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(12/03/15 1:12am)
Beyond emissions from heating and cooling, travel and waste, the College must address emissions from purchased electricity in order to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2016. When the Climate Action Plan (CAP) was adopted in 2008, electricity purchases accounted for only 2 percent of the College’s total carbon emissions. By 2014, this figure had risen to almost 7 percent. Though this was largely due to a decrease in total gross emissions from heating and cooling, emissions from purchased electricity did rise from 676 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2007 to 864 tons in 2014.
The College uses about 22 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Of this energy, 20 percent is cogenerated on campus by turbines connected to the central heating plant. The steam generated by the plant (from biomass and fossil fuel combustion) drives turbines, which generate electricity. The steam is then piped throughout campus to meet the heating and cooling demand. The remaining 80 percent of the College’s electricity is purchased from the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (CVPS). Because the combustion of biomass is considered carbon neutral, it is this purchased electricity that accounts for the College’s net carbon emissions from electricity usage.
When the College purchases electricity from CVPS, it cannot control the source of the electricity or whether it is carbon neutral. Until 2013, the vast majority of Vermont’s power (70 percent) came from nuclear energy, which is carbon neutral. Much of the remainder of the state’s electricity came from hydropower, another source of clean energy. Most of Vermont’s nuclear power came from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which shut down in late 2014. Due to this, utilities have since had to purchase electricity from non-renewable sources.
Green Mountain Power, which recently merged with CVPS, predicts that only 55 percent of its fuel mix in 2015 will be renewable, coming from nuclear and hydroelectric sources. The other 45 percent of its fuel mix will consist mainly of “system” power, which comes from various sources, including fossil fuels. In calculating carbon emissions from purchased electricity, the College must factor this in.
To help reduce net emissions from electricity, the CAP recommended conservation as well as investigating alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power.
In 2012, well after the CAP went into action, the College installed a small 143kW demonstration solar system near McCardell Bicentennial Hall, which consists of 34 solar trackers. In total, the system produces about 200,000 kilowatt-hours annually, which is only one percent of the College’s total electricity consumption. According to the College’s website, the electricity generated by this system is enough to power Forest Hall throughout the year.
Though solar power could be used to offset the College’s energy usage, it is not currently feasible for large-scale power generation. Because of the relative inefficiency of modern solar panels, the College would need a huge solar system to meet its energy needs. This presents multiple problems, including the physical infrastructure of the system and energy storage.
In order to further reduce net emissions from electricity purchases, the College should continue to focus on reducing electricity consumption. Signs asking students to turn off lights when they leave the room have become increasingly prevalent on campus and help to encourage more sustainable practices. Despite these efforts, there is the sentiment that students are still largely unaware of the impacts of their lifestyle choices on sustainability.
Since 2007, carbon emissions due to purchased electricity at the College have risen by 188 metric tons of carbon dioxide, nearly 30 percent. Though only a small contribution to the College’s overall carbon emissions, reduction of electricity usage or a shift toward renewable energy sources will help the College reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2016.
(12/03/15 1:12am)
The Middlebury Panthers got their season off to a strong start with a 3-1 record. The team beat NESCAC rival Trinity twice, 5-1 and 2-1, on opening weekend, then hosted the Panther/Cardinal Classic this past weekend, where they fell to second-ranked Elmira College 3-1 and defeated Wisconsin-Stevens Point 3-1. Maddie Winslow ’18 led the way for the Panthers, tallying two goals and four assists in the four games and garnering NESCAC Player of the Week for her play at the tournament.
On Friday, Middlebury scored three times on the power play on its way to a 5-1 win over Trinity in the NESCAC season opener. Middlebury was slow to find its groove in the first minutes of play, as Trinity took a 1-0 lead 3:43 into the game on a power play goal from the right point. The women soon found their momentum with a power play goal of their own. Carly Watson’s ’17 shot from the left point, though blocked, was put home for a rebound by Katie Mandigo ’16. The Panthers struck again with the extra attacker at 11:22, taking a 2-1 lead with a goal by Elizabeth Wulf ’18.
Leading 2-1 in the second period, the Panthers added to their lead when Mandigo finished after a shot from Watson had been saved, and Kelly Sherman ’17 added one on a breakaway.
Julia Wardwell ’16 found the goal 5:00 into the third period to score Middlebury’s third power play goal of the night and seal a 5-1 victory for the Panthers.
The next day, the Panthers again defeated the Trinity Bantams with a score of 2-1.
Just as in the previous night, Trinity took an early 1-0 lead in contest. Melissa Maffeo’s initial shot was blocked before Shelby Labe jumped on the rebound and scored to put her team ahead.
Winslow answered for Middlebury in the second period, shooting a wrister to the top left corner of the net.
The game appeared to be heading into overtime when Wulf broke free from a pack behind the net and gained some space. She quickly fed Anna Van Kula ’16 in front, who sent a shot into the back of the net for the game-winning tally with only 47 seconds remaining in regulation.
This past weekend, the Panthers hosted the Panther/Cardinal Classic in Kenyon Arena. On Friday night, they fell to second-ranked Elmira by the score of 3-1 after leading midway through the second period.
The Panthers took the 1-0 lead when Wulf one-timed a shot from the slot on the power play into the back of the net at the 16:38 mark in the first period.
Elmira tied the game with an extra attacker 12:48 into the second period.The Panthers went on the power play at the 7:36 mark, with their best chance coming when Mandigo’s shot hit the pipe.
Elmira took a 2-1 lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the third period with a snipe of a shot into the top-right corner of the net, and the Panthers were unable to answer the goal despite a power play opportunity less than a minute later.
The Soaring Eagles gained some breathing room as the power play expired when the puck bounced off the stick of a Middlebury defender, leaving a race down the ice. Watson knocked the puck away, but the aggressive Soaring Eagles slipped the puck into the goal.
Following an Elmira timeout with 3:22 left, the Panthers pulled Dreher, but were unable to close the gap as Elmira took home the win.
“While we had a disappointing loss on Friday night, we felt good about how we played,” Mandigo said. “We competed all over the ice, and although we had a few breakdowns, overall we played well.”
On Sunday, the Panthers redeemed themselves with a 3-1 victory over Wisconsin-Stevens Point (5-4-1) during the final game of the Panther/Cardinal Classic in Kenyon Arena.
Middlebury got on the board first at 4:13 when Jessica Young ’18 stuffed home a pass from Janka Hlinka ’18. Only 22 seconds later, the Pointers came right back and tied the game at 1.
Two minutes into the second period, Winslow dug the puck out of the corner, skated to the goal and sent a cross to Shanna Hickman ’19, who scored her first career goal.
The Panthers added an insurance goal on the power play in the third period when Winslow sent her wrist shot to the far side of the net, securing a 3-1 win for her team.
“We had a good weekend battling some of the top teams in the country,” Mandigo said. “We have a young team, but everything is coming together nicely. We have high expectations for ourselves, but most importantly we are willing to put the hard work in for the outcomes that we want.”
With its pair of wins against conference rival Trinity, Middlebury sits atop the NESCAC, tied with Amherst at 2-0. The Panthers return to the ice this weekend for a two-game homestand against Connecticut College (0-2) on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4-5.
(11/19/15 4:34am)
I was accepted into Middlebury as a Top 100 Applicant (a now discontinued program) with a 32 on the ACT and a 3.91 GPA. I served for three years on Community Council, one year on the Academic Appeals Board, two years as a Residential Advisor of an academic interest house; I committed time to various organizations on campus and I also helped to research and write confidential briefings for President Liebowitz. However, it’s likely that I would choose not to casually share this information with anyone. My justification is not for a lack of pride in my previous commitments, or because I consider them relatively insignificant historical details — which I do — but rather because they are from a different lived reality. I am a student who lives with schizophrenia and depression.
(11/18/15 9:26pm)
Following the terrorist attacks that occurred in Paris on Friday, Nov. 13, Vice President and Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott and Dean of International Programs Jeff Cason reported that all 50 undergraduate and graduate students studying at Middlebury’s School in France, in addition to ten other students studying at other sites, were safe.
“We are grateful that all of our students in Paris are safe, and we will continue to monitor the situation to be sure that students are receiving the support they need,” Cason and Smith Abbott said in their email.
According to Cason and Smith Abbott, the School in France spent the evening reaching out to each of the students to confirm their well-being. Additionally, the families of students were notified of their safety.
When the attacks occurred, Vanessa Manjarrez ’17 was in the Stade de France with a group that included two other Middlebury students. According to Manjarrez, they heard “two huge bangs” when they were in the stadium and initially assumed them to have come from fireworks. Manjarrez and her friends later learned the noises came from a suicide bomber who had tickets to the game they were watching.
“We didn’t think anything of it,” Manjarrez said. “We continued watching the game until about the middle of the second half when my friend got a text message from the [Associate Director of the School in France Amy Tondu] saying there was a shooting and that we needed to go straight home. We didn’t realize the gravity of the situation, so we waited until the end to leave. At that point, our phones were flooded with ‘Are you ok?’ messages from friends and family, still not really knowing what everyone was panicked about.” She continued, “It’s been pretty traumatizing. Middlebury has told us to stay inside as much as possible this weekend and to not go anywhere where large crowds can gather.”
“I can’t stress enough how helpful the Middlebury team was during this event. They kept in touch with every student and our families until everyone was confirmed safely at home,” she said.
Edward O’Brien ’17 realized something was wrong when he learned that some metro stations were closed “by order of the Police Prefecture.”
“When [my friend and I] emerged from the station, two panicked men ran up to us to ask if the metro was still running. We told them what we knew and they ran into the subway. That was when we knew something was wrong,” O’Brien said.
“As we walked back to my apartment, we saw several people running down the street away from one of the closed stations so we sped up until we were inside,” he continued. “When I came in and turned on my computer, I had over ten messages on Facebook [from] panicked people asking where I was. Apparently, Middlebury had been calling people even before any official alerts went out. Because my phone wasn’t working, no one knew where I was.”
After watching the news, O’Brien realized that several of the attacks were a few blocks away from his apartment.
