Rules of engagement

Editorial: Vote Levine

This weekend the student body will elect next year’s Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) president, the person responsible for setting BSG’s agenda and implementing changes—large or small—that improve the lives of students. The Orient believes that David Levine ’16 is best suited for the job.
In his two years here, Levine has demonstrated his capability and competence through the leadership positions he has held with BSG. As an at-large representative last year, he helped organize a protest urging the faculty to adopt a week-long Thanksgiving break, a campaign thatwe hope he continues to pursue. Levine has served on three College committees and is the current vice president for facilities. He is familiar with the obstacles BSG often faces and has established relationships with members of the faculty and administration that we believe will enable him to confront bureaucratic deadlock.
The other candidate for BSG president, Christopher Breen ’15—currently vice president of the 2015 Class Council and former vice president for Student Government Affairs—grasps the challenges and limitations of the job, but has not contributed to as many actionable initiativesas Levine has in the same amount of time.
An underclassman has not served as BSG president since 2006, but we do not think that Levine’s class year is a disadvantage. In fact, pursuing ambitious goals like postponing Credit/D/Fail deadlines and extending Thanksgiving break requires effective long-term cooperation with thefaculty and administration. With the graduation of senior BSG leaders, there is an annual loss of institutional knowledge that inhibits BSG’s ability to effect change and speaks to a larger problem: the fact that there is not a large enough field of candidates with sufficient experience. At least two incoming members of the Executive Board will be rising seniors with no prior history on BSG.
In this weekend’s elections, four out of seven positions for the BSG Executive Committee will be uncontested. This has become a recurring issue for BSG leadership elections; two positions went uncontested last year and four the year before. Consistently uninspiring races suggest that we lack interest and faith in student government. We should be more invested in the organization whose mission it is to work on our behalf. Not only does competition between candidates demand morepassion from those running, but it engenders more interest and enthusiasm for BSG among the student body.
There are countless students with leadership experience on class councils or in student organizations that chose not to run in these elections. BSG cannot be an effective institution until there are competent and experienced candidates running for each Executive Committee position.
The editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient's editorial board, which is comprised of Erica Berry, Nora Biette-Timmons, Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Marisa McGarry, Sam Miller and Kate Witteman.

Editorial: Living the party

Even one hundred and forty-nine years after the Class of 1867 first planted ivy near the Chapel, the Ivies celebration continues to serve as respite from academics. Despite some obvious differences, the Ivies weekends of yore bear a surprising resemblance to the Ivies of today. In “Tales of Bowdoin,” a collection compiled by former students, President Kenneth C. M. Sills of the Class of 1901 recalls a day when “the expectant mothers, the passive fathers, the pretty sisters” descended on Bowdoin’s campus for a day of oratory performances. Sills describes a tennis match that began at dawn after a night of debauchery, contested between two seniors and two young alumni who were only “slightly clad,” and refereed by one Tim Taylor, who was—even at such a late hour—“rather drunk.” Sills uses the elegant language of a more restrained era, but many current students can read their own Ivies experiences into his account.
From the College’s perspective in 2014, this weekend is primarily about attempting to impose order on chaos. E-Board members hand deliver notices to our neighbors in Brunswick, and some professors even skip town. Rain contingency plans are in place. Multiple emails from Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols have enumerated strategies to “Survivies.” While there is plenty of debauchery already underway, the Ivies spirit has as much to do with breaking the norms of everyday interaction as it does with bending the rules. The near-magical quality of Ivies comes from a meaningful sense of liberation from social divisions within our small community. Today’s party on the Brunswick Quad marks the one moment when a large portion of the student body will gather together informally.
This communal revelry makes Ivies a uniquely inclusive opportunity for fun. Demarcations drawn by class years, varsity teams, College House affiliations and extracurricular involvements dissolve. First years will find that this last weekend in April is the first significant opportunity to invoke the “Bowdoin Hello” since the early months of the academic year. Above recognizing tradition and celebrating the long-awaited start of spring, we gather to celebrate our common experience as the academic year reaches its final crescendo.
We see Ivies as a utopia because of the collective release it brings. But instead of saving the date, we might take the experience instructively. We are capable of substituting bacchanalian camaraderie with substantial—and sober—conversation with new friends after the weekend ends. Ivies sets an example and poses a challenge for the last few weeks of this term and our Bowdoin experience more generally. The long-celebrated Bowdoin tradition brings a state of mind that should linger long after the hangover fades.
The editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient's editorial board, which is comprised of Erica Berry, Nora Biette-Timmons, Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Marisa McGarry, Sam Miller, Leo Shaw and Kate Witteman.

Editorial

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

April 18, 2014

In October 1972, an Orient columnist quipped, “As most upperclassmen will readily agree, it requires a fairly strong issue to fire Bowdoin students up over virtually anything, with the possible exception of the hockey season.” For the most part, this sense of political apathy has continued within the Bowdoin Bubble. However, the past two years have seen student activism coalesce around a handful of topics more forcefully than at any point in recent memory. Bowdoin Climate Action (BCA), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the 2012 Yes on One initiative, among others, have involved students, faculty and staff in efforts that have produced meaningful conversations—even if they have not always met their goals.

Today, President Barry Mills plans to receive a petition from BCA that was signed by more than 1,000 students and asks Bowdoin to divest its endowment from the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. This weekend also features the College’s first Palestinian Film Festival, organized by SJP. These are only small steps toward addressing contentious global issues, but they have fostered lively debate among a historically apathetic student body. When Bowdoin students attend a lecture by an activist from the West Bank or a hearing at the Maine Public Utilities Commission, they are engaging with a community that lies beyond Brunswick.

These student-led efforts have not gone unnoticed by Bowdoin faculty. Last May, 24 professors emailed BCA a letter of appreciation for its efforts encouraging the College to divest. The note communicated that while the individual faculty members might not believe that divestment is the best solution for climate change, they “are grateful to the students for dramatically energizing the conversation on campus.” In opening up a critical space for dialogue on social, political or economic issues, students have earned the right to collaborate with their educators and administrators.

It can often feel overwhelming to navigate a Smith Union filled with event posters and tables of vocal activists. Many students blindly accept pamphlets and sign petitions out of a sense of social obligation or brush by without engaging at all. This is a disservice to peers who are pushing for change, even if that change comes incrementally. We do not have to sign the petitions if we disagree with them, but we should be willing to have a conversation and think deeply about our own beliefs. When our signatures reflect a genuine desire for change, the petitions will carry more weight when presented to the administration.

Activists at Bowdoin face a particular challenge because their goals may not come to fruition during their four-year tenure at the College. Though we might not agree with each component of what SJP, BCA and other advocacy groups fight for, it is detrimental to look down on student activism at Bowdoin as a whole and abstain from the conversation. These efforts should be respected, not derided.

The editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient's editorial board, which is comprised of Erica Berry, Nora Biette-Timmons, Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Marisa McGarry, Sam Miller, Leo Shaw and Kate Witteman.

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