1000 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(12/04/13 11:16pm)
After viewing the documentary made in a 2011-2012 Middlebury Union High School (MUHS) English Class on middbeat, Local Editor Molly Talbert and Editor-in-Chief Kyle Finck reached out to MUHS Journalism teacher Matthew Cox. In a new partnership, The Campus will work with MUHS journalism students to produce local content.
Steve Small: Theater Instructor by Isabel Velez '15
Steve Small is a man of many talents. He works at the Middlebury Hannaford Career Center as the theater instructor. The Hannaford Career Center is attached to Middlebury Union High School. Steve has been working at the Career Center since 1994 and has been introducing students to the world of theater since then. When asked how he began his career in Middlebury he mentioned that a local playwright saw him act and asked him if he would sit in on a meeting about the new theater arts program at the Career Center. At the meeting Steve gave his opinion about what he thought the program could be, and the next day he was offered the job. The program in the Career Center that Steve teaches is called Addison Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) This program allows students the chance to run and create a theater company. This also allows students to immerse themselves in the world of acting. Every day students from local high schools have the opportunity of taking this course for either a semester or an entire year. People who go through A.R.T. learn not only acting skills but skills such as screen writing, lighting, sound, set designing, costuming, and theater management to name a few. As busy as Steve is teaching high school students everything he knows about theater, he also manages to keep his acting skills sharp by being involved in local plays at the Town Hall Theater. He recently played the role of Lennie in a production of “Of Mice and Men” and was just in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” as well.
Steve attended the University of North Carolina School of the Artsn where he majored in drama. During the course of his teaching at the Hannaford Career Center he has taught some incredible students who later went on to become stars. One of the students that he taught was Jake Lacy, one of the actors in the show “The Office”. Others include Quincy Dunn-Baker, Tristan Cunningham and Toby Schine along with many others. When asked about his most rewarding moment teaching theater he responded, “I think that it comes when the students finds that connection to the craft ... That is the moment I like best.”
Marshall Eddy: Longtime MUHS Teacher by Zoe Parsons '14
Marshall Eddy has been working at the Middlebury Union High School since 1970, and is one of the school’s longest tenured teachers. Before he was an art teacher at Middlebury Union High School, he got his Juris Doctor degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1968 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in 1965. He has worked as an operating room orderly, a Russian language linguist in Army intelligence, a lawyer, and even a history teacher at MUHS before becoming an art teacher at the high school.
Moving from law to art is a big change, but Eddy became interested in art while he was practicing law in Middlebury. During one court case, he was snowed-in while staying in a hotel, and he started making art to pass the time. It started out as a hobby, but it grew to something larger, and he liked it more than he liked practicing law and teaching history. So when a position opened at the high school where he was working as an history teacher, he applied for the job and has been teaching art ever since.
Eddy acted in this year’s production of “Shrek: The Musical” at the Town Hall Theater with his family. He has acted in many productions before, and even preformed a one man opera with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, playing a “conductor” who sang while conducting. He also commutes to work every day on foot, year-round. “I’ve walked 14,000 miles to and from school in the last 43 years, but only moved two feet,” he said in a previous interview with The Tigers’ Print, the MUHS newspaper. He also led an extracurricular mime group at MUHS for 12 years.
As a teacher, Eddy has taught six current teachers, three staff members, and the chairman of the Union District #3 board. Eddy plans on retiring at the end of the next school year. Even though he has been teaching for over 40 years, he is always learning new techniques and taking art classes.
Jeff Clark: Bike Enthusiast by Jessica Prisson '14
Jeff Clark, a world history and photography teacher who has taught at Middlebury Union High School for 15 years, leaves at at 5:50 every morning and bikes 12.5 miles to and from the school year-round, regardless of the weather.
Clark has an extensive educational background and holds a degree in Political Science and Master’s degree in Computer Application Programming. He also did Ph.D. work in intellectual history and is ABD (all but dissertation). His dissertation traces the intellectual origins of western attitudes towards nature from the biblical period to the present through the lens of deep ecology and eco-feminism.
A partial list of colleges he attended includes St. Michael’s, Nova University, Florida State University, and Arizona State University.
Clark got his first bike, a Schwinn Varsity, as a high school graduation present and soon embarked on a 130-mile trip from Saxton’s River in Rockingham to Glover, VT. He currently owns six bikes.
In 1983, he biked about 600 miles to Acadia, Maine and back.
In 1989, the biking enthusiast sold his car and began commuting by bike as he worked on a Ph.D. for 3 years at Florida State University.
Just last summer, he spent two weeks touring between 16 Vermont Breweries with science teacher Noah Hurlburt.
These days, biking up and down the colossal hill to Ripton proves more difficult during winter because of the late sunrise, early sunset, and snowy or icy road conditions. Clark has outfitted his Salsa Fargo and Salsa Vargo bikes with studded snow tires and bright lights comparable to a car’s headlights.
He averages about 25 miles per day for a school year total around 4,400 miles. He recently passed the 10,000-mile mark since he began biking to work 2 years ago. That’s the equivalent of riding from Maine to California nearly 3 times!
When asked why he does it, Clark will answer that he bikes partly for mental health, but mostly for “a more direct, intentional relationship with the outside world.” Aside from the meditation aspect, Clark bikes solely for the experience.
Mr. Clark’s future summer plans include the Great Divide Ride, a 2,745-mile trip from the Canadian Rockies to the Mexican Plateau.
Jonah Lefkoe: MUHS Senior Class President by Samuel Messenger '14
Meet Jonah Lefkoe, Middlebury Union High School’s senior class president. Well, he’s not only the senior class president. He’s also president of the Middlebury National Honor Society, Brain Science club member, tenor sax player, and lineman on the undefeated football team that just won the state championship. As president of the National Honor Society, he helped organized many community service events and fundraisers, like the recent blood drive. Athletically, besides dominating people in the trenches on the football field, he also has thrown javelin, shot put and discus on the track and field team since middle school.
Also involved in the Brain Science club for all four years of high school, he hopes to major in neuroscience in college. He’s interested in the medicinal field, but is also considering careers in research or teaching after college. Jonah worked as an intern in the neuroscience lab at Middlebury College. Working with Assistant Professor of Psychology Mark Stefani, Jonah assisted in his research. He liked working there a lot, saying it “made him want to pursue neuroscience even more.” Jonah also is taking a computer science class at the college, which he also enjoys, taught by Professor Matt Dickerson.
In addition to playing tenor sax in band since freshman year, he also plays the ukulele in his free time. He has diverse musical tastes, ranging from Zac Brown Band to Al Green to Brother Ali. Jonah likes to read biographies and books about the brain. He lives in Middlebury with his parents Todd and Karen, his little sister Sophie, and his dog Pipin, a Havanese. He lives by Alexis Carrel’s quote, “Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.”
Yeweon Kim: Foreign Exchange Student by Krisandra Provencher '15
Middlebury Union High School has one foreign exchange student this semester; 18-year-old Yeweon Kim of Seoul, South Korea. Yeweon, meaning “Jesus Wants Me” in Korean, is a cat owner who loves piano, traveling and anything to do with cheese! Yeweon came to the United States through the Program of Academic Exchange, or PAX, a non-profit educational group that describes its mission as an effort “to increase mutual respect among the people of the world, to foster an appreciation of our differences and similarities, and to enhance our ability to communicate with one another.” Through PAX, Yeweon has been placed with the Foshays, a local Bridport family who have previously hosted three exchange students.
“When Grace, our oldest daughter, left for the Air Force, we had an extra bedroom and a hole that needed to be filled,” Jenny Foshay, Yeweon’s host mother, said. “Olivia, our youngest is 17 and homeschooled, so we thought it would be nice for her to have a sister around.”
Prior to coming to America, Yeweon had traveled to the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Japan, as well as Cambodia and the Philippines for missionary work. She dreams of going to Egypt one day. Even though she may be well traveled, Yeweon’s biggest adjustment while staying here in America centers around school. In Korea Yeweon experienced a very strict and methodical setting, yet here in America she is experiencing much more relaxed and amicable environment. One of the biggest differences involves student and teacher interaction. “Most students don’t ask the teachers questions or talk to them during class, mostly because students are shy. We just listen to the teachers speak during class.” said Yeweon. Schooling in Korea doesn’t end when school finishes at 4 p.m. though. “We normally have extra study so we tend to finish at 10 p.m. I know it’s crazy!” Many of the subjects taught here are the same as in Korea, she said, the learning environments just happen to be different. Yeweon said that while in America, “I hope to use this time in Vermont to improve my English, become more confident, and learn about American culture.”
(11/20/13 10:12pm)
On Monday, Nov. 18 Community Council met with Executive Director of Health and Counseling Services Gus Jordan and Director of Health and Wellness Education Barbara McCall to continue the conversation on alcohol and changing the culture that surrounds it.
In last week’s short respite from the ongoing conversation around hard liquor, the Council discussed ways to increase communication between all members of the College community, including students, faculty and staff.
Last week, Community Council Co-Chair Luke Carroll Brown ’14, introduced the topic with a story about Ian Cameron ’13.5, who passed away after a tragic car accident this past summer. Cameron had close friendships with several membes of Ross custodial and dining staff. One woman from the Ross staff, Brown told the members of the Council, “said Ian was her best friend.”
“Whereas so many other students see her just as the individual who cleans their toilet, Ian saw her as someone who helped him at this College and as a friend,” Brown said. Sadly, Cameron’s story is not representative of the whole student body, and the interactions between students and staff are often weak or nonexistent. The best community the College can have, Brown said, “involves communication between all facets of the community.”
He proposed two ideas that would increase communications: a bi-weekly community lunch series and the creation of an award in the memory of Cameron to honor a student who actively interacts with staff and faculty.
Members of the Council proposed many ideas that would encourage communication. Elizabeth Lee ’17 suggested creating an organization which would regularly reach out to other members of the college community. Brook Escobedo, Ex-Officio of Language Schools, called for an expansion of the Friends of International Students (FIS) Host Program, a program which connects international students with hosts from the College community, to encompass domestic students as well. Rachel Liddell ’15, SGA president, suggested smaller informal gatherings of students with staff who contribute tremendously to student life, such as the staff from the Service Building.
A broader examination of the power relations on campus also took place.
“One of the challenges is that some staff members don’t perceive themselves as people who have power in our community,” observed Will Nash, professor of American Studies and English & American Literatures. “They might often perceive students as people with a certain kind of power. People with power must see the power to create a space of trust for people without power. If you don’t do it that way, it doesn’t work.”
