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(03/23/17 7:35pm)
On Thursday, March 16, Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who leaked classified information in an effort to expose widespread government surveillance, spoke over videoconference to Middlebury College community members in Wilson Hall as the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) Spring Speaker. This was the first time that students gathered in Wilson Hall to hear a speaker after Charles Murray visited on
Snowden fled the United States in May 2013, and was later charged by the U.S. government with espionage and theft of government property. He currently resides at an undisclosed location in Russia, where he received renewed asylum in January 2017 for an additional three years.
Allison Stanger, Russell Leng ’60 Professor of International Politics and Economics, introduced Snowden and moderated the event. Stanger began by describing the effect Snowden has had on her upcoming book, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Leaks: The Story of Whistleblowing in America, which was near completion when Snowden’s story broke. “He forced me, more or less, back to square one,” she said, “but it will be a better book, I hope, for the extra effort.”
In his own opening remarks, Snowden said that the problem at hand involves more than the NSA’s activity. “The problem is that this has become easy for anyone with a certain amount of resources,” he said. While government surveillance programs were once costly and cumbersome, Snowden shared that contemporary programs have grown far more efficient. “One guy can track, with precision, an unimaginably large number of people. And that was me,” he said, referring to his work at the NSA.
Snowden criticized the government for participating in surveillance programs that “are not only unlawful, but have always been unconstitutional.” Moreover, he argued that the government misrepresents its justification for the very existence of the programs. “These programs do not and have not saved lives… These programs were never about terrorism,” he said. “[Surveillance] is useful for disrupting social movements, in being able to discredit people whose politics we disagree with... [These programs] are about economic espionage, diplomatic manipulation, and social control.”
Lamenting a lack of effective mechanisms for constitutional oversight, Snowden cited the press and a vigilant public as vehicles that could bring about greater government transparency. “My argument is that we are at this point forced to rely on our press... If we only knew what governments or corporations wanted us to know, we wouldn’t know much at all.” He continued, “If we didn’t have investigative journalism, we wouldn’t be talking about [this].”
Throughout his talk, Snowden articulated a message of empowerment, imploring the audience to remember that “Saying something matters…the reality is one voice can change the world.” He warned against the notion that freedom of privacy is not important if one has nothing to hide, arguing that “Privacy is the foundation of all other rights… if we lose that, we’re losing more than a right; we’re losing ourselves.”
Snowden also stressed the importance of recognizing the relationship between rights and privilege. “Rights don’t mean much to the powerful and the privileged,” he said. “Rights matter to those who are different, to those who stand out… If you say surveillance is okay as long as its not monitoring me, this is selfish and short sighted.
Snowden was careful to explain that he never personally published any documents in his 2013 reveal. Rather, he gave the information to professional journalists, and requested that they contact the U.S. government in advance of publication to ensure that each leak would not put anyone in danger. To Snowden’s knowledge, that process was followed in every case, and “they have never shown any evidence that anyone has come to harm as a result of these disclosures.” Instead, his actions “changed our laws, changed the thinking of the president, [and] won the Pulitzer Prize for public service. I believe that we live in a freer and fairer world because of it,” he said.
Emma Dunlap ’18 and Jocelyn Zemach ’18, co-chairs of the MCAB Speakers Committee, worked with an agent to secure Snowden as Spring Speaker. “We generally use an agent for our larger speakers,” Dunlap wrote in an email. “Our committee unanimously decided to ‘bring’ Edward Snowden to Middlebury believing that he would start an interesting conversation on campus, especially given the current political climate in America, U.S.-Russian relations, and cyber security concerns in general.”
According to Dunlap, “The event reached over 500 viewers on the live stream. I’ve received positive feedback from many attendees and I hope that the Middlebury community continues to discuss the ideas and opinions that Snowden brought.”
Rebecca Simon ’19 had a somewhat different opinion after leaving Wilson Hall, questioning whether Snowden came to Middlebury to push an agenda rather than engage in a discussion. “Though most of what he had to say was rather inspiring for young people to hear, it all seemed like an elaborate plan or a previously constructed lecture on why his position was correct,” she said. “I am so happy I waited 90 minutes in the cold to see him interact with Professor Stanger and students…I just thought that the discussion was going to be a discussion and not a lecture.”
