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(03/19/14 3:49pm)
As I transition out of the Middlebury community, I will be joining a cohort of young people who face career uncertainty that I will refer to as “The Entitled Precariat.” Despite its allusion to Marxism, the Entitled Precariat has nothing to do with ideology. Rather, it is a group of young professionals in precarious work situations that arise from a Catch-22 that would make Joseph Heller chortle: in order to get a secure, fulfilling, well-paying job you need to be able to offer value in the form of professional skills, but to get those skills you have to be employed. The primary recourse is temporary work, low-skill entry-level positions, and perhaps most insidious of all, unpaid internships. That, or going back to school and accumulating crippling debt. Many simply cannot afford the opportunity costs of the unpaid internships or pursuing advanced degrees, institutionalizing class bias in the workforce. Hard work is not enough. I will discuss three challenges that may well define the first few years of experience in the labor force.
1. Transitioning from an empowering intellectual atmosphere to subordinate roles
Entitlement has become central to the narrative around “Gen-Y”ers in the workforce. Widely exploited as cheap labor who are unconditioned to demanding equitable treatment, what is referred to as “entitlement” can also be considered a survival mechanism. The widespread expectation that workers owe the employer “appreciation for the opportunity,” serves to bolster the unequal terms of labor: the employer is seen as doing a favor by employing workers, rather than agreeing to mutually beneficial agreement.
To an educated student taught to question assumptions, deconstruct phenomena and challenge conventional discourse, roles that demand submissiveness and focus on monotonous tasks require a major adjustment. This transition, from the independent culture of higher education, to “respecting the hierarchy” requires an internal shift and can be very humbling.
2. The division between the “Entitled Precariat” and the “Code-geois”
Entitlement can be considered a euphemism for somebody overvaluing their value to an organization, suggesting that only people without relevant, valuable specializations can be considered “entitled.” The Entitled Precariat is characterized by frequently changing jobs, geographic migration and major lifestyle complications that arise from their unpredictable work life. To break free of incessant unpaid internships, they need to not only be productive, but exceptional. Their work-experience is an extended audition, rather than a development process.
In contrast, I coined the term “Code-geois” to refer to any worker who has widely sought-after skills, regardless of whether it’s being able to write C++ code, engineer new products or other transferable skills. These people are pursued by employers and will never have to consider unpaid internships. They do not have be thankful for the opportunity to work, nor are they accused of being “entitled,” because they have leverage to work at other firms. These are the people with stable incomes, employment security and, most importantly, options.
Acquiring such skills, the career progression paradox, is the central challenge for liberal arts students entering the workforce. Rather than pursuing what we believe to be our passion or aiming to work in our ideal field, a more effective strategy is to develop a “unique value proposition” by identifying an aptitude and developing it until it becomes a specialization. A key takeaway from Cal Newport’s, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, is that when it comes to a successful career, passion should not guide our search, but develop from within a specialized, engaging job. Passion matters, but to succeed in the workforce, a practical strategy to find an employment niche may be the most effective means of finding stable, lucrative, meaningful employment.
3. Living in accordance with your values
There’s a tension between career realpolitik and morality: how can you live as a cog in a system of structural injustice and not only survive, but make change? “When you don’t like capitalism, being an accountant doesn’t work in your favor,” Ashley Guzman ’13 offered sardonically in her presentation at the RAJ-organized Youth Labor and Unemployment Conference last week. She, along with other panelists at the event, sacrificed potential employment by pursuing only career options that aligned with their world views. While few workers are truly unrepentant, Frank Underwood-ian pragmatists, particularly selective moral compasses — a virtue to be commended — necessarily exclude options that others are happy to seize. The best way to live in accordance with our values is to combine a nuanced view of ethics in the workforce with a commitment to diligently refine our specialization, so that it is valuable enough, ideology aside, to be an asset to any employer. For example, if Exxon gives you a job that offers to help you develop your GIS skills, perhaps you cannot change the organization from within, but you can accumulate some income while acquiring a valuable skill for the rest of your career. It’s easier to move from the for-profit world to a specialized role in a social enterprise or non-profit than vice-versa.
While each of our moral codes is distinctive, developing skills and finding a niche is the best strategy to escape internship purgatory and thrust yourself into the ranks of the Code-geois, where you will have options that can allow you to live according to your values and find meaning in your work. To say there is only one way to achieve such goals would be reductive: the paths to our own versions of success are likely to be indirect, unpredictable and arduous. But we are more than capable of living up the challenge.
(02/26/14 11:18pm)
The dedication of a new Steinway concert grand piano brings President of the Julliard School, Dr. Joseph Polisi, to the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts on Saturday, Mar. 1 for a public lecture on “The Arts, Education and the Human Experience.” Awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the College in 2010, Polisi has served as the sixth president of the prestigious conservatory of dance, music and drama for 29 years, establishing a revised curriculum with an emphasis on the humanities and the liberal arts.
Polisi’s history with the College started decades ago. He worked at a summer festival at the University of Vermont in Burlington, frequently making trips to Middlebury to shop, dine and tour the College. His wife, a French teacher, was well aware of the prestigious language programs at the College and his daughter eventually attended a Language School program at the Vermont campus over the summer. Upon receiving his honorary doctorate, Polisi became better acquainted with the President, his wife and the Middlebury community.
“I’m very honored to be asked back to inaugurate this new instrument,” Polisi said.
Polisi looks forward to discussing the lasting positive impact the new piano will have on the College in years to come, as well as exploring the relationship between conservatory and liberal arts study. Julliard’s 600 undergraduate and 300 graduate students thrive in the world renowned Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, but Polisi sees many possible connections between his school and Middlebury’s rural community of around 2,500 undergraduates.
“I’ll be talking about the value of the study of the arts in the context of a liberal arts education, but also how the arts are an important part of the fabric of our society,” Polisi said.
In 2005, Polisi wrote The Artist Citizen, discussing the responsibility of the artist to present their art to communities around the world and to make people understand the importance of the arts in any environment.
“I’m very passionate about the idea that within the context of a liberal arts environment like the wonderful program at Middlebury that students, faculty and administrators understand how the integration of the study of the arts and the appreciation of the arts on campus can really enhance the entire environment, not just the artistic environment,” Polisi said. “People who can participate in a serious digestion or understanding of the arts really are more empathetic, more involved in their own society and more able to have a positive influence on everybody in their communities.”
An accomplished scholar of music, public policy and the arts with two books to his credit, Polisi is also a successful bassoonist with a solo recording of 20th century bassoon. In addition to holding three graduate degrees in music from Yale University, Polisi also has a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Connecticut and a Masters of Arts degree in international relations from Tufts University. Frequently speaking on issues of arts and education, Polisi has founded many programs that focus on mentorship and the importance of an interdisciplinary education. In 2006, he helped to found the Carnegie Hall/Julliard Academy, a program designed to prepare post-graduate musicians to be leaders in the arts and education.
“I’m always speaking to our Julliard students about their sense of mission and their need to really be effective advocates of the arts once they get off stage,” Polisi said. “The performance is one thing and that’s extremely important, but then they have to be active as missionaries, so to speak, for the arts.”
President Polisi’s free lecture will take place on Mar. 1 at 4:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts. An evening concert will take place at 8 p.m. on the same day.
The concert will be a festive celebration of the new instrument featuring performances and discussions from several members of the College community. Audience members will first be shown a short film describing the selection of the piano at the historic Steinway factory in Queens, New York.
The Steinway model D concert grand piano arrived at the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts on Nov. 26, a gift of the Ray, Meredith and Nathaniel Rothrock ’12.5 family in honor of President Liebowitz and his wife, Jessica. The 9-foot, 990 pound piano will reside in the Concert Hall for use by faculty, students and performers participating in the College’s Performing Arts Series.
Chair of the Music Department Greg Vitercik is excited about the new musical opportunities created by the piano.
“It opens up a sound world that is simply not available on the instruments any of us encounter in daily life,” Vitercik said in an email. “And that new sound world offers a range of expressive and coloristic effects that cannot be produced on lesser instruments, as well as possibilities — and challenges — of control that only exist at the rarified level.
In January and February, President Liebowitz sent out a campus-wide email inviting students, faculty and staff to register for ten minute slots to play the Steinway over the second week of J-term and the first week of the spring term.
Steinway enjoys the reputation of being the concert piano of choice around the world, with each instrument containing over 12,000 parts and taking over a year to manufacture by hand. A selection committee of concert soloists Richard Goode and Paul Lewis, Middlebury Affiliated Artist Diana Fanning ’71 and Gwendolyn Toth ’77 traveled to the legendary New York factory in late October, testing five potential candidates that might suit the acoustics of the Concert Hall.
Nathaniel Rothrock was an active participant in theater, musicals and the College Choir in his time as a student.
“Middlebury actually approached us about acquiring a new piano,” Rothrock said. “The old concert piano in the hall was close to 15 years old, maybe more, and the school had decided that it was time to get a new one. We discussed it and decided to help fund the gift. As we thought about it, we realized something important. President Liebowitz and his wife, Jessica, who is a concert level pianist, have been and continue to be huge supporters of the performing arts at Middlebury. So with the proviso that the piano be named in their honor, we decided to make the gift.”
The concert will showcase the piano’s versatility by presenting a unique mix of genres. Cameron Toh ’17, Shannia Fu ’17, and David Heschel Liebowitz, all students of Fanning, will perform works by Barber, Debussy and Satie, while Gwendolyn Toth will present early keyboard pieces by Beethoven. Affiliated Artist and Director of Jazz Programs Dick Forman will pair with Felix Klos ’14 to play jazz selections. Bass/baritone Rothrock will close the program with songs by Schubert, Lerner and Loewe and Sondheim, accompanied by Associate Professor of Music Jeffrey Buettner.
Vitercik thinks that both performers and audience members will benefit from the high quality craftsmanship of the Steinway.
“We have a long record of bringing some of the finest pianists in the world to our stage, and to have an instrument of this quality will allow them to perform at the highest level of their artistic potential,” he said. “Audiences, too, will experience an unparalleled richness, subtlety, and expressive range in those performances.”
The concert will be followed by a reception in the Mahaney Center lobby. The event is free but requires the reservation of tickets through the Box Office.
The community has an excellent opportunity to hear Dr. Polisi’s lecture and watch the combination of arts and education in action at the concert celebration of the new Steinway piano. The dedication marks what is sure to be just the start of many years of enjoyment for the College.
(02/13/14 12:18am)
Jack and Nicole have spent every weekday of the last five months together. At 7:45 a.m., Nicole picks Jack up at his house. Most mornings, they stop at Ferrisburgh Bakery on the way to school, so Nicole can get a breakfast sandwich; if she is in a good mood, she will buy Jack a cookie, too. At school, the two spend the morning going to classes, eat lunch together and cook in the afternoons. After school, Nicole usually drops Jack off at home at 3:15, but if he is lucky, Nicole takes him to the train tracks. Last week, they stood by the tracks for 45 minutes in the rain, playing I Spy while they waited for the train.
But Jack thinks Nicole is going to hell. Jack is the son of a devout Christian father; Nicole is into Buddhism. Jack has memorized the rules of Christianity and repeats them often. It is hard to tell if he understands what he is saying, but it does not matter; he is convinced. He will go to Heaven, and Nicole will not.
Jack is fourteen years old and in the ninth grade. Nicole is his personal behavior interventionist. Jack has long, thin fingers and Nike sneakers that are too big for his feet, so they bounce against his heels like flip-flops. His clothes are usually wrinkled, and he often tugs at the belt loop of his jeans to keep them from falling down. He is tall and fair-skinned with light blue eyes and buzz cut blonde hair that is prone to cowlicks. Most of the time Jack is either moving or making noise, often both. When he speaks, his words come out like train wheels hammering over tracks, one-toned and pounding one on the end of the other, stuttering and spewing thoughts that come faster than his lips can move; but when you ask him something, redirecting his train of thought, his voice gets soft, and he chooses his words carefully. Jack, whose name has been changed for this article, is speculated to be on the autism spectrum.
Jack goes to school at the Diversified Occupations Program (DO), a high school for special needs students in Middlebury. I visited the program and met Jack at the beginning of January and spent time with him throughout the month.
When I first met Jack, he was in the kitchen fiddling with the arm of an electric blue mixing bowl. His apron was crooked, his t-shirt caught in the knot around his hips. When his teacher Ms. Lynch told him to come say “hi” to me, he walked over slowly, one finger in his mouth. He offered me his left hand, placing it gently in my right, but Lynch corrected him, and he lent me his shaking hand instead.
“Are you Indian?” he asked, looking over my shoulder. His voice was high and loud, coming from a thin-lipped mouth ringed with faded acne marks.
Lynch interrupted. “Is that a firm handshake?”
When I responded, smiling, that it could be firmer, Jack tightened his grip. Then he looked at my eyes. “Can you be my friend I don’t know if you can be my friend,” he said in an even tone, as if it were one word.
“I can be your friend,” I answered.
“I don’t know if I can be your friend, can you be my friend?” His hand was still in mine, bobbing up and down evenly.
I repeated my answer and Jack continued to grip my hand lightly until Lynch broke the bond apart.
Jim Doolan and his wife Kay, both current substitute teachers, founded the DO program in 1970, spurred by the mid-60s formation of the Vermont Department of Education, which emphasized increasing special education opportunities. Uniting two small Addison County, Vt. special education classes, one based in a church basement and the other in an elementary school, and housing them in a closed-down Catholic School, the pair effectively cut the ribbon of the DO program, though the model looked different than today’s. At its inception, DO focused foremost on academics and secondarily on daily living skills such as home economics and shop. Now the classes are centered on practical learning, and the students are more involved in the community. Programs like bird banding, an annual trip to D.C. and vocational opportunities have developed over the course of the program’s life. These varied programs sprung up out of necessity to cater to a variety of individualized needs; DO students span a wide range of capacities, and DO prioritizes individualizing education so that each student graduates with a job and the skills they need to live independently.
Today, the program has 35 students in ninth through twelfth grades. They come from four area junior high schools (Vergennes, Mt. Abraham, Middlebury and Otter Valley), suggested for DO by their junior high case manager. Most of the students are learning impaired, which means their IQs are 77 or below (the average IQ is around 100); the rest test just a few points above 77. In the old days, said Lynch, this is what people called mental retardation. But Rosa’s Law, signed by President Obama in October of 2010, replaced the term “mental retardation” with the phrase “intellectual disability” for use in federal health, education, and labor policy. Though the change has been gradual, the “R-word,” has been essentially phased out of use nationwide, and is never heard at the DO program.
But the medical condition remains the same; learning impairments land most students entering the DO program at a third grade level of academic comprehension. Even in light of this reality, DO does not prioritize expanding academic knowledge. Instead, the DO staff asks: “How do you take a third-grade level and translate that into adult functioning? What do [students] really need to know?”
The answer, according to Lynch: “You don’t have to know physics, you don’t have to have geometry, but you should know how to add and subtract. You should know how to do a budget, you should know how to be able to pay your bills and have really good work skills so you can have a job.”
