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(04/10/13 9:45pm)
The Middlebury men’s tennis team is the ninth-ranked team in the country after starting 13-1 on the season thus far. This past weekend, April 6 and 7, the Panthers scored a pair of victories over Wesleyan and Trinity. In addition, the team concluded its week-long spring recess trip to Southern California by winning eight of the 10 contests, losing only to top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) and to Ventura College in an unrecorded match.
On Saturday, despite a 7-2 verdict, the men saw unanticipated resistance from Wesleyan. The Cardinals managed to pull out victories in the no. 1 and no. 2 doubles matches. However, they were no match to the Panthers in singles, as Middlebury snatched wins on all six courts in singles, including a three-set conquest by junior Brantner Jones ’14 at the second singles match.
After some reshuffling in the doubles lineup, the team had a decisive 8-1 sweep over 28th-ranked Trinity on Sunday. The doubles duos of Alex Johnston ’14 and Andrew Lebovitz ’14 and James Burke ’14 and Jones handled their opponents with relative ease in the first and second doubles matches, respectively. Senior tri-captain Will Oberrender ’13 and Chris Frost ’15, meanwhile rallied to a tight 9-7 victory in the third doubles slot.
The team then won five of its six singles matches. First-year Ari Smolyar ’16 proved his ability and competitiveness, dropping just two games in the fourth singles match. Classmate Allen Jackson ’16 went through a see-saw battle before falling 4-6, 4-6 at the no. 5 spot. Relying on his lengthy strokes, fellow first-year Jackson Frons ’16 seized a victory in a 10-point super-tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets.
The Panthers’ run in California was highlighted by their four clashes against top-25 teams, including 10th-ranked UC Santa Cruz, 12th-ranked Redlands, number 24 Pomona-Pitzer, and CMS, which tops the national polls.
The team’s encounter with UC Santa Cruz on March 24 was an emotional one for head coach Bob Hansen, who was the head coach of the Banana Slugs tennis program for 30 years before making his way to Middlebury two years ago.
In contrast to the final score of 8-1, each of the matches came down to the wire. After taking two of the tree doubles matches, juniors Zach Bruchmiller ’14 and Jones both recorded quick two-set victories. Yet the Panthers faced much resilience from the spirited Banana Slugs as all four remaining singles matches went into third sets. Eventually, the combined determination and fight of Johnston, first-year Palmer Campbell ’16, tri-captain Spencer Lunghino ’13 and Teddy Fitzgibbons ’14 propelled the team to victory.
Two days later, the squad faced Redlands in a tricky environment on the Bulldogs’ home turf. In doubles play, Fitzgibbons and Lebovitz were the only Middlebury pair to come out on top, with an 8-4 win. And despite Jones’s dominant performance in the no. 2 singles match, both Johnston and Lunghino succumbed to two gusty opponents.
At this point, the Middlebury men knew they would need to take the three remaining singles matches in order to win. With his consistent groundstrokes and exceptional willpower, Fitzgibbons counterpunched to a 6-4, 6-3 victory, leaving the job of completing the comeback with Campbell and Bruchmiller. Both Panthers exhibited remarkable mental toughness as they rode the momentum of one another’s matches and pulled off the tremendous comeback. Soon after Campbell’s 6-4 win in the third set, Bruchmiller gave Middlebury the fifth point in a thrilling 7-4 tiebreaker in the deciding set. The squad had its first 5-4 triumph of the season.
The Panthers then faced the Sagehens of Pomona, a traditional West Coast tennis powerhouse. At Pomona’s Pauley Tennis Complex, doubles contests were close throughout. The big-serving pair of Johnston and Lunghino as well as the combination of Fitzgibbons and Lebovitz were winners in a pair of tiebreakers as Middlebury swept the three matches.
There were a lot of tight sets in singles play, as well. Campbell pulled out a 6-4 7-6 (4) decision, while Jones went down against an in-form regionally ranked player. At the top spot, however, Johnston did not give his opponent any breathing space as he pounced on a 6-3 6-0 verdict, cementing the Panthers’ 8-1 victory.
In the final match of the trip, CMS backed up its number one ranking by taking all three doubles points and five of the six singles matches. The Middlebury men fought hard, but were unable to turn the table as they suffered a 8-1 loss, their first this season to a Division III foe. Campbell was the lone bright spot that night. After trading blows for more than an hour-and-a-half, he squeezed out a three-set victory. Johnston and Fitzgibbons, meanwhile, suffered heartbreaking losses. Johnston went down in the third-set super tiebreaker while Fitzgibbons was defeated by a two-point margin in the tiebreaker of the final set.
“We are happy with some of our good performances in California and are looking forward to the upcoming conference matches,” said Lunghino.
Due to the cancelation of a much-anticipated clash with NESCAC rivals, and sixth-ranked Bowdoin, the Panthers will return to action when they travel to Waterville, Maine to play Colby on Sunday, April 14.
(04/10/13 4:44pm)
Four years ago, 35.5 percent of students reported cheating at least once. Ninety-seven percent of students who saw infractions did not report it. With few signs of improvement since 2009, it is clear that cheating, nonexistent peer proctoring and student apathy are still sickening the honor code, putting its long term health in danger.
The Honor Code Review Committee — two faculty members, two students and one member from Dean of the College’s office — is currently gauging the health of the code as they do every four years. The final report is due for release at the end of April.
Touted by tour guides to prospective students and signed by every incoming first-year, the academic honor code is designed to be the foundation behind the integrity of student work.
The most salient feature of the code is peer tutoring, in which both students who cheat and their peers who witness it are “morally obligated” to report the infractions, according to article three of the code.
But the strong data conducted during the last honor code review point to a fundamental problem undermining the code’s strength and effectiveness at the College: students are cheating, but neither faculty nor students themselves are willing to hold them to account. Numerous conversations with students, faculty and administrators have called into question whether the honor code can survive the status quo.
A STINGING REBUKE
This year’s review follows the committee’s contentious conclusions it arrived at the last time it was convened, four years ago. The headline recommendation was to remove language restricting faculty members from being present during exams, essentially killing the most visible feature of honor code.
Dean for Judicial Affairs Karen Guttentag described the privilege of taking un-proctored exams as a three-point agreement between faculty and students.
“The faculty agree not to proctor in exchange for students not cheating and proctoring each other,” said Guttentag, who served on the 2009 council and is heading this year’s review. “If one piece of that is missing, it doesn’t work.”
“We concluded [in 2009] that to a certain extent, neither of the student responsibilities were being help up. We could not in good faith continue this process.”
The recommendation was largely driven by a study conducted in the spring of 2008 by a student in the Economics of Sin, a 400-level class taught by Associate Professor of Economics Jessica Holmes.
Of the 484 students who responded, 35.5 percent admitted giving or receiving unauthorized aid on exams, papers, labs or homework some time during their four years at the College, according to data provided by Holmes.
Among the students who reported violating the honor code, 33 percent reported breaking it more than once a semester.
Student responses to questions on peer proctoring revealed that 63 percent of students witnessed violations more than once a semester. But only three percent of those who witnessed cheating actually reported the violation.
When asked why they did not report the violations, the most common responses were “not my problem/none of my business,” “do not want to be a rat or snitch,” and “so many students do it that it is unfair to single a few out or it would be hypocritical of me.”
“Of course I was dismayed but sadly, not surprised,” wrote Holmes — who served on the 2009 committee — via email. “I am in favor of having an honor code, but I don’t think the current honor code is effective (at least not for exams).”
Holmes expressed that if she served on this year’s committee, she would re-consider making “faculty presence” the default.
“Faculty can elect not to proctor exams if they so choose, but by changing the default, you remove the transaction cost associated with getting special permission to proctor,” she wrote. “This should increase proctoring which would better ensure the academic integrity of the exam environment.”
WHY NOBODY REPORTS CHEATING
Reporting honor code infractions can be a stressful process for both students and faculty. Students who report cheating must go in front of the Academic Judicial Board and face the person they have accused, which has become a challenging deterrent in a such a small community.
“There’s no carrot besides feeling good about your personal integrity, which is important, but hard to institutionalize,” said Bree Baccaglini ’15.5.
Professor of Mathematics Steve Abbott said he understands student trepidation with reporting their peers.
“It takes an emotional toll, there’s no way around that,” he said. “But if a student were to bring a case forward, their responsibility would only be to tell what they know. They don’t have to be a trial lawyer — it really is the system’s job.”
Abbott called the low peer reporting numbers “potentially scary,” and raised the possibility of changing the language in the code to make failing to report a peer cheating an actual violation in itself — similar to criminal complicity laws — instead of a moral infraction.
“If it became a violation for you not to say what you knew, it might be easier for people to report their peers,” he said.
Abbott said that the focus on enforcing the honor code across the faculty is “uneven.”
“There are instances of faculty members handling cases on their own and their reasoning is that their perceived impressions of the judicial process are unpleasant and inefficient and that the system doesn’t work,” he said. “But people who go through the process say it is fair, reasonable and difficult, but that it fundamentally works.”
Abbott chose to go through the Judicial Affairs Committee for all of the infractions he encountered and endorsed it wholeheartedly.
“In every case, things have gone in a positive way,” he said. “It has relieved me of having to be judge and jury.”
Holmes uses her experiences going through the Academic Judicial Board as a reminder to her students of the consequences of cheating.
“I also remind my classes that I have brought several students before the Judicial Academic Judicial Board for cheating and plagiarism over the years, and while it is not a pleasant experience for me, it is something I will do to uphold my responsibility. I warn them [cheating] is just not worth it.”
MAKING UP FOR PAST SGA BLUNDERS
The recommendation to strike the no proctoring clause was never implemented because of strong opposition from the Student Government Association (SGA), who asserted it would not pass the two-thirds student vote needed to make structural changes to the code. This led SGA, Faculty Council and Community Council members to hash out the current language of the code.
“I think both the faculty and the students came away from those meetings thinking they had won, which in essence is the perfect agreement,” said Guttentag.
A major aspect of the agreement was the establishment of a new cabinet post in the SGA dedicated to chairing the Academic Honesty Committee. Aseem Mulji ’11.5 was put in charge of the committee, according to faculty meeting minutes from May 13, 2009.
“He explained their goal to make the honor code more visible, and provide broader discussion of philosophical and practice issues,” read the notes. “Mr. Mulji stressed that students still care about the honor code and are committed to making it work.”
But the Academic Honesty Committee never materialized.
“It needs to be acknowledged that last time, promises were made that did not happen, but I’m hopeful that something really positive can come out of that,” said Guttentag, who praised this year’s SGA leadership. “There is no way that this can be entirely on the faculty and administration. Students need to take on shared responsibility.”
Current SGA President Charlie Arnowitz ’13 is trying to hold up the students’ end of the bargain. While he pointed out that the yearly turnover within the SGA results in promises easily falling through the cracks from one administration to another, he made no excuses for the 2009 SGA blunders.