“While that night was tense, the scariest part of the attack for me was the next morning when I looked at the accurate locations of the attacks,” he said. “I realized that I had been in a restaurant right next to one of the attacks just the day before. It continues to occur to me that it was complete chance that I was not there.”
He continued, “I now feel paralyzed when deciding to leave the apartment. Each time, I wonder whether it’s a good idea. I, like many others in Paris, I think, recognize that the reason I wasn’t a victim of the attacks was nothing but chance. There’s just so much uncertainty.”
According to Cason and Smith Abbott, the College is making counseling services available for students in Paris in the wake of the attacks.
“Yesterday’s heartbreaking events have understandably created considerable anxiety, both for our students in Paris and for many here on the Middlebury campus,” they said. They encouraged students to seek additional help from residential life staff members, Commons Residential Advisers (CRAs), and Commons Deans.
Members of the Charles P. Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life sponsored a vigil held outside of Mead Chapel on Monday, Nov. 16. The vigil was held following the College’s weekly, all-community silent reflection, which President of the College Laurie L. Patton invited students to attend.
“These challenging times require that we come together as a community in as many ways as possible,” she said in an email sent to students, staff and faculty.
(11/18/15 7:33pm)
Over 250 students and faculty crammed into Dana Auditorium on Tuesday, Nov. 17 for a panel discussion hosted by the Department of Political Science on the Paris attacks. Mediated by Robert R. Churchill Professor of Geosciences Tamar Mayer, the panel consisted of Professor of Political Science Erik Bleich, Edward C. Knox Professor of International Studies Jeff Cason, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science Ophelie Eglene, Assistant Professor of Political Science Sebhem Gumuscu and Associate Professor of Political Science Nadia Horning.
The discussion explored how issues of French-Muslim identity, the European Union’s open-border policy and regional instability in the post-colonial era created a volatile mix, allowing the Islamic State to recruit, organize and implement the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. They also discussed possible ramifications of the attacks on the E.U.’s policy on border security, France’s declaration of war on the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS and ISIL) and the College’s study-abroad programs.
According to Bleich, the Paris attacks should not be misconstrued to represent all French-Muslims as extremists who support the Islamic State. Citing interviews with French-Muslims in Lyon, France for a research project last January, he said:
“Most French-Muslims feel very French. Research shows French-Muslims identify with their country more than in any other European country. So why did these French-Muslims turn on their country?”
Although France has a controversial immigration policy, it has one of the easiest paths to citizenship for immigrants, even compared to Germany, which accepts more refugees than any other country in the E.U.
“Once you’re [a citizen], France promises liberté, égalité and fraternité,” Bleich said.
However, he also noted racism towards French-Muslims is not uncommon in France. He recalled interviewing a French-Muslim mother whose nine year-old son was called a “dirty, shitty Arab” in front of his classmates and his teacher.
“The vast majority of non-Muslim French people may be kind to French-Muslims in one-on-one interactions. But that doesn’t take the sting out [of racist events like this],” he said.
Racism is rampant in the poor Parisian suburbs where most Muslim immigrants live, separated from the rest of Parisian society and generally ignored by the city’s government.
“Unfortunately, France has failed to deliver in other ways,” Bleich said. “These suburbs are plagued by vandalism, violence, drug use and riots.”
Mayer added that these same neighborhoods have high unemployment rates and high birth-rates, creating communities of young, unemployed, disenfranchised men that IS recruiters prey on.
“It’s not the sermons at the mosques that radicalize people,” Mayer said. “The recruiters go to the gym where all the young people hang out. If there is a concerted effort to fight IS, it can’t be bombings.”
Horning showed two maps to explain the context of what happened in Paris and what may happen in the near future. The first map showed regions controlled by terrorist groups in Africa and the Middle East.
“The geographic spread of Islamic extremist groups connects West Africa, Central Africa and the Middle East,” she said. “The problem is bigger than the Islamic State.” The second map depicted the spread of IS and how it straddled state borders.
“The problem is bigger than individual states,” she said. “The enemy is not the state. It’s actually an idea [jihad and shari’a law]. You don’t fight an idea with bombs.”
Professor Horning was dismissive of the West’s current foreign policy when it came to dealing with IS and the crisis in the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The problem we’re facing today has a lot to do with interventions that have no grand strategy, no real political project, just immediate action; countries flexing their muscles and showing strength to their democratic population who demand this kind of action.”
She noted that the current breeding grounds for terrorism like Afghanistan and Iraq are countries that have weak central governments.
“Jihadism is simply a view that the application of Shari’a law is the means of establishing social justice where people feel disenfranchised and mistreated,” she said. “These groups [like IS and Boko Haram] begin to constitute themselves as a voice against oppression or a voice against an inept, unfair, negligible government … Let’s not forget that we might be dealing with the ramifications of colonization. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Islamic State [is] in Iraq and Syria, [which] used to be British colonies.”
Eglene discussed the potential effects of the Paris attacks on the E.U.’s policy within the Schengen zone, which removes border controls between certain states across Europe.
“President Hollande immediately closed France’s borders,” she said. “Hollande has asked for suspension of the Schengen area for three months.” She mentioned the possibility of the Paris attacks in dismantling Schengen agreement, already in talks due to the recent refugee crisis.
The E.U. council will meet tomorrow in the aftermath of the attacks. Strengthening the external borders of the E.U., either directly through patrolling or indirectly through multi-national police and intelligence cooperation, is likely.
“The Paris attacks have shown a lack of intelligence sharing among members of the E.U.,” she said, noting that the terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks were active in Brussels, Belgium prior to Friday.
In regards to the College’s study abroad program in Paris, all students were located as safe within an hour and half of the first attack. Three of them had been at the soccer stadium when the bombing happened. Cason, the last panelist to speak, emphasized that the recent attacks should not dissuade students from going abroad. The recent attacks, he said, highlight the difference between studying abroad and simply traveling on vacation.
“Students should feel uncomfortable. They should be shaken up,” Cason said. “There is inherent risk in the world … students somehow think that going to Europe is less risky [than Cameroon or India], perhaps because it is more prosperous. But prosperity does not guarantee safety.”
Despite the attacks, no undergraduate students at the Middlebury School in Paris have asked to leave the program early.
“The communication we have been getting from students [in France] indicate how embedded they’ve become in the culture they are studying,” he said. “To me, this is a good sign.”
(11/13/15 4:18am)
On Friday, the faculty convened for their monthly plenary session to discuss the Cultures and Civilizations Distribution Requirement, the expiration of the Pass/D/Fail option in Dec. 31, 2015 and student mental health. In attendance were roughly 80 faculty. Per committee bylaws, select students were also in attendance, including the Campus and the Student Government Association (SGA).
The Faculty Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) presented a proposal to revise the current geographic areas covered in the requirement as well as refine the comparative (CMP) requirement with the introduction of the Critical Perspectives (CRP) designation.
In an email to the Campus, Jiya Pandya ’17, Director for Academic Affairs in the SGA and chair of the Student Educational Affairs Committee said that the proposal was encouraging, and that faculty at the meeting posed thoughtful ques- tions and counter proposals.
“I think the conversation needs to continue, because while the Cultures and Civilizations amendment is pressing, it is also about bigger questions about the ‘ethic of diversity’ (as President Laurie describes) in our classrooms and curricula,” she said. “I’m excited to see that changes are happening and to see where they will go (hopefully, of course, to a vote that passes to change AAL), and also that the ad- ministration has been responsive to student feedback from the SEAC.”
Under the proposal, students would be required to take any three courses in three of the seven geographic designations: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Middle East and Oceania. Faculty have called into the question the relevancy of the Oceania requirement, as few if any classes offered at the College receive the designation. There has also been controversy over the optionality of the NOR requirement. If accepted, the new requirements would go into effect in the Fall 2017 semester.
The EAC also presented legislation vote to reinstate the Pass/D/ Fail option, which is set to expire this year on Dec. 31 after a three year pilot program that began in Spring 2013. The stated goal of the original legislation was to encourage students to explore the curriculum outside their usual comfort zones.
In their proposal the EAC noted that the data they had collected regarding utilization of Pass/D/Fail did not conclusively point to its efficacy in encouraging students to move out of their academic comfort zone. In each of the five semesters in which the option has existed, more than half of the students invoking it have been seniors.
Both proposals will be voted on at a plenary session in January.
The session then moved into a discussion of student mental health. At this point the faculty voted 45 to 33 in favor of initiating an executive session. Only voting members of the Faculty committee may be present during executive session, and all proceedings are confidential. Non-voting members, including certain administrators and students, were asked to leave.
(11/13/15 4:15am)
They dress like debonair secret agents, win over more hearts than a basket of puppies and sing like angels. Founded in 1968 at King’s College in Cambridge, England, The King’s Singers are one of the world’s most foremost vocal ensembles. While Pentatonix and Pitch Perfect have rekindled popular interest in the vocal arts, The King’s Singers have been using their musical virtuosity and irresistible charm to garner international fame for decades, performing for hundreds of thousands of people each season all over the globe. Now, they are coming to Middlebury.
Instantly recognizable for their immaculate intonation, vocal blend, diction and incisive timing, The King’s Singers are consummate entertainers. If you love our campus a cappella groups half as much as I do, this performance offers an exceptional treat and insight into the very highest level of talent. Tickets are selling out so quickly that the venue was changed from the MCA to Mead Chapel.
Since the group’s founding, there have been 25 King’s Singers — the original six and 19 replacements, each joining as somebody else leaves. Current members include: countertenors David Hurley and Timothy Wayne-Wright, tenor Julian Gregory, baritones Christopher Bruerton and Christopher Gabbitas and bass Jonathan Howard. The longest tenured is Hurley, with 26 years to his credit as a King’s Singer. This is his final concert tour with the ensemble.
“I am now into my twenty-sixth year standing at the left hand (as you look at it) end of The King’s Singers, and I don’t know where the time has gone,” he said. “I still love the variety that each day brings as we travel to wonderful places around the world, and I always get a buzz from sing- ing to a live audience. I was the youngest child of three, with older sisters, so I rather enjoy the novelty of being the oldest in the group.”On the other end of the spectrum, Julian Gregory is the group’s youngest member, having joined just last year.
