March 10, 2016 | Vol. 114 no. 17 | middleburycampus.com
Racist Posts Target Student on Yik Yak By Christian Jambora and Phil Bohlman News Editors Racist comments appeared on Yik Yak last week, an anonymous social media app, that criticized statements made by Student Government Association (SGA) FirstYear Senator Charles Rainey ’19 concerning racism on campus. The posts appeared following the publishing of a Campus article that detailed two bills Rainey had written criticizing the College’s MLK Today event and calling on President of the College Laurie L. Patton Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s comments regarding black students on college campuses. Among the posts were the following: We don’t like Rainey because he’s making up stuff about racism at Midd like if we freed you all from slavery what more do you want Rainey is an attention whore, sexual predator, and anti-white jigaboo. Impeach him IMPEACH. RAINEY. NOW. After these posts appeared Rainey sought support and guidance from administrators, including his commons dean, Chief Diversity Officer Miguel Fernández and Dean of Students Baishakhi Taylor. The anonymous nature of the platform left Rainey little remedy; Rainey explained that only violent threats would spur an investigation into the posters, like the ones posted on Yik Yak at the University of Missouri in November. “Ironically, these comments are only aiding me in my efforts to ameliorate this institution,” he said. “It is my hope that this coordinated, racist attack on my endeavors and character has served as a reminder for the faculty,
staff, administration and all of our 2,500 students here that our campus is immensely plagued by racism. According to the responses [on Yik Yak], a substantial portion of our community is not comfortable with idea of an inclusive Middlebury. Personally, it is very distressing that we have members of our community who felt so threatened by the prospect of truly embracing historically marginalized groups on this campus, in this case students of African descent, that they were inclined to resort to racially-charged hate speech in order to voice their discomfort. Nonetheless, with great progress comes great resistance. My goal remains the same. I will continue to fight for true inclusivity on this campus and continue the muchneeded conversation around this substantial issue offline, where it will be most productive.” Patton addressed incidents like Rainey’s in an email sent to students on March 8. In it she reiterated the first community standard in the student handbook, “cultivating respect and responsibility for self, others, and our shared environment,” and urged students to abide by it in their interactions especially as the College has broached sensitive “issues of race, gender, privilege and inclusivity.” “The anonymity and impersonal quality of some social media sites has at times shown itself to be a less considerate environment,” she wrote. “While they can be places of kindness and generosity, they also can be platforms for disrespect, revenge, and hate. When this happens, it must be condemned by all. Everyone in our community should understand the damaging effect that personal comments or attacks — anonymous or otherwise — can have on individuals and on the community as a whole.”
STUDENTS GATHER FOR SUPER TUESDAY
IvAn ValladAres
Students gathered in Crossroads Cafe with Professors of Political Science Matthew Dickinson and Bertram Johnson to watch presidential primary results as a part of Super Tuesday on March 1. The event was co-organized by the College Democrats and Republicans.
PossePlus Retreat Focuses on Speech and Inclusivity By Nick Garber Staff Writer Middlebury Posse scholars attended the PossePlus Retreat this past weekend, March 4-6, in Silver Bay, New York. Held every year, the retreat aims to address national and on-campus issues often involving race, class, gender and power. The events are attended not only by Posse scholars, but also by College faculty, staff and fellow students invited by the Posse scholars. The Posse Foundation is a nonprofit organization that identifies and recruits students with leadership and academic potential from public high schools in urban areas, forming these students into 10-12 person “posses” which then attend a given college or university as a group. Posse scholars are awarded four-year, full-tuition scholarships from the foundation’s partner in-
stitutions of higher education. Middlebury has been one of the foundation’s partner schools since 1998, and today works with Posse students from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The theme for this year’s retreat was “Sticks + Stones: Language and Speech in a Diverse Society.” Attendees discussed the contention between the right to free speech and the right to limit offensive language, a dispute which has sprung up on campuses nationwide. Activities over the weekend ranged from larger group discussions to smaller circles about the power of language and what speech should be considered acceptable in online forums, apps like Yik Yak, social media sites and college newspapers. Students discussed the problematic use of certain types of speech on college campuses and possible solutions that ranged from trigger warnings
to Administrative responses. Posse Scholar Daniel Amar Pena ’16 said this year’s event, the third he has attended, was a successful if imperfect experience. “This was my third retreat and personally I have seen improvements compared to the first retreat I attended,” he said. “While the topic this year was very broad and not enough energy was focused on the issues occurring at Middlebury, the retreat was an overall success.” “The retreat provided a space for each scholar, their Plus Ones and faculty/staff to engage in conversations both on the macro and micro levels...I am hopeful that going forward, the Posse Foundation and Middlebury will be able to bring the conversations that happen on these retreats back to campus and the administration,” he added. SEE POSSEPLUS, PAGE 2
BØrns To HEAdline MCAB Spring Concert By Devin McGrath-Conwell Senior Writer
inside
Racially-charged and personal posts (pictured above) appeared on social media app Yik Yak targeting SGA First-Year Senator Charles Rainey ’19.
CHEMICAL FACTORY CONTAMINATES WELLS IN NORTH BENINGTON PAGE 4
On Saturday, Feb. 27, the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) revealed BØRNS as the headliner for this year’s spring concert. The announcement was made during the Winter Carnival Ball. The process of choosing and booking BØRNS for the concert began in the fall amidst speculation of who would be picked to follow last year’s artist, T-Pain. “We’re really excited to bring BØRNS to campus this year,” Concerts Committee member Sara Hodgkins ’17.5 said. “The very weekend after he performs at [the College], BØRNS will travel to California to perform at Coachella, one of the most prominent music festivals in the world.” Contrary to what many fans ex-
pect from the name BØRNS, Garret Borns is not of Scandinavian decent, but instead was born and raised in Grand Haven, Mich. “I just did it because it looks cool. It also makes it easier to find “BØRNS” via search engines and hashtags,” he revealed during an interview with InStyle in October. Finding distinction in the mob of musicians trying to make a name for themselves can be a challenge, but the decisions Borns makes seem to be working. Borns trained in magic as a child, but has since moved from small town magic tricks to headlining his own international tour. The rock-star life took the 24-year-old first to New York, and then Los Angeles as he searched for an opening to make the music he wanted to. That opening came
CONSENT PROJECT ENCOURAGES HONEST DIALOGUE ABOUT INTIMACY PAGE 14
when he met Tommy English. English co-produced BØRNS 2014 EP Candy, which featured “Electric Love,” the single that made people take notice of this newcomer. BØRNS followed up the EP with his full-length album, Dopamine, which was released in October of last year. “The Michigan singer looks and sounds like he’s stepped out of Velvet Goldmine, high-fived Lana Del Rey, added an unnecessary accent to his surname and gone into the studio with the sole purpose of making girls in crochet shorts feel like they’re having the time of their lives but also a little sad at the same time,” Kate Hutchinson wrote in her review of the album for the Guardian. SEE SPRING CONCERT, PAGE 19
MIDD DISCOUNT COMEDY PROVOKES PAGE 17
2 NEWS
SGA Update By Will DiGravio
SGA Correspondent & Staff Writer
The Jan. 21 meeting of the Student Government Association (SGA) began with an announcement from Larson Lovdal ’16.5 that $43,000 has been raised to construct the Ian Burgin ’08 Memorial Lodge, exceeding the project team’s goal by $23,000. Last year, the SGA committed $40,000 towards the project. Construction of the cabin, located on the Rikert Trail Network, will begin next fall. SGA President Ilana Gratch ’16 reported that dining services will take over the operation of 10 o’clock Ross. It is Gratch’s hope that this transition will ultimately broaden the options available to students. Gratch asked senators for feedback on the commons system to introduce at a meeting of the College Board of Overseers, for which she is a member. Senators agreed that attitudes towards the commons system vary by individual experiences. Speaker of the Senate Reshma Gogineni ’16 suggested that one way to improve the system would be to have each commons run more consistently in what they do and what kinds of activities they offer. Ross Senator Trisha Singh ’18 said that there should be more intercommons traditions. Next in the meeting, the SGA passed an election reform bill, authored by SGA Director of Membership Zak Fisher ’16, and sponsored by Gratch. The bill suggested the elimination of the current system of single-transferable-vote (STV) and instant-runoff (IRV) voting, to be replaced by a winner-take-all system. According to Fisher, the old system presented logistical issues and confused the electorate. It is the belief of the SGA that a winner-take-all system will make elections more efficient and easier to grasp. President Gratch began the Jan. 28 meeting by welcoming Rae Aaron ’19.5 and Sebastian Grandas ’19.5, the newly elected Feb senators, to the SGA. Gratch also announced that because no candidate ran to fill the vacant Wonnacott Commons senate seat, she is now responsible for appointing someone to the position. SGA Treasurer Aaron de Toledo ’16 then presented a mid year update on the Finance Committee. As of Jan. 28, the Committee has received $1.38 million in requests and has granted $1.13 million. de Toledo said that the committee has $35,000 available to spend, however, allocating this money would not be ideal because it would cut into the organization’s reserve funds. Over the past year, the Committee has established a new policy dealing with the funding of sound systems, and is currently working on new policies regarding club sports and commons funding. At present, the Committee is preparing for spring budgeting. After de Toledo’s presentation, senators engaged in a discussion about budget philosophy. Senators agreed that, in the future, the SGA should be wary in funding large capital projects, as they pose long term risk. Community Council Co-Chair Tiff Chang ’17.5 said that the SGA should look to implement implicit bias training for the Finance Committee, and that there should be a greater effort to make sure that the Committee is more diverse.
| March 10, 2016
National Media Energized by Drink Ban By Rae Aaron Contributing Writer
Dining Services’ announcement to cease the sale of energy drinks on campus following a proposal from the Community Council has caught the attention of the national media and been the focus of a range of scrutiny. The debate held by the Community Council and the ensuing decision first gained the attention of Susan Donaldson James, a Vermont-based NBC freelance journalist. She interviewed three students on campus and published an article about the ban. From there, news sites including Time Magazine, the Bowdoin Orient and almost 100 others picked up the story and covered it from a variety of angles. Many sources published statistics and quotations provided by Myles KamisherKoch, a dining software intern at the College, who first proposed the idea to the Community Council. Much of the language in the coverage also came from Executive Director of Food Services, Dan Detora, who released the announcement about the ban. Cosmopolitan reporter Megan Friedman took a more humorous approach, opening her article by saying students “will have to rely on lots and lots of coffee during final exams from now on,” without the help of energy drinks for staying awake. She added that, “it’s a major blow for all-nighter study sessions in the library.” The Huffington Post, on the other hand, challenged the validity of the health risk correlation that Detora cited in the announce-
ment. An article in the Bowdoin Orient, reassured students that Bowdoin College plans to continue the sale of energy drinks, which, according to Bowdoin Director of Dining and Bookstore Services, Mary McAteer Kennedy, have declined in popularity in recent years but still sell at high rates during exams weeks. On March 4, Yahoo News published information from the American Heart Association’s recent research showing the negative effects of energy drinks to the heart. In their article, Yahoo mistakenly reported that the College banned both the “sale and consumption of energy drinks on campus.” The College has not banned the consumption of these drinks. Since the consumption of energy drinks on campus is still allowed and the drinks are easy to come by, those in opposition to the new rule have instead voiced concern with the College’s infringement on students’ ability to make personal decisions rather than anger over limiting the actual acquisition of the energy drinks. Prior to being approached by NBC in Wilson Cafe, Phil Hoxie ’17.5, not an energy drink consumer but an opponent of the ban, was unaware of the new ban and was shocked by the media response. “There’s too much going on in the world right now, they should have better things to cover ... and yet energy drinks,” he said. Additionally, he disagrees with the ban, saying, “If the Community Council thinks that we aren’t responsible enough to make good choices as far as how much caffeine
we consume, are they doing us any favors? I would say no, they’re not.” By banning the drinks, he believes the College is not only doing a disservice to the students by robbing them of an aspect of their educational environment, but also doing a disservice to the College’s image. “As far as the coverage goes,” Hoxie said, “I think what [the College] administration should be worried about is, are they playing into framing [the College] as an overcontrolling environment toward their students?” Although students like Hoxie offer a valid argument, Community Council Co-Chair Tiffany Chang ’17.5 and Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott draw attention back to the original impetus and facts behind the recommendation and subsequent ban. According to Smith Abbott, Dining Services had the power to unilaterally stop the sale without notification to the Council or student body, but the research showing the health risks that Kamisher-Koch presented persuaded the Council members that this action, as Smith Abbott said, “was really about being consistent with our mission statement and our dining statement, which is on the books.” Both Smith Abbott and Chang agreed that it was clear the media used this as an opportunity to publish a sensational story that would tap into a broader national conversation, turning it into something much larger than it really is.
PossePlus Retreat Encourages Discussion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Michael Garel-Martorana ’16 attended the event as a guest, and feels strongly about Posse’s role on campus. “Posse plays an important role in these discussions because Posse Scholars are not afraid to speak their mind, to put things into action,” he said. “They are strong, resilient individuals. The retreats put on by the foundation tackle topics that people need to engage with and learn about.” Pena felt that this year’s focus on speech was especially timely. “Personally, I feel that
this issue is becoming relevant to every campus across the nation and conversations such as the ones facilitated by the Posse Foundation are necessary,” he said. “Both academic and personal instances of freedom of speech on campuses have garnered much attention by media outlets, campus administrators and the student body. While the standards for freedom of speech do vary between public and private institutions, I believe that freedom of speech, in certain contexts, can be damaging both emotionally and psychologically to a campus community and the victims
of hate speech. I am a strong believer that the retreat was only the beginning of larger group discussions regarding this topic that need to occur on campus.” Garel-Martorana noted that the retreat serves as a powerful educational tool. “No one can hear the stories, see the powerful support system that marginalized students provide for each other, and engage in the discussions at PPR, without recognizing that there are problems all too real for so many of us on campus, and that change is not up for debate.”
Fraker Prize Awarded by GSFS Department narrative, “The Death of Scheherazade Or How Not to Write About Arab Men.” In her piece, Kotb responds to a class discussion Last Tuesday, March 8, the Women’s about the novel “Reading Lolita in Tehran: and Gender Studies department honored A Memoir in Books,” by Azar Nafisi. Elizabeth Dunn ’18 with the Alison Catharine Wright, director of the Fraker Essay Prize, an annual award that Writing Program, nominated Kotb and commemorates the memory of Alison introduced her at the ceremony. Wright Gwen Fraker ’89. called Kotb’s narrative a “brilliant, Fraker was a “muchsarcastic, biting, selfbeloved, vocally reflective piece about how to feminist student” situate herself as a feminist who passed away in between Arab patriarchy and a car accident weeks white, western imperialist before her graduation. brand of feminism”. The award ceremony, The next honorable which is traditionally mention was presented by celebrated on Moorti to Sarah Karerat International Women’s ’18 for her essay, “Policing Day, is dedicated Native Sexualities: Section to her memory and 377 of the Indian Penal Code” passion for the study in which she examined how and practice of gender a law from mid 19th-century equality. colonial India continues to Students are affect the lives of people a nominated for projects post-colonial Indian society. submitted in any “I was very impressed department as long by the scope of the project as they address issues and and the broad range of focused in gender discourses Sarah brings to studies. These projects Michael O’hara make us understand how the are then presented to Elizabeth Dunn ’18 was awarded the Alison Fraker Prize last Tuesday at the production of a sodomite in a board of faculty who India was the product of annual ceremony. chooses one winner both colonial and sexual and two honorable mentions. discussion of racial stereotypes and porn, discourses,” Moorti said. This year, 13 different projects, the history and legacy of rape and sexual The ceremony, and the award, allow completed by 19 students, were nominated. exploitation in slavery and writings… students to engage with issues of gender In recent years, nominations have diverged theorizing and reflecting on the meaning and sexuality within larger contexts. from the traditional essay form and this of race-play scenes”. “One thing I really appreciate was how year included songs, presentations and “Rather than dismissing race play intersectional everything sounded,” Dunn podcasts, among others. as either an object of study or immoral said. “Nothing just dealt with one issue; Director and Professor of Gender, practice, the essay engages the possibilities they all coalesced around different issues Sexuality and Feminist Studies Sujata of what it might mean to think through of marginalizing aspects of peoples’ Moorti and Director of Chellis House Karin race play,” he said. identities. I appreciated this whole event Hanta lead the ceremony and presented One of the two honorable mentions was because it was a spotlight on such a wide the awards. awarded to Sarah Kotb ’16 for her critical range of papers and topics.” By Ellie Reinhardt News Editor
Dunn’s piece, an essay titled “Race Play and Racism,” was nominated and presented by Anson Koch-Rein, a visiting assistant professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies. Koch-Rein commended Dunn’s essay for its success in engaging with the “uncomfortable intersection” between race play and racism “by drawing into the conversation a
News 3
March 10, 2016 |
AEI Hosts Talk on Inequality, Poverty and Policy By Eliza Teach News Editor The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Club, along with the Economics and Political Science Departments hosted Scott Winship to speak this past Thursday, March 3 in McCardell Bicentennial Hall. Winship, the Walter B. Wriston Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, presented a talk titled, “Inequality, Poverty, and Policy.” Phil Hoxie ’17.5, President of the AEI Club, asked Winship to present after hearing him speak over the summer. Hoxie said, “I chose Winship because I think he has a really nuanced and important view to hear. For so many people, when they talk about inequality and poverty, it is either plan A or plan B. And if you noticed from the talk, he’s really in between the two. It’s a false dichotomy almost.” Winship’s research interests include standards and economic mobility, inequality and insecurity. He has previously been a fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Manager of the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trust. He has also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at Third Way. “I thought that he would be a really good pick for Middlebury if you look at what motivates different kinds of people. Liberals are motivated a lot by empathy and conservatives are motivated a lot by a wide range of different things,” Hoxie said. “I thought that because he spent so much time at Brookings, he could talk about an issue that is very touchy in a way that really connected with people’s values, and I think he did just that.” Winship began by reviewing several studies regarding the trajectory of inequality over the course of the last century before delving into how poverty has progressed over the same period. He ended by sharing some of
his own research into the inequality of opportunity between different races and genders before addressing several policy proposals. He argued that the apparent rises in inequality are somewhat exaggerated. After rising a great deal in the 1970s and 1980s, inequality has not risen much since. Winship said, “If you care about whether the middle class is pulling away from the poor, there is certainly a lot of inequality between those two groups, but it hasn’t gotten worse since the 1980s. What has changed a lot is the top that pulled away.” Associate Professor of Political Science and Department Chair Bertram Johnson found this to be some of the most interesting data. “At least since the publication of Thomas Piketty’s 2014 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, academics have been aware of the dramatic contrast in wealth and income between the top one percent and everyone else,” said Johnson. “The pattern in the data below the very top is not as dramatic. Reasonable people could react differently to this – either interpreting it as a reason to worry less about inequality, or interpreting it as a further indication of the distinctiveness of the super-wealthy. Either way, it was interesting.” Winship cited changes in tax laws affecting when people realize assets such as capital gains as a plausible reason for an over-exaggeration of income inequality. Another part of this, he argued, is that that changing tax rates altered what people declared as individual income as opposed to corporate tax income. “A big part of the rise in inequality was because of the changes in tax laws, some of which produced real inequality increases. So as tax rates go down, people are going to work longer, they’re
going to retire later, they’re going to take more risks and try to innovate more,” Winship said. “So that’s a real increase in inequality, but some of it is just an artifact.” In terms of poverty trends, he argued that conservatives are apt to say we have lost the war on poverty because the figures are just as high as those from the 1960s. However, Winship explained that the official measure doesn’t take into account four of the five biggest anti-poverty programs in the country. Accounting for these programs, including SNAP and Medicaid, actually show that the poverty rate has almost been cut in half, according to Winship, although evidence suggests intergenerational mobility hasn’t really improved over time. His new research consists of studies comparing income mobility across racial and gender lines. “It was nice to have essentially a low key, balanced presentation on a subject that is important and can give rise to confrontation,” Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Murray Dry said. “I suppose if you combine income inequality and race, that’s when you’re likely to get confrontation.” In terms of potential policy measures, Winship proposed the expansion of the earned income tax credit as well as a housing voucher program to support people who want to move to neighborhoods with more opportunity. He also raised the issue of expanding child tax credits for married couples. This is not to say that this should cut it for un-married couples, but it would be an incentive to reduce out-of-wedlock births. He further emphasized the need to experiment with local initiatives through funding small-scale programs to see what models have potential. Johnson said, “I
Dance Marathon Raises Over $18,000 By Ellie Reinhardt News Editor The College hosted its fifth annual Miracle Network Dance Marathon last Friday, March 4, as part of a nationwide movement to support local children’s hospitals. The 10-hour event supported the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and included dancing, live student performances, local food and celebrations. Across the country, chapters of For The Kids from over 300 different schools are hosting their own dance marathons to raise money that will go directly to local
hospitals. The money will provide child-life care, research and medical equipment for the children and families these hospitals serve. This year the College raised $18,500, crushing last year’s record of $12,000. Erin Miller ’16.5, president of the committee organizing the event, said that “For The Kids has been a huge part of my College experience…This event provides students and community members not only the opportunity, but the privilege, to make a difference in numerous patient's lives.” The event brought together hundreds of students, town residents and children from the local hospital and this year, there were over 330 registered participants.
“Our campus rarely rallies together in support of a common cause,” Committee Member Rebecca Berry ’16.5 said. “It is an honor, privilege and responsibility for us to fight for the next generation of children in our community. Dance Marathon brings out the best in [the College].” Although the event already took place, the College’s For The Kids chapter is working to bring their group to the forefront of a movement happening at large colleges and universities around the country. In addition to raising money through the Dance Marathon and other events, they are hosting the Conquering Disease Spring Symposium from April 5-8 this year.
