Middlebury is supposed to provide a system in place to protect their minority students from bigotry, and not implement more discriminatory systems to further disadvantage minorities like putting them on the Bread Loaf campus.
While college administrators may be well-intentioned, ultimately, mental health resources remain inadequate — and we haven’t seen a significant push to change that reality.
If the message when you need help is that you have to search for it yourself, all that many people will hear is that there is no help for them.
Content Warning: This op-ed contains mentions of a hunger strike.
And as we did, confused and conflicted about what to do and what to feel, no one around us seemed to be talking to it. It became silent grief for many of us, and it remained unclear how or when it would be processed.
Whether or not you agree, it does seem like the monsters that creep across our screens sometimes appear in real life. Horror movie tropes represent different types of partners you might find in your life, and certainly here at Middlebury.
The idea came to me while watching a snowboarding movie called “Offline” which started with a neon-coloured, 3D, spinning sign that said: “The Internet Never Sleeps.” In the background was a dizzying collage of memes, likes, emojis and phones. The introduction nauseated me so much that I ...
I have anxiety and depression. My favorite color is purple (or blue, depending on the day). I’m happiest in libraries, at concerts, on the beach or watching sunsets. I’m passionate about multimedia storytelling and creating positive representation for marginalized communities. Fall is my favorite ...
Bread Loaf should not have been a housing option this year. It should never again be an option. I am a junior Feb, meaning I had five weeks of normal Middlebury life before being dealt a heavily altered college experience lasting the next two and a half semesters. During those two semesters, the undergraduate ...
As I sit down to write this, I ask myself, “why bother?” It is common and far too accurate to joke about the absence of young people in concert halls. Such jokes were made to me at least twice in reference to last weekend’s concert by the Doric String Quartet and Jonathan Biss. Of course, the ...
"The Other Pandemic" (October 7, 2021), signed by Professor Jason Mittell on behalf of the AAUP Executive Committee and Working Conditions Committee, contains at least one false statement and one claim that cannot be supported by any known data. "Vermont case counts are currently higher than nearly ...
After a year and a half of quarantining, distancing and Zooming, Middlebury is beginning to again resemble what it once was, and the desire to return to a pre-pandemic campus life — pre-dispersion of friends and classmates taking semesters off or learning remotely, pre-seeing close contacts only, ...
After last academic year offered a notable success story that stood out amongst our peer institutions, achieved through a combination of diligence, planning, and very good fortune, Middlebury has opted to forgo much of what made last year so successful despite the continued prevalence of Covid-19 in ...
Two weeks ago, we editorialized on the importance of testing as a means to mitigate community spread. Now, Middlebury is offering opt-in asymptomatic testing on Mondays. However, many questions and contradictions remain regarding Covid-19 risk and safety protocols on campus. As a board, we are again ...
Things are finally starting to feel normal again here at Middlebury. Proc is bustling, classrooms are full and Atwater residents are throwing ragers again. And with nearly 99% of on-campus students fully vaccinated, the days of universal twice-weekly testing, outdoor masking and close contacts have ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s view of love is this: “Human beings are like globes, which can touch only in a point, and, whilst they remain in contact, all other points of each of the spheres are inert.” While he is a controversial figure (for good reason, might I add), this transcendentalist literary ...
This summer, when it became readily apparent that the student body would be significantly overenrolled for the fall 2021 semester, the college immediately sought out potential solutions. They made arrangements for dozens of students to live at the Bread Loaf campus and the Middlebury Marriott. Most ...
I remember with nauseating clarity when my high school boyfriend paused an episode of Black Mirror, turned to me, and said, “I think we should break up or go on a break for the summer.” What I said in response has been erased in my memory by the brutal shock of the blow and the paradoxical feeling ...
Over a year into the Covid-19 era, and it seems that things might be finally turning around. Are the long anticipated moments of mask unveiling and social gatherings and in-person classes upon us? With recent vaccine developments in the U.S., many of us have replaced skepticism with optimism. That is ...
It’s been 553 days since we last printed an issue of our newspaper. It’s been 555 days since we were told that we were being sent home from campus due to the pandemic; it’s been 555 days since we gathered in our basement office to work on publishing an issue that looked very different than it ...