“We’re going to do what wasn’t done in 2009, and do it better,” he said.
The result would be the Honor Code Student Committee, which Arnowitz is helping to create before he leaves office and will transition responsibilities to his successor.
Arnowitz said the goals of the committee would be to solicit student participation, conduct research on best practices at peer institutions with honor codes and find ways to involve the code into the broader student culture at the College.
“This is totally student driven,” he said. “We need to inculcate the honor code into everyday student life. One hard question we will have to answer is whether an honor code is worth it.”
Arnowitz said he had already received “a lot” of applications for the committee. But the SGA is fighting a pitched battle against what some see as student apathy about the future of the honor code.
On March 7, the SGA sent out an all-student email inviting students to attend a “community forum” surrounding the honor code with Collado, Guttentag and members of the SGA. But when the night came, only two students showed up — the Campus had three people covering the event.
While Arnowitz blamed the low turnout mainly on the remoteness of the Atwater location, he acknowledged the low turn out was “a little troubling.”
Failings on the part of the student body to uphold its end of the honor code — abysmal peer reporting, general student apathy and past SGA blunders — have led some faculty to question whether the honor code is nothing more than a first-year signature.
“I think students themselves have to decide if they want a strong honor code on campus — if so, then they should look for ways to create a student community that is not tolerant of cheating,” wrote Holmes in her email. “Perhaps students are content with current levels of cheating and enforcement?”
“I don’t think that’s the case, but maybe things have changed,” said Arnowitz, sighing. “It’s key to make sure students know what is at stake here.”
One of the main goals of the Honor Code Student Committee will be to show faculty and administrators that things have changed since 2009, according to Arnowitz.
Jackie Yordan ’13, who is serving on the Academic Judicial Board and the Honor Code Review Committee, said the key is to get students talking more about the code. She pointed to the It Happens Here campaign to promote awareness of sexual assault as a roadmap.
“We need to make the honor code as talked about as we have made the issue of sexual assault this year,” said Yordan. “We want the changes to come from students.”
The level of value placed on the honor code runs the gamut depending on the student.
“Having students take responsibility for their work is huge, because if you don’t take responsibility now in college, then why will you take responsibility for your work at any time subsequent?” said Ian Thomas ’13.5, who is on the Academic Judicial Board. “This is your last real opportunity to learn it.”
Baccaglini said that after First-Year Orientation, there isn’t enough follow up.
“I’ll run into tour guides in McCullough saying, ‘This is one of the hallmarks of Middlebury,’ and I’ll walk away saying, ‘Maybe it is, but I don’t know,’” she said. “Theoretically, students take it as an indication of trust from professors, but I’m hesitant to say students really care about it. Who here wakes up every day saying, ‘I’m so glad I go to a school with an honor code!’ Nobody.”
But Baccaglini said that both students and the College have a long-term interest in the code.
“I think Middlebury has an investment in keeping [the honor code] and that students, at least on an abstract level, do as well,” she said. “Every time I sign a test, I’m not bathed in the light of honor, but I think that students feel it’s a valuable part of our experience.”
POISONING THE WELL OF TRUST
Guttentag said that one of her primary goals this time around is to elucidate what she called “the real tangible costs of my cheating on you.” One tangible result is the loss of some faculty members’ trust in students.
“Many students assume that because of the honor code, professors have to inherently trust them,” said Guttentag. “But that’s not the way trust works.”
Abbott, the math professor who serves on the Honor Code Review Committee, was tapped to serve on the current committee because of what he described as “my unusually high number of encounters with [Guttentag] in the last two or three years.”
He estimated that he has had to bring five accusations of cheating to the judicial board over the past two or three years. While Abbott stressed that his experiences are not the norm among his colleagues, he acknowledged that the infractions have changed the way he grades.
“I do now approach grading in a mindset that’s more suspicious than I used to be,” he said. “And it doesn’t feel good.
“I have had experiences where I will see a solution by a student that surprised me in its elegance and ingenuity and the natural reaction to that as a professor is a sense of elation at the success of the student. Now that has to be filtered through a lens of, ‘Is this a real event based on this person arriving at a point of insight or did something improper happen to produce it?’”
Abbott is also attacking the notion some people at the College hold that cheaters are “only hurting themselves.”
“The freedom to think up the best possible assignment is dependent on the honor code working in some kind of robust way,” he said. “When you get out of that mode and start second-guessing whether or not the student’s approach to an assignment is an honest one, then you’ve given up something. Everybody loses.”
While Abbott is concerned about the vitality of the code, he repeatedly stressed his optimism in a bright future.
“Have I lost the rose-colored glasses? Yeah. But I don’t think we’re in a crisis. […] I haven’t gotten the feeling that we’re on some precipice.”
CHANGING PEDAGOGY
The affect cheating has had on faculty already depends greatly on whom you talk with. But even the most ardent faculty supporters of the honor code said they’ve changed their pedagogy in response to cheating.
“I’ve been a supporter of the honor code for decades,” said Charles A. Dana Professor of Mathematics John Emerson. “I’m happy to say that it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a plagiarizing issue with my students.”
Emerson’s perspectives come from a long involvement with the code, including stints as the chair of the Judicial Review Board and as the head of the Academic Judicial Board in the past. He said the effectiveness of the code can be enhanced by drawing attention to the importance of the Middlebury Honor System.
“It can be very constructive for any faculty member to take a few minutes at the beginning of a course to explain the relevance of the honor code as it applies to a particular course,” he said.
While Emerson always advises students that he will return to the classroom halfway through exams to respond to questions or provide clarification, he does not support making proctoring exams the default.
“Proctoring would change the psychology of the classroom,” he said. “My concern is that you don’t want to create a game where students try to cheat by outsmarting the teachers.”
Despite his unwavering support for the honor code, Emerson said that over the years he has adjusted his pedagogy by limiting the use of take-home exams.
“The reason I don’t offer take-home exams is because good people who care about honesty can still cheat if they are under enough pressure,” he said. “You get sick or you have a fight with your girlfriend and you still need to take that exam tomorrow and you are distracted and you panic.”
All of the faculty members interviewed recognized the immense pressure many of their students were under to perform at high levels and the importance of limiting situations where students might be tempted to cheat.
For example, Abbott refuses to give self-scheduled exams for multi-sectional calculus because of what he called math’s “ability to produce anxiety.”
But Guttentag said that even professors accounting for these situations is a cost of cheating.
“Instead of faculty saying, ‘What is the most engaging, creative way I can teach this material?’ they have to say, ‘How can I create a cheat-proof exam?’” she said. “You’re not getting the best pedagogy from your professors.”
IS PROCTORING THE ONLY ANSWER?
The answer — almost unequivocally — is no. For now.
“I don’t want to support a shift in the climate that surrounds an honor system,” said Emerson, who proctored students during his graduate years at Cornell University. “That was definitely a more negative climate than is the case here at Middlebury in my classroom when my students are taking tests. I treat students with respect and I think they know intuitively that I don’t assume that they want to cheat.”
Abbott said that while the code isn’t functioning at the highest level, restricting it would only make things worse.
“It really boils down to a sense that the honor code gets stronger when it’s put to use,” he said. “The best way to infuse it with meaning is to continue to invoke it by not proctoring. I think we’re better putting it to use than restricting it due to abuse.”
Administrators, faculty and students all agreed that dismantling the academic honor code would have negative consequences.
“Quite a bit would be lost without an academic honor code,” said Joseph Flaherty ’15. “You would lose the contract between students and faculty that says, ‘We’re going to treat our academic work with honesty and integrity.’”
“The culture would suffer for it,” said Guttentag. “I think the majority of students are behaving honorably and that the honor code is a point of pride for them.”
She said the administration is wary of creating a police state pitting students versus the administration.
“That’s not the kind of culture we want to have here and the relationships we hope to foster,” she said.
But at the end of the day, the health and fate of the honor code will rest with the students, something Arnowitz is acutely aware of.
“If the faculty and administration see students really making an honest effort in a way that is going to concretely continue next year, we will buy ourselves a couple years,” said Arnowitz. “But that by no means ensures that when I come back for a reunion in five years, the honor code will still be here.”
(03/20/13 10:56pm)
On March 18, Community Council voted to disband Delta. The decision came after the Residential Life Committee conducted its biennial review of Middlebury’s five social houses. Delta was the only social house that the committee recommended for disbandment.
While disbanding Delta, formerly known as ADP, may seem like an unnecessarily dramatic move on the part of Community Council, the decision did not come out of nowhere. Delta membership failed to comply with the steps urged by the administration in order to avoid disbandment this academic year. In addition, Prescott house has already surpassed its $1,500 annual dorm damage limit implemented by Community Council as of last year.
President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz therefore has a clear basis to support Community Council’s decision to dissolve Delta. Even after the report released by the Residential Life Committee, the organization had multiple chances to prove its commitment to change — yet its leadership failed to do so.
However, Delta should not be solely to blame for this year’s transgressions. Dorm damage is not confined to Prescott house — it occurs everywhere on campus. Prescott is just one of a number of large party spaces that the College has shut down as a result of damage in recent years — Fletcher and the Bunker are two examples. If the College’s prescribed method of dealing with the issue — shutting down the spaces where the most damage occurs — continues to yield weak results, perhaps it is not the solution to the problem. It may even be the case that dorm damage is inevitable.
Whether this last statement is true or not, as it currently stands, the Community Council’s policy does not overlook the unfortunate reality of the situation; by allowing for a certain dorm damage threshold, the College explicitly acknowledges that dorm damage will happen. Therefore, as students, we must uphold our end of the bargain. Accidents happen, but cutting loose does not necessitate breaking windows. We all must work to ensure that partying does not become synonymous with destruction, and this responsibility does not just fall on members of social houses.
We must recognize that many students here — and not just those who are members of social houses — want the type of party scene that these spaces provide, and these students should not be vilified for preferring to socialize in this way. However, under the College’s current restrictions, it remains unclear whether the typical “college” parties we grew up seeing on TV and in movies can exist in our community.
The disbanding of Delta will undoubtedly have some effect on Middlebury’s social scene. Many of us took part in the typical first-year activity of trekking down to ADP or Tavern with a huge group of hall-mates in search of a stereotypical, big college party. And attendance at social house parties is not limited to first-years — judging by the overwhelming crowds that can be found in Ridgeline basements on any given weekend, social houses play a role in the social lives of a critical portion of Middlebury’s student body and eliminating large party spaces will reduce weekend options for students.
In addition, with fewer large party spaces, students will likely hold smaller, less inclusive parties where they are unlikely to meet new people and likely to drink more irresponsibly, creating additional risk to students’ safety. Instead of grabbing a beer in a basement of a social house, students may be driven to drink in small groups behind closed doors.
Weekend partying aside, Delta as an organization has historically had strong ties to the space as a residence. Administrators have indicated that with the dissolution of Delta, Prescott house will likely serve as a regular dorm for the 2013-2014 academic year, comprised of singles and doubles, rather than be offered up as a superblock. We can anticipate that this change will affect the feeling of community created when organization membership and residence combine.
