The Bowdoin Orient

Happy, productive people are not violent. Only the hated hate, and only the scared lash out. But still, we live in a society where violence is ever present and horrifying tragedies seem ever more common. 

When we remember the children and teachers who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School or mourn the victims of the recent attack at the Boston Marathon, we need to ask ourselves why it is that so many tormented souls are committing these atrocities. If we ask this we will see our own complicity in the system that totally divests its weak so that they see no other outlet but violence. Violence is a cry of frustration, a cry for help. 

This is the case with international terrorism on the world stage and is the case for terrorism here at home. Violence perpetrated by an individual against another can more often than not be traced to the violence perpetrated by the society onto the individual. It is the reason why nameless young boys and girls are gunned down daily one by one on the streets of every major American city. 

Democrats should be thanking the Republicans in Congress. Not because they have been nice, but because they have been pricks. Nothing makes the Democrats looks better than the pricks in the Republican Party. The Republican elites have unloaded every nasty thing they could possibly say about the president, which means that there is nothing more they can say. There can be no more ratcheting up the rhetoric.

Occupy Wall Street is the best thing that has happened to the Democratic Party in a long time. Finally, a movement has come along to reveal a hard edge of a party that has been taking soft stances on too many issues for too many years.

Try this for me. The next time you sit in the library or in Smith Union doing your work and you have to go to the bathroom, or to the Café, or to dinner, do not take your books and computer with you or ask someone else to watch them for you. Just leave them where they were and go about your business. When you come back, you will appreciate your fellow students just a little bit more than you do now.

Bowdoin needs to take a long, hard look at its distribution requirements. In doing so, the College should ask, "What are we trying to achieve through these requirements?" and "What are the academic advantages of asking students to choose courses in these areas and not others?" In short, the College should conduct the type of self-evaluation that every successful organization conducts from time to time to assure that it is on the right course.

. On the state level, our small campus is split between two representatives in the Maine State House. On the local level, our campus is even more sliced and diced. It is simply wrong that all Bowdoin students cannot vote in the same local elections. With the recent completion of the 2010 census—and statewide redistricting just around the corner—we have a rare opportunity to fix this problem.

The biggest change from high school that I noticed as a first year last fall was the different schedule. In high school, I was in class for six hours a day, five days a week. In college, I'm in class for three hours a day, four days a week. A suburban kid through and through, it's not often that I feel directly affected by a national issue. As a college student, however, it's hard to look at the national education debate and not feel affected.

Paul LePage is going to be the next governor of Maine. Not only that, but he may very well start his administration with Republican majorities in both houses of the Maine State Legislature. The sad truth is that Democrats are going to get routed all over the country this Tuesday. What does this mean for America? Income inequality is going to rise as tax breaks for the rich are paid for through cuts to social programs for the poor, government expenditure will be slashed—de-stimulating the economy—and unemployment is going to rise. In short, Republicans are bad for the economy, and they will be in charge.

Andy Serwer '81, the managing editor of Fortune Magazine, is not a bad guy. By all accounts, he's actually a pretty good guy, a real good guy, even. Before his speech at Common Hour today, he will probably be introduced by President Barry Mills or Dean of Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd, either of whom will undoubtedly shower him with praise. Perhaps he deserves it.

Even as an 11-year-old, I could tell that something was wrong on September 11, 2001. The police officer who helped us cross the street to get to school in the morning was absent and without a replacement. It was the first time I ever had to cross the street alone to get to my elementary school in suburban New York.

At an estimated cost of approximately $3.4 million, the work currently being done to the heating station is the largest scale construction project the College has broken ground on since the completion of the Peter Buck Center for Health and Fitness last year.

Times have changed since January 2009 when the Blue Tarp Committee anticipated a zero percent rate of return on the endowment, suggested increasing the incoming class size to bring in revenue and advocated that the College not lay off any employees. According to President Barry Mills, the College expects a seven percent rate of return on the endowment, did not admit additional students to the Class of 2013 and has laid off four employees.

The Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) considered proposals to purchase food and beverages for Ivies, fund a Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day, and subsidize movie tickets for students at Regal Movie Theater in Brunswick at its Wednesday meeting. All proposals were unanimously approved.

The Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) spent its Wendesday night meeting discussing how to improve Bowdoin's distribution requirements and what could be done to help first year students make their schedules. No proposals were voted on.

The Judicial Board (J-Board)'s two-week search for new members ended Tuesday, when five students received notification from Dean of Student Affairs and J-Board adviser Laura Lee that they were accepted.

Bowdoin Student Government's (BSG) said yes to hip-hop, no to hydration. At Wednesday's BSG meeting, members cast votes on last week's proposal to replace a water fountain in Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L Library), and a new proposal to co-fund the annual Hip-Hop Concert for accepted minority students during this year's "Experience Weekend." While the proposal to co-fund the annual Hip-Hop Concert was passed by a large margin, last week's hydration station proposal failed to gain approval.

When Tom Ryan '12 begins playing his guitar at Jack Magee's Pub and Grill tomorrow night, Haiti Action Week, a week of fundraising for Haiti disaster relief, will officially begin. Haiti Action Week, which starts tomorrow and will end on the February 27, will include 15 fundraising events. The series of events is the product of collaboration between student groups and the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good. All the money raised during Haiti Action Week will be given to Partners in Health.

"Is it possible that having a Fox channel could cause irreparable damage to the liberal psyche at Bowdoin?" said Class of 2010 Representative Rutledge Long as the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) prepared to pass a proposal approving subscription to the Fox Soccer Channel (FSC). The proposal to begin subscribing to FSC, which passed unanimously with the exception of one abstention, was the only measure voted on at this week's BSG meeting. A proposal to replace a stairwell water fountain in Hawthorn-Longfellow Library (H-L Library) with a new hydration station was also discussed.

"Who hasn't had the dream of staring a fire with two sticks?" asked Madelyn Sullivan '09 in an e-mail to the Orient. "It can be done." Sullivan has been working for the Bowdoin Outing Club (BOC), planning new events for the club. Her latest project involved creating a five-week-long naturalist survival tutorial, called the Indigenous and Survival Skills Group, which will include lessons on creating habitation in nature, food identification, and a number of botany talks by guest speakers. Sullivan says that she will be teaching a weekly class for interested BOC members if the remainder of the class is well attended.

Bowdoin's trustees will converge on the Babson College Conference Center in Wellesley, Massachusetts today for what President Barry Mills said will be a long weekend of "brainstorming" and "sharing views for the College."

While finals loom on the horizon, students are not the only ones undergoing evaluation this semester. In fact, at least 10 professors this term opted to participate in an Ongoing Learning Evaluation (OLE) this semester. OLEs, which can occur at any point during a semester at the request of professors who want the critique, allow professors to hear candidly and from their students about how the course is going.

Scientific American Magazine, the library's most widely-read publication, is under fire. The magazine recently announced that it will be raising its prices from $39.95 to $299 for an annual print subscription and from $1,000 to $1,500 for annual online access in 2010. This increase is part of a larger trend that is being met with formal protest from many college libraries, including Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L Library).

The Office of Safety and Security released the 2008 edition of its Annual Security Report yesterday, detailing the infractions committed on campus over the past three years. The report was compiled as a result of the Federal Clery Act of 1990, which mandates that colleges and universities must submit annual, publicly-accessible reports covering campus security to members of the community. In addition to being posted on Security's Web site, copies of the report are available from Security by request.

Due to recent changes in application deadlines at the Office of Off-Campus Study (OCS), students who wish to study abroad during the 2010-2011 school year may need to plan further ahead than in previous years.

After admitting the Class of 2013, the tables turned for Interim Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Scott Meiklejohn, as the College has begun its search for a permanent appointee to his position. "I am looking for a person who can bring to the College enormously talented, diverse students from across America and the world, and who can represent the Bowdoin community...because [he or she will be] the public face of the College," said President Barry Mills.

After getting stuck in an economic rut, the Wheels program, which will bring buses to Brunswick and Topsham, is back on the road. Director of Transit Operations for the Maine Transportation Department Barbara Donovan has said that all necessary funds have been collected. An announcement will be made as soon as this December confirming when services will start. The December announcement will come nearly a year and a half after the program was originally scheduled to begin.