“I will always remember the summer of 2014: the time when I was having an incredible time living in Aix-en-Provence, singing in two inspirational operas at Le Festival d’Aix, exploring the stunning Mediterranean coastline nearby and, one wholly unsuspecting morning, being called out of the blue by The King’s Singers to ask whether I’d like to be flown out to Riga in Latvia the following week to audition for the tenor spot of their group,” Gregory said.
Auditions are only offered when a current member is ready to step down. This alone makes them exceedingly rare. Furthermore, auditions are never open to the public. You do not go to the King’s Singers; The King’s Singers come to you. When it is time to replace a member, they evaluate the best vocal talent in the world and invite a few for a chance at the spot. Members come from all walks of life, but the presiding thread is an unparalleled love for and appreciation for singing. For Timothy Wayne-Wright, that recognition came when he was just six years old, singing the daily services as a boy chorister at Chelmsford Cathedral.
With almost all the group’s members initially finding their love via singing in church choirs, it is appropriate that The King’s Singers perform in our beloved Mead Chapel. The chapel was built in 1916, and while service requirements disappeared decades ago, it is still the favorite place of many choral and a cappella groups on campus, from the College Student Choir to the Mamajamas to Dissipated Eight. According to Christopher Gabbitas, although The King’s Singers have performed in the world’s most renowned venues, he is happiest in chapels like ours.
To Christopher Bruerton, being a King’s Singer is more than simply astounding audiences all over the world with vocal prowess and presence: It is an unparalleled opportunity to guide and inspire those who will keep the tradition alive.
“Since making my debut in The King’s Singers I have loved every moment,” he said. “I am so fortunate to have had the chance to sing in world-renowned concert halls from New York to Sydney with Beijing in between. However, I get the biggest buzz from being able to pass on my experience to the next generation through the workshops we do across the world. There is no greater joy than seeing others making their first steps in a cappella and ensemble singing.”
The group’s diverse repertoire includes more than 200 commissioned works, including landmark pieces from leading contemporary composers such as Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, Sir James MacMillan, Krzysztof Penderecki, Toru Takemitsu, Sir John Tavener, Gabriela Lena Frank and Eric Whitacre. The King’s Singers have also commissioned arrangements of everything from jazz standards to pop chart hits, explored medieval motets and Renaissance madrigals and encouraged young composers to write new scores. They are two-time Grammy award-winning artists, and were recently voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. For Jonathan Howard, a King’s Singer since 2010, the music never gets old.
“The breadth of our repertoire also staggers me,” he said. “I smile seeing pro- gram sheets that list all of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsaries for Maundy Thursday and our staged Great American Songbook show in consecutive concerts. But most of all, it brings me such joy to think that, as the group grows and we approach our 50th anniversary, we still dare to defy musical classification. We’re not just classical singers, folk singers, jazz singers or pop singers. We’re simply six friends who love to sing, and we’re thrilled there still seems to be a place in the market for groups like ours that aren’t bound to a stereotype.”
The King’s typically either sing a set of Renaissance music or more contemporary pieces. However, The King’s Singers have agreed to do a very unique program for Middlebury. The first half of the show, drawn from the group’s recording Pater Noster: A Choral Reflection on the Lord’s Prayer, will include sacred music from the English Renaissance. After intermission, The King’s Singers will take a musical tour around the globe with songs from their “Postcards Project,” a collection of folk and popular songs amassed on their travels. This half will include works from Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Italy, France and the United States.
Special thanks to our amazing Performing Arts Series Director Allison Coyne Carroll for arranging this incredibly unique program in reflection of the College’s international strengths and outreach.
To learn more about The King’s Singers, come to the pre-concert lecture given by Jeffrey Buettner, Chair of the Department of Music and Director of Choral Activities, at 6:30 p.m. at Mead Chapel. Audience members are more than welcome to come to hear more about the ensemble, their musical tradition and the works to be performed.
The King’s Singers concert will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Mead Memorial Chapel.
Tickets are $6 for students. Visit go/ boxoffice or stop by one of the offices in McCullough or the MCA.
(11/13/15 4:11am)
On Sunday, Nov. 8 the Middlebury community gathered in the Mahaney Center for the Arts (MCA) for the sixth annual TEDx Middlebury event. Seven speakers gave speeches under this year’s theme “Caught in the Act.”
The event focused on understanding the lines created by society that people constantly endeavor to live with or rise above. The speakers and moderator urged that in creating identity in the world in which we live, there must be an awareness of one’s surroundings and an understanding of intersectionality. With a last minute cancellation by Marco Mezzavilla due to travel issues, the event featured seven speakers: The Lady B, Elizabeth Ready, Casey Wanna ’17, Wagatwe Wanjuki, Brendan O’Neill, Enrique Balcazar and Joshua Allen. In each of their 18-minute speeches, the speakers elaborated on their own interpretations of this year’s theme in conjunction with their experiences of identity. “We picked ‘Caught in the Act’ partly because it is about self-reflection, but also because it is about communal reflection,” said Jiya Pandya ’17, who was the moderator of the event and a TEDx board member.
“Middlebury as a community has been thinking a lot recently about the way we understand this space and each other and ourselves as a collective, and with President Patton’s arrival, a lot of these conversations have taken on a new light,” said Pandya.
According to Pandya, the event was meant as a continuation of existing dialogue about self-discovery within the community under the College’s new leadership. Each speak- er took a different approach to this goal.
Wagatwe Wanjuki, a self-professed Internet junkie and “crazy bunny lady,” spoke out about feminism and campus rape culture. Her online presence began with blogging during her years in prep school and continued when she enrolled in Tufts University. There, she began a campaign against rape culture after being sexually assaulted, unsupported by her university and subsequently asked to leave.
Wanjuki spoke about the waves of con- sequences associated with rape. According to her, it is not the trauma of a moment, but rather a trauma that continues to affect the survivor for years. After taking ten years to get her undergraduate degree, she accrued a debt of $124,402.78. With loans of this size, her credit tanked and access to housing and even jobs that would help her recover were inaccessible to her. She pointed to this as the literal cost of not believing survivors.
Wanjuki pointed out the flawed reasoning associated with rape: that victim- hood is a coveted state as The Washington Post columnist George Will expressed. Her reaction to this sentiment sparked her nationally trending hashtag #SurvivorPrivilege on Twitter. Wanjuki concluded her talk by beseeching audience members to believe survivors.
Another speaker, Joshua Allen, called upon fellow activists as he presented a poignant message of true liberation through a black, gender non-conforming lens. From a young age, Allen was told to “always ask
questions. Things are never as simple as they seem.” Allen continued, “It is in our failures that we find the ability to organize.”
Allen works as an abolitionist, organizing social justice movements to end imperialist ideals and bring about black liberation. They lead a campaign to end genocide against black trans and gender non-conforming femmes, women and girls in the hopes of bridging the gap between racial and gender justice.
Abolition of police and prisons is at the forefront in Allen’s work. They note that of the 25 million incarcerated in the United States, only 1 percent are murderers. Allen believes there are better ways to prevent criminal activity than the retroactive punishment of jail. Education, transformation and restoration of criminals through employment and other means, they argue, will help eradicate walls that harm society.
These speakers and the five others were meant to represent a wide range of subject matter that somehow share a core set of values of self-expression and reflection.
“The aim of TEDx ... is to bring together seemingly disparate topics and present them to our community to spark different conversations,” Pandya said. “All the speakers at the event on Sunday, even though they come in with different lenses, are passionate people who are thinking forward, stand for something important, and are making change in their communities.”
(11/13/15 4:00am)
Last Friday night, Nov. 6, a nearly sold-out crowd gathered in the MCA Concert Hall to listen to the California Guitar Trio perform a varied set of pieces that spanned multiple genres. They covered music that ranged from Bach to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and the performers proved to be just as eclectic as their pieces.
The California Guitar Trio was formed in 1991 by Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah, Bert Lams of Affligem, Belgium and Hideyo Moriya of Tokyo, Japan after the three met at a series of Guitar Craft workshops put on by Robert Fripp, who was the lead guitarist of King Crimson, a band known for its soaring and inventive progressive rock epics. They became close friends during the workshops and formed the trio four years later. Over the past three decades, the group has recorded 14 studio albums populated by both original compositions and covers, and had their music featured in Olympic broadcasts and wake-up calls for the astronauts on the NASA shuttle Endeavor.
This show was their first at the College, and judging by the audience reception they did not disappoint. The concert began as the trio walked out on stage to their respective positions and slid right into their first song, an original titled “Yamanashi Blues.” Their musicianship was immediately apparent as they blended the distinct tones of their guitars into this mid-tempo number that introduced the crowd to their style. After finishing “Yamanashi Blues,” Richards stepped forward to introduce them and say a little bit about the piece; the band continued to explain their songs throughout the night, showing that the group placed as much importance on the stories behind their songs as their composition.
After another original entitled “Melrose Avenue,” which was written while they were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles to their first show together, the group changed gears dramatically and delivered a cover of a 1959 song by Santo and Johnny titled “Sleepwalk.” Richards played slide guitar delving into a country sound for the first, but not last, time of the night. After finishing, he then stepped forward to introduce the next song, another original composed by Moriya titled “Cherry Blossoms” that would most effectively be classified as new age. The song is a strikingly beautiful composition, and it tenderly emoted the experience of watching cherry blossoms float down from their branches in the spring. Such clear evocation of images and emotions was apparent in the other original pieces the trio performed, which conveyed the feeling of anticipation Lams felt in walking into the first Guitar Craft workshop, and Moriya memories of walking through sunbeams in the forest near his home.
Amongst their more reflective pieces, the group took time to have fun on stage and play a number of more high energy pieces deftly interspersed throughout the program. A standout was their interpretation of Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo á la Turk,” a jazz piece blended with Turkish music that Brubeck heard on a trip through the country. It is hard to imagine a Brubeck song without his characteristic pianoriffs, but the talent of the trio more than compensated. Another highlight came with “Ghost Riders on the Storm,” a medley of “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” by Stan Jones and the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm.” The two songs accented each other wonderfully, and showcased the group’s compositional ability to bring out the best in the work of other artists. Moving to another period entirely, Bach was presented by the trio in an orthodox and impressive playing method they learned from Fripp called circulation. They played a Bach prelude (not specified as such by Richards while presenting it) with each guitarist playing a single note one after another, effectively cutting the song into thirds. Apart from the technical skill displayed by this difficult method, the piece was played beautifully. Lams is a Royal College of Music graduate in classical guitar, and as noted by the group he leads the group on their classical outings.
