes—female sheep—and assisting when one goes into labor.
However, the story begins much earlier. Just over five decades ago, two Swarthmore College students headed West, stopping only when they reached the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. It was 1967 and Cheryl and Don Mitchell were chasing the Summer of Love. They were avid readers of the Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture magazine preaching what Cheryl describes bluntly as, “that ultra purity” lifestyle. While at Swarthmore, Don was set on becoming a writer, Cheryl a high school English teacher, and they were growing up in a place where people experienced nature by “riding around and mowing the lawn and having a small yard.”
Despite this, and against all odds, hippies on the West Coast swept them up with the Back-to-the-Land Movement—a campaign to reinvigorate appreciation of nature and rejection of rampant consumerism—inspiring them to move back to the opposite coast and buy a farm. That farm is known today as Treleven.
Recruiting students to assist with lambing was Don’s idea, or as Cheryl described it, “Don’s wonderful gift to all of us.” When the couple moved to Vermont, they were young and without any farming experience. “We [were] not your prototypical family farm,” Cheryl said. “We had to work off the farm.”
Participating in the dairy industry is how many Vermont farms profit, but the Mitchells explained, “We knew we would never have the capital or wisdom to be dairy farmers.” They bought two sheep instead. The following year they expanded their flock to ten. They would shear the animals, drive the wool to Maine and have it spun into yarn for sale. However, this was not enough. “It’s very, very difficult to make a living with just the farm,” the Mitchells said.
So in 1984, Don got a job. He became a Middlebury professor and taught the class now known as “Contested Grounds”. Don found that discussion in this class always circled back to grappling with the construct of the idyllic family farm lifestyle, so eventually he decided to add a component to the syllabus: a night at Treleven during lambing season. He hoped the hands on experience would allow his students to complicate this myth themselves.
Though Don retired as a professor in 2009, the Mitchells have continued the annual lambing process with Middlebury students for the past nine years. Since Don first conceived of the idea, nearly a thousand students have spent a night in the barn. It was ironic; the mantra of the Back-to-the-Land Movement that led him to Vermont in the first place was something he was now, in a way, a tempting to deconstruct for new generations.
Indeed, the couple brought a young lamb to the lambing orientation they hold in Weybridge House, and over oohs and ahs of on-looking students, Cheryl provided a disclaimer: “It may happen. A lamb might die while you’re there. And that’s okay.”
Life at Treleven isn’t perfect, they insist, but it’s natural. Some of the young are even sold for meat. That doesn’t mean the farmers don’t connect with the animals. “I still don’t do it very well,” Cheryl admitted of her ability to cope with the death of a newborn. She explains that other aspects of her life, the non-farm related parts, have helped her along in this—and vice-versa.
Cheryl was a founder of the local Addison County Parent-Child Center, an organization dedicated to providing support for families. While there, she focused on a program that worked with children with serious disabilities of all sorts. Gradually, her two professions began seeping together.
“We would do everything we could to keep a lamb alive, that the mother knew wouldn’t make it,” she explained. Later, her parents moved onto the farm, and she was there as they passed away. It was after this loss that she began to see the lambing process—even when the lamb didn’t make it—as part of a larger process of life and nature, “something that’s bigger.”
Whether it was this revelation, Treleven’s roots in the wider Back-to-Land Movement or something else, the Mitchells approach their life and work through a holistic lens. On their fridge is a flyer titled: “Actions for the Earth.” Next to their front door is a white board with musings and deliberations. The farm is not merely a place for cultivation of all sorts. The Mitchells host camps for young children to learn about the environment, they welcome artists for retreats and residencies and they hire a summer intern through Middlebury College.
Cheryl and Don are uncertain whether they will continue lambing next year. While they do not want to end the tradition, they are aware that continuing to run it on such a scale could become too taxing. In the barn, alongside sheep and hay, is a shelf with a stack of journals dating back to before 1998. Each is filled with entries written by students, late at night or early in the morning, some before, and others after, ewes had given birth. Even if the Mitchells decide to move on from the job, it certainly won’t be forgotten.
(04/18/18 11:21pm)
This weekend, Hepburn Zoo was transformed into the entrancing set of Goblin Market for Ashley Fink’s ’18.5 Senior 700 work presentation. The 65-minute production ran evening performances on April 12 and 13 and one matinee on April 14.
