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(02/26/14 6:37pm)
What pops into someone’s head when you tell them you go to Middlebury College? Languages? 350.org? The price tag? Or have they never even heard of it?
This past week Bill Burger, vice president of communications, pondered these questions when soliciting feedback from students, faculty and the board of trustees on the direction of the college’s brand. Though there was copious talk about a new logo, a website overhaul and renaming, the current lack of diversity is still the biggest issue the College faces as it reevaluates its brand.
Whether socioeconomic, ethnic, religious, first-generation or simply geographic, diversity is an essential aspect of the liberal arts experience and is a part of what signifies an elite institution. Despite the college’s best efforts, our applicant pool is still primarily white students from the Northeast whose families went to college and can afford full tuition. The desire to shift this paradigm is perhaps more than anything what should be driving the rebranding process. The ability to attract applicants from a variety of backgrounds is what marks a prestigious institution. Middlebury needs a brand that will make it a household name across a range of backgrounds.
In a video circulated in Dean Shirley Collado’s recent all-school email on our branding process, consultant Mark Neustadt presented some of his findings after a yearlong study of the College. His research showed that emphasizing Middlebury as a globally-oriented liberal arts school tipped the balance in the College’s favor among non-white students from across the country, while emphasizing that something like sustainability often had no effect and even was a deterrent for some in the study.
This doesn’t mean that we’re abandoning our environmental focus, but it does show that framing the college with a larger global perspective could put us in the right direction. With that in mind, it is little surprise that we are talking about connecting the dots within our growing Middlebury empire by incorporating our name into the schools abroad and emphasizing our Monterey graduate opportunities in international studies. We need an outward, global orientation to bring in applicants outside of the college’s typical pool.
The question is, how will this shift in branding change life at Middlebury? There can be no question that diversity will enhance academic and social life on campus, but what do we lose by expanding our offerings around the globe and emphasizing graduate programs to attract that diversity?
Thus far, elite institutions like Harvard or Yale have become household names both nationally and to some degree internationally by expanding their graduate programs and research opportunities, while also diversifying their academic specialties and increasing their global focus. They have garnered prestige, but at the cost of their undergraduate experience, which was inevitably sidelined as more advanced opportunities came about.
This level of prestige is what Middlebury wants for its brand, but we need to do it without shooting ourselves in the foot by sacrificing our emphasis on teacher-student relationships, tight knit community and undergraduate opportunities. We do need to address diversity on this campus, but we should not go about it by diverting our focus to schools abroad and graduate programs.
We call on the college to continue this important dialogue throughout the spring and think critically about how we can attract diversity without changing our current investment in undergraduate life. It is time for a change, but it needs to be done thoughtfully and deliberately.
(02/26/14 6:05pm)
Painter Hall
The oldest college building in the state, Painter Hall was constructed in 1814 for $8,000. The Colleges’ original library, the first bathrooms on campus, and a two-story gymnasium occupied the building in its first years. Newly constructed, the building’s chimney malfunctioned in the fall of 1817 and beloved Professor of Greek and Latin Solomon M. Allen climbed to the roof to fix the problem. But during the climbing, the scaffolding below Allen gave way, and he fell to his death.
Mummy in the West Cemetery
Middlebury’s West Cemetery, which abuts the College, is not just the final resting place for former Vermonters: Egyptian Mummy Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef is also buried there. The two-year old son of Sen Woset, third king of Egypt, was acquired in the late 1870s by Middlebury resident Henry Sheldon, collector and proprieter of the Sheldon Museum. Apparently, when the mummy arrived, it was in such poor condition that Sheldon decided to store it in his attic instead of displaying it in the museum. In 1945, a curator at the museum George Mead found the mummy and decided to give it a Christian burial. The mummy was cremated and buried in the cemetery under a tombstone with an image of a cross, an ankh and a bird.
Golf Course Tree House
Middlebury’s repertoire of social spaces used to include a Tree House on the Golf Course. The two-story Tree House was built by David Stone ’74 and some members of the Sig Ep fraternity, the “ski fraternity,” on funds provided by Dean Erika Wonnacott. Kate Troast ’76 says, “I remember the full moon parties with twenty plus people up in the Tree House looking at the moon and listening to Bob Dylan. It was so cool!” Unfortunately, the Tree House burned down in an accidental fire in 1977.
Emma Willard House
This National Historic Landmark is the site of the first girls’ school that offered female students an education equal to – and arguably better than – that of young men. A trailblazer in women’s education, Emma Willard opened a school in her Middlebury home in 1812. Willard later moved her family and her school to Troy, New York, and the College purchased the building in 1959 and used it as the Admissions Office.
Twilight Hall
Built in 1867, Twilight Hall, then called the Academy Building, first housed students of the Grammar School of the town of Middlebury. On Easter Sunday in 1904, a fire destroyed the entire inside of the building, but it was soon reconstructed to math its original internal architecture. For the next eighty years, the building served as the College Street Graded School for children of the town. The College purchased and renovated the building in 1984 and gave it its current name, in honor of Alexander Lucius Twilight (class of 1823), the first African-American US citizen to graduate from college.
McCullough Gymanasium
Ex-governor of Vt. John G. McCullough funded the majority of what is now McCullough Student Center in 1912. For 37 years, the building functioned as a gymnasium for men only. In 1949, the gymnasium was opened to women. The Arthur M. Brown Swimming Pool (whose tiles are still visible outside of Midd Express) was constructed at the rear of the building. But in 1988, the College consolidated its athletic facilities in their present location, and McCullough became the center for the dance program for two years before undergoing a full remodel into the current Student Center. It was not until 2000 that the pool was converted into the Grille, and McCullough became the building we know today.
Main Quadrangle
The main quad of campus (i.e. the space between Old Chapel and Mead Chapel) used to be home to athletics, before Battell Beach became the main destination for sports teams. While paths now intersect the area to connect Munroe to Voter and McCulough, it used to be a large patch of uninterupted grass, perfect for practice and games, conveniently located next to the gym.
(02/25/14 12:55am)
Joey Kizel has never shied away from the biggest names or the biggest games, especially when it comes to fellow All-American Aaron Toomey and the defending national champions, Amherst.
(02/19/14 9:21pm)
Though Sochi might be over 5,000 miles from our home here in Vermont, Middlebury’s connection to the home of this year’s Winter Olympics may not be as far as you think. Since the 1940s, the College’s Snow Bowl and Rikert Center have produced some of the nation’s most impressive nordic and alpine skiers. This year, the College has five alumni at the Olympics: Nordic ski racer Simeon “Simi” Hamilton ’08, men’s US Alpine Ski Team coach Forest Carey ’00, US Nordic Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb ’01, women’s US Alpine Ski Team trainer Brie Pike Sprenger ’04, and US Alpine Ski Team strength and conditioning coach Bobby Poehler ’10. We even have an Olympian in our midst, alpine skier Yina Moe-Lange ’15 who went to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics! This week, the Campus caught up with some of these talented athletes and other former Olympians from the College to learn about their journeys from tiny Middlebury to the premier world stage of athletics.
Dorcas Wonsavage '87-- Nordic Skiing
Wonsavage ’87 has competed in three Olympic Games: Calgary in ’88, Albertville in ’92 and Lillehammer in ’94. From Hanover, New Hampshire, she began Cross-Country skiing in her senior year of high school. “Give the world your best that you have and the best will come back to you,” she recalled the quote she lived by. “I had parents who always told me ‘we don’t care what grades you get, we just want you to learn what you want to learn.’ It wasn’t about results or grades—and it was so liberating and that created a vacuum where I didn’t have huge expectations set upon me. But I wanted to prove them wrong.”
Even while directing her attention to passion rather than tallied victories, she delivers real results: She ranked 8 in Calgary ’88 women’s 4x5 kilometers relay race. Her best result was a 24th place in the women’s 20km skate race at Calgary—the top result of any U.S. or Canadian Cross-Country skier.
However, Wonsavage’s favorite Olympic Games by far was held in Lillehammer, Norway. “By the 1992 Olympic Games in [Albertville,] France, we were in a country where women, winter and sports like Cross-Country skiing were not highly valued. It was a tough two weeks!” she said. “But in Lillehammer (’94), where the entire country embraces winter sports. My husband would be leaving Storgatta at midnight to head to his house by the ski jumps and ski trails, and people were hiking up with huge backpacks to camp out and save a place by the trail so they could cheer on their country. In the middle of the trail system, fans had built a tent city where they stayed for the entire two weeks. We’d ski by during training and they’d invite us in for some aquavit! Families were completely at home outside in the snow. After the races, we’d see parents cut snow benches and tables, start a fire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows for their kids. We were from a country where our sport was overshadowed by the ball sports; but in Norway even when we finished in the second page of the results, they’d cheer us on by name.”
Wonsavage now lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Paul, and son, Max. Twenty years after the Lillehammer Olympics, she is still taking on new challenges, going back to school to get her masters in Education - Teaching of Writing. and never forgetting her Middlebury teammates, professors and coaches who constantly challenged her and made the journey fun. “I had my best results in my first Olympics, when I had no expectations and skied just to do my very best. I try to bring that same combination of humility and a sense of humor to everything I do. I love accomplishing something that no one expected me to do.”
Gordon Eaton '62-- Alpine Skiing
“I guess I just like going fast,” said Olympian Gordon Eaton ’62, of why he enjoyed competing in downhill alpine skiing, which is the fastest and therefore most dangerous alpine Olympic event. Eaton spent seven years as a student at Middlebury College because every other year he would take off to ski race on the world circuit. His experience skiing at the College was immensely defined by another Olympian: US Olympic Ski Team coach (Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy ’56) and Middlebury ski coach Robert “Bobo” Sheehan, whom Eaton describes as the best race day coach he ever had.
