A more vocal majority

Editorial: Give us a break

Renewing the case for a week-long Thanksgiving vacation

The two weekdays on campus before the start of Bowdoin’s Thanksgiving Break are surreal. Professors announce “sick days” well in advance. Class attendance plummets. The dining halls are conspicuously empty, and students who live close enough to drive start taking off by Monday afternoon.
In the last three years, the faculty has rejected two separate proposals by the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs and BSG respectively, that would have extended Thanksgiving Break to a full week and moved up the beginning of the academic year by two days. Faculty members voiced concerns that the plans would hinder their summer research and would be unfair to students who would not be able to afford a week-long trip home for this holiday. We do not feel that the faculty acted in the best interest of all students in making their decisions.
While the faculty’s arguments for vetoing a longer Thanksgiving Break are not invalid, they are a selective reading of the facts. The proposal would indeed lessen professors’ research time by two days at the end of the summer, but it would also give students and faculty four extra days for Thanksgiving Break. And although lengthening the break to nine days would leave a few students on a quiet campus for a longer period of time, it would also grant about an additional 20 percent of the student body the opportunity to share Thanksgiving dinner with their loved ones. According to a survey conducted by the College in 2011, 84 percent of respondents said they would be able to travel home during a week-long break, compared with the 64 percent who said they would go home either way. The percent of students from outside New England has increased from 62 to 66 percent just between the Class of 2017 and the Class of 2018. For the extra Bowdoin students who could see their families those few days would make all the difference.
Without faculty approval for a schedule change, students and professors currently get the worst possible outcome. Classes empty out on the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week as students from outside the Northeast vote with their feet and schedule earlier flights home. In seminars, the absence of only a few people significantly affects the quality of discussions, while some professors cut back on lesson plans or cancel their lectures altogether. Those who do fly on Wednesday are subject to the most expensive ticket prices, a schedule too tight to account for weather emergencies and the threat of delays on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
This issue has been in the minds of students for at least the last four years. The Orient editorial board has voiced its support for a longer break in 2010 and 2012. The faculty has repeatedly failed to consider how important this issue is to students. Thanksgiving is an important family holiday that is celebrated nationwide, and many students would undoubtedly appreciate the opportunity to spend it with their loved ones.
After returning from this year’s Thanksgiving vacation, students quickly needed to get back into the swing of things. In the Bowdoin way, everyone greeted each other by asking how their breaks were. The common refrain given by almost every student was: “Too short.” It is time to re-examine the case for a longer Thanksgiving break.

Editorial: Compass Rose

On Monday, Bowdoin announced that Clayton S. Rose, a professor at the Harvard Business School, will be the College’s 15th President. Admittedly, Rose is not the most exciting or novel candidate, but that in no way means that he is not the best fit to lead the College. The dedicated members of the search committee spent countless hours evaluating candidates and we are confident that he is exceptionally qualified for the position. There is no sense in passing judgment on President-elect Rose’s ability to lead the College before his work has begun. While some may have initial reservations about Rose, we have every reason to be optimistic.
While it is fruitless to scrutinize Rose before he takes office, it can be valuable to ask how his unique characteristics can help the College at this moment in its history. His tenure as chief operating officer of J.P. Morgan and his management expertise indicate he has the leadership skills the College will need. That he did research on race in corporate settings after transitioning to academia shows a commitment to addressing issues of diversity not unlike those that affect Bowdoin on a daily basis. Too often, the values of corporate America and the liberal arts seem in conflict with one another, but Rose’s résumé proves he can reconcile the two. His contributions to both areas can serve as a model for students looking to achieve business success without sacrificing a committment to the common good.
When President Barry Mills announced his plan to retire, the Orient’s editorial board wrote, “An outsider will be able to evaluate campus culture without the bias toward the status quo that comes with having been a part of it; he or she will also have a fresh start with Bowdoin’s various interest groups—the students, the faculty, the staff, and the Brunswick community.” President-elect Rose’s position as an outsider will allow him to recognize the College’s strengths and also identify where it has room to improve. Rose has a clean slate with Bowdoin’s interest groups, which gives him an opportunity to forge new relationships between the administration and the student community.
His experience makes him particularly well-suited to address several important areas of concern for the College. Increasing Bowdoin’s accessibility and diversity by growing the endowment and prioritizing financial aid was one of Mills’ strengths and should be a top priority for the president-elect. Rose must also continue to modernize the College’s curriculum while still maintaining its liberal arts identity. While addressing these issues and the others that will arise, we hope that Rose will be willing and eager to engage with students, faculty and alumni. Collaboration will be key to making Rose—a newcomer to the environment of a small liberal arts college—successful in his new role.
Leadership changes in an institution like Bowdoin are an important time for reflection, not a time for quick criticisms. As our seventh president, William DeWitt Hyde, wrote in the Offer of the College, part of Bowdoin’s mission is, “To gain a standard for the appreciation of others’ work and the criticism of your own.” The Bowdoin community should receive Rose’s unique knowledge base with optimism and be ready to work toward preserving what we love about Bowdoin and changing what we do not.
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Sam Chase, Matthew Gutschenritter, Nicole Wetsman and Kate Witteman.

Editorial

Why a productive campus conversation needs to involve all students, not just students of color

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

January 23, 2015

“If your conscience stops at the border of Maine then you are less than who you should be,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained while at Bowdoin on May 6, 1964. King’s words should resonate for the many students who find that Bowdoin’s New England location isolates them from recent national racial issues. As these issues make headlines both nationally and at Bowdoin, the College is primed for dialogue about race relations; however, that conversation will not be productive without participation from students of all races. While many students of color have mobilized in response to recent events, there has been a lack of engagement from the majority of Bowdoin’s largely-white student body.

There is no excuse for such apathy at Bowdoin. Recent events have demonstrated that Bowdoin is neither immune to insensitivity regarding race and culture, nor isolated from national events. In November, members of the men’s lacrosse team hosted an annual party where some guests wore Native American costumes, despite warnings from other students and the administration that doing so would be offensive. The administration rightfully chose to punish the guests involved. Then, in December, a man reacted to the non-indictments in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases by murdering two New York City policemen, an event that directly impacted the Bowdoin community.

Bowdoin has begun to facilitate conversations about race. The new Student Center for Multicultural Life will serve as a hub for programming on campus. President Mills indicated that classes will likely no longer be held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day beginning in 2020, the next time the start of the semester coincides with the holiday. Furthermore, College policies regarding bias incidents and the College’s responses to national race-based events show a willingness to confront those who are racially insensitive.

Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the student body to take advantage of the resources provided by the administration, and not leave them just for the minority members on campus. At a panel held as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations this Monday, a number of minority students expressed frustrations at the microaggressions they still face regularly on campus. However, as the panel was mostly attended by students of color, those comments were not able to reach those who would most benefit from hearing them.

While Bowdoin can provide the spaces for discussion, they cannot force students to participate in them. Students must choose to do so on their own, whether by attending organized forums or by having casual discussions with their peers. We understand that this kind of engagement can be uncomfortable—that is part of what makes it so important.

As Elina Zhang ’16 wrote in her December 5 op-ed, “Always assume you have the legitimacy to be concerned about other peoples’ struggles.” For any substantial conversation to occur on campus, students of all colors must participate.

This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Sam Chase, Matthew Gutschenritter, Nicole Wetsman and Kate Witteman.

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