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 ...
One nondescript afternoon, I was sitting in Axinn pretending to work on my thesis. As if I weren’t already busy enough listening to the sounds of liquid trickling down stones and considering the mental riddle of the in vitrine miniature TV display, a tour came by. The tour guide seemed very sure of ...
Rahm Emmanuel once famously said that he would never let a good crisis go to waste. Only in an emergency can the American people be convinced to allow some kind of drastic change; otherwise, the majority prefers change to plod along at a more manageable pace. So, how does a politician convince his constituents ...
Our community has recently been embroiled in two debates regarding the Foundation for Individuals Rights in Education (FIRE) highlighting of the Aunt Des video series and a guest lecture on the “Culture of Despair.” Consequently, the Campus has published two op-eds and an editorial regarding these ...
I am only here today because Middlebury College, at the time I applied to college, was one of a handful of colleges in the US with a need-blind admissions policy for international students. This is no longer the case. In its first round of budget cuts, back in 2009, the administration decided it was ...
I recently drew inspiration to reply to Jay Saper’s crusade against free expression from my favorite movie, The Big Lebowski. In an early scene, Walter, The Dude’s best friend, counsels The Dude to pursue someone who has trampled on his rights. Walter, borrowing from then-President George H. W. ...
I would like to go into a few events preceding Jay Saper’s ’13 March 24 Campus opinion, “Building a healthy academic community.” Let’s start with the email exchange that Saper forwarded to hundreds of fellow students, as well as to the faculty of the Sociology/Anthropology department (SOAN), ...
We write to express our warmest thanks to the Middlebury College community. Thanks to you, this winter we have been able to house 12 homeless adults and seven children from Addison County. Over 50 Middlebury students volunteer as staff members at our Charter House facility and dozens more have assisted ...
To the Middlebury community, If we took weekly polls on approval ratings for the Campus, last week we would have posted our highest approval scores yet. An overwhelming majority of you who read our April Fools edition let us know how much you enjoyed our best efforts at hilarity, and we appreciate ...
On Friday morning, I opened my window for the first time since November. Sunlight lay in long strips across my quilt and I could feel the warmth on my face as I struggled with the crank, still half lying in bed, my mouth full of the rosemary bush that dwells on my windowsill. Rising to my knees, I leaned ...
When Jay Saper ’13 clicked “Reply All” to James B. Jermain Professor of Political Economy Peter Matthews’ two-department-wide (Economics and Sociology) email advertising an upcoming speaker, he roused a discussion about the College inviting controversial guest speakers to lecture. That he took ...
My phone is the most basic model sold at the Verizon store. It can take pictures (but not videos); it has a speakerphone and texting options. Beyond these ‘bare essentials’, it has no multimedia or Internet capabilities. I had the option to upgrade my phone two months ago and I chose this model ...
The past few weeks, there have been several op-eds printed in the Campus protesting the stifling nature of Middlebury’s rigorous academic demands. Although I agreed with many of the arguments presented in the op-eds, as a lifelong nerd with no hope of salvation and a puppet of the administration, ...
A few days before the Japanese earthquake (and ensuing nuclear power and human crisis), the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission in this country approved Vermont Yankee’s request for a new 20-year license. Despite the local plant’s questionable history (radioactive hydrogen was found leaking into ...
Last week the economics department sponsored a lecture on “Early Non-Marital Childrearing and the Culture of Despair,” by Phillip Levine, an economist from Wellesley. Levine posited deeply problematic and racist conceptions that devalued a “culture” from which he retained much distance. ...