This piece was originally a narrative poem published in 1862 by Christina Rossetti. It was then adapted into a musical by Peggy Harmon and Polly Pen in 1987.
Goblin Market tells a story of two proper Victorian sisters, Laura (Fink ’18.5) and Lizzie (Katz ’21). The show is framed as a flashback. The two sisters, now grown women, return to their childhood nursery where they relive disturbing memories of their youth. The nursey transforms into a haunted glen where goblins seduce the sisters with luscious fruits and treats, employing clear allusions to Adam and Eve, forbidden fruit, and temptation.
The play explores how the women reconcile their adolescent sexually-charged fantasies with the world they now inhabit. Though many interpretations exist, it is generally accepted that this piece is commentary on the repression of female sexuality during the Victorian era.
The dialogue and lyrics in the show all come from the original poem. The show skillfully blends the enchanting imagery of the text into eerily beautiful melodies that form an abstract yet enticing storyline.
One of the most impressive parts about this production is that it is a two-woman show. Ashley Fink ’18.5 Charlotte Katz ’21 do not leave the stage for the show’s entire duration. The two actresses demonstrated remarkable stamina in their flawless vocal delivery and passion-driven performance.
Though there were only two actresses seen on stage, this production had a large team behind it. In addition to Fink and Katz, the production team also comprised a director (Connor Pisano ’18), musical director (Gareth Cordery ’20), costume designer (Merri McMahon ’18.5), lighting designer (Stephen Chen ’19.5), technical director (Ke Yu ’18), and sound designer (Caroline Harrison ’19.5). The show also featured three student musicians who provided accompaniment with piano (Gareth Cordery ’20), cello (Emily Han ’20), and viola (Jack DeBouter ’20). Fink and Pisano received college credit for their work.
After this weekend’s performances, I sat down with Charlotte Katz ’21 who plays Lizzie.
Q: “Can you tell me a little bit about the preparation process for this show?”
“We spent a lot of time working through the text. There are so many different ways that you can interpret it. So, first we had to create a backstory first to justify all this weird stuff that was happening in the show. That probably took most of our time, creating a cohesive idea that supported our motives within the show. That was one of our toughest challenges, being clear and making specific moments” Katz said.
Q: “What was it like participating in an all student-run production?”
“At first it was a little intimidating. This was such a difficult piece to approach because it dealt with such abstract concepts. To do it all on our own was kind of hard and I think we had a little bit of trouble at first creating and solidifying a vision for what we wanted. But once we got the ball rolling it was really a cool experience to see us all grow and develop in our respective roles.”
“It was really cool doing this caliber of work my first year. It gave me a taste of what I’m gonna be faced with my senior year, whether that be in an acting thesis or independent project. To think what Ashley and Connor have accomplished, I was really impressed. It’s a super ambitious thing to take on. I feel like I’m spoiled now because I got to such a challenging but beautiful piece my first year” Katz said.
Congratulations to the entire team of Goblin Market on three polished and striking performances. Several other seniors are also presenting their thesis work in the upcoming weekends. The Middlebury College Department of Theatre and Dance is home to dedicated students who have worked tirelessly assembling their art. Be sure to go and support these awesome, completely student-run, productions.
(04/18/18 11:20pm)
As the semester draws to a close, so do the three temporary exhibits at the Middlebury College Museum of Art. One of these three, titled “Ten Years: The Cameron Print Project,” chronicles a decade of collaboration in different forms of printmaking between Middlebury students and contemporary artists, including Mark Dion, Tomas Vu, Kati Heck and Rona Yefman.
The Cameron Print Project is overseen by professor Hedya Klein, who teaches silkscreen and intaglio printing in the Studio Arts Program. The format of the program stems from an ancient pedagogical system that trained artists from the Greek Bronze Age to 1648. Each year, Professor Klein makes regular trips to New York and Vienna to view galleries, museums and art fairs to the work of contemporary artists.