“We were always prepared, always eager, always fired up,” remembers Eaton, “and a lot of it had to do with Bobo’s character and personality. Everybody liked skiing for Bobo.”
Eaton’s hard work on and off the snow landed him a spot on the US Ski Team for the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics. In 1960 in Squaw Valley, Calif., he placed 17th in the downhill event, having the second best time of the American competitors. In 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria, he did not race due to injury. The experience of being unable to compete was disappointing to Eaton, but as he said, “You go into this understanding that there are gonna be bumps and bruises along the way, so it’s all part of the deal.”
Luckily, Eaton had the opportunity to return to the Olympics in 1968 in Grenoble, France; this time as a men’s coach of the US Ski Team. After his Olympic experience, Eaton coached the Alpine ski team at the College from 1975-1978. Today, he lives in Middlebury and owns a restaurant, sells ski clothing to ski vendors and participates in ski design with K2. In his free time, Eaton still likes to ski at his old training hill, the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, and will sometimes meet up with his college racing buddies. “Going to the Olympics was awesome,” said Eaton, “but it’s the journey and the people along the way that still have real meaning to you [years later].
John Bower '63-- Nordic Skiing
John Bower, a native of Auburn, Maine, graduated from Middlebury in 1963 and went on the following year to make the US team for the Nordic combined event (a combination of ski jumping and Cross-Country ski racing) for the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Bower said he was “awestruck” at the ’64 Olympics. The high pressure of the games interfered with his ability to ski at his greatest potential, and he placed 15th. Returning home, he put his “heart and soul into training” for the next three years. In 1968, he returned to Middlebury as the head ski coach, but was given the winter off to compete again in Nordic combined in the ’68 Olympics in Grenoble, FR. He hoped that his further experience at maintaining composure under pressure would help him perform better in his second Olympics, but he was still “trying too hard to win”, and placed 13th.
Only one month later, however, Bower competed in the King’s Cup in Norway against the same field of athletes. In this final competition of his career, he became the first non-European to win the cup. In Norway, Bower “figured out how to relax” and enjoy racing in a way that he had never managed to in the Olympics. As the champion, Bower met the king of Norway, who was “very congratulatory” and put Bower on his list of requested guests for a state dinner in the king’s honor at the White House. Bower described the black tie affair as “one of the most intimidating experiences of my athletic career. It’s a whole different level of social interaction.”
Bower returned to Middlebury to coach fall Cross-Country, winter Nordic skiing and spring Track for seven years. He saw several of his skiers go on to make Olympic teams, including Joe McNulty ’72. “There are a lot of distractions at Middlebury,” Bower admits, and it is the students that make sacrifices to stay focused and disciplined who are generally successful. Bower went on to serve as the Nordic team leader for the 1976, 1980, and 1992 Olympic Games, and to work as the Nordic program director for the US ski team in Park City, Utah. He is now retired and lives in Moab, Utah with his wife, Bonnie.
Yina Moe-Lange '15-- Alpine Skiing
From an early age, Yina Moe-Lange ’15 proved herself one of the best female skiers in Denmark, but she had not expected to meet the Danish Ski Federation’s qualifications. Her success in many competitions leading up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics had distinguished her among her compatriots, and she was chosen to represent Denmark for the women’s alpine team.
“The Olympics were absolutely terrifying and exhilarating at the same time,” Moe-Lange said. The size and significance of the Games intimidated her, but did not affect her performance.
“While I probably could have skied a bit faster, I was extremely happy since I had made it down and had accomplished what most people only dream of doing,” she said. For her, the point was the surreality of the experience and the memories she made at the Games.
Now, Moe-Lange is competing for the Middlebury Alpine Ski Team, and the league in which the College competes “is about as competitive as you can get without becoming professional,” she said.
Balancing school and skiing is always a tricky maneuver, especially for Moe-Lange, who remains determined to devote one hundred percent into academics and athletics alike.
“The hardest part of it is having to complete everything you want to do while also doing a good job on everything, since both parts are so important,” she said.
But Moe-Lange is still thankful to be a Panther. She credits the College with teaching her the “magic of time management” and allowing her to converge the important things in her life. Her team, which she describes as a family, has allowed her to improve her skiing while simultaneously “bring[ing] out the best athlete in everyone.”
At this point, Moe-Lange has no concrete future plans beyond finishing her final year as a Panther and then taking a year off before “entering the real world to continue pursuing the dream.”
Simi Hamilton '08-- Nordic Skiing
Middlebury’s only athlete competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics is Nordic skier, Simi Hamilton ’08. A native of Aspen, CO, Hamilton began skiing at the young age of two and his current sport, Cross-Country skiing, at thirteen. Before coming to the College, Hamilton collected an impressive nine Junior National titles and three Colorado high school crowns. As a competitor on the College’s Nordic team, Simi added three All-American honors to his resume and went to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics during his senior year where he competed in the 4x10km Relay, Sprint Classic and 15km Free. Since 2010, Hamilton was been a consistent scorer on the World Cup circuit, placing as high as seventh and earning him a spot on the 2014 US Nordic Ski Team. In Sochi, Hamilton placed 21st in the Men’s Sprint Free on February 11 and 11th in Men’s 4x10km Relay on February 16.
“Everyone who’s reading this has probably had that experience at some point in their life of really wanting to do things over again,” commented Hamilton about his 11th place finish on his blog. “That’s pretty much where I’m at with how the sprint turned out. But what I’ve realized in the last few days since the race, is that I do get to do it over again, because there are going to be SO many more races—Olympic races, World Cup races, World Championship races—ahead of me in the future.”
For now, Simi gets to enjoy the privilege of being in the company of the best athletes in the world. He said on his blog of the experience, “to be part of a larger team—not just an American team but a World team—is the most awesome feeling that exists, I’m pretty sure.”
Chris Waddell '87-- Alpine Skiing
Waddell came to Middlebury in the winter of 1988 as a Feb and a promising member of the ski team. But on December 20 of the same year, Waddell suffered a skiing accident that paralyzed him from the waist down. After two months in the hospital, Waddell came back to campus. Though the College had never been home to anyone in a wheelchair, “they made everything wheelchair accessible,” Waddell said, lauding the community’s support and compassion.
Shortly after his accident, Waddell’s friends and teammates bought him his first Monoski, which is made up of a molded seat bound to an ordinary alpine ski. For the next three years, he stayed on the team, becoming captain as a senior.
“It was kind of like being a disembodied head,” Waddell said, laughing, of the transition from standing skis to the monoski. “My mind knew what I was supposed to do, and my body had no ability whatsoever to obey any of the instruction from my mind.”
But after just one week, Waddell was making it from mountaintop to the bottom without falling. His training mirrored that of the rest of the ski team, though he jokes, “Mine was more about trying not to kill myself, whereas they were trying to go fast…It really took me about three years to feel like I was actually good.”
But Waddell greatly underplays his achievements. In May of 1991, just two and a half years after his accident, Waddell made the US Olympic Disabled Team. After graduating in February of 1992, Waddell became a full-time athlete, competing in the Paralympics in Albertville, France.
Winning silver medals in both his events, Slalom and Giant Slalom, in Albertville, Waddell launched in on what he calls his “breakthrough year”. “Tthe year where I felt like I got good, and actually became the best Monoskier in the world, which was pretty cool,” he said nonchalantly.
In the 1994 Lillehammer, Norway Games, Waddell won all four races he entered – Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G and Downhill.
Lillehammer remains the most significant Games in Waddell’s career because he beat all the other monoskiers–not just those at his level of sensation. Monoskiing is divided into levels based on what vertebrae the athlete has broken and the corresponding degrees of sensation retained. Waddell skies at a higher level of injury, with sensation starting at his belly button. He lacks a great amount of core strength compared to other monoskiers, some of whom still maintain walking abilities. Therefore, rising to the top of the monoskiing heap, in Lillehammer meant more to Waddell than his medal count.
But Waddell’s athleticism did not confine him to winter sports; his talent in wheelchair racing, a component of his dryland training, allowed him to compete in three summer Games as well. Waddell’s wheelhouse was massive, encompassing six events: the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters, as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Waddell competed in the 1996 Atlanta Games, won the silver in the 200 meters in the 2000 Sydney Games, and appeared in the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece. His success in wheelchair racing has made Waddell one of the few athletes who have won World Championship competitions in winter and summer.
Since retiring his ski, Waddell has developed an organization called One Revolution, whose mission is to “turn perception of disability upside down,” he said.
“The definition of ‘disability’ is that you’re effectively something less,” Waddell said. In an attempt to overturn this conventional understanding of the term and to spread One Revolution’s message, Waddell climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in a hand cycle in 2009, aiming to become the first paraplegic to climb the peak.
But the trip went differently than he planned. Obstructed by one rocky outcropping, Waddell was disappointed that his team had to carry him 100 feet to a steadier place. Looking back, he believes the obstacle was rather a blessing, as it shattered the superheroic image that had shadowed him since leaving the hospital in Middlebury.
“A superhero never has a bad day, so [that image] didn’t allow me to be real,” Waddell said. “Not making it that hundred feet was actually the most liberating thing; in some ways, I failed, but it was also the greatest gift because it allowed me to distance myself from the superman doppelganger.”
(02/19/14 6:46pm)
Self-proctored exams are one of the most visible manifestations of our honor code. Our professors hand out the exams, answer questions, and then retreat to their offices, coming back only occasionally to check in and make sure everything is ok. For the Economics department, this norm may be changing. During the spring semester, proctors will be present while students take their exam - an attempt to combat cheating and a lack of peer reporting. While professors have always been allowed to petition to proctor their exams, this is the first time that a group of classes will be proctored.