After delving once again into jazz on“Spiritual” by Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden, and country on a rousing cover of a Buck Owens instrumental called “Buckaroo,” they returned to Bach for the end of their set to perform a spectacular rendition of “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.” After the first of three standing ovations, the group returned to the stage to fulfill their promise and played “Bohemian Rhapsody,” encouraging the audience to join in and sing along. The night’s music was concluded on a high note, choosing Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” as their final song, showcasing Moriya’s surf rock background and sending the show out with one final burst of energy.
As they left the stage after their rousing encore, the California Guitar Trio left no doubt as to their remarkable musicianship. Their survey of so many genres and styles made the show a hit among the crowd, and I did not see a single person, whether a student or community member, leave the show without a smile.
(11/13/15 3:58am)
At the monthly plenary faculty meeting on Friday, Nov. 6, the faculty discussed proposed changes to the Cultures and Civilizations requirement and student participation in the Pass/D/Fail system, but when the conversation shifted to student stress, the faculty voted 45-33 to move into an executive session.
Faculty Moderator and Professor of Mathematics David Dorman did not have an exact figure on the number of times the faculty has moved into an executive session historically, but indicated it has happened a few times in the past two decades.
The decision to move to an executive session was prompted when Assistant Professor of Psychology Robert Moeller expressed his concerns about having students in the room as the faculty discussed sensitive, sometimes privileged information. As mandated by the College’s handbook, the SGA, the Campus and Community Council have a standing invitation to plenary faculty meetings.
Once Moeller’s concern was articulated, a motion was made and seconded to shift to executive session. The vote forced all non- voting members of the audience, including several student leaders, to leave.
“While it was of course disappointing that students were not able to be present for the faculty discussion surrounding stress,” said SGA President Ilana Gratch ’16, “I believe this event has the ability to spark a greater conversation about the dynamics between students, faculty and the administration.”
“I was disappointed by the manner in which we were dismissed from the Faculty Council session, but I feel that this incident can be constructive instead of contentious,” said Community Council member Emma Bliska ‘18. “I think it’s im- portant for students and faculty to interact more in official spaces on campus, and to engage in dialogue about our roles in college decision-making.”
Despite the narrow margin between those in favor of an executive session and those not, there was no discussion against the motion in the open meeting. However, the session sparked conversation, both for and against the motion, amongst the faculty afterwards.
“When the faculty is discussing matters with a direct impact on students’ lives, these conversations should be open and transparent whenever possible,” said Associate Professor of Economics Caitlin Myers. “While there will sometimes exist a compelling need for privacy, we should thoughtfully choose when and how to in- voke executive session. I thought that the way the students were asked to leave conveyed distrust and paternalism, and I was troubled by how it went down.”
Moeller, who first shared his concerns about having students in his room, ex- plained his stance, bringing up two separate issues: how having students – especially the press – in the room changes the conversation and how to respect students privacy, specifically in deference to the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
First, the College is made up of a shared governance system: the Board of Trustees, the administration and faculty, all with different responsibilities. He points out that the Campus does not have a standing in- vitation to senior administrative meetings nor Board of Trustee meetings, so why is the faculty exposed to what he calls “great- er levels of scrutiny” than the other parts of the system?
“What does that do to the power dynamic in a shared governance system?” asks Moeller. “Of the three parts of the system, all parts effect students lives and there shouldn’t be more reporting on the faculty than the trustees and the administration.”
Moeller also expressed his concern about upholding the privacies protected in FERPA. Within a small community, when faculty members are sharing stories about students, especially around grades and issues of mental health, it is easy to figure out who they are talking about. This brings up confidentially concerns that could become FERPA violations.
Lastly, he shared concerns from faculty, especially junior faculty, many of whom are already are hesitant to participate in conversation, that students in the room will have a silencing effect. Moeller shared that several faculty members have expressed unease about the fact that their words could be quoted without consent.
“After last spring we needed to have an important conversation about student stress, and a candid one,” Moeller said. “While students should most definitely be included in those conversations, faculty also need a venue to speak amongst themselves.”
“There needs to be some system to convey the issues we are discussing to students, but a system that takes into account issues of confidentiality, FERPA and the silencing effect that students in the room could have on the faculty,” he added.
Many students in the room have expressed that they want to play a more active role in these discussions and that their presence is not intended to scrutinize, but to engage.
“I believe any discussions about issues facing students should be as transparent as possible, not so students can supervise or criticize faculty members, but so these groups can collaborate more effectively and meaningfully on issues facing the college community,” added Bliska.
President of the College Laurie L. Pat- ton echoed the sentiment for the need for openness and student presence, as well as executive sessions.
“Faculty need to come to their own decisions about governance, and I have every confidence that they will,” said Patton. “I recommended at the meeting that we need to do two things as a matter of course: 1) we need to have regular open faculty meetings, where students and staff can attend, and 2) we need to reserve a space for executive session at the end of those meetings. Many institutions of higher learning use this system of faculty governance, and I can easily see us moving in that direction. When executive sessions are simply part of every agenda, faculty can use them if they want to, but they don’t have to if there’s no business that requires “faculty-only” conversation. The key to this system is that meetings are then always open to the community and executive sessions no longer become a big deal.”
(11/13/15 3:46am)
Flashing lights, black-and-white video projections of launching aircraft and sounds of revving engines flooded Wright Memorial Theatre this weekend as part of the visceral backdrop for the fall faculty show, Flare Path (Nov. 5-7). Set in a hotel near an RAF Bomber Command airbase during World War II, the play was written by popular English dramatist Terence Rattigan in 1941. Its name refers to the lamps stationed alongside runways that allow aircraft to take off and land in the darkest of hours. The story behind Flare Path, however, is far more than the theatrical perils of air combat, or even the gravity of life in wartime Britain, though these are salient themes – rather, it is a tale of duty, heartache and morals that provides a most telling glimpse into human nature and all of its inner turmoil.
We are all familiar with the quintessential wartime story of men fighting valiantly on foreign fronts whilst their wives and sweethearts eagerly await their return. It is this emotional matter that forms the foundation of Flare Path – though Rattigan, who drew inspiration for the play from his own experiences as a tail gunner during World War II (and miraculously saved the incomplete manuscript amidst a crisis in air combat), added a twist to the tale by dropping a love triangle into the mix.
Actress Patricia Graham, portrayed by Sofia Donavan ’18 in her first Middlebury College theatre performance, is spending the weekend with her husband Teddy, played by Jabari Matthew ’17, at the Falcon Hotel on the Lincolnshire coast, when she is surprised by a visit from her past lover, Hollywood film star Peter Kyle, played by Sebastian LaPointe ’18. To throw a wrench in things, Teddy is suddenly assigned to a night raid over Germany that very evening, leaving Patricia to grapple with lingering feelings for her old flame and a sense of obligation toward a husband whom she barely knows. The couple met and married during one of Teddy’s week-long leaves; Patricia and Peter were madly in love before then and would have married had Peter not been unavailable. With Peter calling for her affection in the wake of his waning career and Teddy counting on her for emotional support, Patricia finds herself trapped in a moral dilemma. Who needs her most?
The presence of two other couples in the hotel contribute further to an already emotionally trying tale. Maudie Miller, portrayed by Quincy Simmons ’18, has managed to take a short time off work to see her husband, tail gunner Sergeant Dave “Dusty” Miller, played by Alex Herdman ’17. Meanwhile, Do- ris, played by Ashley Fink ’18, is visiting her partner Count Skriczevinsky, portrayed by August Rosenthal ’17, a Polish pilot who decided to serve with the RAF after his wife and son were killed by the Nazis. Written at the end of 1941, a point in history when England stood as the lone player against the German National Socialist war machine, Flare Path has a rich premise fraught with tension and uncertainty, prompting an emotional whirl- wind for all parties involved.
Director Richard Romagnoli, a professor of theatre, was careful to address the inner conflicts that the women in the play had to contend with.
“These fliers leave their wives like husbands going off for a day at work. Many never came back,” he said. “The women were powerless to impose their will. Those who were veterans stoically accept it. Patricia, who had just moved to the base to live with her husband, says to him as he’s about to walk out the door on a mission, ‘Teddy, I don’t know what to say,’ to which he replies, ‘Come back.’ It must have been a surreal experience – will he return in six hours or not? I’ve read that around 55,000 RAF bomber crews were killed over Europe between 1939 and 1945.”
Anxiety levels amongst the characters reach their peak when one of the planes is destroyed by the German air force, and Count Skriczevinsky does not return from the mission alongside Teddy and Dusty. The meticulously executed crash scene – the resounding boom, the flickering fluorescent lights and the looks of harrowing shock and dread on the characters’ faces – stood out as one of the most gripping moments of the night.
In creating a backdrop for the play, Romagnoli explained that he tried to “give the war a presence that would, at times, dominate the space through the use of video, sound and lights.”
“I thought that was important to convey the extent to which the war subsumed the hotel and its residents,” he said.
As characters filter in and out of the front lobby of the hotel throughout the nerve-wracking night, certain sections of the dialogue shed light on the terrifying magnitude of their situation.
“I suppose if I’d been in England longer than a mere three months, I would be as blasé about raids,” Peter comments at one point, as the sounds of bombers fill the air. “Listen. Those ours?”
“Theirs,” Maudie says after a long pause. She has lived through so many bombings that she can tell the difference between Ger- man and British air raids.
Resilience amidst massive hardships stands out as a prominent theme in Flare Path.
“If there was anything that I would hope the audience members took away from the performance, it would be that they became more aware of the ability humans have to cope with day-to-day life stressors,” Matthew, who played Teddy, stated. “What the audience members choose to do with that awareness is really up to them.”