There are no obvious solutions to address these larger issues, and we are unsure as to whether removing Delta from the social scene will in the end yield any real positive change. Looking at the past few years, Delta’s extensive dorm damage is likely a symptom of an overarching campus-wide problem.
The question that needs answering is, where do we go from here? How do we fill the void that Delta is bound to leave? It seems that some of this responsibility of ensuring that students can find a communal place to party will fall on the social houses still in existence. From the big picture perspective, however, it is clear that the onus for creating a healthy, functional social scene that still satisfies student preferences falls on all of us. The administration should ensure that its expectations remain realistic, and continue to help students remain aware of and capable of meeting these expectations. However, as students, we must fulfill our side of the bargain by respecting these expectations and making ourselves accountable. Respect for our surroundings and our peers cannot go by the wayside come Thursday night. Accidents are inevitable, but no one has a right to commit them.
(03/20/13 4:49pm)
On Friday, March 15, Barbara Ofosu-Somuah ’13 found out that she was selected as a Watson fellow for the 2013 - 2014 academic year for her project titled “The Choreography of Black Hair: A Framework for Cultural Inquiry.”
The Watson Fellowship grants graduating seniors a $25,000 stipend for a full year’s worth of travel outside of the United States in order to pursue research on a topic of personal interest. The selected fellows must remain out of the U.S. for the full 365 days in order to receive funding.
This year there were over 700 candidates for the fellowship. Participating schools then selected 148 finalists to compete on the national level, from which 40 fellows were selected. Middlebury itself had 27 applicants this year, up from last year’s 23, and submitted four finalists — Jordie Ricigliano ’13, Davis Anderson ’13, Anoushka Sinha ’13 and Ofosu-Somuah. Sinha was selected as an alternate for the fellowship and will find out on March 29 if she will be named a fellow.
This year’s fellows hail from eight different countries and 14 different states.
Director of Internships Peggy Burns said there was fierce competition to become a finalist for Middlebury.
“It is always such a tough decision to narrow it down to four [students],” Burns wrote in an email. “It was an honor and privilege to work with these four Watson nominees.”
Ofosu-Somuah’s research will take her to five different countries: Suriname, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and South Africa. Her project aims to look at the cultural effects and implications of different hairstyles for black women in these countries.
“I guess my founding question is how you conceptualize beauty within yourself and within the black culture,” explained Ofosu-Somuah.
She explained that her research will focus on the different responses to and effects of two different types of hair for black women — the “eurocentric” style, described by Ofosu-Somuah as chemically-straightened or braided hair, or “afrocentric” style, which she said includes afros, curly hair or leaving hair in its “natural state.” She also expressed her belief in the importance of this research in greater cultural contexts.
“I think in the end I’m trying to say that for black women, our hair is just as important to us and to our lives as our race, our gender and our sexuality,” she said.
Ofosu-Somuah will be working at a natural hair festival in Suriname for one month. She will then spend two months in Brazil — one working at a natural hair salon and the second at a women’s empowerment organization. From there, she will move to the Dominican Republic, where she will work at a beauty school. She’ll spend three months in Jamaica working at Curly-Centric, a self-described support group for Jamaican women with natural hair, and finally will end her travels in South Africa, working at a micro-financing group called Jabu Stone that “aims to promote natural hair care and pride.”
She cited her interest in the cultural implications of black women’s hair as beginning with her time at Middlebury. Ofosu-Somuah started as a first-year with braids and noticed that her hair became a topic of conversation. Students would often ask if they could touch her hair, but would then touch her without waiting for her verbal permission.
“And so for the first time at Middlebury, it oftentimes felt like my body was not my own,” she said. “It was kind of an object of fascination that people wanted to explore, without waiting for my permission to do so.”
Ofosu-Somuah then cut her hair, going “natural” during the summer after her first year at Middlebury. When she cut her hair, she received extremely negative reactions from her family and community at home, and then continued to be an “object of fascination” at the College.
It was at this time that Ofosu-Somuah became interested in the implications of her natural hair, and through research she learned that there was a worldwide “natural hair movement.”
“Without me knowing it, I had joined this movement,” she said. “And I hadn’t expected to, but now I was a part of it, and I wanted to know more.
“So that’s where my project stems from — hair for black women around the world and how people respond to it and how black women maneuver and negotiate different spaces based on their hair.”
Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Susan Burch, who wrote Ofosu-Somuah’s recommendation for the fellowship, believed the connection between Ofosu-Somuah’s personal life and her research proposal was essential to the future success of the work.
“[Ofosu-Somuah’s] project to consider identity and culture in indigenous communities of color through the framework of hair provides an ideal opportunity for her to integrate her cumulative academic and personal experiences,” wrote Burch in an email. “Working with and learning from other communities will undoubtedly open her to new understandings of herself, her own life story and the broader world.”
Roger Sandwick, the mentor for Ofosu-Somuah’s Posse group, expressed his pride in her selection as a fellow.
“The whole [Posse] group is proud of her achievement,” wrote Sandwick in an email. “In Barbara, [the Watson Fellowship] has certainly found and acknowledged a future leader of our society. I don’t doubt she will change the world.”
There will be an information session in late April for students interested in applying for the Watson Fellowship in the future.
(03/14/13 4:00am)
The Aliens, a play written by Massachusetts-based playwright Annie Baker, premiered in Hepburn Zoo last Thursday and drew packed crowds during its three-night run. The show starred improv actors from both Otter Nonsense and Middlebrow: Greg Dorris ’13, Adam Benay ’14 and Tom Califra ’14, with Adam Milano ’15 as director.
The play profiled Jasper and KJ, two best friends who loiter behind a small-town Vermont coffee shop most days, contemplating Bukowski poems, wind farms and lost loves. Califra played Jasper, an aspiring novelist who never went to college, and Benay played KJ, a UVM dropout. Dorris played Evan, a timid employee of the coffee shop and high school senior. Over the course of the show, Jasper and KJ befriend Evan, welcoming him into their broken but thoughtful world.
Despite their backgrounds in comedy, Dorris, Benay and Califra tackled the seriousness of The Aliens with impressive force, demonstrating not only a subtle mastery of the material, but an intimate understanding of the complexities of the human experience.
“I think a lot of people will come expecting it to be funny,” explained Dorris. “There are funny moments … but it’s a mix. My character Evan is this high school student who is very, very nervous and always humiliated. There are moments where that’s really funny, and there are moments where that’s totally heartbreaking.”
Indeed, the mix of humor and humanity is what makes The Aliens so powerfully moving. Beneath its simple plot line, the show explored topics — death, happiness and our innate yearning for meaningful connection — that touched audience members on a visceral level.
“I was blown away,” Alex Strott ’15 said after watching Saturday’s performance. “The acting was so convincing and moving that I cried on more than one occasion.” Her reaction certainly lives up to director Milano’s hopes.
“I hope that the audience becomes invested enough and opens themselves up enough that they can leave the theater still thinking about what [The Aliens] means to them,” Milano said before the opening night performance. “Everyone’s going to get different things out of this play.”
Because the show was not for credit, the cast was required to rehearse on their own time, in any space they could find on campus. Nevertheless, the actors took their roles very seriously, as was evident in intensity and honesty of their performances.
“It’s scary in the beginning because you like the play on the page and you want to serve that well,” Dorris noted. “I feel like we all asked a lot of each other.”
Perhaps it is because they invested so much of themselves in the show, but the cast found The Aliens just as rewarding as the audience found it moving.
“You blink and two hours have gone by and you actually feel like you spent that time doing something entirely constructive,” Benay said, describing their rehearsals. “I don’t often get to spend two or three or four hours doing something where every second of it helped who I am and what I want to do.”
“It’s just so nice to get invested in a piece that you thought you knew and find yourself surprised by new stuff,” Milano added. “It will grow every time we do it.”
The soulful, live music between scenes; the simple set; the small, cramped theater itself, which inspired a sense of closeness to the actors—each piece of the production came together to amplify the tension and tenderness the cast brought to the material. I have to agree with Phil Hughes ’14, who raved, “Hands down best piece of theater I’ve seen at this school.”
(03/14/13 4:00am)
Creating a stimulating introductory-level science course is challenging. There’s a host of information thrown at students: terms to memorize, concepts to learn, lab techniques to familiarize oneself with. The prospect is daunting for some, terrifying for others. These courses are challenging and rigorous, especially for those who have no previous science background. It’s not for nothing that BIOL 145: Cell Biology and Genetics is often referred to as “Cell Hell.”
What is frustrating for science teachers is that the true nature of science can easily be lost in an introductory course. They are what Senior Associate in Science Instruction in Biology Vickie Backus calls “cookbook labs, where everything is laid out for you and you add one thing to another to get a purple liquid, and then you add a third thing and it blows up, and all that is expected.” In cookbook labs, there are right answers and wrong answers, and any deviation from expected results is abnormal.
But Associate in Science Instruction in Biology Susan DeSimone is dissatisfied with this strict format because “science that has been done by eighteen-thousand people before you, where you are trying to [derive] the answer you are supposed to get … that’s not real science.” DeSimone and Backus have been searching for alternatives for the introductory-level biology labs, particularly Cell Biology and Genetics, for some time.
They think they may have found the answer in the wild parsnip. It is an invasive, wild type of root vegetable that was once a staple crop in the northeast. The wild parsnip is becoming a serious problem in Vermont.
Middlebury College’s Landscape Horticulturist Tim Parsons writes in his blog “The Middlebury Landscape” that the parsnip is “a biennial — a rosette of leaves the first year, and flower stalks the second” that is particularly difficult to eradicate because “biennials are hell-bent on flowering in their second year… cut [them] down too early, and they form many smaller flowers, and therefore more seeds, than [if] left untouched … It thrives on roadsides, and in other poor growing locations because the rosettes are poor competitors in their first year and can’t keep up with a healthy stand of vegetation, such as grass ... Seeds of parsnip are viable in the soil for up to four years, so vigilance is required.”
The parsnip is not only a problem because it’s invasive and difficult to eradicate; it is also toxic. “It is a different toxin than poison ivy,” DeSimone said. “Poison ivy is an immune reaction, an allergic reaction. Wild parsnip works in a different way. As we understand it, everyone is susceptible to wild parsnip, because wild parsnip toxins are able to move directly into cells. If the tissue gets exposed to sunlight — the UV light, that’s the trigger — the sunlight catalyzes an interaction between the toxin and the DNA in the cell. And that interaction triggers cell death. What you end up seeing is a huge blister that looks like a second-degree burn, and then the skin peels away, and you’re left with a hyper-pigmentation scar — unique to parsnip burns — that can last anywhere from several months up to a year.”
Last spring, DeSimone played around in the lab and thought of better ways to teach the Cell Biology and Genetics lab just as the wild parsnip was leafing out. “[I] thought, well, what’s known about wild parsnip?” she said. “It’s important to have something relevant for students, and parsnip is definitely relevant for [anyone living in Vermont]. So I did a literature search. And it turns out there isn’t a lot known about it.”