In this week’s meeting, the discussion concerning hard liquor and changing campus culture was resumed. Jordan and McCall both offered the Council new perspectives on the issue. They described how the support system for students concerning alcohol abuse at the Parton Center for Health and Wellness operates and were happy to engage in the conversation with Community Council.
A great portion of the discussion centered on the culture of drinking here at Middlebury. Liddell was first to attack the prevalent “work hard play hard” mentality on campus. “A lot of people here do realize that when they drink a lot, it makes their lives harder, not easier,” she said. McCall concurred, calling the mentality “problematic.”
There was also a general consensus in the Council on the dearth of social events on campus that encourage students to attend without having consumed alcohol beforehand. In the meeeting many members concluded that increased institutional efforts and funds committed were necessary to create a more dynamic social scene on campus.
“The fact that we are having a conversation here today is hugely helpful,” said McCall. “Thinking about all the pieces that might fit into the larger puzzle and what Community Council can do to influence all those puzzle pieces [is hugely important]. ”
(11/14/13 4:13am)
As we once again gripe and groan about the inadequacy of BannerWeb, it’s easy to lose sight of other registration frustrations many students face as we choose how to spend the chilly month of January.
Instead of enrolling beachside at some Southern Californian college or braving the hustle and bustle of a city school, students of the College choose to spend the greatest four years of their lives in rural Vermont. This four-week haven from the crush of a real semester’s workload is allegedly an opportunity for students to capitalize on their decision to come all the way out to beautiful nowhere. But with a number of students left out in the cold to fulfill important requirements due to dubious course credit policies and a shortage of crucial classes, is this magical month all that the Admissions department dresses it up to be?
J-term’s selling points are its dialed-back rigor and the possibilities its surplus of free time affords: immersion within a singular subject of choice, the pursuit of a passion outside the myopia of one’s major or the exploration of the myriad extracurricular opportunities the College and its activity-laden environs provide. For some, this means taking a break from their strict regimen of lab science courses and indulging their interest in French poetry with a visiting poet, or putting down the paintbrush and trying their hand at business strategy in MiddCORE. For others, it means taking a class on dinosaurs and hitting the slopes every day after lunch. Despite the disparity in rigor, all are valid uses of the term — they demonstrate a willingness to take a break from their primary goal and to explore uncharted territories, academic or otherwise.
In a perfect world, this is the reality of J-term for all. However, many students find themselves incapable of realizing the vision of a semi-academic winter wonderland for one reason or another. Students who are in their first year of language study are required to take a class in that language, which meets five times a week with additional language table and recitation obligations. Others, like double majors or students who have changed their major later than most, discover themselves to be in an even more precarious situation wherein they need to take more credits to complete their major than they have semesters left. Especially in highly class-time intensive concentrations — like the Sciences, where it is simply impossible to take on a full schedule of classes in the field — J-term could be the time in which students can find a class to put themselves back on track. But, most of the time, it is not.
In order to incentivize the idealistic, exploratory usage of J-term propagated by tour guides and PR releases, some majors limit the number of winter term credits they allow to be counted towards one’s degree, while others do not accept any at all. Furthermore, even if one’s major might accept a J-term credit, this does not necessarily guarantee that a class in the subject will even be offered during the term. As a result, students who are in dire need of a major credit are forced to take a more whimsical class than they would have desired — because although learning about craft in the digital age with a visiting professor is insightful and beneficial for those who are interested in the subject matter, it does not serve much of a purpose for a Psych major who needs one more credit but does not have any classes offered in his/her area of study.
Another problem that perhaps exasperates the lack of substantial offerings during the winter term is that the College stands at an impasse regarding course credit. Every J-term, a throng of visiting professors are hired to teach classes within their fields of interest not only to help students expand their horizons, but also to give resident professors time off. If they were to teach a winter term class in addition to two semesters, professors would barely have any time to spend time with their families or conduct their own research between grading periods. Since the College wants its employees to both stay here instead of leaving for another school that will afford them the time off and to publish prominent research to increase its reputation as an institution, most professors are granted that time off. But, at the same time, the departments do not want to award credit for classes taught by professionals who may have a wealth of experience with the subject matter but a dearth of experience in the classroom. Therefore, while the “real” professors are away, students often have to take classes that do not count for anything as they wait for the barons of course credit to return.
While many students do enjoy the multitude of exotic classes and experiential learning opportunities, there still remains a crowd in need of one more credit that they cannot find during J-term. Therefore, in order to promote and encourage the timely success of every enrolled student, it is of vital importance that the College considers offering more courses in all majors that yield credit towards the major. If this makes for fewer classes like “The Elements of Murder,” unless the Chemistry or English department will accept the credit, so be it. The College has a hierarchy of fiduciary responsibilities to its students: ensuring them the opportunity to earn a degree in a four-year time frame should stand much higher than hiring a non-professors to teach supplementary classes.
(11/14/13 2:05am)
Middlebury’s volleyball squad ended its season sooner than hoped last Friday, Nov. 8, exiting the NESCAC tournament in the first round. The Panthers capped off the season with a quarterfinals match against Amherst, an opponent they had faced twice already this year, ultimately losing 3-1. This was the Panthers’ earliest exit from the tournament since 2009, when they also lost to Amherst in the quarterfinals. Compared to last years NESCAC championship, this premature exit from the tournament stung, but Middlebury did not go down easy.
Amherst, who went on to the semifinals to lose to Bowdoin 3-2, was coming off of an extremely successful season. They went 20-8 overall, and 7-3 in conference to tie for third in the NESCAC standings with Tufts. The Lord Jeffs swept the first meeting between themselves and the Panthers, but the second match ended in a gritty 3-2 win for Middlebury.
On Friday, it was the Jeffs who came out on top, defeating the Panthers with a final score of 3-1. It was a tale of frustration for Middlebury, as the errors they had worked all season to eliminate came back to haunt them in the tournament. Middlebury left the game with a total of 33 errors, compared to Amherst’s 18. Middlebury showed hope within the first set, holding the Jeffs to a .023 hitting percentage, and only eight kills. Compared to Middlebury’s 14 kills and .158 percentage, things were looking positive for the Panthers, who won the first set 25-21. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep their pace steady, and dropped a lengthy second set 27-29. Despite getting 21 kills on the set, their 12 errors on defense kept them from sealing the deal. The Jeffs earned a more comfortable win in the third set 21-25, where they hit an impressive .361, then cruised to an easy 18-25 victory in the fourth set.
Coach Sarah Raunecker remained happy with her teams valiant efforts.
“The early exit was hard, but we walked away with our heads held high,” she said. “This team worked hard this year, and I’m proud of that.”
Co-captains Megan Jarchow ‘14 and Amy Hart ‘14 both walked away with 24 kills, an impressive feat that surely kept the Panthers in the game longer than the team’s errors would have otherwise permitted. Both of their impressive careers were ended how they were spent, making opposing NESCAC defenses seem foolish. Defensive star Lizzy Reed ’15 had 23 digs on the game, reflecting a dominant season spent preventing the Panthers opponents from putting points on the board. Melanie English ’17 ended the game with a .361 kill percentage.
Despite ending the year sooner than expected, the Panthers had an impressive season by any standard. Their 18-7 record reflects the hard work they put into their team, and in the end the Panthers were proud of their efforts.
“This team has worked so hard this season, especially in light of the many injuries.,” said Jarchow. “We have really come together to step it up and make things happen. We could hang with and beat any team that comes our way.”
(10/30/13 10:49pm)
Two leather chairs and an array of lamps sat atop a faded, ornate rug on stage at the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts (MCA) Concert Hall. Concert Hall Technical Director Mark Christensen played his guitar quietly, contributing ethereal and jazzy music to start off the event. This set-up, a warm display reminiscent of a cozy, family living room, was a warm welcome for an audience that packed the seats of the Concert Hall for Cocoon, a night of story-telling hosted by the creators of MothUP and sponsored by the MCA and the Committee for the Arts.
Cocoon brought six storytellers on stage, three students, two community members and a professor, to tell stories all centered around the loose topic of metamorphosis, stories of growth and change that ranged from a humorous story about first jobs to a heartwarming story of love and loss.
“Change is one of the only true constants in life,” said Luke Greenway ’14.5, one of the three students in charge of the event and MC for the evening, during his introduction.
The first storyteller was Doug Anderson, the director of Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater. “I think we’re wrong about miracles,” he said as he walked up to the microphone.
Anderson’s story talked about his time teaching at Amherst College. With an extensive history in theater, he was brought on to teach in both the theatre and English literature departments. With a hint of bitterness in his voice, Anderson pointed out to the audience that he had never taken an English class in his life, a fact that Amherst College somehow overlooked.
The story proved to be a strong start for the evening. Anderson’s experience in theater definitely showed through and his style of storytelling quickly caught the attention of the audience.
However, though there were probably just as many non-students as students in the audience, it seemed a bit odd to lead with this story. Anderson’s story was far beyond my experience as a student and, after the show, I heard complaints about his comment that teaching at community college was the “worst thing that could happen to someone in academia.”
The second storyteller was Mariam Khan ’16. Khan spoke about her experiences during her year abroad, during which she spent time working at a hospital in Indian slums and DJ-ing at a night club in Thailand. Khan’s story spanned four countries and raised interesting questions about identity, specifically about Muslim identity in America. Her experiences were incredibly fascinating and the wide range of her story was captivating, though her delivery was quite fast, making her hard to understand at parts. Also, because there was so much going on, sometimes the separate parts felt disjointed.
“Though it may not look like it,” Khan started her story, wearing a headscarf and traditional Pakistani clothing, “I’m as American as they come.”
It was at this point in the show, after the first two stories, when I found myself starting to wish that the organizers had better utilized — or used at all — the set-up on stage. The chairs and lamps created an interesting scene and I feel that the relaxed atmosphere of the event could have taken something from having two other speakers sit in the chairs while the stories were being told.
For me, the strongest speaker of the night was the third speaker, Emily Jacke ’12.5, who was the last speaker before the intermission. Jacke told a story about her relationship with her close high school friend Jesse, who struggled — and eventually lost the battle with — leukemia. The story was, naturally, incredibly emotional and Jacke had an incredibly powerful and distinctive method of conveying her story. Her sentences had an almost sing-song tone to them, coming to quiet stops at just the right moments.
And while the story was incredibly emotional, it was also funny. Jacke seemed to know exactly when to add a joke or light detail. When she said, “Then, Jesse stopped coming to school,” my heart dropped and then — seemingly moments later — I was laughing at the image of Jacke unable to cross the bridge at prom in her 108-inch circumference skirt.