With 19 staff members working to specialize lessons for 35 students, DO’s financial responsibility is astronomical. Tuition comes in at $25,000, funded by the student’s home school, 55 percent of which is reimbursed to the school by the state — “a deal,” Lynch said, compared to other specialized programs, such as those for emotionally disturbed youth. But at such a low price, funding the program can be a struggle. Recent dips in enrollment – four or five fewer students than usual – necessitated cutting drivers’ education.
To Lynch, it seems incredible that this operation succeeds so smoothly for such a low price, especially considering the caliber of staff members currently employed. In several different conversations, Lynch expressed her awe of the people she works with and the effect they have on their students.
“We have some really quality people right now working with kids,” she said. “That’s not always the case in public schools.”
During my first visit, Jack and three other students were baking in preparation for DO’s fully-functioning Friday afternoon restaurant, the TGIF Cafe. In the kitchen, I asked him if he was happy with how his cookies turned out.
“Why is your face clear?” he answered.
“I asked you about the cookies,” I said.
“You don’t have any bumps on your face, like most women do.”
“The cookies, Jack,” Nicole interjected.
He stared at my face. “You don’t have any bumps on your face, you musta had acne treatment.” He pointed at Nicole. “You have bumps on your face.” She bit back a smile and shook her head.
“I know, Jack,” she said.
Jack made a “g” sounds in the back of his throat.
“What did you do this morning?” I tried again.
“Kicked my own butt.” His hands were elbow-deep in dough. Nicole gave him her look. “Stupid Jack,” he said, smiling.
Later that day, Jack stood at the mixer at his assigned cooking station, stirring the ingredients as Lynch had showed him.
As I watched him pack brown sugar into a measuring cup, he asked me again if I could be his friend.
“I can be your friend,” I answered. “Can you be my friend?”
“I don’t know if I can be your friend I don’t know.” He looked down at the mounds of sugar in front of him. After a moment he looked back up. “Would you be my friend if I punched you in the face?”
“Probably not,” I answered.
He smiled for a second. “Probably not, no.”
Jack is just beginning to figure out what it means to have friends – the “can you be my friend” mantra is a recent development. At Vergennes Middle School, he had some friends, but at DO he doesn’t think he has any.
“He’s got more issues, I think, than the other kids, so they don’t really know why he does what he does and what to make of him,” Nicole explained.
At lunch, which the DO students eat in the Middlebury Union High School cafeteria, Jack sits with Nicole, and usually no one else. He likes to watch the high school students because he likes the shapes of their heads. But they are not his friends. It is hard to get Jack to explain why they are not his friends, though he is convinced of this fact.
When I asked, he told me it was too hard to explain and that he was confused, but sometimes he says it was because the other kids do not look as young as him. I asked him if this was the only thing that mattered in friends.
“It matters nice and have fun with them,” he said, then shook his head. “It’s too hard to explain.”
I didn’t let it go, and finally he told me, “Maybe I’ll be too jealous of them because they have too deep voice and I don’t have deep voice. I wish my voice changed, I wish I was in puberty. Like a year ago I was saying,” – he made his voice high – “Mom, when will my voice change?’” He laughed.
One day, Nicole and I stood in the corner of the kitchen, when Jack scuttled over and leaned in between us.
“I have a question,” he said, staring at my nose. “Are you a Christian?” His eyes were wide and serious, his words coming quickly. I nodded.
“So that means you believe in God?” I nodded again. “So that means you believe in Jesus?” Nod. “So that means you believe he died on the cross for our sins? So that means you believe you’re going to heaven?” I was overwhelmed. I hadn’t thought about these questions for a long time, but I nodded again. “That’s good,” he said, bobbing his head violently up and down. “I’m happy.”
Jack used to talk to Nicole about Christianity all day, until Nicole told him one day they weren’t going to discuss it anymore. A few times, Nicole tried to explain her views to Jack, and after listening to her talk about reincarnation for a while, he started to nod along. Then he said, “I believe in Jesus,” and told her reincarnation is the work of Satan, his Dad’s views coming back through by heart. From time to time, Jack asks Nicole if she believes in Jesus now, but she never does. It disappoints him for a moment, but does not seem to affect their relationship otherwise.
One-on-one, Jack seems easier to talk to, but his thoughts and ideas always surprise me as they come out percusively and quickly.
After baking cookies one morning, we were sitting together in the planning room, when Jack spotted a doodle in my stack of loose papers. It was a green pen dinosaur. He stopped mid-sentence and sat up straight.
“Did you draw that?” he asked. I said yes, and he laughed, grabbed the paper and took my pen to the sheet.
“Hey, that’s my paper,” I said, trying to get him to stop. He giggled mischievously. “It’s not nice to take people’s things and draw on them.” I couldn’t get his attention; he was absorbed in the cartoon creature. After a second, he held the paper up and looked at me, a full smile on his face. He had drawn a speech bubble coming from the dinosaur. “Hi Jack.”
I smiled. “Ok, I’m not mad anymore.”
But that same day in Social Skills class, he was less charming. “Can I draw now? Can I draw can I draw?” he repeated, banging his hands on the table, while the rest of the class tried to focus on the problem-solving exercise at hand – Mr. O’s daughter was sick at school, but how could he help her if he has to stay at work?
“Can I draw now? Can I draw now? Can I draw now?” Jack said. He was bent at the waist and his shoulders smushed against the edge of the table. “Can I draw now? Can I draw now?”
Mr. O took the opportunity to redirect the class discussion. Jack’s desire to draw and his inability to do so during class became the new problem the group had to solve. The other students immediately engaged in the issue at hand, paying no attention to Jack’s antics. Jack did not so much as look at Mr. O. Mr. O began to write out Jack’s various options on a bullet-pointed worksheet. Jack could either: 1) keep asking, 2) start misbehaving or 3) negotiate.
“Stupid eee crap.” Jack’s forehead hit on the table, and his signature high-pitched “e” sound filled the room. The other students did not react, focused on Mr. O’s words.
“Stupid eee crap.” Then Jack was up out of his chair and at the glass door that leads outside. “I think there’s a train.”
A moment later he was back at the table. Class discussion had not paused. Thirty seconds later, Jack said he thought there was a train again, and this time was out the door, into the negative eight degree morning. Mr. O did not pause the lesson, trained instead to let Nicole and Jack sort out the issue while he worked with the other students.
Later that day, I sat next to Jack at the beginning of math class, and he babbled throughout Lynch’s instructions.
“Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross? I like you. Do you know the m word? Are you my friend?” I put my finger to my lips, and he responded with a ‘b’ noise, bouncing his lips against each other. Across the table, Melissa, blinking her big brown eyes and pursing her small but usually smiling mouth, asked him to stop, and he did. Deep down in the train tracks of his brain, he knows how he is “supposed to” behave.
Nicole doesn't know if Jack will be able to hold a job when he graduates from high school. It will take him a while to learn how to interact with people socially.
“Even if he bagged groceries at the supermarket, he needs to learn not to get in people’s faces and not to ask a million questions,” she said.
DO’s ultimate goal is to place their graduates in steady jobs, but Jack’s ambigious future is not an exception among the pool of DO alumni. “Success” seems an almost irrelevant qualification for DO teachers – their students are too varied and individualized.
About a third of DO alumna hold full-time jobs and live completely independently. Others work part time and live with family members or friends. Graduates who test below 70 IQ points qualify for adult services, and receive formal assistance, usually through Counseling Services of Addison County (CSAC). In 2012, DO had ten graduates, eight of whom had 20 to 25 hours per week employment and two of whom declined employment because they were moving out of the area. In 2013, all four of DO’s graduates had paid employment upon graduation — one was full time, three were 20 to 25 hours per week. Overall, Lynch estimates that half of her students graduate with adult services requirements.
As for Nicole, she won’t be with Jack next September. The center is an hour-long commute from her home in Burlington, an unsustainable commitment, she told me, with clear sadness in her eyes. “I don’t know if there’s anywhere else like this. This is a very special place.”
For now, Nicole and Jack will continue to hang out together, watching trains and baking cookies, even though Nicole is not a Christian, and Jack is not sure if she is his friend.
One day I asked Jack if he ever tried to make friends with the other kids at DO.
“I don’t really have friends here,” he answered. “But you’re kind of my friend.” He looked away and scratched his head. “I don’t have that much – I don’t have – much friends – here much friends – I think you’re my only friend here.”
I was curious. What made me different than the other students?
“Because you’re a Christian,” Jack answered. He held my pen in his fist, clicking the end of it against his head. I told him lots of people are Christian.
“Uhh…I like the sound of your voice,” he said quietly. “Your voice sounds calm and kind. You’re a Christian which is good, it means you’ll go to heaven some day.” His voice was slow and soft. “And you’re a nice person.”
I told him he is a nice person too.
(01/15/14 4:47pm)
Mika Tan '15 from Singapore
The Megabus from Boston that was cancelled was the second cancellation that I experienced that day – first my flight from New York got cancelled, hence the decision to take Megabus back to Middlebury (New York-Boston-Burlington), but at the Boston stop, they cancelled the Megabus that would bring me home. But I’m really glad my dad got me a credit card, which finally allowed us to rent a car! (We originally only had debit cards, which didn’t allow us to rent cars.) But as with using parents’ credit cards, any transaction has to be declared to them, and that added unnecessary worry for them because I had to explain that we were going to drive (overnight!) back to Middlebury when Megabus had cancelled their bus due to icy and bad road conditions, and still let them think that I was going to make it back alive and well. Oops!
I’ve also heard of other crazy travel misadventures – a friend of mine was driving his car up from New York to Middlebury with a bunch of other students, and since he’s from North Carolina his car didn’t have winter tires. They skidded off the road into a ditch, and had to wait throughout the night for a rescue vehicle to get them out. The rescue vehicle couldn’t get there any sooner because they were also delayed due to bad road conditions! So they huddled and slept in the car, waiting.
Another friend of mine managed to find a company that chartered two vans at $650 each to drive a bunch of students up from New York! Sounds like everyone had some exciting travel stories to tell!
Prestige Shongwe '16 from San Francisco, CA
I was going from San Francisco to Boston on Sunday morning. Everything worked well – I thought my flights would be cancelled. I arrived in Boston at 2:35 p.m. and I had a connecting Greyhound at 11:50 p.m. So I spent the time at South Station and it’s not the warmest place. At 11:50, I’m on the queue, getting ready to board my bus. There’s a girl in front of me, Holly Burke ’15 [see Holly’s account]. She’s flying from Alaska and she’s had a much more gruesome journey than I had. She’s just ready to board this goddam bus, let’s put it that way. Right when we were in queue, they say the bus is cancelled – I say I’m not spending the night here. And we see two other Middkids, Mika Tan ’15 who flew from Singapore and Roy [Wang] ’15 who flew from China. Holly’s the one who takes the commanding role and the whole reason the bus was cancelled was because the road was icy. Holly says, ‘Guys, Alaska has trained me my whole life for this moment to drive on this highway today. And by this point it is 1:30 a.m. We hear that one car just skidded off the road. But the goal was to make it to the first class of J-Term. And essentially, let’s be honest, we were pulling the first all-nighter of J-Term. I’m very thankful that Holly took her time.
Holly Burke '15 from Anchorage, AK
My first flight out of Anchorage was supposed to go through Chicago to Burlington but that of course got cancelled. I spent three hours waiting in line at the United [Airlines] counter to see if they could reschedule but they wouldn’t give me a flight out until Wednesday. Luckily I was able to get the last seat on a flight Saturday night out of Anchorage to Portland and from there I was able to fly to Boston. The plan was to take a Greyhound [bus] from Boston to Burlington on Sunday night and share a ride back to campus but our bus was cancelled due to bad road conditions.
It was at this point that Prestige (who I had only just met standing in line for the Greyhound) recognized Roy and Mika, and the four of us decided to rent a car to get back to school. Mika had a driver’s license but she had never driven on ice before, so we all decided that I would drive; lucky for us, Hertz lets you drive a rental car at age 20. By the time we got back to Logan airport and rented the car it was almost 2:30 in the morning but we drove straight from Boston to White River Junction, Vt. without stopping. That part of the trip was really slow going; they didn’t have anyone plowing the roads overnight so I spent a lot of time driving well under the 45 mph minimum speed on I-89 through New Hampshire. We didn’t want to end up like the many cars we saw in roadside ditches that night.
We finally made it to Burlington around 8:00 a.m. and were able to return the rental car and share a taxi back to Middlebury. Even though it was a totally exhausting and definitely my most frustrating trip back to school, we almost made up for it in quality time, including some pretty excellent radio sing-a-longs, with people I otherwise might have never gotten to know. Plus, I made it back in time for my class on Monday.
Lauren Alper '16 from Jamaica
Caroline Walters ’16.5 and I were traveling from Jamaica to Burlington on Saturday, January 4. We got to the Montego Bay, Jamaica airport to find that our flight was delayed 4 hours. We waited in security for two hours, and were then told at the gate that our 4 p.m. flight was delayed until 10 p.m. The gate agents then updated us that the customs at the Philly airport (our connection) was closed, but that we would still be able to get in via special permission. Before we boarded the plane, we were told our flight attendant got sick and that the flight was canceled. US Airways put us up in a hotel, and we got up 3 hours later to come back to the airport where our flight was delayed an hour. We got on the plane finally, and made it to Philly. Now it was Sunday. Unfortunately, all flights out of Philly were cancelled. We decided to get crafty so we took a train to the train station where we got on a Bolt Bus to NYC. We booked Jet Blue flights out of NYC to Burlington for that night. Once we got to JFK, flights were being cancelled on the loudspeaker by the minute. We were told that our flight was delayed an hour, then two hours, and then four hours. Finally at 3 in the morning, we were told it was cancelled. Jet Blue refused to give us hotel rooms or meal vouchers, and all hotel airports and hotels in the surrounding airport were closed. We got a hotel in Manhattan, where I shared a full-size bed with two of my friends. We woke up in the morning, and instead of dealing with JFK again, took a train to Bedford, NY and met our friend Ellie Lovering ’16. Ellie drove us 5 hours to Midd, where we arrived Monday night. In all, it took us 56 hours from Jamaica, when it was supposed to take 7 hours. We were awake for 52 of those hours.
Jessica Cheung '15 from San Francisco, CA
After a red-eye flight from San Francisco Airport, we were sitting on a plane in the Philly airport about to take off for Burlington. The plane even drove off from the gate, and then it stopped. The plane stopped and we sat for three hours before the captain announced the plane would not be taking off due to mechanical issues. There we were: eight Middkids stranded in the Philly airport in the eye of constant chaos. “Next flight out to Burlington will be on Wednesday, three days from now,” the customer service lady said. I, with my friend, booked a 10-hour Amtrak ride that would leave for Burlington the next day. So, we spent this day — the day we were stuck in Philly — in a customer service line for 4 hours, with much optimism that the airline would compensate us with hotel vouchers.