“The first thing I look at is the artists’ work,” she said, when explaining her process of inviting artists to Middlebury. “During my last leave when I attended a residency near Paris, I had an opportunity to visit Christy Gast during the installation of her exhibition at the Kadist Foundation. Her work had always interested me but her silkscreened soft sculptures at Locust Projects in Miami and the cyanotypes she made in Paris piqued my interest and prompted me to invite her to Middlebury.”
The exhibit carries a remarkable array of different artistic styles, mediums and themes. Artists such as Michael Jordan and Kati Heck employ styles that drew upon graphic novels, Nicola López displays a permanently constructing and deconstructing urban landscape in multi-layered architectural drawings, Tomas Vu uses abstract combinations of fantastical cityscapes to explore the post-industrial advances of humankind.
“Invited artists work in various media.” Professor Klein said. “Often these artists [who have not used prints as their primary medium] bring a fresh perspective to the print project. Some artists, such as Tomas Vu, exemplify the collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to art-making more directly. Tomas brought a plethora of laser cut elements that students hand glued onto his edition.”
Other artistic media at the exhibit include video animations with original music and laser engraved wood block prints.
For Mark Dion, this year’s visiting artist, the studio chose to make photo transfer intaglio print editions, which would make them look as close to pencil drawings as possible. Dion’s work questions the way in which dominant ideologies and public institutions such as museums shape our understanding of the world around us.
In a lecture on April 12 in Twilight Hall, Dion described himself as someone who has “one foot in science, one foot in magic.”
Much of his work is inspired by the tradition of the Wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, which he said is the “infancy of science and magical thinking.” Past projects have included “The Amateur Ornithologist Clubhouse” equipped with field guides and extensive equipment for birdwatchers in Essen, Germany, “Den,” a massive sculpture of a sleeping bear hibernating on top of a hill of human material relics from ancient times to the present, and “Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas,” an exhibit for the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, of which drawings for the Cameron Print Project are based.
“The lines of a silkscreen print are flat whereas photo transfer intaglio retains the crumbly nature of his pencil line,” Professor Klein said of the intaglio print technique. “This printmaking technique reveals moments where the line is fully visible and moments where it’s not – just like the line of a pencil pressed with a certain amount of pressure on a piece of paper. One may think he or she is looking at an original drawing if it weren’t for the embossed edge and the penciled-in edition size on the bottom right hand corner.”
The process of intaglio printmaking can be difficult and unforgiving for a beginner. Designs are etched onto a copper plate, which are then processed through a printing press that inks the design onto a piece of acid-free paper. Scattered throughout this relatively straightforward-sounding process are various highly specialized steps that prepare the paper, plate and ink to allow for optimal printing conditions. The studio produced an estimated 200-300 test prints and dozens of test plates this year.
At times, said Jay Silverstein ’19, who worked on the Project this spring, the studio has held more than twenty people working together on different elements of the printing process.
“The shop is really alive,” he said. Depending on the number of people in the studio, the environment can be “hyper-calm or wildly active.”
“Using Intaglio as a means of creating one’s work is no different than any other tool available to artists. Drawing, painting, and sculpture have also been around for a long time,” Klein said. “What matters is how one uses the material. What is the final outcome?”
The time-consuming process of printing an edition of the artists’ work occurs over a period of approximately four weeks, during which students may voluntarily spend up to 12 hours per week in the studio, helping with preparation and final printing, an informal presentation and open studio demo, and the packing and shipping of the finished portfolio.
“Each print is different,” said Silverstein. “As you become more involved in the [printing] process, your eyes become more keen to when things go awry. This is perfect for people who get obsessed over process…. [The project] takes your drafting and drawing levels to the peak.”
“You fall into it,” he said of learning to print, which he said is similar to the process of learning to ride a bicycle. “You wake up one day and you’re like: I know how to make a print.”
“Students’ focus and ambition triple after these projects,” Klein said. “Because students work closely with a master printer and professional artists they learn the ins and outs of how to create a professional print portfolio. They have the chance to speak directly with these artists in an intimate classroom environment. They work on a team which creates an artistic community, an important part of being an artist.”
“We talked about his work while doing the work,” Silverstein, who is double majoring in biology and studio art, said of his interaction with visiting artist Mark Dion. “He approaches art from a scientific lens, which I appreciate a lot.”