During the intermission, the hosts of the event asked audience members to fill out slips of paper answering the question “What are you becoming?” Between each of the acts after the intermission, Greenway read some of the responses, which ranged from “A freshman of life — I’m graduating,” to “A big gay rainbow butterfly” to “I’m only 65. It’s too early to tell.”
Throughout the show, Greenway contributed an array of one-liners and jokes and, in the second half of the show after Emily Bogin ’17 story about finding secret places around campus — a story, she said, that was “not a love story, but [was] a story about love” — he shared his own story about storing his possessions in an air duct over the summer. While his jokes were certainly cheesy, his persona worked well on stage facilitating the transitions between stories.
The highlight of the second half of the show was a story by Associate Professor of English & American Literatures Daniel Brayton. Brayton told the audience about his experience as a graduate student flying back home from visiting his sister outside Paris. High above the Atlantic Ocean, a Moroccan man sitting next to Brayton on the plane was attacked — first verbally, then physically — by two drunk Frenchmen. Brayton, who had some experience wrestling and boxing, got involved with the dispute happening at the back of the plane, helping his new friend.
Brayton’s story felt almost like a change in genre, from the more heart-warming stories before to one with a bit more tension. And while two French drunks and a Moroccan man getting into a fight over the Atlantic sounds a bit outlandish, his story was incredibly real, vividly told and very human.
Near the end of the show, Greenway announced that, in January, MothUP will be expanding.
The hosts of that event received an offer to become part of the official Moth with NPR. NPR and students at the College will be working to start the Vermont Story Slam which will feature stories both here in Middlebury and in Burlington.
All in all, the event was a huge success. A wonderfully curated group of stories provided for a night of strong emotions. Each storyteller brought an interesting perspective and a wide range of experiences that captivated the audience.
“We were very proud of all the storytellers,” Greenway wrote, in an email. “It’s a tribute to the strength of our storytellers that in our conversations with audience members, every single storyteller has been cited as a personal favorite.”
[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article, as well as that in print, stated that the fourth speaker was Emily Goins '17. This was incorrect; the fourth speaker was Emily Bogin '16.]
(10/30/13 8:54pm)
On Thursday Oct. 24, journalist Peter Savodnik ’94 gave a lecture sponsored by the Department of English and American Literature, Ross Commons and the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs titled “Why We Need a New Media Now and What It Will Look Like”, the first lecture in the Meet the Press Lecture Series this year, in the conference room of Robert A. Jones ’59 House.
The room was filled with attendees eager to hear Savodnik, who has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and GQ among other publications and has reported from Russia, China, the Middle East and across the United States, speak about the future of media. In addition to being a graduate of Middlebury College, Savodnik has also taught two Winter Term courses at Middlebury.
“We talked a lot about ideas,” said Harry Zieve-Cohen ’15, who was a student in the class as a first-year. “I sort of found since then that my own interests are in the confluence of literature and politics. It was a more rigorous and [academically] serious ... J-term course than most J-term classes. People should take his class this January.”
In his lecture, Savodnik discussed how Stateless Media, the news company he founded that produces short videos called “shortreals” that deliver news stories in a more exciting and cinematic format, began. The first shortreal he made, “Brothers Shaikh,” is about a British man named Nasser Shaikh who travels from Britain to Sri Lanka to find the hotel where his brother Khuram was murdered and where Khuram’s girlfriend was raped.
Savodnik then spoke about why we need a new form of media. Though for many years he had vowed to remain a print journalist, in recent years Savodnik began realizing the deficiencies of current media. Print journalism is rapidly shrinking, making it no longer a medium that engages the public. “Journalists ... run the distinct risk of becoming more and more like academics, that is, instead of speaking to the whole world, [they are] speaking more and more to each other,” Savodnik said.
The lecture captivated the audience’s attention and caused a spirited discussion in the Q&A session, in which many members of the audience, who have grown up with traditional media, questioned Savodnik’s idea of new media. As the organizer of the Meet the Press Lecture Series, Scholar-in-Residence Sue Halpern from the English and American Literatures department observes, “[t]here were a fair number of skeptics in the audience and ... their pointed questions were useful in helping the rest of us understand Peter Savodnik’s vision.”
The topic of journalism relates further to America’s troubled democratic regime. Many problems that plague the government today seem to be closely connected to the condition of the media.
“At this point in time it’s questionable whether we have either a free press, given the corporate ownership of so many media outlets, or a functioning democracy, as evidence by the government shutdown among other gerrymandered disasters,” Halpern wrote in an email. “What makes so-called new media important is the possibility of reinvigorating the press, in part by bypassing the constraints of traditional media.”
“Without a healthy media, democracy cannot function,” Zieve-Cohen said. “Indeed, I don’t think it’s a stretch to trace many of American democracy’s current problems to our present lack of a mature and intelligent media.”
Campus journalism seems to embody in some respects the idea of new media, as shown by many projects on campus.
“Because students are already familiar and comfortable and used to multimedia as consumers,” wrote Halpern, “and because there are so many students here who have multimedia skills themselves, Middlebury students are already doing this kind of work themselves. MiddBeat is a good example. The audio-visual profiles done by the Narrative Journalism fellows is another, as is the ‘Portraits (in) Justice’ project, and there are many others.”
(10/30/13 5:58pm)
A friend on the MCAB Concert Committee wrote to me after middbeat had posted my email, “I love to mess around as much as you do, but saying ‘let’s get these fascists’ doesn’t really allow for an honest discourse that could make the entire process better, rather than immediately trying to make people defensive.”
First of all, no, my friend from MCAB, you do not love to mess around as much as I do. Secondly, making people defensive is in fact the only way this “New Deal” (the term future historians will use to refer to the movement of Chance to Nelson) got made. The Concert Committee — I won’t generalize by calling them MCAB; I got no beef with the rest of that organization — only cared about this situation after the brave folks at middbeat put them on the defensive.
And they were right to be defensive — only advertising the ticket sale date on Facebook was irresponsible and selfish. 53 of my friends on Facebook “like” MCAB. About half of those friends have graduated from this institution. I would really hope those recent alums have better things to do with their time than tell me about seeing the one post the Committee made about the sale date of the Chance tickets. Other friends who “like” MCAB on Facebook include my ex-girlfriend and Public Safety Officer Christopher Thompson. I’m afraid I don’t talk to either of them as much as I should.
I was never going to find out about the Chance tickets from Facebook. I am not alone in that realization. The MCAB Concert Committee’s idea of “honest discourse” was a curt, dismissive, condescending email to a single student who criticized them. They were defensive from jump street. The Committee got Lawrence Taylor-level defensive when middbeat proved that their inaction pissed off more than a single super senior Feb who happens to be taking the Creative Process and has a lot of time on his hands.
The Committee had a problem: due to the show’s placement in McCullough, there were not a ton of tickets. Their solution was to sweep it under the rug by only advertising on Facebook. That wasn’t the action of people who cared about students seeing this show.
The Committee suggested I use “proactivity” next time around. That was right after admitting that they chose to only advertise on Facebook. I hope the anonymous meanie-face who wrote the email — I learned recently it was not written or even approved by the entire Committee — is not an English major, because that is some ass-chapping irony.
Proactivity would have been to advertise the hell out of the sale date (posters, emails, announcements on WRMC), and then to help kids get tickets. To avoid the box-office website overloading, encourage students to line up outside McCullough the morning the tickets went on sale. Hand out hot cocoa. Make a whole thing out of it. The Concert Committee scored huge in getting Chance to come to Middlebury. Then they copped out. They didn’t wait through the 30 seconds of silence in “Pusha Man” to get to “Paranoia;” they just skipped to the next track.
Why did they do this? I’ve noticed a tendency in my peers towards passive aggression. It’s understandable — we all have to live together, so we avoid conflict at all costs. The Concert Committee exemplified this behavior at every turn. We can’t have that in our leaders. Stepping on toes is an unintended consequence of progress. You should be able to get over the pain of a stubbed toe quickly. When that happens, you can get to work resolving the conflict. I’m not sure if the Concert Committee shrugged off their boo-boo to help overcome the ticket situation. In my eyes, we got the concert moved to Nelson because of an incredible effort by JJ Boggs.
For those not familiar with Ms. Boggs, she is the Dean of Students for Student Activities & Orientation. To begin with, you’ve got to be a saint to work orientation every year. What’s more stressful than trying to convince hundreds of terrified/horny 18-year olds that they will feel at home for the next four years of their lives? JJ is able to make us comfortable during orientation because she knows she will never stop working to make this place our home. That home happens to have semiannual rap concerts.
Hopefully this ordeal will open up a greater degree of transparency and communication between MCAB and the students it represents. Were that to happen, we could get to the bigger issue, which is, of course, people cheating at Grille Trivia Night. That needs to stop. You’re seriously ruining it for everyone.
ADAM BENAY '13.5 is from Fairfax, V.T.
(10/30/13 5:15pm)
The Middlebury volleyball team suffered a tough set of losses over the fall break as the Panthers first dropped a match against Connecticut College 3-1 on Friday, Oct. 18 and then lost 3-2 at Tufts the next day. Middlebury rebounded the following week with a 3-0 win against Plymouth State a 3-1 win over M.I.T. On Saturday, Oct. 26, they split a pair of decisions, gaining revenge on Amherst for the loss earlier in the season with a 3-2 win before losing to Springfield 3-0 as part of the Hall of Fame Classic, hosted by Smith College and Mount Holyoke.
Unfortunately, even with the over Amherst, Middlebury (16-6, 3-5 in NESCAC) lost ground in the conference.
The Panthers loss against Conn. College was particularly disappointing. The Camels, who currently sit at 11-11 overall and 5-4 in the NESCAC, have had an up and down season, and the matchup looked to be winnable for Middlebury.
However, Conn. College came out firing, and beat Middlebury on the first set with a close score of 25-23. The Panthers responded, pouncing on the Camels for a dominant second set win with a score of 25-12. The Camels got over the hump, however, scraping out the next two sets with scores of 25-21 and 25-20. Middlebury played a much cleaner game, with only 30 total errors compared to the Camels’ 42, but ultimately Conn. College did just enough to eek out the win.
“Conn. College did a better job terminating the point than we did during those long rallies, and in combination with our own unforced errors we couldn’t make up for that,” Olivia Kolodka ’15 said.
