Losing faith or keeping hope?
By George Mardsen | March 13, 2025I am commonly asked by friends and family at home what the current American atmosphere is like. The past month has proven to be a dramatic shift in what America means to me.
Opinion
Letter to the Editor: International Women’s Day Protests
By Elizabeth Karnes Keefe | March 13, 2025Closer to home, on Saturday March 8, around 200 people gathered on the Middlebury town green and marched in support of International Women's Day and against the policies of the current American administration. Among them were professors and members of the college’s senior administration demonstrating ...
Why Russia has not and will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
By Langan Garrett | March 13, 2025There are few weapons in the world that are more useful unused. What many people don’t realize is that nuclear weapons are most efficient when they remain in the silos. Nuclear weapons provide mobility, leverage and negotiating power. While we tend to focus on their catastrophic physical and psychological ...
SPECS Panther Column: Sexual health and ethical citizenship in the Trump era
By Sydney Rogers | March 13, 2025Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump has issued at least 128 executive actions, aiming to dismantle federal organizations, slash the budget and disrupt staffing. From threatening the National Institutes of Health (NIH), jeopardizing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, denying ...
Middlebury divestment campaigns are a marathon, not a sprint
By Steve Early and Greg Dennis | March 6, 2025Last spring, with the support of concerned alumni like us, Middlebury students made their fourth major attempt since 1970 to persuade the college that its institutional investing should reflect concerns about issues such as peace, human rights, environmental justice and corporate social responsibility. ...
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How Middlebury should respond to Trump’s attack on higher education
By The Editorial Board | March 6, 2025While the long-term impacts of the Trump Administration’s recent executive orders regarding immigration and budget cuts are yet to be fully realized, it is clear that this administration intends to target universities and vulnerable populations within them. The Trump administration's policies have ...
Reflecting on my time at Middlebury after three years of war in Ukraine
By Gregory Marcinik | March 6, 2025On Feb. 24, 2022, eight years after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What was supposed to be a three-day special military operation has now officially gone on for over three years. Despite pessimist predictions, Ukraine was able to fight back ...
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Which speakers deserve to be platformed by Middlebury?
By The Editorial Board | February 27, 2025On Feb. 20, the Alexander Hamilton Forum invited Brianna Wu, the executive director of Rebellion PAC, and Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute to speak on the “right approach on public policy and transgender medicine.”
Middlebury’s live music scene has an institutional bottleneck
By Curran Amster | February 27, 2025Middlebury College has long promoted its vibrant music culture, advertising Wednesday Open Mic Night (WOMP), the Nocturne Arts Festival and even its rock-star alums such as the band members of Dispatch. Despite all that, Middlebury's institutional structure makes it unnecessarily difficult for musicians ...
Governor Phil Scott wants to kill the Global Warming Solutions Act
By Rick Walker | February 27, 2025Vermont Governor Phil Scott has a track record of opposing progressive climate policies brought forth by the Democrats in the state legislature. Now that the Democrats have lost a veto-proof supermajority, Gov. Scott is finally showing us his true colors on climate. And it is not pretty.
President Baucom, save Battell Hall from demolition
By David Gross | February 27, 2025For 75 years, Battell Hall has served as the first home for freshmen on campus. To many, the transformation of Battell’s adorned ivy into glowing embers is the cherished harbinger of fall’s arrival. It’s no surprise that Battell graced the cover of the ubiquitous Princeton Review’s “The Best ...
Tolerance and forbearance in hosting outside speakers
By Sarah Stroup | February 20, 2025In 2017, controversial speaker Charles Murray came to Middlebury a few weeks after the inauguration of President Trump. Our liberal campus was feeling quite raw. Minorities were under scrutiny by a new presidential administration. In that environment, a group brought a speaker to Middlebury to talk ...
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Coming down the mountain: What should Winter Carnival mean to Middlebury?
By The Editorial Board | February 20, 2025Their neon ski goggles glint against the snow and their cowboy hats are pulled snug over their beanies. Glitter freezes to their cheeks as they grip their numb fingers around the cans tucked into their jackets. It seems like everybody who knows everybody is at the Snowbowl on the third Saturday of February. ...
SPECS Panther Column — “Loitering for the purpose of prostitution” laws and modern legislation
By Emilia Zenker | February 20, 2025Loitering for the purpose of prostitution (LPP) is a violation or misdemeanor in many state governments and municipalities across the U.S.. These laws define this charge as wandering or remaining in public spaces for long periods of time with the intent of selling sex or promoting prostitution. While ...
Time for an academic reckoning?
By Vyas Nageswaran | February 20, 2025“There are no solutions, only trade-offs.” The immortal words of economist Thomas Sowell apply as much to college administration as they do to public policymaking. When it comes to academics, I believe it is high time that Middlebury confronts this reality.
J-Term: the good, the bad and the ugly
By The Editorial Board | January 23, 2025Winter in Vermont is not for the faint of heart. J-Term at Middlebury represents a break from the usual academic schedule, yielding the freedom to try something new in academics or extracurriculars — but you may also find yourself cowering indoors from the cold with little to do.
IDK about these IDs!
By Lucy Schembre | January 23, 2025Around 9 p.m. on Sunday night, as I traversed the windswept tundra forming between E Lot and the Chateau, I was devastated to realize that I had left my wallet — along with my one and only Middlebury ID card — inside my room. Clutching my cardboard box from the Grille to my chest in a fruitless ...
SPECS Panther Column - Sex and Stress
By Liz Crawford | January 23, 2025At some point in time you may have heard that sexual activity can be a de-stressor. For example, NBC News published a 2008 article titled “More sex, less stress,” declaring to their audience that by having sex, they can reduce the undesirable buzzword of “stress.”
Donald Trump has been re-elected. What now?
By Phoebe An | January 23, 2025Like many, I watched in stunned horror as Donald Trump crawled his way back into the highest office of our nation. I had hope in the American people: that they would not re-elect an impeached ex-president and convicted felon who had attempted to undermine our democratic process in a spectacle of populist-driven ...
My weight loss journey
By Joshua Garson | January 16, 2025At my heaviest weigh-in, I clocked in at 311 lbs. I had a BMI of 45.6, which categorized me as morbidly obese. Today I weigh 196 lbs, a 115 lbs weight loss. I can confidently say for the first time in my adult life that I am healthy. People often ask me how I found success. Usually, I tell them something ...