According to Klein, some past student participants in this project have gone on to graduate programs or careers as professional printmakers and artists.
“That’s the dream,” said Silverstein. “What I make, that’s small potatoes compared to the other work that I see come out of Johnson.”
For young artists, the importance of exposure to contemporary work cannot be neglected.
“I want to show our students what the scope of the art world looks like,” Klein said on the website of previous visiting artist Christy Gast, “and to introduce them to artists they may not have read about in an art history book.”
An exhibit of works by students in Klein’s intaglio class is on view in the Mezzanine of Johnson Memorial Building until April 24.
(04/18/18 10:45pm)
Dear Middkidds,
With less than five weeks left, the SGA Cabinet and Senate are continuing to work hard on ongoing and new initiatives. Be sure to voice your thoughts by reaching out to your student class and commons representatives!
SGA Cabinet:
1. Each cabinet committee is working on impactful projects, including a website for Middlebury social nightlife, a divestment referendum, staff appreciation day, Panther pride, late night student access to academic buildings, 10 o’clock Ross and more! Be sure to look out for emails from SGA with more information on these initiatives.
SGA Senate:
1. Topic(s) of the Week: This week the SGA has decided to focus student engagement and opinions on three topics: a) meal plans b) resources for international students and c) public art in spaces at Middlebury. Please reach out to your student class and commons representatives to share your opinions on these topics.
2. “An Act to Correct the Club Sports Bill 2.0”: After months of working on club sports related concerns, the Senate passed a bill to eliminate the tier system and create two clusters, Competitive Club Sports and Recreational Club Sports. Competitive Club Sports are structured intercollegiate sport programs without a Varsity counterpart and more structured than the intramural program. Competitive club sports attend regular competitions against other college and universities. Club sports that fall under this cluster are Crew, Cycling, Equestrian, Quidditch, Rugby and Sailing. Recreational Club Sports are sports with a limited travel season of only two competitions per year. Club sports that fall under this cluster are Badminton, Figure Skating, MiddRuns, SKIGA and Tennis. New Recreational Club Sports will receive minimum discretionary funds of $200, an email address and an index code like other organizations on campus, and will follow club sport policies and procedures. All relevant club sports have been contacted about this change. These new clusters will allow the SGA to be more fiscally responsible long-term and provide better organization and avenues for forming new recreational club sports. This bill will immediately go into effect for spring budgeting. Sponsors of this bill were Co-Chair Tina Brook, Senior Senator Hannah Pustejovsky, and President Jin Sohn.
3. “Terms of Commons Senators”: Originally proposed last week, this bylaws amendment was passed in Senate this week. The bill converts Commons Senator positions into semester terms. Specifically, it extends eligibility for the Commons Senator position to include students that may have study abroad plans or off-campus medical leaves. Students that are not studying abroad during the academic year, however, are required to run for both fall and spring semesters. This is based off the Community Co-Chair semester terms model. Essentially, this bill takes into account one of Middlebury’s largest student academic interests, study abroad, in order to make SGA more accessible. This will go into effect for the next election cycle of 2019-2020. Sponsors of this bill were Sophomore Senator Varsha Vijayakumar and Wonnacott Senator Anthony Salas.
4. “Academic Credit for Summer Unpaid Internships”: This bill, originally discussed last week, was passed this week in Senate. The only change to the bill since then is a clarification to include academic credit for internships tied to academic and/or professional interests. This bill will now be handed to relevant offices as a recommendation to implement. The sponsor of this bill was Junior Senator Kailash Raj Pandey.
5. “Proposal for Increase of Student Wellbeing”: This bill was discussed and proposed in Senate this week. Junior Senator Kailash Raj Pandey presented findings from a student survey on ways to increase student wellbeing at Middlebury. The results manifested as bill proposing new relaxation spaces in BiHall and Davis, installing fitdesk recumbent bikes at both libraries, Dining Committee transparency, dining food options, and offerings to match what is offered in the summer, including sauté stations and more fruit and nut offerings. The Senate will continue to discuss the bill next week. What are your thoughts on these proposals? For more information, the main contact for this initiative is SGA Junior Senator Kailash Pandey.