The next day Middlebury dropped an even closer match against Tufts by a score of 3-2. The teams were neck and neck the entire way, with Middlebury earning a first-set victory by a score of 26-24, dropping the second 25-15, answering in the third with their own 25-15 win, then dropping a nail-biting fourth set 27-25. In the fifth set—played to 15—Middlebury could not muster a victory, falling 15-6.
Tufts is having a similar season to Middlebury, sitting at 17-7 on the season. However, he head-to-head victory improved the Jumbos to 6-3 in NESCAC play, while relegating Middlebury to seventh in the conference standings.
The Panthers were hungry for success as they served up the Hall of Fame Classic, which they began with a 3-1 win over M.I.T.
While the game proved to be more of a grind than their previous win — a 3-0 blanking of Plymouth State — Middlebury took control after a close 26-28 loss in the first set. After a comfortable 25-12, second-set victory, the Panthers took two close sets with wins of 25-21 and 26-24 in the third and fourth sets, respectively. Middlebury posted an impressive serving game with only two errors and 12 aces.
The next day, Saturday, Oct. 26, Middlebury would earn one of their most satisfying wins of the season, before being swept by an out-of-conference opponent. The trio of games made up the Hall of Fame Classic, which was co-hosted by Smith and Mount Holyoke.
The matchup with Amherst was a back-and-forth affair as the Panthers and Lord Jeffs traded wins and losses set for set. Middlebury won the first and third with scores of 25-21 and 30-28, respectively. Amherst took the second and fourth sets 18-25 and 22-25. Middlebury finally sealed the win with a 15-11 final set victory. Captains Megan Jarchow ’14 and Amy Hart ’14 exploded for 20 and 19 kills, respectively. Lizzy Reed ’15 put up a very impressive 30 digs, leading the Panthers’ defense.
“Our senior leadership is a key factor ... we also have a very balanced offensive attack,” said head coach Sarah Raunecker. “We’ve been getting good productivity out of Piper Underbrink ’15 in the middle, and both Olivia [Kolodka] and Melanie English ‘17 have proven to be effective hitters and very good blockers.”
Unfortunately Middlebury failed to carry their momentum into the next game, and were swept by Springfield 3-0. Middlebury did their best to keep it close, but lost all three sets 21-25, 19-25 and 15-25, respectively. The Panthers only had a team total of 25 digs, less than Reed’s individual effort the game before. The loss was a blemish on an otherwise promising week.
Now, sitting at 3-5 in NESCAC play and in seventh place, Middlebury will look to even their conference record over the final two games against Bowdoin on Friday, Nov. 1 and Bates the next day.
(10/17/13 1:07am)
Most people on campus can tell you that the old yellow and green houses you pass on your way to the Snow Bowl are home to the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference. But not as many people can tell you that across the street from Alexander Twilight Hall, in a converted pediatrician’s office stands the headquarters of the New England Review, one of the country’s top-ranked literary magazines.
Headed by Editor Stephen Donadio, Managing Editor Carolyn Kuebler, and Poetry Editor C. Dale Young, the literary magazine is sponsored by and strongly associated with the College. The magazine is a quarterly, and, as Donadio said, “an unpredictable magazine.”
D. E. Axinn Professor of English & Creative Writing poets Jay Parini, and Sydney Lea founded the New England Review in New Hampshire in 1978 with the vision of starting a magazine that was different from other literary magazines. And they have accomplished this goal; the Review contains work by both fresh new writers and older more established writers and features a variety of literary genres.
Parini, decided he wanted to start a literary magazine during his time teaching at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. When his friend and fellow poet, Lea, who was teaching at Dartmouth at the same time, had a similar plan, they decided to create one together.
At the time, numerous literary journals and magazines represented the literature of the Southern U.S., but few publications printed work by writers from the North.
“Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, Frost — all of these writers [are] from New England, but there was no review,” said Parini. It was the drive to fill this void that inspired the name of the magazine.
Parini described it as “an attempt to tie back to the core values of the American Renaissance,” and celebrate the New England roots of some of the most distinguished writers in history.
After collecting money, manuscripts and possible designs, Parini and Lea opened their first office near Hanover and began publishing. A few years later, in 1982, Parini and Lea both moved to Middlebury to teach, bringing the magazine with them. For a brief time after the move, the publication’s name was changed to the New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly; however, it was soon changed back, dropping the phrase “Bread Loaf Quarterly,” so as not to discourage lesser-known writers by explicitly associating the publication with Bread Loaf School of English’s lofty status.
The vision of the two professors from Dartmouth became a reality, and the magazine flourished. As the magazine gained recognition, so did many of its writers. Louise Erdich and Mark Doty were published in the Review before achieving international success.
In 1994, Donadio, who was teaching at the College at the time, took over as editor.
As Donadio sees it, the New England Review is “intended to present readers with a range of different kinds of writing and voices.” It primarily publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry, but the content varies from translations to historical memoirs to literary critiques.
There is no set standard for what might be published, just the prerequisite that it be “something that startles you,” as Kuebler, a graduate of the College, put it.
Every year, the magazine receives around 6,000 submissions from writers across a wide spectrum of experience and recognition. The editors, along with a handful of readers, select pieces by writers of different tiers and publish them alongside each other.
It is a magazine that challenges the norms for literary magazines, and is thus regarded among the best in the country.
‘They care about writing,” said Kuebler of the College and its relationship with the Review.
With one of the strongest undergraduate programs in creative writing in the U.S., “Middlebury is a place where literature is central and it’s celebrated,” Parini said.
The magazine remains a major facet of the College’s strength in literary studies and “reinforces, in dramatic ways, Middlebury’s presence in the literary world,” said Donadio,
Though seemingly under-recognized by the student body, the Review has maintained an important role in the College’s English and Arts programs and has contributed in myriad ways to the College’s literary prestige.
(10/17/13 12:49am)
As the College works to bring the Biomass Plant back up and running after it ran for 16 straight weeks — the longest, consecutive period to date — increased questions have been raised over the viability of carbon neutrality as the College races towards its 2016 goal.
In 2007, the College Board of Trustees approved a plan to become a carbon neutral institution by 2016. The College has since cut about 40 percent of its carbon emissions in six categories: heating and cooling, vehicles, electricity, travel, waste transportation and carbon offsets. This significant reduction in carbon emissions, which is expected to reach 50 percent by the end of the 2013 fiscal year, is largely attributed to the biomass plant, which burns woodchips to create a renewable energy source, an alternative to oil.
The initial plan for carbon neutrality was a student-led movement. Former Professor of Chemistry at the College Lori Del Negro and Professor of Economics John Isham led a winter term class in 2003 focusing on the scientific and institutional challenges of becoming carbon neutral. The class culminated in the production of a blueprint detailing how the College could reach this goal.
In January 2006, another group of students participated in the same course to make a more specific plan. They presented the plan to the Board of Trustees in February of that year. The board then made a commitment in May 2006 to use the student plan and pledged carbon neutrality by 2016.
“It was all [students] work,” President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz said. “They sold the trustees. It was not the administration. It came from students, and I think future innovations will come from students.”
The idea may have hatched by students, but it has quickly graduated to a booming administrative catch phrase primarily driven by the board and Old Chapel.
However, despite the College’s positive reduction of carbon emissions, neutrality seems to have become an increasingly complex goal, primarily because there are so many ways to define what exactly is included in carbon neutrality and whether true neutrality is even possible.
“I don’t think we can become truly carbon neutral according to the way that I would quantify it,” Professor of Geology Pete Ryan said. “There is the institutional way of quantifying carbon neutrality. And then there is the way I would quantify it. I think until we become basically a fossil free economy, true carbon neutrality is almost impossible.”
During fall 2009, Stafford Professor of Public Policy, Political Science and Environmental Studies Christopher Klyza taught an Environmental Studies class that looked at how the College was getting its biomass supply and if biomass was actually carbon neutral.
“The students were interested in this question, because it didn’t make sense that there is smoke coming out of the biomass plant,” he said. “It’s not obviously carbon neutral. So there must be more to it.”
“I think we’ve rethought biomass and how carbon neutral it is,” Isham said. “There were some critiques from faculty colleagues that proved to be true about overselling biomass as a carbon neutral process.”
According to Director of Sustainability Integration Jack Byrne, the reduction of carbon emission is defined within two boundaries: geographic and operational. The administration accounts for carbon emissions originating from the main campus, the Snow Bowl and the Bread Loaf School of English. Any place or product of which the College owns 50 percent or more counts toward its carbon footprint. For example, the College owns more than 50 percent of the recycling trucks that carry waste to and from campus, and therefore the emissions from those trucks are counted in the carbon emissions.
The accounting, nevertheless, can be tricky because many of the College’s daily activities emit carbon, which raises questions about what is included and excluded from the final tab. For example, the definition of travel is fluid as it only includes specific College-funded travel, while excluding travel funded through student activities or grants, according to the Climate Action Implementation Plan adopted in 2008. Even technology that moves us closer to neutrality is not carbon-free.
“Think about wind-turbines on campus and how they are made,” Ryan said. “They are made with tractors using dynamite to blow up rock to get metal out and the metal is finally refined into wind turbines that are driven here on trucks.”
The definition of carbon neutrality, however, is out of Old Chapel’s hands. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) officially defines what constitutes carbon neutrality and the official criteria for meeting this goal. Nevertheless, there still much variation in this definition.
Colby College recently declared carbon neutrality, but was only able to meet the IPCC’s criteria by buying a large number of carbon offsets. While some are willing to accept that carbon offsets are a reality in reaching neutrality, others argue that offsets are an imperfect solution.
“How do we feel about paying for other people to deal with our emissions? Because that’s what offsets are,” Ryan said.
Though Byrne could not say for sure, he predicted that the College would end up buying some offsets to reach its goal.
Regardless of the definition, the College has made tangible progress in carbon reduction. In the biomass plant, the College decreased its use of No. 6 Heating Oil — a cheap but dirty fuel oil — from 2.1 million gallons annually to 634,000 gallons last year alone.
Likewise, it has engaged in a bio-methane contract — a low-carbon renewable alternative to fuel — which, if successful, would contribute significantly to carbon reduction.
Bio-methane, which is produced by burning methane emitted from cow manure, would be used as an alternative to burning oil and would reduce the amount of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas.
“The biomass plant has been instrumental in carbon reduction and the use of bio-methane would bring us 10 to 15 percent of our goal and would create jobs in the local community,” Byrne said.