The more DeSimone looked into wild parsnips, the more excited she became about its potential to revolutionize how the BIOL 145 lab is taught. “The challenge is finding a system where you can start to do some interesting questioning, but at the same time, find some real data,” she said. “I’ve been searching for that system since I’ve started teaching. And I think parsnip is it. [With the parsnip], we can take some relatively simple tools to start studying this, and almost any question people will come up with will be a novel question.”
DeSimone and Backus are now growing parsnips both in the lab on the fourth floor of McCardell Bicentennial Hall and in the greenhouse. They are examining wild and cultivated parsnips for differences in physical appearance, toxin concentrations and toxin components. Backus is also integrating the parsnip into one of the invasive species lab in BIOL 140: Ecology and Evolution.
“There has been a feeling in the past that what happens in the Ecology and Evolution course is in no way related to what happens in the Cell Biology and Genetics course — that these are completely different tracks, and so, why should I take both courses if I’m only interested in one of the fields?” Backus said. “What [the parsnip] is allowing us to do is bring [the two courses] closer together, so that the knowledge you gain in 140 can translate over to 145 and vice versa.”
According to teaching assistant for Cell Biology and Genetics Alison Cook, “poison parsnip is a good research topic because it is tangible. A lot of students have come into contact with poison parsnip whether they realize it or not, and understanding some of the science behind the resulting burn on a molecular or cellular level is fascinating. Research in this field is relatively limited, so students are actually exploring hypotheses that haven’t even been published yet. It gives the course a very real-world-science kind of feel.”
Backus expanded on this “real world science” feel: “[We’re doing real] research. We have no idea what’s going to happen with this stuff. It’s a challenge. Sometimes the data are messy. Sometimes the data produce internal contradictions. Part A and B lead you to opposite conclusions, and you have to somehow reconcile it. That’s what we do as biologists, as professional scientists. If you knew what the answer was, you wouldn’t be doing the experiment. It is akin to the kind of research you’d be doing in graduate school. You walk in, and there is something known about the system, some expertise in the lab, but you are finding not only the new answer, but the new question. You have to put together information and build on it in order to make something.”
The emphasis with this parsnip project is that the students in an introductory class are driving research forward in a novel area. But how successful is this novel approach compared to the old cookbook approach?
DeSimone noted that in recent conferences with students, “I had ten percent of my students who were totally jazzed. [They thought,] ‘OK, we don’t actually know the answer. I can really start to think. I’m not looking for the right answer — I’m looking for the logical answer as a possible explanation to take the work further.’ It is going to be a blast to teach, and way more meaningful for the students.”
(03/13/13 5:16pm)
This week, I had a hard time writing my story for the news section. On Monday evening around 6 p.m., just as we were about to begin layout for the newspaper, we received word that four students had been arrested while attending a protest at the TransCanada northeast U.S. office in Massachusetts. The students had handcuffed themselves together outside of the TransCanada offices in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline.
“Why couldn’t they have gotten arrested a few days ago?” I mused, knowing that the story would usurp the better part of the next 24-hours, as I worked to fact-check, get quotes for and copy-edit the piece.
From the Wordpress site of the protest’s organizers, I learned that 21 other students had also been arrested by police — individuals from Green Mountain College, Tufts University, Brandeis University and Brown University. The students were joined by 80-or-so others at the demonstration, and used a tactic that indicated a “sharp escalation” in the New England-based protests.
As I began to type, I turned to Kelsey Collins, a co-editor of the news section. “Other than the students themselves, who else should I get a quote from about this?” I asked. “Maybe a professor? Is it a big deal that they’re missing school to get arrested?”
Throughout the evening, I worked to piece the story together. As I wrote, I thought about a protest that I had attended over the summer, a similarly public display of displeasure for a government-led climate policy. I had been working for a local news organization in Toronto at the time, and had learned of the “national day of protest” online. Seeking to “break” the story for the publication I was working for, I pitched it to my editor. Sensing my excitement, he obliged, but warned that the story wouldn’t run if the protest didn’t turn into a national story.
When I arrived “on scene” that afternoon, 40 or 50 protestors carried a coffin — a visual representation of the symbolic “death” of our future that would result if the government’s climate policy passed. I listened, took a few photographs and did interviews before my sister came to pick me up. She had driven across the city earlier that evening to join my mother and me for dinner to celebrate my birthday.
Arriving home, I headed straight into the den and began work on the story. Heart pounding, I added details, increased the saturation of the color photographs and spiced up the story as much as I could. “Just three more minutes,” I called, as my mother brought the curry to the table. A few minutes after, my family began eating; I hit send, and passed the story along to my editor. Triumphantly, I slid into a seat at the table beside my mother, proud to have helped add the voices of Canadian protesters into the public discourse.
When I got into the office the following morning, I realized that the story never ran. National news outlets hadn’t picked it up. The number of protestors “wasn’t large enough,” my editor said.
On Monday evening, as I typed about the 100-person protest in Massachusetts, I felt a growing sense of apathy. “This is kind of cool, but won’t make any difference,” I thought, “What is a few more students’ getting arrested going to do?”
Around 11:30 p.m. on Monday night, having finished layout with the other editors, I packed up my books and prepared to leave the Campus’s office. With one strap of my backpack over my shoulder, my phone rang. It was Anna Shireman-Grabowski ’15.5, a friend, and one of the students who had been arrested. She and the three other students called from their hotel room in Massachusetts where they would stay until their hearing on Wednesday.
Grabbing my recorder, I headed for the back office and began to interview the four students over the phone. It was then, and only then — when I was three hours deep into the story — that I remembered what it had felt like to be at the protest that summer. It was only in that instant that I realized why the students’ actions were important, why the voices of all of those who protest misguided government policies matter.
“Over 40 percent of all the communities that the pipeline would go through are African-American communities and Native American communities,” said Sam Koplinka-Loehr ’13, a friend, and one of the other students who had been arrested. “The U.S. population for Native folks is less than one percent, and is approximately 13 percent for African Americans.” It’s environmental racism,” he said.
Typing this op-ed while playing the recording of last night’s interview, I’m close to tears.
Unlike the four students, the tears I shed are not for the frontline communities, for I struggle to emote with such depth for those whom I do not know. Instead, they are a reaction to the actions of four students who decided that there was something more important than class on Monday. They are tears of hope, compassion and frustration. Tears, because using their voices and their bodies, these students forced me to let myself feel their passion and to experience, with a portion of the intensity that they carry regularly, why these actions matter.
On Monday, 26 students were jailed for “trespassing” and “disorderly conduct,” for a protest on the private property of a company that seeks to lay an 875-mile pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast — a company that intends to drive an oil-fuelled stake through indigenous territory, harming communities, contributing to the destruction of the planet and encouraging global climate apathy in the process.
If that isn’t representative of a backward judicial system, then I don’t know what is.
To the four students: Thank you for making me feel. To President Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Stop Keystone XL. And to the Middlebury College Board of Trustees: Make this College proud. Do the right thing on divestment.
(03/13/13 4:30pm)
Four students were arrested by police on Monday, March 11 at the northeast U.S. office of the TransCanada Corporation in Westborough, MA during a protest of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
The students — Anna Shireman-Grabowski ’15.5, Jay Saper ’12.5, Sam Koplinka-Loehr ’13 and Lucy Whipps ’14 — had handcuffed themselves together with 21 other young people, who refused to leave the office when asked by police. All 25 were arrested. The youth group acted as part of a broader protest that included some 75 others.
“We’re here in solidarity with front line communities who are facing the health effects of the past, present and future as a result of the extraction, transportation and refinement of tar sands oil,” said Koplinka-Loehr in a telephone interview on Monday evening.
“We stand in solidarity with them, but are also here recognizing that all of our futures are affected by the tar sands when it comes to climate change,” he added. “And climate change knows no borders.”
Shawn Howard, a spokesperson for TransCanada Corporation, pushed back by email.
“This really isn’t really about Keystone XL, diluted bitumen, emissions or a substance that is in a particular blend of oil,” wrote Howard. “It’s about a group that wants to end the use of fossil fuels entirely.
“This publicity stunt will not provide an American construction worker with a job to provide for their family and their needs. It will not reduce global emissions or the continued need for fossil fuels in the United States. It will not improve the safety of moving a critical product to market,” he continued.
Howard suggested that TransCanada “agrees” with the President that a move to a less carbon intense economy is necessary, but suggested that it will “take decades” for this transition to occur. He noted that TransCanada has invested billions in wind, solar, hydro and nuclear facilities.
“TransCanada knows what these technologies can do today (and what their current limitations are), because we have invested billions of dollars in emission-less energy production,” he said.
At Monday’s protest, Shireman-Grabowski, Saper, Koplinka-Loehr and Whipps were joined by students from Green Mountain College, Tufts University, Brandeis University and Brown University as well as members of the Massachusetts Methodist clergy and community members. According to Shireman-Grabowski, the protest represented a “sharp escalation” in the non-violent tactics of the protesters.
At approximately 11 a.m. on Monday morning, the 100-member group walked up to the third floor of the northeast U.S office of the TransCanada Corporation. They carried a fake coffin featuring the words “our future” — a symbolic representation of the impact of the proposed pipeline. The group sang a eulogy, carried flowers and walked in procession.
Approximately one hour later, the group of 25 youth, who had refused to leave the building, were arrested and transported to a local jail. They waited in a communal cell before being released on $0 bail at approximately 8 p.m.
At that time, the students were informed that they would be arraigned in court in Massachusetts on Wednesday, where they would face charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Though student arrests are not commonplace, the four are not the first to receive attention for controversial environmental activism in recent memory. As a member of the Youth Climate Delegation at UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa in 2011, Abigail Borah ’13 interrupted the international proceedings to express her displeasure with “obstructionist congress” and the inaction of President Obama on climate change.
Borah received a significant amount of press for the demonstration, including an interview with the New York Times.
“Something I’ve learned through my time at Middlebury is that people have all sorts of ideas of what activism ‘should be’ and what produces ‘change,’” said Borah. “Whether we agree with one another or not, it’s hard to argue that the courage it takes to stand up for what you believe in isn’t admirable. As young people, it’s our job to push the envelope and rally for the urgency and ambition that is required to achieve social justice.”
The arrest of the four students in Massachusetts came on the same day as the New York Times published an editorial calling on President Barack Obama to “say no” to the Keystone XL pipeline — a commercial venture that would see 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil shipped along an 875-mile pipeline from Alberta tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
“A president who has repeatedly identified climate change as one of humanity’s most pressing dangers cannot in good conscience approve a project that — even by the State Department’s most cautious calculations — can only add to the problem,” the editorial read.
While the students expressed a similar motivation, they took a different tone.
“This is environmental racism,” said Koplinka-Loehr. “Poor people and people of color are disproportionately affected by fossil extraction and refinement, creating generational health problems and death.”