(03/03/17 3:29am)
The College’s Senior Leadership Group (SLG) hosted an open forum in Dana Auditorium on Feb. 22. The administrators who attended included Vice President for Communications Bill Burger, Special Assistant to the President Dave Donahue, Vice President for College Advancement Colleen Fitzpatrick, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration David Provost, Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott, Vice President for Academic Development Tim Spears and Dean of Students Baishakhi Taylor.
The three main topics they planned to discuss were the College’s current financial situation, changes to dining and changes to residential life, specifically concerning what is now known as the Commons Residential Director (CRD). Students were also afforded the time to bring up other topics of concern.
College Finances
Provost began the forum by addressing the College’s finances. “Middlebury College is an extremely financially healthy institution…We are not in a crisis, we are not at risk of being in a long term financial issue as long as we can address what we’ve seen as rising costs,” he said. “This isn’t about cutting student services. This isn’t about changing the Middlebury College experience for our students…We’re trying to drive down costs that don’t affect what goes on in the classroom, and long-term those savings will help us return to [a] break-even point,” he said.
Provost described plans to utilize the resources that are already at the College’s disposal, including the golf course, the Snow Bowl and 51 Main. “My job is to figure out how we can leverage those assets to generate other revenues that are not on the back of tuition and fees,” he said.
Dining Changes
Provost then transitioned to dining by elaborating on the potential for reducing costs. Provost praised the plan to adopt a swipe system this spring and a meal plan for the fall. “[These changes] are good things. It will help us control cost. We’ve been able to capture that there are days at lunchtime where were feeing 103 percent of the student population at Middlebury … The national average at any meal including lunch across American is around 77 percent,” he said.
Smith Abbott addressed concerns that students on financial aid will be burdened with extra costs with the implementation of a meal plan. “There will not be a differential in what students pay. Students who are on financial aid will continue to receive full aid toward their meal plan. Its more about where you want those dollars to go,” she said. Both Smith Abbott and Provost described the option for declining dollars, in which students will be able to use their meal plan dollars at retail locations on campus such as Wilson Café, the Grille and 51 Main.
Smith Abbott added that Dan Detora, executive director of food services, and his student advisory committee will draft potential meal plans which the Student Government Association (SGA) and Community Council will then analyze. “We’ll hold focus groups with students on campus so that lots of student opinion can be integrated into the decision-making process. We’re not trying to do something in a cookie cutter sort of way, but rather tailor something to what’s important to students,” Smith Abbott said.
Several students questioned whether the administration may choose to abandon the plan to establish a meal plan if student feedback from both The Campus’ survey and dining services’ advisory committee is overwhelmingly negative. Provost responded that if students do not want a change, they would have the option to select the current “open plan” as an option within the new plan. “We are moving in the direction of a new meal plan, capturing the current meal plan and giving more choice. If everyone chooses the existing meal plan as is, that informs us that that’s what we will do,” he said. “If we get down to the end of this and we are saving on food costs, gaining control and are able to give choice but the entire student body is absolutely miserable, that’s not a win or a success in my mind. So I welcome your feedback.”
Changes to CRA Role
Taylor then addressed the change that will take place next year to the CRA position. In response to changes in the Fair Labor Standard Act, the CRA will now be titled as Commons Residential Director (CRD). Taylor explained that role will keep all of the core essential functions of the current CRA, such as ensuring that these are still positions that live on campus and providing 24/7 on-call support. “What will change is that we are now looking at recruiting new colleagues who have at least a Master’s degree,” she said. “We are getting ready to form the search committee and the search committee will include representatives of the commons as well as students. We are planning to recruit five new colleagues who will start here in August.”
Students expressed concern at the prospect that CRDs may not be housed in first-year dorms. Smith Abbott described the “live in” or “live on” options for CRDs. “Live in” refers to the current CRA apartments, while “live on” refers to other types of on campus housing that is outside of the dorms. “We want to create a structure where [CRDs] are absolutely kept on call, even during the middle of the night when [First Year Counselors] or [Residential Advisers] need to turn to them, or when a first-year student may need to find them … We would never put FYCs in a position where they didn’t feel like they had a competent, trained and in this case Master’s level person to whom they could lean on,” she said.
