Middlebury College is the largest employer in Addison County. The role of the college as an employer and lifeline to many workers in the community remains essential to building a stronger campus for staff and students alike. Despite improvements to wages and compensation systems, there remain structural ...
Since our last staff issue, Middlebury has unveiled a new skill-based compensation system, seen rising housing costs and childcare shortages, faced severe understaffing in the dining halls and Davis Family Library, and seen some of its most experienced staff members leave.
Ninety-eight percent of Middlebury students were registered to vote for the November 2020 presidential election. That number doesn’t surprise us. Comparable liberal arts schools, including Bowdoin College, St. Olaf College and Bates College are also high on the Washington Monthly list. Perhaps Middlebury ...
When I tell people I took a class on porn — “Decolonizing Porn: Circulating Desire Between Europe and the Americas,” to be more specific — the question that invariably follows is “Did you watch porn in class?” To that, I say, yes, sort of, but we watched most of the porn outside of ...
Sometimes, the planets and the stars do align.
Middlebury College has a strong reputation as a premier academic institution, and I am sure few would disagree that it is in everyone’s best interest for the college to provide a true liberal arts education. However, over the last several years, I have observed that part of the student body has become ...
We were too surprised to discover in our initial icebreakers that all three of us on this year’s executive team were history majors. We did not plan it this way, nor was it a core requirement in the job description. But after reflecting on this odd similarity in our backgrounds, we have decided that ...
Last week, we reported on grade inflation at Middlebury. The average GPA among Middlebury students has risen substantially in recent years, from 3.00 in 1987 to 3.35 in 2005 to 3.65 in the spring of 2023. There are a variety of potential explanations for the grade inflation issue, from technology’s ...
SPECS Panther is a mascot for SPECS (sex-positive education for college students) and serves the Middlebury community. As a part of Health & Wellness Education, SPECS Panther seeks to educate and spark independent dialogue, not be the end-all be-all resource on campus. We encourage Midd kids to ...
Membership in the cult of beauty is a prerequisite for girlhood. I can’t remember when beauty became my governing power, can't remember an age when I did not look at myself with the eye of an appraiser. If there’s escape from the cult, I’ve yet to find it.
As we trudge through the final week of February and see some glimmers of sunlight, it’s worth considering what intentional decisions we can make about how to spend the rest of the semester. What habits do we wish to leave behind in the winter and fall, and what lessons and goals do we wish to bring ...
My go-to response to any icebreaker question is that I speak four languages. It piques peoples’ interest, allows me to organically share the many places I call home and reminds me of my history. “I speak four languages.” This is not false, but I have to confess that it is not entirely true either. ...
Being a Ukrainian student in Vermont, studying at one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, I feel the urge to use my privilege and resources to expedite Ukraine’s victory. My sister, my friends and my home remain in Kyiv. So, despite the 4,420 miles that physically separate me from ...
They say that to have an eating disorder is to be at war with yourself. Likewise, to paraphrase Baudelaire, they say that the greatest trick of the enemy is to convince you that there is no war. Overcoming an eating disorder is challenging because it requires you to choose to be at peace with your body ...
The administration sent an email titled “Inclusive Admissions and Incoming Class Update” to the Middlebury community on Feb. 7, which contained preliminary information about the demographics of the incoming classes of 2028 and 2028.5, and reaffirmed the college’s admissions approach after ...
Each semester brings in a new crop of eager-eyed first years, pushing the seniors out into “the real world.” Living in Forest Hall as a senior gives me an intimate window into my own obsolescence. At one end of the hall lurk the silent underclassmen while at the other end of the hall Baby Febs splay ...
Following a fall semester spent beset by email after email from the college administration recognizing personal and international tragedies, we have begun to reevaluate the importance of Middlebury’s administrative statements to the goals of the college as an academic institution. As we’ve watched ...
In March of my senior year of high school, I told my best friend that I couldn’t wait to be at an institution where more people had read Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” a text that at the time struck me as the apex of literary pretension. Thankfully she laughed in my face. Yet I remained committed ...
I am writing this Notes from The Desk during my last week as the Senior Opinions Editor at The Campus. I write this to be published one week and two days before I move off of this campus and ski down with the class of 2023.5. I write this to say how incredibly grateful I am to have had this position, ...
When I first saw the Snow Bowl, I knew I wanted to apply to Middlebury. I fell in love with the Middlebury Snow Bowl and the adventures to be had before I had even stepped foot on campus. Five years ago, when I eagerly clicked on my acceptance letter, the snowflakes dancing on my computer screen foretold ...