For the kids middlebury
The fifth annual Miracle Network Dance Marathon, hosted by For the Kids Middlebury, raised over $18,000 for the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital.
found the transparent way in which he used data to be refreshing. It allowed us as an audience to ask intelligent questions, at the same time as it challenged some of our assumptions. I didn’t agree with every policy proposal that he offered, but one could tell what aspects of the analysis each was based on – an aspect of the presentation that allowed us to draw our own conclusions. Winship’s is a perspective on inequality that we do not usually see, and although it doesn’t address every angle on the subject, it was informative and interesting.” For their next sponsored talk, Hoxie said the the AEI Club is bringing in former White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan, Peter J. Wallison, to present on April 14.
Faculty Talk Policy, Articles and Lunch at March Plenary By Will DiGravio Staff Writer
At the monthly plenary faculty meeting on March 4, the faculty discussed a proposal to create an open-access repository at the College. The proposal was presented by Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Svea Closser on behalf of the Open Access Working Group and the Faculty Council. A repository is a database where faculty can make their published articles available for free in one location. The repository would include scholarly journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters. It would not include creative works, books, commissioned articles or other publications where authors are compensated directly for their writing. Though submission of articles would be mandatory, faculty members would be able to obtain a waiver should they not want an article included. The faculty voted to table the proposal and will vote on it after discussing it in open meetings. Later in the meeting, Professor of Psychology Barbara Hofer, on behalf of the Faculty Council and Appeals Council, proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook. She presented six recommendations aimed at clarifying misunderstandings that originate from the current handbook language regarding the faculty review process. One recommendation proposed changing handbook language to say that any candidate denied a reappointment or promotion would be provided with a written rationale for the decision. Another proposed modifying a passage to clearly state that all tenured faculty members, even when on academic leave, are expected to submit a letter regarding a colleague undergoing review. The faculty in attendance tabled the proposal and will vote on it after discussing it in open meetings. The faculty approved a proposal, made by the Educational Affairs Committee, to clarify language regarding honors eligibility after a student commits an academic honesty infraction. The old language rendered students who received either an official or unofficial College discipline ineligible for graduation and/ or departmental honors. Now only students who receive an official College discipline are ineligible from those honors. Joseph Burr Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Rick Bunt made a motion, on behalf of the First Year Seminar Steering Committee, to support the creation of an “All College Luncheon Day.” At the luncheon, faculty would sit at tables, grouped by department or program, and have lunch with undeclared students on one day, once a semester, to answer questions and provide guidance to students. The goals of the luncheon are to better communicate curriculum changes to students, build greater relationships between faculty and students and get students acclimated to the advising process. The faculty approved the motion, which formally recommends that the administration implement the luncheon.
local Department of Public Service Censors Criticism in Audit signed an act of the Vermont State Legislature mandating VDPS to “... evaluate the pros and cons of various forms The Vermont Department of Public of ratepayer advocate offices,” and to Service (VDPS) has come under intense develop “any recommendations on how scrutiny this week for omitting criticisms to improve the structure and effectivefrom an internal report assessing its acness of the Division for Public Advocacy countability to the public. In a letter to (DPA) within the Department of Public the Department, lawyer James Dumont Service.” argued that VDPS independence is comIn theory, the DPA is responsible promised by the influence of the goverfor ensuring that ratepayers in Vermont, nor, who appoints the director of the orno matter what utility they pay for, are ganization and retains undue influence protected from exploitative price hikes over decision making at the Department. or unfair rate changes, and is generally Although VDPS Public Service Commisintended to advocate on behalf of consioner Chris Recchia told the Senate sumers. Because a limited number of Finance Committee that an appendix utility companies are able to operate in to the report included all commentary, Vermont, the VDPS which was also availis meant to simulate able online, Dumont’s “There is no indica- competition and regcriticism was left out. tion that the current ulate the non-com“A lawyer must, under our code of structure of the de- petitive market. The VDPS is ethics, represent the partment creates any part of the executive wishes of the client,” real or inherent con- branch, and is run by Dumont wrote in a rea commissioner aptainer. “I believe it is flicts of interest.” pointed by the govhigh time for the legernor. Critics like islature to re-examDumont assert that ine whether ratepayer VT Dept. of Public Service placing ratepayer adadvocacy should be Internal Audit vocacy under the umdirected by a person brella of an appointwho is appointed by ed office rather than the governor, serves one chosen by ratepayers compromises at the pleasure of the governor and ... in the independence of the office. some major cases has been ordered or Supporters of this structure say it is strongly urged to make decisions based economical and better meets the needs on the wishes of the governor without of the public. In a press statement, Recregard to the expertise and opinions of chia claimed that her staff mistook Duthe professional staff and lawyers within mont’s letter for personal comments the Department.” that he did not wish to be used in the The report, eventually issued on VDPS audit. Feb. 22, did not include this suggestion, “My staff just misinterpreted Mr. instead stating that “... there is no indiDumont’s request in his letter about cation that the current structure of the providing formal comments,” said RecDepartment creates any real or inherent chia, “and they thought that he did not conflicts of interest.” wish to include those.” In June of 2015, Governor Shumlin Harry Cramer Local Editor
regulated monopoly. Good competition “Obviously, after [hearing about yields razor-thin margins while producthis] yesterday, he did want them ining a superior quality product,” he said. cluded and we have posted those since However, there are doubts by many that then on the website,” she continued. the VDPS is doing this job efficiently, in“But that was entirely a staff interpretastead kowtowing to corporate interests tion decision based on their conversaat the expense of the taxpayer. tions with him. And I respect the fact Vermont is among the states with that, checking it out today, that’s what the highest cost of electricity in the they told me.” country, at 11th most expensive. It is However, Dumont is not alone in also different from all the others in New his opposition to the current VDPS England: utilities are not able to sell structure. During the audit process, cash credits for their AARP Vermont Advocacy Director “The office of the pub- renewable power into marketplace. Philene Taormina lic advocate is, unfor- a regional Vermont has, on pointed out that tunately, a misnomer average, earned $50 the VDPS structure is unique to since he or she does million per year from this program, which Vermont. not represent taxpay- was used to hold down “One week the public advocate is ers but instead rep- rates. Normally guarded by a Public Advofighting with the resents the Commis- cate, these could jump company to make a large expansion sioner – who, in turn, as much as six percent next year. in a pipeline or reports to the Gover- in Vermont The American Asa big renewable nor.” sociation of Retired project and ... then Persons (AARP), one the next week they AARP Press Release of the loudest voices in take off that hat the PR battle, released and all of sudden a stinging rebuke of the VDPS following they represent ratepayers ...” revelations that evidence was discluded On Feb. 24, Dumont also told the from its audit. Senate Finance Committee that his let“The Public Advocate and its diviter points to a set of larger issues at the sion are comprised of attorneys who, by Department. statute 2 and ethical codes, are required “In my letter, I specifically raised to act on the behalf of their client, the this very issue, which is the Department Commissioner of the Department of staff and the public advocate are not bePublic Service, not ratepayers,” reads ing listened to because the decisions are the executive summary of the critique. being made from the top down instead of “Thus, the office of the Public Advocate from the bottom up.” is, unfortunately, a misnomer since he Carl Scott, who retired from Green or she does not represent ratepayers by Mountain Power in 2014 after years of statutory definition, but instead, repredealing with the state’s regulatory syssents the commissioner – who, in turn, tem, also testified Thursday. reports to the governor.” “The department is designed by statute to be the competition ... for the
Director of ACLU Steps Down in Vermont By Rebecca Walker Local Editor Last Monday, Allen Gilbert announced that he is leaving his position as the Executive Director of the Vermont Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), after holding this title for 12 years. Gilbert has not decided when his last day will be, but has clarified that he will maintain his position until the summer while a replacement is being found. It is expected that this replacement process will take about three to four months. The search for Gilbert’s succes-
sor has commenced and will span the nation with efforts facilitated by Board Chair James Morse. “It’s been a great run,” Gilbert said in an interview with VTdigger. “12 years is a long time. It’s a full-throttle job and I just need to slow down.” Gilbert also ensured that he does not plan to quit his work all together, but emphasized the desire to be at a place where he can take care of his health as well. Indeed, Gilbert claims to have a list of about five public policy projects that he will give attention to despite the fact that he is leaving his position. “I don’t see myself stopping from do-
Courtesy Burlington Free Press
Allen Gilbert (left) was the Executive Director of the ACLU in Vermont for over 12 years.
ing some form of gainful work. I’ve got a long list of things I still want to do,” Gilbert assured the Burlington Free Press in an interview. The longtime president clearly was not lacking in things to do during his 12 year term with the ACLU. Before leading Vermont’s ACLU, Gilbert held a job as a reporter for the Rutland Herald, worked as an English teacher in Germany and served as a partner in a public policy and research communications firm. As a Worcester resident, Gilbert assumed the position of executive director when Vermont’s chapter of the ACLU only had three staff members. By the end of Gilbert’s term, the chapter was composed of five staff members. One major implementation of Gilbert’s was the addition of ACLU Vermont’s first staff attorney. “The growth in staff and the strategic location [of the group’s offices] are symbolic of Allen’s successful efforts to expand the ACLU’s work and visibility,” praised Board Chair James Morse in an interview with VTdigger. Morse’s second element of praise refers to Gilbert’s decision to relocate the Vermont ACLU’s offices from the Vermont College of Fine Arts on East State Street in Montpelier to Elm Street. The goal and successful effect of this relocation of offices was for the members of the ACLU chapter to place themselves closer to the Vermont Statehouse, where they hoped to inspire and fight for concrete changes. In fact, the executive director himself has been
described as being a frequent presence at the Statehouse where he has shown no fear for engaging in heated debate with law enforcement members. Gilbert further expressed his passion for his job to VTdigger as he claimed to enjoy that he “never knew what was coming down the pike” as executive director of the Vermont ACLU. After announcing his decision to step down from the head position, Gilbert revealed two of his proudest moments and accomplishments in his work in the ACLU. The first major accomplishment that he cited was his involvement in the Guiles v. Marineau case in 2006. This was a freedom of speech case in which a middle schooler’s right to political speech was contested. The ACLU ultimately emerged victorious with this case in the circuit court. The second major accomplishment that Gilbert cited was a discrimination lawsuit that the ACLU worked to use to counter the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville. This case emerged in 2012 when the Wildflower Inn refused to host a wedding reception for a lesbian couple. This case was a success for the ACLU and for Gilbert because the inn settled and agreed to pay the women a civil penalty for their actions. According to VTdigger, Gilbert expressed that “a civil liberty is never completely and permanently won,” and that he has been honored to have been given the opportunity to play a role in fighting to protect them in his role as the leader of Vermont’s American Civil Liberties Union for all these years.
local 5
march10, 2016|
Chemfab Factory Contaminates Water in Bennington By Hye-Jin Kim Senior Writer Flint, Mich. Hoosick Falls, N. Y. North Bennington, Vt. “We are facing a water contamination crisis across our country. North Bennington is the latest in a long line of communities who can no longer trust the most basic necessity of life,” said Erin Brokovich on her website, a consumer advocate involved in the Hoosick Falls investigation. Brokovich is most famous for leading a $333 million settlement lawsuit in 1996 against Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) for contaminating drinking wa-
N.Y. where high levels of the chemical were found in the public water supply. PFOA is a byproduct of producing Teflon, a non-stick coating used to treat pots and pans throughout the late 20th century. In the early 2000s, research linked PFOA exposure to increased rates of testicular and kidney cancer, high cholesterol and other endocrine-related disorders in humans. In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated companies to phase-out PFOA production by 2015. However, PFOA is a very stable chemical that does not degrade easily. It stubbornly persists, both in the environ-
Courtesy VPR
Richard Spiese, Manager of the Vermont Waste Water Management Project, indicates the location of wells that were contaminated by the chemical to residents of North Bennington. ter in Hinkley, Calif. On Feb. 25, Governor Peter Shumlin (D) released a statement that test results from private wells in North Bennington revealed harmful levels of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA). All the sources affected were located within a mile from an abandoned Chemfab factory owned by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, the same company responsible for the recent PFOA contamination in Hoosick Falls,
ment and in the body. “When people are exposed to PFOA, the chemical stays in the body. These chemicals do not dissolve in fat like other persistent pollutants,” according to the Department of Health. “Instead, they accumulate in the blood. The time it takes for half the PFOA to leave your body is two to four years.” This is also assuming one is not exposed to additional PFOA from Teflon-coated pans.
into the skin. Trace levels of PFOA are predicted On March 4, tap water from another to be present in 95 percent of the huSaint-Gobain factory, this time in Merriman population from pole to pole; even mack, N.H., was tested for PFOA. It testpolar bears have tested positive. This is ed at 0.3 micrograms per liter. While the why PFOA levels are still a problem in E.P.A. does not enforce drinking water the area, despite the factory being abanstandards for PFOA, it has established a doned since 2002 following only two “provisional health advisory” for any levyears in operation. el higher than 0.4 micrograms per liter. While the Vermont Department of “This is concerning news,” said GovHealth offers kits for private well owners ernor Shumlin in a statement. “We are to test their water for inorganic chemifortunate that the public drinking wacals like lead and arsenic, it does not offer a kit for PFOA detection. According ter systems are not impacted. We will continue to be vigito the Department of lant about testing Health website, “Labprivate wells in the oratories in Vermont “We will continue to are not equipped to be vigilant about test- North Bennington area, getting bottled test for PFOA. The ing private wells in water to those who Department of Envineed it and addressronmental Conserva- the North Bennington any health contion will collect water area, getting bottled ing cerns or impacts gosamples to send to an water to those who ing forward. No one out-of-state lab for this specialized testneed it and addressing should have to worry about the safety of ing.” the water they drink. As of Feb. 25, any health impacts goVermont state offiing forward. No one We will be there for those impacted until cials have been going should have to worry the situation is redoor-to-door, collecting samples from about the safety of the solved.” The Saintprivate wells within water they drink.” Gobain Corporation a one and a half mile has been providradius of the Cheming bottled water to fab factory to test for Peter Shumlin (D) residents affected by PFOA. The Vermont Governor of Vermont possible PFOA conHealth Department tamination in North has a stricter drinkBennington and Hoosick Falls. A feding water level for PFOA at 20 parts-pereral class-action lawsuit against Sainttrillion (ppt) than the national standard Gobain on behalf of Hoosick Falls has of 400 ppt set by the E.P.A. While the been underway since September 2015. calculations are based “on the same sciThe lawsuit, spearheaded by Brokovich ence,” Vermont accounts for exposure and the law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, will to children early in life while the E.P.A. now include North Bennington in its inbased their standard on exposure to vestigation as well. adults. The wastewater treatment plant In a recent speech to residents of tested at 618 ppt and the landscaping Flint, Mich., Senator Bernie Sanders business 168 ppt. The residential wells urged his own state officials to “aggresranged from 40 to 2,880 ppt. According to Dr. Harry Chen, Com- sively investigate the well water situation in North Bennington, keep families missioner of the Vermont Department of informed and ensure Vermonters have Health, PFOA is most dangerous when access to clean and safe water.” ingested; external exposure through “The state must hold the polluters water-resistant clothing or washing pots responsible for their actions,” he said. is negligible since PFOA cannot absorb
Stories Find New Life at Monroe St. Books By Wendy Walcoff Contributing Writer
You may have passed it by on your way to Burlington, or you might have turned the car and parked like we did. Monroe St. Books is an unabashed, yet not entirely flashy, used bookstore on Rt. 7 North, lined floor to ceiling with peeling paperbacks and once-loved hardcovers. Upon entering the store, we find the owner squatted on a small stool amidst the children’s books. The lines on his forehead sit above his wide-rimmed glasses, and they crinkle together when he tells us of the vastness of his collection. They have 100,000 used books on display and 60,000 more in the back. “People sometimes come in here and they have a panic attack – they have to lie down or leave,” store owner Dick
Chodkowski says. “They can’t handle it because there’s too many books. They profess that they love books, but it’s just too much for them. It’s kind of sad. I always tell them to just concentrate on one area.” He turns toward the rows of picture books before him, brushing his fingers against the bindings. Chodkowski explains his store was a hobby that got out of control; he brushes much of his story aside and keeps his pages bound. “It’s easy to collect books. There’s no end to the books. It’s finding the good books that’s tough,” Chodkowski says. Chodkowski and his wife, Flanzy, have spent hours upon hours with the books over the years, as they’ve built upon their collection. He takes pride in the variety of Monroe St.’s selection, with stacks of beekeepers’ guides, old mysteries and collections of poems. “There’s a book for everyone,” he says. When we ask if he has a favorite, he furrows his brow, saying, “I don’t have a favorite; I can’t play favorites. They’re all my children.” I ask if he can help me find what I’m looking for, the original Winnie the Pooh, one of a four-part collection I’ve been tracking down. He knows his shelves well and leads me directly to A.A. Milne, where the exact book sits, slightly dusted and waiting. Though the story
and the copy are both well-used, there is a sense of newness as I claim it as my own. I slide it off the shelf with satisfaction, an act I’m sure Chodkowski has seen countless times. He thanks me, and turns back to his work. With a story in every nook and cranny, the multitude of treasures in this
bookstore gives increasing meaning to what lies within the bindings. Leaving Monroe St. Books, the book I grip in my hand is more than merely what’s written on the pages; it is the whir of stories that have been opened and closed, passed down to new hands, and are ready to be lived again.
opinions
Disclaimer: Reader op-eds do not reflect the opinion of The Middlebury Campus editorial board.
Undercaffeinated and Underwhelmed
Last week, Middlebury’s Community Council voted to recommend the discontiunation of energy drink sales on campus, citing the “problematic behavior” that can arise from the consumption of such drinks. A letter to MiddExpress customers — signed by Dan Detora, MiddleThe editorial bury’s executive direpresents the rector of food servicofficial opinion of es — states, “There is the editorial board scientific literature of The Middlebury that demonstrates Campus. a strong correlation between the consumption of energy drinks and problematic
editorial
editorial board
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Claire Abbadi MANAGING EDITOR Leah Lavigne BUSINESS MANAGER Wyatt French NEWS EDITORS Christian Jambora, Eliza Teach, Phil Bohlman, Ellie Reinhardt OPINIONS EDITORS Sara Hodgkins, Francesca Haass, Lauren Alper, Nina Colombotos SPORTS EDITORS Joe MacDonald, Alex Morris, Emily Bustard, Andrew Rigas, Will Case, Remo Plunkett LOCAL EDITORS Harry Cramer, Rebecca Walker FEATURES EDITORS Emilie Munson, Ethan Brady, Henry Burnett, Renee Chang ARTS AND SCIENCE EDITORS Elizabeth Zhou, Toby Aicher, Oakley Haight PHOTOS EDITORS Rachel Frank, Anahi Naranjo, Michael O’Hara, Anthea Viragh, Michael Borenstein DESIGN EDITOR Emma Hatheway, Julia Hatheway CARTOON EDITOR Boone McCoy-Crisp ONLINE EDITORS Maggie Cochrane, Pyone Aye COPY EDITOR Sarah Sicular THE CAMPUS VOICE HOST Nathaniel Wiener SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS Nathaniel Wiener, Pyone Aye The content written within the Opinions pages may cause emotional distress. Please exercise discretion. The Opinions pages of The Middlebury Campus provide a forum for constructive and respectful dialogue on substantive issues. With this in mind, The Campus reserves the right to deny publication of all or part of a submission for any reason. This includes, but is not limited to: the making of assertions based on hearsay; the relation of private conversations; the libelous mention of unverifiable events; the use of vulgar language or personal attacks. Any segment of a submitted article that contains any of the aforementioned will be removed before publication. Contributors will be allowed to reference prior articles published in the Opinions section or announcements for the public record. If a reference is made to prior articles, the submission will be considered a letter to the editor. The opinions expressed by contributors to the Opinions section, as well as reviews, columns, editorial comics and other commentary, are views of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the newspaper. Submit works directly to the Opinions Editors, Drawer 30, campus@ middlebury.edu or via the paper’s web site at www. middleburycampus.com. To be considered for publications, submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Sunday. The Campus reserves the right to edit all submissions. The Middlebury Campus (USPS 556-060), the student newspaper of Middlebury College, is published by The Middlebury Campus Publications. Publication is every Thursday of the academic year, except during official college vacation periods and final examinations. Editorial and business offices are located in Hepburn Hall Annex, Middlebury College. The Middlebury Campus is produced on Apple Macintosh computers using Adobe InDesign CS5 and is printed by the Press Republican in New York. The advertising deadline for all display and classified advertising is 5 p.m. Friday for the following week’s issue. Mailing address: The Middlebury Campus, Drawer 30, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt., 05753. Business phone: (802) 443-5737. Please address distribution concerns to the Business Director. First class postage paid at Middlebury, Vt., 05753.
behavior in young adults and college students, including increased alcohol consumption, increased likelihood to drive while intoxicated, increased probability of use of other intoxicating substances and increased participation in high-risk sexual activity.” The decision was met with varying degrees of support and criticism, as well as national news attention. We find the sales ban powerful – at least symbolically – and recognize the need to address its troubling implications. First, this ban serves as a conspicuous reminder that the College has taken few concrete steps to mitigate student stress. Second, the language surrounding the ban — namely, the unsubstantiated mention of a correlation between energy drinks and sexual activity — has made the College the subject of mockery in the headlines of national media outlets. While we acknowledge the well-intentioned motivations of the Community Council in approving the ban, we believe that such a decision does not fall in accordance with the philosophy of the College in terms of personal responsibility. Consider the Honor Code, one we all sign within our first few days of entering Middlebury, whose authors are described as “students in a community of individuals that values academic integrity as a way of life.” Although the code is used formally as an academic standard, it embodies the culture and values of the College, which place great importance on personal responsibility. The Honor Code allows students more academic freedom — such as take-home assignments and unproctored exams — than most other colleges and universities, with the expectation that we will rise to the occasion with great
integrity and behavior that is healthy to both the individual and the learning community as a whole. Middlebury students are expected to exhibit a matured ability to make responsible academic decisions, an expectation that should be holistically applied to its assumptions of the student population. A ban on the sale of energy drinks implies Middlebury students are not capable of making decisions that affect their own bodies, a direct contradiction to the values clearly stated in our academic code. We believe that decisions based on the health and wellness of students should more accurately reflect the values we uphold in our community, academically and beyond. When we graduate, we’ll have access to energy drinks. If we choose to consume energy drinks in college, we should choose to do so responsibly -- as such, an imposed lack of access does not benefit Middlebury students in the long run. Furthermore, we understand that student stress was a factor in Community Council’s decision to ban the sale of the drinks. Although we commend their efforts to consider the health of the Middlebury student, we believe this ban addresses only a minor manifestation of the culture of stress on campus, a culture that could be vastly improved with a commitment to more constructive changes. On many levels, the ban feels to us like a shallow gesture that is overshadowed by institutional contradictions such as the fact that copious amounts of coffee — including Starbucks Doubleshot drinks — are still sold in campus stores. We would love to see Community Council confront this institution’s failure to make concrete steps towards changing
the culture of stress on this campus, rather than making small changes that feel almost patronizing. After the weighty conversations around student stress last spring, the sales ban is one of the few changes intended to begin to address that culture, but one that falls far short of making any substantive improvements. Members of this board varied in the degree to which they found the energy drink ban problematic, sparking a conversation around other products not sold on campus. Many supported the fact that no tobacco is sold; others brought up the question of soda or fattening foods—should those be banned also? This sparks the question of a movable line, and the people who have the power to draw it. Community Council, it should be noted, is a board comprised of students, faculty and staff. The students are appointed by the Student CoChair. We believe that a board with such influence should be more directly representative of the people whose decision it most affects. Community Council can produce significant legislation that directly affects the lives of students, including the possible installment of security cameras and the controversial decision to disband ADP, formally referred to as Prescott house. We suggest that Community Council adopt new publicity tactics — such as proactive polling and all-student emails — to help keep students in the loop. Additionally, when crafting resolutions, we implore Community Council to make careful use of their language — lest NBC run with a few peculiar sentences. There are so many initiatives and projects at Middlebury that are worthy of attention and recognition, and we find such pointed focus on this energy drink ban unfortunate; the skewed emphasis misrepresents our community. But if we do take student stress seriously, we must do more — we must strive to pass more concrete proposals that address the wellbeing of the student body in a direct, robust manner. A ban on the sale of energy drinks — needless to say — is not enough.