When a local agricultural entrepreneur said he had the capital to create bio-methane, the College was eager to participate. However, the logistical issue of transporting the bio-methane to the College remains unresolved.
“The challenge is how do we get the bio-methane here,” Klyza said. “Which is where I think we’ve been drawn into this larger pipeline. The producer would have a facility about 3 miles from campus and a spur to the pipeline, which would replace our oil. We would then use no oil for heating the campus.”
Longtime divestment student-leader Greta Neubauer ’14.5 called the use of bio-methane “a step in a positive direction,” but remained skeptical about the big picture.
“My criticisms are based around what is not included in carbon neutrality,” Neubauer said. “I think it is pretty hypocritical of Middlebury to be building the biomass plant and other green buildings off of money from the fossil fuel industry.”
“I’m not as hung up on whether we are carbon neutral,” Klyza said. “We’ve made some great progress in reducing our carbon footprint. When I am thinking of the globe, we are not going to reach carbon neutrality, but what we want to do is reduce the amount of carbon we are putting in the atmosphere.”
“We are caught up in this accounting gig because we want to say we are carbon neutral. But in the end if we get to 95 percent, it’s still phenomenal.”
(10/16/13 10:39pm)
Student organizers of the Middlebury MothUP have partnered with the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts to produce a high-caliber, curated storytelling event geared towards the larger College community. “Cocoon: Stories of Metamorphosis” will take place at the MCA Concert Hall on Friday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m.
Inspired by acclaimed nationwide storytelling organization The Moth, “Cocoon” will feature six storytellers — two students, one alumna, one professor, and two Addison County community members — as well as Luke Greenway ’14.5 as emcee and MCA Technical Director and guitarist Mark Christensen with musical interludes.
Greenway has been working to put together the event along with his two MothUP co-organizers, Rachel Liddell ’15 and Veronica Rodriguez ’16.5, in cooperation with the Center for the Arts, the Committee on the Arts and the College Communications Office.
“It’s something that has been a long time in the making,” Greenway said, adding that it was MCA Director Liza Sacheli who initially approached him last spring about the possibility of collaboration.
“One of our goals at the Mahaney Center for the Arts is to establish a literary arts component to our programming,” Sacheli said. “The [MothUP] seemed like a perfect opportunity to bridge the areas of writing and performance — so it was a good fit for us.”
For the MothUP organizers, too, a partnership with the MCA was a natural next step for the student group, which has hosting storytelling events in the Gamut Room and Gamphitheatre since 2010. From the outset, founder Bianca Giaever ’12.5 intended for the MothUP to be a way to bridge the gap between the College and the town — storytelling as a community-builder, an idea echoed from current MothUP leadership as well.
These days, the MothUP regularly attracts crowds that far exceed the Gamut Room’s capacity. While the Moth-inspired format — all stories must be true and told without notes — lends itself to casual, intimate spaces like the Gamut Room, Greenway, Liddell and Rodriguez see “Cocoon” as an opportunity to build on what the MothUP has been and to grow the organization in new ways.
“People at the MothUP tell stories about losing their virginity, or they swear, or they talk about drugs — and obviously, this changes that,” Liddell said. “But I like the idea of opening up that community.”
“Cocoon,” Liddell said, will exhibit a more highly polished, professional product than the Middlebury MothUP traditionally offers, marking an important transition in the story of the organization.
“Stories have an incredible power to bring people together that I’ve witnessed again and again at the MothUP,” Greenway said. “I can’t wait to bring that to a wider audience with this event.”
In addition to the higher-capacity and higher-quality performance space, “Cocoon” will also feature a more diverse group of storytellers that were hand-selected and groomed for the occasion. Mariam Khan ’16 and Emily Bogin ’16 will be the only student storytellers, alongside English and Environmental Studies professor Dan Brayton, recent alum Emily Jacke ’12.5, Town Hall Theater and Opera Company of Middlebury Director Doug Anderson and Vermont Public Radio producer Ric Cengeri.
“I am hoping to say something that other students will connect with but might not have considered themselves, or something they might have thought about but perhaps not voiced,” Bogin said.
“I have always admired [the MothUP’s] presence on campus and programming they have had in the past,” Kahn said. “In my story, I hope to express my personal experiences with ‘metamorphosis’ and speak about some of the lesser known aspects of my identity.”
Khan will be recounting stories from her experiences as a Muslim woman growing up in Maine and as a professional touring DJ.
Each of the storytellers has been working with Liddell, Greenway and Rodriguez in an effort to make their narratives more pointed and their performances more fluid, working towards an official Moth-caliber story as a goal. The evening itself will also be more refined, thanks in large part to a grant from Middlebury’s Committee on the Arts, which went towards funding production costs, publicity efforts, and a post-show reception for storytellers and audience members.
Tickets are on sale now through the Box Office at $5 for Middlebury students, $8 for Middlebury faculty, staff, alumni, and parents, and $10 for the general public. 70 percent of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to the MothUP organization, which is not an official student group and thus does not receive funding from the College.
(10/10/13 12:34am)
Over the last three years, enrollment in Computer Science courses at the College has tripled. The growth is the largest in any department in recent history, and is in keeping with nationwide enrollment trends, spurred by job opportunities and the glamorization of start-ups, entrepreneurship and new technologies.
Enrollment in Computer Science courses was tallied at 451 for the 2012-2013 academic year, up from 164 in 2008-2009. The number of students majoring in Computer Science has increased significantly as well, with 10 declared majors in the class of 2014 and 20 in the class of 2015 — the most that the Computer Science department has ever experienced.
This growth is in keeping with national trends, as a report by the Computing Research Association published in March 2013 revealed that the number of undergraduate students studying computer science had risen by double digits for the third consecutive year. Earlier this fall, Harvard University announced that enrollment in its introductory computer science course had grown 590 percent in a decade, from 112 in 2004 to 771 in 2013.
Founded in the mid-1980s, the Computer Science major was originally housed within the department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Computer Science courses were taught initially led by mathematics professors and Library Information Services (LIS) faculty members. However the College gradually expanded the department and hired more full-time faculty including Computer Science Department Chair Matthew Dickerson, hired in 1989 as the College’s first professor with a doctorate in Computer Science.
Dickerson noted the early challenges for liberal arts colleges seeking to establish Computer Science departments in he 1980s, as larger universities offered greater research opportunities and more competitive salaries. By the time Computer Science became a freestanding department in the early 2000s, the discipline had seen substantial growth and development.
“By that time, we had our own critical mass,” Dickerson said. “We had five computer science professors, we had our entirely own curriculum, we had our entirely own major.”
Student interest in Computer Science has grown steadily since then, with more students enrolling in 100-level courses than ever before.
“Next year, for the first time ever, there will be [all five Computer Science professors] on campus teaching all at once. In the past, someone has always been on leave,” Dickerson said. “That will enable us to offer a lot of 100-level sections so that everyone who wants to get into a 100-level class will be able to. And we’re also doubling the number of sections of our 200-level classes.”
Dickerson said that the increased enrollment became especially noticeable three years ago, and subsequent growth has been accommodated with and aided by the addition of two new 100-level courses, as opposed to a single one-size-fits-all introductory course.
“I think that helped students to see how interesting the discipline was and how it related to other disciplines,” Dickerson said, noting that the new courses cater to the multiple problem solving strategies taught in Computer Science, with emphasis on experimentation, deductive reasoning and engineering.
Such is the reason that Bryan Holtzman ’14 decided to enroll in CSCI 150: Computing for the Sciences.
“It’s a growing field with many applications to areas beyond computer science. As such, I decided to enroll to see what all the fuss was about, and I hope to learn the ways in which computer scientists think,” he said.
Increased demand for computer programmers, website and app developers and a general knowledge of coding languages in the post-graduate realm has also contributed to increased enrollment.
While no other department at the College has experienced a change as extreme as Computer Science, enrollment statistics over the past five years have displayed growth in Biology, Economics, Education Studies, Mathematics and Women’s and Gender Studies. By contrast, enrollment in English and American Literatures and Religion courses has decreased slightly.
“Over a five-year period, you get a lot of up and down and it’s hard to see what’s just fluctuating and what’s really changing,” said Dean of Faculty and Philip Battell/Sarah Stewart Professor of Biology Andrea Lloyd. “It’s striking to see how much enrollment can change from year to year because of what people happen to be interested in.”
Lloyd noted that the College’s enrollment shifts are mostly consistent with nationwide trends.
“The thing we’re seeing in the longer-term data is an increase in the sciences and interdisciplinary programs, and declining enrollment in some, but not all, of the humanities,” she said.
“The Computer Science [enrollment trend] is an unbelievably striking pattern,” Lloyd said. “Though I’m actually less surprised that the numbers are high now than I am that they were low back then,” citing the growing emphasis on new technologies as a major influencing factor.
(10/09/13 11:48pm)
“It was like a scene from the Godfather,” Derk Sauer said as he was speaking in front of the audience in the RAJ conference room last Thursday. He was describing a scene in which he met with a Russian oligarch who wanted to offer him protection, in a casino in Moscow; it was 11 a.m., and he was surrounded by girls in short skirts and the oligarch, who had found his number and called him the previous day. Sauer was forced to accept this invitation because the oligarch claimed to know his children and the route he always took to go to work. The most important lesson Sauer learned from his many years’ of experience working in Russia was that “if you’re afraid, then you’re in trouble.”
Sauer was invited to become the President of RBC Information Systems last year. RBC is a leading Russian multimedia company, which works to spread and broadcast business information; it can be found in print, online and on television. Sauer, Dutch by birth, spoke to the College community last week about the developments that have taken place in Russia in the past two decades, focusing on his personal experiences.
A self-identified “Maoist,” Sauer said that he belonged to the “Marxist-Leninist Party” when he was covering the wars in Vietnam, Angola and Mozambique, among other places. In Amsterdam in 1989, he met a group of Russian journalists who belonged to the Union of Journalists in Russia. At that time, he was excited by what Mikhail Gorbachev was doing as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, so he could not pass up the chance to meet the Soviets in the east.
His first impression of Moscow in 1990 was that it was “a dark place” with little light and few advertisements. There were not any friendly people on the streets and no infrastructures either, and journalism in a liberal society’s tradition was nowhere to be found: the newspaper was simply a mouthpiece of the government, and journalism schools only taught Soviet ideologies.
Once Sauer got there, he saw a niche market for glossy magazines, so he set one up with the Union in 1990. By 1992, he managed to set up his own company that printed the Moscow Times, a paper with a current circulation of about 35,000 copies that still remains the only English-language daily newspaper in Russia’s capital. Without office space, he contacted a hotel in the area and made a bargain with them – in exchange for a few guest rooms, the hotel would get their name in an advertisement in the first free newspaper in Europe.