Student Concerns
Several students expressed concern toward a lack of communication and transparency from the administration in advance of such decisions such as the transition to a meal plan and the development of the CRD. Smith Abbott responded by emphasizing her commitment to working on effective communication. “I think poor communication or feeling that students have of deep frustration that we’re intentionally keeping information from you is definitely not the culture that any of us wants to perpetuate,” she said.
Many students acknowledged the benefit of having open forums such as these in which multiple representatives of the administration are in attendance.
In an email in the following days after the event, Smith Abbott wrote, “I am very grateful for the student turnout last Wednesday, and I am committed to scheduling an open forum at least once a semester. I think last week’s gathering confirmed that this is an effective mechanism for opening up more dialogue between students and administrators…I am eager to hear more from students about the best ways to communicate when changes or new initiatives are in the planning stages. I have scheduled a number of conversations with students on this topic, and would be happy to make time for more.”
(03/16/16 8:33pm)
The College joined the Institute for International Education’s (IIE) Syria Consortium last week. The College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey will be two of the 50 schools in the consortium committed to admitting refugees from the Syrian civil war and providing them with scholarships.
The IIE is one of the world’s largest international education and training organizations. The independent nonprofit aims to improve and increase access to education worldwide by organizing scholarship, training and exchange programs.
President of the College Laurie L. Patton told The Campus that she believes “we need to do everything we can to make higher education accessible across the globe, especially at an institution like Middlebury.”
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott views the decision as “consistent with our institutional mission, both at the undergraduate college and at Monterey.”
Patton is “thrilled that Midd students took the initiative for Syrian students in need,” referring to the Go/Refuge movement started by Jeff Holland ’19 and Travis Sanderson ’19 in Dec. 2015. The two began their call for the College to increase its involvement in the Syrian refugee crisis with opinion pieces in The Campus.
According to Holland, he and Sanderson, “Realized that we are members of a financially well-endowed, privileged community, and we thought we should use our resources for something important. Something like the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of our time.”
Last summer, when Sanderson lived in Vienna, Austria, he witnessed the local community unite to donate resources to the refugees in the area — he participated by donating food. Holland said Sanderson’s experience moved him to join Sanderson in his efforts to compel the College to do more to support refugees. “We’re not truly an international institution if we don’t partake in major world issues in whatever way we can,” Holland said in a an email to The Campus.
Holland and Sanderson’s initial petition at Go/Refuge has collected around 100 signatures to date. The pair expanded their base of active supporters by urging those students who signed the petition to write opinion pieces of their own, and by reaching out to professors and student organizations. This proved successful; according to Sanderson, “all of the supporters who wrote articles have taken on larger roles” in the movement, and Go/Refuge has been endorsed by the College’s International Student Organization, Amnesty International, Middlebury Students for Bernie Sanders and Professor of German Roman Graf.
The College’s decision to join the IIE’s Syria Consortium comes as a long-awaited victory for all of the active participants in the Go/Refuge movement. Sophie Hudson, an exchange student from the University of Nottingham and author of the op-ed “A Call for Empathy,” felt an impetus to get involved with the movement because of her unique perspective as an exchange student. She questions the injustice in the drastic difference between her educational experience and the current state of education for Syrian refugees.
“Why am I welcomed here with open arms but people whose whole education had stopped and been put on hold aren’t?” she asked. Hudson said that her main motivation for participating in Go/Refuge was her belief that “no one should have to halt their education.”
Both Hudson and Rebecca Duras ’19, the social media coordinator for Go/Refuge, acknowledge that while the College’s membership in the Consortium is not a complete solution to the current state of education for Syrian refugees, according to Duras it is “a big step towards making at least one refugee’s dreams come true.”
After solidifying support from members of the community like Duras and Hudson, Sanderson and Holland met with Patton during her office hours. Holland reports that Patton “was extremely open-minded and receptive to our ideas,” and that he and Sanderson “can’t thank her enough for hearing out what we had to say and for acting on it.”