AN OPINIONATED RESPONSE Last week, former Campus copy editor Dan Bateyko submitted a strongly worded criticism of the Opinions section. He challenged us to publish it and we did, despite its scathing tone. The concerns that Dan raises are not new
Notes From the Desk Sara Hodgkins ’17.5, Francesca Haass ’16.5, Lauren Alper ’16 and Nina Colombotos ’18 are Opinions Editors
to us — they are concerns that our board wrestles with on a regular basis. In spite of his use of phrases like “insipid Millsean argument,” we will address Dan’s concerns with respect. The Campus is not the New York Times. Running Middlebury’s only newspaper comes with a specific set of responsibilities that major publications are behooved to ignore. We firmly believe that it is our responsibility to provide a space for all voices, even the voices that members of our community would rather not grant a platform. Dan correctly points out that a newspaper should not be a “glorified spam filter.” We agree. However, we do not view the opinions of students on this campus – all of which are published because they ostensibly have something to contribute to this community – as unsolicited contributions best placed directly into the trash. We reserve the right to deny publication for any reason, but we do not desire to exercise this right. This is not due to a lack of submissions; rather, it is due to a desire to represent as many people in these pages as we can. That said, the Opinions team has decided to exercise increased editorial power over the submissions that come our way. We maintain that all submitted opinions have a place in these pages, but they do not have to be printed more or less as they come. Of course, we will not print direct violations to our code of conduct. But we also
have been wary of editing beyond stylistic and grammatical changes; there is a fine line between editing and censoring student voices. We also worry that we become complicit in arguments we dislike by elevating their quality. While we are still grappling with our editorial role, we believe that the Opinions team can and must exercise more editorial control over our section’s content. There is a middle ground between denying publication to opinions we find offensive and letting all the “drivel” through. Moving forward, we intend to work with writers to make sure their opinions are expressed in an intellectually rigorous and coherent manner. We believe that more agency over the opinions in this section will result in a better paper and higher caliber of campus discourse. Our stance against anonymity is part of this quest for a better campus discourse. If people can’t stand behind their arguments openly, it calls the argument that they are making into question. People think harder about pieces they have to put their name on. However, there is a place for anonymity and we have willingly granted it in compelling cases. Earlier this year, we published an anonymous op-ed from a student suffering from mental illness, as well as one this very week from a student accused of sexual assault. In both of these cases, authors asked us for anonymity and we found their reasoning compelling. Anonymity is not something that we take lightly. Dan asserts that the editorial board contradicted itself by calling for “a higher standard of speech — one that respects and acknowledges the power dynamic at play” when we published recent “unpopular” opinions. Our board holds itself to this standard and hopes the student body will do the same. However, when student contributors fail to meet this expectation, their unpopular opinions still have the right to be expressed. Our board often writes about what we wish our community would strive to become, not necessarily what it is today.
We can both convey these expectations and fulfill the most important democratic promise — freedom of speech — without contradiction. As we write in our Feb. 24 editorial “A Paper for the People,” “… we understand that community standards may be shifting around what is acceptable speech. We hear those voices and we care. At the same time, we prize freedom of expression and don’t want to limit it without a very serious discussion from the student body about what exactly those standards are.” As for concerns regarding lists and poetry, we stand by our policy to reject pieces that do not comply with standard journalistic form. The policy about lists and poetry has changed since the example he cited from 2013, when no members of the editorial board held their current positions. Dan insinuates that requiring a certain form of submission equates to a journalistic poll tax. Journalistic writing may be classist in a broad sense of the national landscape, where many people don’t have access to the education that grants their opinions legitimacy. At Middlebury, however, every student at this school is held to a certain academic standard that makes them more than capable of adhering to the form that this paper requires. While we agree that this is not the only form an opinion can take, we are not excluding any individual from having their voice heard. There are other outlets on this campus for more creative engagement. We would also like to take this time to quickly clarify other issues that were raised. We do not strictly enforce a word limit, and our publication of longer pieces by President Patton is not an act of privileging the administration. We let plenty of our columnists and op-ed writers go over the word limit if they feel it necessary. We thank Dan, in addition to other students who have publicly and privately voiced their criticisms of The Campus. We hear you, and we have been tirelessly working to evaluate these concerns and make changes where we feel necessary.
march 10, 2016 |
An Education for the Future The United States spends, on average, $12,379 per pupil for each year of public K-12 education. Among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the U.S. ranks second
Talking Politics Phil Hoxie ’17.5 is from Orinda, Calif. Alexander Khan ’17 is from Phoenix, Ariz.
in dollars spent per pupil. This is what we have to show for it. Only 33 percent of 8th graders are at, or above, proficiency level in math; similarly, only 34 percent of 8th graders are at, or above, proficiency in reading. For 12th graders, only 26 percent were at or above proficiency in math and only 38 percent were in reading. We could go on, but the numbers just get worse. One of the biggest problems with our schools is the way that we fund them. Currently, a large portion of school funding is done at the local level through property taxes. This leads to great levels of inequality among public schools because higher income areas are able to raise more revenue. If you are in a low income school district, more often than not, the only way to send your child to a better school is to move. We do not think this is right. We support a system in which equal funding follows each student, and it is not conditional on where you live. Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs) could make this possible. An ESA is a fund of money provided by the state to each family for their
child’s entire K-12 education. The money opportunity to pursue their passions and can only be spent at accredited education- study subjects that many schools are cutal institutions. Additionally, ESAs encour- ting today, such as music, theater, maage cost savings on the part of both the chine shop and advanced sciences. These parent and the school. Because the money programs are vitally important to our rolls over, and any money not spent on nation’s future, and through ESAs we beK-12 education can be spent on college, lieve that they would be supported and parents are incentivized to be frugal and expanded. Another important component of our schools are incentivized to provide higher nation’s eduquality serviccational syses at a lower price-point. “We want to see a future in tem that has regretWe need which all students, no matter been tably neglecta system that encour- their race, background, or eco- ed are trade ages schools nomic status, have the opportu- schools. Trade schools proto compete to provide nity to receive an education that vide opportuhigh quality will serve them for the future. nities for students to learn services at a lower price. If As inequality of opportunity valuable skills provide students had continues to widen, we have a and steady jobs more choices choice to make. Any plan or sys- for a stronger as to where they went tem that we choose to support future. We believe that these to school, must put the students first.” programs need schools would to be a larger work more part of our edlike businesses competing for market share. With ucational system. Students should have ESAs, the schools that provide the best the opportunity to gain valuable job skills possible education at the most afford- if they so choose. Once students meet able rates would flourish. This would al- standardized graduation requirements, low everyone to have the opportunity to we believe they should have the choice receive an education that they want and to spend their education money at trade deserve. It would also allow for parents schools or other job training programs. to have greater influence over the educa- If the goal of our education system is to tional programs offered at their children’s increase opportunity and reduce poverty, schools, and would encourage a greater then trade schools must be part of that diversity of educational opportunities. system. One of the most tragic parts of our We believe that children should have the
opinions 7
current education system is that our nation’s teachers are undervalued. However, when money follows students, skilled teachers become more valuable. Schools will be incentivized to attract and retain better teachers in order to attract more students. This will link teacher pay to the quality of education that they provide, just like any other service. Many people have had a teacher in their lives that has made a significant difference, and under this system, those teachers would be the most rewarded. No plan, ultimately, is perfect. There will be many challenges to overcome as we move from our current system to one for which we are advocating. The fact of the matter is that some schools will weather the transition better than others. Those schools that can meet the new educational standards necessitated by this system will thrive; those schools that cannot provide an adequate education for our nation’s students will be forced to reform or shut down. New schools, that can better serve those students, will take their place. ESAs will put money back into the hands of parents, rather than administrators, and will incentivize new schools to open in order to better meet the needs of some of our nation’s most disadvantaged students. We want to see a future in which all students, no matter their race, background or socioeconomic status, have the opportunity to receive an education that will serve them for the future. As inequality of opportunity continues to widen, we have a choice to make. Any plan or system that we choose to support must put the students first.
White Privilege and Housing Policy This column is written by white students and for white students. Each week, we will discuss topics or themes regarding race and, more specifically, the role of whiteness in race relations. If you would like to reach out to us personally to continue these conversations, please feel free to do so.
facing whiteness
Aliza Cohen ’17 is from Chattanooga, TN Juliette Gobin ’16 is from Harrison, NY Molly McShane ’16 is from Washington, DC Emma Ronai-Durning ’18 is from Salem, OR Travis Sanderson ’19 is from Las Vegas, NV In this article, we give an overview of the practice of redlining, discriminatory housing laws and predatory loans. These practices are essential to understanding how white privilege operates in the United States. We encourage you to do further research since these practices are complicated and intertwine to oppress and discriminate against people of color, especially Black and Brown communities. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s National Housing Act (1934) subsidized housing development as one means for economic development. As part of this act, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created to generate greater mobility through providing home loans with very low interest rates. The FHA did not act equally, however, and intentionally created racially segregated neighborhoods. The spatially segregated spaces of the suburbs extended into urban areas as well. Through redlining, the FHA marked communities of color (primarily black
communities) as “hazardous” while pro- What could explain these disparate numviding white neighborhoods of similar bers? Black communities were specificalsocioeconomic status with private mort- ly targeted by banks such as Wells Fargo. Former Wells Fargo executives have regages. As white people bought new homes vealed that their offices “saw the black with the help of the FHA, restrictive racial community as fertile ground for subprime covenants required that any subsequent mortgages, as working-class blacks” atbuyer of a home had to be white. Thus, tempted to achieve what had been imposeven if black families had the means to buy sible during the harshest era of redlining. a home in middle-class white neighbor- These loan officers specifically targeted black churches hoods, the ownand were reers of the homes warded by supethey attempted “... the 2008 recession in- riors for steerto move into were contractu- duced a decline in median ing clients in the direction of ally obligated not to sell to black wealth from 9 percent more dangerous practhem. The dam- to 5 percent of median white lending tices. Accordage went further wealth. That is, an average ing to a recent still. Through a written practice known white family has $20 for ev- study as blockbusting, ery dollar that a black fam- about in The Atlantic, “Race white families alone accounted not yet reached ily has today.” for nearly all by racial covof the disparenants were inity in high-cost timidated into selling their homes at low prices by threats mortgage lending between whites and of neighborhoods “turning Black.” These minorities.” The result of this targeted realtors bought houses at low prices and attack on black finances has been stark. sold them with drastic mark-ups to fami- In Baltimore, there is a clear correlation lies of color. This practice of blockbusting between the almost 50,000 vacant homes combined with redlining disallowed black left behind by the crash and the “concenpeople from purchasing “good homes” in tration of black folks living” in the city. “good neighborhoods,” creating racially Even worse, the 2008 recession induced a and economically segregated neighbor- decline in median black wealth from nine hoods that restricted access to jobs, edu- percent to five percent of median white wealth. That is, an average white family cation and healthcare. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 did not has $20 for every dollar that a black famresolve these issues. Predatory loans be- ily has today. Strictly defining neighborhoods and came a major issue especially after the Great Recession of 2008. Predatory loans therefore reinforcing economic inequalwere not equally bad for all communities. ity between neighborhoods doesn’t only According to ReverbPress, “Black women affect the price and quality of homes. It were as much as five times more likely directly affects funding for public educathan white men to receive a subprime tion in those neighborhoods since publoan” and two thirds of people receiving lic education in many states is funded subprime loans actually qualified for less through local property taxes, ensuring dangerous loans and lower interest rates. many difficulties in social mobility. No
efforts were made to actively reverse our history of highly discriminatory housing policies. Inherited wealth and cultural capital are primary mechanisms for social mobility and redlining, subprime loans, under-funded schools and the over-policing of these neighborhoods that have been deemed dangerous (and therefore are acted upon as if they are just that) ensure extreme difficulty in accumulating wealth and social mobility. Furthermore, white society points the finger at these neighborhoods as if their suffering is self-inflicted and that they simply cannot “pull themselves from their boot straps,” without considering all of the obstacles that Black and Brown people face that white people do not. Holding individuals responsible in this way without holding the systems in place accountable has ultimately been used as a tool to justify the over-policing of neighborhoods, the War on Drugs, police brutality, discrimination in sentencing and mass incarceration that disproportionately affect Black and Brown people more than white people. Next week, we will be discussing police brutality and mass incarceration. What we’re reading: 1. “The Case for Reparations” (The Atlantic) 2. “15 Charts That Prove We’re Far From Post-Racial” (Huffington Post) 3. “Ways the American Dream Is Ac tually Just Affirmative Action for White People” (Everyday Feminism)
Interested in continuing these conversations? Come to discussions Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Gifford Classroom. Everyone is welcome!
8 opinions
| March 10, 2016
A Report From the Capital
“Now don’t go getting sentimental!” I continued chopping — onion, after onion, after onion. It was the first day of MAlt DC, a trip to “explore the ethics of inequality in the capital of one of the wealthiest nations in world history,” as our tag-line (primarily used to fundraise
Poverty Prose Travis Sanderson ’19 is from Las Vegas, NV
from doting family members and professors) went. The ovens hissed; the voice of a berating chef shrilled from a nearby room. We were in a kitchen beneath a monstrously large homeless shelter just out of view of the grand, lavish halls of Congress. As government white collars chopped bills that primarily benefited the white collar majority, we chopped onions for people that society drove to the margins. After several hours, we ended our shifts at the same time as the workers. But the next day, we didn’t return immediately to work. “So y’all go to Midd?” the white CEO asked us. He smiled. “I went to Williams!” We laughed and listened as he gave us a full description of the kitchen. He took our questions and mulled over them for
more than an hour while the workers were victims of mass incarceration, the were on the shift we were also scheduled “negative externalities” of policies made to be working. The CEO had intervened, just around the corner at the Capitol. so we couldn’t join them until the conver- They had no choice but to work if they sation concluded. The only people in the wanted to get back on their feet. Second, room — a very public cafeteria — were the leaders of the business itself were all products of the “Liberal Arts.” We were white. (The only exception was someone very aware of that, especially when the who had been promoted from the worker class). CEO stopped speaking T h e r e when an outsider end i d n ’ t tered. As soon as they seem to were gone, he smiled “How can we ignore race be any amiably. And then he animoscontinued as if he nevwhen it continues to be a very ity, forer stopped. That wasn’t the only apparent division? How can t u n a t e l y , and everyinstance of our priviwas lege leading to excep- the myth of post-racialism one directed at tional treatment. A few continue to persist when rethe same days later, the fact that positive we were college stu- ality exists?” goal. But dents earned us a trip that didn’t — in the middle of our mean the shift—to a “gourmet racial elecoffee and bagel shop.” We were a potential source of expansion ment did not exist. Another dimension of the hierarchy for the kitchen, since they had a program designed specifically for college cam- became clear over the next few days. The puses. Drinking coffee with yet another workers were black, and management white face, every minute felt like its own was white, but what about the in-beforever. I thought about the workers, no tween? The middle — which included us doubt cutting onions, back at the kitchen. — seemed to be split evenly between “reWe started to realize the kitchen hier- quired community service” and “volunarchy possessed a racial element. First, teer” classes. The former’s presence was the workers were overwhelmingly black mandated, so members were less privi— former inmates and patients. They leged than us, although they also were
white. One was a student at Virginia Tech whose education had been interrupted for a “private reason.” He would be “back on his feet” after another few months. (“Just pretend to work,” he whispered when we finished our task). The volunteers, like us, were much more temporary, but also mostly white. Beyond just us ambassadors of the state of Vermont, there were well-positioned capitalists doing their service, and a Class of 2015 college graduate who was flitting from nonprofit to non-profit to “find her passion.” I thought about that for a while. How can someone who works seven days a week to even have a chance at a job and someone who can live in her parents’ house as a restless volunteer be in such close proximity? How can both the victims and victors of society be so close together — not only in the kitchen, but in the city — where the wealth of Congress lies directly next to the poverty of the kitchen? How can we ignore race when it continues to be a very apparent division? How can the myth of post-racialism continue to persist when reality exists? Just as we were leaving to return to campus, one of the workers — who we had gotten to know well — smiled at us. She gave one of us her phone number, and asked a few questions. “You’re in college? Ah, you’ll be fine!” And then she turned away, vanishing back into the kitchen.
Reflections on Seeing In 2007, Middlebury College’s Commencement speaker was former President Bill Clinton. If you weren’t here then, it is probably still possible for you to imagine the attention that was garnered by his presence on campus. We dealt with increased security, the promise of an audience that extended well be-
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Katy Smith Abbott is the Dean of the College yond family and well-wishers, and how to keep the day focused on our graduates. It was busy, bordering on chaotic. Almost nine years later, though, I don’t actually remember the logistics or the specific headaches. I remember a single anecdote distilled into a single phrase: “I see you.” Here’s the relevant excerpt from President Clinton’s speech: “A little north of there [in an area of South Africa], in the central highlands, when people meet each other walking along paths and one person says, ‘hello, how are you, good morning,’ the answer is not ‘I’m fine, how are you?’ The answer, translated to English, is ‘I see you.’ Think about that. Think about how empowering that is. Think about the difference between that and a world of people obsessed with concentrating power instead of empowerment, with control instead of freedom, with imposed ideology instead of reasoned evidence. ‘I see you.’” Memories of President Clinton’s speech surfaced for me this past week-
“I see you” is a beginning. It’s differend, when I had the privilege of attending the Posse Plus Retreat. I am very ent from “I get you,” and significantly grateful for that opportunity, and for the distinct from “Based on your appearmoments of deep discomfort as well as ance I already know where you come personal connection that I experienced. from/what you major in/listen to/worry Throughout the retreat, the facilitators about/carry.” “I see you” is an affirmaconsistently employed that same phrase, tion of another person and a confirma“I see you.” Certainly it was used to ac- tion of our own limitations. However knowledge a raised hand as someone we might “see” someone else — with our waited to speak. Frequently, though, it eyes, ears, through touch — that’s all we get withwas a more strikout earning ing, more deeply felt version of the “If we are not willing to be s o m e o n e ’ s trust. If we phrases we so typiless important, less power- are not willcally depend upon, “I hear you,” or ful, less sure for a sustained ing to be less sometimes “I feel moment, we’re not capable i m p o r t a n t , less powerful, you.” How often have we tossed off of really seeing, and we’re less sure for a those phrases, re- definitely not moving to- sustained moment, we’re lied on them as a mechanism for ward a deeper understand- not capable keeping a conversa- ing of and sense of responsi- of really seeing, and we’re tion going, as tesdefinitely timony that we are not moving good listeners, as a passive expression of support? How toward a deeper understanding of and realistic is it for us to really hear or feel sense of responsibility to others. We someone’s experience when it is dissimi- might think of this as a different kind lar from our own? And what shifts when of resilience: a willingness to shed the we thoughtfully, and genuinely substi- comfort of our hard-earned confidence, tute that one word, “see”? I want to ac- to acknowledge that we only know what knowledge that in a world where some we know, however we have come to know are constantly surveilled, and others are it. I’m interested in us considering this visually impaired, there’s plenty that’s reverse resilience on a personal as well problematic about privileging sight. But as on an institutional level: Middlebury I believe there is a way for us to move is a remarkable place with much to be toward a culture of “I see you” in ways proud of AND much to work on. We’re that include, and also move beyond ex- going to get better only by acknowledging where we come up short. clusively what is visible.
