The Bowdoin Orient

The College has completed a renovation of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, where the author lived in the 1850s while writing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The house now provides office space for faculty on leave.

Bowdoin purchased the house, known as the “Stowe House,” in 2001. Since then, it has suffered from disrepair and neglect. A series of proposals in 2005 might have allowed the College to restore the house, but the suggested renovations were postponed because of a lack of funding.

Constructed in 1806, the Stowe House is known best for being the home of Calvin and Harriet Beecher Stowe, the latter of whom published “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852 while her husband taught religion at Bowdoin.

The Stowe House has also accommodated a number of other historically important figures, such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Joshua Chamberlain, both of whom are Bowdoin alumni. However, despite this historical and regional significance, by 2001 the house had fallen victim to structural damages and the presence of asbestos.

“[The house] was basically falling down,” said Associate Professor of Africana Studies and English Tess Chakkalakal. “They found quite a lot of asbestos and remnants of a fire, and that made it really dangerous for that house to be even standing.”

After a series of reviews, the College decided that a modest renovation was the best path forward. Although the disposition, or giving up, of the Stowe House was considered, a 2012 bond issue allowed the College to acquire the funds necessary for the $1.3 million renovations.

“We were at a crossroads, trying to figure out the best thing to do with it,” said Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Katy Longley. “We thought about disposition, and we decided that the most responsible thing would be to do a modest renovation. The renovation cost would be about $1.3 million. I think the College has struggled since it acquired it in 2001 to figure out what to do with it.”

The renovations addressed the questionable structural integrity of multiple parts of the house, as well as the ongoing asbestos problem. In addition to repairing damaged sites, the repairs also restored the house to its 1850s appearance.

“The renovations have been done to get rid of the most structurally unsound parts of the building and return it to its 1855 condition, which is the historic period that’s closest to the Stowe residency,” said Katherine Randall ’16, who completed a digital timeline of the Stowe House in 2015. “It’s been about making [the house] more structurally sound, as well as restoring some of the architectural integrity and returning it to that beautiful neoclassical building that it was in the 1850s.” 

“Harriet Beecher Stowe lived there from 1850 to 1852, while she wrote ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ and there was a major renovation right after she left in the 1854 timeframe,” said Director of Finance and Campus Services Delwin Wilson. “It took a very simple house and made it much more Greek revival, much more ornate. So that’s more the time period that the interior is reflecting currently.”

Now that the restoration has been completed, one of the next questions to be addressed involves how the Stowe House will be used by both the College and the town of Brunswick. Although the newly renovated building has been used primarily for office space, a single room is being set aside to celebrate the intellectual and historical legacy of the Stowe House.

“Right now, there are offices in there, and those offices are occupied by faculty on leave, for their sabbaticals [and for] emerita faculty. It has turned into a nice place for faculty who are on leave or recently retired to think and work,” said Chakkalakal. “But I continue to hope that the College will try to revitalize some of its intellectual history in that space by perhaps making it into a center for faculty, students and even staff to have conversations.”

Additionally, the room not used as office space is intended to be open to the public, where people from all over can come and experience the storied history offered by the Stowe House.

“We want it to be a space that can be used equally by people who visit Brunswick or the College, by people who have no affiliation with the College, to come and understand Stowe’s legacy,” said Randall. 

On Tuesday night at the Lamarche Gallery in David Saul Smith Union, Director of Health Services Dr. Birgit Pols shared her personal experiences treating AIDS at work and parenting a child with AIDS. Pols’ talk introduced the AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibit, which will be on display at the gallery until February 9. 

Pols began by talking about being a medical student in an age when AIDS was not yet a major problem. In fact, AIDS was so rare in the late 80s that it was not even discussed in medical school.

“When I was a senior in college, the [Center for Disease Control] reported on AIDS for the first time,” said Pols. “I started medical school the next year, and not once through my entire medical school career was AIDS mentioned in the classroom.”

Disappointed by this hole in the curriculum, Pols and a few of her classmates gathered every Friday to learn more about AIDS by talking to those in the community diagnosed with the condition. A significant number of those sick were members of the LGBTIQ community.

Pols also recounted her relationship with Greg, an AIDS patient who she met while fulfilling her residency in South Carolina. Greg was openly gay and as a result suffered from bias throughout the duration of his treatment at the conservative facility.