6. “Swipe System & Meal Plans in Dining”: The Senate is discussing the pros and cons of implementing meal plans. Through conversations with Dan Detora, Executive Director of Food Service Operations, if meal plans were to be instituted, they would all be the same price, but would allow for greater student flexibility. For example, perhaps a student who skips breakfast would prefer 14 meals per week in the dining hall and a higher declining balance to spend at retail locations on campus (and possibly even around town). Maybe a student who has a kitchen in their living space and cooks their own meals would prefer seven dining hall meals per week with a far greater declining balance. Please note that the unlimited meal option would still exist and would be the same price as the other options. The Senate is only just beginning to discuss this idea, and will continue to do so next week. Would you want meal plans at Middlebury? For more information, the main contact for this initiative is SGA Sophomore Senator Jack Goldfield.
Upcoming Events to Keep in Mind:
1. We are in the midst of SGA elections season, and voting has begun! Polls and a student-wide referendum on divestment will be open from noon on Thursday (4/19) until noon on Friday (4/20). Don’t forget to vote; every vote counts!
2. Staff Appreciation Day is 4/30! Keep submitting those thank you video submissions and get involved at go/thankyoustaff. And remember to thank staff everyday, not just on Staff Appreciation Day; they do so much for us.
As always, all past and current bills (even the ones mentioned above) are accessible at go/sga under Weekly Updates and/or Archives. Please continue to reach out to your respective Senators or to SGA with any questions, concerns or comments.
Enjoy these last few weeks of the school year!
Jin Sohn is SGA President.
(04/18/18 4:35pm)
Hannah Ross, Middlebury’s general counsel, and Dave Donahue ’91, special assistant to the president, delivered a presentation on the college’s governance structure last Thursday evening to an audience of seven. The talk was part of the “How Midd Works” initiative led by the Student Government Association and President Laurie L. Patton’s senior leadership group (SLG).
Donahue has worked at the college since 1997, serving as associate dean for library and information services, associate vice president of operations in college advancement and dean in student affairs before becoming special assistant to the president. Ross came to Middlebury in 2003 after representing Princeton University in litigation.
The presentation covered a variety of topics including the college’s position as a non-profit, the role of the Board of Trustees, college finances and future projects. The seven students who attended the talk included Community Council co-chair candidate Lynn Travnikova ’20 and SGA Chief of Staff Ish Alam ’18.
Thursday’s event was one of several action items in the “How Midd Works” initiative within the SGA’s and SLG’s Common Agenda. The Common Agenda was developed in an effort to improve the communications and relationship between students and the administration by giving students a better sense of how the college operates and by giving the administration a better sense of student needs.
Due to the small nature of the crowd, the session was uncommonly interactive, with Ross and Donahue taking questions from the students in attendance throughout the presentation.
After a student asked whether the college was building a dam, Ross and Donahue discussed a potential hydroelectric power project. The potential hydro power generator would be at the falls on Otter Creek.
“We are not building a dam,” responded Donahue, “We are exploring with an energy development company the possibility of a hydro project. The idea of taking advantage of a natural resource to have hydro be part of our energy footprint is pretty cool.”
“And fish friendly, that’s what’s very exciting,” Ross said.
Donahue then turned to the new temporary academic building that will be constructed behind Johnson Memorial Building.
“The building probably has a 35 to 50 year useful life. In the end, what got approved by the town is a permanent building,” Donahue said.
“If it works well and we’re all happy with how it’s functioning, it could be there for that long. It could also be moved and repurposed,” he said, explaining that most buildings are built with an intended lifespan of 100 years when they are part of the master plan, which this building is not.
“This building allows us to do a bunch of those projects,” Donahue said, referring to renovations of Warner, Munroe and Johnson, with the new building serving as an “academic swing space” for people to leave those buildings while they are renovated.
Ross and Donahue also provided an overview of the college’s management structure as a non-profit.
“It doesn’t have any kind of owners, shareholders, or investors. It’s not formed for some private interest and it can’t benefit private interest,” Ross said.
The President and Fellows of Middlebury College, the official name of all the Middlebury entities, is a 501(c)3 non-profit, meaning it is a public charity. “It’s a non-profit because it delivers a public benefit or a public service” Ross said, the public benefit or service in this case being higher education.