This takes me to the other reason that “I see you” has stuck with me; the intangible is impossible to lean on. Throughout this year and particularly this past weekend, I have heard students observe that the administration is not doing anything to improve the experience of students of color on campus, and that our silence is deafening. This is painful to hear, both for the lived reality that it conveys and for its juxtaposition with my own experience; as an administrator, I can say with conviction that everyone with whom I work closely is working every day, in real ways, on inclusion. A list of efforts and successes is not relevant here, as I have no doubt that the work that occurs in meetings, through e-mail and in conversations with alumni and trustees feels invisible and glacial to many. We need to change that, to find visible ways to improve the campus conversation, the campus climate and the lived experience for students in the here and now. Here are two things I feel sure of: we won’t accomplish this with Yik Yak diatribes, the farthest thing from “seeing you” that I can imagine. And we won’t accomplish a campus shift simply through administrative mandates — it’s going to take inventive and evolving partnership. Let’s lose the anonymity and start seeing each other, with all the vulnerability and discomfort that requires. If you’d like to connect, I invite you to join me in office hours on Tuesday afternoons, 3 - 4:15 p.m., in Old Chapel 104, or at lunch in Proctor, Thursdays from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Let’s work on this now, together.
ALUMNI FIND HUMOR IN SALES BAN
Letter to the editor Derek Schlickeisen ’09 To the editor,
I laughed out loud when I saw Middlebury making national news with its recent ban on Red Bull. So did the en-
tire station full of paramedics and EMTs where I volunteer, since I couldn’t help but pass around the NBC News article quoting college officials who blamed energy drinks for “high-risk sex and drug use.” We had dramatic readings and re-readings of portions of the article in which a room full of colleagues with 100+ years of combined experience in emergency medicine could barely get through
Dining Services Executive Director Dan Detora’s quote - “I see it as the equivalent of banning cigarettes” - without hyperventilating. As a friend who’s a doctor and fellow Middlebury alum put it: “The college that wanted to drop the drinking age to 18 is now banning caffeine.” I can just picture the scene now: members of Community Council huddled around the WebMD symptom checker,
inputting their daily energy drink consumption and convincing themselves they were in the middle of a major cardiac episode. Those of us who attended Middlebury before the school turned into Nanny University eagerly await the college’s coming bans on saturated fats, soft drinks over 12 ounces, sharp objects and any items that may hurt when thrown.
opinions 9
march 10, 2016 |
Reexamining Our Sexual Assault Investigative Process Though the John Doe case was settled months ago and he is no longer enrolled at Middlebury, I nonetheless feel compelled to weigh in. I empathized with Doe. I’m not saying he is innocent, but I’m not calling him guilty either. I, too, was accused of sexual assault (and cleared after an extensive investigation, more on that later). There is a myriad of ways a rape investigation can go wrong. There are several factors that can adversely affect alleged perpetrators, alleged victims and the integrity of the investigation.
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This student has requested to remain anonymous, and given the highly personal and sensitive nature of the piece, the Campus decided to grant this request.
We have evolved as a society. Student activists have fought for the rights of silenced voices. Now, previously marginalized voices are heard, and this has changed how we view some of the most painful experiences these individuals go through. Nowhere is this clearer than in conversations regarding sexual violence. I would like to believe that we are slowly moving away from victim-blaming and that we take any allegation of sexual violence with the seriousness it deserves. On this campus, I feel that it is unthinkable to stand in front of someone who claims to be a victim of sexual violence and dare ask: “are you sure?” Anyone who questions a victim publicly would be shamed and ostracized. Yet in academics, skepticism is the defining trait of a good learner. We are taught to inquire and doubt everything that surrounds us. And so it is striking when we are prevented from doing so in cases involving sexual violence. This “always believe the victim” mentality implies that the person at the other end of the accusation must be guilty. He’s being accused ergo, he must have done it. The presumption of innocence goes out the window, along with due process. How does this affect someone? People might be reluctant to be seen with or talk to the accused. Who wants to be associated with someone who has been called a rapist? As a consequence, the person who has been accused is left isolated and confused, all because of one person’s testimony. And the effects don’t end there. After a student has reported an incident, a No Contact Order (NCO) will be put in place. This prevents the alleged victim and perpetrator from having any type of contact. While this is a good measure, it poses a different set of challenges. If two individuals happen to have a common group of friends, or live in the same
house/dorm, it will reinforce the state of them. They then have the opportunity to isolation, pushing the accused to move hand in a written response regarding the out of his or her room and creating a evidentiary materials. 6. Responses are reviewed and those divide among friends. This also gives the alleged victim an outlet to push his/ in charge of the investigation decide if her own version and interpretation of the written responses contain any addievents. If someone approaches you and tional leads that should trigger another asks “did you do it?” it feels an awful investigation or further interviews. If the lot like the “are you sure?” question we people in charge decide there is a need for further examination, the process choose not to ask alleged victims. If someone is (unofficially) accus- goes back to step 4. 7. If the evidence is conclusive, it will ing another person of rape and causing significant harm, could you initiate an be passed on to the Human Relation Ofinvestigation to clear your name? The ficer (HRO) for examination and delibanswer is, surprisingly, no. You are pow- eration. 8. An interview between the HRO and erless, trapped between bureaucracy and one person’s account of how things the accused is conducted (merely a forhappened. At this point, I started ques- mality at this point since no more evitioning the “judicial system” we have at dence can be introduced). 9. A decision and rationale for said the College. I put it between quotation marks because it is a farce. It claims to decision is usually made within a week be fair, but it lacks transparency and of the interview. The first two steps are fairly straightallows for situations like the one I described above to happen. It can make forward: the alleged victim contacts promises, but there is no guarantee they Public Safety or the JAO. The alleged will be fulfilled. Title IX states that stu- perpetrator is notified and served with dents will be protected and not discrimi- the NCO. The issue with this is that only nated against in such a way that prevents the alleged victim has access to this “juthem from learning or creates a hostile dicial system” and it completely excludes environment for learning, yet I was sub- the alleged perpetrator, preventing him/ her from ever jected to a hos“The College’s system filing a comtile environment where my social for dealing with sexual as- plaint against someone who life, academic career and men- sault does not give you what unfairly accuses tal health were you deserve, regardless of them of a despicable crime. all in jeopardy. All this hap- whether you are an alleged Reputations can pened before an victim or alleged perpetra- suffer on both ends. I also take official investitor of violence.” issue with point gation had been five. I was promlaunched. According to Middlebury’s handbook, ised the evidence acquired by the private complaints of this nature need to be re- investigator on two separate occasions, solved within 60 days. My case took over but these promises were nothing but 150 days. This investigation extended lies. When the administration finally from the second week of J-term until delivered the first round of evidence, it two weeks after classes were over. I was was the first week of midterms, on a day forced to balance the emotional burden I had a test in one of my hardest classes of my investigation and my academic ca- from that term. All of my inquires before reer for half a year. I thought it would this date about the availability of the evionly take 60 days, but as I got deeper dence was met with a firm “by the end and deeper into the process, the further of week” and every disappointment genaway the conclusion to this awful ordeal erated by the failure to deliver the eviseemed. For those unfamiliar with the dence was met with a vague “next week.” At this point, I was angry and no longer process, it goes something like this: 1. A report is made to either Pub- trusted the people presiding over the lic Safety or the Judicial Affairs Officer case. It felt that they were trying to get rid of me. Midterms are difficult enough (JAO). 2. A No Contact Order (NCO) is re- as is, but I now also had to grapple with quested, preventing both parties from reading approximately 15 accounts of the night I allegedly raped someone. having any form of contact. 3. A formal request for an investiga- Reading the same story from 15 different people’s perspectives, one after the tion is put forth by the alleged victim. 4. A private investigator is appointed other, is an incredibly tough experience. to collect materials relevant to the case. It requires mental preparation. I was adThe investigator collects official reports, vised to have someone I trust go through statements and conducts interviews re- this process with me. After two weeks of being dismissed with a “sorry, next garding the alleged incident. 5. The accuser and accused receive all week,” the school finally released the the materials collected by the private in- first round of evidence. The presentation vestigator and have a chance to review of evidence was incredibly disorganized
and additional evidence, not included in the initial email to me, was added multiple times, creating a long, incoherent record. But I thought that this was the only way I will ever get to clear my name. There was nowhere else to go, so despite the fact that I did not trust the College officials overseeing the process, I needed to gather the courage to finish. So I followed the procedure. I wrote a response defending my account and pointing at evidence that supported it. Unfortunately for me, my alleged victim lied again and told the investigator that my group of friends had covered up sexual assault in the past. This led to yet another investigation. I had to go through points four and five again. New evidence was released “coincidentally” during the second week of midterms (this was, of course, after requesting the evidence twice again). Now the school was making learning impossible. I felt that I was being harassed using bureaucratic means with an end goal of having me fail, so that I would be kicked out. From the very beginning I cooperated with the school. I provided a detailed and consistent account of the events that transpired. Yet I felt that this was not good enough and the school wanted to get rid of me. The College’s system for dealing with sexual assault does not give you what you deserve, regardless of whether you are an alleged victim or alleged perpetrator of violence. The “preponderance of evidence” standard employed by colleges, in which you are guilty even when you are only 51 percent likely to have committed a crime, is much weaker than the “beyond any reasonable doubt” standard used in courts. There is no reason to prove that you actually committed a crime and this leads to a weak due process. In case the school does find you guilty, you could face a suspension, expulsion or a nasty comment on your record. I have witnessed people do reckless things at parties like illegal drugs, destruction of school property and underage drinking that could land them the same punishment as sexual assault. As a victim, you could end up facing your attacker a semester or year after the incident. You want justice? Don’t go to the administration, go to the police. The college system is not a safe one. The system is very prone to make mistakes, mistakes that weigh heavily on people’s mental health. From a student perspective, next time you hear someone has been accused of sexual assault, take a moment and look at this process critically. Not everyone who is accused is guilty and not all those who report sexual assault are victims. If you think I’m wrong, go ahead, challenge my words. I would love for activists to disagree with me. There is a much needed debate regarding the standards to which we should hold ourselves accountable.
Letter to the Middlebury community Editor’s Note: In light of the specific account and criticisms made in this column, The Campus asked the administration if it wanted to respond. We publish that response here. Middlebury College understands that the process of investigation and adjudication of any alleged violation of
Letter to the editor Sue Ritter is the Title IX Coordinator/ Compliance Officer
our Student Handbook Policy can be a challenging and trying experience for
students in spite of all best efforts. This this is not always possible, as we state is especially true with cases involving clearly in our policies. Student and class reports of sexual misconduct or related schedules, school breaks, availability of offenses. We apwitnesses, colpreciate the imlection of evipact these matand the “We want to emphasize dence ters can have on need to review that we believe Middlebury’s conflicting acstudent lives. Without com- processes, while they can counts and conmenting on this tested claims or any particular never be perfect, are thor- with care, as case, the Title IX ough and fair.” well as to proOffice makes evvide the parties ery effort to conwith sufficient duct its investitime to thorgations in a manner that is both timely oughly review and respond in writing to and thorough. While it is our goal to all evidence, all can extend the process. complete investigations within 60 days, We want to emphasize that we be-
lieve Middlebury’s processes, while they can never be perfect, are thorough and fair. The federal government requires that colleges use a “preponderance of evidence” standard in cases involving reports of sexual assault, and we make every effort to apply it with great care. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we sincerely hope that anyone in our community who believes they have been or may have been involved in an incident of sexual misconduct, domestic or dating violence or misconduct or stalking, or is aware of such an incident, will report it. Information on how to do so is available at go/sexualviolenceinfo. If you have any questions, please contact my office.
10 opinions
| March 10, 2016
The Question of Unpaid Work: No, I’m Not Talking About Your Internship In her 2016 letter outlining her philanthropic goals for the year, Melinda Gates chose to focus on the question of unpaid work. Specifically, she outlined the imbalance in the amount of men Shelby Elise Friedman time and women ’16 is from Dallas, Texas spend on tasks that must be done to fulfill necessary life functions. She is talking about chores. Gates notes that when it comes to cooking, cleaning and caring for children and the elderly, “in every part of the world, women spend more time on unpaid work than men do.” This is not just a problem of the “developing world”; even in Europe and North America, women average twice as much daily time on unpaid work than men. If you were to take notice, you would find that this gap also exists at Middlebury. Last weekend at a party, I watched two young men tussle over a bottle of
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champagne and drop it, spewing the champagne all over the floor. Immediately, three women jumped into action to mop it up, while the students who created the mess returned to the party without a second thought. As a sophomore, I attended a small dinner with a visiting scholar. At the end of the meal, all of the female students, without exception, instinctively started cleaning up the meal, while all of the male students continued their conversation. And I have one female friend who has repeatedly requested to spend the night in my apartment because her male suitemate’s mess has made the space so inhospitable. Of course, like most cases, this isn’t a simple binary issue of women do X while men do Y. At the Middlebury Women Leaders’ conflict resolution workshop with Laurie Patton last week, we spent half an hour workshopping a conflict in which a male participant could not convince his suitemate to wash his share of the dishes. Over the weekend, I was
thrilled that a couple of men took the lead in cleaning up after the Hillel Bagel Brunch, a responsibility I assumed would fall to me as one of the organization’s presidents. But as much as I appreciated that they stood up to help, I don’t believe they deserve to be applauded. We expect women and girls to clean. It shouldn’t be a pleasant surprise when men and boys choose to pitch in, but rather there should be just as much of an expectation for them to contribute their time. The issue of who does unpaid work is a matter of respect, both for the spaces we are lucky to inhabit and for the people with whom we cohabitate. As Middlebury students, there is little expectation for us to contribute to the typically unpaid work that is necessary for our daily functioning; we are lucky to have paid maintenance staff who upkeep all campus buildings. Perhaps it would help foster a sense of accountability if we were responsible for our own mess. Because
there is currently minimal responsibility on students to do this unpaid work, there exists the perception that it is unworthy of our precious time. Although the maintenance staff does much of the heavy duty cleaning, the need for some small amount of unpaid labor persists in suites, superblocks, kitchens and other common spaces. We all know that time is a valuable, limited resource. Thus, the disparity in men’s versus women’s time spent on unpaid work is all the more devastating. It is important time that otherwise could be spent on studies, hobbies or professional development. Such is the opportunity cost of unpaid work. I promise that if you look around your residence or other spaces that are precious to you on this campus, there is more work to be done for this necessary upkeep. I challenge you to search for these opportunities and make your contribution of unpaid work, regardless of your gender.
On Club Sports and Student Interests Do you currently play a club sport? Have you ever tried one out? I think a typical experience of many students on this campus, if they are not of the 300+ Colin Boyle ’18 c l u b is from Leicester, Mass. sport athletes, is that they tried a club sport for a day or two, and found it wasn’t for them. I would estimate that the number of people who have ever tried or participated in a club sport (even for a brief period of time) is at least 700 students. Politically, we have seen much discussion about accessibility on this campus. What is accessibility? Are all facilities accessible? On a less quantifiable level, are experiences and organizations on campus accessible for people of all backgrounds? These questions become very prevalent when examining the nature of athletics at Middlebury. The athletic center is not an accessible place for many students. On a base level, it is populated by people who seem to already be physically fit and absolutely beautiful. A girl on my freshman hall once quipped that Midd made her want to “run 4 miles with full makeup on.” Gymtimidation is not the only factor, however. Some gym facilities, like the squash courts or the hockey arena, remain inaccessible to those whose who were not fortunate enough to learn how to use these facilities adequately. I, for one, did not know about the existence of squash until I arrived at Middlebury. Beyond facilities, varsity sports are decidedly not-accessible. Before the start of the year, coaches plan and assemble
Reader op-ed
the majority of their teams. There is the remote possibility of walk-ons, especially in sports like track, but this is not a prevalent phenomenon. As a consequence, the fitness center often feels segregated. Non varsity athletes generally use the cardio machine areas and the weight room, while varsity athletes use those areas and seemingly everything else. Intramural teams will certainly use the turf in the field house or the basketball courts, but always scheduled around the practice times of varsity squads. This is not a knock against varsity athletes, but it is important to acknowledge that the foundation of varsity athletics is inaccessibile. To remain competitive, sports like lacrosse need people who already know how to play and are physically fit. If you want to learn how to play lacrosse, or master tennis, or swim competitively, tough luck. Let’s now examine the structure of the competitive club sports, which I will abbreviate as CCS, to differentiate from the recreational club sports (which do not engage in competition with other teams). These sports, which include crew, rugby, and water polo, have active rosters of over 125 students. Crew itself has about 60 members, and would be about the same size as our largest varsity teams. These athletes practice in season on a similar structure to varsity programs. Speaking for crew, on the water practices are about 3 hours a day, 6 times a week. Practices off the water tend to be shorter, with no drive to Lake Dunmore, but are more intense. During the off season, each rower was asked to erg/run/swim/ lift their way to 1,425,000 meters. This is approximately the distance between the
center of town and Charlotte, North Carolina. From friends and acquaintances, it seems other CCS share similar dedication in practice and fitness. The ultimate key to club sports is that they are perhaps the most accessible competitive athletic programs at Middlebury. The majority of people at Middlebury can sign up to be a “novice” in one of these sports, someone who has had little or no prior contact with the game. Regardless of your physical starting point, these novice programs are designed to take you to the appropriate fitness level needed to be competitive. On the financial side, club sports have a powerful financial aid structure to help lower the barriers for people who want to participate. This aid is raised through fundraising. All the members of the team, beyond practices, spend hours to make sure that all can participate. There is currently an initiative in the SGA to set a funding cap on club sports, so that each club sport is funded (per person) the max amount allocated by each student’s extracurricular participation fee, which is just above four hundred dollars. Currently, sports like sailing and crew are taking more than this fee per athlete, meaning that each athlete is costing more than the fee they are putting in. The concern is that this funding scheme is unfair, and the Finance Committee has also taken this view. The new proposal will slash some budgets for club sports by up to 30 percent, which may leave some sports unable to exist beyond a recreational level. I, too, share the concern that no club or organization should be funded more than the “fair” level. Where is the administration when it comes to this? Are the interests in club
sports as legitimate as financial interests in Monterey or opening a new school abroad? Is Middlebury College rooted in the small liberal arts campus or a gigantic international corporation? If the new funding gap is applied, somewhere, somehow, the administration could provide $20,000 dollars to keep the club sports at the same operating level. It is particularly notable that the college’s financial health is not particularly vibrant, as admitted by the head of the Finance Committee. Yet, the issue of club sports involves the livelihood of hundreds of students. The interests of students should be the first priority of Middlebury, and the diffusion of responsibility that Athletics, Old Chapel and other agencies on campus have shown in solving the funding issue of club sports is concerning. Why should students who practice and fundraise for upwards of 12-20 hours a week also have to defend the legitimacy of their interests? Why should a student-run Finance Committee be forced with dealing with an issue that should have never been theirs to solve? I am not going to defend why club sports are important to people. Ask any club sport athlete. If this funding cap passes, club sport budgets will decrease, and student interests on this campus will be damaged. I ask you, as fellow peers at Middlebury, who also believe in ideals of accessibility and student life, to urge your respective senators in the SGA to vote no this upcoming Sunday. Until a new funding proposal can be reached, with the deficit in funding picked up by the administration, continuing with the cap will do far more harm than good.
CARTOONS
BOONE MCCOY-CRISP Emily COx
WIN HOMER
KAITLYND COLLINS
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SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW Women’s Tennis The women’s team hopes to improve upon a successful 2015 campaign that included an 11-7 record, a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals and two AllAmericans, Ria Gerger ’16 and Lily Bondy ’17. The Panthers return their top four singles’ players and five of their six doubles’ players from the team that won two matches in the NCAA tournament last season. “I think we have tremendous depth,” Head Coach Mike Morgan said. “Within our group, we are entirely comfortable putting any one of them against anyone in the country. I’d say we are very, very strong that way.” Gerger will be at the top of the ladder for Middlebury in singles and doubles, after earning All-American honors in both (her third time as a singles’ All-American) and advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Tournament a year ago. Bondy, Alexandra Fields ’17 and Kaysee Orozco ’17 will join Gerger in the Panther lineup as each won more than 10 matches apiece last season. Bondy, in particular, looks primed for a good spring after going 7-3 this fall and reaching the semifinals of the USTA/ ITA New England Regional singles tournament. “The team is dialed in,” Morgan said. “There is a lot of really good competition, so you have to be. I think this team is as close, together and moving in the same direction as I’ve had.”
Men’s Tennis The men’s tennis team has two goals this spring: to play like a cham-
Golf Men’s and women’s golf look to get back on the course at the end of the month. Monica Chow ’16 is the women’s senior captain and leads a strong core of sophomores that includes Katharine Fortin ’18, Hope Matthews ’18 and Sarah Breckinridge ’18. “We will be heading south for Spring Break to play,” Fortin said. “With the temperatures looking like they’re on an upward trend, we’ll probably get on the course before break. We are all golf-deprived, so we can’t wait any longer.” On the men’s side, expectations are as high as always for the two-time defending NESCAC champions. “Our number one goal is to win NESCACs,” Bennett Doherty ’18 asserted. Fitz Bowen ’17 returns from a semester abroad and looks to three-peat as the NESCAC individual champion. Last season, in his first-year spring Doherty split the title with Bowen. After a strong fall season, a host of Panther first-years Scott Guidotti ’19, Phil Morin ’19 and Reid Buzby ’19 look to follow suit. Junior Matt Marra ’17 was named captain this spring and will also play a role in the quest to three-peat. Having been abroad, Bowen has been off the course but still will compete in the effort to help the Panthers to a three-peat.