But no dice. After standing in a painfully long line with over 200 people ahead of us, our flight was registered as cancelled due to “weather.” Weather? Our plane was not towed off the tarmac due to the “weather.” It was indeed a mechanical failure but U.S. Airways didn’t want to admit in order to avoid giving out hotel vouchers. So, we stayed in Philly that night and hopped on the Amtrak the next day, grabbing seats that we later realized faced the bathroom. There, I witnessed a whole new kind of privilege outside the Middlebury bubble, where real living adults, despite reading three signs taped inside and on the bathroom door that said ‘close the bathroom door after use,’ left the door wide open after use. Finally, after 10 hours on Amtrak, I was graced by a 60 degree temperature drop from San Francisco. Freezing meant I was closer to school. I was close, but not quite there when we realized: retrieving our baggage from the Burlington airport luggage lot will be an entirely new epic.
Ali Lewis '14 from Chicago, IL
I was meant to fly to Middlebury on Sunday morning, but my flight from Chicago to Burlington was cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday. I (of course) couldn’t get through to United [Airlines] by calling and spent a total of seven hours on hold, but ultimately was able to get a flight to Chicago on Wednesday evening (it was 1°F there!) and then to Middlebury on Thursday morning. The last challenge at the end of it all was that my car battery died because of the cold over break, so my friend couldn’t use it to pick me up from the airport, but I was luckily able to get a MiddTransit ride back.
(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.”
(12/04/13 9:24pm)
With less than 20 seconds on the clock on Sunday, Nov. 24, Scarlett Kirk ’14 was battling 25 mph winds and a Johns Hopkins defender with her back to the goal and seemingly nowhere to go. In one quick motion, the Middlebury forward’s turn opened up space to tuck away the ball past the outstretched Hopkins keeper in the back of the net. Kirk turned with arms open to welcome her celebrating teammates and the program’s first ever spot in the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
“The whole play is a bit of a haze, but I remember getting the ball and thinking that this was my chance to end this game before overtime, and I got lucky that it was a good shot that beat the keeper,” Kirk said. “I was so cold and exhausted at that point, I was so happy that the game wasn’t going into overtime. I still can’t believe that it happened and that we’re actually going to the Final Four. It’s been our dream ever since I’ve been at Middlebury.”
Just a day earlier, on Saturday, Nov. 23, the Panthers emphatically announced themselves as serious NCAA contenders with a 5-1 win over Misericordia, in a game that included a hat trick from Kirk.
In the beginning, Middlebury looked uncomfortable playing on the largely unknown turf field, with the Panthers having a hard time finding feet and controlling passes on the fast surface. It didn’t take long for Middlebury to grow into the game, generally dictating play and limiting Misericordia’s chances on goal.
Kirk netted her first goal of the game in the 38th minute after an impressive Hannah Robinson ’16 one-touch pass toward the striker to knock it past the keeper.
Middlebury doubled its lead in the final minutes of the first half with Molly Parizeau '15 her first goal of her Middlebury career. Kirk was yet again instrumental, earning a corner after chasing down a long ball and her shot with deflected behind. Ali Omsberg ’15 quick pass found Parizeau at the near post for a header and 2-0 lead before halftime.
Middlebury came out even stronger in the second half, with two goals in the first five minutes of play.
Robinson played a weighted ball down the left hand side to carve open space to find Jamie Soroka ’16, who cut the ball back to find Kirk open in the middle of the box. In a tight space, Kirk volleyed the ball into the corner of the net.
Just four minutes later, Kirk earned her hat trick after a masterful series of passes from the Panthers. Quick, one-touch passing didn’t allow Misericordia to close down Middlebury fast enough. Robinson found Julie Favorito ’14 at the top of the box, where the tri-captain one-touched a through ball that Kirk converted despite tumbling to the ground and her hair falling out of its ponytail.
The Panthers continued their dominance on corners, with their final goal of the game coming from a header by Sarah Noble ’14 after a corner from Carter Talgo ’15 in the 58th minute.
Middlebury then began to slow the game down, with patient build-up and relaxed play. The Panthers were briefly punished for this, after a consolation goal from the Cougars in the 71st minute. Middlebury was caught sleeping on the corner, as a shot from Megan Lannigan was deflected into the goal.
The dominant performance wiped away the painful memories of last year’s NCAA Regional final’s 1-0 loss to the Cougars.
“I thinking going into the game we were just happy how far we had already come, but the fact we had that history with them made us want to win that much more, and I think that showed in how we played,” Noble said.
On Sunday, Johns Hopkins and Middlebury braved brutal conditions of harsh winds and a temperature (without wind-chill) of 20 degrees. The Blue Jays benefited in the first half with the wind at their backs, posting a 9-0 shot advantage.
Hopkins’ first real chance of the afternoon came just two minutes into the game after being awarded a free-kick, but saw their effort go just over the crossbar. Neither team threatened again until the 20th minute when Hannah Kronick and Kelly Baker worked a give-and-go, but Kronick was unable to handle the return pass.
Middlebury’s best chance of the half came in the 23rd minute when Soroka rocketed down the left hand side, but tried to play a pass to Kirk in the middle instead of shooting. Chances were few and far between for Middlebury, as the Blue Jays kept pushing the Panthers back.
Johns Hopkins finished the half with the last real chance, as goalie Elizabeth Foody ’14 produced a top notch save, catching Baker’s fizzing shot in mid-air.
The Panthers came out in the second half looking to make amends for their poor first half performance.
In the 61st minute, Middlebury was denied a penalty kick after Robinson’s shot hit the hand of a Blue Jay defender, the ball instead deflected behind for a corner. Parizeau saw her shot denied, her rebound falling to Robinson who’s follow up attempt rattled the cage.
On the other end, Kronick continued to pile on the pressure, first seeing her effort from 20 yards out stopped by Foody and just three minutes later launching a shot over the goal.
With overtime looming, Middlebury began to crank into gear, pushing forward. On their last offensive threat, Favorito touched a challenged ball ahead to Kirk for the senior forward to net her 16th goal of the season and the 47th of her career.
Middlebury’s final push is reflective of a season that has seen the majority of the Panthers’ goals scored in the final five minutes.
“One of my professors came up to me after the game and said that something in the last five minutes seemed to literally just switch with us, but I think that’s just how our season’s being going, we’ve won so many games in the last couple minutes,” Lindsay Kingston ’14 said. “We talk about how it has to be a 90 minute game and play through it all and I think that’s really helped us beat many teams.”
Favorito thinks this weekend’s performance showed that Middlebury’s spot in the Final Four is no fluke.
“I think beating a big name team like John Hopkins that we have heard about for years really boosted our confidence in terms of playing teams like Trinity-Texas who we’ve never played before but have heard a lot about,” Favorito said. “We proved to ourselves that we are up there with the nationally ranked teams. Not sure what to expect but I’m so excited to get on a plane with this team, it has been a dream of the seniors for a long time.”
Middlebury will face second ranked Trinity University on Friday, Dec. 6 in the National Semifinal. Despite the significance of the game, head coach Peter Kim insists that nothing will change in the team’s preparation.
“We’re going to continue what we’ve been doing all year: take each game one at a time,” Kim said. “We’ve never expected anyone to be a weak opponent so there’s not going to be any surprises when we play against a good team. I don’t think we even want to play against a weak team at this point.”
(12/04/13 8:45pm)
As I counted the bruises up my shins, I also kept counting down the days until the bubble would be torn down. I thought that I would never miss that two-and-a-half lane track — one of the lanes just disappearing into nothingness, the sharp corners, and concrete straightaways disguised with a thin layer of rubber. We dreamt of the new field house we had been shown on building plans and posters since the day we had our first recruitment meeting. We hardly thought about what we were going to do in the interim without a track, nervously giggling when we mentioned it off the cusp and our coach even shrugging with a grin when we asked about our plans for next year. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” With that bridge now ahead of us — and the baseball, softball, ultimate frisbee, and lacrosse teams all waiting to cross it with us — life outside the bubble all of the sudden feels very real.
I love running for its simplicity. That it’s just you out there on the trail or in your starting blocks, and that all you need is a pair of shoes. Abebe Bikila even won the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome barefoot. You are the creator of your own destiny. No one else.
However, it’s easy to say that simplicity has not been the theme of this year’s season. We leave now our fate in the hands of the weather gods, constantly checking the weather app on our phones for whether the temperature will peak at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m., when the sun will set, switching our off-day from Sunday to Wednesday in pursuit of an extra ray of sunshine and one more day on the outdoor track. 43 degrees used to be our outdoor cut-off point; we’re now pushing low 20s — snowflakes mixing with our cold sweat.
Indoors, Nelson Arena resembles something of a refugee center. Sprinters run on rolled out pieces of rubber or hug the walls of the arena trying to replicate 200m intervals. Hurdlers walk over hurdles set up in the middle of tennis courts. Throwers hurl javelins that occasionally get stuck in basketball hoops and jumpers launch themselves onto mats squished in the back. Other teams watch on patiently, waiting often until 7 p.m. or later for their turn.
Yet no one complains.
We are still the creators of our own destiny and nobody can change that. I’ve often been called crazy for choosing track and field as the sport I wanted to pursue in college. And to be honest, I probably am crazy; most of this team crazy is for how much they love running. That love is what is making life outside the bubble tolerable. The desire to get better, faster, and stronger never stops. I’m still hungrier than ever, and lamenting the fact we have no real place to practice doesn’t win races.
The future of Middlebury Track and Field is exciting; in the next year, and for the next 30 years and beyond, this team will be practicing in a facility that is capable of hosting NCAA competitions. Seniors, in their last year of racing and unable to reap the rewards of the new field house, still excitedly talk about the benefits of the construction. While racing is an individual event, this team is truly a family. While we run for ourselves, we ultimately each run for each other. We run bubble-less for this year for what it gives the next generations of Middlebury athletes, with the schedule changes, crowded spaces and sore shins are more than worth it.
Sport is sometimes sacrifice, but it makes the victory so much sweeter.
(11/26/13 9:48pm)
With less than 20 seconds on the clock on Sunday, Nov. 24, Scarlett Kirk ’14 battled against winds over 25 mph and a Johns Hopkins defender with her back to the goal and seemingly nowhere to go. In one quick motion, the Middlebury forward’s turn opened up space to tuck away the ball past the outstretched Hopkins keeper in the back of the net. Kirk turned with arms open to welcome her celebrating teammates and the program’s first ever spot in the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
“The whole play is a bit of a haze, but I remember getting the ball and thinking that this was my chance to end this game before overtime, and I got lucky that it was a good shot that beat the keeper,” Kirk said. “I was so cold and exhausted at that point, I was so happy that the game wasn’t going into overtime. I still can’t believe that it happened and that we’re actually going to the Final Four. It’s been our dream ever since I’ve been at Middlebury.”
Just a day earlier, on Saturday, Nov. 23, the Panthers emphatically announced themselves as serious NCAA contenders with a 5-1 win over Misericordia, including a hat trick from Kirk.
In the beginning, Middlebury looked uncomfortable playing on the largely unknown turf field, with the Panthers having a hard time finding feet and controlling passes on the fast surface. It didn’t take long for Middlebury to grow into the game, generally dictating play and limiting Misericordia’s chances on goal.
Kirk netted her first goal of the game in the 38th minute after an impressive Hannah Robinson ’16 one-touch pass toward the striker to knock it past the keeper.
Middlebury doubled their lead in the final minutes of the first half giving Molly Parizeau ’15 her first goal of her Middlebury career. Kirk was yet again instrumental, earning a corner after chasing down a long ball and her shot with deflected behind. Ali Omsberg ’15 quick pass found Parizeau at the near post for a header and 2-0 lead before halftime.
Middlebury came out even stronger in the second half, with two goals in the first five minutes of play.
Robinson played a weighted ball down the left hand side to carve open space to find Jamie Soroka ’16, who cut the ball back to find Kirk open in the middle of the box. In a tight space, Kirk volleyed the ball into the corner of the net.
Just four minutes later, Kirk earned her hat trick after a masterful series of passes from the Panthers. Quick, one-touch passing didn’t allow Misericordia to close down Middlebury fast enough. Robinson found Julie Favorito ’14 at the top of the box, the tri-captain one-touched a through ball that Kirk converted despite tumbling to the ground and her hair falling out of its ponytail.
The Panthers continued their dominance on corners, as their final goal of the game coming from a header by Sarah Noble ’14 after a corner from Carter Talgo ’15 in the 58th minute.
Middlebury then began to slow the game down, with patient build-up and relaxed play. The Panthers were briefly punished for this, after a consolation goal from the Cougars in the 71st minute. Middlebury were caught sleeping on the corner, as a shot from Megan Lannigan was deflected into the goal.
The dominant performance wiped away the painful memories of last year’s NCAA Regional final’s 1-0 loss to the Cougars.
“I thinking going into the game we were just happy how far we had already come, but the fact we had that history with them made us want to win that much more, and I think that showed in how we played,” Noble said.
On Sunday, Johns Hopkins and Middlebury braved brutal conditions of harsh winds and a temperature (without wind-chill) of 20 degrees. The Blue Jays benefited in the first half with the wind at their backs, posting a 9-0 shot advantage.
Hopkins’ first real chance of the afternoon came just two minutes into the game after being awarded a free-kick, but saw their effort go just over the crossbar. Neither team threatened again until the 20th minute when Hannah Kronick and Kelly Baker worked a give-and-go, but Kronick was unable to handle the return pass.
Middlebury’s best chance of the half came in the 23rd minute when Soroka rocketed down the left hand side, but tried to play a pass to Kirk in the middle instead of shooting. Chances were few and far between for Middlebury, as the Blue Jays kept pushing the Panthers back.
Johns Hopkins finished the half with the last real chance, as Foody produced a top notch save, catching Baker’s fizzing shot in mid-air.
The Panthers came out in the second half looking to make amends for their poor first half performance.
In the 61st minute, Middlebury were denied a penalty kick after Robinson’s shot hit the hand of a Blue Jay defender, the ball instead deflected behind for a corner. Parizeau saw her shot denied, her rebound falling to Robinson who’s follow up attempt rattled the cage.
On the other end, Kronick continued to pile on the pressure, first seeing her effort from 20 yards out stopped by Foody and just three minutes later launching a shot over the goal.
With overtime looming, Middlebury began to crank into gear, pushing forward. On their last offensive threat, Favorito touched a challenged ball ahead to Kirk for the senior forward to net her 16th goal of the season and the 47th of her career.
Middlebury’s final push is reflective of a season that has seen the majority of the Panthers goals scored in the final five minutes.
“One of my professor’s came up to me after the game and said that something in the last five minutes seemed to literally just switch with us, but I think that’s just how our season’s being going, we’ve won so many games in the last couple minutes,” Lindsay Kingston ’14. “We talk about how it has to be a 90 minute game and play through it all and I think that’s really helped us beat many teams.”
Favorito thinks this weekend’s performance showed that Middlebury’s spot in the Final Four is no fluke.
