The Bowdoin Orient

I never saw the Muskie School of Public Service atrium before Professor of Art Mark Wethli's new sculpture, "Civitas," was installed, but I try not to imagine the space without it. With its bare white walls, stretches of glass and gray trim, it is no wonder the space, part of the University of Southern Maine in Portland, "struck a lot of people as being a little cold."

How do you make people care about the choices they make if they cannot see the consequences? How do you rally a student body not known for collective activism around a single cause? The challenges in sparking student commitment to carbon neutrality are colossal; but behavioral changes are part of the College's plan to neutralize its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Every individual on campus must reduce their annual carbon footprint by 500 pounds of CO2, and while this component of the overall reduction may be minimal, it is a critical one, according to Coordinator for a Sustainable Bowdoin Keisha Payson.

The Meddiebempsters hazed their first year members at a September 16 initiation event, according to the Student Organizations Oversight Committee (SOOC), which reviewed the matter. As a result, the Meddies face a number of disciplinary measures, including a restriction on their ability to perform. As the College's oldest a cappella group, the Meddies have traditionally had the privilege of singing at select athletic and departmental events. The group has been banned from doing so until March 10.

The College's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions dropped 16 percent between fiscal year (FY) 2008 and FY 2011, according to reports released today. The reports—an annual update on GHG emissions and the first of what will be biennial updates to the 2009 Climate Neutrality Implementation Plan—were accompanied by a statement from President Barry Mills encouraging the campus to help the College achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2020.

Barry Mills was in the pool, treading water, trying to pass the Bowdoin swim test. There was no end in sight; Charlie Butt, the College's swim coach at the time, had forgotten Mills was there.

The current freeze on faculty salaries is on track to thaw next year as planned. According to Dean of Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd, there has been no discussion of extending the freeze into the 2011-2012 academic year. "Our anticipation was that it was a two-year salary freeze and that after that we would move out and that is where we are," said Judd. The freeze on faculty salaries was first publicly announced in a January 22, 2009 message from President Barry Mills. The letter outlined the terms of the freeze among other measures to cope with the endowment's 17 percent loss.

Currently, six Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD) Fellows are teaching on campus, a number the College expects to maintain next year. The College will start looking for replacements for the three departing fellows as soon as CFD dossiers become available in early November.

After an unprecedentedly busy fall, the Counseling Center has seen some order restored. Emergencies, hospitalizations and counseling sessions have dwindled, despite the spring semester's reputation for higher Counseling Center traffic. In a November 6 article, the Orient reported that the volume of counseling sessions was up, the number of emergencies was high, and there had been more hospitalizations at that point in the year than ever before.

"I was told that I am ruining lives and in the same two hour period I was told that I am the savior of Ivies," said Program Advisor for the Entertainment Board (E-Board) Megan Brunmier '08 of student reactions to the new Ivies concert venue.

Needless to say, responses to the E-Board's Friday afternoon announcement of plans to move the May 1 concert to Whittier Field have been mixed.

Facebook groups have cropped up since the announcement, including "Ivies aint Ivies if it aint on the QUAD," which boasted 24 members as of yesterday.

Bowdoin can boast the sunniest students, if not the brightest weather. According to The Daily Beast, Bowdoin students are the 10th happiest in the country.

During this academic year, how often did you drink hard alcohol? Have sex that you later regretted? Eat breakfast? These questions appeared among 106 others on the 2010 Student Health & Wellness Survey, which is currently underway.

As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the Office of Residential Life had received 238 College House applications. "That's down from the 300 last year, but still much higher than previous years," wrote Director of Residential Life Mary Pat McMahon in an e-mail to the Orient.

Megan Brunmier '08, the program advisor for the Entertainment Board (E-Board), met with the Orient yesterday afternoon to discuss the process by which bands are booked for Ivies. Last week, Passion Pit's agent, with whom the E-Board is currently negotiating an Ivies appearance, contacted Student Activities and requested that the Orient remove its January 29 article, "Passion Pit accepts bid, scheduled for Ivies show," from its Web site.

Where do you spend most of your time at Bowdoin? Most likely it's not locations like the dining halls or your dorm room, but instead the cyber spaces of Bowdoin. With over 100,000 pages branching from the all too familiar home screen, there are plenty of places for your mouse to explore. According to data that tracked Web traffic from August 1 to December 30, 2009, provided by Associate Director of Communications for Web Strategy Robert Denton, the Athletics page was the most popular destination by far.