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march 10, 2016
Softball The softball squad is determined to build on last year’s NESCAC west division second-place finish and to take another step forward. “We have a good group of returners with a lot of experience,” Coach
Women’s Lacrosse Women’s lacrosse begins the season under the direction of new Head Coach Kate Livesay ’03. The Panthers start the season ranked fourth nationally in the pre-
Kelly Bevere said. “Especially our seniors, who are pushing everyone to season polls. Once again, the team plays a difficult schedule that includes compete and improve.” The team’s captains include Neve Stearns ’16, Carlyn Vachow ’16,
seven nationally ranked opponents. Despite the loss of all-Americans Katie Ritter ’15 and Catherine Fowler
Jackie Stearn ’16 and Kat Maeher ’16. The quartet of seniors have several ’15 the team is brimming with talent. Nine of its top 10 scorers from last goals to finish strong in their final season.
season return. Two-time all-American midfielder Laurel Pascal ’16 will
“Our first team rule is to win,” Vachow said, “ to put us in the best posi- lead the charge. tion to get to the NESCACs and then NCAA’s”
The Panthers will rely on strong offense spearheaded by Mary
In addition to their highly competitive spirit, the Panthers have strong O’Connell ’17, Bridget Instrum ’16 and Alli Sciarretta ’16, while Chrissy team chemistry.
Ritter ’16, Delaina Smith ’17, Hollis Perticone ’18 and Evie Keating ’18
“The team chemistry is great, and there is no class division,” Taylor anchor the midfield. Gardner ’18 said. “We’ve put a lot of emphasis on team bonding and giving everyone a chance to be in leadership positions,” Vachow added. The team has more than a dozen players who both can pitch and hit, giving the Panthers a leg-up on many NESCAC opponents. “Everyone is competing. At this point, I couldn’t even put together a starting lineup,” Coach Bevere says.
Coach Livesay expects Perticone to have a breakout season. “We want to have her involved in more plays,” said Livesay. “She is a very skilled player with great instincts and is a real threat to the cage.” Defense is an area where the team looks to improve as the season begins. “We tend to be a pretty competent attack with a lot of talent,” Livesay said. “We came into this season with defense as an immediate focus and
The Panthers begin play later this month when they head to Clare- it has been great to see the team gain a lot of confidence in that phase of mont, FL. for their annual spring break trip.
Baseball The Middlebury baseball program is coming off its worst season since 1967. It has been eight years since the team has finished the season above
the game.” Livesay is excited for this opportunity to return to her alma mater and to lead a talented squad. “It feels like a big responsibility but more than anything it is really exciting and fun.”
pionship team and to win a national championship. In 2013, the Panthers
“I’ve played very little since going abroad,” Bowen says. “But I doubt
.500 and is looking to recover from the last two years in which it has won a
reached the NCAA Quarterfinals before losing. The following year, they
it will affect my play this spring. I played eighteen holes today and hit it
combined nine games. The Panthers ended their 2015 season with a record
made the semifinals before bowing out last year. Last year, they won the
pretty well.”
of 4-24, their eighth consecutive losing record. That winning percentage of
Men’s lacrosse enters the season ranked ninth in the national pre-
.142 was the worst for the program since 1967, when the Panthers when
season poll coming off a 13-6 campaign in which they advanced to the
0-10. The Panthers last made the conference championship in 2006, when
second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Amherst. Once
they won the league title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the
again, the Panthers will play one of the toughest schedules in the country
first time in program history.
and face five teams ranked in the preseason poll.
NESCAC for the first time in five years and made it to the NCAA championship match but lost Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. If that trend continues, the Panthers will be national champions in May.
Spring Track
Men’s Lacrosse
“It’s kind of an overlapping goal,” Assistant Coach Brice Parmelly said.
While there are still 17 runners competing in indoor track and field
“To be a championship team doesn’t always mean to win a championship.
nationals this upcoming weekend, the Panthers are gearing up for the
Head Coach Bob Smith enters his final season after 31 years as the pro-
The team returns significant firepower with eight of last year’s nine
It includes everything within our control: being the most fit team in the
spring season that will begin with a spring break trip to San Diego, CA
gram’s head coach. Donnie McKillop ’11, a graduate of the program, was
top scorers returning, including two-time all-conference selection Jon
country, being the toughest competitors and being the most cohesive unit.
where warm weather should make for fast times at Point Loma Nazarene
hired in January as an assistant.
Broome ’16, Jack Rautiola ’16 and an experienced midfield of Tim Giar-
The team already has one national champion. In the fall, Noah Farrell ’18 won the Division III singles national title at the 2015 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships after being named NESCAC
University. “San Diego is a great week of training and bonding for the team,” Senior Captain Sam Cartwright ’16 said.
Despite last year’s performance, the Panthers have some hope for this
russo ’16, Kyle Soroka ’16, Sean Carroll ’16 and Jack Cleary ’16. Henry
season: 22 of their 27 players are returning, including a number of key play-
Riehl ’18 looks to build on a strong first-year season and to contribute to
ers in the lineup.
the offensive effort this spring.
Rookie of the Year his first year at Middlebury a season ago. Joining him
Key contributors will be javelin throwers Carly Anderson ’16 and Dev-
“Things have gone very well this season so far,” Smith thinks, “pitching
Defensively the Panthers will rely on Jack DeFrino ’17 and Eric Rogers
at the top of the lineup will be Ari Smolyar ’16, last year’s top singles player
on Player ’18 who both competed at last year’s NCAAs and senior Adrian
is stronger with some new young arms, and our position players are battling
’18, as well as a strong defensive midfield of Harrison Goodkind ’16, all-
who finished last spring ranked first in the Northeast and sixth nationally.
Walsh ’16 who is still competing in the indoor NCAA 5,000 meter race.
it out for starting spots.”
conference selection Joey Zelkowitz ’17 and Nick Peterson ’18. Goaltender
The depth that propelled the team to a 22-4 record and the champion-
Joining Cartwright as men’s captains are seniors Brandon Cushman ’16,
Smith said the team’s scrimmages in the new Virtue Field House have
ship last season includes a trio of sophomores: Will de Quant ’18 (23-4
Danny Plunkett ’16 and Conor Simons ’16, while the women’s team is led
gone well, and he hopes this energy will carry over when the schedule be-
last year and 9-2 in the fall), Timo van der Geest ’18 (6-5 and 5-4) and Kyle
by Anderson, Halle Gustafson ’16, Jackie Kearney ’16, and Alex Morris ’16.
gins. “It’s a little early to say who will play where,” Smith said.
Schlanger (10-4 and 6-3). “We could easily go over and talk about every single guy, and there is marked improvement from where they were when they came in,” Parmelly said. “We’ve got a really good team.”
“We are looking to push the athletes to improve,” said Coach Martin Beatty ‘84, who expressed the team’s goal is to “win the NESCAC.”
The Panthers are scheduled to play Bates in a double-header on March
Will Ernst ’17 enters his second season starting between the pipes. “We will need to be a mentally tough team to continue to grow this season, pushing one another while facing such a grueling schedule,” 11th year Head Coach Dave Campbell said. “We will need to build off of last
19 in Northboro, MA. They will then Tucson, Ariz. for their annual spring
season and carry that momentum over into this spring.”
break trip.
Writing by Ethan Brady, Will Case, Colby Morris, Trevor Schmitt, Andrew Rigas, Sebastian Sanchez and Christine Urquhart
Design by Julia Hatheway
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| march 10, 2016
‘The Consent Project’ Workshops Encourage Honest Dialogue About Intimacy and Sex By Esme Valette Contributing Writer
What is consent? Does consent have to be verbal, or can it be reached through body language? Am I supposed to get my boyfriend/girlfriend’s consent each time before having sex with him/her? What makes for good sex? Why don’t we talk about sex more as a community? These were some of the questions that were raised in Winter and Spring-term Consent Workshops, organized and led by Amelia Marran-Baden ’17 and Jeremy Alben ’18. In light of recent sexual assault cases in the press and the John Doe case at Middlebury, Marran-Baden set out to create a collective initiative to reframe the way that we think about consent and encourage students to talk about sex. She was inspired by a mandatory “Consent is Sexy” workshop that she attended as a first-year at Barnard College before transferring to Middlebury College.
“Why has sex become so normalized and yet talking about it has become so strange?” Amelia Marran-Baden ’17 Project Organizer “The Consent Project is about giving students that space to talk about sex and to enjoy talking about sex,” Marran-Baden explained. “You’re going to have a better time if you’re open with your partner and open
with yourself about what you want.” Over bagels and popcorn, the workshop participants answered light-hearted sex trivia questions such as “how many nerve endings are in a clitoris” (the answer is about 8,000) and then broke off into small group discussions about sex, intimacy and consent. To date, the Consent Project has hosted one male-identifying workshop, three female-identifying workshops and one co-ed workshop, all ranging from six to 30 participants. “It exceeded my expectations,” said Alben, talking about the male-identifying workshop that he led over J-term. “We really got the ball rolling around subjects that people don’t normally talk about in a group of peers.” “I thought it was really wonderful to speak in a small circle and to share our perspectives on a generally more intimate topic such as sex,” orkshop participant Kai Wiggins ’16.5 said. Initially, the workshop participants tended to have negative reactions about what consent means. Many students expressed their confusions and discomfort around the convoluted definitions of consent and the “he said/she said” dialogue that often ensues after cases of sexual assault. “There’s an inclination nowadays to push back against this movement and say that so many people are being falsely accused,” said two-time workshop attendant Aleck Silva-Pinto ’16. “There have been false accusations, which is terrible, but if there’s more awareness, then more people are safe.” After acknowledging their discomforts, workshop participants engaged in an open By Wellness Leaders Staff Columnists A Head Full of Fun
Wellness Tip of the Week
This weekend, the Middlebury College Organic Farm (MCOF) students went on their monthly trip to Essex Farm in New York. Usually they return with dirt-clad clothes and fresh produce, but this time they came back with some advice from the farm’s owner, Mark Kimball. It went something like this: “Sleep more, work less, eat good food. It is all going to get done. Lose the watch and spend more time with people or doing all the things you always say you’re going to do. Go climb a tree, wrestle with your friends and pass time in a head space of curiosity and introspection.”
and honest dialogue about intimacy. “This is in no way a blaming type of conversation,” Julia Lesh ’16 explained. “This is taking consent away from the realm ‘guys are at fault’ and acknowledging that the reason many of us struggle to confront our relationships with sex and sexuality is because of our society, our culture, the things that we watch, the things that we see and that’s not anyone’s fault.” The Consent Project does not seek to demonize or extinguish hookup culture at the College, but instead to cultivate an environment on campus where students feel comfortable talking about sex and communicating with their sexual partner, whether it’s a one-night stand or a boyfriend of 10 years. Having a conversation is such a basic way to lead to a healthy understanding of intimacy and to normalize the various ways that people relate to sex: whether you really don’t like sex, you masturbate three times a day or you like to engage in kinky role play. “There seems to be a disconnect between what students are doing and how they’re feeling,” said Marren-Baden, addressing the College’s hookup culture. “Why has sex become so normalized and yet talking about it has become so strange?” “The more we talk about consent, the less we can justify fudging our standards,” clarified Francesca Haass ’16.5, who has attended several Consent Project workshops. “If this conversation spreads across campus, I think we have a real chance to close the gap between what we think consent should be and how it often plays out.” As the Consent Project grows, MarrenBaden and Alben hope to draw a more di-
Emilie Munson
Amelia Marran-Baden ’17, the founder of the Consent Project, poses in Johnson. verse crowd to the workshops and make the space as inclusive as possible. To date, the workshops have consisted of mainly heterosexual, white students. Marren-Baden and Alben recognize that sex is in no way hetero-normative and seek to bring in as many perspectives as possible to their upcoming consent talks.
Julia Alvarez to Host Storytelling Talk Next Week On March 16 at 7 p.m., Julia Alvarez will be joined by Haitian-American novelist Edwidge Danticat for conversation in Dana Auditorium focusing on the art and power of storytelling. The event, titled “Scheherazade’s Sisters,” is named after Šahrāzād, the narrator of One Thousand and One Nights — also known commonly as the Arabian Nights. Alvarez and Danticat also hope to discuss human “w/righting” crossculturally and trans-nationally, writing across languages, feminism and collaboration in organizations such as Border of Lights.
Bill Eichner
Crossword: How Well Do You Know Midd? By Will Nathan Contributing Columnist
1. Every other Tuesday 2. Shirts off 3. A drink and a church 4. Atwater dining hack 5. New kids on the block 6. A general and our president 7. THURSDAY! 8. Movies and fistpumps 9. Proctor ______ 10. Tiny desk concert 11. Ross mystery 12. King of salad dressing 13. D1 14. WOMPWOMPWOMP 15. RIP ______ House 16. Justin Bieber, eg. migratory birds 17. Atwater ceiling and BiHall Window 18. This Saturday 19. Freshman dorms and that professor 20. “It’s not JV, its ______!” 21. It hangs low 22. Not pizza? 23. “Biddie” dessert 24. Free samples 25. Nonsensical water animal 26. Pond and sculpture 27. Art History department local, abb. 28. _____ Back Mountain 29. Battell and Dunmore
30. A drink and our ex-dean 31. Light beverage and commons dean 32. Number of beers you can fit in a frisbee 33. Allegedly invented here 34. ___-palooza 35. Given at graduation 36. Largest window in Vermont
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march 10, 2016
Living Faith Workshop Connects Students with Christian Alumni By Henry Burnett Features Editor Christian students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered on March 5 in Axinn 229 to discuss how to find communities of faith and meaningful work after graduation. The all-day workshop, titled “Living Faith: Christian Leadership on Campus and Beyond,” featured a morning prayer and panel discussions with alumni who graduated as early as the Class of 2005. For Gilbert Kipkorir ’16, the weekend provided an invaluable forum to network and meet alumni several steps ahead of him on lives driven by faith in God. “If my experience this weekend is anything to go by, such events are definitely vital,” Kipkori said. “Not only was this event encouraging to me, but it also gave me a picture of what life might look like after graduation. Being a senior, this could not have come at a better time.” Chaplain of the College Laurie Jorlaurie jordan dan ’79 described the event as helpful for students who hope to incorporate Chris- Students and alumni came to Axinn 229 to discuss how to lead a life of faith after graduation. tian values into life after graduation. tervarsity Christian Fellowship, said he been in your shoes and can now look at it “The weekend was supposed to be enjoyed the event because it stressed from a different angle.” a chance for people to talk about these that there is “no model path” for ChrisJordan organized a workshop simithings that I think they really do think lar to this one in 2006, when she hosted tian life after college. about,” Jordan said. past weekend’s alumni who returned to the College to “These were the event“This “Often, the faith diraised questions share their working experiences with mension, the religious people with whom I I never considered,” students curious about Christian life afvalues dimension isn’t could be my true self.” Nimbasumba said. “The ter graduation. The event focused on voalways pulled in and so different experiences cational and cross-cultural aspects of the it was fabulous to have that the speakers voiced Christian faith. Devon Parish ’05 these alumni talk beJordan said that the term “vocation” showed the various cause they were very willing to be trans- paths taken but importantly the impor- is now seen through a secular lens, but parent and open to talk about what kind tance of keeping Christ at the forefront that it has historical roots in Christianof journey they’ve been on.” of their careers. It is possible to priori- ity. She said that the use of “God lan- tize one’s Christianity in non-religious “In the Christian tradition, the word guage” varies among people. “Compared careers.” ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin for ‘to to your average conversation around He added that alumni of faith bring call.’ So both vocational and talking work and talent and passion, this was a a different wisdom and breath of expe- about your ‘calling’ were originally theotime when people could really freely use rience that current Middlebury students logical concepts,” she said. “Many of their God language.” can benefit from. “It’s always great to these theological concepts have obviousArmel Nibasumba ’16, who sits on hear perspectives of people who have ly and easily been secularized. So now, the leadership team for Middlebury In-
vocational sometimes as a track in high school means that you’re learning some kind of trade or skill.” Jordan explained that for some of the alums who returned Saturday, their vocation is both their calling and their day-job work. For others, the work they do pays for their passion, or their true vocation. “Sometimes you get really lucky, and you feel, ‘God has given me the brain, the skills, the talents to be a really good doctor, social worker, whatever.’ Then your paid work and what feels like your mission and life are the same,” Jordan said. “Sometimes it might be that computer coding you’re remarkably excellent at it, but that actually is just going to help you fund what you feel is your passion in life, which might be completely unrelated.” “Of course, it could be that computer coding is also your passion and you’re going to figure out a way for that to be grounded in your values and you won’t choose to work for certain kinds of companies and so on,” she added. For alumnus Devon Parish ’05, the faithful foundation she laid at the College served her during the move to working life. “I think my undergraduate years were kind of a huge growth time in terms of my faith. I was also a religion major, studying it and experiencing it at the same time. I think since then it’s been about how to fit faith with experience of the real world. If it hadn’t had that strong of a foundation, there wouldn’t be that much left,” Parish said. “Having the community of people that you can come back to even when you’re in a period of transition or you don’t have a church, you don’t have a body to relate to, I still have my Middlebury people to relate to. This was the place where I understood my faith and these were people with whom I could be my true self.”
The Good Ol’ Campus: The Undergraduate By Grace Levin Contributing Writer This week’s Good Ol’ Campus column reaches back into the college archives to March 1888 with the school publication The Undergraduate. The publication, founded in 1875, consisted of town bulletins, personal announcements, literature and poetry and opeds. The paper begins with an introduction to Middlebury: The College is finely located in the midst of a beautiful park in the village of Middlebury, Vermont. The locality
is healthful, and the College offers the advantage of thorough instruction at a moderate cost. The Undergraduate’s news bulletin shares stories from nearby colleges, such as the fearful baseball game that erupted at Chattanooga. Town events include the spread of measles and a winter blockade, while Sporting and Plunder announce the possible invention of a baseball pitching machine. College Notes At Cornell University they teach the Persian Language. The Trustees of Amherst have recommended that the number of students be limited to three hundred. A student of Chattanooga University, Tennessee, was killed by the umpire of a bass-ball game, recently, for disputing his decision. Rev. Byron Sunderland ’38 has President Cleveland as a regular member of his audience. Town and Campus There have been several deaths in town from measles. Several students were detained out of town by the snow blockade. Junior exhibition occurs March 20, followed by the usual hop. A pleasant drive whist [a popular card trick game in the 19th century] party was given by Mrs. Farnsworth recently. Sporting and Plunder
A prominent sporting man has invented a machine which he intends to use as a base ball pitcher. Several enthusiastic yachtsmen are about to petition the faculty for a course in navigation. At Lafaette the memorial services on Washington’s birthday were graced with a grand rush between the Freshman and Sophomores. After a struggle lasting nearly an hour, the Freshmen, covered with the mud of victory, retired with patriotic (?) shouts of ‘first in war’ etc. Editorial One of our esteemed exchanges — The Dartmouth — to whose opinions we would pay most humble deference, criticizes our policy of admitting to the literary department of our paper what it is pleased to characterize as ‘A fiery political tirade’…. We would not be understood as approving of political mud-slinging, much less of arguments ad hominem, but we are far from being convinced that a lively — yes, ‘fiery’ — debate on these questions can result in injury to any one, or that it is in any sense out of place in the literary columns of a college paper. In an impassioned letter to the editor, one student questions student motivation on campus regarding studies in the spirit of the liberal arts. To the Editor of The Undergraduate:
I cannot help looking forward to the day when the low ambition that studies for ‘marks’ only shall have passed away; when culture, not ‘honors’ when refinement not ‘high standing’ when broad humanity, not prizes, when, in short the desire for a liberal education, not the greed for the petty precedence of the class-room, shall inspire every true student with a thirst for the waters of the true Helicon, whose sources lie in our libraries…Let us then, lay aside all baser motives, and lead our lives consecrate to the holy priesthood of the serene, eternal Goddess of Wisdom. Libramator.