“I think beating a big name team like John Hopkins that we have heard about for years really boosted our confidence in terms of playing teams like Trinity-Texas who we've never played before but have heard a lot about,” Favorito said. “We proved to ourselves that we are up there with the nationally ranked teams. Not sure what to expect but I'm so excited to get on a plane with this team, it has been a dream of the seniors for a long time.”
Middlebury face second ranked Trinity-Texas on Friday, Dec. 6 in the National Semifinal. Despite the significance of the game, Peter Kim insists that nothing will change in the team’s preparation.
“We’re going to continue what we’ve been doing all year: take each game one at a time,” Kim said. “We’ve never expected anyone to be a weak opponent so there’s not going to be any surprises when we play against a good team. I don’t think we even want to play against a weak team at this point.”
(11/20/13 11:15pm)
To anyone who has felt the slightest angst throughout his or her formative years — and I know this applies to all of you — great news: pop punk lives on! But I’m not talking Vans Warped Tour here; I’m talking the hard stuff. The good stuff. The ol’ fashioned, ass-kicking tempos venting those oh-so-important frustrations of the suburban teenage experience packed into neat little singles and half-hour LPs. And we largely have the Crutchfield twins – Katie of Waxahatchee and Allison of Swearin’ – to thank for that. The latter enjoyed the summer festival circuit on the backbone of her excellent spring release “Cerulean Salt” while Allison’s band recently put out “Surfing Strange”, their second LP.
The album kicks off with “Dust in the Gold Sack”, which is quite possibly the best pop punk song in the past 10 years, if not for “Kenosha” from their first LP. Ripe with heavy licks and thick riffs, Swearin’ flaunts its early influences, some of whom are titans of the genre – you can find bits and pieces of the Replacements, the Breeders, the Pixies and countless others on the opener and scattered throughout the eleven tracks as well. “Mermaid” is merely a darkened “Only in Dreams” from the Weezer’s “Blue Album”, while “Echo Locate” is a cross between Nirvana’s “In Bloom” and “Insomniac”-era Green Day (which was damn good — don’t let anyone tell you otherwise).
Despite the negatives attached to the genre’s name, on top of the risks of sounding anything remotely like those last two bands mentioned, Swearin’ effortlessly forsakes the clean tunings of the last 15 years of mass-produced consumer-pandering pop punk. The use of gritty distortion gives rise to an extra dimension to their music that the precision of more recent overproduction eliminates; no longer do they need to lay down an additional layer in order to make up for flatness as these tightly coiled songs are highly textured despite the simplicity of arrangements.
In comparison to the band’s self-titled debut, the album’s cuts are a tad slower and more drawn out, which isn’t exactly hard to do when its longest track barely reached 2:38. The transition mirrors the new mood of the record; the irritation tinging Allison’s sharp remarks in the first LP gives way to a darker, more despondent undertone in “Surfing Strange”. The intermittent youthful joy found in the former, best encapsulated by her falling for the sticky skin of a Southern boy in the song “Just”, is replaced with anxiety and frustration, sometimes to a daunting degree.
Lyrically, her rhymes carry slightly less heft than the poetry of twin Katie’s outlet. But such an earnest and straightforward delivery is refreshing in itself. Her words need not be drenched in hazy metaphor; rather, she evokes a visceral response from a more pure, stripped expression. And why not? Such naturalness is what fostered the massive appeal to pop punk in the first place. Its function is to bridge the gap between the isolating abrasiveness of 70s punk and the broad, collectively tame youth experience. In all, they nail it on this record.
As sweet as it is mesmerizing, Allison’s voice humanizes the dark overtones of her palpable melodies. They stand in gloomy contrast to Kyle Gilbride’s not-too-nasally whine, which is a nice change of pace from the Allison show in their debut. The band incorporates a stringent “you write it, you sing it” policy and it pays out nicely in the four tracks he leads.
Like most albums, “Surfing Strange” does falter at a couple points. “Glare of the Sun” is a bit of a misstep, and, save a brief reprieve with “Unwanted Place”, the latter half of the album falls into a lull. Considering the form of a pop punk album, it’s a bit problematic to find oneself a little bored before the 34th and final minute of “Surfing Strange” passes. Yet it never devolves into cacophony, and even the more boring tracks on the record are pleasant on their own regard.
With this solid thrill of a release, Swearin’ excites me for the future of rock. Not that I was ever really worried; the album, at its very core, is still but a re-imagination of past formulas still as fresh as ever. But any world in which I can admit to liking pop punk again — better yet, any world in which pop-punk is good again — is better than the last. Thanks to Swearin’, things just might be looking up.
(11/14/13 5:08am)
Dear friends,
Today, on Nov. 14, I am going to voluntarily fast for a whole day in solidarity with the Filipino delegate to the UN COP19 climate talk, Mr. Yeb Sano.
I chose this day because on the same day, Divest Middlebury is holding a candlelight vigil to commemorate the lives that have been lost, and are still being lost, due to Typhoon Haiyan. Just as Mr. Yeb Sano is fasting because his “countrymen... are struggling to find food back home and… [his] brother... has not had food for the last three days,” I am choosing to refrain from eating on Thursday because I treat his countrymen as my countrymen, his brother as my brother, and I want to bring this issue to more people’s attention on campus.
Far too many people do not have the luxury that I do to choose to fast: Typhoon Haiyan alone has caused 2.5 million people in the Philippines to rely on food assistance. Many more storms like this one will come, and 95% of the death resulted from such “extreme climate disasters” is going to be people from developing countries.
The reason why this figure is so skewed towards people in “developing” countries is because they are less adequately prepared for coping with climate disasters than “developed” countries. Rapid population growth and urbanization produce clusters of poorly constructed houses in cities in developing countries which are extremely vulnerable to even smaller-scale climate events, let alone “extreme climate disasters.” Natural disasters, as it turns out, are only part of the story: poverty, a booming population, geography, meteorology, and shoddy construction, are equally, if not more, important factors.
Whether we accept it or not, climate change does not lie in the distant future. It is now, and it is right here. I have a few friends from the Philippines who have family members there, as I know that many of you do, too. Even if this is not the case, you may well know other friends that do. Thus, it is utterly impossible to deny how closely our lives are linked to the lost lives and survivors of the strongest typhoon to have ever hit land.
This record-setting storm has made it clear to the world that we are now living in an era of “Climate Changed.” Yet, governments around the globe are not doing enough to curb carbon emissions. Not only has CO2 concentration in the atmosphere risen to an all-time high last year, but the gap between the estimated level of CO2 in 2020, as calculated from the latest pledges made by countries around the world, and the targets required to keep temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius, has reached an all-time width as well. In other words, the chasm between ambition and reality is only widening year after year.
This is going to be an important day for us to remember the time we are in. I hope that many of you will join me, or at least support me, in this fasting, so that collectively, we can make a powerful statement that we recognize that climate change is not an abstraction, nor is it merely a scientific fact, but an indispensable part of our daily, lived reality.
With gratitude,
Adrian
ADRIAN LEONG ’16 is from Hong Kong.
(11/06/13 9:42pm)
The Department of Theatre and Dance celebrated Halloween with a presentation of Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom, a subversive tale of witchcraft and female power running from Thursday, Oct. 31 through Saturday, Nov. 2.
Audience members entered the Seeler Studio Theatre in the Kevin P. Mahaney Center for the Arts to find they would be sitting “in the round,” a wooden circle in the center of the stage with seating on all sides. Quotations projected onto two walls of the theatre exemplified harsh opinions from throughout history about the weaknesses of the female sex, thought to be naturally wicked simply because of differences in biology. Though the play follows behaviors that lead to accusations of witchcraft in one rural town, show director and Professor of Theatre and Gender, Sexuality and Feminine Studies Cheryl Faraone noted that the play grapples with a much larger issue.
“It’s a play about the control of an assault on women,” Faraone said. “I think that unfortunately this is an issue that has come to the forefront today.”
“History has not moved on; the removal of the gibbet is merely cosmetic,” she added in the show’s program.
Churchill’s play follows the loose young woman Alice, played by Christina Fox ’13.5, and her mother Joan, acted by Erica Furgiuele ’15, two unfortunate victims of the times, falsely accused of witchcraft by a middle class couple after things start to go wrong on the couple’s farm. Though there are only four minor male characters, they hold the power over the women they encounter. Margery, portrayed by Meghan Leathers ’13.5, thinks she is driven mad by the women she knows, not acknowledging that her abusive husband may be the one pushing her over the emotional ledge. Susan, a friend of Alice played by Chelsea Melone ’15, is wracked with guilt and eventually also accused of witchcraft after she aborts her baby with a potion, impregnated by a man and forced to explore the extent of her control over her body. Betty, acted by Shannon Fiedler ’14, runs from the possibility of marrying a wealthy man she does not love, only to be convinced and brainwashed that she will only be safe from accusations if she submits to the life she so despises.
Faraone was also enthused about her dedicated ensemble.
“This is a very strong group. Some are seniors, some are brand new to me,” Faraone said. “I’ve been incredibly fortunate with these students. Their commitment to the play and its ideas has been absolute, and they take what Churchill has to say seriously. There is a lot of talent and a lot of smarts on that stage.”
Interspersed throughout the show were six songs composed by musical director and Affiliate Artist Carol Christensen, performed in three part harmony by singers Caitlin Rose Duffy ’15.5, Joelle Mendoza-Etchart ’15 and Dana Tripp ’14. The singers offered a stark visual and audial juxtaposition to the 17th century dress and speech of the play’s primary story, confidently strutting around the stage in modern day black cocktail dresses and colored tights and presenting intricately arranged, upbeat jazzy tunes. Despite this contrast, the lyrics of the songs soon proved to correlate with the themes of the main plot, discussing everything from the struggles of being a wife supporting a family to aging to a woman’s medical control over her body. Faraone, who has previously collaborated with Christensen, was extremely pleased with the musical director’s vision.
“She absolutely gets the juxtaposition of music and lyrics that shows the narrow lenses through which women are viewed,” Faraone said. “The songs are entertaining and a big contrast to the rest of the show.
Fielder worked as an actor, choreographer and dramaturge for Vinegar Tom for her senior work, drawing on previous dance experience to bring the harmonies alive.
“I think my favorite aspect of Vinegar Tom might actually be the singers,” Fiedler said. “The music is absolutely beautiful, and the stark contrast between the upbeat melody and the dark lyrics forces the audience to really confront the issues at hand. Because the singers are contemporary, it also makes the audience acknowledge that the issues raised in the show are not just problems they had back then, but, unfortunately, issues that we are still dealing with today.”
Near the end of the play, in a particularly uncomfortable scene, Matt Ball ’14 entered the stage as Packer, an accomplished witch hunter known for his ruthless treatment of witches. As Packer laid each suspected witch on an elevated platform and viciously prodded them for a sign of the devil, the intensity of the piece heightened to an extremely uncomfortable level, many in the audience forced to look away as the women’s legs were opened. Indeed, the scene should be unsettling, showing the subordination of Packer’s female accomplice as she justifies his actions and raises him to the level of a saint.
Faraone’s decision to stage the production in the round was brilliant, allowing for a range and depth of motion impossible to achieve with a typical 180-degree view. Characters emerged from all four corners of the stage, cleverly moving around the circle to give each audience member a unique view of the action. Actors and singers communicated directly to the psyche of the audience, hugging the edge of the circle and making eye contact with spectators. A ladder leading to the balcony seating area of the theatre maximized the spatial possibilities of the show, allowing the actors to move horizontally and vertically to present the tale.
Fielder, besides acting as Betty and Kramer in the play, performed all necessary research about the time period, treatment of women and witchcraft, communicating to the cast how each of their characters may have actually behaved or felt at the time.
In the end, it is not the actual hanging of the witches or the emotional torment coursing through the women’s minds that is the most disturbing. In the final scene, two females appear as Kramer and Sprenger, two real men who wrote The Malleus Maleficarum, or “The Hammer of Witches,” in 1486. This text, one of the most famous treatises on witches, challenges arguments against witchcraft’s existence and instructs magistrates on how to identify, question and convict suspected witches. The statements in this text came to be widely recognized as truth at the time. Fielder read the text in preparation for the play.
“It was a crazy experience to read it and find out what people really thought of women back then – their fear and the circular logic of finding out a woman as a witch,” Fielder said. “For example, if a woman has a spot on her she is a witch, but if she doesn’t have a spot she can still be a witch. They basically made up the rules so that anyone accused of witchcraft could be hung for a witch.”
The actors, wearing tails and top hats, boldly asserted the reasons why women were more likely to be witches, listing the flaws of the sex and blaming women for all the wrongs in the world. They insisted that “cunning women are worst of all,” capable of greater wrongs.
This scene, coupled with the projected quotes from the beginning of the play, drove home the notion that prejudice against women has been all too real throughout history.
In the trio’s final song, “Lament for the Witches,” the singers hauntingly ask “Where are the witches?” before tauntingly answering, “Here we are, here we are.” Many characteristics of witchcraft in the play, such as heightened sensitivities, independence from men or individual intelligence, are very much present in women today, forcing women in the audience to ask if they would have been considered a witch just a few centuries ago. Faraone points out that women accused of witchcraft were generally those on the edges of society, displaying some fatal sign of difference.
“These were mostly single women struggling with poverty and age who found a scapegoat through witchcraft,” Faraone said.
Many left the theater having enjoyed the production, but feeling deeply unsettled by the theme. The entire ensemble did an excellent job of grappling with the difficult ideas of Churchill’s work, each actor sporting a British accent and a clear determination to make the play all it could be. In the end, they presented a cleverly designed, well-acted spectacle that left the audience with as many questions as answers, and oftentimes, those are the best plays of all.
(09/18/13 6:49pm)
Imagine Ben. He’s outgoing, incredibly kind and extremely bright. When he was 16, he witnessed global poverty for the first time while traveling abroad. It was an experience that changed his life. While in college, he did community service every week as he pursued a dual degree in economics (which he hated) and theater (which he loved). After college, he spent a few months working as a consultant, but itched to make a difference in the world. He quit his job and founded a charity in Botswana, which he selected for its high HIV rate, that tapped into his passion for theater as a way to educate children about HIV/AIDs through afterschool programs. He raised just enough to cover administrative and fundraising costs as well as teachers’ salaries and material expenses: an average of $150,000 annually. Over his 20 years at the organization, the program spread throughout the region and national statistics demonstrated declining HIV transmission rates, something he was quite proud of. When he was 45, he nobly retired from working abroad. He moved to his hometown, got married, had three kids and became a local private school theater teacher. He felt deeply enriched by his experience working abroad, and remembered the names of the children he worked with until he died.
Imagine Margaret. She spent her career working at an investment bank before bouncing between private equity firms and ultimately retiring at age 52. She spent her career thinking about sterile finance-speak like “return on investment.” Margaret had an average salary of $400,000 over the course of her career and cashed in stock options for an additional $2.5 million. She and her husband, Steven, ate dinner out regularly, bought a nice house downtown and vacationed frequently at nice hotels, but never had kids. Margaret donated 20% of the income she earned every year to charity (including the stock). She hired a consultant to research which interventions had the best empiric proof of saving lives, concluding that the best thing to do was buy and distribute malaria nets in Africa. She never met a single person who benefitted from her donations; in fact, occasionally she would forget which country in Africa her donations went to.
