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(02/13/14 12:16am)
In September 2015, the College will welcome 10 new Posse students from Los Angeles who have shown an interest in pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines. The Posse Foundation announced its decision in Jan. 2014 to double the number of Posse partner schools focused in the STEM fields. These new Posse students will be added to a class of 20 Posse students from the College’s existing partnerships with the New York and Chicago Posse programs.
This addition stems from President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to improve the training and education of STEM students across the country. The College was one of five new colleges and universities selected to join an existing five schools partnered with STEM Posses. Over the next five years, these ten schools will provide 500 urban students of different backgrounds with four years worth of full scholarships. The funding will total $70 million and come from a variety of institutions.
“I’m really honored as a Posse alum and as Dean of the College that we were picked by the Posse Foundation,” said Dean of the College Shirley Collado. “They have over forty colleges that they could have picked and they looked to Middlebury as a place where Posse scholars are thriving and as a place that was demonstrating deep commitment to wanting to improve what we’re doing in the sciences and for STEM students.”
The Posse foundation recruits students who exhibit excellent leadership and academic promise from nine urban locations across to the country and matches them with top tier institutions, to provide an otherwise unattainable academic experience for students.
“[The Posse students] have leadership qualities that they bring to a campus; they bring a diverse background because they come from many walks of life; they bring a commitment to education, social justice, and they bring an eagerness to work with people,” said Professor Hector Vila, mentor for the New York 12 Posse.
According to Collado, a STEM Posse was proposed when the Chicago Posse was added in 2011. This allowed for discussion in the science program about the need for diversity and where improvements can be made and the initiative to diversify the sciences has been well received at the College.
“Nationally, underrepresented students tend to major in disciplines outside of the sciences,” said Director of the Sciences, Bob Cluss. “Ideally, our majors in the sciences should reflect our society at large which will make our learning environment richer because everyone’s perspective will be adequately represented.”
New York Posse 11 Mentor and Professor of Chemistry Roger Sandwick believes that, “to add 10 students in [the sciences] of different backgrounds will add to the culture and can only help. It will start to encourage the current students of color to take the chance and be in there.”
Middlebury has been working to strengthen the Science program for a while according to Cluss. This has included a National Science Foundation grant dating back to the 1990s that brought high school students to campus for science programming and to engage in research with our faculty. Another grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute later in the 1990s supported a program that is similar to that of Posse.
The new LA STEM Posse will help to both diversify the science program and to provide feedback on the structure of the science curriculum.
“We’re very enthusiastic about what we’ll learn, what we’ll do, and how we’ll support [the STEM Posse scholars],” said Collado. “They will also play a major role in helping us make sure that we strengthen the STEM program and that things go well
Many of our faculty are eager to allow this to be a vehicle for them to also do what they need to do to make sure that our classrooms are inclusive and are allowing all of our students to do well.”
“The [new Posse students] will be arriving at a time when change is taking place,” said Cluss. “We are already using or planning new pedagogical approaches and re-evaluating the way that gateway courses are taught in the sciences.”
Along with its role in helping the science program, the new Posse will add to what the existing New York and Chicago Posses are doing to enhance the college community.
Posse student Biniyam Estifanos ’14 commented that, “the Posse program has been effective on campus in a mission to bring diversity to this campus, but I think it still lacks diversity, whether that be racial diversity, ethnic diversity, any type of diversity
I think Middlebury could do better with the amount of potential that we have and I think that this third Posse coming is a huge step towards achieving this diversity goal.”
According to Collado, the Posse program is neither a minority-based program nor a need-based program and so it brings diversity to a campus in the broadest sense of its definition.
“All of these students are part of this community that we are trying to diversify and figure out even if it sometimes feels messy and uncomfortable,” she said.
This new Posse will also bring demographic changes to the campus. Collado explained that Middlebury was allowed to choose the new Posse from a range of locations and decided on LA because of the opportunities that will arise from ties to the West Coast.
According to Dean of Admissions Greg Buckles the Posse program in Chicago has already proven effective in increasing the exposure of students involved in urban and outreach programs to the College.