With the office set up, Sauer still needed to find someone who was willing to print out his twice-weekly newspaper for him, which at that time he envisioned with a circulation of 30,000 copies. Unluckily, that number was so small compared to the state-run newspaper at that time, which circulated at around 8 to 10 million copies daily, that the printing firm’s managers jeered at Sauer’s effort. Nonetheless, Sauer managed to strike a deal with the printing company because they also owned a farm and were desperately trying to find someone who could teach them how to make cheese. Sauer, being from Holland, knew many friends back home who would do him a favor, so the riddle was solved.
Commenting on the current state of press freedom in Russia, Sauer said that it is mixed. On the one hand, freedom of the press is upheld in printed and online media. Sauer pointed out that he never had to censor an article because of its political undertone. On the other hand, the television industry is still very much a channel for “indoctrination.” The government mainly controls the television channels because they are still the main source of information for the masses. The informed portion of the population travel widely anyway, so they did not think that censorship would matter for these people.
When asked how he dealt with the mafia in Russia, Sauer said that he has devised and adopted the shareholder responsibility approach. He sold 10 percent of the shares of his company to a Russian oligarch that vowed to protect his business without influencing his writers’ reporting. Even when that oligarch’s related businesses suffered some public scandals, under their prior agreement, Sauer’s newspaper still reported the news truthfully and honestly.
Roksana Gabdul ‘16 was most surprised that the government did not see the point of censoring his newspaper.
“Sauer was free to criticize the government because his newspaper was read by the select few rather than the whole Russian population,” Gabdul said. “The government would be more worried if his newspaper was widely read by the regular Russian people.”
Towards the end of the lecture, Sauer said that one people be clean as long as they are clear and strong: “Russians respect and like strong people.”
(10/09/13 9:16pm)
Filling Nelson Arena with pure, raw and powerful vocals, Angelique Kidjo asserted her musical abilities from the first spine-tingling note of her Oct. 3 concert. Backed by a band from international origins that included guitar, bass, bongo and western-style drums, the Beninese artist and philanthropist brought a unique mix of African-inspired songs and profound wisdom to the Middlebury community in an unforgettable night of music, dance and joy.
Angelique Kidjo has that rare kind of energy and charisma that instantly fills a room with warmth and light. Wrapped in a dress of bright colors and patterns, Kidjo confidently sang her first inspiring songs, exhibiting her energy through dancing across the stage, spinning, swinging her hips and kicking her feet with every note. At first, the audience seemed unsure of how to respond to the cheerful mix of funk, Afro-pop, jazz and soul that encompass Kidjo’s distinct musical genre. The crowd swayed to Kidjo’s powerhouse vocals, increasingly warming to the artist as she sang her undeniably catchy songs.
Throughout the show, Kidjo also sang covers of songs that inspired her as a child, citing at the John Hamilton Fulton Lecture the previous day that she admired Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and particularly James Brown, who partially inspired Kidjo to learn English. In the fireside chat style discussion with Professor of Music Damascus Kafumbe, Kidjo discussed listening to Brown.
“I thought, ‘this is grooving too much for me not to learn the language!’,” she said.
Kidjo’s English and knowledge of at least six other languages were showcased impressively, each song increasing in energy until Kidjo all but demanded the audience to dance.
As the night progressed, something magical happened. Kidjo welcomed the audience into her heart, and they responded by welcoming her into theirs. Kidjo’s humble openness and honesty were first apparent when she stopped between songs to thank the many people who have touched her life, especially her father, who she credited for helping her get where she is today. Kidjo’s father allowed her to attend school and gave her the choice to follow her passions, a rare opportunity for girls in Africa at the time.
As a UNICEF Ambassador and founder of The Batonga Foundation, Kidjo works tirelessly to empower girls with the gift of health, education and choice. Kidjo credited her microphone as her “weapon of mass loving” and discussed the stupidity of making judgments about other humans based on color.
“Brain has no color. Wisdom has no color,” she said.
As I watched Kidjo blend her music and philanthropy on stage, I was again reminded of her talk the previous day. There, she captivated the audience with colorful personal anecdotes about her childhood in Africa, life in France, 30 years living in New York, her inspiration and maintaining her career. Kidjo offered wise words about her home continent to the audience of students, faculty and staff.
“People think Africa only has one story to tell,” said Kidjo. “We Africans have to learn to tell our story because we are blaming others for telling it for us.”
As Kidjo’s energy radiated from the stage, she painted a picture of an Africa full of sadness and hope, hardship and resilience, and community efforts for positive change. Kidjo conveyed the marvelous multiplicity and diversity of the continent she loves.
The mood of the concert changed when Kidjo asked the audience to sing along to the chorus of her song “Afrika” before descending the stairs into the crowd, stopping at regular intervals to interact and dance. The audience responded enthusiastically, screaming lyrics they had learned only moments before while dancing comfortably with Kidjo as if she was an old friend.
When Kidjo shimmied back onto the stage, she elevated the audience a step further by asking every person close enough to join her on the platform. I felt myself leaping on stage and taking my place parallel to Kidjo, facing the audience. I looked out into a sea of hundreds of faces, differing in age, race and color, but united in their expression of awe and respect for the woman who so easily erased boundaries and manufactured joy. Kidjo welcomed President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz’s young son Ezra to stand with her, bending down to his level and singing “Happy Birthday” to him, accompanied by the enthusiastic audience.
For the rest of the concert, Kidjo put her trust in the audience’s ability to help her spread happiness and hope and make sure every person in sight was dancing. Focusing particularly on the children, Kidjo allowed herself to step out of the limelight for much of the end of the concert, welcoming an all-out dance party that was equally enjoyed by those on stage and those in the audience.
Professor of Dance Christal Brown stepped into the spotlight, as well as Liebowitz, who enthusiastically clapped to the beat. The dance off, featuring Kidjo’s bongo drummer, excited so much energy, so much happiness, and so much raw life that everyone momentarily forgot their troubles and simply joined together, a part of what Kidjo calls “the human family.”
Angelique Kidjo reminded us how lucky we are, gave us the gift of hope and joy, and challenged us to do the same for others. Though she sang in multiple languages about a continent on the other side of the world, Kidjo had every member of the audience dancing and having the time of their lives by the end of the night. After the lights went up and Kidjo and her band exited following the dance marathon, the majority of the crowd lingered and yelled for one more song, which Kidjo honored by returning to the stage and singing a Rolling Stones cover. The audience held on to Kidjo and her music as long as they could, showering her with love until she was no longer visible.
As I filed out of Nelson Arena, I felt slightly different then when I had entered the space. As an audience, we had whole-heartedly celebrated the power of life and, if only for a few hours, had our faith in humanity restored.
Stepping out into the cold October air, I realized that I had been walking next to Kidjo’s guitarist, Brooklyn musician Dominic James, who introduced himself enthusiastically and handed me a business card.
“It was great, it was great. I got 45 minutes of sleep, but it was great,” said James, beaming as people realized who he was and crowded around to shake his hand and tell him how much they’d enjoyed the concert. Many students, including Gabbie Santos ’17, lingered outside Nelson long after they exited the arena, still excited by the experience.
“I loved the energy, especially when she came off stage,” said Santos. “That was really special.”
With unparalleled grace and talent, Kidjo will live in the hearts and minds of those who witnessed her remarkable performance for a very long time. Kidjo left the Fulton Lecture with inspiring words.
“Be proud of who you are,” she said. “If your dream is not big enough, stop talking about it. Fear is what is holding us back. We can be whoever we want to be.”
Indeed, Kidjo’s life and career are marked by a passionate fearlessness that embodies the aspirations of many students, and we would all be wise to carry her advice with us as we forge our own paths.
(10/09/13 9:12pm)
Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater screened Othello last Thursday through the London National Theater’s program NTlive. The program broadcasts certain plays from the National Theater to theaters all around the world — over 1,000 people total were watching this version of Othello at the same time.
Doug Anderson, the executive director of Town Hall Theater, explained that he invested in special satellite dishes when the Metropolitan Opera began live broadcasting its productions about six years ago. Since then, the theater has been able to stream ballet, symphonies and plays from all over the world.
“But for us the most exciting development is that our system allows us to pick up the National Theater broadcasts,” Anderson said.
The Othello performance was recorded this summer and broadcast on October 3 in HD; it also included an interview with the director about the choices he made for this production, and an intermission video about the process of bringing the show to life. In the interview, the director explained that this version of Othello was set in a modern day cosmopolitan city, like London, and then moved to a foreign modern day army base. A war veteran who had been stationed in Iraq was involved in the production, helping the design team and actors make the setting feel real.
This year is the National’s fiftieth anniversary. For Anderson, who was a student in London in the early 1970s, that is “kind of a big deal.”
“I remember as a student going down to the Old Vic when it was just started and seeing Lawrence Olivier for seventy five cents,” he said.
Like the shows Anderson saw as a student, these video broadcasts from the National Theater are valuable opportunities for students of the College.
“The acting at the National is probably the finest in the English-speaking world,” said Anderson.
Professor of Theatre Cheryl Faraone agreed.
“Nothing compares to live theater,” she said. “But the NTlive program is as good a record as we’ll get. And an imperfect record of an extraordinary company’s work is better than a mediocre experience in the flesh.”
Seeing a play performed live gives the audience a fuller experience of the work than reading it on the page. Faraone was one of many professors to require a class to see Othello.
“Theater is meant to be three-dimensional,” said Faraone. “If you’re not seeing theater, you’re just looking at the blueprints.”
When an audience watches a piece of theater, the audience members receive the playwright’s message in the form the playwright intended. Faraone explained that going to plays provides her class with a specific “shared body of knowledge and ability to discuss it in a more immediate way.”
Professor of English and American Literature Timothy Billings also required his Shakespeare and Contexts class to attend Othello to experience the text in a theatrical setting.
“I assign some kind of performance for every play we read, if possible,” said Billings. “Although some scholars think that Shakespeare’s plays were meant for readers, undoubtedly most people experienced the plays as live productions starring popular actors. In some sense, the plays are not really complete until they are embodied by actors in the presence of an audience.”
“Since we are always experiencing the plays as modern audiences and readers whether we like it or not, “ he added, “I love to see productions that remind us of that in creative ways, and that challenge us to measure ourselves against Shakespeare’s art.”
