The Campus 2/19

In an effort to deepen MiddBlog’s coverage of campus issues, we are beginning a recurring column that comments on selected Campus newspaper articles, published most Thursdays of the school year. This allows a place for the Middlebury community to comment, expand, and discuss important issues in a dynamic way.

This Week in The Campus:

• Smith pushes most of agenda to spring: SGA President Bobby Joe Smith ’09 tries to deflect some of the inquires by The Campus but it is clear here that Bobby Joe is getting prodded for not producing on any of his campaign promises even with Chief of Staff Hiba Fakhoury ’09, who ran against him last Spring, on his staff. But really, how likely are universal “MiddCards” and the Africana Studies major? Campaign promises are promises to be broken. Smith has got other things on his plate and will continue to be preoccupied this Spring. With the creation of three new committees, there seems to be a “SGA-complex” of tens of students working on what seems like tens of committees with incremental “research” on a mind-boggling number of issues.
• PowerShift draw record participation: UVM and Middlebury are kicking off a bit of a competition to see who can send more people to this huge Washington event.  Things are looking up as the PowerShift organizers managed to make up a gap of ~$9000 in less than two weeks to send an unprecendented 184 students!
• Future of 51 Main in flux: Dean of the College Tim Spears says Middlebury must “fish or cut bait.” And it looks like Middlebury is going fishing. 51 Main will try to expand business by expanding hours and this very well may mean a direct competition with Middlebury businesses. This will continue to be a touchy issue.
• Brooker, Palmer to remain superblock: Students, for better or worse, go nuts of housing. The whole idea of a “superblock” was a gigantic experiment this past year, but the College sticking with superblocks mean that some prime housing is again being pulled from room draw in favor creating “pockets” of special interests on campus. You should expect at least the Mountain Club/Outdoor superblock to win again. Fletcher House is not desirable enough of housing (due to distance from center of campus) to garner support. Don’t expect to see many other groups of students have the organization and willpower to put together a superblock. Now, let’s see if the admin can fix the very broken system of senior commons blocks (8-10 students that stay strongly affiliated with their commons) for this upcoming year.
• Editorial: Go big, or go home: The Campus comes out firmly in favor of 51 Main’s new plan to become a real, profit-maximizing business even with its community implications. Props to The Campus for taking a bold stance on the issue. This is one of better editorials of the year.
• Locks that are “hair today, gone tomorrow”: When I saw a poster in FIC dining hall for a student barber, I thought, wow, I’m glad somebody finally is making a business to fill the huge student demand for cheap, on-campus haircuts. Here are the haircut superstars: Taryn Tilton ’11, Edwin Mitchell ’10, Lingji Hon ’11, Ishaq Sadaqah ’11. Or if you’re like me, you wait desperately until you go home for break to visit your normal barber.