Ben’s story is inspiringly selfless. Margaret’s feels colder, more calculating and more selfish. The truth, however, is that Margaret’s life had a far greater impact on the world than Ben. She was an “effective altruist.”
I submit to you, reader, that you need to seriously re-evaluate your life and start making decisions more like Margaret than Ben.
Ben’s story is great, but he erred in three ways: First, he applied his passion (theater) to somebody else’s problem (AIDS), instead of looking for the most cost-efficient way to prevent AIDS transmission. Secondly, he didn’t research what was the best cause he could be involved in, as he could have saved more lives with a malaria organization. Finally, he was not objective in where to intervene, as Botswana, despite its high rate of HIV (23.4% among adults), actually has the highest basic HIV awareness and condom use in Sub-Saharan Africa. The hypothetical national decrease in AIDS almost certainly would have had nothing to do with his regional program.
Margaret, on the other hand, was able to target all her donations to the most cost-effective intervention in the world. That made all the difference.
By my calculations that draw on figures and estimates from the UN, academic research and randomized controlled trial findings, Ben’s entire organization saved a heroic 96 hypothetical lives over 20 years. Ben truly changed the world for the better. However, in contrast, Margaret’s donations - $2.9 million over her lifetime - allowed a hypothetical organization to save an astronomical 1,416 lives. Margaret saved almost 15 times as many hypothetical lives as Ben’s entire organization.
Bear in mind that I do not claim these estimates to be accurate, as uncertainty is very much a part of charity, but they are the most accurate based in real world estimates I could find. “Lives” is also an imprecise poor measurement of impact However, this hypothetical aims to demonstrate three points. Firstly, not all charity is morally equivalent. Secondly, good intentions often have little to do with real world impact. Finally, even a single person can make a difference by themselves.
This column is about how each of us can reorient our lives to maximize our impacts, because the 1,416th life Margaret saved matters just as much to that person as yours does to you. Rather than evaluate a charity by the vividness of warm glow it offers, or even the story it tells, this is a call to arms to apply your liberal arts education and critically investigate the evidence of its cost-effectiveness. And give generously. It will make all the difference in the world.
“This isn’t about your feelings. A human life, with all its joys and all its pains, adding up over the course of decades, is worth far more than your brain’s feelings of comfort or discomfort with a plan. Does computing the expected utility feel too cold-blooded for your taste? Well, that feeling isn’t even a feather in the scales, when a life is at stake. Just shut up and multiply” - Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-founder of Lesswrong.com and of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
Sources and calculations are available upon request from hcavanagh@middlebury.edu. Feedback is more than welcome.
(09/12/13 3:58am)
As Kyle Finck reported for the Campus earlier this week, "a 2,977 flag memorial was ripped out of the ground in front of Mead Memorial Chapel shortly before 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 by a group of five protestors claiming that the flags were on top of a sacred Abenaki burial site." This coverage supplemented middbeat's original post, featuring the photograph above by middbeat's Rachel Kogan.
Both the community and country were quick to react through word and action.
A group of about ten students began replanting the flags in front of Mead Memorial Chapel by 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening; Anthea Viragh captured the photograph below from the reaction. Our upcoming issue (Issue 112, Number 2) will feature a story, gallery and podcast about these students and their effort to replace the memorial.
Late Wednesday evening, middbeat stated that Anna Shireman-Grabowski ’15.5 had "come forward to confirm her involvement in disposing of the American flags." The alternative news source posted the following statement by Shireman-Grabowski:
Today I, along with a group of non-Middlebury students, helped remove around 3,000 American flags from the grass by Mead Chapel. While I was not the only one engaged in this action and the decision was not solely mine, I am the one who will see you in the dining halls and in the classroom, and I want to take accountability for the hurt you may be feeling while clarifying the motivations for this action.
My intention was not to cause pain but to visibilize the necessity of honoring all human life and to help a friend heal from the violence of genocide that she carries with her on a daily basis as an indigenous person. While the American flags on the Middlebury hillside symbolize to some the loss of innocent lives in New York, to others they represent centuries of bloody conquest and mass murder. As a settler on stolen land, I do not have the luxury of grieving without an eye to power. Three thousand flags is a lot, but the campus is not big enough to hold a marker for every life sacrificed in the history of American conquest and colonialism.
The emails filling my inbox indicate that this was not a productive way to start a dialogue about American imperialism. Nor did I imagine that it would be. Please understand that I am grappling with my complicity in the overwhelming legacy of settler colonialism. Part of this process for me is honoring the feelings and wishes of people who find themselves on the other side of this history.
I wish to further clarify that members of the local Abenaki community should in no way be implicated in today’s events. Nor can I pretend to speak to their feelings about flags, burial sites, or 9/11.
Today I chose to act in solidarity with my friend, an Indigenous woman and a citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy who was appalled to see the burial grounds of another Indigenous nation desecrated by piercing the ground that their remains lay beneath. I understand that this action is confusing and painful for many in my community. I don’t pretend to know if every action I take is right or justified—this process is multi-layered and nuanced. I do know that colonialism has been—and continues to be—a real and destructive force in the world that we live in. And for me, to honor life is to support those who struggle against it.
Please do not hesitate to email me or approach me if you wish to discuss this in person.
On Thursday morning, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz released the following statement to the Middlebury College Community:
Yesterday, on the 12th anniversary of the horrific attack on our nation on September 11, 2001, a group of Middlebury students commemorated the loss of nearly 3,000 lives by placing American flags in front of Mead Chapel as they have done a number of times in the past. Sadly, a handful of people, at least some of them from our campus community, this year chose to desecrate those flags and disrespect the memories of those who lost their lives by pulling the flags from the ground and stuffing them in garbage bags.
We live in an academic community that fosters and encourages debate and discussion of difficult issues. It is also a community that requires of all a degree of respect and civility that was seriously undermined and compromised by this selfish act of protest.
Like many of you, I was deeply disturbed by the insensitivity of this act. Destruction of property and interfering with the rights of others to express themselves violates the standards of our community. The College has begun a disciplinary investigation of this incident.
There is always something to learn from differences of opinion. In this case, the disrespectful methods of the protesters overshadowed anything that might have been learned from the convictions they claimed to promote. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior.
On Thursday evening, a second protester named Amanda Lickers released a statement on Climate Connections, stating that she helped remove the flags from the grass. Lickers gave her reasoning in the posted statement:
i am a young onkwehon:we, a woman, a member of the turtle clan and the onondowa’ga nation of the haudenosaunee confederacy. i have been doing my best to be true to the responsibilities i have inherited through the gift of life, and the relationships i must honour to my ancestors and all our relatives.
for over 500 years our people have been under attack. the theft of our territories, the devastation of our waters; the poisoning of our people through the poisoning of our lands; the theft of our people from our families; the rape of our children; the murder of our women; the sterilization of our communities; the abuse of our generations; the
uprooting of our ancestors and the occupation of our sacred sites; the silencing of our songs; the erasure of our languages and memories of our traditions
i have had enough.
yesterday i went to occupied abenaki territory. i was invited to middlebury college to facilitate a workshop on settler responsibility and decolonization. i walked across this campus whose stone wall structures weigh heavy on the landscape. the history of eugenics, genocide and colonial violence permeate that space so fully like a ghost everywhere descending. it was my understanding that this site is occupying an abenaki burial ground; a sacred site.
walking through the campus i saw thousands of small american flags. tho my natural disdain for the occupying colonial state came to surface, in the quickest moment of decision making, in my heart, i understood that lands where our dead lay must not be desecrated. in my community, we do not pierce the earth. it disturbs the spirits there, it is important for me to respect their presence, their want for rest.
my heart swelled and i knew in my core that thousands of american flags should not penetrate the earth where my abenaki brothers and sisters sleep. we have all survived so much – and as a visitor on their territories i took action to respect them and began pulling up all of the flags.
i was with 4 non-natives who supported me in this action. there were so many flags staking the earth and their hands helped make this work faster. this act of support by my friends, as settlers, tho small was healing and inspiring. we put them away in black garbage bags and i was confronted by a nationalistic-settler, a young white boy who attends the college demanding i relinquish the flags to him. i held my ground and
confiscated them. i did not want to cave to his support of the occupying, settler-colonial, imperalist state, and the endorsing of the genocide of indigenous peoples across the world.
it is the duty of the college of middlebury to consult with abenaki peoples and repatriate their grounds.
yesterday i said no to settler occupation. i took those flags. it is a small reclamation and modest act of resistance.
in the spirit of resilience, in the spirit of survival
Throughout Thursday and Friday, the story gained national attention with various articles appearing on the Addison Eagle, Burlington Free Press, Business Insider, CBS, Daily Caller, Fox Nation, Indian Country Today Media Network, Inside Higher Ed, Times Argus, University Herald, and WCAX, in addition to a number of blogs, such as Breitbart. Many articles were filled with comments, condemning the protestors' actions. Further, WPTZ posted a video about the incident, while both the Huffington Post and Addison County Independent reached out to the College and community for additional comments.
Amanda Scherker wrote for the Huffington Post:
That said, Middlebury does not seem to have proof that the memorial had been placed on top of a burial site.
"It has never before been suggested that this is a Native American burial ground," Sarah Ray, the school's director of public affairs, told The Huffington Post via email.
Zach Despart at the Addison County Independent published the "Abenaki Response":
Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, called the vandalism “disgusting,” and believes the protestors were acting to promote their own political beliefs.
“We didn’t know anything about this and if we had we certainly wouldn’t have sanctioned it,” Stevens said.
He said that Abenakis do not publicize the locations of their burial sites in order to protect them, and that he has no knowledge of any such sites on the Middlebury campus. Stevens said that even if the site of the memorial had been a burial site, the American flags placed in the earth would not have been a desecration.
“Our burial sites honor our warriors and their bravery,” Stevens said. “Putting flags in the earth to honor bravery would not be disrespectful.”
Stevens served in the U.S. Army; his father fought in Korea and his son served in Iraq as a member of the National Guard.
On Friday evening, the College announced a series of events on "protest and civility" planned for next week. The announcement states, "the occasion for these meetings is the destruction of the 9/11 memorial earlier this week, but our larger purpose will be to consider together the responsibilities we have as an academic community to treat one another with respect and tolerance, even as we pursue political and social agendas that sometimes divide us."
The various sessions are as follows:
Professor of Religion Larry Yarbrough on Monday, Sept. 16 at 8:00 p.m. in the Mitchell Green Lounge at McCullough Social Space
Professor of American Studies and Director of the Center for the Comparative Study for Race and Ethnicity Roberto Lint Sagarena on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 12:00 p.m. in Carr Hall Lounge
Professor of Religion James Calvin Davis on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 4:30 p.m. in Carr Hall Lounge
Chaplain Laurie Jordan on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. at the Scott Center
Professor of Environmental Studies Rebecca Kneale Gould on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. in Coltrane Lounge
Professor of Political Science Erik Bleich on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 8:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Green Lounge at McCullough Social Space
Professor of Economics and Faculty Director of the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship Jon Isham and Professor of Geography Kacy McKinney on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 4:30 p.m. at the Scott Center
On Monday, Sept. 16 Ben Kinney ’15, co-president of College Republicans, wrote to the Campus, "I just got an email from Public Safety that two boxes containing all of the stolen flags were just dropped off at their door anonymously."
On Monday, Sept. 23 the Student Government Association Senate released the following statement:
We condemn the method of protest utilized on September 11th outside of Mead Chapel. We believe it was highly disrespectful, destructive and in violation of the the Student Handbook’s policy on respect and community standards. We support the administration’s decision to pursue disciplinary action.
Many members of our campus community, including members of the SGA, have lasting and painful memories from that horrific September morning in 2001. These members viewed the protest as a highly offensive act. Whatever one’s feelings towards American policy and this country’s history, the lives lost on September 11th were those of innocent individuals.
The Senate also condemns the disrespectful, hateful and violent speech exchanged in the wake of the 9/11 flag protest. Much of this speech came from outside of the campus community. But some discussions on campus included unnecessarily malicious and personal attacks. This practice is also disrespectful, destructive and in violation of the the Student Handbook’s policy on respect and community standards.
Protest as a practice encourages valuable debate. Protest enables the exchange of critical ideas, the altering of opinions, and, eventually, change and progress. But as with all things, there are lines that one should not cross. We, as leaders of the campus community, want to foster a forum for productive exchange and dialogue. The protest on September 11th has absolutely no place in this forum. It is our hope that the student body will rise above the malicious actions and speech that have permeated our campus in the last two weeks and create an environment that fosters effective and respectful discourse in our community.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. - Martin Luther King Jr.
(05/01/13 11:30pm)
This op-ed goes out to everyone who is thinking about writing an opinion piece in a published medium that circles in a community (ie. newspapers, magazine, other public media).
Think before you write. Sharing your opinions and thoughts on a certain topic is necessary to varying degrees. It helps the process of resolution, personal piece of mind and opens new paths to conversations. However, it seems that many people take the privilege of being able to speak up and be heard as an opportunity to babble about personal plights without considering alternative views to a problem. Many opinion pieces in this newspaper fall into this category, and my only hope is that it will stop.
It is very important, as previously stated, to express your thoughts and opinions. Nevertheless, finding the appropriate means of communication is also very important. When writing to the Campus, ask yourself: “why do I want this particular piece of information to be published in this particular medium given its particular audience?” If your answer is: “I’m trying to be a published writer!” then just write a book or start a blog. If your answer is: “Can’t wait to see how many people talk about my controversial article on Thursday!” then just write a Facebook status about it. If the answer to your “why” is: “This is an important issue to the student body, and I believe I can contribute to its discussion in a constructive way.” Then please, SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT!
Some of the characteristics of the latter can be described by the following: You allow your audience to think about the issue for themselves instead of trying to convince them of a particular point. This can be accomplished by: 1) stating factual information that allows for readers to decide whether or not they agree, 2) stating how your background may or may not give you a degree of entitlement or an unsubstantiated view of the problem, and 3) recognizing alternative views and clearly stating how your particular opinion is contrary to the ideas of that viewpoint.
Once you have checked these three boxes, you may realize that your opinion is very biased and that you are only writing the piece for personal reasons and not for the purpose of informing others. Or maybe you will edit your piece so much that you realize it’s all a manner of relativity — later deleting your email draft to the Campus. Or perhaps you will have crafted a well-written, unbiased article that will prove worthy of informing others in your community about a particular issue.
The Campus is a newspaper that most students and community members read. It is important for you to consider the impact your opinion piece will have on this community when you write to this media source. Don’t abuse your privilege of being able to inform others. Don’t trick yourself into believing your opinion piece reflects everyone else’s opinions. And lastly, if you haven’t checked all of the boxes above, don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are brave and powerful for sharing your opinion on a particular issue in this newspaper. Instead, write a status about it on Facebook or start a blog. I won’t read either. I’ve been at Middlebury for three years and read the Campus every week. I get upset every week when someone feels the need to write an opinion piece and decide to inform me about what I’m doing wrong with my life. That’s my bias.
