The Bowdoin Orient

The College lost a valuable faculty member when Visiting Assistant Professor Leslie Shaw died unexpectedly on August 29 following complications from surgery. Shaw, who taught anthropology at the College since 1998, “set a high bar for service, excellence and collegiality,” wrote Dean for Academic Affairs Christle Collins Judd in an email to the Orient. In addition to her teaching and research, Shaw served as the adviser to the Native American Students Association at Bowdoin.

The men’s rugby team was required to forfeit two matches after the Office of Student Affairs found the team had violated Bowdoin’s alcohol and hazing policies on September 15, the night of the annual Epicuria party at Ladd House. The Office of Residential Life placed Ladd House on social probation until November 1, and both the president and vice president of the house stepped down from their positions. Four underage students were transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Center for over-consumption of alcohol on the night of the event.

The Bowdoin Daily Sun reported a 2.6 percent return on the endowment for fiscal year 2012, with the endowment standing at $904.2 million as of October 12. Despite a projected return of 7 percent, the endowment performed well in comparison to peer institutions.

Results from a December survey administered to graduates of the Class of 2011 show that 68 percent of respondents are employed part-time or fulltime, 26 percent are attending graduate school, and  3 percent are still seeking employment. Over 220 alumni responded to the survey.Compiled by the Office of Institutional Research, these statistics are nearly identical to those from last year’s “one-year out” survey of the Class of 2010, which found that 67 percent of respondents were employed, 15 percent were attending graduate school, and 3 percent were seeking employment.

While these statistics suggest widespread success among recent graduates, Nyle Usmani ’12 pointed out that these surveys include non-career-oriented jobs and part-time jobs, and therefore might be artificially high. 

“The statistics don’t lie. Most people leaving Bowdoin will find themselves at a good place. But in my case, I’m still fighting to be at a good place and I’m unemployed…it’s not happening the way that I imagined.”

Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) released a “Fall Semester Report” this week summarizing completed, ongoing, and cancelled projects from the first half of the year. The report, compiled by the seven members of BSG’s Executive Committee, also specifies the status of BSG’s long-term goals. This is the first time in recent memory that BSG has published such a report. “A lot of our work was preliminary; I think this semester is going to be a lot more active-looking,” said Brian Kim ’13, BSG’s vice president for student organizations. “For example, Dani’s GRE test prep program, which took forever to get off the ground, now is actually getting off the ground, which is awesome.”

The Office of Residential Life (ResLife) has placed Ladd House on probation until November 1 as part of the response to last week’s Epicuria party. Both the president and vice president of Ladd, where the campus-wide toga party took place, voluntarily stepped down from their positions this week. Ladd faced disciplinary consequences for what Director of Residential Life Mary Pat McMahon referred to as “an unregistered pre-event with hard alcohol prior to Epicuria.” Under the terms of the probation, Ladd House cannot host registered events with alcohol before November 1.

The Office of Student Affairs determined that the men’s rugby team violated Bowdoin’s alcohol and hazing policies in light of events at an off-campus house and at the annual Epicuria party last Saturday, September 15. Tim Foster, dean of student affairs, announced the ruling in an email to all students yesterday evening. On the night of the annual campus-wide party, which is hosted by the men’s rugby team, four underage students were transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Adventist Center due to over-consumption of alcohol. The two first years and two sophomores who were transported to Parkview were all “tied directly or indirectly to Epicuria and the rugby team,” Foster wrote. Two of the students were transported from Ladd House, where the party took place.

ASAP, which acts as a unifying organization to combine the efforts of multiple campus groups, was formed in 2008 under the direction of Davis. "There were so many groups working in different ways on the spectrum, from healthy relationships to sexual violence, that we decided to create this umbrella group," said Davis. In its first year, ASAP was made up of groups such as Bowdoin Men Against Sexual Violence (BMASV), V-Day, and Safe Space. The alliance has since grown to include 16 organizations, ranging from the Bowdoin Outing Club to the Spirituality Circle.

The annual Spring Gala almost fell off this year's social calendar after the event was left without a overseer. In past years, an ad hoc committee comprised of students has collaborated with the Office of Student Activities to plan the event, but this year no such committee was formed, an oversight that was not caught until two members of Bowdoin Student Government discovered that financing for the event had not been secured.

A total of $7,899 in damages to student residences occured in fall 2011. According to the report compiled by Lisa Rendall, associate director of housing operations, Baxter House accrued $3,193 or 40.4 percent of the damage costs.

Problems with printers? Cross-referencing crises? The Measuring Information Service Outcomes (MISO) Survey offers participants a chance to vent library and IT woes. Created at Bryn Mawr College in 2004, the MISO Survey collects student, faculty and staff opinions on both library and IT services from numerous campuses, allowing each college to compare its performance point by point to peer institutions. This is Bowdoin's first year using MISO; it is one of 30 participating colleges.

After five years of heading the women's soccer program, Maren Rojas has stepped down from her position as head coach. She recently accepted an assistant coach position on the Boston College women's soccer team, and left for Massachusetts on Wednesday. Nonetheless, Rojas attributes her decision to leave to more than just the offer from Boston College.

As part of an ongoing campaign against homophobia in sports, Paul Tagliabue, former commissioner of the National Football League, will visit campus on Monday. Tagliabue, who has a strong history of supporting gay rights, will deliver the keynote address at the third annual "Anything but Straight in Athletics" event. Created in 2010, the annual event is aimed at supporting the Bowdoin LGBT athletic community and eliminating homophobia in sports. One of the founders, Ben Chadwick '11, was an openly gay member of the men's lacrosse team.

Thirteen Bowdoin students have been transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Center due to over-consumption of alcohol since September. According to Tim Foster, dean of student affairs, this number shows that "we are tracking almost identically to last year," when 12 students had been transported by the third week of November. Yet this year, the numbers rose quickly. In September alone, six first year students were transported to Parkview for alcohol-related reasons. The head proctors of each first year dorm sent an email to the entire class of 2015, in an effort to curb the heavy drinking.

Between September and May of this academic year, a projected total of 215 students will study abroad in 46 different countries. Eighteen juniors will remain abroad for the entire year. The OCS has reported that this year an estimated 47.1 percent of the Class of 2013 will study abroad, a marginal increase from 46.8 percent of the Class of 2012.