Olympic boxing in Ancient Greece was performed by naked men wearing leather gloves weighted with metal. No rules existed for punching a man on the ground, although killing one’s opponent was counterproductive — if you died, you won. As athletes evolved, the competitive environment adjusted accordingly. ...
On Monday, Feb. 15, all sophomores who applied to study abroad in the spring of next year got an e-mail from Jeff Cason, the dean of International Programs, with the unsettling subject line “IMPORTANT STUDY ABROAD REQUEST.” This e-mail was followed up two days later by one of similar gravity — ...
To the Editor: Ever seen a RIDDIM show and thought that you could come up with a better theme idea? Well, this is your chance. The Campus is soliciting theme ideas for the RIDDIM show for all students to vote on in next week’s poll. Whoever comes up with the winning theme idea will win two tickets ...
When we think about evolution, all too easily we fall into thinking that Nature somehow has a will — that the survival of the fittest is her intention, and many of our institutions and ideas somehow stand against the march of progress. Whether we are willing to defend this view, it sits within many ...
This weekend marks the 87th annual Middlebury Winter Carnival, and, following the trend of the past few years, the weekend promises to be full of exciting opportunities — including ski races, a comedian, ice sculpting, ’80s music, a top-flight DJ and more. In addition to the tremendous efforts of ...
My wife and I are writers and though I have enjoyed what some might term more professional success (my work has appeared in a number of prestigious publications with sophisticated readership including, in autumn 2006, a letter to the editor of the New York Review of Books), Suzy is a talented woman ...
Last week, the Director of the Office of Health and Wellness Jyoti Daniere co-sponsored an abysmally one-sided and thankfully ill-attended “debate” on the 21-year-old legal drinking age. The event largely consisted of two “scholars” (Dr. David Jernigan and Dr. John Searles) harping upon Daniere’s ...
Correction Appended After a year and a half of chopping the low-hanging fruit from the College’s budgetary tree, President Liebowitz, through his speech on the budget crisis, offered a welcome demonstration of commitment, confidence and cautious optimism. Exhibiting the transparency that is quickly ...
Seeing as Valentine’s Day was just this past weekend, I thought it fitting to use this space to write about those large, intangible constructs we know as love, romance, lust and, of course, anatomically incorrect vital organs and chocolate. And that’s about as far as I got. So, stumped, I did what ...
To the Editor: Mori Rothman’s Feb. 11 cartoon depicting a U.S. soldier cavalierly walking away from an imploring Haitian reflects a gross ignorance that prohibits me from calling it a “political cartoon” at best, and forces me to call it a pathetic display of ignorance at worst. According to ...
A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court made a five-four decision that corporations were entitled under the Constitution of the United States to freedom of speech and press and therefore had the right to turn profits into ads for and against political candidates. This, they said, is an important right because ...
So, writing opinion columns is getting old at this point. There’s only so long a person can go on pretending he thinks what he thinks is important, especially when graduation seems so close. With all this fear and nostalgia buzzing around in my head, there isn’t much room for complaints. Well, I’m ...
Picking up on a theme from a different section of the paper, this week’s Notes from the Desk highlights the winners and losers from last weekend’s Super Bowl (all Katrina references purposely omitted). Winner: Drew Brees. Four seasons ago, this man was coming off a torn labrum in his throwing ...
The last weekend of January was the first anniversary of Obama’s presidency. Commentators on networks from MSNBC to Fox tried to argue about the total success or abysmal failure of the president using a period as superficial as a year, and metrics as superficial as grades. Instead of stressing out ...
We write today to respond to the recent Campus article and editorial addressing the College administration’s recent decisions regarding the MiddView program. As the staff members most intimately involved with the program, and most committed to working for its eventual revival, we are compelled to ...
After many weeks of hype and expectation, the new Middlebury Web site launched last week to equal measures of excitement and uncertainty. Having spent over a year tailoring the site and seeking input from different community groups, the Web makeover team’s (mostly) finished product marks a bold departure ...
Have you ever looked around the dining hall and started thinking derogatory thoughts about how people are disgusting animals? Admit it. Or if you haven’t, try it. See that dude over there by the window? Yeah, the one eating a banana and scratching himself. Don’t pretend he doesn’t look like the ...