This should not be seen as a logical step, but rather as a shameful reminder of a broken system, and should not be lauded. The honor code is a privilege. Our professors grant us tremendous trust that extends far beyond proctoring. From assigning take-home exams to understanding and accommodating our needs when problems arise, professors here believe in our honesty and academic integrity, and this grants us a degree of freedom. This change in policy, however, shows that this trust is being breeched and there are consequences.
Is the honor code dying? No one seems to be rushing to its defense. Economics majors are not protesting or petitioning. Professors are not pressing its importance upon their classes. Students are not passionate about the honor code anymore. The fact that this was covertly laid out and never officially announced points to the overwhelming apathy of all parties. A change in the culture in our classrooms has been met with deafening silence.
It makes sense that the student body has lost interest in the honor code. We had nothing to do with its creation, and we almost never hear about it after first-year orientation. If the honor code has lackluster support, it is not because this generation of Middkids is less moral or more apathetic than the ones before it. It is simply that we, that is to say our entire community, administration, professors, and students alike, are not invested enough in the honor code. As with anything else, if we want the honor code to succeed, we need to invest in it. It is easy enough to say cheating will always be a problem. The challenge is to create a culture that rejects it.
In the real world, there are no proctors, but students here will go on to be successful and influential businessmen, politicians, doctors, teachers, lawyers and community members. The honor code is a part of the Middlebury brand. We love to point to the honor code as a demonstration of our integrity and the type of community we come from. What, then, does it say about our future selves if we cannot expect integrity from our community members now?
Our limited contact with the honor code consists of ceremonial signing during orientation followed by writing it occasionally on essays and tests. But at schools where the honor code really works, Davidson and the University of Virginia for example, the honor code is ingrained into the culture. Instead of acquiescing to the Econ Department’s decision, we need to double down on the honor code. Here’s how:
First, students must deal with the honor code on a more regular basis. Professors should require students to write the honor code on all graded assignments to serve as a constant reminder of our community standards. Students should re-sign the honor code at the beginning of each year. The idea should not be perceived as a forced training, as with AlcoholEdu, but as a renewal of our commitment to our community and our education. We should also install plaques with the honor code in every classroom, as they do at UVA, to serve as a visual reminder of this commitment. UVA also has an entire website dedicated to their honor code, whereas we have a page embedded within the Dean of Students’ page, which explains in several places that uncontested infractions can be resolved without even a judicial hearing.
Furthermore, we all know that peer proctoring — the requirement that students report cheating — is the exception, rather than the norm. The problem is as simple as a fear of talking with a professor face-to-face to say that you have seen someone cheating. We should again follow UVA’s model in addressing this by establishing an online method to report cheating. This will make peer proctoring a less onerous task, and one more likely to succeed. Additionally, to strengthen our commitment to this system of peer proctoring, we should change the honor code from “I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment” to “I have neither given nor received nor witnessed unauthorized aid on this assignment.” While these measures may not alleviate the problem entirely, pairing them with improved enforcement just might.
We must strengthen the punishments associated with cheating if we expect the honor code to be effective. We suggest a one-strike suspension, two-strike expulsion policy. While there are gradients of cheating — accidentally misciting a source is certainly different than buying a paper online — clear-cut instances of intentional cheating should not be tolerated in our community. The underlying message would be that when you come to Middlebury, you enter a contract with the community, and this has strict expectations. We owe our peers and professors basic respect. At its core, cheating is an issue of respect. Currently, our punitive responses are insubstantial. When one person cheats, it reflects poorly on the entire community and insults those who abide by the honor code. While we recognize that Middlebury is a place meant to teach, if you choose to cheat after constantly being reminded of the honor code, this is not the place for you.
Our honor code is not broken, but it is certainly ailing. We must take this problem seriously while we are still able to fix it, lest we change the culture that makes our community as strong as it is. The changes need to be both institutional and cultural. Regardless of your major, the Economics department’s decision should be a wake-up call. We need to treat the honor code like the privilege it is and hold each other accountable so this trust between faculty members and students will not be called into question this strongly again.
Artwork by AMR THAMEEN
(02/18/14 12:45am)
Every year, certain games are circled on the calendar that mean just a little bit more than others. Follow surprise upstart Jake Brown and free-spirited Hunter Merryman as they prepare in the 12 hours before the biggest home game of the year.
(02/13/14 2:57am)
Language Tables Head Waiter, Ricardo Martini '16
Ricardo Martini, is a language table super-star. He started working as a humble Italian waiter during the J-term of last year, and after just one semester, was chosen to be a head waiter this past fall. Martini says the position of Head Waiter is more than being a “glorified bus boy” in the dining room. “Behind the scenes, you have to clean the space, you have to mop, wipe down counters, grab the bread and salad, make sure everything’s there, the dishes are there, the utensils. At the end of the day, it’s under your belt that everything goes smoothly.” When hiring new waiters/waitresses, Martini said he looks for applicants who are “patient and attentive and will actually put in an effort into translating the menu; that’s why google translate and word reference exist!”
Martini also pointed out a key difference in shifting roles from a waiter to a head waiter. “You have more creative freedom as a waiter than as a head waiter where you have to act more like a responsible manager.” He recalled, “One time [as a waiter], I wore a suit and I was part of the Italian Mafia serving them the food.” However, Martini’s favorite memory as a language table waiter was serving special birthday treats to tables accompanied by a hearty performance of “Buon Compleano!”
“One thing I like to do with language tables is make people feel important,” Martini said. “They’re not just students sitting down [for a meal]; they’re key members of the culture they’re sitting at. I truly believe your mind changes based on the language you speak. Different cultures influence your thoughts and that’s something great that can happen in a place like Ross Dining.” Martini is now being promoted to the co-manager position alongside senior veterans, like Cameron McKinney ’14 and Niko Lambert ’14.
Usher, Jiaya Zhu '14
“This is a really good time to be thinking about becoming an usher,” Jiayi Zhu said, “because half of the current staff is going to be gone by the end of this year, so we need people to be trained now.” There are few jobs on campus that make you look more professional than being an usher. The white-top-black-bottom classic attire exudes an air of professionalism. You have most probably by now seen an usher at work: they check your tickets and hand you a program at the door, lead you to your seat in the concert hall and do a whole host of other things that you never noticed. These include checking that all the exits are clear before an event begins, for example, and picking up the programs on the floor and in the seats after everyone has left. “Getting the job was quite straightforward,” Zhu said. “Shannon Bohler-Small [Arts Events Manager] did an informal interview with me and asked me where the toilets are and how to go from the CFA [Center for the Arts] to Old Chapel, for example.” You only need to have been trained for crowd management to be qualified for the job, since most things can be learnt on the job. “What I like about my job is that I get to go to the CFA for theatre performances, concerts and dance shows that I wouldn’t have gone to otherwise. It’s mostly our community members that make the most out of these opportunities,” she said.
Bike Shop Mechanic, Peter Peltzer '17
An avid mountain biker, Parker Peltzer spends many of his evenings at Middlebury Bike Shop teaching students how to repair their bikes or even construct new ones entirely from spare parts. Having worked in a bike shop throughout high school and during his most recent gap year, Peltzer first learned the craft of fixing bikes through reading books including Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance and by watching repair videos online. “Fixing bikes has always been something that has felt familiar to me and remains something I enjoy,” Peltzer said. “What I love most about my job at the shop is how enthusiastic the students are about fixing their own bikes here. Students who come in are ready to put in hours working on their bikes.” Interestingly, Peltzer recalls that he first landed the job through a stroke of coincidence in a game of Nerf War. “I was at BiHall at midnight and one of the guys I was playing Nerf War with said he had to wake up early for the Tour de Farms, and that his bike was broken. I went and I fixed his bike and he happened to know who to talk to about a job opening at the bike shop.” When asked if he had any advice for future prospective bike shop teachers, Peltzer encouraged students to drop by the workshop and get to know the work, the space, and the other mechanics. “As long as their skills are ready to go, I’d say that the most important quality is the ability to teach and communicate with others.”
Lead Help Desk Computer Consultant, Anis Mebarki '15
Anis Mebarki’s rapper name at the Help Desk is A.M.—in part because of his initials and in part because he voluntarily takes the early morning shifts. He is “genuinely happy” to go to work each day. He greatly respects his boss, Joe Durante, who Mebarki feels is training the Help Desk employees for work in the real world. “It’s way more than a job,” Mebarki said; you get to learn, serve, and get paid. Mebarki has always enjoyed working with computers. Before coming to Middlebury he owned a Linux machine, an alternate operating system to Mac or PC which “iwas a full time job” but taught him a great deal about computer operations. When he arrived on campus in the fall of 2011, Mebarki saw an advertisement for positions at the Help Desk, applied, and was interviewed and selected for the job. Within that year, he worked his way up to become a lead computer consultant, which, coming from Algeria, felt like the American Dream to him. At the Middlebury Help Desk, if not everywhere in the US, Mebarki believes that hard work really pays off.
Gift Planning Assistant, Meghan Buckley '16.5
Maybe one of the farthest “on campus” jobs for students is the post of Office Assistant at the Gift Planning Office, which is located off campus in the Painter House, across the street from Middlebury Inn.
Every afternoon, Monday to Friday, Meghan Buckley, makes the hike from her room at Hepburn to her desk at the Painter House, home of Middlebury founder, Gamaliel Painter, where she begins her two hour shift of answering phones and calling alumni.
“Depending on the weather, it can be a fifteen to twenty minute walk. Most days, I make it there in about fifteen.”
Buckley, who landed the position after she saw a posting on the Student Employment webpage earlier this year, says she didn’t realize “there are so many people who work at the college behind the scenes, making everything work for us. They put in so many hours, so much of their time, and I had no idea.”
“The up is hearing about different alum’s experiences from their time here. It makes me really appreciate the time I have here and makes me want to make the most of it.”
