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Friday, May 15, 2026

Opinion


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Sit Down Now, Stand Up Soon

 Ever since the new tailgating policy was announced, we’ve been outraged. Outraged at the outrage. In MiddBeat’s coverage and subsequent online comments and Jack Dolan’s op-ed on the Campus’ website, there are several troubling trends that demand discussion. The more dangerous of these tendencies ...


The Setonian

Who Do We Think We Are?

 I’m writing this op-ed to express my support for the recently announced tailgating policy, but I’m going to start with a slightly different chord: I love tailgating. Don’t believe me? I once drove from D.C. to New Orleans to attend a tailgate (it was awesome). I have tailgated at schools up ...


The Setonian

Alienating Alumni

 To the Editor, Along with many of my fellow alumni, I read with dismay that alcohol and music have been banned from tailgating at Middlebury athletic events, including Homecoming. It’s part of a broader pattern that we have observed with disappointment from afar since graduation, as officials at ...


The Setonian

Mistakes Were Made

 From SGA to Community Council, we have a system of student liaisons to the administration whose key purpose is to keep the two groups on the same page. Yet last week we were all surprised to receive an email announcing that alcohol would no longer be allowed at tailgating events. Though students are ...


The Setonian

We Did Not Sign Up For This

In response to the changes in the tailgate policy effective this Tuesday, there have already emerged a number of great arguments against this new policy, and some weaker ones for it. I am impressed by the initiative and zeal displayed by my schoolmates, and am equally disappointed by the actions and ...


The Setonian

Why We Banned Alcohol at Our Football Games

Dear Middlebury College Community, I know some of you have taken exception to our decision to ban alcohol at football game tailgate events. Let me tell you in the plainest terms why we have done this. For some time, we have been dealing with issues arising from incidents of overuse of alcohol by some ...


The Setonian

Compassionately Conservative

When Erin first approached me about writing this column I had some…reservations. I just couldn’t help but feel I had been down the path of being a vocal Republican in a very liberal environment. Well, that would be because I have been down that exact path many times, and I have come to embrace it.  Much ...


The Setonian

Breaking Open

The summer before my senior year of high school I joined a pretty radical group working for environmental justice in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, Calif., my hometown. I had read about the new group in an article online and asked to join in its efforts.  We ran a free environmental education ...


The Setonian

My Summer in Tel Aviv

Jolted out of bed at 2 a.m. by the wailing of the fire alarm, I flail around in my dark room to find some resemblance of an outfit. After what seems like an eternity, I reluctantly go outside to join the other Battell residents huddled together in the cold, experiencing what has become a rite of passage ...


The Setonian

Gucci Mane’s Historic Run

You have probably heard of the rapper Gucci Mane.  You might have a song or two of his.  Or you remember his cameo in 2013’s Spring Breakers, in which he played Big Arch (and actually fell asleep while filming a sex scene).  Perhaps you’ve seen his Bart Simpson chain or his ice cream cone tattoo ...


The Setonian

What Middlebury Should Never Forget

Editors’ note: The following text contains vulgarity and obscenities. Printed with Ada’s permission. They say that if you forget your history, you are doomed to repeat it. So, Middlebury, I think it’s time to do some remembering. A year ago today a student received a rape threat at Middlebury ...


The Setonian

An Apology from Tavern

To the Middlebury Community, This weekend, we at Tavern hosted our annual first weekend party.  We’d like to thank everyone who showed up and helped make that party the success it was — we saw a lot of people having a great time, and we were happy to host you. While we got a lot of positive feedback ...


The Setonian

It’s Got Our Vote

This is a public service announcement: registering to vote and voting absentee is now easier than ever thanks to Middlebury College’s recent partnership with TurboVote, a nonpartisan, nonprofit that mails students pre-filled out registration forms and vote-by-mail applications and sends text and email ...


The Setonian

Sweeping & the Art of Carpentry

  My summer internship plans did not go well. I spent my Spring semester, as many Middlebury students do, hurriedly scribbling cover letters and attaching resumes to anyone willing to take on a lowly college student for little or no pay. The end result after email chains that lasted for months, ...


The Setonian

Breaking Out of The Bubble

It’s often said that we at Middlebury live in a bubble. Our little college sits deep in the Vermont woods, hours from the nearest major city and 45 minutes from Burlington, a town that’s hard-pressed to consider itself metropolitan in any way. We’re insulated from societal upheaval and cultural ...


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True Blue

Sunday was my 20th birthday. The occasion called for some self-reflection — Do I like who I am and how I’ve spent my time? What kind of impact am I leaving on this planet? — but it also marked the two-year point of my political involvement. When I entered kindergarten in 2000, we had a mock election ...


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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