The Bowdoin Orient

As one of the most useful and arguably most important developments of the 20th and 21st centuries, the Internet has a ubiquitous presence in developed countries and is exponentially increasing in users worldwide. A report issued on February 23, 2010, by John B. Horrigan at the Federal Communications Commission, finds that 78 percent of adults in the United States are Internet users and 65 percent of adults have home broadband access.

The Princeton Review currently ranks Bowdoin's food second in the nation, and I'm pretty sure that all Bowdoin students feel that ranking is accurate. Yet, while students are exposed daily to dining hall food, few are aware of the meticulous process that the Dining Service undergoes in deciding where Bowdoin's food comes from.

Christmas dinner conversations with my grandma were especially intriguing this year: the horrible American obsession with sports, the decline of America's universities, the ridiculous price tag of university education, the lack of work ethic in American students in comparison to international students, and how all of these issues are somehow leading to the "inevitable doom" of my generation. As a granddaughter, I meekly listened and nodded my head. But as a Bowdoin student, I could not be happier with my university education, and I have hope for our generation.

It is frustrating, heart-wrenching, confusing, and saddening all at the same time: Where is the intellectual discussion at Bowdoin? It took me a long time—my first year and a half at Bowdoin, to be exact—to put my finger on it, but the issue has been brought up several times over the past year. With appearances in Student Digest posts, table tents, Bowdoin Student Government, Orient op-eds, this question is far from new.