MORRIS SWABY EBANKS '13 is from West Bay, Cayman Islands
(05/01/13 11:26pm)
Jeannie Bartlett ’15
There were a number of things I wanted to add to my comments at the Student Divestment Panel that I didn’t get to, so I’ll add them here.
I’m surprised to feel the need for this first clarification: the shift off of reliance on fossil fuels is not just a nice goal to have, nor is it something society might forget about. I can see how here at Middlebury, where we feel fewer of the effects, it could be easy to feel that way. But climate change and fossil fuels extraction already impact the health, safety and prosperity of people around the world and their impacts will only increase with continued use. Seven years from now, when climate change has caused 75-250 million people in Africa alone to experience extreme water stress and halved yields for rain-fed agriculture, we’re not going to just forget about moving to renewable energy and reducing consumption. That water stress will make fossil fuels dramatically increase in price because of the intense water-needs of extraction and energy-generation. Climate change is going to become increasingly relevant, and renewable energy and efficiency are going to become increasingly logical and cost-effective.
Next, Ben Wiggins ’14 and Ryan Kim ’14 both expressed the need for undeniable proof that divestment will not hurt returns before they could support it. I agree that it would be unwise for the school to make rash investment decisions, but I don’t think that means we should wait for undeniable proof. If Germany had waited for undeniable proof of climate change, they wouldn’t have enacted climate legislation in 1995 and be generating 40 percent of their electricity from renewables today. No, they’d look more like we do in the U.S.: having refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, we continue to fail to pass climate legislation, we hand out $6.6 million per day in tax breaks to the five wealthiest fossil fuel companies and we generate two percent of our power from renewables. Sometimes waiting for undeniable proof means missing the boat.
Additionally, there is reasonable evidence that divestment will not carry a significant return penalty on the endowment. The Aperio study on the subject finds a 0.0101 percent increase in risk, with an associated 0.06 percent theoretical return penalty. But there’s also significant risk in staying invested in the fossil fuel industry. A study by HSBC shows that as much as 17 percent of the value of certain fossil fuel companies is at risk due to their valuation of reserves that will be “unburnable” when efficiency improvements and climate legislation are made. Studies by Mercer, the UN Environmental Program Financial Initiative and the Carbon Tracker Initiative among many others show a looming “carbon bubble.” I have seen no studies demonstrating that there would be a significant loss of returns associated with divestment, mostly just a sense of security in the status quo.
I went in and talked with Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Patrick Norton last week about what he would do if the College were to lose returns for any reason. As I expected, he was very clear about two things that would not be cut: financial aid and salaries and benefits for staff and faculty salaried less than $50,000 per year. Two places the College could cut back are in capital improvements, or in freezing salaries or reducing benefits very marginally for faculty and staff earning more than $50,000 a year. Obviously I hope and expect the school won’t need to make those cuts for any reason, divestment-related or otherwise. Nevertheless, those are cuts I find acceptable, and I take comfort in the dedicated protection of financial aid and lower-paid employees.
Finally, I want to highlight my hopes for the divestment movement. I hope Middlebury will announce its commitment to divestment, recognizing that the fulfillment of that commitment will take time, at the Board of Trustees meeting this May. I hope that schools and cities beyond the almost 18 already committed will be catalyzed by our decisiveness. The movement will spark conversations like the one Sunday night about our rights and responsibilities in this changing world. The media will continue to make that conversation national and global, reflecting mounting national pressure for climate change action. Individuals will become more aware of how their actions affect the global community. The media will stop citing the anti-clean energy, climate-denying messages of fossil fuel front groups, like the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation that received $1.6 and $2.5 million respectively from ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers over the last five years.
President Obama will reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. Congress will pass climate legislation because fossil fuels will no longer be allowed to spend more than $400,000 per day lobbying and they won’t be allowed to make large campaign contributions. Congress will redirect its subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energies. Employment will expand as the growing renewables sector creates more jobs than the increasingly mechanized fossil fuels sector had been. Coal-fired power plants will close and asthma and cancer rates will stop climbing in their surrounding neighborhoods. We won’t raise the global temperature that second degree Celsius.
Obviously the divestment campaign is only one of many tactics in a many-sided approach to reaching those goals. Reducing personal consumption, educating yourself and others, protesting injustices, calling legislators, voting and so many other forms of engagement are crucial.
Of course climate change is only one of many critical issues. But it is a defining issue of our generation and our world, and I believe divestment is a novel and persuasive tactic that has the potential to catalyze a lot of the changes for good I want to see. Please be in touch to continue the conversation with me.
(04/21/13 8:10pm)
As the 2013 Middlebury Solar Decathlon team continues its construction on the InSite house in Ridgeline parking lot, the “Solar D Update” presents the second half of its preview of October’s competition with a look at the next five contests that comprise the 10-event decathlon. Last month, past and current team members weighed in on the event’s first five contests: Architecture, Market Appeal, Engineering, Communications and Affordability. This week, team members round out the discussion of how they think InSite will fare in Irvine, Calif.
Comfort Zone – Teams must control the temperature and humidity of the house at acceptable levels during the decathlon. Full points are awarded if the house temperature stays between 71-76 degrees while humidity stays below 60 percent.
Hot Water – Here, the teams must undergo several “draw periods” in which they have 10 minutes to produce 15 gallons of water that stay at an average of 110 degrees to receive full points.
Joseph Mutter’s ’15 take: “The system(s) supplying hot water for the competition is fairly simple: we will be using a 40 A.O. Smith Gallon Electric Water Tank in combination with an ECO 11 Tankless Water Heater. The process for deciding what our hot water system would look like came down to how we wanted to pitch one of our “five points of InSiteful Architecture,” which is “Centralize Energy Systems.” We want our hot water to be produced as quickly and as effectively as possible, especially when we are at the competition where we are being measured on how responsive our system is to produce water at 110 degrees fahrenheit within 10 minutes. Ari Latanzzi ’13 and Isaac Baker ’14 have been heading the research behind the hot water and water systems, and have been working with electrical engineers and specialists in developing a system that is specific to our needs and wants. This is necessary because the solar panels on our solar pathway will be providing all of the energy for our home, thus forcing us to be finicky with the selection. With our system we not only focus on the performance aspect, but the affordability and availability for all that will learn about it during the competition.”
Ari Latanzzi’s ’13 take: “For the competition, we have to draw 15 gallons of water from our shower in 10 minutes, at an average temperature above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. We can have up to three consecutive draws, and we might have to run the dishwasher simultaneously. These are the two tasks that require hot water, so we had to design a system that would satisfy the demands of the hot water draws and dishwasher tasks. We originally planned to heat our water with solar flat plate collectors that would heat glycol, which would then run through coils in a tank and transfer the heat to the water. However, several studies revealed that it is more efficient and cost-effective, especially in northern climates, to heat water with photovoltaic electricity. Also, we were having difficulty placing the collectors around the house based on shadowing and the constraints of the solar envelope. We looked at several different products (electric resistance water heater tanks, water tanks with heat pumps and tankless electric water heaters) and spoke with several engineers before deciding upon an innovative solution that saves space, energy and money. The 40 gallon AO Smith Conservationist hot water tank works to keep its contents at a constant temperature (at about 140 degrees Fahrenheit to discourage bacterial growth), but if the tank is being drained faster than it can heat water, the outgoing water will run through an EcoSmart ECO 11 tankless water heater which will raise the temperature as much as needed to maintain a constant incoming temperature of 140 degrees when it reaches the water mixer.
It is our plan to drain the water tank in the summer and only use the tankless water heater on demand, which will encourage more responsible energy and water consumption.”
Appliances – Teams must run a clothes washer and dryer, dishwasher, freezer and refrigerator all to specific levels of efficiency.
Mutter’s take: “We are using a Bosch condensing dryer that runs on electricity. Typical dryers require an exhaust vent for heat to be released out of the system, but since we are using a penalization design method, in addition to our tight thermal envelope, we wanted to keep the energy demands and productions as centralized as possible. We did not want to make any thermal breaks in the floor panels that would disrupt the thermal performance and structural integrity. The appliances that we are using will be monitored for their energy consumption and offsets through the Building Management System (BMS) interface, which is currently being developed by Noah Bakker ’15 and Brendan Scully ’13. These appliances can and will be controlled by the BMS and will be able to communicate essential information to the inhabitants about what needs more attention through elaborately detailed updates. During the selection process of the appliances, I worked alongside Ellie Krause ’14, design lead, to identify what fit and, more importantly, complemented the aesthetics of the interior. We researched non-energy intensive appliances that reduce the energy consumption load of the house, which equates to less stress on the solar panel system.”
Home Entertainment – This contest includes an array of requirements, including interior lighting, cooking performance, home electronics (TV and computer) and hosting a dinner party and movie night for other teams at the decathlon.
Latanzzi’s take: “The home entertainment contest is important to demonstrate the livability and functionality of our home and also to provide a forum for engaging with decathletes from other teams. We believe that the design of our integrated public space will enhance the social aspects of these home entertainment events by allowing interactions between the kitchen and living and dining areas. The open floor plan allows for more freedom of movement and congregations of comfortable groups.”
Energy Balance – Perhaps one of the more significant event of the competition, the teams must produce as much energy during the competition (through solar panels on the house) as they consume from the electrical grid.
Lattanzi’s take: “We need to produce more photovoltaic energy than our home consumes during the course of the competition. In order to accurately size our solar array, we worked with Karen Walkerman of Second Law in Burlington to develop a digital energy model that reflects the insulation, ventilation, and appliances of the house, along with the projected energy consumption related to the Irvine climate and contest demands. Our most accurate model projected that we would consume 699kWh (kilowatt hours) if the competition were a month long, so I used the online tool PVWatts to determine how many solar panels would produce enough energy to exceed this consumption. Our 26 Lumos LSX 240 Watt panels (6.24 kW array) should produce around 740kWh.”
(04/21/13 7:29pm)
Walking out of Davis Family Library the other day, I overheard a professor consoling a frantic senior with the following: “What you’ve got to keep in mind about your thesis is that it’s your first work, not your last one." His comment brought to mind a line from Plato’s Symposium that discusses the birth of ideas as intellectual children: “Everyone would rather have such children than human ones, and would look up to Homer, Hesiod, and the other good poets with envy and admiration for the offspring they have left behind.”
The senior thesis represents a student’s first original work, what Plato would refer to as their first intellectual “offspring.” Run with this line of thought, and next week’s theses presentations in McCardell Bicentennial Hall are all the more cause for celebration. An intellectual child has been born, and we will be lucky enough to bear witness to the event.
The projects are representative of the exciting work done on a daily basis in Bicentennial Hall. Eric Roberts ’13, a chemistry major working in the lab of Burr Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Rick Bunt, has been trying to explain some surprising results from the thesis research of Nat Nelson ’11.
The results involved some unexpected structural changes in the products of a reaction Nelson ran. A chemical structure can have multiple physical orientations, even if it is made up of the same components. Think of the left and right hands: each is composed of four fingers and a thumb, but they don’t have the same structure. Rather, they are mirror images of each other. Chemical structures work in a similar way; when a reaction occurs and it generates a product, there can be multiple physical orientations of that product, and each one can serve a different function.
These different structures are called enantiomers. Chemists use catalysts to ensure that they only get a specific type of enantiomer in a given reaction. In his thesis work, Nelson found that a certain catalyst wasn’t creating the expected ratio of enantiomers over time. Or rather, it was initially, but then the products were changing, morphing in some way, to change the enantiomer ratio.
“Nelson was seeing … a loss of enantiopurity — [the existence of only a single enantiomer] — that didn’t make sense,” said Roberts. “He proposed two possible explanations: 1) It was a reversible reaction … or 2) there was a huge build-up of the first enantiomer, then over time, there would be some factor that would grow the quantity of the other enantiomer. We went in to test [the reversibility hypothesis], and we found that it was [correct].”
Deirdre Sackett ’13 and Kyle Harrold ’13, both neuroscience majors. are working in the lab of Assistant Professor of Psychology Mark Stefani. They’re examining schizophrenia in rats and the effects of a variety of compounds on the condition.
“Our lab focuses on the cognitive deficits in adult male rats with symptoms of schizophrenia and possible ways to ameliorate or worsen them,” said Sackett. They use a battery of tests — analogs of the Wisconsin Card Sort Task, mazes and object recognition to “test different aspects of cognition in rats.” These behavioral tests focus on cognitive flexibility.
“Imagine I gave you a deck of cards, and I told you to start sorting them,” explained Harrold. “I’d give you feedback, either correct or incorrect, about your sorting pattern, and eventually you’d figure out the rule. You could do that, and a schizophrenic patient could do that. But if I all of a sudden changed the rule, and started giving you different feedback, you would be able to adjust your behavior, but a schizophrenic patient would continue sorting by the first rule.”
Sackett added, “that type of behavior … is called perseveration. It may seem like a small deal with regards to a card game, but translated into social and vocational life, it’s a huge inhibition.”
Malcolm Littlefield ’13, an environmental studies-chemistry major, has been researching surfactant-modified clays all year in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Environmental Studies Molly Costanza-Robinson. He is examining the ability of clays that have had their surface modified to act as a sponge for organic contaminants.
The first phase of his project involved the characterization of the surfactant-modified clays, which was “purely analysis of the surfactant-modified clays, with no contaminants – total carbon chromatography, x-ray diffraction, and sodium release were our three methods of characterization for the clays.” According to Littlefield, “that all wrapped up very nicely.”
But then Littlefield “hit an unexpected speed bump in the analysis.” It turned out that the methods Littlefield initially wanted to use to measure absorption – the amount of contaminant soaked up by the clay – weren’t effective. So he, Costanza-Robinson and a second thesis student, Annie Mejaes ’13, spent the spring trying to work out the kinks in the adsorption data collection methods, and finally, it looks like they’re back on track.
“There will be two students this summer working on collecting all this adsorption data. It will be a couple months later than expected, but there will be lots of good adsorption data to write about shortly,” said Littlefield.
Littlefield isn’t heading immediately to graduate school, and he has no regrets about his undergraduate experience, either. “I don’t think I would change anything if I were to do my undergraduate degree again,” he said. He is also quick to acknowledge the benefits of undergraduate research work: “I’ve completely lost my fear of the trial and error process as a mode of research … You can try out any idea that you have, and if it works, great, if it doesn’t, then you can still often learn a lot about why your idea didn’t work.”
Of the three other profiled thesis students, Sackett is the only one who is enrolled in graduate school next year, where she plans to continue with research along parallel lines of the work she’s done at Middlebury. However, both Roberts and Harrold echoed Littlefield’s sentiments.
Bunt added: “In the sciences it’s really nice [to do thesis work] because its such a capstone experience where you get to be in a lab and … you get to invent and discover new knowledge. It’s on a small scale, but that’s what’s fun about it. You’re doing things that no one has ever done before.”