Despite the seriousness of the plot premise, the cast strived to strike a balance between heaviness and humor. And so, even as the entire storyline seemed to verge on tragedy, audience members found them-selves chuckling periodically throughout the night.
“A dramatic scene or moment is followed by a comic scene,” Romagnoli explained. “It was important for these antithetical moments to hit their targets. Comedy undermines the gravity, while the drama reminds us of the stakes. Ultimately, their world is an absurdity, one created to make their conditions tolerable.”
The opening scene is crucial in setting this particular tone for the play, as Peter humorously attempts to negotiate a room for the night with the snarky hotel manager, Mrs. Oakley, as played by Lana Meyer ’17. In other moments, the young waiter, Percy, portrayed by Maxwell Lieblich ’18, brings a much-needed burst of energy to the group through his feverish serving of drinks and light-hearted comments. Later in the evening, Doris’s alcohol consumption drives her to a state of drunken silliness (as depicted charmingly by Ashley Fink ’17), which provides a welcome reprieve from the tension emanating from the rest of the room.
Besides a few moments of particular emotional intensity, Flare Path is a play full of understatements. As Professor of English and the Liberal Arts John Bertolini stated in the Program Note, this is perhaps best exemplified by Maudie’s matter-of-fact comment, “There’s a war on, and things have got to be a bit different, and we’ve just got to get used to it – that’s all.”
To characterize a life turned upside-down by nightly air raids as “a bit different” is a testament to the mindset of the British public – and it is this tendency to understate that stood at the heart of last weekend’s performance.
“There existed several places in this play in which not just myself but perhaps the entire rest of the cast had to channel large and at times complicated human emotions, while not acting these emotions in a large way,” Matthew explained. “It wasn’t really a matter of suppression as it was a matter of understatement.”
Unfortunately, some of the nuanced expression behind these performances may have been lost on the audience due to the characters’ thickly-accented speech, rapid-fire delivery of dialogue and usage of time era-specific jargon. The faculty production of Flare Path deeply engaged the audience in many other regards, however – from its breathtaking aesthetics and sound design to its striking depiction of wartime terrors to the flurries of light and calm in between. Though it is not always an easy play to watch, in humanizing a small piece of history, it is so worth the telling.
(11/11/15 11:59pm)
This past Friday, the Middlebury faculty met for its monthly session to discuss the AAL requirement and whether or not to renew the pass/D/fail option. Representatives from the Campus and the SGA were present, as is sanctioned by the College’s bylaws. When the conversation turned to student stress, members of the faculty expressed discomfort with having students in the room. A vote to move into an executive session was called. After a close vote of 45 to 33 in favor of the executive session — which has only happened a few times in the past two decades — all students as well as the non-voting faculty were asked to leave.
(11/04/15 7:31pm)
On Monday 26th of October a Chinese Author came to speak at the Robert A. Jones conference room on being a writer in contemporary China, "When Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction." His name was Ning Ken, and like his novels, he is more than what meets the eye. It was his pen name, of course, but I only realized what it could mean politically when I wrote it out in Chinese. The direct translation would be “would rather,” and when I asked him to make a sentence with it, he offered this: “I would rather write in this way than to achieve fame and rake in a lot of money.”
The dose of personal resistance that Ning lets out through his pen name is palpable enough. Yet his attitude towards dress and appearance is altogether quite different. Ning is a medium-height man in his mid-fifties, who dressed in smart casuals, a pair of jeans, black shoes and a brown leather jacket on both of the two days I saw him. His looks were that of an honest, harmless man. From my conversations with him I know him as a very friendly “uncle,” someone who is passionate about the ways that he has been able to synthesize various aspects of the contemporary Chinese society through his writings.
One has to wonder, why do being a good writer and enjoying popularity have to be in constant tension with each other in the Chinese context? Ning is the author of no fewer than five novels, and his most well-known ones touch on very controversial and taboo subjects. His critically-acclaimed novel about a university professor who escapes to Tibet after the June Fourth Tianamen Massacre ’89, Sky Tibet, reached the final rounds in the nomination process for a prestigious award only to stay there because of a government order.
Though this may be enough to frustrate many writers with a fiery passion and an unequivocal sense of justice, qualities that certainly describe Ning, he has a very clear sense of the privileges and responsibilities of a writer in contemporary China. When I asked him at his lecture whether there is an ideal readership in his mind, his answer was rather astonishing: he said that he does not write for anyone, that it does not concern him whether his books sell or not. Instead, he just wishes to exploit as fully as he can the possibilities that present-day China has handed to him.
The literary movement that he is spearheading is called “the ultra-unreal,” a term whose meaning is still slowly taking shape in the Chinese literary world. The label came out of a conversation he was having with a friend, when they were discussing the most recent scandal that involved a top level government official. This time, a deputy chief justice from the Hebei province died in a car crash, his supposed “legal” marriage to four wives being exposed when all four of them wanted to claim his body. For him this is a classic example of what is ultra-unreal about the Chinese society: things happen that “surpass the unreal or the imaginary.”
Over lunch, he told me that each epoch should leave its own unique mark in the literary history of the world. He said though the underlying human desires may not change very much from epoch to epoch, the circumstances with which each has to work to fulfil those desires differ. Subjects such as romance, marriage, and the domestic life have been explored almost to perfection by the 19th century English novels. Or take the Latin American brand of magical realism for example: a mix of severe social critique, history, and pop culture, which even until this day still lends itself to a relevant way of making sense of dictatorial rule and patterns of inequality.
For Ning, the ultra-unreal is an unprecedented exploration into the ways that an illogical system operates on a consistent brand of logic that keeps on producing illogic results. He argues that there is not a civilisation comparable to the contemporary Chinese one, wherein the logic of power is so absolute and its reach so far and so complete. Evidence for this claim can be found in the absolutely ghastly speed at which everything is moving in the country: from GDP growth to cell phone usage and car ownership rates to the build-out of highways and railways systems.
Ning’s novels are concerned with those very few who can wield power without any checks and balances. He chooses never to write directly about the System. In one of three parallel plots in his newest novel, Three Trios, he talks about an official who has lost favor with the Party and falls in love with a woman. He describes this character’s journey as “the gradual reawakening of his humanity,” the part of him which had been suppressed as a government official because everything then was transactional.
As a writer he is also aware of how adaptable this particular brand of Chinese logic is: he mentioned the newly established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and characterized it as the spreading of the Chinese approach to economic development beyond China. It is a particular logic of economic development that relies too heavily on government-led public infrastructure investment projects, a natural product of a highly centralized power system. Just like in his own works, Ning showed a deep understanding of the resilience and pervasiveness of power. Yet, with the kind of wonder and disbelief that Ning beholds the current Chinese establishment, can he not be anticipating the radical changes that this unmistakably unsustainable approach to development is subjected to? At a time when the Chinese GDP growth is at its all-time low and the unemployment rate its all-time high within the past two decades, Ning’s visit gave the college community an invaluable insight into why these might be, and where the country is going from here.
(10/21/15 8:38pm)
For five decades Middlebury College has been an outstanding leader in promoting environmental studies and international studies and in adopting sustainable operating procedures. Laurie Patton has shared with me her commitment as the College’s new president to build on and extend this admirable record of leadership. Toward this end, she would like to work in partnership with trustees, student groups, and concerned faculty and staff in an effort to identify next steps. This is a sound approach that all in the College community can support. Regarding next steps, this letter highlights one especially significant opportunity. We are at a pivotal moment in the national and international debate over the urgent need for a transition to a clean energy economy. Middlebury has the ability to influence the outcome of this critical debate by taking a public stand with a commitment to join the growing fossil fuel divestment movement. A decision by the College to divest should be viewed primarily as an act of moral and educational leadership at a time when industrial-technological civilization has lost its way and must reinvent itself.
I write this letter as a former Middlebury faculty member who taught at the College for close to three decades, served as dean of the college in the Olin Robison administration, and chaired the College’s Environmental Council during the mid-1990s. My courses included the study of environmental ethics, global ethics, and religion and ecology. I also write as a trustee and former chair of the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), an international grant making foundation that has joined the fossil fuel divestment movement as part of an effort to align its investment policy with its mission and program goals. The Divest Middlebury campaign has set forth a compelling argument, and I write in support of the students who are leading this important initiative.
Scientists working in the field of climate change have turned on the alarm bells. Human development practices, especially the burning of fossil fuels, are altering the conditions on Earth that have made possible the development of civilization over the past ten thousand years. If humanity does not act with all deliberate speed and reduce its global greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, the consensus among scientists is that the ecological, economic and social damage and disruption could be catastrophic and irreversible. The most vulnerable are the hundreds of millions of people living in poverty, but no one’s life will be unaffected. Already the negative effects of climate change are being felt by communities around the world. In addition, human development patterns have caused a tragic decline in the planet’s biodiversity and natural beauty, and ongoing global warming will accelerate this process.
Since action on climate change is about preventing immense harm and promoting the common good, it is first and foremost a fundamental moral issue. With the risk of dangerous consequences growing with every day of delayed action, it is also an extraordinarily urgent moral challenge. In a recent declaration, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican in Rome stated the matter succinctly: “Human-induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its mitigation is a moral and religious imperative.” A growing chorus of religious leaders, including Pope Francis, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and the Dalai Lama, fully support this view. The new Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis on the environment, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” and the Pope’s addresses before Congress and the United Nations clearly and forcefully highlight the ethical and spiritual dimensions of the environmental crisis and climate change. In response to the initiative of Pope Francis, 333 Rabbis have signed a “Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis.”
This year could be a turning point when the world community forms the necessary global partnership and commits to the collaborative action needed to reduce and eliminate carbon pollution. In December heads of state from the 193 governments that are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will meet in Paris to finalize a long delayed, legally binding climate change agreement. The goal of the negotiations is to elicit commitments that will cumulatively prevent global warming from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era. Achieving an effective and equitable agreement in Paris is fundamental to protecting Earth’s ecological integrity, promoting human rights, and fulfilling our responsibilities to future generations. However, again and again governments controlled by short term economic and political interests have failed to address the problem of global warming. Building pressure from civil society, including from leaders in science, religion, education and philanthropy, can make a critical difference.