“Homophobia prevailed [at the hospital], and gay AIDS patients seemed to provide permission for bigotry,” said Pols.

When Greg died some time later, Pols reshaped her professional and life goals to focus wholly on working with HIV/AIDS patients.

“Caring for [Greg] changed not only my career goals, but my life,” said Pols. “I became identified as ‘the’ doctor for taking care of people with AIDS who couldn’t afford private healthcare.”

While working in this capacity, Pols also served as Volunteer Director and Board Member of the Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services (PALSS) and the Medical University of South Carolina’s State Policy Committee.

The fear and discrimination aimed towards AIDS and the LGBTIQ community, resulted in a certain amount of discrimination against Pols and her mission, which often made it difficult to find employment.

“When I finished residency training, I was one of the most decorated residents to have ever graduated from the program, but while my colleagues had no trouble finding jobs, I was truly surprised not to receive a single job offer,” she said.

Pols also discussed her experience caring for an AIDS-stricken child, Cory, whom she and her partner adopted when no one else stepped forward. Despite constant care and frequent hospital visits, he died of AIDS-related complications.

Pols wrapped up the talk by pressing the need for constant efforts against HIV/AIDS. The number of those infected has remained largely stable since the 1990s, and even advances in medical technology have done little to help.

Bowdoin will showcase a part of the narrative AIDS Memorial Quilt in the Lamarche Gallery on the second floor of Smith Union until February 9. Each panel of the expansive quilt—a part of the NAMES Project foundation conceived and established by gay activist Cleve Jones—tells the story of an HIV/AIDS victim and his or her family, friends and loved ones.

Knowledge of the quilt spread across the country resulting in a huge public response. Since its conception in 1985, the quilt has increased to over 48,000 three inch by six inch panels and raised over $3 million for institutions working to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“There are stories like the ones I’ve shared about Greg and Cory behind every one of the 24 quilt panels here, of the more than 48,000 panels that did not make their way here, and of the more than 39 million people around the world who have died of AIDS,” said Pols. “But no matter how tired or overworked we are, we can always do something, even if that’s only to be open.”

You’ve seen them around. Whether in a red wagon rolling across the Quad, or in a neat single file line at the Arctic Museum, the toddlers and infants in Bowdoin Children’s Center programs  are hard to miss. 

When the Center opened 25 years ago, it was stationed in a trailer, according to Associate Director Anne Brooks. Later, the Center moved to the yellow house on 4 South Street.

“I believe that when we were [located in the yellow house], we were only open to preschool children,” she said. 

The current facility on South Street was built 11 years ago, and has allowed the Center to accommodate a greater number of children and better serve families. Today, the Center offers care from birth through age five, and according to its website, can serve 43 children at any one time.

The Center is owned and run by the College, with an operating budget comprised of tuition paid by parents and additional money provided by Bowdoin. 

Tuition costs vary from $400 to $1,000 per month, depending on a child’s age and the number of hours per week spent at the Center. 

The Center does not offer financial aid for families who cannot afford its tuition.

“We have done extensive research about the market rate value of full time child care for birth through age five in the Brunswick area,” wrote Brooks in an email to the Orient. “We have a good understanding of what the tuition trends are and our rates are not higher than those you would find at other centers in the area. In fact, they are lower.”

Nearly all of the children enrolled at the Center are the offspring of current Bowdoin faculty and staff. At the moment, there are two waitlists: one for Bowdoin families and one for community families who have no employment connection to the College.

“When we have an opening, we go through the Bowdoin families first...and offer them the spot. If they all turn it down, we then go to the community waitlist,” said Brooks. 

Kate Stern, the director of the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, has three-year-old twins enrolled in the Center.

“My two boys love going,” she said. “I’m home on Mondays with them, and this Monday, they were begging, ‘Can we go to school?’ They love their teachers, their friends, what they get to do.”

As a parent, Stern said she is pleased that the Center takes advantage of Bowdoin’s campus to offer a richer experience for all students involved. 

“Last week, they got to visit the museum and [look at] art and play on the museum steps,” Stern said. 

She noted that sometimes children are taken to the top of Coles Tower to look over Brunswick.Nicole Smith ’16, who worked at the Center last year, said that problems often arose with both communication and organization. 