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CCI to Continue Summer Internship Funding Initiative, Promoting New Student Ventures
By Renee Chang Features Editor As spring semester gets underway, the College is abuzz with activity. From classes to sporting events, there is hardly room to deny that life at the College is anything but uneventful. But besides classes and extracurricular activities, there is something else that lingers on students’ minds this season: the summer internship. In addition to navigating the process of applying for suitable internships, students may face the challenging task of securing funding for opportunities that do not provide compensation. While the financial burden of an unpaid internship may deter students from taking on an otherwise exceptional opportunity, the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI) hopes to remedy this situation. Last year, the CCI rolled out a new funding program wherein rising juniors and seniors could apply for a fixed grant of $2,500 that would go towards funding an unpaid opportunity. Cheryl Whitney Lower, Associate Director of Internships and Early Engagement at the CCI said, historically, students were provided with “significantly less” funding than the current $2,500 grant. “The grants cover more expenses and allow students decision-making power over how they want to spend their summer and gain experience or explore an interest,” Lower said. “This amount will typically cover a significant portion of a more expensive experience in another country or in a city away from home, for example. Others may choose to do an internship with lower expenses and use some of the money to offset lost summer wages.” And for Joel Wilner ’18 and Andrew Hollyday ’18.5, the grant did just that. Wilner and Hollyday both received funding to participate in the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP), a program that recruits a select group of undergraduate and graduate students to participate in hands-on research in glaciology, or the study of glaciers. Wilner, who hopes to pursue a PhD in glaciology, says that his time in Juneau, Alaska, was the perfect complement to his interest in glaciers. “I have always been fascinated by the Earth’s cold regions, from both scientific and cultural standpoints,” Wilner said. “Even when I was very young, my favorite geographical areas to study were places like Greenland and Antarctica. I became interested in studying glaciology in an
academic capacity after climbing the glaciers of Mount Rainier before coming to Middlebury. ” In Alaska, Wilner’s scientific and cultural interest in glaciers naturally converged. On top of “traversing the entire width of the Alaskan panhandle” from Juneau to Atlin, British Columbia — all on a single pair of cross-country skis! — Wilner also got the opportunity to assist in firsthand scientific research. “I worked with Dr. Seth Campbell, a research geophysicist from the University of Maine and the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory,” Wilner said. “We used ground-penetrating radar to investigate how surface meltwater percolates from the surface of glaciers to form layers, which has important implications for improving our models regarding how glaciers will respond to climate change.” Nonetheless, the value of Wilner’s time in Alaska went beyond simply gaining work experience. “The most memorable part of my experience at JIRP was staying at Camp 8, which is essentially a one-room metal shed near the summit of Mount Moore, a 7,000-ft-high jagged mountain near the US-Canada border,” Wilner said. “Two other students and I took a three-day shift at Camp 8 with the purpose of relaying radio messages between other camps on the Juneau Icefield that couldn’t communicate with each other directly by radio. Because this was our only real duty for those three days, we had a lot of free time. We spent this time looking out over a vast expanse of the Taku Glacier watching the sunset from our sleeping bags on the roof of the shed. The solitude was simply enchanting and life-changing, despite the abundant mold and mouse droppings in the shed where we lived!” For Camille Kim ’16, the $2,500 grant went primarily towards paying for housing and provided a jumping off point for exploring her interest in software development. As a summer intern at the Wyss Institute for the Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Kim was given the opportunity to develop her own software. “The main project I was working on involved writing software to operate a device that researchers would use to automate the process of growing bacterial cultures, as well as a web application and user interface that would allow users to control and monitor their experiments remotely.”
Brian Lacharite
Top: Joel Wilner ’18 spent his summer researching glacier formation in Juneau, Alaska. Bottom: Camille Kim ’16 works in a lab at the Wyss Institute. Kim said the most satisfying moment of her internship was when the code she authored was allowed to run on its own. “I still remember the first time we actually hooked up all the different hardware components and just let our code do its thing — it was a really satisfying moment to see what we’d been working on all summer start moving and coming to life,” she said. “It was a huge feeling of accomplishment to see that happen right in front of me.” Similarly, Divesh Rizal ’17 says that teaching science and mathematics to eighth and tenth grades at the Udayapur Secondary English School in his native
Divesh Rizal ’17 taught science and mathematics in addition to giving talks about computer science at the Udayapur Secondary School in Gaighat, Nepal. This experience was made possible by the $2,500 grant he received from the CCI last year.
Nepal would not have been possible had it not been for the funding he received from the CCI. Surrounded by “highly energetic, mischievous and curious” students, Rizal views teaching as an “art” that requires a heightened sense of awareness. “Teaching is an art that requires an acute understanding of people around us,” he said. “It requires a state of being when you can truly speak to somebody, ensure your words are being heard. An important aspect of teaching is learning about the art of teaching itself, about your audience, about their opinions.” Although he was only able to spend a month at Udayapur, Rizal found it difficult to distill his experience into a single memorable experience. “Almost everything was memorable,” Rizal said. “But perhaps the most would be the impromptu singing competition we had in our class one day. It was the day when it rained heavy outside. Since the classrooms do not have glass windows, the water disrupted the class and the students on the opposite side made more room for the students by the window. Since we had a rather dense part in the room, we abandoned our books and took on a suggestion from one of the students. The ‘competition’ was between girls and boys in the class. The girls did a rather great job and they won the competition without a sweat.” In addition to the $2,500 grants for rising juniors and seniors, the CCI also offers $1,000 “Explore Grants,” which are targeted towards first-year students and first-year Febs who have not yet committed to a particular career path and simply wish to “explore” different fields. Students who posses a strong passion for dance can also take advantage of the CCI’s “Dance Festival Grant,” which Lower said were designed keeping in mind that “for many dance majors, participation in these festivals is important to their development as dancers and artists.” To learn more about the different kinds of grants offered by the CCI and how to apply, visit go/funding.
arts &sciences Middlebury Discount Comedy Provokes By Elizabeth Zhou Arts & Sciences Editor Hepburn Zoo has always been known as a venue for unconventional art performances, but last weekend’s performance may have topped them all: On Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, the doors opened, free of charge, for Middlebury Discount Comedy’s second ever show, Much Love in this Air. Founded last fall by Shannon Gibbs ’18, the campus’s first sketch comedy group is comprised of 11 students: President Gibbs, Vice President Isabella Alonzo ’18, Producer Liana Barron ’18, Head Writer Greg Swartz ’17.5, Head Director Alexander Herdmann ’17, Faraz Ahmad ’19, Dan Fulham ’18, Sebastian LaPointe ’18, Peter Lindholm ’17.5, Jack Ralph ’18 and Marney Kline ’17.5. Coming from a wide range of experience levels and majors – from computer science to theatre to English, with no discipline in the clear majority – the company produces all of its sketches through a collaborative round-table format. Posters for the show featured all members of the company lying in a sea of roses, completely nude save for a few petals photoshopped strategically over their private parts. According to Gibbs, the provocative, creepy and vaguely romantic vibe behind these promotional pieces was completely intentional and particularly accentuated by the fact that Much Love in this Air premiered nearly three weeks after Valentine’s Day. ‘Who says the season of love is over?’ the posters seemed to ask, foreshadowing the unconventional sense of humor that lay behind the entirely student-run production. Gibbs opened the show with a list of trigger warnings for sexually explicit material, violence, abortion and other inflammatory topics. In the 24 sketches that followed, ranging in length from a mere 30 seconds to several minutes, these themes were escalated, decontextualized, satirized, broken apart, muddled up and in some instances, oddly mishandled. Puzzling at some moments and shocking at others, Much Love in this Air proved to be far more unsettling a performance than even its posters could suggest. Sexual content was pervasive throughout the show, beginning with a three-part series of sketches in which a male student, played by Swartz, is taken hostage and forced into a sexual bondage by a female Public Safety officer, played by Alonzo. Another student, played by Barron, watches on in helpless horror. The premise for this story is understandable enough: two students are caught drinking underage, and the officer must confiscate their alcohol. However, the situation quickly escalates into a bizarre commentary on the tense relationship between Public Safety and the general student body. As Barron appeals to the administrator to release her boyfriend, she ends up screaming hysterically into the phone, “Right, you’re trained, but who the fuck are you helping?” followed by, “Why do I voluntarily go into this bureaucratic shit hole?” She is eventually transferred to the Department of Existential Crises, where a soothing voice on the other end, performed by Ahmad, instructs her to “imagine yourself running through a field of puppies with a middleaged, robust Public Safety Officer” and to “gently breathe in and lock your fingers underneath your cheeks.”
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“Now, if you have a tight little asshole, press two and you will be transferred back to Public Safety,” Ahmad says in the final line of the sketch, leaving the audience to pause and then giggle in bewilderment. Such was the nature of most of the night’s performances: Shameless in their absurdity, the sketches were often cloaked in dark humor and met with relative silence, as the viewers struggled to process what they had witnessed onstage. For the most part, MDC’s outlandish approach to comedy seemed incongruent with the audience’s taste – but this did not seem to faze the actors, whose emphatic voices and humorously exaggerated facial expressions remained as strong as ever from beginning to end. Another sexually explicit scene, innocently titled “Science Class,” featured a teacher offering his students a “more hands-on experiences” through a new form of “dirty work.” This euphemistic language quickly gives way to the crude question, “How many of you have been f**ked in the ass before?” The class proceeds to split into pairs to carry out this activity, with one student’s clear discomfort becoming the focal point of the lesson. Perhaps surprisingly, the blatant ridiculousness and obscenity of the sketch drew considerable laughter from the crowd, though many audience members were undoubtedly left asking themselves what exactly they were laughing at – and what message the outrageous script was trying to convey. The line between outlandish humor and incomprehensible absurdity was crossed at a few points throughout the night. For several uncomfortable minutes, the audience watched as Winston and Lydia, a dysfunctional young couple as portrayed by Gibbs and Fulham, broke out into a fight at a night club, dancing feverishly together the entire time. The juxtaposition between their volatile words and cheery, perfectly synchronized choreography was clever, though their enunciation was often obscured by their quick movements, making it difficult to follow the conversation. The parts that were audible, however, were often too over-thetop and intentionally lewd for the audience to feel comfortable laughing. “You mean you’ve been using condoms this whole f**king time?” Lydia shrieks at one point. “Maybe if you weren’t such a f**king slut c**t we would think twice about it, Lydia,” Winston responds. The tendency to veer too far into unsettling extremes escalated into outright violence during “Faraz’s Final Rose,” a scene based on the wildly popular reality show The Bachelor, as well as during a couple of abortion sketches. Firstly, the final rose ceremony – in which the bachelor selects one of three beautiful girls to be his wife – concludes with Chris Harrison, the host of The Bachelor as portrayed by Lindholm, chasing down and shooting the first runner-up, played by Gibbs. “I’m still alive, asshole,” are her final words in this unnecessarily grotesque scene. What had begun as an entertaining commentary on the problematic premise of The Bachelor devolved into an unwarranted display of violence. Next, in what was likely the most disconcerting performance of the night, a pharmaceutical clinic offers a list of painful options to women seeking an abortion, including but not limited to hy-
Michael O’Hara
The series on Public Safety escalated from underage drinking to an existential crisis. pothermia, being thrown down a flight of stairs and a series of punches to the gut, courtesy of a creepy man named Lucifer. In this jarring satire of the current health care system, lines like “I think sluts like you deserve a 50-50 shot” and “My father took me hostage so I wouldn’t murder the child we made” are delivered with a sort of bluntness, a blatant desire to provoke, that comes across as inappropriate. When the first woman to request an abortion emerged blood-stained from behind the curtain, followed by a stab to the torso that took the life of the second patient, the disapproving silence from the crowd seemed to be directed not at the real-life issues that inspired the sketch, but rather at the wildly disturbing content of the sketch itself. Recognizing that their self-identified “Freudian” style can be more than a little odd, Middlebury Discount Comedy (MDC) writes all of their sketches with the hopes of highlighting the severity of real-world problems. “We take an issue that’s pertinent to us as Middlebury students or as citizens of the world and we blow it up to an extent that it’s so decontextualized that people can see the satire we’re trying to go for,” Barron explained. “We’ll heighten it and heighten it and heighten it until finally, it’s violence.” “This show tackles issue that are a bit more sensitive and takes them to a darker place,” Swartz added. Not all moments in Much Love in this Air were completely off the mark, however. A 30-second public service announcement, delivered by Fulham, brought the crowd to a roaring laughter with its sheer, deadpan simplicity: “Now, remember, kids,” he said. “Drugs. One day, you just start doin’ em.” In contrast, a cult-like sing-along of the phrase “Prepare the way of the Lord” in “Trump’s Inauguration” introduced an eerie sense of hysteria to the room. This creepy take on the political storm that has ravaged the United States was met with a positive reception, as disgust toward the Trump campaign is a common sentiment amongst the overwhelming majority of Middlebury College students. Meanwhile, in terms of prevalent oncampus issues, a sketch entitled “Atwater Speed Dating” resonated with many. In this well-executed performance, a female
student meets one unappealing candidate after another – from the insensitive and dull to a guy who refers to himself exclusively as “Jaboi” – during a night out. Taking place amidst blaring music in a shadowy suite, it is an apt interpretation of a social scene that many students have described as stifling, unsatisfactory and frustratingly cyclical. “People like it when you talk about things that are relevant and happening right here, in here, in this bubble,” Barron explained. “We have a tone to us that’s very idiosyncratic and dark.” Following a whirlwind perusal of relevant issues both on campus and in the real world, a stand-out sketch of the night centered on the group’s round-table sessions. All 11 members of the company gathered onstage to parody the process of pitching ideas and writing scripts, with one major plot twist: the actors were all topless (save for 3-D heart attachments covering the girls’ nipples). As the scene progressed, the inexplicable half-nudity began to make more sense. Gibbs proposes that they all be topless together for their next show, to which Alonzo responds, “I don’t think that’s really tasteful, Shannon; not all of us are comfortable with our bodies like that.” A heated debate ensues – “What’s the joke?” “What’s the context?” – and as the audience stared at the bare-chested group of people before them, the irony became suddenly clear. Infused with a strong dose of Freudianism, the scene ends on an abrupt and meta note. Comedy has long served as a vehicle for powerful social commentary, bringing humankind’s ills under the most revealing of lights and inviting all to observe. However, the humor behind Much Love in this Air hinged largely on a brash insensitivity that alienated audience members more than it challenged them to explore the difficult issues at hand. Though there were certainly moments of clever satire sprinkled throughout the night, if the uncomfortable silences were any indication, the show was deeply perplexing and perhaps too heavy to bear at times. Whether in moments of laughter or quiet unease, MDC pushed the audience to consider why they were or were not laughing, as their shotgun-firing, belly-bleeding sketches blurred the line between what is appropriate to convey and what is not.
NER Vermont
Food Insecurity in a Globalized World
Maria Joao Pires and Julien Brocal, piano
New England Review’s Vermont Reading Series presents poets Jennifer Grotz and Sydney Lea and fiction writer Janic Obuchowski, who will read from their recent work. Free and open to the public. 3/14, 7 P.M., 51 MAIN AT THE BRIDGE
Organized by the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, this conference will approach food insecurity from a variety of different diciplines and perspectives, featuring a bevy of professors discussing the politics and culture of food systems. Thursday through Saturday. 3/10-12, VARIOUS TIMES AND LOCATIONS
Maria Joao Pires, one of the finest musicians of her generation, performs recitals with her most gifted piano student as part of her “Partitura Project,” designed to create an altrusitc dynamic between artists of different generations. In their Vermont debut, Pires and Brocal each play two Beethoven sonatas. 3/12, 8 P.M., MCA CONCERT HALL
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Performing Arts Sp TLight By Connor Forrest Senior Columnist I was rash in my youth and often dismissed Beethoven as inaccessible and inapplicable to my grandiose existence. I realize now that Beethoven and I actually have quite a bit in common. For instance, he originally planned to write his last three sonatas in quick succession, but after completing the first, Op. 109, in the fall of 1820, he was sidetracked by illness and other projects. We all know how that goes – the exact same thing happened with my final papers last semester. Coincidentally, this week’s Performing Arts Series artist has made it her life’s mission to elucidate misguided youths such as myself as to the power of classical music. As part of her “Partitura Project,” a cooperative venture allowing musicians of different generations to exchange artistry and mentorship, world-renowned Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires will perform at the College on Saturday, March 12. She will share the stage with her protégé Julien Brocal in a concert that flits between Debussy, Ravel and Beethoven. The duo will begin the evening with a beautiful four-handed rarity, the likes of which have not been played on our stage in 15 years. Prélude à l’après midi d’un Faune is based off a poem that was inspired by a painting and has been described as “soft chirps and calls … heard over a syncopated accompaniment, bursting into the wayward panic of a lost bird calls” by John Henken of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The song has been transcribed for a four-handed performance – two people sitting on the same bench, playing different parts of the melody together as 20 fingers dance over the keyboard. The rest of the show will alternate between Mr. Brocal and Ms. Pires, from Ravel to Beethoven and back again. 43 years apart in age, the two master pianists are sure to deliver juxtaposed performances and offer a unique comparison of style. Henken describes Op. 110, the first piece that Pires will play solo, as “wearily lamenting.” He suggests that the Arioso is “a halfstep lower in a symbol of exhaustion … the melody itself is now full of sighs and little
© Felix Broede courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon
Maria Joao Pires started the Partitura Project to train young classical pianists. She will perform at 8 p.m., March 12 in the MCA. gaps, as if the music were short of breath.” If only my professors looked so fondly upon similar qualities in my assignments. Pianist Alfred Brendel wrote that the conclusion “reaches out beyond homophonic emancipation, throwing off the chains of music itself.” Yes, that’s right, the strength of the hills was Beethhoven’s also. In addition to these pieces, the concert program will include favorites such as Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata No. 14 and Op. 111 – the final, towering masterpiece whose opening Henken calls “savagely anguished.” As one of the finest musicians of her generation, Maria João Pires continues to transfix audiences with the flawless integrity, eloquence and vitality of her art. Born in Lisbon in 1944, Pires gave her first public performance in 1948 and has not stopped since,
studying and performing with some of the greatest pianists of our time and now sitting among their ranks. Over the past 40 years, Pires has also dedicated herself to reflecting upon the influence of art on life, community and education. The Partitura Project is the ultimate expression of this love, as it is a shared endeavour with a group of highly gifted young pianists. The aim of this project is to create an altruistic dynamic between artists of different generations, offering a supportive and convivial environment amidst a world too often entrenched in competition. Born in 1987 in Arles, France, Julien Brocal has been praised by Pires and just about everyone else for his “poetry, spontaneity, restraint and a profound sense of structure and awareness of sound.” He began learning the piano at the age of five and was
performing by the time he was seven. 19 years later in January 2013, Pires took Brocal under her wing at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, when she invited him to participate in the birth of the Partitura Project. They have since shared performances and recitals in the world’s most famous concert halls, given workshops and offered educational programs to children, all with the aim of introducing classical music to a broader audience. This Saturday, March 12, you are that audience. The Maria João Pires/Julien Brocal piano concert will take place on Saturday, March 12 at 8 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts. Tickets are only $6 for students. To find more information or purchase tickets, stop by one of the box offices in McCullough or the MCA, or visit go/boxoffice.
For the Rec rd By Harper Whitt Contributing Columnist The somewhat erratic release of The Life of Pablo has proven such an utter whirlwind that Kanye West might actually still be scribbling in some last-minute changes to the record as it slowly infiltrates pop culture. From the spontaneous private listening party at Madison Square Garden to his bemusing appearance on Saturday Night Live to the innumerable manic-depressive tweets explaining the chaos thereafter, Kanye has left the world rather perplexed with this one. Pablo seems but a dream to most people right now, and their questions abound: What is this new record all about? Where did it come from? Is any of this even real? Is any of this real? Well, in pursuit of what this album is truly after, taking that question into serious consideration can lead us to some fairly interesting places. What is important to recognize is that the entire thing does not actually exist to most people right now. In a percipient business move, Kanye decided to release Pablo exclusively through TIDAL, the streaming service of which he is a major stakeholder. This strategy did attract significant numbers, but the vast majority of people have now either poached it online or lost enthusiasm to seek it out. The Life of Pablo seems peculiarly unreal – in fact, it is doubtful that a single hard copy even exists – but the truly extraordinary thing is that the music within the album entirely substantiates its dreamlike state of being. Most striking are the quick changes in tempo and harmony throughout, tearing the audience from the previous theme and transporting them into this strange new world that must be quickly understood.
And then, like a dream, the moment you begin to feel grounded, the track ends immediately and a new bit-crunched synth drops in with those dark falsetto tones acting as a snare – something only Kanye can let loose. The most haunting track, “Freestyle 4,” epitomizes such a quality while inspiring a notion closer to that of a nightmare than a dream. This kind of tactic naturally follows the surreal impermanency of Yeezus, but it seems so haphazardly put together that the audience is left questioning how much of this is rightly intended. Well, Kanye lets us in on a little secret during “FML,” telling us, “I been thinking about my vision / Pour out my feelings, revealing the layers to my soul.” Somehow, the great Mr. West seems utterly lost, driven by his anxiety and afraid to tell the truth. The following track, “Real Friends,” breaks everything down – hostile music included – and he explains how, really, life is just too fake. This has all been fake: the words, the intimidation, the pulsing bass, crunched-up synths, brick-wall limiters – it is all part of the façade. And it is these slowed down drums echoing off the walls, the looping melancholic melody, the repeated phrase, “Real friends / Till 3 a.m. / Calling just to ask you a question / To see how you was feelin,” that bring everything back to reality. But Kanye is a pretty capricious character. He does not miss a beat as he drags us back down the rabbit hole, back into his phantasmagoria of music and performance. Perhaps the strangest moment actually lies outside the album proper, and onto the stage of SNL. His performance of the opening track “Ultralight Beam” on Feb. 13 was baffling, to say the least, with
The Life of Pablo
the cavernous light board behind his gos- one-sided. We affirm our own beliefs and pel choir, a mellowed-out clerical revival block out the rest of the noise. We burrow at the end and a more than uncomfortable down and seek individual answers, instead finish of Kanye jumping around the stage of seeking together. It is important to recscreaming at people to download TIDAL ognize that we exist in a place of learning and listen to the album right now. – and that it is best to learn from mistakes If nothing else after watching this, the – but that does not erase the fact that we audience is left with a bizarre sense that oftentimes act impetuously, hurling forth they may literally our sophomoric disbe dreaming right putations into the Most striking are the daunting realm of alongside Yeezus. Again, the questions quick changes in tempo academic debate. It abound: What should is true of all college we make of that? If and harmony through- students that we are this is art, how do we out, tearing the audi- quick to act on our respond to that, and emotions. what does it matter ence from the previous And this kind to anyone? Assured- theme and transporting of behavior does not ly, The Life of Pablo seem too far off from was designed for us them into this strange the message that to ask those quesalbum and new world that must be Kanye’s tions exactly. his accompanying To narrow the quickly understood. online performance scope a little: as colhave brought us in lege students, we too are oftentimes left the past couple weeks. The numerous exwith this overwhelming sense of discursive planatory tweets and exclusionary tactics dreaming. There is fervency and vision, further build that tension between fakebut we also feel lost among the crowd. We ness and realness, and it all seems like are told we can make a difference, that some kind of hoax or dream. But, as if furour education is what will change the fu- ther contradiction is required, its inspirture; but for now, we remain in a state of ing beacon of hope through this endless limbo, consumed within that “bubble” that sea of emotion and uncertainty is that of everyone always seems so desperate to es- ultimate love. cape. Where is reality? Existing in a place It is incongruous and ironic that the of perpetual change can sometimes chal- same artist who raps with such heated lenge our understanding of how “real” we vulgarity is able to produce an album that are being within our community. People contains the simple plea for love. Kanye always talk about community, and where poses his troubles, wondering how any of is that then? this life could be real when things seem to Living inside this centralized, ener- be so different. As he says, “We’re on an ulgized academic setting can bring forth tralight beam. / This is a God dream.” But some fairly heated discussions: discourse instead of acting out of reckless emotional that we ask to be a part of because we ac- attack – which he has had his fair share of knowledge that we are here to engage with – he finally comes around to tell us how he and learn from one another. If we neglect has seen the real message of love and unity community, though, we see arguments as at the end of that beam of light.