With the demand for change growing, governments are searching for a way forward. China and the United States, the two largest carbon polluters, have together made meaningful commitments, and many other nations have joined them. However, the commitments made to date fall far short of the reduction in emissions needed. At a special summit meeting on sustainable development this past September, the United Nations issued a path breaking declaration on “Transforming Our World” that adopts seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets, which envision the full integration of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the sustainable development agenda. The SDGs call for radical change, and if governments are serious about achieving the SDGs, a strong UNFCCC agreement is mandatory. By joining the divestment movement, Middlebury College can help to send that message and register its concern that governments be held accountable for fulfilling their obligations under the agreement and expand their commitments in the future as necessary.
The divestment movement has grown dramatically over the past year. A recent study, which was commissioned by the Wallace Global Fund, has found that 436 institutions have made a commitment to divest from fossil fuel companies, representing $2.6 trillion of investments—a fifty-fold increase. These institutions include the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund and two of the largest pension funds as well as foundations, colleges, universities, NGOs and religious institutions. Recognizing the significance of these developments, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres, has called for more institutions to divest from fossil fuels and invest in clean energy as a way to build momentum going into the Paris climate change meeting. (Clarification regarding the $2.6 trillion of investments is needed, because in some cases the institutions involved are limiting their divestment to coal or to coal and tar sands oil or to some but not all fossil fuels companies.)
College and University trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that their institution has the financial resources to fulfill its educational mission, and they are rightly concerned to maximize returns on endowment investments and minimize risk. In pursuing its commitment to divest from fossil fuels, the RBF has adopted a phased approach, eliminating investments in coal and tar sands first followed by a gradual elimination of all fossil fuels in a fiscally responsible manner. The goal of the RBF is to be completely divested of fossil fuels by the end of 2017. The Fund’s trustees have not found it necessary to alter their long standing commitment to preserve the purchasing power of the endowment. Middlebury should be able to divest from fossil fuels over several years without suffering reduced investment returns. Moreover, divesting could produce higher returns, because the fossil fuel energy sector is facing complex problems and risks. In addition to the precipitous collapse in the price of oil over the past year, which has caused some firms significant loses in market value, the big oil companies face the long term problem of stranded assets. Preventing global warming from exceeding two degrees Celsius will require leaving most of the known coal, oil, and gas reserves in the ground. In short, the transition to a clean energy economy will in all likelihood make fossil fuels a high risk investment. Many financial institutions are following this situation closely, and the Carbon Tracker Initiative is providing investors with the tools to measure economic risk associated with fossil fuels.
It is also important to recognize that renewable energy is rapidly becoming competitive with fossil fuels on cost and that corporations are coming to the realization that cutting their carbon footprint through improved efficiency and a shift to renewables is both possible and profitable. There is a global coalition of corporations that have committed to the long term goal of operating entirely with renewable energy. The New York Times reports that among the companies that have recently joined the coalition are Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Starbucks, and Walmart. The transition away from fossil fuels to renewables is underway in spite of efforts by the big oil companies to prevent it and deny it. The only question is whether the transition will happen fast enough to prevent global warming from pushing the biosphere over tipping points that involve high risk. In a September Op-Ed, the president of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, announced that his global industrial manufacturing company has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030, and reflecting on the challenge and opportunity before the business community he writes: “We have the technologies, we have the business incentive, and we have the responsibility. Now all we need is the commitment.” A decision by Middlebury’s board to divest will reinforce this message to corporate leaders, many of whom are listening with a new level of concern for the future of the planet, the global economy, and their companies.
Some argue that it is hypocritical for an institution like Middlebury to divest when the college and American society at large continue to be dependent on fossil fuels in so many ways. Is it hypocritical for someone who is addicted to cigarettes but knows that smoking is harmful and cancer causing to divest from all tobacco company stocks? Divesting is a way to help all of us wake up to the real dangers created by our addiction to fossil fuels and make the change to a cleaner, safer, more secure world.
When the RBF board and its investment committee, which includes both trustees and outside experts, began to consider joining the divestment movement, they were working with a highly skilled and successful investment manager. However, given the way its operations were structured, the investment manager concluded that it could not accomplish the goals that the RBF had set for divestment. Consequently the Fund was forced to change investment managers. Making the change has been a demanding process, but it has worked out well and the Fund now has investment managers with the expertise and flexibility that it requires. In short, there are very good alternatives, if Middlebury finds itself contending with the same kind of problem that faced the RBF.
Apart from major educational issues, as a general rule, it is not the responsibility of a college board of trustees to consider taking an official position on the many issues under debate on campus, and only under exceptional circumstances when there are very compelling moral reasons to do so should a board use divestment to support a protest movement. However, climate change is not just one environmental issue among many others or just a political issue. It is one of the defining issues of our time, and the choices made in response to the challenge will profoundly affect the lives of all Middlebury students and the future of life on Earth.
Middlebury College is a highly respected leader internationally in the field of education and a decision by its president and board of trustees to join the expanding fossil fuel divestment movement will be an act of responsible global citizenship consistent with its mission. It will have a significant impact, inspiring other institutions to support the transition to a clean energy economy and contributing to the outcome we all hope for in Paris.
Steven C. Rockefeller
Professor Emeritus of Religion
Middlebury College
October 12, 2015
Steven C. Rockefeller has had a career as a scholar and teacher, an environmental conservationist, and a philanthropist. His research, writing, and teaching have been focused on the fields of religion, philosophy and ethics. He has had a special interest in the transition to a sustainable future and the development of a relational spirituality and a global ethic for building a just, sustainable and peaceful world community.
Professor Rockefeller is professor emeritus of religion at Middlebury College, Vermont, where he taught from 1970 to 1998 and also served as dean of the college and chair of the religion department. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University in 1958, his master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1963, and his doctorate in the philosophy of religion from Columbia University in 1973. He is the author of John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism (Columbia, 1991; Peking University, 2009) and Democratic Equality, Economic Inequality, and the Earth Charter (Earth Charter International, 2015). He is the co-editor of two books of essays, The Christ and the Bodhisattva (SUNY, 1987) and Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment is a Religious Issue (Beacon, 1992). His other publications include over fifty essays that appear in a variety of books and journals.
Professor Rockefeller and Professor John Elder organized and directed at Middlebury College in 1990 the Spirit and Nature Symposium that included the Dalai Lama and was filmed by Bill Moyers for public television. In the mid-1990s, Professor Rockefeller chaired the Middlebury College Environmental Council. Under his leadership, the Council prepared and submitted to the College president “Pathways to a Green Campus” (1995), a comprehensive environmental report on the state of the college with 22 recommendations. Professor Rockefeller served as president of the Demeter Fund, which created the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge in Vermont overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. He is the founding president of the Otter Creek Child Care Center in Middlebury, Vermont.
For over thirty years Professor Rockefeller has served as a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, an international foundation with grantmaking programs in democratic practice, sustainable development, and peacebuilding. From 1998 to 2006 he chaired the RBF board of trustees. Among the other boards and commissions on which he has served are the National Commission on the Environment (organized by the World Wildlife Fund), the National Audubon Society, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Council of the UN mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Over the past two decades, Professor Rockefeller has been actively involved in the Earth Charter Initiative, which in and through extensive worldwide, cross cultural dialogue has endeavored to identify and articulate shared values that provide an ethical foundation for the emerging global community. From 1997 to 2000, he chaired the Earth Charter international drafting committee for the Earth Charter Commission. A final version of the Earth Charter—a declaration of global interdependence and universal responsibility with fundamental principles for creating a just, sustainable and peaceful world—was launched by the Earth Charter Commission at the Peace Palace in The Hague in 2000. From 2000 to 2010, Professor Rockefeller served as co-chair of the Earth Charter International (ECI) Council. The ECI Secretariat is based at the University for Peace in Costa Rica and has affiliates in 73 different countries. The Earth Charter has been translated into over 40 languages and endorsed by over 5,000 organizations globally, including UNESCO and the World Conservation Congress of IUCN.
Professor Rockefeller lives with his wife, Professor Barbara Bellows Rockefeller, in Pound Ridge, New York.
(10/21/15 8:19pm)
Despite understanding that using a phone while driving is dangerous, many people routinely give into the temptation to send a quick text while on the road. And despite state laws banning the use of phones while driving, the practice is still dangerously common. Middlebury students Terry Goguen ’16 and AnnaClare Smith ’16 have created a new way to discourage texting and driving that rewards drivers for keeping their eyes on the road. Their mobile app, JoyRyde, incentivizes safe driving by tracking drivers’ phone-free miles and rewarding them with points that can be redeemed for discounts, coupons or charitable donations.
“In my experience, having a positive outlook on things instead of a punishment is the best way to go,” Goguen said, describing the logic behind their model of rewarding users for driving safely. JoyRyde lets users “incentivize and motivate themselves to do the right thing.”
Smith explained the unique nature of JoyRyde, in that “there are other apps that try to prevent texting and driving, but none of them have the same incentive system.”
It appears that this system may be key to creating safer roads by accomplishing what current campaigns and legislation cannot: changing drivers’ behavior. In a survey conducted by Smith and Goguen, 86% of people reported that legislation punishing those who text and drive does not affect the way they drive. As a result of this conclusion, the pair decided to go a different route, and allow users to, in Goguen’s words, “be their own agent of change.”
JoyRyde is simple and user-friendly. A driver starts a new ride and the phone begins tracking the driver’s miles. If the user leaves JoyRyde to go to a different app, JoyRyde will stop tracking and the driver will no longer receive points. When the user next opens the app, they will see an x indicating a violation. Three violations terminate the ride. Users can currently redeem points for discounts and coupons at Cumberland Farms, B. Good Restaurant, and the brands Skida and Sword and Plough, both founded by Middlebury students. Part of Goguen and Smith’s current vision involves establishing new corporate partnerships and expanding JoyRyde’s connections with charities.
JoyRyde recently partnered with non-profit Text Less Live More, an organization that increases awareness of the dangers of texting and driving. Users can use their points to purchase a donation to Text Less Live More. While this is currently the only charity partnered with JoyRyde, the app will partner with additional charities to provide users with even more opportunities to turn their phone-free miles into donations.
