The open dialogue introduced by administrative leaders at Tuesday’s alcohol forum made it clear that a “dry campus” is not the only answer (let alone any). But no matter its intended interpretation, it’s troubling to initiate a conversation about collaborative action and personal accountability ...
In a recent study about race relations at Middlebury, many students reported that the majority of prejudiced, racist or stereotypical actions of Middlebury students were primarily the result of ignorance. One student noted that when ignorance is involved, it means, “just not really knowing, and not ...
Since December of last year the Middle East has been the scene of mass revolt and rebellion. Liberty has become the byword of hundreds and thousands of people rising up against the oppressive and brutal regimes which have controlled their political destinies for far too long. The heartstrings of the ...
It’s no secret that Middlebury is a politically liberal institution. From the students to the faculty and even to the staff, an overwhelming majority of people here consider themselves progressive, liberal, leftist — or even a budding Socialist. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing — countless ...
In the New Yorker last week, there was a great “Shouts & Murmurs” titled the “Wisdom of Children.” There were three segments that described certain seminal moments of everyday life through the innocent eyes of children. For example, “A Conversation at the Grownup Table, as Imagined at ...
Coincidentally, several friends of mine have gone into the perfumery business. They all just developed new scents and are in the process of marketing them. I mentioned that they might take out an advertisement in the Campus, but they didn’t want to pay top dollar for a spot. Instead, they convinced ...
With this semester’s end, spring flowers and warm days comes the 20th anniversary of the infamous Middlebury College staff firings of 1991. A decade ago, when we noted the 10th anniversary of this shameful chapter in the College’s history, some asked why we were dredging up these unpleasant ...
Race is an issue that deeply interests me, but not because I feel like I have a huge personal stake in it. I think of myself as more of an ethnic tourist. It’s not that I don’t feel a distinct connection with an ethnic heritage: I never felt it more than when I left home and realized how special ...
Middlebury has some of the best facilities and resources of any small liberal arts college in America, but not by chance. As our academic standing improved in the last decade, we invested heavily in our infrastructure. Our once modest campus was transformed through the large-scale building projects ...
Dear loyal Campus readers, Three more weeks left in the semester. Five more weeks before I graduate. It seemed only yesterday that I was a nerdy kid with big hair and big dreams fascinated by college, marble buildings and all-campus emails. Actually, that was yesterday. But it’s still terrifying ...
The last year of a student’s time at Middlebury is distinct in many ways from his or her first three. Socially, seniors are given access to the best housing on campus, and can apply to live off-campus. Academically, they get priority registration and set out to complete work on a degree that has been ...
In a letter to the editor about Middlebury sophomore, Jay Saper ’13, Professor David Stoll wrote: “Since Saper is a SOAN major, and I am a SOAN professor, I am embarrassed that he appears to be using sociological and anthropological concepts to make an ad hominem argument against an invited speaker, ...
Housing registration for juniors and seniors at Middlebury sucks the big one. It’s overly convoluted, illogical, stressful and frustrating. Even when everything goes smoothly, as it did this year, and we avoid debacles like last year’s, the system seems to cultivate stress and anxiety when there ...
This past weekend at Powershift, the proverbial gauntlet for every American young person was thrown down. Hard. On Saturday night, Tim De Christopher — a renowned climate activist in jail for defrauding a land auction for oil and gas development (he outbid all attendant energy companies despite not ...
A good day is a rare event. I’m not trying to be depressing saying this — it’s scientifically proven. If days were rated and put on a graph, laws of probability dictate that the graph would show a bell curve: a few days would deserve the labels of “dumpy” or “wicked awesome,” but most ...
Every Middlebury student possesses an identity in this bubble: this identity can be defined by our friend group, where we live, our major, where we are from, what extracurricular activities we do, etc. I have, however, rarely seen anyone define himself by the commons he is in, during the 3.9 years that ...
Governor Peter Shumlin is right. Health care reform is needed — the sooner the better. One big reason: Health care is busting the state budget. But proposed reforms are not likely to produce real budget savings until 2015 at the earliest. Health care costs will continue to balloon until these reforms ...
Rumors often circulate during the mid-months of Spring regarding big events coming to the College. Last week, Old Chapel finally announced our 2011 Commencement speaker will be National Ski and Paralympic Hall of Famer Chris Waddell ’91. The jury is, however, still out on the identity of this term’s ...