In the class of 2017, about 19 percent of applications were from the West Coast and about 11 percent were from California. Of those from the West Coast 32 percent enrolled and of those from California, 30 percent enrolled.
“We feel like we already have a good foundation [in California] so we thought we could better leverage what presence we already have there with this STEM Posse,” Buckles said.
Buckles claims the new Posse in LA is a “tremendous win for us” because, “We anticipate that it will help for probably all measures; for creating access for traditionally underrepresented students, for helping us in LA and the greater LA area in general, and then certainly for generating interest in STEM related fields.”
Out of the twelve schools that are partners with the LA Posse, the College will be the only STEM Posse and so according to Sandwick, the College will most likely receive the strongest science students from this area.
“Posse is providing a way for us to communicate to a larger public school system that Middlebury is a place where you can thrive in the humanities, in the social sciences, in the actual sciences and be a STEM student,” Collado said. “And I think that many students out in the world don’t know that and public school students in urban schools don’t know that.”
“I think that the Posse Foundation is redefining merit and how we think about academic excellence at this country at the most elite institutions,” Collado said. “I think that Middlebury is better and stronger because it decided to look at leadership as something that is valued.”
Said Estifanos, “I’m excited to see a third Posse coming. I think the worries that some people have about the third Posse are very similar to those we had when Chicago came. They might be seen as a third wheel but it’s my hope that there’s this open arm that’s extended from the current Posses on campus to just welcome them.”
(11/20/13 10:22pm)
Recent incidents of homophobia on campus have prodded College administrators to unveil a number of planned initiatives earlier than originally intended. The ongoing goals and initiatives, spearheaded by the Office of the Dean of the College, are aimed at enhancing the existing programing in order to strengthen support for the LBGTQA community on campus this year.
While plans for bolstered official College support for the LBGTQA community have been in the works since the summer, recent incidents of homophobia on campus — including an incident in which a member of the LBGTQA community received an anonymous threatening letter taped to the student’s door in addition to the recent controversy regarding Chance the Rapper’s lyrics — have prompted the administration to announce their goals and plans prior to the official implementation of such programs.
Assistant Director of Student Activities and Special Assistant to the Dean of the College Jennifer Herrera is leading the initiatives in conjunction with Dean of the College Shirley Collado, Associate Dean of Students for Student Activities and Orientation JJ Boggs, Director of Health and Wellness Barbara McCall and the board of the Queers and Allies (Q&A) student organization.
“We’ve had these two major incidents occur on campus that have gained more visibility than us being able to share this news about our LGBTQA resources and support initiatives,” Herrera said. “So what needs to be understood is that our effort to strengthen existing support and implement additional programs is not in reaction to those instances … As we made more progress in our work, it was our intention to introduce some of these initiatives later this academic year.”
Herrera made sure to note that due to the recent nature of the implementation of these support programs, she has not yet been able to gather feedback from as many students as previously intended. Q&A, however, has been involved in preliminary discussions.
“I’m glad that the administration is moving forward with tangible goals,” said Q&A co-chair David Yedid ’15. “I think the College is very behind in the way that they support minority student groups and there needs to be a big change.”
An increased focus on addressing the needs of the LGBTQA community at the College began this summer, after the College completed its first assessment through the online organization Campus Pride.
Campus Pride is a national nonprofit run for and by students with the goal of helping campuses “develop, support and give ‘voice and action’ in building future LGBT and ally student leaders,” according the company’s website.
According to Herrera, the assessment provides an LGBT Friendly Campus Climate Index, touching upon eight factors to rate a campus on their LGBT-inclusive policy, programs and practices. These factors include LGBT policy inclusion, support, institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing, campus safety, counseling and health, and recruitment and retention efforts. Rated on a scale of zero to five, the College scored three and a half points.
Herrera, Boggs and Collado used the results and suggestions of the Campus Pride assessment, along with recommendations from students involved with Q&A and earlier LGBTQ groups on campus to create a list of four goals.