Goguen and Smith attribute much of JoyRyde’s success to the opportunities available to young entrepreneurs at Middlebury. When the pair first developed the idea for JoyRyde, Goguen contacted Middlebury’s Programs for Creativity and Innovation. Staff at the PCI informed him of a J-term class titled Midd Entrepreneurs, in which students work with representatives from the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies to turn their business ideas into reality. JoyRyde won a grant last spring from MiddChallenge, a PCI competition. The app also won the most recent Fresh Tracks Road Pitch Riders Choice Award, a competition administered by motorcyclists with business and financial expertise who ride to small towns to hear pitches from various entrepreneurs. The resources Smith and Goguen took advantage of at the College gave them the practical knowledge necessary to successfully present their app to these investors and pitch competitions.
Neither of the founders see JoyRyde’s success slowing anytime soon. The app currently has 150 users, and at the time of the pair’s interview with The Campus, the app had reached 1200 drives in the previous 12 days. Goguen plans to continue his work with JoyRyde after graduating, and to continue to increase the app’s corporate partnerships and improve its software.
To download the app, drivers enter their email on the JoyRyde website and then receive an email with a link to download. Goguen and Smith estimate that the app will be available on the App Store within the next couple of months. JoyRyde is free, and always will be, assures Goguen.
“We think that’s the best way to do it because the more people using it, the more lives we’re going to save,” Goguen said.
(10/21/15 8:16pm)
The Middlebury College Phi Beta Kappa chapter inducted ten seniors into the honors society on Saturday, Oct. 3 at a ceremony that coincided with Fall Family Weekend. A committee of faculty selects the students based on their academic transcripts in their first three years.
One of the inductees, Kate Hamilton ’15.5, a political science major, believes the most important aspect of academic life is maintaining a balance.
“I like to look at my week in advance and make sure I am leaving time for schoolwork, but also extracurriculars, running, outings with friends and long dinners. I think we all do better, more productive work when it’s not all we are doing,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton embraces the serendipitous value of a liberal arts education, as she deliberately chose to not have a minor.
“I have really enjoyed being able to dabble in a lot of other disciplines. I feel like I have spent a good deal of time in History, Economics and Psychology classes in addition to Political Science,” Hamilton said.
Tom Hyeon-Seok ’16, another inductee, stumbled upon his major while attending a Middlebury event.
“I chose my [economics] major after conversing with the department chair and Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics, Peter Matthews at a piano concert. Economics, combined with statistics, I learned, enables us to explain nearly every aspect of our lives with stories backed by numbers that are often much more objective than words,” he said.
In a few months, the inductees will embark on their postgrad plans, carrying with them the honor of membership in a national society of academics. Hamilton, a Truman Scholar, said she plans on law school.
“My ultimate goal is a law career focused on expanding democratic participation. I would love to work for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, either in the Voting Section or the Educational Opportunities Section,” she said.
Hyeon-Seok will work at a consulting firm in Denver. After a summer job at the firm, he realized it was a great way to “hone [his] quantitative skills and get exposed to the business and legal sectors.”
With such an accomplishment, the two inductees share their secrets of success. “I think it’s really important to take classes that genuinely interest you, because you are so much likely to do well when you are engaged in the material,” Hamilton said.
Hyeon-Seok, however, first clarified that membership in Phi Beta Kappa should not be seen as the ultimate measure of success. “While I consider a membership in PBK as a great honor, I do not equate that to a sign of success. After all, there are many smarter, talented, and interesting individuals on this campus,” he said.
His tip for academic success at Middlebury is to develop relationships with peers in and outside the classroom.
“I found debates and arguments I had outside of classrooms with my friends on topics from lectures immensely helpful in internalizing lessons and insights from the course,” Hyeon-Seok said.
(10/21/15 4:04pm)
The largest contribution to the College’s carbon emissions comes from heating and cooling buildings. When the Climate Action Plan (CAP) was implemented in 2008, heating and cooling constituted 89 percent of the College’s emissions. Most of the emissions came from the combustion of no. 6 fuel oil to heat and cool buildings; the College was burning about two million gallons per year, which released 23,877 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCDE) in 2006-07. Another 2,009 MTCDEs came from the combustion of no. 2 fuel oil, and 623 from propane. The CAP clearly stressed the need to use carbon neutral fuel sources to heat and cool the campus if the College is to reach carbon neutrality by 2016.
The College’s biomass plant, opened in 2009, was a major step toward making the College carbon neutral.
There are two important questions when considering the biomass plant. How does it function, and how does this correlate to reduced net emissions? The College’s plant uses a process known as biomass gasification, where woodchips are superheated with a controlled amount of oxygen so that they do not actually combust. The resulting gas, called syngas (synthetic gas), is then combusted and the heat is used to make steam, which is piped throughout campus to heat, cool, make hot water and cook. This method of combustion is very efficient, and is carbon neutral because the same amount of carbon dioxide is released as is absorbed by the trees that are consumed in the process.
While the net emissions from the biomass plant are zero, this does not mean it has no emissions. The emissions from the plant are not significantly lower than those from burning fuel oil, but the biomass facility utilizes a filtration system to clean up the exhaust, removing 99.7 percent of particulates.
The emissions resulting from chipping and transporting the wood to the biomass facility are not factored into the assessment of carbon neutrality.
Another important aspect of biomass is where the fuel comes from. The College joined with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) on a project to test the feasibility of willow shrubs as a source of wood chips for the biomass plant. Willow shrubs are fast growing, and could be planted on unused farmland to generate additional income for local farmers. After the first harvest in 2010, it was determined that willow shrubs are not an effective fuel source for the College’s biomass plant. The College continues to source their chips from logging operations within a 75-mile radius.
In addition to the use of biomass to generate steam, heating and cooling emissions can be reduced by improving building efficiency. When the CAP was assembled, a survey of buildings at the College indicated that 53 percent of the square footage on campus performed well below current energy code standards.
Since the report, the College has indeed made strides to improve the performance of its infrastructure. In 2008, Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification, the highest possible certification. More recently, the squash center also obtained LEED Platinum certification, and the College is seeking LEED Gold certification for the new field house.
Unfortunately, the new townhouses being constructed in Ridgeline will not be required to be LEED certified. The College’s agreement with Kirchhoff Campus Properties, who is building the new dorms, does not require the company to seek LEED certification for the complex. Given the recent progress with the squash center and Virtue Field House, this is a disappointing step in the wrong direction for the College.
All of the College’s developments have contributed to a 66 percent reduction in net emissions from stationary combustion sources, such as boilers, heaters and ovens. From 2013 to 2014, the College emitted only 8,996 MTCDEs due to stationary combustion, as compared to 26,509 MTCDEs in 2006-2007.
Recent improvements have contributed to reduced net emissions and reliance upon fossil fuels, but have not solved the College’s heating and cooling problem. The biomass plant eliminated the need for one million gallons of no. 2 fuel oil each year, leaving another million gallons to address. What has the College done about the next million gallons of fuel oil and what can still be done? That is the “million gallon question.”
(10/14/15 10:07pm)
Last Friday Oct. 9, delegates from the Middlebury College Republicans travelled to the Hilton Hotel in Burlington to watch John Kasich speak at the Vermont GOP Fall Harvest Dinner. Among the many people in attendance, current Vermont Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott was present.
Although regular attendees were charged $150 to attend the dinner, the Vermont GOP sponsored a number of Middlebury and Castleton State students to attend with free admission — which included a three-course dinner — and transportation.
Before Kasich’s arrival several Vermont residents gave speeches, many of them lamenting the increasingly progressive leaning of the state’s politics. UVM student Ashley Strong took the stage to express concern over the future of Vermont businesses and education.
One speaker expressed enthusiasm for the attendance of students from the various colleges and universities in Vermont, including Middlebury. Kasich made the effort to introduce himself to all of the students and shake their hands.
“I wish you could have accompanied me to New Hampshire,” he said, laughing, as he introduced himself to the delegates from Middlebury.
As Kasich took to the stage, he noted Strong’s concerns over the future of Vermont and said that he intended to make a difference.
“Young Vermonters like you are the reason we have so much hope for Vermont. What you want is what we want, and we’re trying to move forward with that with each election. It’s great to see all of you here tonight, it’s energizing,” Kasich said.
Although many believe that Kasich is a long shot to win the Republican nomination, his relatively moderate views, particularly on social issues, have attracted many supporters.
On Face the Nation, Kasich said, “I believe in traditional marriage, but the Supreme Court has ruled it’s the law of the land, and we’ll abide by it,” a comment that has drawn support and ire from many members of the Republican party.
Kasich also spoke on the importance of a balanced budget and his success eliminating the budget deficit and revitalizing the economy in Ohio.
In continuance with many presidential hopefuls’ anti-Washington rhetoric, Kasich noted the desperate need to fix Washington and weed out “suffocating regulations.”
“I think at the end of it all, people want reform, but they want somebody to enact it, to get it done, to stop the fighting.” Kasich said. “You want to heal the Republican Party in Congress? You want to heal the Republican Party in the country? Then elect a Republican president who gets the anxieties of Americans and has a program to bring us together.”
Kasich also acknowledged the growing need to properly treat mental illness in America. Along with the increased level of school shootings, he stressed the unacceptability of locking mentally ill people in prisons. He also called for prison reform, something that Van Jones stressed last Thursday in his address at Mead Chapel.
One thing that Kasich spoke about during his speech was the importance of protecting what he calls “The American Family.” To Kasich, one of the reasons America is experiencing many of its current ills is because the nuclear family unit that, for him, has been the backbone of American culture and economic prosperity, is declining. One of the reasons for this degradation, he claims, is the proliferation of abortion. Another is the irresponsibility of fathers who leave single mothers to take care of their children alone.
Kasich’s speech concluded to much applause. His visit to the Vermont Fall Harvest dinner marks the end of a four day bus tour through New Hampshire and Vermont.