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March 10, 2016 |
Artist BØRNS Headlining Spring Concert “We have a budget,” says Brown, “we’ll send [them] a name and [they’ll] With the prevailing positive re- tell us ‘Okay, you guys can never afford sponse to Dopamine, BØRNS is poised that. Here’s what you can.’” to become a bonafide star. In addition to cost, Middlebury’s loThe process of bringing any act to cation plays a distinct role in dictating campus is a challenging one. The un- who can play the show. Only bands that dertaking of booking and arranging for are touring in the area around the time BØRNS to play began in September on of the concert are feasible. the six-person Concerts Committee. “Often we’ll have artists that we re“Our Committee has a role in what ally like, and we reach out to them and they think their friends and the stu- want to book them, and they would love dent body wants to come but they’re to see,” says Con“Our job is to bring a show touring on the certs Committee West Coast over to campus that every sinCo-Chair Izzy Kanthose dates,” says negieser ’17. gle person is going to find Brown. “If you’re The CommitBoston Middlesomething exciting about, in tee combines their bury’s not so far, whether it’s just that it’s opinions wih dibut if you’re really rect input from the spring and it’s an event, or anywhere else it’s student body at not an easy onethat they love the artist, large. stop flight.” “This year we we want to put on an event When BØRNS did a survey that a was settled on as that everyone will enjoy.” the act, the logislot of people filled out,” says Kathertics of securing the ine Brown ’18, the -Katherine Brown space for the show second Concerts became the next MCAB Committee Co-chair hurdle. Committee CoChair. “The survey “People might results came back and the student body think ... ‘Oh, of course Kenyon will be was in favor of [an] Indie/Alt Pop band.” available this weekend at this time,’ but Once all of this information was actually it’s a long process,” says Kanncompiled and reviewed, the Committee egieser. assembled a list of artists and suggesWhen the space is secured, the comtions on more general aspects such as mittee must book a crew to come in and genre, and sent it to a booking agency take care of the physical preparation of based out of Boston that assisted them the stage and sound. This show will be in honing in on the most fitting perfor- handled by Atomic Professional Audio, a mance. This process is more complex local business based out of North Clarthan it may initially seem. An array of endon, Vt. constraints must be taken into account Nonetheless, the set-up is a handswhen narrowing down a list of possible on experience for the Co-Chairs as well. performers. One of those constraints is “The day of the concert we’re there at 8 cost. a.m. getting the stage set up. We’re actuCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Christopher Gabello
BØRNS, best known for his song “Electric Love,” is headlining the Spring Concert. ally moving things off of the truck and getting things set up, and after the concert we’re there making sure it all gets taken down,” says Kannegieser. Even with the logistics of the act confirmed, a concert is nothing without an audience, so marketing is essential. The Co-Chairs describe a balancing act of deciding on ticket prices and sale times with the Box Office. MCAB does not make a profit off of the show, but whatever revenue is brought in is used to fund the Midd Mayhem show that happens later in the year. Generating excitement for the show is key to it being a success both financially and socially as an enjoyable experience for the concert-goers. They focus on spreading details such as the best time to arrive and the open-
ing act, which often gets lost in the announcement of the headliner. This year, local Burlington band Madaila, who have toured with the Flaming Lips and played with Grace Potter, will open for BØRNS. “They are Burlington’s hottest band for sure,” says Kannegieser. “Our job is to bring a show to campus that every single person is going to find something exciting about, whether it’s just that it’s spring and it’s an event, or that they love the artist, we want to put on an event that everyone will enjoy,” says Brown. Tickets for the April 9 show will go on sale for students on March 20. They are $8 if pre-ordered at the Box Office, and if not sold out, they will be available for $15 at the door.
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| March 10, 2016
Men’s Hockey Falls to Amherst in NESCAC Semis in Nine Seniors’ Last Game By Andrew Rigas Sports Editor
They always say it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season. The men’s hockey team discovered that on Saturday. After defeating defending NESCAC champion Amherst twice in the regular season, the fourth-seeded Panthers could not do so for a third time, falling to fifth-seeded Amherst 4-2 in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday, March 5 at Trinity. Amherst advanced to the NESCAC championship for the third straight season, where they fell to Trinity 5-1. The Panthers finished their first season of Head Coach Neil Sinclair’s second stint with an 8-11-7 record, the third straight year they have finished with a losing record following 24 consecutive winning seasons. However, this year’s Panthers advanced to championship weekend for the first time in three years after failing to make it out of the quarterfinals in 2014 and 2015. Middlebury thoroughly handled Amherst both times in the regular season, getting ahead early and allowing one goal in two games. On Dec. 12, the Panthers traveled to Amherst and shut out the hosts 2-0. When Amherst visited Middlebury on Feb. 21 in the second-to-last game of the regular season, Middlebury won by two goals, 3-1, in the seniors’ last game in Kenyon Arena. All of that meant nothing when Saturday arrived, and Amherst jumped out to a 1-0 lead 8:48 into the contest when John Festa beat a Middlebury defender and sent a wrist shot into the bottom corner for his first career goal.
“We had our chances,” Sinclair said. “We had chances and weren’t able to capitalize on them early on in the game, so we were fighting from behind for the rest of the game.” At the 4:54 mark of the second period Middlebury went on the power play and threatened to score numerous times. Amherst netminder Connor Girard saved every shot that came his way as his team successfully killed the Middlebury power play. The Panthers struggled on the power play all season, scoring only nine times, fewest in the conference. On an Amherst power play later that period, Topher Flanagan found Thomas Lindstrom wide open in front of Middlebury netminder Liam MoorfieldYee ’16. Lindstrom received the pass and beat Moorfield-Yee to the top right corner, giving Amherst a 2-0 lead. Still up 2-0 entering the third period, Amherst’s Patrick Arena added one more to his team’s lead early on, batting the puck out of midair and into the back of the net. With only 15:38 seconds remaining in the game, the Panthers faced a 3-0 deficit and the end of the season loomed large. Seven and a half minutes later Mike Najjar ’17 got Middlebury on the board, beating Girard from long-range to bring Middlebury within two goals with 8:06 remaining. Time worked against Middlebury from that point on and the Panthers pulled Moorfield-Yee with 3:35 left in the game. 24 seconds later, Festa scored his second goal of the game and the first of his career from beyond the red line. Max Greenwald ’16 ended his career with pride as he scored the Panthers’ second goal of the day with 52 seconds
remaining when, he got to his own rebound and pushed the puck home for his fourth goal of the season. But 52 seconds later the horn sounded on the Panthers’ season and the careers of nine seniors: Greenwald, Moorfield-Yee, Evan Neugold ’16, Terrance Goguen ’16, Ron Fishman ’16 (who was named second team all-NESCAC for leading all defensemen in points – Jake Charles ’16, Zach Haggerty ’16, Brendan McGovern ’16 and Paul Falvey ’16. Fishman made the AllNESCAC second team, scoring five goals
and assisting on 12 more this season, which led all defenseman in points in NESCAC play. “The senior class brought a lot to the table for the last four years and they’ve been a huge part of the Middlebury hockey program,” Sinclair said. “I’m very grateful in my first year back here they were welcoming and made the transition go really smoothly, and am proud of what they were able to accomplish on the ice. It’s going to be really sad to see them go.”
Jeff Patterson
Zach Haggerty’s ’16 attempt at a hard, low shot on net was ultimately saved by the Amherst goalkeeper.
Cromwell, French Finish Stellar Season Victorious By Will Case Sports Editor Last weekend, March 4-6, David Cromwell ’16 and Wyatt French ’17 represented the men’s squash team at the College Squash Association individual championships at Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Conn. Cromwell and French won the consolation championships in their respective pools within the Molloy Cup draw. The CSA’s top 16 players play for the national title in the Pool Cup draw, while individuals ranked 17 to 80 play in the Hoehn Cup draws. Heading into the weekend, Cromwell and French were ranked 55th and 56th nationally. Both Cromwell and French drew tough opponents in their first matches of the weekend. Friday morning, March 4, French opened against Trinity’s Afeeq Ismail, who holds the 41st ranking nationally and is rated a high 5.6 by U.S. Squash. Even in the underdog role, French played with his characteristic grit and stole the first game from Ismail, winning 11-5. “I think I did take him by surprise in the first game with good length and high pace,” French said. However, as one of the top players in the country, Ismail bounced back and defeated French in each of the next three sets. “It was great to play Afeeq [to begin the weekend],” French said. “However, in the last three games, he wore me down and did a great job of keeping me under pressure.” Meanwhile, Cromwell took to the court on Friday morning to face off with Princeton’s Cody Cortes to begin his tournament slate. Cortes played much of his first collegiate season in the second slot on the Tigers’ ladder. Cromwell spent the first two sets adjusting to the lefty, dropping both 11-6. “I was a bit thrown off because he was a lefty and I haven’t played many lefties this year,” Cromwell said. Cromwell managed to squeak out a 1311 victory in a back-and-forth third set, but dropped the fourth set 11-7 to lose the match. “I didn’t play particularly well and I
never really settled into a rhythm and didn’t find ways to really hurt him so he took the match,” Cromwell continued. “I was frustrated because that [match] was definitely winnable, but I knew I had to move past it. It helped clarify some things I needed to do if I wanted to win the next one.” And win the next one both Cromwell and French did. They were both up early Saturday, March 5, to prepare for 9 and 9:45 a.m. matches, respectively. In the first round of the Molloy A group consolation bracket, French went up against Dickinson freshman Brian Hamilton. Hamilton was no match for French, as the Middlebury number two took down Dickinson’s number two in straight sets. Cromwell began his run in the Molloy B group consolation bracket by facing C.J. Smith, a senior from Colby who was named second team all-NESCAC earlier last month. After winning the first set 116, Cromwell had to mount a comeback against Smith. The second set slipped from Cromwell’s grasp, as he narrowly lost 1210. It appeared as if Smith would take the match after he edged ahead two sets to one with a big 11-3 third set victory, but true to form Cromwell held out. The Panther senior battled back and controlled the rest of the match, winning the fourth set 11-8 and the decisive fifth set 11-5. With their victories, Cromwell and French then played again that afternoon. Once again, French steamrolled an outmatched opponent, MIT’s number one Justin Restivo, in straight sets. Cromwell was tasked with facing a familiar foe, Brown’s Jack Blasberg. The Panthers have already narrowly defeated Brown twice this season, the most recent bout coming two weekends ago, Feb. 26-28, in the CSA team championships 15th-16thplace playoff. Cromwell played Blasberg on one of those two occasions, during the Middlebury round robin, Jan. 16, and won a closely contested four set victory. This time, Cromwell had to overcome a hamstring issue aggravated over the course of the weekend. Nevertheless, an extra hurdle could not stop Cromwell. He
took the first game 12-10 and then fought back after dropping the second and third sets with another 12-10 win to even the match at two sets apiece. He took the match with an 11-6 fifth set victory. French and Cromwell entered the championship matches of their pools on Sunday, March 6, looking to end two brilliant seasons with an exclamation point. This time it was French who took on the familiar face, Williams number three Galen Squires, who French has had a lot of success against this season. “I definitely had a mental edge going into the match because I had already beaten him twice,” said French “He is a really solid player and it was fun to play him again. But I did play pretty well and he was also less consistent than usual.” French made clean work of Squires, beating the Williams senior in straight sets for the third time this season. Cromwell’s final collegiate match came against Rochester’s Lawrence Kuhn, a high quality freshman who spent much of the season hidden at fifth on the Rochester ladder despite his semi-professional experience in his home-country, South Africa, and the fact that he finished the season ranked 34th nationally. Yet, it was Cromwell who looked the part of the higher-ranked favorite on Sunday morning. Cromwell and Kuhn swapped 11-8 victories to start off the match. “I had a hamstring issue heading into the match, and I knew I had to capitalize on opportunities and cut the points a bit shorter than usual,” Cromwell said. Cromwell used the attacking strategy to propel himself to victory, as he defeated Kuhn 11-6 in the third set before finishing him off in the fourth. “Turns out,” Cromwell quipped, “that attacking style serves me well. I should play like that more often.” Cromwell is not done, though. After an inspiring, stellar senior season in which he traversed the Panthers’ ladder and won the clinching match against Brown in the 15th-16th-place playoff in the top slot, he
will look to continue playing squash on the pro tour. “I am taking a couple days off this week,” Cromwell said of his future plans, “and then I will continue training because [next week, March 14] I head down to Virginia to compete in the U.S. closed nationals.” Cromwell then plans to train rigorously for the rest of the spring under the watchful eye of Coach Mark Lewis, who formerly played on the tour himelf. “[Coach Lewis] is going to guide my development,” Cromwell said, “which will help me keep a steady rate of improvement before I start playing in tournaments this summer.” French will return to the team next year for his senior season. Having played most of the season in the third slot and with Andrew Jung ’16 and Cromwell graduating, French will likely occupy one of the top slots on Middlebury’s ladder again next season. “It does seem like I will play high on the ladder next year,” French said. Yet, he echoed what team has said since the season ended with six recruits set to join the team next season. “Everyone is very motivated to improve.”
by the Numb3rs 17
Members of the Middlebury indoor track and field team who will compete at the NCAA Championship meet this week in Iowa.
Game-winning goals scored by women’s hockey player Maddie Winslow ’18 as the Panthers captured the NESCAC title over the weekend.
1
Rank for men’s tennis player Noah Farrell ’18 in the Divison III singles preseason poll.
Career points for men’s basketball player Matt St. Amour ’17 at the end of the team’s season this year.
6
2
1,024
Goals scored by Laurel Pascal ’16 in the women’s lacrosse team’s season opener versus Conn. College.
SPORTS 21
March 10, 2016|
Track & Field Brings Most Competitors to NCAA in Team History with Four Relays and Two Individuals By Rob Erickson Staff Writer The Panther Indoor Track and Field teams turned in a strong showing at the ECAC Championships on March 4-5, in their last meet before the season culminates in the National DIII Indoor Championships next weekend. The men finished 17th out of 51 teams, while the women settled in 23rd out of 50 schools. A pair of school records fell along the way: Nicole Schachman ’16 won the 1,000-meter race in a Middlebury-record time of 2:56.18, while Maddie Pronovost ’17 improved on her old pentathlon record with a score of 2,992 points, good for sixth place. Generally pleased with the results, Coach Martin Beatty ’84 couldn’t help but praise one athlete in particular. “It was a solid meet,” he said. “We left with an ECAC Champion in the 1,000 meters — Nikki Schachman. She is a real success story, in that she was a walk-on who had to prove her way onto the team as a freshman in a tryout. Now she is the ECAC
champion and going to the NCAA’s as the leadoff leg in the distance medley relay.” Among the other Panthers who garnered all-ECAC honors (with a finish in the top eight) were the members of the men’s 4x400 relay team — Jimmy Martinez ’19, James Mulliken ’18, Brandon Cushman ’16 and Alex Nichols ’17 — who retained their top-12 national ranking with a third-place time of 3:16.98. Kevin Serrao ’18 placed fourth in the 800-meter race (1:53.95) and Jonathan Perlman did the same in the mile race (4:18.24), while John Natalone ’19 cleared 14’11.5” in the pole vault en route to a seventh-place finish. The women got a boost from a strong performance in the 3,000-meter run by Katherine MacCary ’19, who crossed the finish line tenth in 10:31.88. In addition, the Panthers had a handful of athletes compete at the Last Chance Meet at Tufts on Friday, March 4. In the men’s distance medley relay, the team of Serrao, Lucas Carpinello ’16, Mulliken, and Sam Cartwright ’16 turned in the 10th-best time in the country for the winter (10:04.05), good for fourth place.
Sebastian Matt ’16 finished third in the 5,000-meter run (14:44.34). The men’s and women’s teams will be sending 17 athletes to Nationals: the most in school history. However, those athletes’ successes are the entire team’s successes, according to Pronovost. “The representation of athletes Middlebury College will have this year is remarkable,” she emphasized. “Four relay teams and two individual athletes qualified for Nationals this year, which speaks to the strength and depth of talent our athletes on the Middlebury Track and Field team possess. The hype around nationals this year has been incredible due to the success of so many individuals on the team, and I know that those racing at Nationals will certainly feel the presence and support from those not competing.” Of course, that’s not to say the rest of the athletes will be twiddling their thumbs back at home. “Track and field is an interesting sport that has back-to-back seasons,” Beatty pointed out. “indoor and outdoor actually overlap, since we still have people competing indoors, while others are training for the first outdoor meet.
The NCAA people are doing workouts to be fresh and peak for the championship, while the now spring track people are doing harder workouts. Everyone is excited to watch the webcast of the indoor NCAA and cheer on our top indoor people.” When asked whether the team’s performance this year had surpassed expectations, Pronovost responded with a definitive yes. “I strongly believe that the team’s hard work and dedication to the sport has allowed the team to exceed our coaches’ expectations for the indoor season,” she said. “I’m confident that the team will ride this momentum into the spring season, and I look forward to seeing Middlebury Track and Field show the rest of the NESCAC league what it means to be a Panther.” The men’s and women’s 4x400 and distance medley relay teams will compete at the DIII National Championships at Grinnell College in Iowa. In addition, Alex Morris ’16 will serve double-duty, competing individually in the 400-meter dash as well as anchoring the 4x400 relay; Adrian Walsh ’16 will represent Middlebury in the 5,000-meter race.
Men’s Basketball Ends NCAA Run with Heartbreak By Joe MacDonald Senior Writer The men’s basketball team’s Cinderella run came to a halt on Saturday, March 5 with a 74-72 loss to Keene St. at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ. The previous night, March 4, Middlebury held off 24th-ranked Salisbury’s comeback bid with a 75-73 upset victory, but on Saturday it was the Panthers’ comeback attempt that fell short. After earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament with a surprising run through the NESCAC Tournament, few outside of Middlebury expected the Panthers to advance beyond the first round. Their first round opponent, the Salisbury Sea Gulls, came into the evening with the secondranked defense in the country and a desire for revenge against the NESCAC — a year ago, Trinity knocked Salisbury out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament — but Middlebury jumped out to an early lead. Playing in the early game of the evening, with host Stockton set to play Keene St. later that night, only a sparse crowd got to witness Middlebury’s hot start. The Panthers led 18-7 after 7:22 of play, thanks in large part to Matt Daley ’16 who had four points and a dunk in the opening moments of the game and Matt St. Amour ’17 who had six early points. Throughout the first half, Middlebury was able to stifle the Sea Gulls’ offense. Salisbury fired up 15 three pointers in the first half alone but only connected on two of those attempts. Meanwhile, the Panthers pounded the ball inside, relying on their size advantage to shoot 1425 (56.0 percent) from the floor and out rebound their opponent 22-12 en route to a 36-25 halftime advantage. Salisbury came storming back out of the break, making it a 43-41 game a little over five minutes into the second half. The Panthers tried to stretch the lead, but the Sea Gulls kept fighting back, getting within one point at 62-61 with 4:54 to play. Nursing a 73-70 lead with under 30 seconds to go, the Panthers fumbled possession and Salisbury’s Justin May came away with the steal. At the other end Middlebury denied the Sea Gulls a chance at a game-tying three pointer, but Salisbury’s All-Conference forward Gordon Jeter laid the ball in off a rebound to make it 73-72 with nine seconds to go. Salisbury then immediately fouled St. Amour on the inbounds pass,
sending him to the line where he calmly sank two free throws. Down by three, the Sea Gulls were on the hunt for a game-tying three point attempt, but St. Amour wisely fouled Salisbury’s point guard Adrien Straughn to send him to the line for two foul shots. Straughn hit the first to make it a two-point game and then intentionally missed the second, hoping to create a tip-in opportunity. The ball ricocheted around the rim and bounced out of bounds with a measly fraction of a second remaining and Salisbury in possession. The Sea Gulls attempted a last ditch effort for a tip in, but the release was too slow and the shot was waved off, giving the Panthers a thrilling 75-73. Amidst his game-high 27 points, St. Amour became the 20th player in Middlebury men’s basketball history to hit the 1,000 point mark, finishing the game with 1,006. Daley (13 points, six rebounds) and Zach Baines ’19 (14 points) joined St. Amour in double figures, and Jack Daly ’18 grabbed a game-high 11 boards. The Panthers crushed Salisbury on the boards, snagging 37 to the Sea Gulls’ 26, and shot a terrific 21-26 (80.8 percent) from the free throw stripe. The Panthers felt good about their Second Round match up with Keene St., whom Middlebury had beaten 83-74 earlier in the season on the road, but the Owls proved to be on top of their game this time around. Middlebury struggled to take care of the basketball in the first half, usually a point of strength for the Panthers. Keene St. forced eight first half turnovers, which allowed the Owls to take 16 more field goals than Middlebury in the first half. The Owls were also lights out in the first period, shooting 17-38 (44.7 percent), and Middlebury failed to find any rhythm offensively. All told, Keene St. entered the break up 41-29 with Sweet 16 aspirations in their sights. The script completely flipped in the second half, and the Owls sweet shooting was the only thing that kept them afloat. Middlebury hammered the boards, out rebounding Keene St. 30-13, and took care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers. Middlebury chipped at the Keene St. lead over the course of the second half, playing with a single digit deficit for most of the frame. With 1:25 left, though, the Panthers’ hopes began to fade as Keene held on to a seven-point lead. Then St. Amour injected some life into his team.