Crossroads Marketing Director, Naila Jahan '15
The brilliance of the Princess Peach and All That Razz smoothies at Crossroads Cafe has finally been uncovered. Naila Jahan, Middlebury’s own vibrant Junior, has adopted the role of Marketing Director at our favorite student-run cafe. Illustrating the range of employment opportunities, Naila’s job is simple: to make Crossroads sexy. Responsible for utilizing social media to publicize the cafe, Naila also collaborates with other workers to create new drink flavors, as well as their corresponding clever names. Her proudest accomplishment has been independently designing a new Crossroads website in hope to attract more attention from students. Although it can be difficult when an executed idea does not find success, the ability to simply “get [her] creative juices flowing” is her favorite part of the job. How did she land this gig? Connections. After getting a job at the cashier her first year with the help of her neighbor that already worked there, Naila gradually moved up to her marketing director position. Now, as the café greets more and more popularity each year, it is exciting for Naila to simply see the growing waiting list of students who wish to even work at the youthful cafe.
Theater Set Maker, Lydia Delehanty '17
When Lydia Delehanty arrived at Middlebury she was an experienced performer and musician, but had no knowledge about theatre and the backstage work that goes into a production. She saw a job posting for set construction on the student employment page and jumped at the chance to exercise her brain “in a way that classes don’t.” She’s been building sets for Middlebury’s various theatre productions, most recently Pentecost, since late September and is happy to have a job “that’s active and actually requires thinking.” Her main reservation about building sets? “I get covered in dust a lot. I end up leaving looking like I either have grey hair or really really bad dandruff.” Despite the dust, Lydia plans to continue working set construction for the rest of the year. As she told me, before the job “I couldn’t have actually gone and been like oh I can build this thing, but now I feel like I could do that.”
Admissions Office, Vladimir Kremenović '17
Vladimir Kremenović, a first-year from Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been working at the admissions office since his first week in college. Admissions is one of the most sought after gigs by student employees, and Kremenović made sure to get on the job three months before he even got to Middlebury; with his job interview taking place on his first day on campus. Now, he helps with filing and documentation at the Admissions headquarters in the Emma Willard house, occasionally answering emails and phone calls and answering questions for prospective students and their families. He stated that good communication, openness and “a good spirit” are key skills for a job at Admissions. The strangest part of working with Admissions, he says, are the amount of questions, some ridiculous, that come from parents rather than the prospective student themselves. Although he acknowledges that alphabetizing files can get tedious at times, he enjoys the job, especially interacting with and meeting new people, saying that his favorite part is being able to contribute to a prospective student’s decision in coming to Middlebury, that, as he puts it “might change their life.” His advice to novices searching for jobs is to contact the offices directly and as early as possible, instead of waiting for online postings.
(02/12/14 4:40pm)
If before this issue of the Campus hit the stands, you were to walk up to a student in Proctor and ask them what they think about the new dining swipe system coming soon, most would look back at you puzzled. “What swipe system?”
Here’s what we know. A swipe system will be implemented. This is not a meal plan. Students will have unlimited swipes; the swipe system is only meant to keep out people “riding the panther,” who are eating in the dining hall without paying for it. The system is meant to collect data — to learn how many meals we are serving and how much it costs per meal. This data will then be used to look critically at our dining system. More data is never a bad thing. But the decisions that are made from that data could be. We welcome the much-needed information. All we ask for is a seat at the table when we decide what to do with it.
While this system is still in its infancy, we need student input in this process going forward. All the information we know is in this week’s Campus. As we move forward towards a swipe card system and possibly a meal plan, it is vitally important that the administration be as transparent as possible.
Our dining system has long been a stalwart of community at Middlebury, one of the main things our tour guides laud on their treks across campus. At a school with increasingly few common spaces, the dining halls operate as a student center. They are where groups meet, where friends run into each other, where we can take a breather from the pressures of courses and extracurriculars. The openness of our dining system creates the strong community that attracted many of us to Middlebury in the first place. Moreover, at a school where navigating class privilege is tricky, dining remains a level playing field where everyone has equal access regardless of financial status. Maintaining that equality is key. What and how we eat in our dining halls affects us every single day; therefore, we need to be involved in this process going forward.
Adjusting our dining system could result in greater flexibility for students. A one-card system, for example, could provide a debit card of sorts where students could also buy food at the Grille, 51 Main, and other College-operated venues without having to carry cash. But this transition must occur delicately, for even minor changes could rock the boat and change ways we interact as a community.
Just as there were committees on alcohol and the honor code - both issues with great impact on students - there should be a committee on dining, with student representatives working with faculty, staff and administrators.
Once this data is collected, we should help decide what the next steps are. Evaluating our dining system could be a J-term class, just as we did with Carbon Neutrality. There are already many students interested in food issues — from Eat Real to Weybridge House to the campaign for the new Food Studies minor — and they could be valuable assets to any decision-making bodies.
Moreover, we need the opportunity to ask questions and engage as a student body. We need someone to address our concerns about the swipe system, because we have an incomplete picture. This announcement has been made without adequate details to quell student anxieties, and with such a touchy subject, rumors are sure to fly. Those responsible — Shirley Collado, Patrick Norton and whoever is named Executive Director of Dining Services — need to answer these questions and solicit student involvement quickly before this plan turns into something it’s not.
Artwork by AMR THAMEEN
(01/29/14 2:55pm)
Three straight losses to start the new year have left the Middlebury men's basketball team at a crucial junction: win or get off the Road to Salem.
(01/23/14 2:59am)
If you had sex education in high school, chances are you were a pimply fourteen year old who was too embarrassed to pay attention or absorb any information. Most of what you learned was probably heteronormative and geared towards basic pregnancy and STI prevention — either abstain or, if you must, use a condom. All other information you gleaned about sex came from side conversations in math class, parties and gossip in the bus on the way to soccer games.
It is no wonder that there are misconceptions about birth control and all the options.
While many college students’ knowledge of birth control is limited to the basics — the pill, condoms, and, as a last resort, Plan-B — a wide scope of birth control exists, from daily use options to ten year options with a range of factors determining whether they are right for you. While pregnancy prevention is only applicable in heterosexual sex, contraceptives can be useful to women regardless of their sexuality. Your choice of contraceptive is determined by a variety of factors — STI prevention, pregnancy prevention, and a range of other reasons one might decide to use birth control.
Although there is no J-term workshop to take on birth control options, the College provides a variety of resources to students choosing what is right for them. At Parton Center for Health and Wellness, Senior Nurse Practitioner Laurel Kelliher provides many gynecological services, including pap smears, STI tests, and contraceptive consultations. She is trained to insert contraceptive devices and is able to prescribe the pill. Appointments can be made by calling the Health Center.
Additionally, Barbara McCall came on in June as the new director of Health and Wellness Education and specializes in sexual health, particularly women’s and LGBTQ health. Her office in McCullough marks the importance of student interaction in McCall’s job, where she is happy to chat with students about questions they have or problems they may be facing.
To fill in the gaps in many students knowledge of birth control, the Campus investigated the forms of birth control that you may not know about in this special feature.
Birth Control is a Misnomer
“The name in itself is terrible,” Kelliher said. “It’s probably not well known, but I certainly do have women come in here and I’m not always aware of their sexual preferences and they’re coming in strictly for really bad cramps, their periods last for seven days and they’re sick of it; they’re done. And it may not be at all related to being sexually active or getting pregnant.”
Birth control keeps women from becoming pregnant, but, really, it is a misnomer because it does so much more.
Because many forms of birth control are hormonal, there are many different reasons that women — whether sextually active or not, or whether engaging in heterosexual or homosexual sex — could benefit from or need to be on birth control. Women are prescribed hormonal birth control for a variety of reasons other than pregnancy prevention, ranging from heavy to painful or uncomfortable periods to acne to cyclic depression that comes with menstruation.
One non-contraceptive reason women may want to think about birth control is to regulate their periods. According to Dr. Anna Benvenuto, who works at Addison Associates in OB/GYN, “There’s no medical reason for women to have their period every month, so different kinds of birth control make women not have their periods or make their periods much lighter.”
Furthermore, risk of ovarian cancer rises the more a woman ovulates, and many contraceptives prevent ovulation.
“The risk of uterine and ovarian cancers is decreased with long term use of the pill because you’re not ovulating and your ovaries are resting,” Kelliher said.
Though some women may worry about the effects of long-term hormone use, in many cases, according to Kelliher, the benefits outweigh the downsides.
“If you look at the bigger picture of what we put in our bodies, I think that this is necessary at times and has some great benefits — peace of mind that you’re not going to get pregnant, it generally helps with acne — and I think that’s worth a lot to some people,” Kelliher said.
Some hormonal birth control, however, does not work for everyone. Kelliher cited mood swings, depression, tearfulness, and insomnia as symptoms that bring students to Parton to reevaluate their current contraceptive. These side effects can be addressed by switching pills or trying a non-estrogenic method. Weight gain, on the other hand, is not actually a side effect of most forms of birth control, except for the Depo-Provera shot with can cause a 10 to 15 pound weight gain.
“Unfortunately, some people will come in … and say I’ve gained 30 pounds on the pill, and it’s really hard to sit here and tell the person that it’s probably not from the pill,” Kelliher said. “It’s probably because your eating habits have changed, you’re not exercising, you’re drinking more alcohol here.”
The Best Birth Control
“I always get asked that question when I teach sexual health workshops. ‘What is the best form of birth control?’” McCall said. “And the answer is whatever is the best kind for you. It’s different for every person.”
Kelliher usually starts with a chart that lists different birth control options.
“A lot of times I’ll just get a sense from the patient of what they’re interested in,” Kelliher said. “Most women will say the pill. And I’ll say, ‘do you want me to talk about any other options because there are so many now.’ The birth control pill is great, but there are certainly a lot of different things.”