(01/21/13 12:15am)
The Campus Current will be liveblogging "Midd Does the Math" beginning at 7:30 p.m. from Mead Memorial Chapel. The event, which is sponsored by Divest for Our Future, will feature Schumann Distinguished Scholar Bill McKibben. Middlebury is the latest of many stops for McKibben, who traveled around the country on his Do the Math tour throughout the fall of 2012.
"Come join us for a night of education AND fun (in the true spirit of J-term)," Divest for Our Future writes. "We can promise that there will be a LOT of energy!"
The event comes only two days before Tuesday's panel on the College's endowment; the Campus will provide a subsequent liveblog at that event, beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
With Additional Reporting and Photography by KATHRYN DESUTTER and CHARLOTTE GARDINER
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11:40 - For additional coverage and photographs from "Midd Does the Math", MiddBlog's Luke Whelan just posted about the event.
9:48 - Signing off from the Mead Memorial Chapel, but we'll be back on Tuesday evening for what will certainly be an interesting discussion. Additional coverage and analysis will be available in this Thursday's issue. Thanks for reading!
9:46 - After discussing the nature he has witnessed in each state on his Do The Math tour, McKibben stresses that community will be essential in winning this fight at Middlebury. "We will do what needs to happen ... Middlebury will show the rest of the country and the rest of the world a path forward from a very difficult place." This conclusion prompts a standing ovation from a majority of the audience.
9:41 - He continues, "When you come to get arrested, will you wear a necktie or dress?" McKibben wants to make a strong point, and remove the "radical" nature that is associated with the divestment movement. “There is nothing — and I mean nothing — radical in what we’re talking about here."
9:38 - McKibben speaks about the tools of influencing people to change through the political message sent by divestment. “Our goal is to find the other currencies — the currencies of movements, passions, experience, creativity.”
9:36 - McKibben asks students to complete the post cards, which were placed in the pews throughout Mead Chapel prior to the event. The postcards are pre-addressed to the board of trustees, and simply say "DIVEST MIDDLEBURY" on the front.
9:35 - He introduces a final video message from Jason Scores, economics professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. “We’re very proud that students have taken the lead to demand this change, and we’re very proud that many faculty are standing with them, too,” says Scores.
9:32 - McKibben asks for a freeze on new fossil fuel investments and to wind down existing fossil fuel investments in five years. "I think Middlebury will provide leadership." He continues, "If you’re going to green your campus you’ve got to green your portfolio."
9:30 - McKibben introduces a video from Desmond Tutu, who speaks about divestment's impact in ending South African apartheid. Tutu mentions the suffering of the African people due to climate change “even though they’ve done nothing to cause the situation.” He says, "Once again we can join together as a world and put on pressure" in solving climate change.
9:28 - "I think it would be a big mistake not to do this," Steyer concludes.
9:27 - McKibben introduces Tom Steyer, a friend and professional investo, to the stage. He speaks about his belief in climate change, and emphasizes its urgency. "We’re going to hit a nonlinear progression where things are going to get much worse, much faster," Steyer states. Steyer admits that he quit his job at the end of 2012 to become a "pain in the ass." He stresses urgency and openness: “It’s about dealing with the issue openly and confronting it. We’re actually going to have to accept the problem. I have been an investor for 30 years – I know that this will be very difficult for the institutions ... and [I know] that they can do it."
9:19 - Elder expresses gratitude to President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz for organizing Tuesday’s panel on the College’s endowment. Audience members snap in agreement. As the program approaches the 1.5 hour mark, some students begin to leave.
9:17 - Elder reflects on flipping through the physical archives of the Campus in the special collections of the Davis Family Library. “In 1978, the College faculty voted to divest from all companies involved in South Africa. And then for 8 years, nothing happened,” says Elder. He speaks about the history of the divestment campaign during the 1980s at the College. Elder describes how members of the group “Students Against Apartheid” met with the Board of Trustees, and finally, they voted to divest from South Africa in July of 1986. (Three months prior, in the Campus' annual April Fools' issue, the headline quipped that the college had divested from the South Africa; perhaps, we'll revisit the idea in this year's April Fools' issue.)
9:12 - McKibben introduces Professor Emeritus John Elder, who states that “nothing could be more important” than the ongoing discussion. McKibben drinks one of the Otter Creek beers used in the analogy described below.
9:10 - We're moving onto what the audience can do: dinvestment. McKibben explains that 'we can't avoid using a certain amount of carbon in the way our society is set up, but it is wrong to profit from it.' He makes a similar statement about assault rifles.
9:07 - McKibben sets up an active analogy between the 2 degrees Celsius limit and the 0.08 limit on Blood Alcohol Content. As students pass bottles of Otter Creek Brewery ale onto the stage, McKibben describes how he could probably drink three or four and still remain below the legal limit. “The problem is that the fossil fuel industry are absolute party animals,” says McKibben. "Even with all this beer ... the fossil fuel industry continues looking for more." Three cases of Keystone Light, with 30 cans in each, are loaded onto the stage. McKibben explains that the fossil fuel industry is analogous to the copious amount of Keystone.
9:04 - McKibben speaks in between words from a video of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. The crowd laughs as McKibben pokes fun at Tillerson’s claim that the effects of climate change can be softened if we “move around crop production areas.”
9:01 - "They’ve stifled every rational effort … to put a price on carbon.” McKibben describes BP’s development of the slogan “Beyond Petroleum” and their subsequent decision to sell off the sustainable divisions of the company.
8:59 - McKibben explains that major progress in renewable energy is inhibited by “the basic fact that the fossil fuel industry cheats.” While Middlebury cannot dump its trash in the middle of Rt. 125, the fossil fuel industry can "pour their waste out for free."
8:55 - The good news: "There's plenty we can do ... and it's by no means impossible." McKibben discusses recent improvements in Germany and China as great examples (i.e. solar panels and hot water heaters on top of buildings in Chinese cities). "They have exerted more political will."
8:53 - “I want you to get a sense of who your brothers and sisters are in this fight,” says McKibben. He shows pictures submitted to 350.org from citizens around the globe who have been affected by climate change. One picture shows citizens of Haiti affected by a flood holding a sign stating, “Your actions affect me." Additional photos are available on 350.org's Flickr.
8:49 - Following Klein's film, McKibben introduces another special video from Canadian indigenous activist Clayton Thomas-Muller. He praises Middlebury's efforts, but the video cuts out about midway through.
8:45 - McKibben pays tribute to author and activist Naomi Klein, who is currently working on her movement titled “Idle No More” in Canada. McKibben introduces a video recorded by Klein, a board member of 350.org, filmed specifically for "Midd Does the Math". Klein challenges students to take action: "We need you to provide a strong, coherent message. There is no doubt in my mind that others will follow."
8:40 - McKibben introduces three numbers: 2°C, 565 gigatons of carbon and 2795 gigatons of coal, oil and gas. Do the Math provides explanation: "We can burn less than 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Fossil fuel corporations now have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount. And they’re planning to burn it all — unless we rise up to stop them." McKibben continues in saying, "These companies are a road force. They're outlaws against the laws of physics. If they carry out their business plan, the planet tanks."
8:37 - “What we have to talk about tonight is how to keep things from getting totally out of control. All we’re talking about tonight is avoiding calamity — complete calamity.”
8:35 - "You guys are on the front lines ... so let's get to work." McKibben mentions his popular article from Rolling Stone, which gained ten times more likes on Facebook than an article about "hot, ready and legal" Justin Bieber from the same issue. He jokes that it may have been due to his own "soulful stare."
8:33 - McKibben continues by showing photos of community members arrested during the aforementioned protests in Washington D.C. In an adjoining cell block was 72-year-old Gus Speth; McKibben recalls him stating, "I've been in a lot of important positions in this town, but none of them seem as important as the one that I'm in now."
8:28 - “I’m way more nervous than I’ve been … here I am with my neighbors and friends. I’m in a place where I am so deeply hopeful we can maange to get the right thing done, because it’s our community.” He continues, “None of us should have to be here tonight — not on a rational planet.”
8:26 - McKibben takes the stage to large applause.
8:25 - Isham introduces a video from environmental activist Van Jones. He speaks about the history of 350.org, its impact around the world, and the actions taken by the organization to promote awareness of climate change, including the 2011 protests regarding the Keystone Pipeline.
8:21 - Professor of Economics and Chair of the Environmental Science Department Jon Isham comes onto the stage. "How are you Middlebury? Are you ready to do the math?" Isham, who is currently teaching a winter term course titled “Social Entreprenuership in the Liberal Arts,” speaks to the crowd about the complexities of building a world of social justice. “It’s time to carve out our own piece of history,” declares Isham.
8:20 - Neubauer introduces Ellie, a student from the University of Vermont. She speaks to the crowd about the divestment movement at UVM: “We feel responsible to keep the culture at UVM as pure as we can.” After Ellie concludes, Stuart leads the audience in a 'mic-check,' earning loud applause and snaps from the crowd.
8:18 - Greta Neubauer ’14.5 of Divest for Our Future and Molly Stuart ’15.5 of the Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee take the stage. After a moment of silence for the Abenaki people, each student discusses her reason for divestment: Neubauer would like to divest in order to prevent climate change, while Stuart were like to divest in order to stop violence. “Now is the time to take this powerful step,” Neubauer says.
8:13 - May Boeve ’06.5, executive director and co-founder of 350.org, and Phil Aroneanu ’07, U.S. campaign manager and co-founder of 350.org, introduce the event; they tell the story of starting 350.org at the College. “We left a couple things undone — one of them was divesting,” says Aroneau. "Middlebury needs to divest.” Boeve reminds the audience that tonight is the eighth anniversary of the founding of the Sunday Night Group.
8:07 - Musician Max Godfrey '14 has joined Alpenglow on stage. Together, they sing an original song entitled “Susquehana Drill Town,” based on their collective experiences in Cooperstown, N.Y. Cooperstown is located on the Marcellus Shale, a region rich in methane deposits and ripe for hydraulic fracking.
8:00 - Alpenglow thanks the audience and improves their usually lackluster audience banter with a joke from violinist Elori Kramer ’13.5: “We were told if we played here, Bill McKibben would tweet about us.” Will you be tweeting about Alpenglow, @billmckibben?
7:54 - Community members have begun to file into Mead. While the center pews are largely full, plenty of space remains available on the sides and upstairs at the Chapel. Alpenglow’s stripped-down performance has set a calm, reverent mood.
7:47 - As promised, Alpenglow has taken the stage to warm up the crowd for McKibben. This is there second time the band is on stage in as many nights, having performed on Saturday evening as well. The stream of students has slowed; most listen quietly to Alpenglow.
7:36 - Doors have opened and Mead Chapel is slowly filling up. The Chapel is dimly lit with a large sign behind the stage reading 'DIVEST MIDD.' So far only students have been allowed in; community members will be permitted beginning at 7:45.
(11/18/12 9:33pm)
On Thursday, Nov. 15 Olav Ljosne, a senior manager at Shell, delivered a lecture entitled, "Meeting Future Energy Needs: Conflict and Cooperation", at the Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room. Mr. Ljosne now works in communications, but previously served as the Regional External Relations Director for Africa, as well as a diplomat at the Norwegian embassies in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
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Sunday: Following a weekend of comments on Gohl's and Noble's Middblog article, Ben-Abba writes an opinion piece, entitled "Between Gaza, Nigeria, and Middlebury".
Students and administrators have said repeatedly that they agree with the message but disagree with the means. To me this is a commitment to keep things as they are, in status quo, in “peace,” meaning that there is no disorder, disruption, doubt, discomfort, no justice. “War is peace,” as Orwell said, right? So let’s break the ends and the means and see what’s going on here. With our means we disrespected the $458 billion corporation’s right to express its opinion (of course, here Shell had more than enough time and space to express their stance, unlike at the University of Vermont, where the whole talk was disrupted). Our message is for divestment from unjust corporations and apartheid regimes in order to contribute to a world in which Arabs and Jews live in peace and equality and multinational giants like Shell Oil and Exxon Mobil don’t exist and resources are shared equally by all people regardless of their color and gun power. Divesting from Shell is disrespectful to Shell which in itself is disrespectful to humankind and the planet. The ends are as disrespectful as the means. Both means and message are about respect for basic human dignity and the environment and all living things. Therefore, if you don’t believe in our means, you don’t believe in our message. Separating the means from the message is intentionally misleading and disrespectful to victims of corporate crimes.
Friday: A "go/shellsofbullets" link is created and connects users to the Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee's blog. Their latest post discusses the group's actions at yesterday's lecture, in addition to offering quotes and a copy of the honorary doctorate presented to Mr. Ljosne. The post ends with a link to yet another divestment group (focused on Middlebury alumni), called Not a Dollar More.
Middblog also publishes a post on the lecture, as well as an opinion piece, entitled "Enough is Enough: Reflections on Campus Activism". The post is co-written by contributors Cody Gohl and Olivia Noble, and generates a great deal of discussion among alumni and students alike within the comments section.
Before arriving at the final draft of this piece, we thought about writing about activism in general and what it means to be a “good” activist, but we realized that we’ve got more to say than just that. We’re done beating around the bush – the Shell Protest yesterday by the DLWC pushed us overboard. It was a destructive demonstration of students hijacking what could have been a constructive conversation and turning it into something isolating and embarrassing. Our major issue is not the message they were sending, but the means by which they chose to do it: they used a platform that was not theirs from which to preach and showed zero respect for an opinion that differed from their own.
This semester, the word “activism” has been thrown around a lot, either by the self-proclaimed activists of the DLWC who cite Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi as inspirations for their actions, or by students who believe the DLWC’s activism to be misguided. It has become a buzzword on campus, a powerful tool whose simple utterance seems to justify any action or statement that is made as long as it was said or done under the guise of being “activism.”
Through the actions of these students, the idea of activism has been warped into something contrary to its spirit. True activism should (and must) come from a place of love: of love for a people or a nation or a place or a community. It comes from a deep and intense desire to not only change the mindset of a group of people, but to change with them, to grab hands and dive into something new together. It comes from the recognition that there is an inequality and that we do not need to accept the world and circumstances in which we are born. Our rights to free speech, to practicing whatever religion we choose, even our right to vote are all things that were won out of the activist spirit of a group of individuals working together. Activism is a beautiful thing and it should not be taken lightly.
Gohl and Noble continue:
The community by and large stands behind the message the DLWC promotes. We believe in divestment and in responsible investing, but actions like yesterday’s alienate an incredible swath of people on this campus. Despite the assertion that actions like this raise the profile of issues and bring more people into the movement, it is our belief they do far more damage than they do good.
There is a place for dialogue and action, a place for pushing one another to challenge the status quo and there is a place for constructive criticism. However, there is no place for the kinds of disrespectful activism that has been demonstrated by the DLWC this semester. They do not listen, they do not attempt to push or challenge or grow with the community; instead, they demand attention and villainize anyone who stands in their way.