“Non-profit organizations have a mission that goes towards public benefit or public service,” she continued, adding that “any extra money goes back into that mission.”
Donahue explained that though the college cannot substantially support political causes due to its non-profit designation, “that doesn’t mean we don’t ever take interest in legislation or stake out a position,” he said.
The presentation then shifted to the role that trustees have in managing the college. Though there can be up to 35 trustees, there are only 33 at the moment. Trustees are chosen by a committee made up of 6 trustees, and can serve up to three five year terms. Trustee emeriti are trustees that have served for 15 years and are lifetime trustees, but do not have voting powers.
Being a trustee is a volunteer position, as trustees receive no compensation. The college president is the exception to this rule, and Donahue explained that Patton, as the president, is a voting member of the board.
Ross explained that trustees hold the “ultimate legal and fiduciary responsibilities,” meaning that they are required to act in the interest of others, which in this case means in the interest of Middlebury. “They have to be acting for the benefit of the students of Middlebury.”
This question of what is benefitting students has been raised recently in discussions around divestment.
“They [the trustees] need to make good decisions so that the non-profit can last a long time,” Ross said. “We have an endowment that is intended to allow us to do that forever.”
Ross went on to discuss how tax structure affects the College. “We are tax-exempt, which is an important form of government support, and we also get grants,” Ross said.
Donahue and Ross then addressed a student question: “How is the Middlebury operating budget affected by the recent tax bill that was passed? I know there was some discussion regarding taxation of endowments.”
“We just barely squeaked under that one,” said Ross. “We are still, along with other colleges, advocating that they reconsider this.” Ross said, however, that it is likely that “they will change the wording and increase the tax, and someday it will catch us.”
Donahue and Ross went on to describe Middlebury’s operating budget, which comes from three sources: tuition and fees, donations and the endowment, and government support.
Of the $270 million annual budget, Ross estimated that $50 million came from the endowment, $40 to 45 million from donations, and most of the remainder from tuition and fees.
“We model our budget on a six percent return on the endowment and a five percent spend,” Donahue said, “with the remaining one percent being spent as part of the operating budget.”
(04/11/18 9:54pm)
Editor’s note: The author is an at-will employee of Middlebury College who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. The request was granted because of the essay’s pertinence to the campus debate, and because it otherwise met our editorial standards.
I would first like to address why I asked to keep this opinion anonymous. Executive pay is a sensitive topic where staff and other at-will employees of the college do not have much latitude with which to express their frustration with leadership decisions. We exist in a small enough community where criticism of this nature might come at a cost that many of us are not willing to expend. I wish to express these frustrations because I care about the financial health of the college and want to encourage us toward prudent stewardship.
At three meetings last week, staff and faculty were invited by interim provost Jeff Cason and treasurer David Provost to participate in a conversation about executive pay. Limited information about executive pay is made public every year in the filing of a Form 990. While professor Graham’s op-ed highlighted some of these issues and sparked this important conversation, I am writing in order to further elucidate some fiscal practices and pose some yet unanswered questions.
The idea of stay bonuses represent a part of the frustration from faculty, staff and students. While the college does not hand out “bonuses” per se, these payments work fundamentally just like a bonus. They accrue over several years and are paid out to high-level employees who are deemed to be so indispensable, they receive several hundreds of thousand dollars in addition to their base and other pay for simply staying in their jobs. If they were to leave Middlebury before the end of the stay bonus agreement (typically a three or four years period), they would not be paid that amount.
We know the details in only a couple of the cases in which stay bonuses have been utilized, such as one stay bonus put in place when a high-level employee was interviewing for a presidency at another institution. For the majority of these stay bonuses, though, the 2015 Middlebury College presidential transition was used as the justification. These stay bonuses have totalled several million dollars paid to 14 people in the last few years.
I understand the value in retaining high-level employees. Unfortunately, the manner in which stay bonuses have been used has been too many, too excessive, and in the context of the college’s other employees, unequitable. Philosophically, one might even question an employee’s dedication to the institution and its mission if they have to be enticed to stay here to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In contrast, faculty and staff are often told, even if they have another job offer in hand, that salaries are not negotiable and that they are welcome to leave and take the better offer elsewhere. The merit pay increase structure for staff consists of modest pay increases distributed from a singular pool for all the college staff. The size of the pool and the manner in which it is allocated mean that pay increases between staff who have far exceeded expectations and those who meet expectations can often differ by just a few hundred dollars.
