I completely stand behind this week’s editorial. Cultural appropriation is real on this campus and the voices of those who have been offended need to be heard and validated. The editorial’s call for increased understanding, empathy and awareness is an important one that hopefully going forward, ...
To say cultural appropriation is a challenging topic to address in a way that does justice to all perspectives would be an understatement. We cannot resolve this issue. We will fail to engage perfectly or properly. But we will make a compassionate attempt to engage on this issue and offer our thoughts ...
I was sitting here thinking about what I hoped to get out of this meeting and the idea of emotion has been a reoccurring theme for me. It’s been mentioned a few times in this meeting and every time we’ve gone around I hoped that we would latch on and delve a little deeper, but I still don’t think ...
To put it bluntly, Felly is the epitome of cultural appropriation and white privilege. He takes the culture, the language, the style and the stereotypical criminality of black culture and uses it for aesthetic purposes. His music continues on the tradition of musical blackface, in which white musicians ...
A liberal arts student trying to “leverage their privilege” by spending the summer working at a homeless shelter – a classic move for a self-proclaimed social justice warrior. But, when I accepted a position as a Shepherd Poverty Intern at John Graham Housing & Services I wasn’t thinking ...
Residents of the “First World” often look at the newspaper and see all kinds of horrific injustices and tragedies happening all over the world. There’s a feeling of helplessness in the way we discuss the problems of the day that are distant from our own homes. We usually just shake our heads in ...
As the end of the semester draws near, a familiar topic bubbles to the surface of everyday conversation: stress. The student body, as a collective, is stressed. But we are less certain on precisely why students are stressed and how to combat it. The answers to “why” and “how” are numerous and ...
“Tell mom you love her,” my youngest brother, William, told me last Friday evening. I had answered the call in the midst of an economics assignment, and assumed he wanted me to respond to a text my mom had sent in our family group message – “Love you!” – about thirty minutes earlier.
12,000,000 Syrians have fled their homes. A third have become refugees. Photographs of children’s corpses in Greece have surfaced, as have images of the terrible conditions of camps in the Middle East and Europe. The latter has scrambled to cope with the influx. Hungary and Slovakia have shut their ...
I will be writing at further length on these concerns in future issues, but I thank The Campus for the opportunity to comment now.
Our Trustees’ response to the petition asking Middlebury to change the design of the new residence halls west of Adirondack View is profoundly disappointing. On the one hand, our VP for Communications and Marketing, Bill Burger, and the Editorial Board of the Campus make a very important point: ...
The topic of this column — the death of the divestment movement — may appear strange, given that it is coming on the heels of The Campus’ editorial endorsement of fossil fuel divestment a few weeks ago, and moreover, because I am, as avid readers of my column know, an active leader in the Middlebury ...
I was inspired to write this piece in light of the Paris attacks. About an hour before I read about the beginning of the siege, I spoke with my mom and sister who were in Paris at the time as they were relaxing at a friend’s apartment getting ready to go out to dinner. They’re safe, as are all the ...
I was accepted into Middlebury as a Top 100 Applicant (a now discontinued program) with a 32 on the ACT and a 3.91 GPA. I served for three years on Community Council, one year on the Academic Appeals Board, two years as a Residential Advisor of an academic interest house; I committed time to various ...
Across the United States, controversies are erupting over race relations on college campuses. The responses to these controversies reflect a range of emotions — from revulsion to surprise and even defiance that such issues still plague our nation. These outside events are incredibly relevant to our ...
I recently read Heinrich von Kleist’s short essay, “On the Marionette Theatre,” in which he recounts a conversation with a dancer friend, known as Mr. C. To von Kleist’s surprise, Mr. C expresses delight in watching marionettes. Von Kleist “had regarded the handling of marionettes as something ...
“We apologize that we offended with our poster. We care about the role of comedy in discourse on this campus. As intentional members of the community, we take this issue seriously. We look forward to reflecting and engaging in future dialogue.” The Otter Nonsense Players are an improv comedy ...
Recently posters advertising an improv show, an athletic event and more have been circulating around campus with jokes evoking marginalized identities — specifically race, class and ability — and their corresponding stereotypes. These posters have been met with opposition from marginalized people, ...
I read with interest the opinion piece by Ethan Brady, “The State of the Endowment,” and I feel it’s important to address some of what Ethan discussed in his piece and to provide some important context and facts that readers of the Campus can use to make up their own minds.
Last Thursday, film enthusiasts and our friends across the pond celebrated Guy Fawkes. He wasn’t the greatest guy to grace the planet, nor was he particularly successful in his endeavor to blow up government. But he became iconic. He’s a symbol for resisting government oppression; thus, he’s especially ...