Focusing on the College community, Koplinka-Loehr elaborated, “We need to talk about environmental racism at Middlebury, and it needs to be driving the way in which we think about our endowment. [We need to think about] who is actually impacted by our stocks the most. Why is that not a part of the conversation?”
Saper was critical of the study of environmental justice by the College’s environmental studies department.
“We’ve talked more about environmental racism today — just today — than we have at a place where there is the longest standing environmental studies program in history in America,” said Saper.
On the national stage, the group’s action joins a much larger chorus of dissent against the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In February, approximately 50 members of the College community attended the “Forward on Climate” rally in Washington, D.C. where they were met by approximately 50,000 other protestors. The event was the largest climate rally in American history.
To date, over 50,000 have signed a petition to resist the Keystone XL pipeline and thousands more have joined the Tar Sands Blockade in East Texas. Protestors there include landowners, climate activists, members of frontline communities and Native American peoples.
According to the blog “Funeral For our Future,” which provided information about Monday’s protest, March 16 - 24 will serve as a “week of solidarity” with Tar Sands Blockade protestors, during which groups across the country will target the offices of TransCanada and its investors.
(03/07/13 5:00am)
In its mad dash to complete the 34 panels set to comprise the InSite house in the 2013 Solar Decathlon competition, the Middlebury team, while somewhat familiar with construction and carpentry, needed some outside help. Enter Lance Waterman, a Middlebury-born contractor and University of Vermont graduate, with his chocolate lab named Jasper. In order to get all of the panels done in time for the house’s first fabrication period (that is, putting together the panels in a sort of “test run” before shipping them by rail to Irvine, Calif. for assembly during the competition in early October) slated to take place during spring break later this month, the team has turned to Lance to expedite the panel construction process. While students on the team are tasked with developing and finalizing the plans and are also involved actively in panel construction, the team will lean heavily on Lance to ensure that all 34 panels are made in a manner that fits the project schedule. Construction of the panels began at the end of January, and the inside of his barn just 5.1 miles away from the College out on Weybridge Street (pictured behind Lance and Jasper) looks like an industrial lumber yard as the project is in full tilt. I caught up with Lance earlier this week chat about InSite.
Middlebury Campus: Why did you decide to get involved with Solar Decathlon?
Lance Waterman: I was invited to help finish the construction of the 2011 Solar Decathlon project, and the opportunity to work with the students [this year] is truly fantastic – a very ambitious, motivated bunch of people and on a neat project that you just don’t run across every day. So often, real budget and payback analysis and things limit projects, but a project like this, where it’s more about trying concepts and showing some of the cutting edge stuff that most people wouldn’t put in a house this size, is neat.
MC: What has been the most rewarding moment thus far?
LW: Meeting the different students. There’s a couple of students in my interaction with the project, [namely] Brandon Gell ’16 and Kate Eisemann ’15, that seem to be doing a lot of heavy lifting. I know that [Gell], for example, wanted to build, and in order to build someone has to draw the plans. So, he took it upon himself to learn the CAD program and draw the panels, which is just an enormous task. [While] Kate does management … and people throw everything at her and she manages to organize it – it’s amazing. As I was getting involved in it, people would say, ‘Hey, have you met Kate yet?’ and after the third or fourth person said that I started wonder ‘Who’s this person?’ Those two seem to just put it together. To meet people of that caliber is super fun.
MC: What has been the most frustrating moment thus far?
LW: The frustrating part only would be that the students are generally trying to learn a whole knew language: construction. In most construction projects where you build something, you frame it, you rough in plumbing and you rough in wiring, and there’s all these opportunities to get something fixed. You have all the walls and you lay out the circuits and if you need to add another wire, you add another wire. For InSite, trying to figure out which things I don’t know and the students don’t know about these panels’ specifics is sometimes challenging, because they know more about how overall it’s going to be put together. So, trying to identify the unknown is really the only frustrating part. It’s a whole different language and it’s a whole different way of looking at things. [It’s] certainly not a “keep me awake” frustrating part. There’s not one of those.
MC: With all that has to go on before the competition in October, do you think the team will have the house it wants at the Decathlon?
LW: It’s an evolving target, because you have a high turnover group and students of different ages coming in and out of the project at different times. Students who are involved in it in the very beginning aren’t involved in it at the end. So, you don’t have as much continuity and if a student conceives of an idea in the beginning and they leave and someone else picks it up, then their idea might just not end up in the final house. And, likewise, you have students coming on that want things in the house that, realistically, to realize that in the house you would’ve had to have them built in ahead of time. So, there will be pieces that won’t make it through, but the student group is certainly not one mind and different people are fascinated with different things.
MC: What do you like about the InSite design?
LW: Coming up with a whole design for a house that fits in shipping containers and is shippable that way: that is unique. They are making this house so that it ships by rail, and I think that’s one of the neatest things in the house. Overall, it’s cool that [the team] has a compact house that showcases a lot of technologies. There’s a lot of steel that goes into the frame, and there’s a lot that’s got to come together.
MC: What has been the biggest challenge for the project?
LW: It’s a small team with a big project, and people sign on and have no idea how big of a project it really is. When crunch time comes and people have other obligations, the biggest challenge is going to be that it needs to stay fun and challenging and not overwhelming. You don’t want the group of people who worked on this thing to, when [they] see each other in a year or five years, just go “Oh my god we knocked heads so bad” and look the other way. So the biggest challenge is keeping it fun and making people glad they did it.
(03/07/13 5:00am)
On Friday March 1, 54 current Middlebury Posse scholars and 76 of their student, faculty and staff guests, called “plussers,” traveled to Silver Bay, N.Y. for the nationwide PossePlus Retreat. The PossePlus Retreat is an annual program in which the Posse Scholars of all 44 participating colleges and universities gather in various locations with guests of their choice. Over the course of a weekend, the scholars and their invitees discuss a topic that Posse scholars name as one of importance to them. This year’s topic was “What’s Your Worth? Class, Power & Privilege in America.”
Jennifer Herrera, retreat organizer and special assistant to the dean of the College, described the purpose of the retreat as promoting diverse discussion and interactions among community members in regards to a significant subject.
“The PossePlus Retreat is a dynamic way of bringing together students, faculty and staff in an effort to create critical dialogue about an important issue,” explained Herrera. “We hear all the time that this retreat can be life-changing and that it often creates social networks, dialogue and activity that may not have been there before.”
Scholars and their plussers and mentors departed from the College Friday afternoon for a weekend which Tara Affolter, Posse mentor and visiting professor of education studies, described as “grueling.”
After arriving in Silver Bay, participants took part in emotionally-charged activities until nearly 11 p.m., and then awoke early on Saturday for a complete day of discussions and activities until late Saturday night. On Sunday morning, participants completed a final round of activities before departing for campus around noon.
The weekend’s activities centered around the ideas of revealing the functions of wealth and power in today’s society and identifying the misconceptions and stereotypes which accompany them.
Posse-plusser Jordan Seman ’16 felt enlightened by the weekend’s activities, especially one in which participants identified various locations on campus that can be associated with class.
“The activity was incredibly eye-opening for me because it revealed many of the stereotypes and social-stratifiers that occur in our college community daily,” explained Seman. “It led to very worthwhile discussions about class associations and privilege and how they play out at Middlebury.”
To Posse scholar Ashley Guzman ’13, exploring the rapport between one’s home life and life in college was most elucidated by the retreat.
“By being at Middlebury, I’m afforded a certain amount of power and privilege,” said Guzman. “But in hearing everyone’s stories about where they come from and being [a senior] who’s leaving, it’s very interesting to think about what it means to come to Middlebury and then go back to where you came from and how that can play a role in your experience at Middlebury.”
The message of the significance of one’s background resonated with Posse plusser Ian Rhee ’15 as well. “The most meaningful part was seeing how different a life I lead from the majority of the people on the retreat,” reflected Rhee. “I really got to see how privileged and fortunate I am, and it really made me grateful for my parents and how hard they’ve worked to provide me with everything that I have.”
Student Activities, Programs and Events Manager Dave Kloepfer who attended the retreat as a Posse faculty guest believes the topic of class, power and privilege is universal. “This topic hits home with everyone on some level,” said Kloepfer.
Many participants, both Posse scholars and guests, identified the retreat’s comforting atmosphere as beneficial to poignant, meaningful conversation. “The most meaningful part of the retreat was having the ability to share personal experiences and opinions in a very safe and open space,” said Seman. “We participated in many activities that allowed us to step out of our comfort zones and express ourselves in ways that we normally might not.”
Guzman attributes her increased vocalization about social issues to the atmosphere that the retreat promotes. “I’ve become more confident through these safe spaces that the retreat promotes in calling things out and expecting more of people,” she said.
Furthermore, Guzman hopes that these safe spaces can be brought back to campus through the sense of community generated at the retreat. “You immediately feel this comfort [at the retreat] that I don’t immediately feel on this campus,” said Guzman. “I just would really hope that the plussers and everyone who was invited just felt so included that they might now transfer that sense of community to [the College].”
Affolter entrusts this community of PossePlus participants, in particular the Posse scholars, with the task of increasing such powerful social dialogue as that which occurred on the retreat at the College.
“It’s important to do these focused moments,” said Affolter. “But these conversations really need to be threaded across our educational experiences and not just this isolated conversation. […] That’s the hope.”
(02/27/13 11:15pm)
Textbook sales at the College Store have been declining in recent years, with only approximately 55 percent of stocked textbooks sold in the fall 2012 semester, down over 20 percentage points from the previous semester. While the College has yet to identify a particular reason for the decline in sales, it is likely due to students choosing to purchase their textbooks elsewhere.
According to a December 2012 study by the Pew Research Center, the population of e-book readers is growing. The study reported that 23 percent of Americans read e-books due to increased ownership of e-reading devices. E-reader ownership grew from 18 percent in 2011 to 33 percent in late 2012.
With this information at hand, Library and Information Services (LIS) has been exploring methods of appropriately adapting to the increasingly digital educational shift, namely by participating in an e-textbook pilot program and increasing e-book rental offerings at the College.
In fall 2012, the College signed up for a McGraw-Hill e-textbook pilot program through EDUCAUSE, a company focused on exploring the potentials of new technology in higher education. With LIS funding, professors who had requested that the College Bookstore order McGraw-Hill textbooks for the fall semester were able to offer students free e-textbooks. Professors using McGraw-Hill textbooks took part in the pilot program by choice, as did students in the participating courses.
“We didn’t want to be perceived as asking the faculty to do something,” said Director of Library and Information Services Terry Simpkins. “We wanted to leave as much of the control up to them.”
Approximately 500 students in over 20 classes were offered e-textbooks. The bookstore’s online textbook catalog indicated which texts were covered under the pilot program, and the College Store ordered fewer copies of the bound textbooks available through the pilot program in anticipation of lower sales.