For college students, the most common options include intrauterine devices (IUDs) (both hormonal and nonhormonal), the implant, the ring, the pill and condoms.
“I think for most college students, the goal is a super reliable form of birth control that has minimal input,” said Benvenuto. “That’s just the reality of it. Day-to-day lives are really different, so remembering to take a pill at the exact same time every day, for example, is really hard for people.”
The wiggle room on the pill is small. Kelliher tells patients to take the pill within an hour each day, although odds are good if you take it within two or three hours.
“But it is 92% effective because of that human error,” Kelliher said.
The implant and the IUDs, on the other hand, require one time insertion without additional maintenance.
The implant, or Nexplanon, is inserted into the arm, where it is more than 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. This 1.6 inch rod releases a steady low-dose of hormone for three years and can be removed at any time if the user decides she would like to become pregnant. Although side effects may include breakthrough bleeding and random spotting, after three months, 20 percent of women stop menstruating entirely. Moreover, this procedure is less invasive than that required for an IUD. Kelliher was recently certified to insert them, although they are not yet available at Parton.
Insurance complications are also influencing Parton’s ability to provide birth control on-site. While they can write prescriptions for the pill or the NuvaRing, patients seeking IUDs and implants must be referred elsewhere.
Kelliher is trained to insert both devices, but because of the Health Center’s billing plan, they have yet to find a supplier. Visits to the Health Center are incorporated into the tuition, so they do not do on-site billing. For STI tests and other billable procedures, students pay out of pocket and are later reimbursed by insurance companies. With a high upfront cost for IUDs and implants, this strategy is more complicated.
“These are probably $600-700, and we can’t just buy that for you,” Kelliher said, who hopes they will figure out a better strategy this summer. “In the short term, it is really simple to figure out how to get an appointment at Porter Hospital OB/GYN or Planned Parenthood.”
The Mirena, a hormonal IUD that is over 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy for five years. Mirena requires a simple insertion that, similar to the implant, can be done at Porter and Planned Parenthood. The plastic T sits in the uterus where it slowly releases hormones that inhibit sperm from fertilizing the egg. Mirena does this by thinning the uterine lining and thickening cervical mucus to prevent sperm from entering the uterus. It also changes periods in many cases, reducing bleeding in 90 percent in women by the sixth month, though short-term side effects may include cramping and spotting.
For those more wary of hormonal treatment, the ParaGard is non-hormonal copper IUD that is as effective as both the implant and the Merina and lasts for 10 years. Beyond concerns about the result of bodily hormones, women with epilepsy or who cannot tolerate hormones can still have long-lasting, low maintenance birth control through the ParaGard.
The NuvaRing is also often used by women who do not want a daily pill, but want more control than offered with an IUD or implant. NuvaRings are falling out of favor due to recent links with blood clots, though Benvenuto is not ready to close the door.
“If you look at every type of birth control out there, there will be lawyer ads looking for lawsuits for people who’ve had blood clots … so yes, there are reports of women getting clots on the NuvaRing, but there are reports of women getting clots with birth control pills,” Benvenuto said. “The issue is that for women going on birth control — any sort of hormonal birth control — it uncovers a sort of inherited risk of blood clotting disorders that is even higher in pregnancy. So pregnancy has a much bigger risk of a blood clot than any birth control you may use.”
Condoms are also an important part of pregnancy prevention and sexual safety, since none of the aforementioned methods protect from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Male condoms are 85 to 98 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, and most of the error comes from improper usage. They, therefore, can always be used as a second form of contraceptive to even further reduce risk of pregnancy.
It is also always important for sexually active students to be tested at least once a year if they have multiple partners. One in four college students will contract an STI, with gonorrhea and chlamydia being the most common STIs.
As for birth control methods that are not recommended, Benvenuto cautions against “pulling out.”
“I’ll just put a plug for what I see a lot, which is people’s thoughts about the reliability of ‘pull and pray,” she said. “I’m just going to say that is not reliable for anything. There is actually sperm and semen in preejaculate, so people think they’re protected, and they’re not. I see people of all levels of education and all ages thinking this is a reliable form of birth control.”
A Man's Responsibility
Other than male condoms, the responsibilities of pregnancy prevention lie in the hands of women — it is up to women to take the pill at the exact same time every day, it is up to women to research and decide which form of birth control works best for their lifestyle and body. So, what is the role of a male bodied man in a heterosexual relationship?
“There’s an important tension between agency and self-governance over a woman’s own body and negotiating safety, values and priorities in a relationship, and that’s going to look really different depending on the level of that relationship, how casual it is, how serious it is, the priorities of both people,” McCall said.
In other words, it isn’t an easy line to walk an Regardlessd there isn’t a black and white answer regarding this tension and how to navigate it.
of monogamy and commitment level, there are steps that everyone should be aware of to prevent pregnancy, though.
“It always astounds me how many folks, regardless of gender, don’t know the proper steps for how to put on a condom,” McCall said. “They sometimes wing it, based on what they’ve seen or what they’ve heard, but there are many steps that folks take that really insure safety.”
Another way men can proactively promote sexual health is by getting Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. The vaccine has been on the market for women since 2006, but many men do not know they can be vaccinated too because approval came later, in 2009. The shot is available at the Health Center and involves three doses over a six month period, a series that for some students is hard to complete, despite the protection from certain types cancer and genital warts it provides.
“I see very few men coming in for it,” Kelliher said. “Certainly more in the gay population for men — they’re more aware of it — but the heterosexual men are not.”
The Gardasil vaccine is covered by insurance until age 25, so Kelliher encourages all students to ensure they are up-to-date.
Obamacare and Birth Control
The Affordable Care Act recommends that all birth control be free, but in practice it depends on what your specific insurance plans cover, though all companies must cover birth control in some capacity. This could make a huge difference, particularly because devices like the implant can cost up to $700 without insurance. Under some insurance plans, patients only need to pay their normal co-pay for the visit to the doctor.
Additionally, young people can now stay on their parents’ insurance plan until they are 26, prompting some people to choose long lasting options, like an IUD or an implant, while they are still covered.
In light of recent legal challenges, many parts of the ACA are still up in the air, with many patients exempt depending on their insurance, and it could take up to five years for parts to be set in stone. In the meantime, the best course of action for students seeking insured birth control options is to check with their health care provider.
LGBTQ Specific
According to McCall, the population of women who traditionally has less access to birth control and to healthcare in general are queer women, or women who identify as LGBTQ.
“Folks who identify as LGBTQ are far less likely to seek access to healthcare, even when they really need it,” McCall said. “And this has to do with stigma and discrimination in the healthcare arena.”
Because health care visits can be more uncomfortable for people who identify as LGBTQ for a variety of reasons, queer women just aren’t aware of other reasons to take birth control, other than pregnancy prevention.
“A lot of [queer] people aren’t on birth control,” said Katie Linder ’15, co-chair of Queers & Allies (Q&A). “So with things like really heavy periods that are uncomfortable, they’re just like, ‘that’s the way it is,’ because they don’t have a doctor to talk about it with. There could be more awareness about other reasons you’d want to take the pill.”
Additionally, as stated before, contraceptives that prevent ovulation decrease risk of ovarian cancer. Queer women, therefore, could benefit from forms of birth control other than the pill, such as Nexplanon, which significantly decreases or even eliminates a woman’s period for three years.
“There are so many reasons that women can and should take [birth control],” Linder said. “... I was reading an article recently about lesbians having higher rates of ovarian cancer because they’re less likely to be on the pill … I thought that that was really interesting.”
Regardless, queer women’s health issues and difficulty accessing LGBTQ friendly doctors make it difficult to even know that hormonal birth control is an option for women who aren’t engaging in heterosexual sex.
“I was looking at autostraddle.com, which is a queer women’s website that has stuff on almost everything … and I was sure that there was going to be at least one health related article about this but there wasn’t,” Linder said. “There is a void of knowledge on the internet.”"
When All Else Fails
Even with all these birth control options, things can still go wrong.
Plan-B is 75 to 89 percent effective if taken within three days of having unprotected sex, although the effectiveness decreases quickly with time. Plan-B is available at Parton for $14 and over the counter at pharmacies for $50, but students can also have a prescription written at Parton to have insurance cover it.
“I recommend students have two prescriptions written,” McCall said. “Drop one off at your local pharmacy and have it on file in case you need it, and keep the other one with you in case you’re somewhere else and need it filled.”
Plan-B, however, is not effective for all women. The efficacy decreases for women with BMIs over 25 percent or who weigh more than 175 pounds, regardless of BMI. In these cases, ella is the best option.
Ella is not available at any pharmacies in Middlebury, although Planned Parenthood hopes to have it in stock soon. In the meantime, women can order ella online for $40 and have it rush delivered after an online medical consultation. Ella also works for up to five days, making it a more effective option for delayed pregnancy fears.
All emergency contraception pills, however, can be painful, involving side effects like vomiting and heavy and irregular periods that take a while to return to normal. They are also less effective the more often they are taken. Students, therefore, should always use preventative forms of contraception before sex and use these options as a last resort.
A less known option for emergency contraception is to have an IUD inserted immediately after unprotected sex, for which the window is approximately five days.
“It involves calling your provider’s office and getting an appointment for that day,” McCall said. “But usually when you let people know that’s what you need it for [an IUD for emergency contraception], they’re pretty swift about it.”
This option has the added benefit of future pregnancy prevention to avoid the panicked morning after feeling for another five-to-10 years once the IUD is inserted.
In the event that pregnancy does occur, students can seek help at Parton, where they can evaluate their options. At Porter OB/GYN, Benvenuto’s practice, students can seek obstetrical medical care if they decide to keep the child. If they decide not to, abortions are available at the Planned Parenthood in Burlington. The College offers resources, both medical and emotional, for students dealing with these decisions or any other decisions relating to sexual health and safety.