(10/14/15 10:04pm)
On Sunday, Oct. 11, the College inaugurated Laurie L. Patton as its 17th president in a historic ceremony on McCullough Lawn to an audience of over 1,000. Patton is the first woman to hold the office of president in the College’s 215-year history and previously served at Duke University as the Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Robert F. Durden Professor of Religion. She arrived at Middlebury on July 1, 2015, after the Board’s announcement of her selection as president on November 18, 2014.
The ceremony commenced with a formal academic procession of faculty, administrators, the Trustees and delegates from 63 colleges, universities and learned societies. Patton’s undergraduate alma mater, Harvard University, and her graduate alma mater, the University of Chicago, were both represented in the delegation.
Marna C. Whittington, Chair of the Board of Trustees, conducted the investiture by presenting Gamaliel Painter’s original cane to Patton. President Emeritus John M. McCardell, Jr., returned to Middlebury to present the traditional pewter medallion worn by Middlebury presidents at all formal occasions. Patton received a standing ovation from the crowd before she delivered a 35-minute address. She spoke of the vital role that the Green and Adirondack Mountains play in shaping the community. She also gave five thoughts about a vision for the future, with a focus on making “arguments for the sake of heaven,” a philosophical principle in Judaism.
“I hope we are all thinking about that, because I believe that Middlebury’s collective genius of warmth, optimism, rigor and compassion can make us some of the best arguers in higher education — arguers who can think together with deeper respect, stronger resilience and greater wisdom,” said Patton.
Patton noted Middlebury’s heritage of open mindedness, high aspirations and innovative leadership in higher education as qualities that make it unique among its peer schools. “We have a love and care for languages and writing and sciences and society and arts and athletics all at the same time.”
Patton received a second standing ovation at the conclusion of her address.
The ceremony was preceded on Saturday by a series of academic panels in celebration of learning called to order by the new president. The first panel, moderated by Tara Affolter, Assistant Professor of Education Studies, was titled “Race, Gender, and Inequality.” The second, moderated by Eilat Glickman, Assistant Professor of Physics, was titled “Scientific Exploration and the Boundaries of Life.” The final panel, moderated by Timothy Billings, Professor of English and American Literatures, was titled “The Ethical Dimensions of Reading Classical Literature.” This panel featured Wendy Doniger, a Sanskrit scholar and President Patton’s thesis advisor in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. After a public concert on McCullough Lawn featuring Dispatch (headed by Brad Corrigan ’96), the tradition of inauguration weekend continued with a fireworks show behind the Peterson Athletics Complex.
“It was very important to us and to President Patton that the inauguration weekend bring together Middlebury’s many and overlapping communities,” said Caitlin Myers, Associate Professor of Economics and a member of the inaugural committee. “We worked hard to plan events that students, faculty, staff, townspeople and friends of the College would be excited to attend.”
On Oct. 10, 2004, Middlebury inaugurated Ronald D. Liebowitz as its 16th president and simultaneously dedicated the new Davis Family Library. In his address, Liebowitz spoke of the beauty and remoteness of the Champlain Valley as an “ideal environment for contemplation and creativity.” He spoke of innovation in the College, which created the nation’s first undergraduate Environmental Studies program in 1965, created the Language Schools in 1915 and began the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences after Joseph Battell bequeathed 30,000 acres of his farm on Bread Loaf Mountain in Ripton to the College in 1915. “Middlebury is a college of experiments,” he said. “We must preserve these parts of the Middlebury culture that encourage creativity and innovation.” He and his wife, Jessica, started the Ron and Jessica Liebowitz Fund for Innovation to give financial support to innovative projects proposed by members of the Middlebury community.
Presidents Emeriti Armstrong, Robison and McCardell were in attendance at Liebowitz’s inaugural ceremony. At Patton’s inauguration on Sunday, McCardell attended, and the wives of Robison, who is in ill health, and Armstrong, who passed away, attended Sunday’s ceremony in place of their husbands. Liebowitz was not present at Sunday’s exercises.
Donna Donahue, a member of the Town of Middlebury Select Board, gave words of welcome and thanks. She acknowledged the many contributions the College has made to the town. She cited the completed Cross Street bridge, the current construction of a carbon-neutral town office building, planned construction of a gymnasium and recreation facility, a planned public park where the current town offices stand and development of commercial space behind Ilsley Library as examples of this constructive relationship.
Former Vermont governor Jim Douglas ’72, the Executive in Residence at Middlebury, spoke of the “demographic crisis” facing Vermont. Vermont high school graduates, he said, leave their home state for college at a higher rate than anywhere else. “Higher education allows Vermonters to expand their opportunities, increase their marketability, demand higher wages and gain personal fulfillment. I hope Middlebury will find ways to attract more Vermont students; we need to persuade them that there’s a higher education jewel right here in their own backyard.”
Richard Brodhead, president of Duke University and an honored speaker at the ceremony, praised Patton, with whom he worked at Duke. “Laurie actively listens, takes your ideas in and allows them to release thoughts of her own, in a free-form synthesis that’s always opening new vistas. Couple this with her endless energy, her endless interest in others, her passion for teaching and learning and her sheer joy in the drama of education, and Middlebury, you have met your match.”
In all, the inaugural ceremony lasted two hours. Provost Susan Baldridge gave several announcements in between welcome messages by representatives from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, the Bread Loaf Schools, the Language Schools, the Alumni Association and Staff Council. Students at the College read original passages from texts in several religious traditions: Hanna Nowicki ’16 from Zen teachings, Trisha Singh ’18 from the Bhagavad Gita, Gioia Pappalardo ’16.5 from the New Testament, Hasher Nisar ’16.5 from the Qur’an and Josh Goldenberg ’18 from the Hebrew Bible. Natasha Trethewey, the United States Poet Laureate, read pieces of poetry in English, including a poem on learning sacred language in childhood written by Patton.
“The hardest part was the detail,” said David Donahue ’91, special assistant to the president and Secretary of the Corporation. “Luckily, we have amazingly talented staff who take great pride in these kinds of events and who think of everything. Making sure everyone knows where they are going, who’s doing what, shuttles, childcare, housing. Which to me was a thoughtful, thought-provoking, warm and welcoming experience.”
The ceremony ended with the singing of the alma mater, “Walls of Ivy,” and an academic recessional to a bagpipe tune played by Timothy Cummings, an affiliate artist at the College. Following the ceremony, students, faculty, staff and the new president walked up the hill toward Mead Chapel to join in a campus-wide picnic — the breaking of bread.
(10/14/15 6:41pm)
If you have been out to the Organic Farm this semester, you may have noticed a fourteen-foot-wide circular tent-like structure nestled quaintly in the verdant rolling fields. Inside this wooden lattice frame draped with pale fabric, a west-facing window and cupola provides a breathtaking view of the sunset’s pinks and oranges bleeding into each other like watercolors on canvas.
This new addition to the campus is one student’s take on the highly portable yurt used as shelter by Central Asian nomads as they migrate from one grazing area to another herding sheep and horses. The yurt is the brainchild and craftsmanship of Geology major Milo Stanley ’17.5.
When asked why he built the yurt, Stanley simply chuckled and said he really wanted one.
“I’ve always been fascinated with small spaces,” he said. “I built forts when I was a kid, [and] treehouses. [Yurts] are really incredibly beautiful. It’s a really intelligent design.”
Stanley uses the yurt as his own personal space, door lock included. He tries to visit every day, preferably in the late afternoon after class for some brief moments of privacy.
“I use it for getting away from the stress of college life,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to get out there and study or relax.” he said.
Stanley also enjoys inviting friends and socializing in the yurt.
“We come out for a picnic lunch or cup of tea,” he said. “It’s a nice place to be able to spend time with friends.”
The yurt’s shape also facilitates social gathering, he explained, since no one can sit alone in a corner.
Stanley’s inspiration was Bill Coperthwaite, the American pioneer of yurt building. As a college student at Harvard, Coperthwaite constructed one on campus after seeing it in National Geographic. He designed nontraditional wooden yurts with walls and roofs made completely from wood, and traveled around the country to teach others how to build them. He lived in a concentric yurt, a multi-story structure made of yurts stacked on top of one another like the layers of a wedding cake.
When Stanley was eleven or twelve, he read Coperthwaite’s The Handmade Life, wrote him a letter, and visited Coperthwaite’s yurt complex in Maine.
“I spent a day with him and got to know him, and didn’t think much about building yurts back then,” he said. “More recently, I’ve really been into the idea, and had the opportunity this summer to work on it and complete projects. I jumped at that. Now I have a yurt. It’s fantastic.”
Stanley conceived the idea of building his own yurt last fall and realized it this summer in Maine, devoting all his free time after his full-time job and on weekends to construction. He brought it back to Middlebury this term and identified the Organic Farm as an ideal on-campus location for it because of the farm’s remoteness and beauty. Because of its extraordinary transportability, Stanley erected it in just two or three hours, and plans to pack it up and carry it with him when he leaves campus next summer.
“All the individual pieces are very small, but it’s an incredibly strong structure,” said Stanley.
The yurt consists of a framework of slender wooden lattice sticks that can be expanded to form the walls. A wire rope contains and brings the outward force from the rafters down to the ground. The outside and roof of the yurt is composed of a rubberized polyester membrane called Duro-Last, while the walls are made of vinyl and a lighter thin foil-backed foam for insulation. The interior, decorated by a few cushions and a couple of small shelves, is minimalist.
Time was both Stanley’s greatest foe and friend in completing this project.
“Many days, I just did not feel like going right back to work and cranking on it for another couple of hours, but I really had to, just to finish it in time to bring it back to college,” he said. “I’ve never been that motivated on a project before. I’m proud that I managed to pull it off.”
This was Stanley’s first, and will probably be the last yurt he builds.
“This one’s going to last me a long time and I’m very happy with it,” he said. “I’d never built something like that [the yurt] before. I really enjoyed that challenge, thinking my way through it and getting out into the shop and building it, far more than any academic challenge.”
Even so, Stanley has incorporated his yurt-building experience into an academic opportunity through a creative writing project about the process of building a yurt and its current use.
“There are a lot of stories that have come out of the whole project and it’s nice to have an academic excuse to write them down,” he said.
