Put it into practice

Editorial: Vote.

This year, we have seen the power that Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) can enact. The organization’s actions and responses have become a visible part of campus culture, and BSG frequently shows up on our front page. BSG has been redefining itself and its role on campus. It has released statements of solidarity with the victims of racist attacks at the University of Missouri, as well as two statements of solidarity with students at Bowdoin following the “gangster” party and the “tequila” party. In the fall, students voted in overwhelming support of adding the seat of Multicultural Representative and throughout the year BSG’s “public comment” time has proved itself a heated platform for airing grievances and debate. This has led to an increase in discussions about the role of BSG in representing the student body and the standards it holds itself to. For instance, it has adopted new, more comprehensive procedures for the impeachment of its members and introduced a Good Standing Amendment that allows the BSG Executive Committee to review previously confidential disciplinary records should members fall out of good standing with the College.
In past years, during the week of BSG Executive Committee elections, we have written an editorial endorsing a candidate for president. This year, though, we think it’s more important to use this space to urge you to vote and to make sure you have all the information you need to make an informed decision. While we used to use our interviews with the presidential candidates to inform the position we took, this year we are posting clips of these interviews online for you to evaluate. We are also presenting you with all of the candidates’ candidacy statements in the Opinion section and we have extensive coverage, both in print and on Twitter, of last Tuesday night’s debates, if you were unable to attend.
Ballots were sent by email to all students this morning, and voting will be open until Sunday night. While we realize BSG has its limits, its position as a governing body nonetheless makes it the face of our student body. If the laws it enacts and statements it makes reflect our campus, it should do a good job of representing us. So, be aware of the information you have available to educate yourself about the candidates. If you have opinions on what BSG should be next year, then you should vote for the candidates you think best represent your interests. If you choose not to vote, know that abstaining is tacit agreement with whatever decisions are made on BSG next year. Seniors, too, can vote in this BSG election, as well as students who are abroad, facts that are often overlooked. Voting in this election—like any other election—is a privilege that we have in deciding what our governing body looks like and how we are represented as students and citizens. This year has shown us that BSG’s actions affect our lives, which makes our decisions as voters all the more important.
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Julian Andrews, Jono Gruber, Meg Robbins and Emily Weyrauch.

Editorial: Modeling discourse

Wednesday night, an overflowing audience watched as five professors on stage in Kresge talked about their views on freedom of expression—how it comes into play nationally, on campus and in the classroom at Bowdoin. The conversation consisted of nuanced ideas from professors speaking clearly and argumentatively about the types of discourse allowed on campus and various forms of marginalization—here and in America overall. After each professor spoke, snaps and claps echoed from different parts of the audience.
It was a diverse crowd of attendees and a diverse group of faculty modeling a conversation for them. The conversation was heated—it got tense and even angry at points. Ultimately, it was messy and left the audience with many more questions than it answered. But, as challenging and inconclusive as it was, it was a space on campus for a public conversation about restrictions to expression.
Self-censorship happens in the world and on this campus in particular, not that it is a good or a bad thing. And, especially this year, absent or silent voices have even further impacted the course of dialogue. Claims have become defensive and the campus is more divided than we have seen it in our time at Bowdoin. Letting down our guard and allowing for some messy interpersonal engagement is not easy to do, but taking the risk of being imperfect and wrong is exactly what members of the Bowdoin community need to do more.
Classes end on Wednesday, and a week and a half after that we will leave Bowdoin, the majority of us coming back, at the soonest, three months later. We’ll say goodbye for now, and many of us will have the luxury of stepping away from the debates that have occupied Bowdoin this year. A controversial Facebook post will pop up here and there, but, otherwise, most of our communications will stop.
For all of us, including seniors preparing for their journey into the so-called ‘real world,’ we are presented with a challenge and an opportunity in each moment we confront the world: how do we defend our beliefs while being open to the fact that others think differently? It’s not easy to critically examine personal beliefs, but it is only through being challenged and pushing others that we grow as thinkers, as learners and as generous enthusiasts. Wednesday’s talk was beautifully chaotic. Each person was respected but their views were nevertheless debated unforgivingly. Let’s do more of that.
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Julian Andrews, Jono Gruber, Meg Robbins and Emily Weyrauch.

Editorial

This piece represents the opinion of The Bowdoin Orient editorial board.

April 28, 2016

The sun is shining, the weather is (arguably) nice, the quad is sparkling green after a brief snowy coating and Randy Nichols is filling his polar bear water bottle and gearing up for a big weekend. It’s Ivies, baby.

This fall, the 2015 NESCAC Alcohol and Drug Survey results were released, revealing Bowdoin students’ attitudes on Bowdoin’s alcohol policies and bystander intervention. The survey was first conducted in 2012, and in the three years since then, Bowdoin students have shown improvements in their self-reported “sense of responsibility” to intervene in difficult situations involving intoxicated friends. Bowdoin students have increased 10 percentage points across the board in terms of intervening in the case of a friend driving drunk, vomiting, passing out, harassing others, threatening students, threatening to injure their self, embarrassing their self or drinking to “escape” emotions.

One of the biggest jumps was in sense of responsibility to intervene if a friend was “too intoxicated and might ‘hook up’ with someone.” Whereas in 2012, only 49 percent of students reported that they would intervene, in 2015, 67 percent of Bowdoin students claimed that they would get involved. This increase is encouraging, especially considering the widening of conversations that Bowdoin has been having about sexual assault. It correlates to the increase in Bystander Intervention trainings through Associate Director of Health Promotion Whitney Hogan, which every upper-class student leader is required to participate in.

The survey asked about “sense of responsibility,” and the results show that the majority of Bowdoin students feel very responsible to step in in a variety of potentially dangerous situations involving alcohol. Now, it’s Ivies! While some of Randy Nichols’ “best memories of Bowdoin” happened during Ivies—we’re very excited for our pictures with you, Randy—it’s also the time of year when we hear most from Randy about drug and alcohol safety. We receive “Survivies” and other protocol emails throughout the week, and Security is present all throughout the weekend. Many Bowdoin students will be choosing to imbibe in some way this weekend, and some of the scenarios presented in the survey may come up. This weekend offers a great chance to put these values into practice and step up when these situations occur in real life. The majority of Bowdoin students claim to feel responsible to do so, and now is the time to make good on those promises.

Ivies can be super fun. We can nap, we can laugh, we can cry and we can nap. And, it’s a time to, thankfully, be ourselves; our attitudes and sense of responsibility have improved greatly, and it’s important to keep it that way.

This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Julian Andrews, Jono Gruber, Meg Robbins and Emily Weyrauch.

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