McKeen Center continues voter registration efforts

News in brief: Town considers bus to Portland

The Brunswick Town Council will vote in the coming months on a proposal for a commuter bus connecting Brunswick to Freeport, Yarmouth, Falmouth and Portland.
The service would be run through Portland Metro Bus. A ride to Portland would cost $3.Senior Lecturer in Physics Karen Topp heard about the bus proposal due to her interest and advocacy for public transportation.
“I think students [would] be happy to have access to Portland,” she said.
Due to federal matching grant money, the proposal would cost about $50,000 for the first two years, after which costs would spike to $150,000 annually.
If the council votes in favor of the bus, service would likely begin in July 2017. A date for the vote has not yet been set.

News in brief: College remembers Grobe

Professor of Mathematics Emeritus Charles A. Grobe Jr. died after a long illness on September 29. He was 81 years old.
Grobe taught at Bowdoin for 35 years. In an email to the Bowdoin community last Monday, President Clayton Rose wrote that “his former students and colleagues carry with them fond memories of his sharp, dry wit and never-failing good humor.”
Grobe began teaching at Bowdoin in in 1964, after earning his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. In 1968, Elizabeth (Betsy) Mendell, his wife, also joined Bowdoin’s faculty, becoming the first woman to have a faculty appointment at Bowdoin.
“He was a family man,” said Isaac Henry Wing Professor of Mathematics William H. Barker. “He was just devoted to his two sons and his wife.”
Grobe gained a reputation for impressive blackboard lectures.
“He was very precise,” said Barker. “He would write very carefully and it was beautiful.”
Outside of teaching, Grobe had a passion for photography. On the cover of the 1974-1975 Bowdoin course catalogue is an orange and red photo Grobe took of a boat at sunset at Five Islands in Georgetown, Maine.
It was the only course catalogue cover in Bowdoin’s history to feature a photo that is not of a building on campus. Very few covers have photos at all, most simply featuring text and the College insignia.
“He was always very proud of that photo,” said Barker. “It is a lovely shot.”
Beyond mathematics and photography, both Barker and Rose remarked on Grobe’s incredible character.
“When he was ill, he showed true, really incredible courage,” Barker said.
“He was a remarkable member of the Bowdoin community and a remarkable teacher and scholar and a remarkable partner with his wife,” said Rose.

News in brief

McKeen Center continues voter registration efforts

September 30, 2016

The Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good tabled in David Saul Smith Union to assist students with voter registration on Tuesday. The event coincided with National Voter Registration Day to encourage the political participation of the student body.

“We want all students to be civically engaged. Community engagement can take a lot of different forms, but one of them should be participating in the electoral process,” said Andrew Lardie, the McKeen Center associate director for service and leadership. “[It is important to] know what is at stake in the community, what is at stake on the ballot and be able to participate in [the electoral process] by being both educated and motivated to do it.”

McKeen Center representatives were on duty in the Union all day. They helped with online voter registration and requesting absentee ballots through Turbovote, a third party service paid for by Bowdoin Student Government.

“We help them to register, decide where to register, and we have absentee ballot registrations for a few different states,” said Liam Gunn ’17, the McKeen Center election engagement fellow. “The rest of what we do involves educating people about the election.”

“Historically, there was no administrative apparatus to support students’ civic engagement in the elections,” Lardie said.

The table received a steady stream of students seeking assistance.

“I think [the event] has been really strong,” said Lardie. “I think if nothing else, we wish we had the resources to be more present, more often and in more places.”

The McKeen Center will also table at future events, such as sports games, after the vice presidential debate on October 4 and after the final presidential debate on October 19.

“It’s important for us as students to get involved and have a say, especially in this election, and I think that the voter registration booth was a really good resource to help students with that,” said Ellie Sapat ’20. “The fact that National Voter Registration Day occurred right after the presidential debate was perfect because the topic of the election was fresh in everyone’s mind.”

Lardie said the McKeen Center’s Facebook page, Bowdoin Votes, is an additional resource that Bowdoin students can use to further educate themselves about the election and voter registration.

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