Fulfill our responsibility

Editorial: Promote off-campus inclusivity

In an email on Monday, Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster notified the campus of the formation of a working group focused on developing a policy for off-campus housing and improving upperclassmen housing options. The email included a demographic breakdown of students living off campus.
The data presented by Foster reveal inequity between students who live off campus and the student body as a whole. The numbers indicate that these students are more likely to be male, wealthy, white or a member of a varsity team. Of the students living off campus, only 28 percent receive financial aid, which is considerably lower than the 44.7 percent of the total student body that receives aid.
The College is right to be transparent about these statistics (and we encourage the same degree of transparency with respect to other spaces on campus, such as the College Houses and the athletic department). The data presented in Foster’s email confirm many of our suspicions about the skewed demographics of off-campus housing, and they highlight a need for a proactive off-campus housing policy that remedies the demographic imbalance among students living off campus.
As this group moves forward there are important dynamics it should be aware of.
An inclusive off-campus housing policy would ensure that students who receive financial aid have an equal opportunity to live off campus as those who do not. In most cases, the College factors the cost of living off-campus for students receiving financial aid into the total billed expenses meaning students who receive financial aid and live off campus don’t pay the college room fee. However, many students receiving financial aid are unaware of this policy and assume that living off campus is not a feasible option for them. Just as the College holds information sessions for students who want to study abroad, the College should hold information sessions for students who express interest in living off campus, where information about financial aid is transparent.
The off-campus lottery, as it was implemented this January, is biased towards accepting large groups. According to an email from Director of Housing Operations Lisa Rendall, a student who is accepted to live off campus will be able to “pull” the rest of their group into their house. This means that the larger a group, the more entries it effectively has in the pool. These large groups have the ability to create exclusive social spaces that dominate campus culture.
Finally a cap on off-campus housing has the potential to inadvertently cause off-campus rent to rise, perpetuating the bias of off-campus living toward wealthier students. If there is a constant demand for students to live off campus, coupled with the limited 200 available spots, it is possible that landlords will raise rent prices to match or exceed Bowdoin’s housing fee.
Moving forward, the College has to recognize that students will continue to live off campus. If Bowdoin intends to regulate the off-campus housing policies, it is the College’s responsibility to develop a policy that makes off-campus housing as accessible as possible to prevent further social divide.

Editorial: Confront your class reality

In the wake of the study published by the New York Times earlier this year about economic diversity and class mobility at colleges in the United States, the Orient interviewed a number of students on campus about their experiences with class and how it has impacted their time at Bowdoin. Though voices represented in this article spanned from every point on the socioeconomic spectrum, many expressed a similar sentiment: honest discussions about class are difficult, but critical.
With a topic as charged as class, before any productive conversations can take place, all students—regardless of background—must be honest and open with themselves about their own class standing.
Earlier this year, during the first-year Orientation events, students were asked to stand up in response to statements with which they identified. “Stand up if you’re lower class.” A few students stood. “Stand up if you’re middle class.” Many students rose. “Stand up if you’re upper class.” At this point, only a few students stood up.
This exercise reflects a broader misunderstanding of our class identities. The data from the aforementioned study clearly display a different reality than this self-selecting portrait. We understand the inclination to identify as middle class—all of us have done it. That being said, know what it means to be middle class. It is imperative to recognize the reality of one’s actual socioeconomic class.
If you are unaware how much money your family makes, call your parents and ask them how much they made last year. Figure out where this places you on the national economic spectrum, as well as Bowdoin’s own spectrum.
We must constantly acknowledge that Bowdoin has many very wealthy students. Fifty four percent of students pay $63,500 per year to attend this school. That is more than the median household income in the United States. At Bowdoin, the median household income is $195,900 annually, which means that half of the student body is in the top six percent nationally, according to 2014 census data. This can come to feel normal, but we have to remind ourselves it is not. It is immediately obvious that most of Bowdoin’s population is not middle class.
If everyone tries to identify as such, they excuse themselves from participating in a conversation in which they have to acknowledge their wealth. A situation in which the only people talking about class are those whose financial realities inhibit them from maintaining the middle-class illusion is unhealthy. Misconceptions of class at Bowdoin exacerbate class inequality on campus and are equally harmful to every student.
Just as with issues of race and other social hierarchies, productive conversation and change need to stem from those with privilege and power. Talking about class is uncomfortable no matter who you are, but if you are on the wealthier end of the spectrum, it is your turn to understand your financial reality and how it affects those around you.
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Julian Andrews, Harry DiPrinzio, Dakota Griffin, Jenny Ibsen, Meg Robbins and Joe Seibert.

Editorial

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

February 24, 2017

What is the common good to you? This a question that is asked of Bowdoin students to the point of exhaustion, at panels like the one on Wednesday night and in every-day dining hall conversations. But the question persists for good reason. Bowdoin is an institution that is dedicated to educating students who serve the public good; it has a responsibility to help students understand how this can be done.

We feel that Bowdoin is inadequately fulfilling this responsibility. At Bowdoin today, there are very few ways that we engage with the common good outside of the McKeen Center for the Common Good. As a result students lack a conception of how they can truly serve the common good in ways other than direct community service.

The McKeen Center does an incredible job organizing community-based work that both has real and positive impacts on communities and educates students about their roles and ability to serve the common good. The McKeen Center recognizes that common good means more than just community service and there are a number of programs they put on that demonstrate this broadened understanding, from alternative break trips to What Matters discussions to the Leading for the Common Good program.

However, we believe it is critical to translate that understanding to the larger campus community.

The McKeen Center organizes a Community-Engaged Courses program incorporating a community-learning component into classes each semester. This program provides a vital opportunity to teach students different ways in which community engagement can lead to the common good, beyond merely community service. They provoke reflection of personal responsibility and address intersectional issues through working directly with local groups or municipal governments.

For example, in the past, students in earth and oceanographic science classes have applied their in-class learning to studying nearby Maine environments, and environmental studies courses have collaborated with non-governmental organizations to make maps using geographical information systems (GIS).

This semester, there are eight such courses, but half of them are in the education department. This program should be expanded to include more courses and more departments.

However, our dedication to the common good should surpass our academic careers and the local Maine community. Fulfilling our responsibility to the common good means keeping it as a priority in our lives even as we leave Bowdoin. This means factoring it into our career choices, what we choose to do with our income, how we spend our free time and our day-to-day decisions as citizens. If the College serves the common good, it has a responsibility to follow through with the ideals it promotes and help students transition from a common good defined at Bowdoin to one that is applicable to the greater world.

Learning about our individual roles and responsibilities within the greater communities we inhabit is critical to discovering how we as students can have an impact beyond Bowdoin. This means moving the message beyond the walls of the McKeen Center and into classrooms, dining halls and dorms—and then into our workplaces, homes and families.

This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Julian Andrews, Harry DiPrinzio, Jenny Ibsen, Meg Robbins and Joe Seibert.

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