“Sex is an act of trust, whether you know somebody a little bit, a lot, or not at all,” McCall said. “There’s always a risk … I hope folks can be informed about what their options and choice are and the potential consequences, and they can choose the amount of risk that feels comfortable for them.”
Written by HANNAH BRISTOL and MOLLY TALBERT
(01/23/14 12:59am)
You cannot avoid them as you walk around campus. The black posters with white writing that reads, “It Happens Here” plaster every door in the Proctor entryway, line the glass on your way into Ross, sit on all the tables in Atwater and coat the walls of the mail center. Sexual assault survivors work hard to convince themselves that they are safe on this campus. But It Happens Here, for better or for worse, works to remind us that we are not in a bubble.
Now in its third year, It Happens Here (IHH) has undeniably raised awareness of the sexual violence that affects students on our campus, tackling the problem through displays in the library, maps of where sexual assault has occurred and notably, the It Happens Here event that took place on Monday where students read aloud the powerful stories of their peers.
But such a powerful event has not only the ability to empower and but also to cripple. For many of the survivors whom IHH aims to support, such a public recollection of sexual assault is a trigger. The omnipresence of this issue in the dining halls and in our dorms makes it so people who struggle on an ordinary day to escape the haunted memory of their own assault find it particularly difficult to move forward. Such triggers unwillingly force these memories to the surface. While triggers exist everywhere and are different for different survivors depending on the circumstances of their assault, ubiquitous posters that explicitly state “It Happens Here” are a more blatant trigger than most.
Though IHH has the best intentions in promoting the event and shocking those who do not regularly think about sexual violence, let alone the sexual violence that occurs here with alarming frequency, the event must be promoted without creating an environment that makes survivors feel unsafe. By plastering these posters in our dining halls and dorms — the very places survivors should be able to feel a sense of normalcy and safety — we create an environment where the memories and threats of sexual assault are difficult to escape. Now that IHH is an established and well-attended event — this year they even planned for a live-stream for overflow in McCullough — such publicity tactics are no longer necessary. We at the Campus believe people go because of word of mouth rather than posters everywhere they look. IHH cannot be advertised the same way as a sports game or an improv show. It is an event that stirs painful memories for survivors and provokes uncomfortable realizations for others. We must be sensitive to the impact this has on our fellow community members and work to minimize triggers where we are able.
In a world where one in four women and one in 33 men will be sexually assaulted while in college, you never know who may be a survivor, who may overhear you talk to your friends as you wait in line for food, who may have had to muster great courage to submit a story or even walk past a sea of posters. We should walk away from IHH thinking more critically about how our actions impact others and how we can protect them.
We should tactfully advertise IHH and we should discuss our reactions to it, but we must do so with discretion. Posters should have been placed in a way that could be avoided for those too uncomfortable to walk past them, while still being visible for those who want to know the event information. Discussions must be sensitive to the trials sexual assault victims confront every single day as they work to move past this trauma. It is difficult to balance the two needs we face: the need to educate those who perpetuate rape culture on this campus and the need to protect those who have suffered from it. But as a community, we will be stronger because of it.
For some survivors, sharing their stories and hearing those of others can be an empowering and healing experience, letting them know they are not alone. It provides a vigil-like space to the trauma they have experienced. IHH provides a unique forum as the only widely attended annual event on sexual violence, and its impact could be scaled up by incorporating more proactive measures. This change can occur in the event itself, harnessing the existing hype to transition into productive dialogues through breakout groups or a period of reflection in the wake of the stories. Or perhaps IHH should be one part in a series of events rather than the singular event. It could also occur through increased programming during orientation and throughout the year, being wary of mandatory programming out of sensitivity towards survivors. Thanks to our recently received Department of Justice grant of $272,528, the financial support is there. Though the College has not been perfect on sexual assault in the past, this grant presents an opportunity to start anew. By integrating better with the College, IHH has the potential to tap these resources and expand its influence beyond the existing sphere.
Another strategy to help survivors of sexual assault is MiddSafe, the confidential peer support network for students affected by sexual assault, relationship violence, and other personal violations, aimed to aid students both through presence on campus and through a hotline, which is launching Friday.
We must move past the somber darkness of the black and white posters and incorporate more teal, the color of Sexual Assault Awareness and a color that connotes hope. Survivors do not need to be defined by their past experiences, nor should this campus united by raised awareness and a desire to fix what is broken. We can work to eliminate sexual violence at Middlebury, but we need to look forward, not back. It Happens Here, it is time to evolve.
(01/16/14 9:32pm)
While you may see names like Kizel, Merryman and St. Amour on the back pages of the Campus newspaper, Albert Nascimento is essential to the aspirations of Middlebury basketball. The man they call "Bert" won't make the highlight reel, but he may just be the key to getting the team back on the Road to Salem.
(01/16/14 12:35am)
The New Year always provides an opportunity for reflection. While BuzzFeed is littered with lists looking back at “14 Animals who Melted your Heart in 2013” and “33 Times Joseph Gordon-Levitt Charmed your Pants Off in 2013,” we have decided to look forward to 2014, with these six headlines we would love to see in the next year.
JusTalks Mandated for all First-Years
Throughout the fall, our editorials advocated for critical engagement in campus issues and better listening to a diversity of perspectives. JusTalks presents a proactive solution for this challenge through a full day of large and small group activities and discussion facilitated by other students to encourage students to think about their own identities, as well as the identities of their peers.
Now at the end of its second occurrence — and the first time it was limited to first-years — JusTalks has proven its ability to draw a crowd and provide a meaningful curriculum. From its inception, JusTalks was meant to be mandatory for students in their first J-term, meaning first-year regs and sophomore febs. J-term provides the ideal space for such an event. By J-term, students have been at Middlebury long enough to be comfortable and have an identity on campus, but not so long that they are fixed in their ways. If events like “Middlebury Uncensored” during Orientation are any indication, this kind of program can help students better understand and engage with their peers and even make new friends who they otherwise may never have met.
To conclude a year that has been dotted by the need for dialogue, from the 9/11 flag incident to Chance the Rapper to the Amy Wax lecture, the administration would be wise to implement a program that mandates the discussions we need to reflect as a community and as individuals when controversy arises.
Students Take Larger Role in Deciding Next President
President Liebowitz’s announcement that he is stepping down in 2015 has sparked discussion about the role of our next President. What qualities should our next President embody? What background is needed? Where could he or she fill in existing gaps? What should be prioritized?
As students, we have a hard time answering these questions because process to select and qualities required for a president are a bit of a mystery. When Liebowitz was selected in 2004, the 16-person selection committee had one student representative: the student co-chair of Community Council. While the co-chair is a student-elected position, one student on a committee of 16 seems to preclude an important stakeholder in this process.
Liebowitz was selected in part because of his strong rapport with the student body, and we are hugely impacted by the College’s decisions in most areas. We would like to be included in this process in a more significant way than we were last time, both directly in the decision process and through transparency along the way. We want to have informed opinions about the kind of President the College needs next, but the administration must keep us in mind along the way in order to meaningfully account for the student voice.
Dish Loss Cut 50 Percent by Collection Program
Dish removal still causes huge monetary losses for the College and showcases a troubling lack of respect for our hardworking staff. If we ever want to be able to eat cereal for breakfast, we need to stop stealing the dishes. It’s disrespectful both to the dining hall staff and to our fellow diners. We need to bring back bowls so we can enjoy our meals without eating oatmeal off a plate.
A new program should require every student group to do a dish collection every year. Tavern has the right idea and should serve as a model for other organizations. The top 28 student organizations by membership should be required to each do a dish retrieval sweep from dorms once a year. That breaks down to one per week. It’s time to mandate this program.
Battell and the Mods Demolished; New Housing Built
For those of us unlucky enough to live in Battell our first year, this issue hits particularly close to home. The converted lounges across campus confirm that we need more housing. Moreover, we need more housing that was not built in the fifties, and preferably are not designed by a prison architect. The risk of student rioting seems substantially lower than when Ross was built. We would prefer housing that allows for the communal living seen in Gifford and other dorms with suites.
Similarly, the Mods were slated for demolition in 2003. While their popularity hinges on the option of communal living without having to enter room draw, they should be replaced with something more permanent and perhaps a little easier on the eye.
We know buildings are expensive, and plans for new first-year housing were slashed with the recession, but the endowment has since recovered and our quality of life is hugely impacted by our living situation. Plus it is expensive to heat and maintain old buildings, particularly buildings with asbestos problems. The speed at which gastro flew around Battell two
years ago is enough of a sign that we need better and more options. That dorm was supposed to be gone by 2015; it is not too late.
Field House Opens on Schedule
It’s been a rough winter for some of our sports teams. Teams are practicing outside long past when it’s usually too cold. The Track team has been frequenting the pool for aqua jogging. Unfortunately, they can’t all cross train in our brand new squash courts, so we need the new field house to open soon too. So far, it appears that construction is going as scheduled. The Squash Center’s timely opening is a good sign. But we know construction often is delayed, and our athletes shouldn’t have to endure another winter of driving to Burlington for proper facilities. We are excited to see what will replace the bubble and will be even more excited if we can see it on schedule.
AAL Credit Changed to be Geographically Balanced
In order to graduate, we are required to meet four “Culture and Civilizations” requirements: NOR focusing on some aspect of northern America (United States and Canada), CMP focusing on the process of comparison between and among civilizations or of the identities of groups within cultures or civilizations, EUR focusing on some aspect of European cultures or civilizations, AAL focusing the culture and civilizations of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. That’s right, we have two requirements for Western civilizations and lump the rest of the world into an acronym for Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Until 2007 it was called “other,” but since then we have changed nothing other than the name. While the NOR requirement can be justified by our institution’s location, the emphasis on European culture over all other cultures trivializes the importance of these cultures and their global impact. For a college that claims to teach students to “engage the world,” we are falling short.
