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Posts tagged ‘student life’

Apr 23

It Happens Here.

Students packed the McCullough Social Space last night for this year’s It Happens Here event. 23 testimonies of sexual violence against Middlebury students were read aloud. Take a look at some of the stories at go/IHH and watch Story #2 by author Bella Tudisco below:

If the stories last night impacted you and you would like to get involved with issues of sexual assault and violence on college campuses, contact IHH Midd or check out Know Your Title IX, an activist collective run by students and young alumni who have successfully campaigned against their colleges’ inadequate responses to campus sexual violence. Their goal: educate every college student in the U.S. about his or her rights under Title IX by the start of the next academic term.

 

Apr 11

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The (Would-Be) Bicycle Thief

This is a guest post from Noah Berman ’13. As always, we encourage anyone with an idea, story, video, recipe, etc. to send us their work at tips@middblog.com and we’ll consider it for a guest post!

No longer Noah Berman ’13

I ride my bike a lot. I’m not, however, a cyclist. I don’t even really ride it for exercise. I ride my bike to get from point A to point B. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s convenient. It is, quite literally, the most perfect form of human powered transportation ever invented, purely in terms of conservation of energy. And I’m a nice guy. Anyone who knows me would probably agree. I can be an ass, but its almost always in good fun. Of course, I do have moments of less than admirable behavior, but any slip I make is usually unintentional, the consequence of taking a joke too far or some such mistake. I make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.

In light of the recent uproar over Delta house, dorm damage has come to fore of the college consciousness. A certain amount of damage is inevitable: someone microwaves tinfoil or spills wine on a carpet. Mistakes. Mistakes are understandable, for to err is to be human. But smashing a light fixture is not a mistake. Destroying nearly twice the dollar amount of allotted property is not a mistake. Lets just consider that for a second. They were given an allotment of property to destroy, and that amount was exceeded. Middlebury, in essence, sanctified a prescribed amount of damage, said “you can break this much stuff, but no more…” And they broke more. Middlebury prides itself on churning out well-rounded students, students ready to become productive members of society. What sort of society tells a young man that he can destroy with impunity up to a limit, at which point he is immediately penalized? Certainly not one that hopes him to be productive. Not one that expects him to deal well with taking responsibility. Read more

Apr 3

Solar Decathlon Team to Kick Off Spring Construction

Curious about what’s next for Solar Decathlon? Eager to finally see their conceptual design come to life? Now’s your chance!

At 4:30pm on April 4th at Ridgeline, President Liebowitz and Solar Decathlon team members, Kate Eiseman ’15, Cordelia Newbury 13’, and Laura Romig ’12.5 will speak to kick off the team’s spring construction.

Food and refreshments will be served, as well as music by student band The Blue Laws (Kento Mizuno ’15, Dustin Lowman ’15, and Danny Nigh ’15).

For more information leading up to the event, feel free to “like” the Middlebury Solar Decathlon 2013 Facebook page and check out their website!

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Mar 18

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Community Council Votes to Disband Delta

ADP

Update: Community Council member Barrett Smith ’13, issued the following quote to MiddBlog in a phone interview tonight:

“Going forward, I believe the most important thing for the community will be for [the houses of] Palmer and Prescott to be social houses. These spaces were meant to be social houses and should serve that purpose. New student organizations can be created to fill these roles and I hope to work with the council to outline what the process of forming new social houses. It takes a lot of work, but I hope that student leaders on this campus will step up to the challenge.”

Middlebury’s Community Council voted earlier this evening to disband Delta, the social house often referred to as ADP, in a 13-4-1 vote. Last Tuesday the council held an open meeting to discuss the house’s future but tabled the vote until today when they reconvened in an executive session. Discussions over the fate of the social house lasted over an hour and other possibilities were considered, although ultimately discarded. The ruling will now go to President Liebowitz for approval, though he is unlikely to overturn the council’s decision.

The rest of MiddBlog’s coverage on the Delta case can be seen here. Keep following MiddBlog for updates as they come.

Feb 27

The Lowdown on LoFo

lofo paintingThose upperclassmen on campus probably remember the Lower Forest Basement, or LoFo, in its glory days. That beloved, grungy space on campus where you danced at least once a year (probably with paint flying in every direction for J’ouvert) as the colored graffiti on the walls seemed to dance with you. But after we all returned to campus in the fall of 2011, we were saddened and surprised to see the beloved space turned into a modern, yet sterile and boring dorm lounge. So Chris Batson ’13 decided to do something about it.

Batson writes to MiddBlog in an email:

“The project came out of dialogue with Dean Katy Smith-Abbot. Following the alcohol forums, etc. my sophomore year I tried to think of solutions and explanations for the aggressive drinking behavior and simultaneous “unhappiness” of many students with respect to social events on the weekends. I promoted the idea of “black box” spaces–common spaces that would be transfered into dance hall-like spaces, where all the walls would be painted black, there’d be strobe lights, black lights and a sweet sound system. Katy has been working on getting A/V equipment for a number of spaces around campus (one of them is LoFo). I wanted the spaces to be always at the ready so that once your dorm-room party was over-flowing, you could all go downstairs and make your own party, rather than wander between Ridgeline and Atwater.”

It is his hope that a good portion of the painting will be done before spring break so programming and entertainment can return to the space in time for the end of this spring semester. So stop by LoFo this Sunday from 6-9 to grab a brush and help out!

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