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Monday, Dec 8, 2025

Opinion


The Setonian

This One’s For the Record Books

One afternoon last October, I descended the stairs of Davis Family Library for a foray into the College Archives. My purpose was an article on the Archives and its staff, but in truth I was simply curious about what the Archives was all about. Before that article debuted, I had not spent time in what ...


The Setonian

Change Has Consequences

With the start of every school year comes inevitable change as a new wave of students and faculty arrive, setting the tone for the coming year. This fall, however, the College is set up for even more momentous change than usual. With President Liebowitz and Dean Collado leaving at the end of the year ...


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Discovering the Power of Food

My home state has been in the news a lot recently, neither for maple syrup nor for skiing, but as the face of drug use and crime in the U.S. Since the Feb. 27 New York Times article, “A Call to Arms on A Vermont Heroin Epidemic,” the rest of the country has reached the startling realization that ...


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One Woman Army

You may not know it, but there is a very real military presence on the Middlebury campus. Maybe you’ve seen someone wading through the crowds of flannel and Toms in camouflage and combat boots. Maybe you’ve wondered what the U.S. Army was doing occupying ADK on a Wednesday afternoon. Maybe you’ve ...


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Why We Should Raise Tuition

In honor of my final contribution to the Campus, I wanted to mention some things I love about Middlebury. I love that everybody is on the same housing and meal plan. I love that we all have access to top-notch athletic facilities, to mental and physical health services, and to innumerable devices and ...


The Setonian

The Ongoing Need for Affirmative Action

Affirmative action doesn’t work and it’s unconstitutional. The state cannot change destructive culture that inhibits black success. Those who benefit from affirmative action are unqualified. Do you believe these statements, dear reader? Despite the often cited election of President Obama and the ...


The Setonian

Bring Middlebury Confessional Out of the Dark

It’s not uncommon that college students turn to the Internet to seek relief from the papers, exams, problem sets and job applications that lie ahead. For Middlebury students in particular, a site called Middlebury Confessional is one option for when morale is low during a late night in the library. ...


The Setonian

Know Justice, Know Peace

It took 43 minutes for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to execute Clayton Lockett. Sorry, that figure is wrong. It took fourteen years and 43 minutes for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to execute Clayton Lockett. As if the decade and a half on death row wasn’t cruel and unusual enough, ...


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We Need Progress

The United States is growing, in general, increasingly liberal with each passing year. With this liberalization comes greater equality, but perhaps more importantly, a greater sense and understanding of how unequal our society remains. Thus, people speak out. In greater numbers and with greater voices, ...


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Why Donating Matters

In the Campus on April 24, we read an op-ed written by Hannah Bristol describing her experience with the senior class gift and the fundraising methods being used. As Senior Committee members, this article was a great learning opportunity for us, and we would like to take a brief moment to respond. The ...


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No Contest? Not No Problem

We have a lot of problems on this campus. There are a lot of issues that keep people up at night, issues that people believe need to be solved in order to make life here better for everyone. We are too racially segregated. We sexually assault one another. We need to divest. We need a multicultural center. ...


The Setonian

Change the Post Grad Move-Out Policy

I will graduate from Middlebury College in two and a half weeks. It’s a painfully surreal concept that makes me wax nostalgic for the debauchery and laughter and stress and quarter-life crises I experienced over the past four years. I’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about the past and the ...


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Advice Column, Volume Two: The Poker Game of Life

Straight This is what you go through, the thumbing through the hand of cards to see what you’ve got and what you can do with your hand.  You’re gonna get sadness in spades.  I’ve seen enough boys walking bulldogs on ropes and Global Health girl Facebook photos of unvaccinated children in Cambodia ...


The Setonian

Civic Environmental Engagement

In the two years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve tried to minimize the chances that it might come off as just a repository for spewed sermons, and tried to focus more on the reporting responsibilities associated with editorial work. However, this is my last column in this wonderful paper, and ...


The Setonian

Learning From Hazing

It has been over three and a half years since the day when the women’s swimming and diving team was told that due to hazing allegations, the 2010-2011 season would be cancelled for all upper-classmen girls. We were two weeks from championships. I was sitting in the stands as Coach Solomon delivered ...


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Who Are You?

I am sure we are familiar with the resounding voice of Roger Daltrey screaming out the words “Who are you?” in the smash hit by The Who that bears the same name as the lyric. While I have listened to Daltrey sing this over Townshend’s guitar riffs for years, only recently have I actually taken ...


The Setonian

On Middlebury Interactive Languges (MIL)

In recent weeks some faculty colleagues have questioned the College’s investment and participation in Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL). MIL is a for-profit, joint venture created in 2010 by Middlebury and K12 Inc., a Virginia-based company that creates online educational and curricular content ...


The Setonian

Does This Pass The Smell Test?

Have you ever wondered how the College makes its money? It seems straightforward: students in Middlebury and Monterey pay, the College provides education and the transaction is complete. What is missing is another revenue stream that we have recently added, which currently has the potential to either ...


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A Real Sex Education

Sexual assault on college campuses is making headlines this month as Tufts was found noncompliant with Title IX and the Department of Education released a list of 55 schools currently under investigation, including Amherst, Harvard and Dartmouth. Though many of our peer schools are being investigated, ...


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Imagining Safety Beyond Surveillance

Here in idyllic rural Vermont, Middlebury College is a bastion of beauty, tradition, stewardship, and of course — safety. In order to foster elite learning, we have a multitude of mechanisms to protect us from any possible interference from danger outside our marble walls. But according to the Community ...