Snoop Dogg, reputed former-Crip member and creator of such quadruple platinum albums as 1993's "Doggystyle," will perform at Bates College later this month.

Yesterday, students traded coats for cut-offs as the temperature rose to a record-breaking, balmy 68 degrees, beating out the date's previous all-time high: 55 degrees.

Forty-five more students were planning to study abroad in the spring than the fall this year. All but ten of those students, however, have changed their minds. The Office of Residential Life did not expect these students to be on campus next semester and is adjusting its plans accordingly.

The shelves of Hatch Science Library's third floor may be filled with test tubes rather than textbooks in years to come. "We applied in August for an NSF—National Science Foundation—Grant to renovate some space in Hatch for neuroscience and earth science," said Senior Vice President for Planning & Development and Secretary of the College Bill Torrey. The plans, however, are "very much up in the air," according to President Barry Mills,

Bowdoin's Climate Commitment Advisory Committee (CCAC) has created a plan to become carbon neutral by 2020, following through with its 2007 pledge for carbon neutrality. The College will present a draft of its Climate Neutrality Implementation Plan to the Board of Trustees during Homecoming Weekend, then revise and submit a final version in November.

Brunswick Police arrested two local youths on charges of criminal mischief on October 2. Police and Bowdoin Security suspect that the two are at least partly responsible for the wave of water balloon assaults on students since the start of term. The suspects, one 19 and one 21, were apprehended for throwing water balloons at cars from the overpass above Route 1.

When an incoming member of the first-year class indicated on his housing preference form that he did not want to live with a gay roommate, the Office of Residential Life knew just what to do. "We placed [him] in a building with a proctor who we knew to be out and would be comfortable...educating this person," said Associate Director of Housing Operations Lisa Rendall. Though it's too early to tell how this experiment is panning out, conscientious efforts to promote tolerance through living arrangements are not uncommon.

As the recession continues to pound the nation, its blows are visible day by day in Brunswick. Whether it is a business closing its doors or an e-mail from President Barry Mills on the Blue Tarp Committee's plans to carry the College through the crisis, the Bowdoin community can see the signs of economic downturn. This week, the Orient asked the Economics and Government Departments to speak on the subject of the recession and share their views of the Obama Administration's efforts to end the recession as well as the recession's long and short-term effects on the government.

The April Climate Days look to spice up—not heat up—campus next week. Organized by the President's Climate Commitment Advisory Committee, the events include a Climate Fair, the results of the Climate Matters Contest, and a Common Hour lecture with environmental advocate Majora Carter.

Teach For America (TFA) has experienced a considerable surge in popularity this year, with a 42 percent nationwide increase in the number of applications for the highly competitive program. TFA Recruitment Director Abbey Prior, who is part of the Boston recruitment team, said that the number of Bowdoin applicants this year reflect the positive national trends. However, Prior did not provide the Orient with the specific number of applicants or the number of accepted Bowdoin students as numbers are not available on a school-to-school basis until the entire application process is complete.

The Board of Trustees will meet this weekend and discuss a theme that has been on the minds of most at Bowdoin: the economy and its impact on the College.

The country's economic downturn has hit everything from gas prices to college endowments, and many speculated that the number of early decision applicants would be no exception. The contractual obligation of applying early was expected to deter families who would rather wait and weigh financial aid offers than commit to Bowdoin without knowing how much aid they were going to receive. Much to the surprise of many colleges, however, early decision rates increased this fall. Bowdoin's has received 480 early decision applications so far, a 7.9 percent increase since this time last year.

The Brunswick Police Department issued a summons to a Bowdoin junior for furnishing alcohol to a minor last Friday. According to Lieutenant Mark Waltz of the Brunswick Police, officers periodically visit Hannaford to specifically watch for alcohol violations. On Friday night, Waltz and another officer became suspicious after they observed the 21-year-old student and a male sophomore enter the supermarket and exchange money.

In the first of this year's Board of Trustees meetings, all eyes focused on the sorry state of the economy and its impact on Bowdoin. "This meeting was dominated by discussion of what's happening in the financial market and what impact it may have on the College and its finances," said Senior Vice President for Planning & Development and Secretary of the College Bill Torrey. "Nearly all of it was talking about how we're going to prepare ourselves."

Though students and families may be concerned with the future of financial aid given that college costs have increased by almost 40 percent over the past five years, the current presidential campaign has, for the most part, turned its focus elsewhere. "I think education, and higher education in particular, is not high on anyone's list," said Director of Student Aid Stephen Joyce. "Realistically, it's not the most important national priority right now."