“Obviously [the goals are] not totally comprehensive, there’s still a lot to do,” Herrera said. “We can’t just check off these goals. We’re working on developing sustainable programs and strengthening the current support and resources we have on campus now for students.”
According to Herrera, the first of these goals is the implementation of a sustainable training program on LGBTQA/diversity issues for Residential Life staff and campus constituencies, including Safe Zone training. Secondly, the Campus Pride assessment has led to the development of an accessible, simple process for students to identify a preferred name and preferred pronoun on College records and documents via an electronic Bannerweb request form. Increased programming will also focus on developing LGBTQ-friendly resource materials and the Gender and Sexuality Resources website as part of a broader Diversity and Community website in addition to the establishment of a peer-mentoring program to welcome and assist LGBTQ students in transitioning to academic and campus life.
Yedid expressed concern that although these goals are “sold and fair”, there is currently no staff or faculty position whose job is to specifically act as a contact for the College’s LGBTQA community.
“These goals are positive, but I think there needs to be a larger changing of culture and that needs to happen with the knowledge that that’s someone’s job,” he said.
Along with the efforts to achieve these four goals, the College is looking at initiatives in other areas as well: both the Athletics Department and Parton Center for Health and Wellness are working on their own LGBTQA projects.
This fall, the Athletics Department joined the You Can Play (YCP) project. Through You Can Play, colleges and universities create videos, posted to the YCP website, stating their commitment to “ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation,” according to youcanplayproject.org.
“I certainly liked the message a lot, but I also liked the idea that there is a sustainable element to a video which is more permanent than a speaker or another one-time event,” wrote Director of Athletics Erin Quinn in an email, explaining why he and his staff chose to work on the project.
Parton faculty and staff have started to work with the RU12? Community Center, a Burlington-based organization that celebrates, educates, and advocates for the LGBTQA population in Vermont.
This September, Parton staff participated in a workshop run by RU12? and plan to hold another later in the year.
“Our hope is that through a variety of trainings and discussions over the next few years, Parton staff in health and counseling will continue to gain greater insight and understanding of the particular experiences of any students who may have felt stigmatized, misunderstood or dismissed by health care providers (at home or elsewhere) in the past, and through these trainings to increase our ability to provide excellent care,” wrote Executive Director of Health and Counseling Services Gus Jordan in an email.
The implementation of such programs and the achievement of the College’s LGBTQA community goals is expected to be a slow and fluid process, seeking feedback from students, faculty and staff, alike, along the way.
“We know that there are some holes and there is a lot that we can strengthen and improve but in order to not become overwhelmed by all of the potential work, we’ve narrowed it down to some concrete things to get off the ground and to develop in a real sustainable way this academic year so they can continue to move forward and be successful,” Herrera said. “We realize that new initiatives will surface and develop and we will be thinking about what the next things to tackle are.”
(10/17/13 12:34am)
The Community Council met on Monday, Oct. 14 for its third meeting of the year to discuss a report written by the Honor Code Review Committee at the end of last year. A Community Council meeting the previous week consisted of a discussion on the hard alcohol policy at the College, a conversation that will continue at its next meeting.
According to the Undergraduate Honor Code Constitution, the Honor Code Review Committee meets every four years to “examine the honor system and its operation and make any appropriate recommendations for revision to the faculty and the Community Council.”
In order to best discuss the Honor Code review process that occurred last year, the Community Council hosted two members of the Honor Code Review Committee — Associate Dean for Judicial Affairs and Student Life Karen Guttentag and Professor of Mathematics Steve Abbott.
According to Guttentag, the mission of the Honor Code Review Committee is to “take the pulse of the honor code and the academic integrity environment at Middlebury.”
“[The Honor Code Review Committee] divided our recommendations into three categories this year,” she said, alluding to suggestions to support students capacity for success, strengthen the honor code itself and strengthen the culture of academic integrity.
Community Council will review the edits made by the Honor Code Review Committee and discuss possible areas of improvement before sending them to the Faculty Council for further review.
At the meeting, the areas discussed included the possible addition of a section regarding mosaic plagiarism, the peer-proctoring element of the honor code and the wording of certain sections that implied moral versus obligatory action in response to Honor Code violations.