“We left it that if a student preferred to have the printed copy, we would order a copy for them,” wrote Bookstore Manager Georgia Best in an email. “I think we received three or four requests for printed copies.”
The e-textbooks, accessible online with any Internet-enabled device, contained the exact same material as their printed and bound counterparts, and offered interactive and share-able annotation capabilities. Readers had the option to highlight the e-text, take notes, link to secondary articles and share them with their professor and classmates.
According to Simpkins, most students and professors opted not to use the interactive capabilities, due in part to the pilot’s limited duration and uncertainty about the continued use of e-books in the future.
“The [faculty] were not interested in totally rethinking the way they teach with this technology, especially if there’s no guarantee that the technology is going to be here the next semester,” Simpkins said.
“Somebody who’s been teaching a class for five years and knows how they’re going to approach the class isn’t going to want to rethink their syllabus just for one semester,” he added.
In speaking with students who participated in the pilot, Simpkins concluded that cost was the driving factor in students’ decisions to opt for the e-book.
“All else being equal, i.e. cost, I got the sense that students would actually prefer print,” he said, noting the inconvenience and difficulty of long-form reading on a laptop as opposed to a printed book or even a Kindle, Nook or iPad.
Alison Maxwell ’15 used a McGraw-Hill e-textbook in her ECON 0155 introductory microeconomics class and cited the convenience of being able to complete homework readings when she had her computer with her, regardless of location, as one of the pilot’s main perks, but had difficulty adjusting to studying material on a screen.
“Without the cost saving, I don’t think I would use them because it was actually harder to study with,” said Maxwell. “Flipping between pages was cumbersome because I would be constantly scrolling up and down between pages. If the text refers to something on the opposite page, it’s inconvenient to have an e-textbook where you can only view one page at a time.”
Students were able to print pages from their e-textbooks and had the option of purchasing loose-leaf copies of the textbooks made of unbound high-quality monochrome printouts.The loose-leaf copies cost $28 for texts with fewer than 600 pages, and $34 for longer books. The loose-leaf copies also gave students the ability to maintain access to the text after the digital version was no longer available.
“In the end, a number of my students didn’t use the e-text as their primary text,” wrote Professor of Economics William Pyle in an email with regard to his ECON 0255 micro theory course’s e-textbook pilot participation. “But instead, perhaps one third to one half sent away for the loose-leaf hard copies that they could store in a binder.”
The ultimate goal of the EDUCAUSE pilot was to learn how students and faculty might use e-textbooks, and to establish the pros and cons of e-textbook usage.
While students seem to prefer printed books to e-textbooks, Simpkins noted that improved communication, more training sessions for faculty and a long-term pilot period would have likely changed the program’s reception.
While the EDUCAUSE e-textbook program has ended at the College, some students have found their own e-textbook resources through booksellers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
More commonly, however, students seek alternate book purchasing methods instead of going directly to the College Store.
The mail center has noted an especially great volume of incoming packages as of late, with over 650 USPS packages processed on Feb. 20. While the source of incoming shipments cannot be tracked, Mail Center Supervisor Jacqueline Galenkamp believes that many of the packages contained textbooks.
In addition to purchasing books from outside retailers, students have begun to rent textbooks from the College Store with greater frequency.
In Spring 2011, 12 textbook titles were available for rent and 58 copies were rented out for the semester at a significantly lower cost. Four semesters later, in fall 2012, students rented 582 textbooks from the 53 titles available for rent.
(02/27/13 4:42pm)
After 40 years in the library business, Director of Middlebury’s Ilsley Public Library David Clark will be retiring next month. Clark noted that he is “lucky because he has really enjoyed his work … other people get into careers that might have been fun at first, but eventually lose interest.” Clark added that in his 40 years of work, he has never had doubts about whether his career was a good fit for him. His job has suited him well and he discovers new and exciting things about it all the time.
Clark’s journey into the business began after his undergraduate years at Indiana University. As a sociology major, he was unsure of what to do right out of college. Conveniently, however, Indiana’s Graduate Library School held the answer. “I had always been drawn to libraries,” says Clark, “so I stayed at IU and participated in their program.”
Clark “got into libraries at a time when there was a scarcity of librarians working in rural areas.” Because of this shortage, Clark received federal grants and scholarships from the Maryland Library Association.
Right out of graduate school, Clark landed his first job in Harford County, M.D., which was, at the time, a so-called “rural area.” Now, ironically, Harford is home to nearly a quarter of a million people.
As branch manager in Harford, he oversaw four different libraries and was also responsible for opening a new facility. This job allowed Clark to “buy new books and start things in a new way.” After playing a supervisory role for 13 years in Maryland and gaining much experience, Clark followed his partner to the Philadelphia area where he helped convert an old elementary school into a new facility for the Indian Valley Public Library.
After Pennsylvania, Clark and his partner moved to Shelburne, Vt. Clark worked for a brief period as the Regional Consultant at the State Library north of Burlington in Georgia. His work involved consulting and advising for all libraries in Chittenden, Lamoille, Franklin, and Grande Isle County.
While Clark enjoyed this work, he noted that there was “something about the bureaucracy of a state organization” that he didn’t like. As a result, Clark searched for a new job. Fortunately for everyone who knows and appreciates Clark’s outstanding work, that “new job” was at Middlebury’s Ilsley Public Library.
In all his library experiences, Clark has never been employed as librarian but rather has always played a supervisory role. Nonetheless, Clark “never set himself above doing the most mundane chores of the library, whether that meant mopping a floor or checking in books,” said Chris Kirby, the adult services librarian at Ilsley. “Clark has clearly always been a true team player. His leadership style aligns with the Rotary motto, ‘Service Above Self,’” Kirby added.
During his time at Ilsley, Clark has certainly proved himself to be an outstanding director. Clark, in Kirby’s opinion, “embodies the qualities an organization looks for in a leader: ethical, accessible to both staff and the public, adaptable to change and welcoming to innovation.” Moreover, Clark has been extremely focused on improving the library and its services. “He strives to be at once practical and bold in shaping the direction of the organization,” says Kirby.
During his time working in Middlebury, Clark has helped to expand the physical footprint of Ilsley. Not only does the library offer traditional book lending services, but it now also offers frequent lectures and other services, such as helping people obtain income tax forms. Youth Services Librarian at Ilsley Sarah Lawton remarked, “David has created many opportunities for community members to become involved in the library as volunteers, supporters of the Friends of Ilsley Public Library and through participation in public programs. He really draws people in and makes them feel part of the library.”
Since there was no school last week for many Middlebury children, the library offered a series of film making classes that culminated in a final showing on Friday, Feb. 22.
Clark has gone above and beyond, making Ilsley a bustling place that is truly connected to its patrons. “As a director, David has always encouraged his staff members to take initiative, to experiment, all in the interest of the community the library serves,” Kirby said.
But despite the extra programs that the library now offers, one might still wonder whether the need for libraries is diminishing. When asked if, in an age of technological advancement, he has seen a decline in library use, Clark noted that he has actually seen the opposite. In his 17 years at Ilsley, Clark believes that today there are more people using the library than ever. Indeed in the 21st century the way information is conveyed and people are entertained is changing rapidly, but this happens all the time.
Moreover, Clark noted that new technologies open the door to myriad new customer service opportunities. For example, the concept of having a “cloud-based collection” is becoming increasingly more attractive for libraries such as Ilsley. As libraries increasingly deliver digital content, storage requirements can strain their local resources. Libraries are and will continue to adapt to technological change by adopting services such as Amazon’s S3 with Amazon CloudFront and DuraSpace’s DuraCloud.
Whereas libraries would traditionally purchase books and lend them to customers, with these new services, libraries can now provide e-books to customers. Books are not held physically within the building but are instead “in the cloud” said Clark. Libraries can now lease rights or access to e-books on the behalf of customers so they don’t have to buy or lease themselves.
Clark notes enthusiastically that there is so much out there that libraries can offer customers. Today, a Middlebury resident can borrow a rare and specialized book from Australia from a “cloud” server in Salt Lake City, and they can do it all at their local library.
Clark said that he is sad to be retiring at a time when there is so much potential growth for the library’s footprint. Clark will also miss the sociability of the workplace. Over the years, Clark has developed priceless relationships with colleagues and customers that he will be sad to leave behind.
Clark will be greatly missed by his colleagues as well. “I will miss his impressive ability to move from high level thinking to the day-to-day operation of the library,” said Lawton. “He has always made himself available to staff and library patrons and we will all miss his dignified and welcoming presence,” she added.
Clark remarks that he wanted to leave on a holiday, and thus will be retiring on the Ides of March. Despite his retirement, there continue to be many exciting events on the horizon for Clark. As a member of the board of the Opera Company of Middlebury, Clark looks forward to their 10th anniversary season. The 2013 season brings Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, which will be playing May 21 – June 8. Clark is also a member of Middlebury’s Rotary Club. In the past he led a group to South Africa and he hopes to make similar trips in the future.
(02/20/13 9:34pm)
I interned at a Hong Kong-based weekly news magazine in winter term, and I made some observations on fragmentation of information by reading news everyday from news outlets in China and in the U.S.
If I only have 10 minutes before I go to work and need to skim some news, I’ll choose the New York Times over the People’s Daily, Nanfang Daily or any other Chinese media website.
The homepage of Chinese media tends to be the front-page layout of their paper. There is no selected news under different sections, and no active links that directs readers to the text of any article; only the PDF version of the paper is available.
I always find interesting reports on China, the Middle East and all parts of the world on the New York Times homepage, but world news rarely becomes the headline of any Chinese newspaper.
The narrow view is not the most unbearable part – the fragmented information is. Chinese news media only provide the least information you need to know about any pieces — most of the articles online are under 400 words, while western media offers in-depth stories. Most of the news on the New York Times is over two pages, and some fascinating feature reports can be over seven pages.
It is not hard to see how different styles of reporting in the West and in China affects the ways of speaking out in public.
I read comments before purchasing an item on Amazon, both in the U.S. and in China. The average quantity and quality of comments on amazon.cn are lower than those on amazon.com. Take One Hundred Years of Solitude as an example: most of the comments on amazon.cn focus on the quality of packing and mention nothing about the book itself. On amazon.com, however, all the comments sound like book critiques, and a lot of them are over 800 words. For a kettle, the comments on amazon.cn tend to be under two sentences; even when people are complaining about a kettle, they give no detail. But on amazon.com, users tend to be more responsible and will come back and edit their comments after using the kettle for several months, and the information can be very useful for potential buyers.
Similar things also happen on social media. In college, most of my friends don’t have Twitter accounts, and they barely post anything on Facebook. They value face-to-face communication. But in China, when I meet with my high school friends, the scene is totally different: everyone is on Weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) or Renren (Chinese version of Facebook) at the get together. My college friends share links of news reports and long critiques of events on Facebook, while my high school friends in China spend tons of time lingering on Weibo but only repost other’s short comments without creating any original post. One hundred and forty characters can be an efficient way to communicate, but it should not be the only way.