“I think the staff struggled to keep things consistent and organized, and sometimes I thought they were a little too strict,” Smith said. “For me, working with the young kids was often the highlight of my day, but working with the faculty [at the Center] got pretty tricky sometimes.”

Brooks said she attributed any difficulties to the shift in management that occurred two years ago. The Center was forced to abandon certain outdated practices in order to be reaccredited, but Brooks declined to give specifics. 

“The College understood that we were at risk for not being reaccredited, and so that caused a push for a change, and for new administration,” said Brooks. 

The Center works to constantly maintain the highest quality care possible, according to Brooks. 

“Bowdoin College is the gold standard, and we should be too,” said Brooks. “We should be proud of the child care that we offer. We are going to be the best in the state, if we can.”

The Center also provides opportunities for Bowdoin students in psychology courses. According to its website, students in Infant and Child Development—a 2000-level psychology course—can work as interns and observe education at the Center two hours each week.

Spiritual life for many Jewish students at Bowdoin is limited to Hillel-sponsored Passover events and Yom Kippur services in Daggett Lounge. However, over breaks, many students go on Birthright trips, which are organized by Taglit Birthright Israel, a non-profit organization that sends nearly 40,000 young, Jewish adults to Israel each year.

The program is designed to allow Jewish youth ages 18 to 26 to explore their connection to the Jewish faith and visit tourist destinations in Israel. 

Birthright applicants are subject to strict eligibility requirements and those wishing to make the trip must be able to demonstrate that they have at least one Jewish parent or show proof of their conversion to Judaism. These stipulations are designed to prevent those without a real and legitimate interest from taking advantage of trip, for which costs are minimal—close to free.

This year, Tim Foster and the Office of Student Affairs welcome the new Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs Kimberly Pacelli ’98. She will replace Margaret Hazlett, who left the College in June.

Bowdoin is familiar territory for Pacelli, an alumna who earned her master’s degree in education from Harvard in 2003. That same year she returned to Bowdoin as the director of Residential Life, a position she held until 2008. After earning her J.D. at the University of Maine School of Law, Pacelli spent the 2012-2013 academic year working at Harvard College as an associate dean of student life. 

“I sat in a central place in a system that was very much decentralized. I oversaw all of the housing events that were going on from house-to-house, and then I was also working on a project to revitalize and renovate all of the undergraduate housing,” said Pacelli. 

The softball team swept a three-game series against Bates last weekend to clinch a NESCAC playoff spot. As the second seed from the NESCAC East Division, Bowdoin earned a spot among the four teams moving on to the NESCAC Championships. The team pushed its consecutive win record to 12 with the sweep against Bates, and beat Husson on Sunday in the first game of its doubleheader. The Polar Bears lost the second game, ending their undefeated stretch at 13 games. 

“Our goal was to make the tournament; to do that, you have to be either first or second, and we were able to achieve that,” said Head Coach Ryan Sullivan. “Other teams will be wrapping up with NESCAC play this weekend, so it’s great to be able to go and play that extra weekend.”

On Sunday, although the women were able to take Husson 12-5 in the opener, they were unable to keep up their momentum, losing 5-0 in the second game.  

The women’s rugby team suffered a first round defeat in the USA Rugby Division-II Championship Last weekend at home. The Polar Bears lost 36-21 to the American International College (AIC) Yellow Jackets, and were eliminated from the championships. However, they will still participate in their traditional spring round-robin tournaments with local colleges and universities. 

Despite the unfortunate result, head coach MaryBeth Mathews  said she was pleased with the Polar Bears’ performance throughout the game, as well as the progress they made over in the season. 

“It was a fantastic game and I’m really proud of the team, because when they played to the game plan, they performed brilliantly,” said Mathews. “The women on the field gained a great amount of experience while on tour, and after only two short weeks, put a lot together, worked hard, and played beautifully.”

As a senior on the women’s hockey team, Kayte Holtz’s success throughout her athletic career has earned her almost every accolade available in the NESCAC D-III Conference.

First-year midfielder Jamie Hofstetter has played an integral role in the women’s soccer team’s postseason run so far. Hofstetter has found the back of the net in every playoff game this year, scoring several critical goals. Though she scored just twice in the 14-game regular season, Hofstetter has scored five goals in only seven shots in the NESCAC tournament.