The College, therefore, should adopt the proposed recommendation of a recent petition on “We the MiddKids,” which suggests replacing the AAL and EUR requirements by requiring two courses that focus on some aspects of the cultures and civilizations of AFR (Africa), ASI (Asia), LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), MDE (the Middle East), or EUR (Europe). In a nutshell, all other regions would be considered their own region, and you could chose to take classes in two of six geographic regions instead of separate credits for Europe and then other regions. Not only would this change better reflect the diversity of backgrounds that exist on this campus and expose students to a wider range of cultural impacts, but also it would encourage students to think beyond and question the Western-centered perspective that prevails in many circles we will encounter after graduation.
Artwork by NOLAN ELLSWORTH
(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.
(12/16/13 2:15pm)
Behind every successful team is a senior class; this Men's Basketball team is no different. Despite two early season losses, the six seniors are determined to put egos and playing time aside for a common goal: winning in Salem. Part 2 of a ten part series chronicling the stories behind the 2014 road to the Final Four in Salem.
(12/05/13 1:54am)
Upon entering the room where Professor Amy Wax was scheduled to speak, the first thing many people noticed were brightly colored signs with a single word written on it: racist. Some students brought these signs in anticipation of a heated lecture, in part due to hype created both by middbeat and by other students on campus.
Amy Wax’s work is undoubtedly controversial. Her conservative approach to issues of race and sex conflicts with the opinions of the majority of the student body and some of her findings were insulting to many students who come from the discussed communities. By dodging questions and interrupting students, she exacerbated existing tensions. Nevertheless, we failed as a student body to combat this controversy with grace.
By preparing to attack rather than to engage, we failed to truly listen to what she was saying. And even if what she was saying was as offensive as we expected, without careful consideration of her evidence, we were unable to deconstruct her argument to our full capacity. It is hard to remain collected when presented with some of her findings and to check emotions when someone hits so personally, but the ability to rationally respond to people with whom we disagree is a life skill that we are often not challenged to develop at a politically homogenous school. There will always be people who present opinions you find offensive. Rejecting such voices on our campus does not mean they go away; it just means they are not exposed to thoughtful opposition. Over the course of the semester, we’ve engaged in dialogue about what voices are and are not welcome here. In this instance, unlike with Chance the Rapper’s controversial lyrics, we were able to engage directly, creating a dialogue that allowed us to pressure our guest on what we found offensive, rather than merely listening to what we objected to, as at the concert.
Though Wax was often condescending and dismissive of even the most thoughtful comments, we should have taken the higher ground. As a community of curious and engaged people, we missed an opportunity to intelligently critique a heavily researched academic presentation. By resorting to name calling, we trivialized our collective knowledge. As frustrating as her refrain that we did not have the data to support our findings was, it is true that data cannot be combated simply with trying to humiliate her. A room of impassioned Middlebury students from a variety of academic background has tremendous potential to deconstruct a presentation that was clearly missing pieces, including a complete analysis of all variables like the socio-political factors that could also inform her findings.
It is difficult to refute a speaker like Wax, who has decades of research under her belt, and this creates a volatile environment in which some of the well-reasoned voices may remain unheard. In a situation that is as obviously charged as Amy Wax’s lecture, someone must step in and ensure certain voices are heard and some questions are actually answered. We saw this from Professor Dry, who called on a colleague he knew would have a thoughtful response, but we could have used more guidance in this discussion. Faculty sponsors should be more accountable for the direction of these lectures and, if it is heading in a direction of animosity, help guide the conversation. It still, however, falls on audience members to respond appropriately.
The solidarity felt in a room where some community members felt directly disrespected was powerful. Imagine how much stronger it would feel if we came out having taken the high road, emphasizing the contrast between her dismissive attitude and a civil, respectful, yet firm tone from our end.
(12/04/13 11:16pm)
After viewing the documentary made in a 2011-2012 Middlebury Union High School (MUHS) English Class on middbeat, Local Editor Molly Talbert and Editor-in-Chief Kyle Finck reached out to MUHS Journalism teacher Matthew Cox. In a new partnership, The Campus will work with MUHS journalism students to produce local content.
Steve Small: Theater Instructor by Isabel Velez '15
Steve Small is a man of many talents. He works at the Middlebury Hannaford Career Center as the theater instructor. The Hannaford Career Center is attached to Middlebury Union High School. Steve has been working at the Career Center since 1994 and has been introducing students to the world of theater since then. When asked how he began his career in Middlebury he mentioned that a local playwright saw him act and asked him if he would sit in on a meeting about the new theater arts program at the Career Center. At the meeting Steve gave his opinion about what he thought the program could be, and the next day he was offered the job. The program in the Career Center that Steve teaches is called Addison Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) This program allows students the chance to run and create a theater company. This also allows students to immerse themselves in the world of acting. Every day students from local high schools have the opportunity of taking this course for either a semester or an entire year. People who go through A.R.T. learn not only acting skills but skills such as screen writing, lighting, sound, set designing, costuming, and theater management to name a few. As busy as Steve is teaching high school students everything he knows about theater, he also manages to keep his acting skills sharp by being involved in local plays at the Town Hall Theater. He recently played the role of Lennie in a production of “Of Mice and Men” and was just in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” as well.
Steve attended the University of North Carolina School of the Artsn where he majored in drama. During the course of his teaching at the Hannaford Career Center he has taught some incredible students who later went on to become stars. One of the students that he taught was Jake Lacy, one of the actors in the show “The Office”. Others include Quincy Dunn-Baker, Tristan Cunningham and Toby Schine along with many others. When asked about his most rewarding moment teaching theater he responded, “I think that it comes when the students finds that connection to the craft ... That is the moment I like best.”
Marshall Eddy: Longtime MUHS Teacher by Zoe Parsons '14
Marshall Eddy has been working at the Middlebury Union High School since 1970, and is one of the school’s longest tenured teachers. Before he was an art teacher at Middlebury Union High School, he got his Juris Doctor degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1968 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in 1965. He has worked as an operating room orderly, a Russian language linguist in Army intelligence, a lawyer, and even a history teacher at MUHS before becoming an art teacher at the high school.
Moving from law to art is a big change, but Eddy became interested in art while he was practicing law in Middlebury. During one court case, he was snowed-in while staying in a hotel, and he started making art to pass the time. It started out as a hobby, but it grew to something larger, and he liked it more than he liked practicing law and teaching history. So when a position opened at the high school where he was working as an history teacher, he applied for the job and has been teaching art ever since.
Eddy acted in this year’s production of “Shrek: The Musical” at the Town Hall Theater with his family. He has acted in many productions before, and even preformed a one man opera with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, playing a “conductor” who sang while conducting. He also commutes to work every day on foot, year-round. “I’ve walked 14,000 miles to and from school in the last 43 years, but only moved two feet,” he said in a previous interview with The Tigers’ Print, the MUHS newspaper. He also led an extracurricular mime group at MUHS for 12 years.
As a teacher, Eddy has taught six current teachers, three staff members, and the chairman of the Union District #3 board. Eddy plans on retiring at the end of the next school year. Even though he has been teaching for over 40 years, he is always learning new techniques and taking art classes.
Jeff Clark: Bike Enthusiast by Jessica Prisson '14
Jeff Clark, a world history and photography teacher who has taught at Middlebury Union High School for 15 years, leaves at at 5:50 every morning and bikes 12.5 miles to and from the school year-round, regardless of the weather.
Clark has an extensive educational background and holds a degree in Political Science and Master’s degree in Computer Application Programming. He also did Ph.D. work in intellectual history and is ABD (all but dissertation). His dissertation traces the intellectual origins of western attitudes towards nature from the biblical period to the present through the lens of deep ecology and eco-feminism.
A partial list of colleges he attended includes St. Michael’s, Nova University, Florida State University, and Arizona State University.
Clark got his first bike, a Schwinn Varsity, as a high school graduation present and soon embarked on a 130-mile trip from Saxton’s River in Rockingham to Glover, VT. He currently owns six bikes.
In 1983, he biked about 600 miles to Acadia, Maine and back.
In 1989, the biking enthusiast sold his car and began commuting by bike as he worked on a Ph.D. for 3 years at Florida State University.
Just last summer, he spent two weeks touring between 16 Vermont Breweries with science teacher Noah Hurlburt.
These days, biking up and down the colossal hill to Ripton proves more difficult during winter because of the late sunrise, early sunset, and snowy or icy road conditions. Clark has outfitted his Salsa Fargo and Salsa Vargo bikes with studded snow tires and bright lights comparable to a car’s headlights.
He averages about 25 miles per day for a school year total around 4,400 miles. He recently passed the 10,000-mile mark since he began biking to work 2 years ago. That’s the equivalent of riding from Maine to California nearly 3 times!
When asked why he does it, Clark will answer that he bikes partly for mental health, but mostly for “a more direct, intentional relationship with the outside world.” Aside from the meditation aspect, Clark bikes solely for the experience.
Mr. Clark’s future summer plans include the Great Divide Ride, a 2,745-mile trip from the Canadian Rockies to the Mexican Plateau.
Jonah Lefkoe: MUHS Senior Class President by Samuel Messenger '14
Meet Jonah Lefkoe, Middlebury Union High School’s senior class president. Well, he’s not only the senior class president. He’s also president of the Middlebury National Honor Society, Brain Science club member, tenor sax player, and lineman on the undefeated football team that just won the state championship. As president of the National Honor Society, he helped organized many community service events and fundraisers, like the recent blood drive. Athletically, besides dominating people in the trenches on the football field, he also has thrown javelin, shot put and discus on the track and field team since middle school.