Billings’ class had read Othello before seeing the production and many of his students were surprised by how different the play feels on the stage than on the page.
“Some [students] were surprised by how compelling and attractive the character of Othello was early in the play,” said Billings, “and some were surprised by how loathsome Rory Kinnear’s Iago was since they had admired the intelligence and cunning of his speeches on the page.”
Because it was a live performance seen through the eyes of a modern director, the production also served as a vehicle for discussion of contentious social topics. Joelle Mendoza-Etchart ’15, who was required to see the show for Faraone’s Theater History (THEA0208), connected the modern take on Othello to the portrayal of women in Elizabethan theater, a topic the class is currently discussing.
“The contemporary setting of the production helped to highlight the absurdity of some of the more sexist practices in Shakespeare’s time,” she said. “This choice of setting made the sexism all the more jarring.”
Billings asked his students to pay attention to a different social issue.
“In the case of Othello,” he said, “I have been taxing my students to distinguish the anti-racism from the racism in the play, which is not as easy as you might think; and having a modern production is the perfect vehicle through which to reflect on such serious questions.”
All students — not just theater students or those studying Shakespeare — can benefit from going to see theater.
“Anything that opens the door to various parts of the human condition is valuable … I can think of few things that are more applicable to life as we live it, however we live it, than theater,” said Faraone.
Upcoming National Theater broadcasts at the Town Hall Theater include Macbeth, A National Theater 50th Anniversary Celebration, which will be streamed live, Coriolanus and War Horse.
(10/09/13 4:00am)
Students call it “the sophomore slump” — that feeling, common to second-year students, of being pressured to make decisions about majors, studying abroad and, ultimately, life. The College may finally have a solution. For the past year, a “Sophomore Experience” committee of Middlebury staff, faculty and student representatives has been working to improve the channels of communication and guidance available to sophomores. Among the initiatives is the Sophomore Advising Dinner for the Humanities and Literature held on Sept. 30, designed to help sophomores pick a major.
It worked for Will Brennan ’16. He walked into the Atwater Dining Hall that night and felt immediately “intimidated” by the set up: round table seating, with each table assigned a different department as marked by large signs. He had hoped to explore a variety of majors and was reluctant to pick just one table. At last, however, he found himself engaged in “really beneficial conversation” about “not only the benefits of specific majors but about the benefits of finding your true interests and shaping your major choices from there.”
Sophomores know the feeling well. It is assumed that first-year students need ample guidance as they navigate college life. But come the second year, they feel as if they should already know their academic directions.
“You’re supposed to know how to operate at Middlebury and you’re supposed to know how to make decisions about big things like your major, which feels like making a decision about your career and the rest of your life,” said Rebecca Coates-Finke ’16.5. “But you just don’t feel like you’re prepared at all, and you don’t know who to really talk to about it.”
Brennan’s initial reaction to the dinner reflected what he called “the sophomore slump.” An upper classmen friend had described the term for him as “sophomores’ overall feelings of [being] overwhelmed by the situation they face — the feeling that they need to determine the future then and there.” The eventual resolution of his uncertainty was a sign that the dinner had done its job in helping to soothe the sophomore slump.
The dinner was just one of many proposed initiatives set forth by the committee. The Sophomore Experience Committee was co-chaired by Ross Commons Head Maria Hatjigeorgiou and Associate Dean for Fellowships & Research Lisa Gates. Leadership also included Director of Learning Resources Yonna McShane, Deborah Evans, Hector Vila and two student representatives — Kathryn Benson ’12 and Nick Warren ’15.
Formed at the request of Dean of the College Shirley Collado and the Vice President for Academic Affairs Tim Spears, the committee met regularly from October 2012 to March 2013 when they submitted their written proposal: “Strengthening the Sophomore Experience: Recommendations from the Sophomore Experience Committee.” The initiatives outlined in the document include the five divisions dinners — where sophomores can meet and receive both practical and personal advice from “well-seasoned” professors or department heads of departments they may be interested in, as well as improved communication from and guidelines for Residential Advisers and first-year advisers.
The difficulties associated with the sophomore year are not news. Neither is the Sophomore Experience Committee the first to lend a critical eye to the sophomore year at the College, but it is the first to have gained momentum.
Meanwhile, Wonnacott Commons Head and Associate Professor of Education Jonathan Miller-Lane, though not a member of the committee, is pursuing a separate but similarly focused project: a pilot course entitled, “Sophomore Seminar in the Liberal Arts.” During summer 2012, Miller-Lane, Evans and Head of Cook Commons and Professor of Italian Patricia Zupan and English and American Department Chair Brett Millier applied for and received a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities; they designed a course which would focus on enduring questions: “What is the Good Life and How Shall I Live It?”
“We are part of a group who is looking to focus on the experience of sophomores... as [they make] decisions about majors. We wanted to use this course as a contribution to that discussion,” said Zupan, who is also teaching the course this year. Professors Evans and Millier will begin teaching the course next fall.
The Sophomore Seminar asks students to consider the question of the Good Life through reading texts ranging from Aristotle to The Essential Koran. But it is unique in its endeavor to incorporate concrete questions about life as a student at the College into the discussion.
“Yes, we do text analysis, yes, we try to get historical context for the texts that we’re doing, but we also don’t want to run away from the conversations about what choices are we making when we walk out of class,” Miller-Lane said. “Today we were reading the Koran, analyzing verses, and then [the student facilitators] were asking us to think about, well what is it like to be a Muslim on campus? And [we] have that discussion in class as a legitimate topic so that we can move back and forth between analyzing the text and the implications of a being [a] person of faith in this community. If being at a residential liberal arts college is supposed to mean something — to come together as a community — can we talk about the way we live together here as one element of the course?”
While Miller-Lane and Zupan asked their students to look critically at their lives on campus while in the classroom, the Sophomore Committee is also working towards a goal of “seamless learning” as Professror Hatjigeorgeiou said, by pulling residential and academic advisors more deeply into all aspects of student life.
The committee’s recommendations were born of extensive research, both on what other institutions are currently doing to ease the transitions faced by sophomores as well as from the College student, faculty and staff focus groups.
Hatjigeorgiou pointed out that a major theme brought to light by the student focus groups was students feeling “abandoned” or “forgotten” by their first-year academic advisers. A student representative to serve on the committee, Warren, agreed.
“[The commitee] began by talking about advising, and we realized that what we needed to do was to fix all the things that are wrong with the first year,” Warren said. “And [we realized] that the sophomore year starts with the first year and with the first-year seminar.”
One of the potential issues with first-year advisers is that that they may go on sabbaticals the following year. For whatever reason, they may not be fully committed to advising their students for more than a year. Warren admitted that the committee did not even favor the term “first-year adviser” because “it’s not just about the first year.”
But according to Hatjigeorgiou, “steps are now [being] taken” to strengthen the role of first-year advisers.
“Expectations are now more clearly articulated to the faculty who teach the first-year seminars so that [they] are more fully aware of the fact that they are advising the first-year seminar well into the first semester of the sophomore year,” Hatjigeorgiou said.
A second set of key players to the sophomore experience initiatives are the Residential Advisers, who are assigned to sophomore dorms and are often sophomores themselves. While it may seem counter-intuitive to have sophomores guiding sophomores, they act not as authority figures, but as peer resources. The committee proposed that the number of residential advisers be increased to one per sophomore floor and that they receive increased pay in concordance with their “expanded responsibilities.” These proposals were passed for the 2013-2014 school year.
Millikin, for example, a dormitory in Ross consisting of five halls of sophomores, now employs five residential advisers — one for each hall — instead of two, as there have been in the past. Importantly, it was also recommended that these advisers be given responsibilities distinctly different from those of first-year counselors: residential advisers are charged with frequently reminding their peers about important upcoming deadlines — major declaration, study abroad applications — as well as being knowledgeable about key offices and tools around campus such as the Center for Careers and Internships.
(10/03/13 12:42am)
Before the school year began, Dean of International Studies Professor Jeffrey Cason decided to close the College’s school abroad in Egypt based at the University of Alexandria due to the political turmoil that continues to rock the country.
After the removal of President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt erupted into a state of chaos. After June 30, protests became violent and to date more than 600 people have been killed. Andrew Pochter, a 21-year-old American student from the Washington, D.C. area, was stabbed to death during a protest in Alexandria. Pochter was teaching English to 7 and 8 year-old children while studying Arabic.
Tragedies like the one involving Pochter are exactly why the college decided to postpone the program in Egypt.
“Our main concern is the safety of the students,” said Cason, “Alexandria has seen its fare share of protests and clashes.”
The current situation is not unfamiliar either to Hileil or to Cason. The College evacuated all of the students out of Alexandria in February 2011, but reopened the Alexandria program once again for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Nihad Hileil, the director of the program in Egypt, agrees that the decision was a logical one.
“(Cancellation) for the Fall was a more natural decision,” said Hileil. “A regime had been toppled and people were in the streets. Strife was inevitable.”
The closure was initially only meant for the Fall, but it became clear to both Hileil and Cason that the school should remain closed through the spring. A resident of Alexandria herself, Hileil noted that “While things are relatively calm now, there has still been sporadic violence, and there is this overwhelming uncertainty. It has only been two months since the situation became truly bad.”
For students of the College and other universities who applied to study in Alexandria, this means spending either the semester or the entire year in Amman, Jordan instead. However, not all students have been driven away by the danger in Egypt. Jeremy Kallan ’14 spent the summer in Cairo after having studied in Alexandria during the first semester of his junior year.
“When it comes to politics in Egypt, it is impossible to predict what is going to happen”, said Kallan. “But I know that I got a lot out of being there, despite the unrest.”
Even before the closure, the Alexandria program maintained strict rules for the American students. Often, students were prohibited from leaving campus due to protests in the city. Both Kallan and Hileil agreed that these restrictions can be stifling to the learning process, but are necessary concessions to student safety.
The program has a variety of other safeguards in place to keep students safe and to expedite an evacuation, if and when the program returns. The College maintains a contract with Global Rescue, a firm that facilitates evacuation from any location in the world, along with a detailed contingency plan.
“In the end it will be a 24-hour job,” said Hileil of considerations to re-open the Egypt program in fall 2014. “We will have to be constantly aware of the constantly changing nature of the situation”.
Although Hileil and Cason are hopeful that the program will return for the 2014-2015 school year, they remain unsure as to whether or not that will be possible.
(09/26/13 1:11am)
E-books, online textbooks and computer-based note-taking programs are growing in number and popularity, but faculty at the College remain divided over the use of computers in classrooms, opting for course-by-course policies instead of department-wide regulations.