Fragmentation also limits our judgments. A 400-word news report can only include the basic who, where, when, what and how, and leaves no room for analysis. Even when analysis is present in those short reports, it will not be comprehensive and becomes biased.
I guess it is hard to avoid being fragmented in this era. News reporting is competing with short judgment, persuasive photos and self-explaining graphics. We, however, need to consciously avoid becoming impatient and shallow.
(02/20/13 6:07pm)
On Tuesday, Feb. 26 the Sustainability Integration Office is launching Be Bright, a pilot program to raise awareness and educate students about energy consumption on campus in a semester-long energy literacy campaign. The Sustainability Integration Office hopes the project will inform students and push them to be more conscientious of their own energy consumption while involving the campus in reaching carbon neutrality. The campaign’s events will include an exhibit in Davis Family Library on March 11, a “pledge ride” event on March 6, a series of community dinners and the launch of a new Tumblr site which can be found at go/BeBright.
“The goal of this whole campaign is to educate students about energy use at Middlebury and why their actions are important and how they effect campus-wide energy usage,” said Sustainability Communication and Outreach Coordinator Avery McNiff ’12. “It’s important to think about the consequences of one’s own energy use in the world outside of Middlebury with the understanding that the use of energy effects the environment, economics and politics at personal, local, global scales.”
The Be Bright campaign distributed surveys to the student body in January in order to collect data on what students already know and would like to know about energy consumption on campus.
“The survey was designed to gauge both students perceptions of energy consumption and current practices of energy conservation,” said Luke Elder ’13, a student involved in the campaign.
The survey generated several inquiries among the student body, such as “Will we reach our goal of carbon neutrality?” and “How much energy do the solar panels near the organic garden generate?” Answers to these questions will be posted on the Be Bright tumblr site throughout the semester.
The Feb. 26 launch dinner, to be held in Atwater Dining Hall, will serve local food and will feature a speech by Schumann Distinguished Scholar Bill McKibben. After dinner, students will have the opportunity to be photographed with their energy pledge, which will then be posted on the Tumblr page.
“We’re hoping that this [will create] a record of the pledges made,” explained McNiff. “They can be creative, even something very simple such as to turn off their lights every time they leave their room. We want people to be able to adapt it to their own lifestyle.”
In the days following the dinner, pledge stations will be set up around campus so students can write their pledge on a whiteboard, take a picture with it and post it on the Tumblr page.
The site already features a photo of McKibben holding his pledge, which reads, “to keep campaigning for a clean future”.
“We’ve found a lot of students want to know about carbon neutrality, and where we are on the path to carbon neutrality and so we’re trying to tie this into the energy literacy campaign,” said McNiff. “They want to know about our energy sources, where they come from, how the biomass [plant] works, what will we do to get to carbon neutrality, what we count in our carbon footprint. We need to make the answers to these questions available to students if we want to foster an energy literate community at Middlebury. We hope that in the effort to educate students we can also increase a sense of awareness and involvement. The idea for carbon neutrality initially came from students and it is crucial for students to continue to play a role in getting there.”
While the student body is often considered to already be environmentally conscious due to the College’s organized attempts to reach carbon neutrality, the energy literacy campaign seeks to educate students about the environmental effects of their behavior on a more individual level.
“I think energy literacy is important because energy consumption is one of the main ways that the average student contributes to the college’s greenhouse gas emissions on a daily basis,” said Elder. “Learning more about how seemingly small, daily decisions can impact the College’s energy use can collectively have a large impact on campus.”
Additionally, the campaign will incorporate different departments and elements of campus life that may not have been previously involved with energy issues on campus. For example, an exhibit of silkscreen pieces created by Ali Andrew ’12.5 titled “Energy Imprints” has been installed in McCullough as a part of the project.
“What I would like to see happen most is for students to discover a greater sense of connection with the college environment,” said Julian Macrone ’14, who is involved in the campaign and interned for Director of Sustainability Integration Jack Byrne this summer.
“As much as the campaign aims to reduce energy usage, I think the long-term goal for the campaign is to really foster a greater understanding regarding how campus functions, and how our own actions shape the workings of that environment. If this can help construct a greater sense of ownership of their environment in students, then hopefully this will set the groundwork for an enduring sense of responsibility and a lifetime of stewardship in whatever environment students may find themselves in.”
(02/20/13 6:05pm)
On Feb. 10 Public Safety announced an increase in parking ticket fines from $10 to $50, a change that has been applied to weekday and night winter ban and faculty and staff lot parking violations.
To decrease the number of tows required and increase compliance with the parking regulations, the fines were raised to magnify the “deterrence factor” of receiving a ticket, said Associate Dean of the College and Director of Public Safety Elizabeth Burchard.
“This change is necessary to reduce the gap between the previous ticket fines and the cost of a tow for the same violations,” wrote Burchard in an email to the student body. “Parking enforcement continues to be necessary, and consistency and equity are an important part of this process.”
Burchard said that Public Safety has received a number of complaints that the discrepancy between a $10 parking violation fine and the $125 charge for the first tow is too great.
Public Safety often tows cars that are parked overnight in winter ban and faculty/staff spaces in order to free up the spaces for snow removal and use in the morning, although they are “trying to continue to reduce the need to tow,” said Burchard.
Burchard acknowledged a “grace period” for those using college facilities such as The Grille or the library after midnight, but cautioned against pushing this limit.
“At a certain point we do realize that the night is over and now faculty and staff are going to start arriving in the morning,” said Burchard.
Burchard pointed out that Public Safety contracts to a tow service. Public Safety will occasionally waive the high tow fee for students who appeal the charge, and in these cases, the cost of the tow is absorbed by the College.
“That doesn’t really seem right,” said Burchard.
Dan Vatnick ’15 said the new fines are too high and that the current system of charging tickets to students’ accounts is ineffective as a deterrent.
Vatnick suggests that Public Safety fine the students directly instead of billing their parents, or preventing students from registering for classes until all fines are paid.
“Then, kids would have to actually deal with the consequences of a ticket instead of just letting their parents pay for it,” he said.
Burchard added that the number of tickets and tows has decreased significantly since she began working at Public Safety in 2001. She noted that while 5,773 tickets were issued in the 2001-2002 academic year, that number is now down to 3,549 tickets last school year.
A common complaint from students is that faculty and staff lots take the most convenient locations.
“A parking spot in Kenyon doesn’t count for real parking because it provides no utilitarian purposes,” said McKay Sheftall ’14.
Faculty and staff are given priority for the spots most proximate to classrooms and buildings.
“[Students spots are] more at the peripheral of the campus,” said Burchard, “so students are usually putting their cars [in these spots] and leaving them there. Unfortunately students don’t always like where the available spaces are located.”
In addition, students often note that the ratio of student spaces to faculty and staff spaces does not seem to reflect the population and the need for spaces.
“The faculty and staff lots are never full,” said Hannah Dietrich ’14.5.
Burchard described the system of parking regulations as a “strategic process” because there is a limit to the number of spaces and “we need to control how they are used.”
An idea that has been brought up among those responsible for parking regulations is to find a way to better associate parking spaces with housing assignments, said Burchard.
In order to make parking available for every permit holder, Public Safety must take into account external factors such as the current construction that has closed much of the Kenyon lot, said Burchard. The first-year spots that were once in that lot have now been moved to the lot behind the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts, with a number of news spaces added to the Ridgeline lot.
Most students have little to no experience with parking violations, but Burchard said that a small group of students have trouble with adhering to the regulations for a number of reasons.
Burchard emphasized that Public Safety is open to feedback.
“We are looking at the fact that there have been changes to parking … We are trying to figure out if we did it right,” said Burchard.
Written by JEREMY KALLAN '14
(02/13/13 10:39pm)
On Tuesday, Feb. 12, international freelance journalist and Middlebury alumnus Dimiter Kenarov ’03.5 spoke to students and community members in a lecture titled “Shale Gas: from Poland to Pennsylvania.” Recently, Kenarov spent six weeks traveling Eastern Europe and the United States researching fracking as a global phenomenon — the first report of this scale on fracking.
Kenarov particularly focused on Pennsylvania and Poland, where mineral rights to approximately one-third of the country have been sold to gas companies that use fracking. He started his project seeking to explore the social, environmental and economic costs of fracking.
Kenarov explained how today’s energy crisis and fracking are some of the most controversial issues in the public sphere today.
“It’s so polarizing,” said Kenarov. “It’s a real madness. A real war actually.”
Kenarov became interested in the issue in January 2012, after the arrival of fracking caused thousands of people in 12 cities to take to the streets in protest in his native country of Bulgaria.
“My first interest […] had to do mainly with the growth of environmental movements in Eastern Europe and how they were revitalizing civil society,” explained Kenarov. “After the end of the Cold War, people became politically apathetic […] and it seems like in the last couple of years that common space has become important once again.”
The issue of fracking has caused environmentalists around the global to protest. Fracking requires the use of thousands of gallons of fresh water in order to create the pressure to break the rock that separates the underground gas reserves from wells. This water will later flow back out of the wells as waste but contaminated with gas and chemicals that often make it radioactive. Additionally, six percent of the casings — intended to contain oil and chemicals within the well — of all new wells fail, resulting in contaminated groundwater for the area.
Other issues resulting from fracking wells include occasional methane emissions, which dangerously pollute the air, and the disruption of natural habitats — an inevitable side effect of the large clusters of wells and immense pipelines necessary to make fracking lucrative.
Economic arguments often favor fracking. Farmers in Pennsylvania can sell the mineral rights to their land to interested gas companies often for significant profits. Yet Kenarov is hesitant to place too much emphasis on fracking’s economic benefits.
“On one hand, there is no doubt that this has really given an economic boost to [regions of Pennsylvania],” said Kenarov. “Fossil fuels are a fluctuating commodity: it goes through booms and busts,” he said. “It is very dangerous, I think, to build up an economy around a commodity, a resource, that is so unstable.”
Kenarov does not believe, however, that fracking is the solution to countries’ energy and economic problems. He explained that the industry does provide revenue, but is already declining. Companies are leaving Pennsylvania in search of other gas sources. Additionally, no one knows when the supply of gas will be used up.
“Some people say 100 years of supply, some say seven years,” Kenarov noted.
Charlie Koch ’13, an environmental studies major who attended the lecture, was surprised by the instability inherent in the fracking industry.
“I had not previously considered the vulnerability of many of the new businesses and communities reliant on fracking to price fluctuations,” said Koch.
Both the economic instability and destructive environmental impact of fossil fuels have been influential factors in the College’s recent considerations of divesting its endowment from fossil fuel companies.
Kenarov, though hesitant to state an opinion on a would-be divestment initiative, said he did not think divestment would be effective in stopping a large-scale issue such as fracking. Rather, Kenarov advocates pushing large gas companies to improve their green divisions in order to develop alternate energy options. Students, however, are moving forward with their promotion of divestment — several student groups are set to pitch divestment initiatives to the College’s Board of Trustees this Saturday, Feb. 16.