Also involved in the Brain Science club for all four years of high school, he hopes to major in neuroscience in college. He’s interested in the medicinal field, but is also considering careers in research or teaching after college. Jonah worked as an intern in the neuroscience lab at Middlebury College. Working with Assistant Professor of Psychology Mark Stefani, Jonah assisted in his research. He liked working there a lot, saying it “made him want to pursue neuroscience even more.” Jonah also is taking a computer science class at the college, which he also enjoys, taught by Professor Matt Dickerson.
In addition to playing tenor sax in band since freshman year, he also plays the ukulele in his free time. He has diverse musical tastes, ranging from Zac Brown Band to Al Green to Brother Ali. Jonah likes to read biographies and books about the brain. He lives in Middlebury with his parents Todd and Karen, his little sister Sophie, and his dog Pipin, a Havanese. He lives by Alexis Carrel’s quote, “Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.”
Yeweon Kim: Foreign Exchange Student by Krisandra Provencher '15
Middlebury Union High School has one foreign exchange student this semester; 18-year-old Yeweon Kim of Seoul, South Korea. Yeweon, meaning “Jesus Wants Me” in Korean, is a cat owner who loves piano, traveling and anything to do with cheese! Yeweon came to the United States through the Program of Academic Exchange, or PAX, a non-profit educational group that describes its mission as an effort “to increase mutual respect among the people of the world, to foster an appreciation of our differences and similarities, and to enhance our ability to communicate with one another.” Through PAX, Yeweon has been placed with the Foshays, a local Bridport family who have previously hosted three exchange students.
“When Grace, our oldest daughter, left for the Air Force, we had an extra bedroom and a hole that needed to be filled,” Jenny Foshay, Yeweon’s host mother, said. “Olivia, our youngest is 17 and homeschooled, so we thought it would be nice for her to have a sister around.”
Prior to coming to America, Yeweon had traveled to the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Japan, as well as Cambodia and the Philippines for missionary work. She dreams of going to Egypt one day. Even though she may be well traveled, Yeweon’s biggest adjustment while staying here in America centers around school. In Korea Yeweon experienced a very strict and methodical setting, yet here in America she is experiencing much more relaxed and amicable environment. One of the biggest differences involves student and teacher interaction. “Most students don’t ask the teachers questions or talk to them during class, mostly because students are shy. We just listen to the teachers speak during class.” said Yeweon. Schooling in Korea doesn’t end when school finishes at 4 p.m. though. “We normally have extra study so we tend to finish at 10 p.m. I know it’s crazy!” Many of the subjects taught here are the same as in Korea, she said, the learning environments just happen to be different. Yeweon said that while in America, “I hope to use this time in Vermont to improve my English, become more confident, and learn about American culture.”
(11/21/13 1:42am)
Unpaid internships have become a nearly ubiquitous feature of the modern economy. For many students, they offer the opportunity to explore their field of interest before later attempting to find a paid job. While the prevalence of unpaid work opportunities creates a number of problems for those who don’t have the resources and support to forgo a paid summer position, they are a necessary stepping stone into the workplace for many fields in which the College offers courses, including politics, film and finance. They allow for the exploration of fields not offered and roads not taken, providing the sort of tangible experience absent during the rest of the year. By offering credit for summer internships in addition to the J-term internships that it already credits, Middlebury would grant students more freedom for that exploration.
This is not just a case of adding more paths for students to get the 36 credits necessary to graduate. Under the status quo, many unpaid internships are not available for students who do not receive college credit for their efforts. The purpose of changing the College’s policy is to increase options for students and to acknowledge the important role of internship experience in an education. The option to earn a maximum of two credits, in addition to the two already available in J-term, would not replace the learning opportunities gained through a broad array of courses. These would not count towards a major or towards any of the numerous required credit areas that define the liberal arts experience, but would create additional flexibility for students who come to Middlebury without extra AP and IB credits and who intern over the summer instead of the winter.
Under the current policy, Middlebury gives credit only to unpaid winter term internships. Students are able to receive a stipend to help cover living or transportation costs, but no more. To transpose such a policy to the summer would be inherently regressive, unfairly privileging those students who can draw on other resources and forgo funding over the summer months while still starting the year with money for books, food and the occasional day at the ski slopes.
Acknowledging the credit-worthiness of internships as an integral part of the undergraduate education means that their funding should fall under the same umbrella as financial aid. The typical summer stipend rarely covers full living expenses, either in the summer or beyond. Needing more money than that should never disqualify a hard-working student from seeking out the opportunities to learn pre-professional skills. Just as students who receive financial aid and work study opportunities during the academic year are still eligible to receive course credit and graduate from Middlebury, those who receive additional funding or pay for summer internships should not be prevented from earning the same course credit for their work as peers with the luxury of working for free.
In assigning credits for summer internships, the College should use a broad definition in deciding what constitutes an internship. Credit-bearing internships should involve demonstrated responsibility, a supervisor who can impart meaningful experiences, and a minimum number of a previous position. They shouldn’t be a seasonal position or a continuation of previous work. Students should have to complete an assignment – a journal or paper – that connects their experience to their broader education. But beyond that, Middlebury should allow flexibility to prevent the type of career funneling that would strip away that which makes this community diverse in experience.
In an economy that has failed to significantly expand since the supposed end of the great recession, many students fear that their liberal arts education – valuable as it is – does not provide them with all of the tools and expertise that employers now demand. Middlebury already provides credit for winter term internships. Expanding this policy to the summer would not devalue the liberal arts experience but would help to expand it year-round, while conceding that students here pay upwards of $200,000 over four years not only to intangibly expand their minds and thoughts, but to come out prepared for that sometimes-murky next chapter of their lives ready to tackle the myriad challenges of adulthood.
(11/15/13 6:05pm)
From Rockland County, to the University of Vermont, to Middlebury College, Jeff Brown leads the Panthers on their Road to Salem. Part 1 of a ten part series chronicling the stories behind the 2014 road to the Final Four in Salem.
(11/14/13 4:13am)
As we once again gripe and groan about the inadequacy of BannerWeb, it’s easy to lose sight of other registration frustrations many students face as we choose how to spend the chilly month of January.
Instead of enrolling beachside at some Southern Californian college or braving the hustle and bustle of a city school, students of the College choose to spend the greatest four years of their lives in rural Vermont. This four-week haven from the crush of a real semester’s workload is allegedly an opportunity for students to capitalize on their decision to come all the way out to beautiful nowhere. But with a number of students left out in the cold to fulfill important requirements due to dubious course credit policies and a shortage of crucial classes, is this magical month all that the Admissions department dresses it up to be?
J-term’s selling points are its dialed-back rigor and the possibilities its surplus of free time affords: immersion within a singular subject of choice, the pursuit of a passion outside the myopia of one’s major or the exploration of the myriad extracurricular opportunities the College and its activity-laden environs provide. For some, this means taking a break from their strict regimen of lab science courses and indulging their interest in French poetry with a visiting poet, or putting down the paintbrush and trying their hand at business strategy in MiddCORE. For others, it means taking a class on dinosaurs and hitting the slopes every day after lunch. Despite the disparity in rigor, all are valid uses of the term — they demonstrate a willingness to take a break from their primary goal and to explore uncharted territories, academic or otherwise.
In a perfect world, this is the reality of J-term for all. However, many students find themselves incapable of realizing the vision of a semi-academic winter wonderland for one reason or another. Students who are in their first year of language study are required to take a class in that language, which meets five times a week with additional language table and recitation obligations. Others, like double majors or students who have changed their major later than most, discover themselves to be in an even more precarious situation wherein they need to take more credits to complete their major than they have semesters left. Especially in highly class-time intensive concentrations — like the Sciences, where it is simply impossible to take on a full schedule of classes in the field — J-term could be the time in which students can find a class to put themselves back on track. But, most of the time, it is not.
In order to incentivize the idealistic, exploratory usage of J-term propagated by tour guides and PR releases, some majors limit the number of winter term credits they allow to be counted towards one’s degree, while others do not accept any at all. Furthermore, even if one’s major might accept a J-term credit, this does not necessarily guarantee that a class in the subject will even be offered during the term. As a result, students who are in dire need of a major credit are forced to take a more whimsical class than they would have desired — because although learning about craft in the digital age with a visiting professor is insightful and beneficial for those who are interested in the subject matter, it does not serve much of a purpose for a Psych major who needs one more credit but does not have any classes offered in his/her area of study.
Another problem that perhaps exasperates the lack of substantial offerings during the winter term is that the College stands at an impasse regarding course credit. Every J-term, a throng of visiting professors are hired to teach classes within their fields of interest not only to help students expand their horizons, but also to give resident professors time off. If they were to teach a winter term class in addition to two semesters, professors would barely have any time to spend time with their families or conduct their own research between grading periods. Since the College wants its employees to both stay here instead of leaving for another school that will afford them the time off and to publish prominent research to increase its reputation as an institution, most professors are granted that time off. But, at the same time, the departments do not want to award credit for classes taught by professionals who may have a wealth of experience with the subject matter but a dearth of experience in the classroom. Therefore, while the “real” professors are away, students often have to take classes that do not count for anything as they wait for the barons of course credit to return.
While many students do enjoy the multitude of exotic classes and experiential learning opportunities, there still remains a crowd in need of one more credit that they cannot find during J-term. Therefore, in order to promote and encourage the timely success of every enrolled student, it is of vital importance that the College considers offering more courses in all majors that yield credit towards the major. If this makes for fewer classes like “The Elements of Murder,” unless the Chemistry or English department will accept the credit, so be it. The College has a hierarchy of fiduciary responsibilities to its students: ensuring them the opportunity to earn a degree in a four-year time frame should stand much higher than hiring a non-professors to teach supplementary classes.