While a lack of cohesion among professors’ attitudes regarding computers makes the development of a department or College-wide rule on computer use unlikely, students and faculty alike have found themselves debating the pros and cons of both banning and allowing computers in class.
A study by Stanford University sociology professor and psychologist Dr. Clifford Nass revealed that not only does digital multi-tasking waste more time, but it also results in a concentration and creativity deficit, regardless of how good one claims to be at multitasking.
Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures Michael Newbury does not employ a singular laptop policy in his classes, but rather employs “class and context-specific practices designed to maximize constructive engagement with and for students,” considering project-oriented learning with laptops as an example of successful and useful in-class computer use, while remaining wary of laptops in larger lectures and conversations.
“There is an increasing amount of research suggesting that in large classes, students with computers simply cannot stop themselves from dividing their attention,” Newbury wrote in an email. “In addition, the research suggests that laptops in the class distract not just the people using them, but others in the class. It’s a bit like having a TV in a room. People look at it and hear it, whether or not they want to.”
Such distractions led Assistant Professor of Political Science Amy Yuen to ban computers in her lecture classes, especially after receiving feedback from students revealing problematic in-class computer habits.
“I used to allow them in lecture because my thinking was, ‘You’re adults, you can decide whether you’re going to show up to class or whether you’re going to goof off in lecture or not’,” she said. “But it was when I started getting remarks on course evaluations about how distracting computers were to other students that I decided to do something about it.”
Assistant Professor of American Studies Holly Allen has allowed laptops in larger courses so long as students remain undistracted, but is considering discouraging laptop use due to frequent rule violations and increasingly distracted lecture halls.
“I may also ask students who choose to use laptops to sign a contract declaring that they will not engage in non-class computer activity,” Allen wrote in an email. “However, I do not intend to eliminate all student laptop use.”
Students, too, have found themselves conflicted over in-class computer use.
“I cannot keep up with a long lecture if I don’t have my computer in class,” said Julia Rossen ’16. “I understand why some professors would ban computers, but I find that being able to type quickly makes it easier to get the most out of each class. Also, having my computer available gives me quick access to supplementary information if I need it.”
Others, however, prefer to take notes by hand, opting to forgo in-class computer use entirely.
“I feel like writing things down by hand keeps me grounded and attentive to what’s happening in the class,” said Cole Bortz ’17, adding that he retains information more easily when writing by hand.
Most peer institutions allow or restrict laptop use on a course-by-course basis, determined only by the professor. Amherst College, however, used to employ a very strict in-class computer policy, allowing only those with permission from the Director of Student Disability Services to use laptops in class. As computers have become more integral and mainstream teaching tools, the policy has grown more relaxed. Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. installed an on/off switch for Internet connections in classrooms, thereby allowing professors to permit laptop use during classes while limiting distractions.
Both Allen and Newbury stated that any sort of department or campus-wide policy on in-class computer use would be unlikely due to the wide range of views and current policies regarding laptop use.
“There is no uniform answer here,” Newbury wrote. “It will depend on what’s meant to happen in the classroom and the particular needs of individuals. So, the idea that all students would have laptops in all classrooms seems misguided … but the utter elimination of them from every context is probably misguided, too.”
(09/25/13 12:00pm)
MiddCAM is a new student organization that pairs a senior from Middlebury Union High School with a student from the College who acts as a mentor throughout the college admission process. Its goal is to prepare high school students for navigating the oft-daunting process of standardized testing, college essays and all else that comes with applying to colleges.
The high school works to identify students who have particular interest in college and the idea of a mentor. The organization’s philosophy underscores what a help guidance from someone with first-hand experience can be during a time that is simply overwhelming for many students.
A friend of Megan Ernst ’15 approached her in the summer of 2012 about starting a branch of a program based in Palo Alto called Phoenix Scholars. The success of Phoenix Scholars is apparent; they annually send dozens of their students to top-tier institutions around the country. That fall, Megan pitched the idea of opening a branch of Phoenix Scholars to the College.
Phoenix Scholars and MiddCAM have similar principles that revolve around mentorship throughout the college application process. A key distinction between the two organizations is that Phoenix Scholars imposes three demographic criteria — that a student must be a minority, low-income and a first-generation college student — out of which its students must satisfy two.
After demographic research of Addison County, Ernst found that such requirements would seriously limit the eligible number of students the College could work with. Ultimately, she decided to start a completely new program, MiddCAM, that would cater to the specific needs of the students through an involved one-on-one mentor. Through a mutual friend and shared interest Ernst teamed up with Jessica Kong ’15. They determined that financial aid could not be MiddCAM’s primary concern.
“We have expanded our focus to writing application essays, helping with college research and helping prepare them for every aspect of college.”
Mentors and mentees are often paired up randomly, Kong conceded.
“It’s hard to match based on academic interest because no one really knows what they want to study,” she said.
Though a perfect match is not always possible, the goal is for the relationship between mentor and mentee to be personalized. In all cases, a mentor will be a helpful resource with a fresh impression the college process.
Midd students understand the value of mentorship during application season, especially from a peer, rather than a trained expert. Caroline Guiot ’16 had a college counselor in high school, but does not hesitate in saying what a help it would have been to have a college student to talk to about the application process.
The value of such a mentor often proves irreplacable for certain students. “First generation kids don’t have the answers, partly because their parents never went to college or don’t speak enough English to get that kind of information,” MiddCAM Program Administrator Jessica Cheung ’15 said.
The inaugural MiddCAM mentors went to a training session hosted by the Middlebury College Admissions office, leaving the session remembering their own college search process, a flashback that will inform their mentoring strategies.
Middlebury Union played a big role in identifying students who would be matched with mentors. This year, mentors will meet mentees in early October, midway through the fall of their senior year. However, both Kong and Ernst feel confident that in subsequent years students will be paired with mentors in the second semester of junior year, just in time for the SAT. Once mentors and mentees are paired, they are granted a fair amount of autonomy.
There is no end date to the mentorship, nor is there a specific time commitment, but Ernst estimates that the face-to-face interaction will be about an hour per week along with editing and research that might not require meeting in person. Mentors cover the academic side of the process, navigating the Common App and its intricacies, but they will also be there for questions that students might have about what awaits them.
The mentor is responsible for establishing an agreeable schedule. Although the mentors have been briefed extensively, Guiot admits that this inaugural year could be tricky.
“We are starting a little late in the college process because it’s our first year, so we only have a couple months to work with our mentee,” she said.
A tenet of the mentorship is first-hand experience and Guiot acknowledges that she is not a professional but that her main job is “to share from my experience and help them stay on track.” The mentors will not be completely on their own in this process. Kong and Ernst, along with program administrators Cheung and Steven Zatarain ’15 will continually check in with mentors and offer an outlet for questions or concerns they may have.
MiddCAM exists to assure that students at an information disadvantage but have a demonstrated interest in attending college don’t fall through the cracks. MiddCAM is the first program of its kind to exist in the community — something Ernst describes as Middlebury’s “unique ability to provide mentors.”
Ernst and Kong have their eyes on the future and admit that in focusing on the senior year, “we don’t change the academic course of someone’s high school career.”
Looking forward, expansion seems imminent. Primarily, MiddCAM hopes to start with students in junior year, which would cover the bulk of standardized testing. While it is only MiddCAM’s first year, Ernst already has hopes to bring the program to other high schools in Addison County. For now, though, everyone involved is tremendously excited that the program is coming to life and that the first class of mentees and mentors are but days away from being matched up.
(09/18/13 11:40pm)
The Middlebury women’s volleyball opened the 2013 season with four wins at the Johnson & Wales Tournament, Friday Sept. 13, and Saturday, Sept. 14. Not only did they acquire the victory over all four teams they competed against in the tournament, but they did so in dominant fashion, winning each contest in a 3-0 shutout.
Notable moments in the first game included senior Captain Amy Hart ‘14’s nine kills and Piper Underbrink ’15’s eight on 11 attempts. Further contributing to the offense was senior Captain Megan Jarchow ’14 who added seven kills and Kathryn Haderlein ‘16 who led the team with 32 assists. Defensively, Lauren Alper ’16 kept the team in points with eight digs while first-year middle hitter Melanie English ’17 finished with a pair of blocks. The Panthers made relatively easy work of the host school, dropping Johnson and Wales 25-14, 25-18, 25-19.
“Our first win felt great,” English said. “It was great for the team to start off with a solid three-set victory on the JWU’s home court.”
Jarchow shined again during the game against University of New England, the first game of a Saturday triple-header, adding nine kills and six service aces. Defensive specialist Alper excelled as well, sprawling for 15 digs on the defensive side. The Nor’Easters gave the Panthers their biggest scare in the first set, taking 21 points before Middlebury closed out the set. The Panthers surrendered just 32 points over the final two sets en route to their first victory of the day.
English had another strong performance against Wheaton College, earning eight kills and accumulating an .889 hitting percentage. Underbrink led the squad with nine kills, followed by Olivia Kolodka ’15 and English with eight apiece as Middlebury made quick work of Wheaton in three sets (18, 12, 18).
The last game of the tournament was another shutout in which senior captain Megan Anderson ’14 hit .727 with eight kills to lead the team against Mount Ida. Lizzy Reed ’15 contributed nine kills and first-years Gabi Rosenfeld ’17 and Hannah Blackburn ’17 recorded seven kills and five digs, respectively, joining English as first-year players making immediate impacts.
“Our first-year class is extremely strong this year,” Alper said. “We have two middles, an outside and a right side hitter—all front row positions—so their presence has already made an impact in the front row.”
The game-readiness of the first-year class and the improvement of the teams returners will help ease the departure of a talented senior class that included 2012 Defensive Player of the Year Caitlin Barrett ’13 as well as Second Team All-NESCAC right hitter Julia Gibbs ’13.
“We may have lost some great volleyball players, but the team really hasn’t skipped a beat,” Anderson said. “We have returners who have stepped up to fill the shoes of the graduating seniors and we have a lot of depth in our team that will allow for competitive practices.”
The 4-0 start is the first step in a season full of promise for the 2013 squad, which believes the biggest opponent to back-to-back NESCAC championships and a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance is themselves.
“There is no one particular team that we see as our greatest competitor this year,” Anderson said. “Teams change from year to year, and we have to go into every match this season with equal intensity.”
The team opens its NESCAC schedule on Saturday, Sept. 21 against Colby in Pepin Gymnasium.
