The Bowdoin Orient

Upon returning to campus after winter break, I was greeted by several more feet of snow on the ground, a new hockey arena, and a pile of unwashed laundry left on my floor prior to break. A less noticeable, yet equally significant change was the arrival of a series of posters, broadcasting the tens of millions of abortions that have occurred since the Supreme Court handed down the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Accompanied by Bowdoin women's hockey coach Stacy Wilson will be selecting more than just Bowdoin's squad this year. From September 17-21, 41 of the top female hockey players in Canada met in Calgary for the first round of the selection process for the national team accompanied by Wilson. At the selection camp, Wilson coached one of two teams alongside one of the Team Canada coaches.

With an agenda that includes reviewing next year's budget and approving plans for a new health and wellness center, the Board of Trustees will meet May 8-10 for their third and final gathering this year. The 45 trustees will arrive next Thursday, then begin committee meetings on Friday. According to Secretary of the College Richard Mersereau, the Trustees will hold a brief session on Friday, where they are set to approve tenure for Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology Phillip Camill. The Trustees will then meet on Saturday to review next year's budget and vote to approve plans for a new fitness center.

Well-known volunteer-based organizations Teach for America (TFA) and the Peace Corps both received?and accepted?considerable numbers of applications from Bowdoin seniors this year. In the 2007-2008 academic year, the Peace Corps received 12 applications from Bowdoin students, said Public Affairs Specialist for the New England Peace Corps office Joanna O'Brien. David Nachtweih, communications associate for TFA, said that 34 students from the Class of 2008 had applied to the program during the year?a 41 percent spike from last year's crop of applicants.

While some Bowdoin seniors will pursue graduate school or enter the working world after graduation in May, a handful of students from the Class of 2008 will be studying in various corners of the world?for free.

Hundreds of millions of people may speak Russian, but at Bowdoin, the language is dying.

The Undiscussed, a newly formed, student-led organization seeking to promote discussion among students about issues of multiculturalism and identity, recently unveiled its plans to tackle these issues at the College. Alyssa Chen '08, who is spearheading the project, said the organization will utilize dialogue circles?which she first heard about in her education class last year?to confront these issues. Dialogue circles, Chen said, will enable students to discuss their experiences with identity in a safe, structured arena.

A crowd of about 20 hockey fans looked on as the Bowdoin Women's Club Hockey Team played its inaugural game at Dayton Arena Wednesday, defeating the local Brunswick High School's women's team 4-1.

While students studying off-campus this spring have just begun their adjustment, students who spent their fall semester away are making the opposite transition back to life at Bowdoin. These students' stories are just a few of this fall's off-campus study experiences.

Relief may be just around the corner for students graduating from Maine colleges and universities with large educational debts. In January 2008, the State of Maine will launch Opportunity Maine, a program that provides debt-relief incentives for students who graduate from Maine colleges and stay in state to work afterward.

Author and women's studies scholar Kathy Davis presented a lecture on Monday night to promote her new book, "The Making of Our Bodies, Ourselves: How Feminism Travels Across Borders." In the presentation, Davis discussed the far reaching consequences of "Our Bodies, Ourselves," a popular manual about women and their bodies first published in 1970.

Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) President Dustin Brooks '08 announced the first staff appointment to the Community Response Committee (CRC) Wednesday. BSG formed the CRC last February. Associate Professor of Sociology Joe Bandy was chosen as the first appointment to the committee, which will recommend ways in which Bowdoin might respond to humanitarian crises abroad if and when they arise. The CRC, which is supposed to be comprised of four students and three staff members, is scheduled to hold its first meeting next week.

Bowdoin's outdated phones face last call this semester. Information Technology (IT) plans to update many of Bowdoin's phones over Winter Break, replacing the 25-year-old system with ones that use voice-over Internet Protocol (IP) technology.

The Bowdoin Campaign expects to meet or exceed its fundraising goal of $250 million by June 30, 2009, according to Senior Vice President for Planning and Administration William Torrey.