(02/13/13 3:50pm)
Today is Valentine’s Day. No matter how you feel about this “holiday” — whether you love it, hate it or try to forget about it — Feb. 14 usually makes us think about love. And, even though the two are not necessarily or always related, love often makes us think about sex.
Most college students, however, do not confine their sex-related thoughts to this single day in February. Sex is a part of college — whether you’re having it or not. You may be waiting until marriage, but your roommate may not even wait until you leave the room. Sex is an inevitable part of our four years here.
It is important, therefore, that we are conscious of and educated about not just sex, but our sexual health in general. A recent survey on the topic of student life conducted by the SGA found that 58.3 percent of respondents had never thought about getting tested for STIs. Testing is available at Parton Health Center, but only 5.64 percent of respondents had taken advantage of this option.
There are various explanations for these somewhat jarring statistics. Some students may not be aware of the resources that Parton has to offer or may be dissatisfied with care they have received at Parton in the past. Other students may find the idea of getting tested embarrassing. Some students are also concerned about cost of the tests themselves, which range from just $6 to test for syphilis to $25 to test for gonorrhea and chlamydia.
Yet another possible explanation may be the “Middlebury Bubble.” Middlebury allows its students the opportunity to pursue intellectual enlightenment with little distraction of the problems of the “outside” world. We read about catastrophes and violence in the news, but at Middlebury, it can sometimes feel like these problems do not affect us — that we are invincible.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Middlebury students are not invincible. And as a campus charged with sexually active 18 to 22 year olds, Middlebury is especially not invincible to STIs.
Middlebury is not invulnerable to violence, either. While the fact that 89 percent of respondents to the SGA’s survey claimed to “feel very safe on campus and never think about safety as a problem,” can be construed as a positive indicator of life at the College, it also may demonstrate a lack of awareness of certain aspects of campus life.
For example, the above statistic may overshadow the harsh fact that sexual assaults do occur on our campus. While most students here feel very safe, this is not the case for all students. Given this situation, it is alarming that 35 percent of survey respondents had little knowledge of the on-campus resources available to victims of sexual assault. As a community, it is important that we remain aware of and sensitive to the issues — both physical and mental — that are a reality for some of our friends and peers, if not for ourselves. As students on a campus where sexual assault exists, we are all responsible for educating ourselves.
Clearly, we are primarily responsible for our own sexual health. Part of that responsibility includes taking advantage of the resources the College has to offer beyond just the health center. Educate yourself on the newly enhanced Sexual Assault policy, which expands the definitions of consent and substantial impairment. Reflect on the message of yesterday’s One Billion Rising event. Talk to members of the Student Wellness Committee about initiatives you would like to see on campus. Pay attention to the “It Happens Here” display in the Davis Family Library.
While it is important that students take advantage of these resources in order to be accountable for their own sexual health, we also urge the College to place greater importance on this issue. It has been a year and a half since the resignation of Jyoti Daniere, and we are still without a director of health and wellness. Forums and lectures on the topic of safe sex and sexual assault are largely nonexistent or reach limited audiences past first-year orientation. What kind of message is the College communicating in terms of valuing the sexual health of its students?
Our sexuality is inseparable from our whole being. Therefore, our sexual health cannot be ignored. STIs and sexual assault exist on campus. Increased sexual health programming, along with greater student accountability and responsibility, will ensure that the College and its students give sexual health the attention it deserves.
(02/13/13 3:48pm)
Are you addicted to your phone? Think about it for a second. How much of your day do you spend glued to your smartphone, checking emails, texting friends and reading articles? I know that when all is said and done, I am guilty of spending a good chunk of every single day on my phone. Before this winter term, I had never really thought of the effects that this obsession might have on my relationships with other people.
The majority of tables at Proctor sport iPhones carefully placed next to peoples’ meals. This technology stares up at the diners, tempting, distracting and reassuring all at the same time. In fact, I cannot remember the last time when I enjoyed a dinner in Proctor and did not look at my phone once. Snapchat, texting and the newest trend of Tinder have become intertwined in our socialization. Now we don’t even have to look up from our phones to talk about cute boys. We can just use Tinder to scan through boys in our area!
Don’t get me wrong, it is really fun and I can’t imagine life without my phone. Yet, after taking “Community and Connectedness” this past winter term, I have begun to think about the possibility that while my phone allows me to maintain old friendships across the country, I may be stopping myself short when it comes to true deep connections I could be making with the people sitting right across from me in the “real world.” In other words, is checking my Facebook in the middle of dinner to stay connected with old friends taking away from building stronger connections with those seated in front of me?
Throughout the winter term class I had a deep-seated belief that things were not as bad as they seem; our generation can still have deep relationships and connections like the generations before us. Surely, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and texting only add to our relationships instead of necessarily defining them?
As the course went on, I began to think more and more about the place of technology in my own life and the effect it has on my relationships. Whenever I’m alone or in an uncomfortable position, I feel a tug to my phone — it offers a sort of protective shield that I can hide behind. What if I were to leave it in my room and actually have to learn how to deal with uncomfortable situations that I will certainly come across in my day-to-day life? My guess is that I would actually have to interact with fellow students and thereby meet new people.
While we certainly become connected and stay connected using electronic devices, it is important to make sure that they do not disrupt the human interchange. I can organize a lunch with friends, but what good is that when I am on my phone talking to other friends while at lunch? I should instead be engaging with my fellow lunchers in order to foster those “real time” relationships.
But I do have hope for our generation. We are not at the point where we are so addicted to technology that we rely on it to completely fulfill our social lives. I think that when used properly, the technology in electronic devices provides us with the opportunity to do great things and to improve our lives. It is amazing and awe-inspiring, but we must be cautiously aware of our reliance on it.
In Proctor, try not picking up your phone for a whole dinner and you will realize how bizarre this seems. Or, just look around and take note of how many people are consistently on theirs. It is impractical and foolish to advocate a decrease or a halt in new technology and its usage, but being aware of how it affects my own relationships has forced me to learn how to strike a balance. I have made amazing connections with great people here in college and I want to ensure that I make the most of the time I have with these people — the people right in front of me.
(01/25/13 10:57pm)
Last week the College and the surrounding community mourned the passing of esteemed Professor Emeritus Ana Martínez-Lage who died after battling cancer for many years. Although Martínez-Lage retired last fall to spend more time with her family, her death has deeply affected members of the college community where she was highly respected and deeply loved.
Born in Pamplona, Spain, Martínez-Lage completed her higher education in France and received her Ph.D. in the United States from Penn State University. In 1996 Martínez-Lage joined the College as a member of the Spanish and Portuguese Department.
President Liebowitz described her as “a pioneer in the use of digital courseware materials” and noted that her development of the Spanish immersion program for Middlebury Interactive Languages “may well have a lasting influence on language education far beyond Middlebury.”
Professor of Spanish Patricia Saldarriaga also noted Martínez-Lage’s great contributions to the digitalization of language teaching, but stressed that she leaves a lasting impression beyond the classroom.
“Beyond academics, her greatest legacy to all of us will be her example of courage in adversity, of sheer grit in the face of terrible odds,” said Saldarriaga in an email.
Saldarriaga echoed Liebowitz’s remarks in emphasizing Martínez-Lage’s truly innovative teaching techniques with the use of technology.
“Again, using technology as a launching pad, she has helped prepare some excellent, truly innovative programs that use the latest theories of language acquisition and gives them a practical application through the latest technology,” said Saldarriaga.
Laura Reid ’04.5 worked closely with Martínez-Lage on her senior thesis and post-graduation collaborated with her on the development of her language immersion program. Reid described Martínez-Lage as a linguist without parallel and held deep admiration for her patience with language students.
“Ana was a linguist par excellence, cerebrally and soulfully,” wrote Reid.
“She truly embraced the idea of native-like linguistic capacity on a fundamental level; never judgmental, she accepted a non-native's ability to master her mother tongue as easily as she accepted her fellow native speakers' capacity for linguistic finesse and creativity,” Reid added.
Although Reid praised Martínez-Lage’s academic accomplishments, what she found more impressive was her incredible spirit and positive disposition.
“Enduring, graceful, selfless and strong are some adjectives that immediately come to mind to describe Ana, but the truth is, her character goes far beyond the limits of what language can effectively describe,” said Reid.
The College held a memorial service to commemorate Martínez-Lage’s life last Saturday, Jan.19 in Mead Memorial Chapel. The service’s attendance spoke volumes to the impact she had on both the College and the community.
In the words of Reid, “she was and is a unifying force of elegance.”
(01/24/13 2:30am)
Last Friday and Saturday evenings, The Rude Mechanicals (The Rude Mechs) performed their original play The Method Gun at the Seeler Studio Theater. The performance by the Austin, Tex.-based ensemble occurred alongside a week-long residency at the College, in which they provided workshops for and gave feedback to students. After seeing the performance, I must admit to being keenly jealous I wasn’t invited to sit in on one of these classes.
The performance began in a rather unorthodox manner, as the troupe had already been on stage walking around beforehand, greeting members of the audience and making slight adjustments to the set. When the flow of people into the theater finally tapered, it was a member of the troupe who took on the role of usher, announcing — in a tongue in cheek way, of course — to the audience to turn off all cell phones and abstain from taking photos.
The play itself traced the nine year training process of Stella Burden’s acting troupe as it prepared Tennessee Williams’ A Street Car Named Desire, although without any of the main characters. Burden, an acting guru who left the troupe early on in the process (she does not appear in the play), was the mastermind of “The Approach,” a dangerous acting method that combines “risk-based rituals” and Western acting methods. The narrative structure of the play is disjointed, and the troupe often broke character to further muddle the line between drama and real life. The fact that Stella Burden is a “truly fictional” character, as the troupe so equivocally put it in a discussion after the performance, adds only another layer to the performance. Indeed, the troupe’s unique ability to infuse traditional elements of story with a heightened sense of self-reflexivity made the performance a one of a kind experience.
I do not think I have ever seen a play that posed lofty, interesting questions in such a farcical, often vulgar way. Aside from the recurring question of what is real within the performance, the play explored the powerful influence certain individuals have in people’s lives and perhaps the distorted images that are then projected onto them. Or I could be totally wrong. That’s the kind of performance this was. The whole production was so open-ended that people will likely read into it in many different ways. What most people will agree to, however, was the absurdity of some scenes, such as when the actors started the performance by practicing crying, or the various scenes in which a vulgar tiger appeared randomly and commented on tangential topics. And of course who could forget the scene in which two male actors walked across the stage completely nude, save a string connected to helium-filled balloons wrapped around their penises.
If I haven’t conveyed this fact in a clear way yet, the play was extremely entertaining from start to finish. Most of the fun came from trying to figure out what was going on in addition to anticipating the next ludicrous thing that would happen. In the end I think it is difficult to convey with words what happens in The Method Gun. While some people might be bothered by this, I believe it is what makes the play interesting and the ensemble exceptional.