Members of the Go/Refuge movement have been vocal in their belief that Middlebury is in a unique position to make an impact. Shaheen Bharwani ’19, author of the op-ed “Go/refuge: The Syrian Academic Emergency,” wrote in an email to The Campus that he “can think of few institutions that are as well equipped to act on this issue as Middlebury College,” citing the school’s large endowment as “helpful in the case of refugees who require financial support,” and the school’s renowned Arabic program as “hardly inconsequential when considering native Arabic-speaking refugees potentially facing language barriers in any host country.”
The group also argues that the existence of the Middlebury C.V. Starr School Abroad in Amman, Jordan, at the University of Jordan, should make the College’s involvement in the crisis fairly easy to initiate.“[The program in Jordan] gives us an additional advantage,” Smith Abbott said. “Not only is our staff there able to work directly with any promising candidates, but they are also able to help guide the fundraising efforts of students here in Vermont.”
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Schools Jeffrey Cason, views the School in Jordan as integral to the partnership.
“We have staff in Jordan who are willing and able to interview potential applicants to Middlebury as undergrads or to the Middlebury Institute as graduate students,” Cason said.
Director of the School in Jordan Kerstin Wilsch will be at the College for two days this upcoming weekend, and is planning to meet with Sanderson and Holland on March 20 to discuss the College’s role in providing financial support for Syrian refugees in Jordan. Wilsch echoed the sentiments of the Go/Refuge movement. “We can’t stop the conflict in Syria, but we can render help to those suffering from it,” she said.
Sanderson praised Patton and Abbott for going “beyond our expectations in putting Middlebury on the moral road in the Syrian refugee crisis.” However, he said that more could be done, such as raising awareness of the Syria Consortium in order to motivate students at other schools to begin similar movements. “With millions of refugees who need safety, many of whom need education, there is always work to be done,” Holland said.
(02/24/16 4:50pm)
In a flyer released this week, Dining Services announced its decision to stop the sale of energy drinks on campus. The policy will take effect on March 7, 2016. Beverages such as Red Bull and 5-Hour Energy will no longer be available for purchase at any of the College’s retail locations. These locations include Midd Express, Wilson Café and The Grille. Guayaki Brand Yerba Mate, regarded as a healthier alternative to the previously identified energy drinks, will remain available for purchase.
The decision marked the culmination of a debate that began on Jan. 19, when Dining Software Intern Myles Kamisher-Koch introduced the topic in a Community Council meeting. In this meeting, Kamisher-Koch asserted that several Dining Services staff members approved of his proposal.
By presenting scientific research to demonstrate the several detrimental health effects of energy drinks, Kamisher-Koch ultimately argued that the sale of energy drinks violates Dining Services’ mission, stated on the College’s website, to “nourish and nurture today and tomorrow by sustaining mind, body and earth.” Kamisher-Koch’s data included a study finding that “up to 25 percent of current drinkers combine alcoholic beverages with energy drinks.” He also included reports that energy drinks promote poor academic tendencies and foster a “culture of stress.”
These concerns that Kamisher-Koch raised in his initial presentation appear to coincide with the opinions of several students on campus. “I learned in my psychology class that energy drinks are linked to high risk sex and drug use,” Jenna McNicholas ’19 said. Meg Knox ’19 agreed.
“The school has a responsibility to direct students to healthy choices through what they provide,” Knox said.
Opposition to this proposal in Community Council debate came mainly from students who believed the removal of energy drinks from campus shelves would violate a student’s right to choose what beverages they consume. Charles Rainey ’19 voiced his concern that this measure would lead to Dining Services “controlling what people consume,” and argued that he and others drink energy drinks responsibly, adding that the removal of the drinks from campus stores was too extreme a means of promoting student well-being.
However, those in support of the policy contended that Rainey’s concern was not a grave one. Fiona Mohamed ’18 stressed that the school would not be banning the consumption of energy drinks, but would be merely stopping their sale in retail locations on campus. Participants reminded those concerned with the change that they could buy the drinks at multiple retail locations situated close to campus.
Community Council held a vote on Kamisher-Koch’s recommendation on Tuedsay, Feb. 2. The proposal was approved 11 to 1, and Dining Services decided to adopt the resolution.