Senior leadership at the college do not seem to fall under the same restraints. Even putting aside the stay bonuses, the base pay for senior leadership seems to have grown each year at a rate outstripping that received by staff or faculty. For example, while already being one of the college’s most highly paid employees, in the span of just 2 years, our previous treasurer went from making a base salary of $252,489 to $270,857 (an increase of 7.3 percent). While a staff member has a top end of the pay range for their specific role, senior leadership do not seem to have any such pay ranges, let only top ends.
Additionally, we have by far the largest senior leadership team of our NESCAC peers — 17 people, followed by Amherst and Tufts at 12. While Middlebury has seven members our senior leadership team in academic roles, our NESCAC peers have one or two cabinet-level staff fulfilling these functions. Granted, three of these individuals run Monterey, our Language Schools, and the international programs respectively — facets to the college which are fairly distinctive to Middlebury. But, it does seems excessive that we have a dean of faculty, interim provost, a provost on leave and a vice president for academic development all currently drawing sizable salaries. Further, we seem to be the only school in the group that has two advancement officers serving in the senior leadership team — a vice president for advancement as well as a chief philanthropic advisor.
David Provost highlighted at the meeting last week that the average pay for our top ten highest paid employees was about 14 percentage points above the mean of a select group of our peer colleges. I am curious about how our total executive pay compares to our peers considering our bench is far deeper.
[pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="right" background="on" border="all" shadow="on" ]One might even question an employee’s dedication to Middlebury if they have to be enticed to stay here to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.[/pullquote]
In terms of other excesses, why is the enrollment dean at Monterey one of our highest paid employees if we haven’t met enrollment goals at Monterey? Why was the head of the Hebrew Language School one of top paid employees in 2015? There might be excellent reasons for these decisions, but the lack of transparency around these high costly salaries is alarming.
Further, while the numbers around his departure are still murky, former President Liebowitz seems to have received very sizable additional and deferred pay at the time of his departure. While President Liebowitz was ranked lower in college president pay compared to our peers, I imagine we will be learning within the next 990 that he left Middlebury with an heartily exorbitant goodbye.
I bring all this up with the backdrop of the college facing a painful $20+ million operating deficit. Faculty and staff have been asked to take on the heavy burden of bringing the college’s finances back on track. While we have an interim provost and a provost on leave both drawing salaries, we have a 90-day hiring freeze for all other new staff. This is one of my examples where policies and approaches for staff and faculty misalign with those for senior leadership.
It is possible that a certain evaluation of mine is off or a critique is unfounded. I have done my best to study and verify the information here. All this information has been pieced together from the very limited sources that we can access. We need more transparency.
We need to have the same streamlined approach in leadership as has been requested of the rest of the organization. The executive salary structure is set by the board and its compensation committee upon the recommendation of the president. Protecting these pay practices has unfortunately become a coordinated effort. Talking points were distributed to senior leadership in order to talk about the executive pay strategy with one voice. The defensive “us versus them” posture is not going to move us forward.
Commendably, I believe that President Patton has placed a temporary freeze in base pay to staff who make above $200,000 a year. But the stay bonus practices still continue, and we need to go further.
I wish that President Patton would convene a group of staff, faculty, and students to discuss and make recommendations to the compensation committee of the board as well as senior leadership concerning (a) equity in pay and pay practices across the college, (b) transparency around pay practices, (c) policies around salary negotiation, (d) the attitude of indispensability of a select few, (e) budget oversight and sustainability, (f) the alignment in how we treat our staff, faculty and senior staff, and (g) our labor ethics as an institution.
I hope that we learn from the mistakes of the past and pick a direction that places the college on a financially sustainable path. We also have heard a fair amount of deflecting responsibility to the previous treasurer and the previous president (now the chief operating officer at Tulane and the president of Brandeis University, respectively) for our current predicament. But there is much that we can and must do to address our current and inherited practices. At the end of the day, this is not about the individual people. It does not matter who was at fault because now, we all must be accountable.