A continuous stream of comments have both supported and challenged the critique. An initial "standing ovation" is followed by a defense of the "harmless" protests. Others call the group and their actions "isolating" and "disrespectful", particularly in comparison to the students who expected true discussion.
Midd Alum writes, "[t]hese actions truly make me embarrassed for my alma mater based on what I view as the sheer lack of respect that this group has exhibited, which I feel reflects poorly upon our entire Middlebury community," while Midd Alumna 2004.5 adds, "what sacrifices have these entitled children made and stated publicly to back up their foolish behavior. Do they buy gasoline? Use a computer with parts made of petroleum and petroleum products? Have they given up their cars and longer fly home or to 'the islands' for break?"
Following this criticism are two comments in support of the Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee and their actions, including one by Ben-Abba. The former challenges the idea that the group does not engage in discussion, citing their biweekly forums, while Ben-Abba writes, "The regurgitated phrase 'we agree with the message but disagree with the means' is an authoritative catch phrase used to de-legitimize any action. Disagreeing with our means is disagreeing with our message. I am sorry you feel uncomfortable with the opinions we presented. Were you comfortable with the content of Ljosne’s lecture?"
Finally, hand-written opinions are also appearing on the now fading advertisement for the lecture in front of Proctor Dining Hall (pictured below beneath Wednesday's update). Messages debate the meaning of respect, as well as who that respect (or disrespect) is directed toward. "... What Will You Ask?" now reads "... What Will You Ask a War Criminal US Diplomat Person?", indicating disagreement among those altering the sign.
5:52: Signing off from the RAJ Conference Room. Feel free to continue the discussion by commenting below.
5:50: Following this question, Saper stands and again thanks the lecturer with a speech similar to those of Ben-Abba and Koplinka-Loehr. During his minute-long conclusion, about half the crowd rises to leave. Professor of Geography and Director of the Rohatyn Center Tamar Mayer stands to officially thank Mr. Ljosne. Ben-Abba and Koplinka-Loehr are still laying on the floor, as people step over them to leave.
5:46: For the final question, there is a calm back and forth about a Nigerian perspective of "our land, our nation". Mr. Ljosne acknowledges this perspective, and reiterated Shell's local work, as well as international discussion.
5:44: Another student asked if there is anymore Shell can do, realistically. Mr. Ljosne states that he always considers this question, and indicates the company's online spill list and their work in local communities. They haven't done everything perfectly, but they've also faced a great many security challenges.
5:41: The next question related to divestment: were it to be achieved across American campuses, would it even have an impact? Mr. Ljosne cannot answer this question without knowing the amount in which the institutions are invested. However, he believes the discussion to be beneficial for the future.
5:39: Questions continue, with a student reading the quote of a Nigerian about changing lifestyles and landscapes within his country; the quote is believed to have come from a book on the impact of Shell within Nigeria. Mr. Ljosne states that Shell simply can't answer to these broad accusations. However, they certainly take responsibility for their company and employees, as well as the communities in which they work. Additionally, Shell is looking toward the future.
5:36: Amitai Ben-Abba ’15.5 and Sam Koplinka-Loehr ’13 of the Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee stand to begin another protest. They each give brief speeches on how Mr. Ljosne has "white-washed" all of Shell's actions. "We asked you to teach us how to white-wash our own crimes," Ben-Abba states. After speaking, they each fall to the floor, as if they were shot. Others may have been prepared to speak; however, a student interrupts their protest, calling it disrespectful of the College and asking for the lecturer to continue. This is met with applause from about a third of the audience.
5:31: Mr. Ljosne continues, discussing theft and corruption within Nigeria. The theft happens in two ways: 1) somewhat professionally through pipelines (through which the company loses $5 to $8 billion dollars each year), and 2) through local resale (causing additional politician). Professor McKinney follows up this question with one of corporate responsibility, to which Mr. Ljosne responds that Shell is responsible for their spills or other environmental impact, but not the broader issues faced by Nigeria.
5:29: On a side note, there's been a great deal of movement by certain students walking into and out of the Conference Room. I'm unsure of what they're planning.
5:28: The next question comes from Visiting Assistant Professor of Geography Kacy McKinney; she asks about Mr. Ljosne's personal experience in the Niger Delta. Mr. Ljosne begins with the state figures, and tries to explain Nigeria's complexity with regard to geographic, ethnic and religious divisions. Many Nigerians have something of an identity crisis with stronger ties to the family and tribe than the region and country. This was the context of the Biafran War of the 1970's, and oil's presence only further complicated things. According to Mr. Ljosne, Shell entered into this bumpy Nigerian history, the roots of which have been very difficult to determine.
5:22: The next question relates to Shell's oil reserves: why continue pumping, when Shell leads its competitors in reserves? Mr. Ljosne answers, stating that Shell must replace all the reserves it uses for energy security. He continues to discuss Shell's focus on gas, which is cleaner than oil and coal, as the corporation waits for further technological development in order to more efficiently use renewables. Mr. Ljosne also reminds the audiance of Shell's small size, in comparison to larger national corporations, such as ARAMCO. He concludes, stating that the next breakthrough will likely be quite small (i.e. transitioning from oil to gas).
5:17: The next question relates to Arctic drilling, in which Shell is presently participating through experimentation. Mr. Ljosne labels the situation delicate, geopolitically speaking. Many countries have an interest and claim to the area, which is full of vast amounts of oil and minerals; however, this is no legal framework, as the region was historically unable to be explored and resources utilized. According to Mr. Ljosne, Shell is waiting on this framework, and their current exploration relates mainly to science: how would accidents or unexpected situations be handled? What are the environmental impacts?
5:12: The lecture transitions into a period of questions and answers, which are open to any subject: human rights, conflict, investment. The first question relates to Shell's ongoing trial in the Supreme Court; how can Shell be for human rights, yet defend itself in this trial? The question is meant with snaps by many audiance members, as a sign of approval. Mr. Ljosne explains that Shell to be a Dutch company, headquartered in the Netherlands and on the stock exchange in London. Nigerians have the opportunity to raise a human rights case against Shell in Nigeria, as well as internationally. However, how is the corporation connected to the United States? And wouldn't it set a dangerous precedent to place United States law above that of the International Criminal Court? Additionally, the Supreme Court trial has to do with the legality of Shell's prosecution within the United States, as opposed to any actual human rights violations.
5:04: A student with "OGANI" written in red on her forehead takes advantage of a brief pause in the lecture and asks about Shell's involvement in Nigeria. Mr. Ljosne states that the lecture will soon conclude, at which time all will have the opportunity for questions and answers. He returns to discussing the amount of water necessary to produce various food and beverages consumed on a regular basis. Therefore, all must cooperate in order to conserve both energy and water in the future.
5:03: Speaking of research, Shell is looking into how to most efficiently recycle water; the corporation currently recycles 90% of all water used in biofuel production within Latin America.
5:00: Another potential crisis is the declining availability of water for both food and energy production. According to Mr. Ljosne, Shell thinks about theses challenges, as it's in the world's common interest. 'Governments and businesses must work together to find solutions.' Returning to the students, Mr. Ljosne again their work to be essential.
4:57: Mr. Ljosne continues, stating that there will be nine billion people in the world by 2050; this translates to 300 newborns every minute or a new Dallas every week for the next thirty years. Most of this growth will occur in cities, where all water, food and energy requirements will need to be meant; the greenhouse gasses of these same cities must also be addressed. These are the challenges of the future.
4:55: Greater demand is dangerous for the world, and thus, there must be lifestyle changes, in addition to a reduction in carbon dioxide levels. According to Mr. Ljosne, this is where students and their research become crucial: 'you need to find new types of energy,' especially as the global population begins taking energy's availability for granted.
4:51: Mr. Ljosne transitions to discussion of the future, stating that oil demand will only increase with time. This is due to a growing global economy and global population, in which many will expect a higher standard of living. These new lifestyles will feature technical upgrades with washing machines, for example. Using a great deal of energy and water, such upgrades "will put the world under extreme pressure."
4:47: As Mr. Ljosne continues discussing corruption within these states, there appears to be a problem with microphone feedback within the Conference Room. I'm unsure whether it's a true technical issue or another form of protest.
4:45: Faced with these challenges, Shell has certain principles with regard to human rights and politics; the corporation abstained from voicing an opinion in the recent presidential election. Nevertheless, Shell faces additional transparency and security issues due to the governments with whom they work.
4:40: Mr. Ljosne speaks about society's dependence on extractive energies, explaining that he, like most others, doesn't like it. However, the world is indeed dependent, and most extraction occurs in places where people would rather it did not. While conflicts are blooming in these countries, others (i.e. North America, Europe and Japan) gain the most from the extractive practices.
4:37: Protests begin before Mr. Ljosne even starts speaking. Wearing graduation robes and playing Pomp and Circumstance March, Anna Shireman-Grabowski '15.5 and Jay Saper ’13 challenge Shell's human rights and environmental record, as well as offer Mr. Ljosne a "Doctor of Humane Letters" degree from the College "in recognition for his involvement in multiple human rights violations, consistent with the practices of the Middlebury College endowment, including: working closely with the Nigerian government to quell popular opposition to Shell’s presence, using deadly force against the Ogoni people, destroying the marine ecosystem of the Niger Delta that millions of people depend on, and greenwashing corporate war crimes." Mr. Ljosne refuses to accept.
4:32: The Conference Room at the Robert A. Jones '59 House has reached capacity, and doors have been closed. A crowd gathers at the conference room's entrance to listen to the lecture, as Mr. Ljosne is introduced by Dr. Gail Stevenson of the Vermont Council on World Affairs, the lecture's sponsor.
Wednesday: Divest for Our Future prepares students for Thursday's lecture with signs featuring statistics and quotes about the company posted throughout campus, as well as representatives discussing the issue and distributing handouts near Proctor Dining Hall.
(11/14/12 10:21pm)
Recently, the College decided to reduce the amount of money it keeps in its Toronto Dominion (TD) bank account overnight on a day-to-day basis. While the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) has touted this as a “win,” the College contends that this change is a result of cash management decisions and is not a response to ACSRI’s recommendations. This comes in the wake of ongoing conversations between ACSRI and the administration regarding ACSRI’s request that the College withdraw its money from its account in TD bank.
Toronto Dominion is the bank the College uses to hold the $286 million that finance the College’s annual operating budget. The College has been banking with TD since 2004.
The College’s annual operating budget is funded by different sources of cash inflow to the College throughout the year — an influx of tuition dollars at the start of each semester, a monthly fixed amount from the endowment and periodic inflows from donations and other sources. This money is deposited into the College’s TD bank account, and then is drawn out on a daily basis to finance the costs of operating the College and all its entities.
Toronto Dominion, as one of the top five largest Canadian banks, potentially funds more than 20 percent of the total fossil fuel extraction activities in Canada through its loans, according to a 2008 Rainforest Action Network study. This figure is largely based in speculative estimates, but Ben Chute ’13, co-president of the Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) club and ACSRI member, contends that the possibility is cause for concern.
“It’s just the nature of Canada — a lot of their economy is mining and extracting fossil fuels. There are five big banks in Canada, and TD is the second-largest of them. It seems incredibly likely,” said Chute.
“And it may just be the nature of the economy that a bank in Canada is going to be investing heavily in extraction efforts, but Middlebury doesn’t uphold that in our mission statement. That might just be the way things are, but we don’t have to sign on to that,” he added.
Recently, ACSRI members have voiced concern to the administration that the College’s decision to bank with TD is not consistent with the College’s values or commitment to sustainability and carbon neutrality. The administration, however, has no plans to switch banks.
“The [College’s] relationship with TD has been very good,” said Patrick Norton, vice president for Finance and Treasurer’s Office. “TD provides an array of corporate banking products to the degree and specialization that the College requires and TD is a strong AAA-rated bank.”
Additionally, Toronto Dominion extended a $50 million line of credit to the College in 2007.
Members of the ACSRI have called for the College to move its money out of TD in conversations over the course of the past year, and the College’s decision to reduce its overnight holdings in TD bank was characterized by these students as evidence of the group’s “great strides working with the administration” in an email to SRI members in October.
However, Norton maintains that the decision to reduce its overnight holdings is not related to ACSRI’s efforts.
“When I met with the ACSRI, they urged me to consider minimizing the college’s overnight holdings at TD as a way of reducing the college’s carbon footprint,” wrote Norton in an email. “Since it is a cash management practice anyway to minimize overnight cash holdings to the extent the balances would cover bank and related fees, our treasury operations as a standard practice will … minimize bank holdings at TD.”
The minimum cash amount to be left in the bank account overnight is $8.5 million. Any leftover funds will be withdrawn and invested in other assets that may yield higher returns for the College than the interest rate.
“In the case where there is more daily cash inflows then cash outflows, any amount over our target minimum cash amount is transferred [out of the TD account overnight] to short-term investment vehicles, primarily dominated by U.S. Treasuries,” explained Norton in an email.
The timing of this decision can be explained by improvements in the global economy. During the economic crisis, the College’s money was more secure earning interest in a bank account, yet the College is now seeking higher yields.
“I do want to reiterate that the amount of overnight cash holdings at TD is a result of cash management practices and not as a result of a college position on TD’s sustainability practices,” wrote Norton.
Despite the fact that TD may count fossil fuel extraction and mining companies among its clients, the financial institution has adopted several corporate responsibility and socially responsible investing initiatives.
In February 2010, TD became the first carbon-neutral North American-based bank. It has officially adopted the United Nations principles of sustainable investment, and recently launched its TD Forests program, an initiative aimed at reducing paper consumption and increasing protected forest areas, among other projects.
In TD’s Q3 Investor Relations Quarterly Report, the bank reported that only 5 percent of its total financing involves clients operating in environmentally and socially sensitive industries such as mining and fossil fuel extraction. As of July 31, TD held $806 billion in assets and $405.2 billion in loans.
The bank’s sustainability and corporate responsibility report, which was assured by third party accounting firm Ernst & Young LLC, states its position on socially responsible investing.
“TD recognizes that … banks have a role to play financing extraction of traditional energy reserves and laying the groundwork for renewable energy development and deployment,” reads the report. “TD does not lend money for transactions that would … result in the degradation of protected critical natural resources. We do not lend money for transactions that are directly related to the trade in or manufacturing of material for nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.”
Despite TD’s official policies, Chute maintains that a better banking alternative exists.
Members of the ACSRI club have identified a regional bank, the name of which they would not disclose at press time, that they feel would be a more socially responsible banking relationship for the College.
“We want to keep the money in the area,” said Chute of the proposed alternative bank. “In Keynesian economics, you see the multiplier effect — money comes into an area, and then it gets used a couple of times, and the community benefits. With the TD relationship, there’s no multiplier effect there, and it’s a lost opportunity to help develop our community and improve the surrounding area.”
“We operate under the assumption that there’s always something better — there’s always a way to marginally, incrementally improve things,” Chute added. “Yeah, some banks may be bad, but … there’s only so much we can do as students. Instead of just seeing the world and all of its complexities and throwing our hands up in the air, we try to look at it more critically and we try to find a better solution.”