Despite the team’s struggles from the three point arc all night long, St. Amour confidently jacked up a three that found the twine to bring the Panthers within four, 70-66. The Panthers entered full press mode, looking to cause turnovers. Matt Daley fouled Keene St.’s Ty Nichols on the next possession, and Nichols made both free throws, again appearing to lock up the victory. On the other end the Panthers looked for the first clean shot from deep, and it was Jake Brown ’17 who got an open look from the left corner. His attempt went far too long, but Jack Daly fought his way into possession for an offensive board. Amidst a sea of opposing Owls, Daly found Brown in the exact same spot who hoisted up another trey and this time canned it to make it a 7269 game and Middlebury immediately called a timeout. Almost as if it were scripted, Keene St.’s inbounder did the unthinkable on the following play and made a risky, looping pass towards center court that Jack Daly was able to tip and St. Amour corralled for the steal. Without hesitation, St. Amour took it to the rim for an easy two, making it 72-71. Daley fouled on the inbounds, sending Keene St. to the line with 40 seconds left. Keene St.’s Lucas Hammel sunk both to make it 7471. Back on offense, Daly erred on his three point attempt, but Matt Daley kept the play alive with an offensive board and found St. Amour who was fouled. Normally money from the charity stripe,
having shot over 80 percent all season, St. Amour made his first but missed his second attempt and the Owls came down with the board. Up 74-72 with 20 seconds to go, Keene St. had a chance to ice the game. However, the pressure must have gotten to Keene St.’s Nate Howard, because the big man missed both free throws. Jack Daly grabbed the board and pushed the ball up the court where Middlebury called a timeout with 11 seconds to go needing a bucket of any kind. Inbounding from the left side of the court, the Panthers ran Brown off of a double screen but he was covered well. St. Amour followed Brown and received the inbounds pass. His first look at a potential game-winning three was quickly closed off by a Keene St. defender, so he found Daley near the free-throw line. Daley made a move toward the rim and tried an off balance shot that careened off the cylinder and bounced to Daly. His put back was no good, but somehow the ball once more fell into the Panthers’ hands as the final seconds ticked away. St. Amour, the team’s go-to scorer all season long, had one last chance to tie the ball game - a spinning, fadeaway jumper with three defenders bearing down on him - from the left short corner. Unfortunately his attempt hit the front of the rim with the Owls ahead, 74-72, as the final buzzer sounded. On the night, St. Amour racked up a game-high 18 points, while Jake Brown had 17, Daley had 13 points and 13 boards and Daly had 12 points and 11 boards.
PANTHER SCOREBOARD men’s LACROSSE vs. Conn. College women’s hockey vs. Amherst women’s lacrosse
5-4
men’s hockey vs. Amherst
The women are conference champions after a thrilling overtime performance.
5-4 (OT)W
@ Conn. College
men’s basketball vs. Keene St.
Exceptional goaltending helped the Panthers come out on top in the low-scoring affair.
W
17-6
74-72 4-2 L
L
W
The squad generated a lot of offense to blow past Conn. in their season opener on the road. Men’s hoops ended their season with a close loss in the second round of NCAA play. The team ends its season in the NESCAC semifinals with a loss to the Lord Jeffs on the road.
22 sports
| March 10, 2016
Women’s Hockey to Play UMass-Boston in NCAA By Ethan Brady Features Editor The Middlebury women’s hockey team won the NESCAC Championship on Sunday, March 6 for the eighth time in the program’s history with a 5-4 overtime victory against Amherst in Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena. Sunday’s game was the sixth time in the tournament’s history — the first NESCAC championship was in 2002 — that the title game has gone to overtime, and Middlebury has played in five of those six games. It was a team win and we were all so happy after the game,” said Maddie Winslow ’18, the heroine of both games. “No one on our team had ever won a NESCAC championship before so it was a cool experience to have it be everyone’s collective first win.” The Panthers advanced to the finals after defeating Trinity 3-1 in the semifinals on Saturday. The beginning of the first period was heated, with close scoring attempts coming from both teams. Trinity nearly secured an early lead two minutes into the game, but the puck sailed just over the crossbar. The Panthers went on the power play at 14:18 in the first, but none of their three shots on goal made it past Bantam goalie Sydney Belinskas. Minutes later, Trinity went on their own power play and managed to make something of it. With 12 seconds left in the period, Emma Tani gathered the puck, weaved her way through the Panther defense and placed a high shot past Julia Neuburger ’18 to give the Bantams a 1-0 lead. Midway through the second period, the Panthers mustered an answer. Off a feed from Julia Wardwell ’16, Jenna Marotta ’19 drilled a shot at 8:57 from the right point into the back of the net. The goal came on the power play and was Marotta’s first in her collegiate career. “Jenna scored her first goal of the season on an unreal shot to tie it up,” Winslow said. “You couldn’t pick a better time to get your first goal.” Trinity made an attempt to break the 1-1 deadlock on a rush up the right side. Shannon Farrell skated along the boards before passing it to her teammate Kate
Fraley, who one-timed it, but Neuburger swept it away to keep the score tied. Middlebury went on the power play in the closing minutes of the second period, and Winslow scored her team-leading 16th goal of the season with another assist by Wardwell. In response, Trinity upped the pressure in the third period, with two attackers each taking close-range shots. Neuburger stopped both shots, but the Bantams nearly scored on the rebounds as well before the Panthers ended the danger. Trinity called a timeout with 53 seconds remaining and pulled its goalie in favor of an extra attacker. At the faceoff, the Panthers diverted the puck out of reach of the Bantams until Jessica Young added an insurance goal on an empty net. The game, an even 22-22 matchup in shots on goal, ended with a score of 3-1 and sent Middlebury to the finals on Sunday. The battle for the trophy between the Panthers and Amherst ended in overtime, when Winslow scored to secure a hardfought 5-4 win. The Panthers came out with a 3-0 lead, but by the middle of the second period Amherst had upended that score with four goals in a row, making it 4-3. “The NESCAC finals is the kind of championship game every hockey player dreams of playing in,” Winslow said. The Panthers came out with an early lead 40 seconds into the game when Alternate Captain Katie Mandigo ’16 redirected a pass from Wardwell through the legs of Amherst goalie Sabrina Dobbins. They doubled their lead at 3:01 with a goal from the slot by Young, assisted by Winslow. Amherst pushed back during a power play after Middlebury’s second goal, and with eight minutes left in the first the Purple & White had two quality chances that Neuburger stopped. Mandigo responded less than a minute later with a one-timed shot off a pass from Shanna Hickman ’19 in the slot that blasted past the Amherst goalie. But the tempo of the game began to change with 3:02 left in the period, when Amherst’s Sara Culhane won a battle for the puck behind the net and scored a backhanded goal on the wrap around. Amherst then surged in the second period, scoring
Michael Borenstein
Shanna Hickman ’19 chases the puck during Middlebury’s 3-1 NESCAC Semifinal win over Trinity. The Panthers had lost to Trinity last year in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. three straight goals to take a 4-3 lead. The first goal, a wrister that sailed through traffic and over Neuburger’s shoulder, came 6:36 into the period. The next came two minutes later when Katie Savage collected her own rebound and fed the puck out to the right circle, where Katelyn Pantera launched it netward to tie the game 3-3. Amherst took the lead at 12:59 as Culhane placed a shot that Neuburger made an attempt to block but deflected in. Down but not out, Middlebury tied the game again with a goal by Janka Hlinka ’18, who corrected a shot by Audrey Quirk ’18 into the net. The Panthers came up empty on a power play at 14:18. Amherst came inches away from winning the game in the final 25 seconds of regulation, when a charging attacker rebounded the puck against the left post. The puck stopped short, forcing overtime. Middlebury had another power play early on in the overtime period, but Amherst killed it off and responded with a 2-on-1 rush toward Neuburger, who blocked the shot. Young started the deciding play in overtime for the hosts, collecting her own rebound off a blocked shot and sliding a centering pass to Winslow. Winslow, at
the right circle, one-timed the puck into the goal for her team-leading 17th of the winter — this time a championship-winning goal. “Scoring the overtime winner was definitely one of the best moments in my hockey career,” Winslow said. “My line mate Jess Young fed me a beautiful pass, and I was able to one time it top corner.” Winslow scored the game winner in both of Middlebury’s final and semifinal games. She now leads the NESCAC in assists, with 23, and points, with 40. Winslow finished the tournament with four goals and five assists, setting a new championship record of nine points over all three rounds. With the win, sixth-ranked Middlebury, ending the season with a 20-4-3 record, earned the conference’s automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Division III tournament. Middlebury will host University of Massachusetts Boston (16-12-0), on Saturday, March 12. Amherst received an at-large bid to the tournament and will face Plattsburgh State, to whom Middlebury lost 3-0 in January. The winner of that matchup will go on to face either Middlebury or UMass Boston on March 18.
the middlebury Women’s Lacrosse Eases Past great eight Conn. College in Season Opener RANKING
By Christine Urquhart Senior Writer
The Middlebury women’s lacrosse team opened its season on the road with a 17-6 win over Connecticut College on Saturday, March 5 and a 17-5 win at Rensselaer on Tuesday, March 8. Saturday’s matchup was the women’s first contest without the leadership of former Head Coach Missy Foote, who led the program for 34 seasons. In her final season, Foote guided the team to a 16-4 record and an appearance in the NCAA Final Four. Replacing Coach Foote is Kate Livesay ’03, who returns to Middlebury after serving as head coach of the Trinity women’s lacrosse team from 2010-2014 before joining the Panthers as an assistant coach in 2015. Coach Livesay commented on her first win as Middlebury’s head coach following Saturday’s victory. “[The win is a] nice affirmation of all the hard work over preseason,” Livesay said. “You never know exactly what team is going to show up when there is no game to scout prior to playing a new team. For us, it was important that we were able to have success in many of the new things we were trying and to have a win on top of that is great.” Middlebury’s win was a team effort with nine different players scoring goals. However, the undeniable star of the game was captain Laurel Pascal
’16, who matched Conn. College’s entire scoring effort by adding six of her own on the day. Pascal was not the only midfielder who had an outstanding game. Alli Sciarretta ’16, Hollis Perticone ’18 and Bridget Instrum ’16 each finished the game with two goals apiece, while Mary O’Connell ’17 dished out six assists in addition to scoring a goal herself. The scoring was rounded out by Chrissy Ritter ’16, Bea Eppler ’17, Hailey Cosseboom ’17 and Emma McDonagh ’19, who each contributed a goal to the win. Middlebury established a fast pace early on in the contest, quickly surging to a 5-0 lead. Conn. College responded with two goals to round out the score at 5-2. From that point, the Panthers dominated the game, mounting a 7-0 run to close out the first half. Leading 12-2 at the half, the Panthers kept the pressure on Connecticut College by maintaining a strong offensive effort throughout the remainder of the game. First-year Goaltender Kate Furber ’19 played the majority of the game, recording four saves in her collegiate debut. Madeleine Kinker ’16 finished the game in the net for the Panthers. Livesay believes that Furber is going to make an immediate impact for the Panthers. “She is very aggressive, vocal and quick. She also anticipates very well,” Livesay said.
The coach expects Furber to be a “big presence” within the team’s high tempo defense as the season progresses. Outside of the cage, the Panther defense was anchored by strong performances from Maggie Caputi ’16 and Jessie Yorke ’17. “Defense was the strength of our team that day,” Livesay added. Having an extra week of preseason before their first game this year allowed the team to “both mentally and physically prepare for the season,” Kate Hodgson ’16 said. Several members of the team believe that the extended preseason preparation was an integral part of their win this past weekend. “As a whole, we are stronger and faster than we have ever been in past years and I think that comes from our conditioning in preseason,” Eppler said. On Tuesday, Middlebury dominated Rensselaer from the beginning, jumping out to a 3-0 lead within the first 3:20 of play and cruising to a 17-5 win. Ritter and Sciarretta both scored three goals, while O’Connell assisted on two. The team will travel to the Boston area this weekend for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 12 against Tufts followed by a second contest on Sunday, March 13 versus MIT. Tufts handed the Panthers one of their four losses last season in a tight game that was decided by a score of 12-11.
TEAM
Rigas’ Reasoning
1
women’s hockey
2
Men’s Basketball
3
Women’s LacrossE
4
Track & field
5
men’s Lacrosse
6
cromwell & French
7 8
First NESCAC championship for everyone on the team. Yeah they lost, but who thought they would make it that far? I don’t know of anyone. Outscored their opponents 34-11 in their first two games. That’s pretty good. Seems like they’re making history every week. Two games, two wins. They’ll move up if they beat Tufts...if. What a season for these two.
Men’s Hockey
They were one of the best four teams in the NESCAC, but only 7th on this list. Midd is darn good at sports.
Hau & Pownall-Gray
They didn’t win, but they qualified for nationals.
SPORTS 23
March 10, 2016|
Panthers Win Opener, Ernst Player of the Week By Trevor Schmitt Contributing Writer The Middlebury men’s lacrosse team opened up the season last Saturday, March 5, with a big 5-4 win over their NESCAC rival Connecticut College, followed by a 16-10 defeat of Endicott on Tuesday, March 8. With the win, the Panthers, currently ranked sixth nationally, continued last year’s trend of domination at home. The Panthers have now won 11 straight games on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium after going 10-0 on their home turf in 2015. After the Panthers held Conn. College scoreless in the first quarter, in large part due to the play of goalkeeper Will Ernst ’17 who made three of his 12 saves in the opening period on his way to being named NESCAC Player of the Week, the Camels’ Ross Thompson broke the tie with 13:10 left in the second quarter with an unassisted shot from 12 yards out. The Panthers refused to stay down for long, however, as Joey Zelkowitz ’17, a First Team All-NESCAC selection last year, responded with a caused turnover and a coast-to-coast goal less than three minutes later. The Panthers kept firing and took advantage of a man-up opportunity at the 7:05 mark when Kyle Soroka ’16 fed first-year Jack Gould ’19 for Gould’s first career point. The Camels, in typical gritty NESCAC
fashion, evened the score at 2-2 with 2:35 left in the first half when Tucker Mscisz scored his first of two goals on the day. Mscisz’s second tally came early in the second half when he snuck a low burner past Ernst at the 13:07 mark to give Conn. College the 3-2 lead. The Panthers had an answer, however, as Gould fed a pass to Captain Sean Carroll ’16, who smoothly finished to end yet another quarter with the game all knotted up. Both teams continued to play tight defense in the fourth quarter as neither side could break the tie until Henry Riehl ’18 found a pocket of space at the 8:24 mark and converted on a Parker Lawlor ’18 pass. The Camels responded quickly with 6:26 left in the game as Thompson assisted a PJ Kelleher goal. At the 5:44 mark the Riehl-Lawlor connection produced what would be the game winner as Riehl’s second goal of the day put the Panthers up 5-4 heading into the final minutes of play. At a crucial and potentially deadly point with 4:40 remaining the Panthers found themselves man-down for one minute. Ernst came up huge with two saves on Kelleher on back-to-back pointblank opportunities only to make a third on Mscisz, following a timeout from the Camels. After a high shot with 10 seconds left and an ensuing Middlebury timeout,
Conn. College found themselves in an opportunity to win the game with a good look at the net. Unfortunately for the Camels, as was the case all afternoon, that also meant a good look at Ernst who yet again came up big for the Panthers and stopped a Derek Bertolini shot as time expired. Senior Captain Jon Broome ’16 was happy to start the season on the right foot but he was far from satisfied. “The first few games of the season are always interesting because every team is still trying to figure out what works, schematically and personnel-wise. Our defense played well and our offense generated some good looks, but we still have plenty of room for improvement,” Broome said. Riehl, with two goals, Gould, with a goal and an assist and Lawlor, with two assists, led the Panther offense on the day. On the other side of the ball seven different Panthers caused turnovers. Middlebury held a 31-30 edge in shots, while Conn. College won the groundball battle by a margin of 23-16. The Panthers cleared 12-16 opportunities, while the Camels went 15-23. On Tuesday, Middlebury defeated Endicott 16-10. Carroll led the Panthers with five goals, while Broome scored twice and assisted on four goals. The Panthers will take on Tufts, the defending national champions, at home on Saturday, March 12 at 2 p.m.
Michael Borenstein
Despite it being a low-scoring, 5-4 affair, the Panthers outshot the Conn. College Camels 31-30 last Saturday, March 5 to extend their home winning streak to 11 games at Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.
Hau, Pownall-Gray Compete for Women’s Squash By Sebastian Sanchez Contributing Writer Last weekend, March 4-6, Saskia Pownall-Gray ’16 and Tiffany Hau ’16 competed at the College Squash Association individual championships at Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Connecticut. Pownall-Gray and Hau entered the tournament ranked 51st and 60th. Powell-Gray faced 46th-ranked Hedvika Suchanova of Dickinson College in her opening match. She was defeated in a five-match marathon, losing the deciding game 11-7. Powell-Gray then entered the consolation bracket, and lost to George
editors’ picks
Washington’s Abigail Shonrock in a three-game match. In the last game, Pownall-Gray showed signs of comeback, but ultimately Shonrock gained the upper hand and won 15-13. Hau competed against 37th-ranked Alexandra Toth from Princeton and unfortunately fell in three games (11-5, 114, 11-7). However, Hau remained upbeat about her time at the championships. “I had a wonderful weekend and played some of the best squash I had all season,” Hau said. “It was really exciting [playing at Chelsea Piers that] I hadn’t been to before.” Hau had a crowd of supporters on hand, including her family, Panther teammates, Coach Mark Lewis
Women’s Hockey: Will Midd defend the home ice in the NCAA Quarterfinals against UMass Boston on Saturday, March 12?
and friends from home. After her loss in the opening-round match, Hau beat 69th-ranked Brandy Williamson from Mount Holyoke in a four game showdown. She won the final game 11-5. Though she lost in her next match against 53rd-ranked Victoria Arjoon of Bates College, Hau put the weekend in perspective. “It was nice being able to finish on that [note] being a senior in my last weekend of squash,” Hau said. When asked about her goals, Hau said she just wanted to enjoy her time and compete to her best potential. “I wanted to enjoy it,” Hau said, “it was my last weekend of collegiate squash
Men’s Lacrosse: Who wins, Tufts (-4.5) @ Middlebury on Saturday, March 12?
so I wanted to leave the weekend feeling proud of myself and the way that I played. I wanted to be able to look back and remember how fun it was. I definitely achieved that and with those good feelings definitely came some good results.” Hau also gave praise to her teammates for their support and encouragement. “[Though] it was strange not having the whole team together,” Hau acknowledged, “hearing from [teammates] and remembering the energy from the weekend before at Nationals definitely propelled me through the tournament.”
CBB: Who will earn the top overall seed in the men’s NCAA tournament?
NBA pick’em: Who will win, Thunder (43-20) @ Spurs (5310)?
MICHIGAN ST. I don’t think Kansas is that good. Bill Self is overrated.
THUNDER I still think the Thunder are going to make some noise out west.
YES You just can’t pick against a team that is so hot.
MIDDLEBURY In fact, I think Midd can spring the upset and stay undefeated.
YES Momentum is in the team’s favor after a huge win in the NESCAC final.
MIDDLEBURY Tufts is looking to defend its national title from last season, but I think the Panthers will give them an early season scare.
KANSAS It’s going to be madness.
SPURS I’ll let their home record do the talking on this one.
YES I can’t see it going any other way.
TUFTS It’s an early season challenge for sure.
KANSAS I always put Kansas down as my bracket winner and they always let me down. Hoping this year is different.
SPURS What everyone else said.
MIDDLEBURY Straight up it would be a stretch to say they’ll beat top-ranked Tufts, but give the Panthers 4.5 and I’m taking them.
KANSAS They won the regular season title in the country’s most competitive conference.
SPURS Tough to pick against a team that hasn’t lost at home.
Andrew Rigas (37-26, .587)
REMO PLUNKETT (51-45, .531)
Alex Morris (94-84, .528)
YES The Panthers have been dominant all season and will continue their excellent run.
Will Case (10-9, .526) YES Especially since they get to play at home.
Emily Bustard (61-68, .472)
MIDDLEBURY Got to go with Middlebury on this one. (Honestly still a little unclear on what this question means...)
KANSAS This seems to be the majority opinion.
SPURS They have been really good this year, and OKC has been struggling a bit recently.
sports
24
Unstoppable. Women’s hockey wins eighth nescac title. Read more on page 22.
sports
inside
Michael Borenstein
MEN’S BASKETBALL LOSES BY TWO TO KEENE STATE PAGE 21
MEN’S LACROSSE SNEAKS PAST CONN. COLLEGE PAGE 23