Dining Services’ flyer, signed by Executive Director of Food Service Dan Detora, echoes the Community Council’s sentiment. The flyer mentions scientific literature revealing a connection between energy drinks and unsafe behavior in young people, including “increased alcohol consumption, increased likelihood to drive while intoxicated, increased probability of use of other intoxicating substance and increased participation in high-risk sexual activity.” The flyer also restates Kamisher-Koch’s argument that the sale of energy drinks violates Dining Services mission, since, as the flyer reads, “consuming these products may result in serious health related issues such as; cardiovascular events, seizures and liver damage.”
(10/21/15 8:19pm)
Despite understanding that using a phone while driving is dangerous, many people routinely give into the temptation to send a quick text while on the road. And despite state laws banning the use of phones while driving, the practice is still dangerously common. Middlebury students Terry Goguen ’16 and AnnaClare Smith ’16 have created a new way to discourage texting and driving that rewards drivers for keeping their eyes on the road. Their mobile app, JoyRyde, incentivizes safe driving by tracking drivers’ phone-free miles and rewarding them with points that can be redeemed for discounts, coupons or charitable donations.
“In my experience, having a positive outlook on things instead of a punishment is the best way to go,” Goguen said, describing the logic behind their model of rewarding users for driving safely. JoyRyde lets users “incentivize and motivate themselves to do the right thing.”
Smith explained the unique nature of JoyRyde, in that “there are other apps that try to prevent texting and driving, but none of them have the same incentive system.”
It appears that this system may be key to creating safer roads by accomplishing what current campaigns and legislation cannot: changing drivers’ behavior. In a survey conducted by Smith and Goguen, 86% of people reported that legislation punishing those who text and drive does not affect the way they drive. As a result of this conclusion, the pair decided to go a different route, and allow users to, in Goguen’s words, “be their own agent of change.”
JoyRyde is simple and user-friendly. A driver starts a new ride and the phone begins tracking the driver’s miles. If the user leaves JoyRyde to go to a different app, JoyRyde will stop tracking and the driver will no longer receive points. When the user next opens the app, they will see an x indicating a violation. Three violations terminate the ride. Users can currently redeem points for discounts and coupons at Cumberland Farms, B. Good Restaurant, and the brands Skida and Sword and Plough, both founded by Middlebury students. Part of Goguen and Smith’s current vision involves establishing new corporate partnerships and expanding JoyRyde’s connections with charities.
JoyRyde recently partnered with non-profit Text Less Live More, an organization that increases awareness of the dangers of texting and driving. Users can use their points to purchase a donation to Text Less Live More. While this is currently the only charity partnered with JoyRyde, the app will partner with additional charities to provide users with even more opportunities to turn their phone-free miles into donations.
Goguen and Smith attribute much of JoyRyde’s success to the opportunities available to young entrepreneurs at Middlebury. When the pair first developed the idea for JoyRyde, Goguen contacted Middlebury’s Programs for Creativity and Innovation. Staff at the PCI informed him of a J-term class titled Midd Entrepreneurs, in which students work with representatives from the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies to turn their business ideas into reality. JoyRyde won a grant last spring from MiddChallenge, a PCI competition. The app also won the most recent Fresh Tracks Road Pitch Riders Choice Award, a competition administered by motorcyclists with business and financial expertise who ride to small towns to hear pitches from various entrepreneurs. The resources Smith and Goguen took advantage of at the College gave them the practical knowledge necessary to successfully present their app to these investors and pitch competitions.
Neither of the founders see JoyRyde’s success slowing anytime soon. The app currently has 150 users, and at the time of the pair’s interview with The Campus, the app had reached 1200 drives in the previous 12 days. Goguen plans to continue his work with JoyRyde after graduating, and to continue to increase the app’s corporate partnerships and improve its software.
To download the app, drivers enter their email on the JoyRyde website and then receive an email with a link to download. Goguen and Smith estimate that the app will be available on the App Store within the next couple of months. JoyRyde is free, and always will be, assures Goguen.
“We think that’s the best way to do it because the more people using it, the more lives we’re going to save,” Goguen said.