One of the most discussed points was the ability of students to self-proctor and the levels to which students are able to and should be able to proctor their peers.
“This is a student honor code,Abbott said. ”It was created by the students and it was meant to be owned at that level. There needs to be some way to have that self-proctoring, self-reporting doable.”
This conversation brought up questions about some of the language used in the Honor Code and how it can best encourage students to take action in reporting Honor Code violations.
“Ambivalence and discomfort [in self-policing] is shared by probably a majority of the student body and why we invited the Student Honor Code Committee to really say, ‘Is this working, is the student body willing and comfortable around this particular requirement or do we need to adjust this in a way that’s going to work better for our community?’” Guttentag said.
As the discussion continued, it was decided among all those present to continue the conversation regarding the Honor Code and the edits made to it throughout the year.
The discussion then turned to the importance of the Honor Code at the College.
“It’s a relationship between the institution and the values and the value of your education and the value of that integrity goes along with it,” said Associate Dean of Students Doug Adams.
“We’re always selling the honor code as something that exists between students but really it’s a relationship in part between students, but also in part between ourselves and our professors and I think most people here really respect the people whom we learn from,” said Student Government Association President Rachel Liddell ’15.
The group then discussed a social Honor Code and what that would mean for the College and how it could be implemented. Adams indicated that that discussion had begun last year but was never finished. He said, “We have an honor code and the question is, ‘can we have an honor code that extends to the entire community all the time?’”
The meeting ended with a quick dialogue on revamping the guest registration policy, suggesting a number of ideas for Public Safety to consider over the next few months.
(10/03/13 12:41am)
The Community Council met for their first meeting of the year on Monday, Oct. 30 to discuss its role at the College and to create a list of agenda topics for the upcoming academic year.
In considering its role, the group emphasized looking at issues beyond those that are primarily student-related. Topics for discussion throughout the year included a more efficient spring term move-out, the hard alcohol policies on campus and the campus wide smoking policy.
The list of agenda topics was created through an open discussion among the council members.
The council began a discussion on the hard alcohol policies of the school. Associate Dean of Students Doug Adams began the conversation as a continuation of one that had been started last year.
“The Mill has an exception to people serving hard alcohol at their functions,” said Adams. “We realize it’s a larger conversation than for just one house and it needs to be a campus-wide conversation.”
Adams asked questions such as, “What are the impact points for hard alcohol? Where are we seeing those issues? We need to take the time to get the data and enter into that conversation.”
In agreement, Community Council Co-Chair Luke Carroll Brown ’14 declared, “That conversation needs to happen and I think it should continue in this group right here.”
The council also brought up the possible use of surveillance cameras, a topic that has been raised in previous years but never acted upon. The council agreed that as damage, theft and sexual assault become larger issues across campus, the implementation of surveillance cameras in public areas needs to be discussed.
In response to the prospect of security cameras, Blake Shapskinsky ’15 suggested that social houses hosting parties should self-police and be held accountable. As an issue that affects the entire campus, Brown noted, “It’s a large topic that I think will and should turn into a campus-wide conversation.”
The council also discussed how better to manage visitors to the college.
“We need to talk about a way of streamlining the visitors to campus process,” said public safety staff member Chris Thompson. “Last year we had a couple of instances where we had visitors and people got in trouble with alcohol and we had no idea who they were. I’d like to find a way we could better manage that so people are held responsible when they have guests on campus.”
Some other issues discussed focused on better means of communication throughout the Middlebury community. In an attempt to increase campus and town communication, the prospect of having a community forum with members of the town of Middlebury was also introduced.
Annie Pruitt ’14 described the initiative as “A place for members from the town to come and talk to students, faculty, and staff about issues they’d like to see us discuss and have that dialogue and conversation.”
The council also addressed the need for improved and increased interaction between students and staff.
Although the meeting was wide-ranging, Brown declared, “Alcohol and surveillance cameras are the two major issues that we’re going into this year with and we will end up extensively talking about and researching them.”