The Bowdoin Orient

President Barry Mills and Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) have reached a tentative compromise regarding the creation of a Community Response Committee (CRC), which would consider how Bowdoin might respond to "humanitarian issues" in the world. Mills had opposed the creation of a permanent committee, while BSG recently passed a resolution calling for one. Mills?s proposal satisfied a number of officers, including BSG President DeRay Mckesson '07 and Vice President of BSG Affairs Dustin Brooks '08, who said that a committee administered by the student government could be just as effective as one administered by the College.

Bowdoin's new e-mail system is packed with features. Microsoft Outlook/Entourage includes a scheduling system, a pre-loaded college directory, and a calendar of campus events. There's only one problem: Many students either don't want to use them, or they don't know how. Ted Power '07 said that the new e-mail system did not seem to be designed for students.

The start of the spring semester has left some students scrambling for new courses as at least four courses have been canceled, and others have been added or rescheduled to meet student demand.

Meredith Segal '08 is in Washington D.C. today, introducing expected presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, at a rally at George Mason University. She has Facebook to thank for it. Last summer, Segal started a Facebook group called ?Barack Obama for President in 2008.? Since then, the Facebook group has transformed into Students for Barack Obama, a grassroots network aimed at demonstrating support for a presidential campaign by Obama. Segal is the executive director.

The Brunswick town council has approved an ordinance authorizing the town to enter into an agreement with a developer for the town's Maine Street Station site, despite significant concerns expressed by Brunswick residents at Monday's public hearing.

Student life topped the Bowdoin Student Government agenda this week, as the body tackled academic advising, alcohol, and the judicial board in a three-hour meeting.

Sixty-five ninth-grade students are getting an early introduction to college from Bowdoin students today. The visiting students from seven area high schools, including Brunswick and Mt. Ararat high schools, are spending the day with a Bowdoin student for the third annual Aspirations in ME: A Taste of the College Experience.

A lawmaker has introduced a bill in the Maine House of Representatives that would take away voting rights for college students from out-of-state. The legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee heard testimony on the bill Wednesday and will hold a vote on February 7.

Upon hearing news that President Barry Mills and the officers of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) had reached a tentative agreement regarding a proposed Community Response Committee to consider international humanitarian issues, our first reaction was one of disappointment. BSG wanted a college-level committee that would recommend institutional actions when humanitarian issues arise. Mills, on the other hand, proposed that student government create its own committee. This committee would include volunteer faculty and be given financial support. The problem with this sort of group, we thought, is that it would have no official power within the College as an institution.

I am writing in response to Alex Williams in the January 26 issue of the Orient ("Social scene keeps Bowdoin warm"). To state that disbanding Greek life at Bowdoin has escorted in a "warm atmosphere" that has made "the winters at Bowdoin a far more bearable time of year" is unfounded and disrespectful.

I had the pleasure of attending a public forum held by the Davis Park Brunswick collaborative of four Bowdoin College classes (davisparkbrunswick.org) on Tuesday night. I found the work, even at this early stage, to be stimulating and exciting.

As a freshman in high school, years before I came upon Bowdoin's campus of Sufjan and Wilco lovers, I sat in a straight-backed wooden chair before the school jazz band conductor. This was a man who, over the course of his career, had led generations of extraordinarily talented musicians to 30 Downbeat magazine Student Musician Awards.

By JACOB DALY
An admirable writer once advised would-be intellectuals, "If you're serious about effecting positive change, then you're going to have to embrace the fact that you're a lot less qualified to speak to certain issues than you think you are. So choose something that you feel strongly about. Study up on it. Form an opinion. Understand why people disagree with you. Then proceed in whatever manner you judge most reasonable, appropriate, and constructive."

In the upcoming presidential election, the environment should emerge as one of the most important issues. As our population continues to grow, the squeeze on resources becomes more acute. In a global economy, the exponential growth in China and other Asian countries exacerbates the problem for Americans. When the United States was the only country consuming large quantities of oil, we could afford to expend it.

By IAN YAFFE
Bowdoin's endowment is currently estimated at $673 million. That's a lot of money, but as we've discovered recently, not too many people know how it is being invested. I will admit my own ignorance on this subject: I know only what is available to the public and haven't sought information from internal sources here at the school.

At Bowdoin, we talk a lot about the common good, but few in our small community end up making it their life's mission in the way that Hanley Denning did.

On October 20, I used this space to lecture about temperance. I climbed up on my soapbox and explained that the freedom built into the college lifestyle should not be abused, because someday in the not-too-distant future our generation will be responsible for preserving civilization in an era of growing population, advancing technology, diminishing natural resources, and mounting cultural tensions. Well, a real man knows when to admit he was wrong. And I've got to say, I was way off base on that one.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, the first round of returning Bowdoin students skipped into Thorne for their first brunch of the spring semester. Tanned and tired from trips to Mexico, Peru, Mars, and Florida, clad in their holiday loot, the Polar Bears appeared ready to take on the new semester, fresh from five weeks of fun, restful traveling, and couch-potatoing.

A second helping of curly fries in the dining hall is less guilt-ridden when its nutritional values are unknown. But now, a perusal of the Dining Service Web site will tell you that one three-ounce serving of curly fries contains 291 calories, 15.67 grams of fat, and 315 milligrams of sodium. It also has 9.9 milligrams of Vitamin C.

What happens when a large alcohol industry finds footing in a nation where it is prohibited? Or when bikini-clad women flood the beaches of a country where women traditionally wear clothing that covers most of their bodies? Senior Jocelin Hody, a government major with a concentration in international relations, is exploring these questions through her honors project. Specifically, she is examining how Islamic culture in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is responding to globalization.

Tick tock. Time is running out for graduating seniors and we're all thinking (consciously or not) about the same thing: What's going to happen to our relationships, or lack thereof, in these last few months of college? Senior spring can be exhilarating or it can be just the opposite?sort of like sex. Graduating seniors are looking for their first jobs and ways out of their parents' houses, while at the same time facing up to the inescapable romantic deadline that graduation

Many students return to campus with goals to start off the New Year and new semester with a bang. The Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching works in conjunction with the Writing Project and the Quantitative Skills Program to help students balance their schedules and learn how to become better students. Elizabeth Barnhart, director of the Baldwin Center, and Holly Schreiber '07, an academic mentor, who has been working with the program for three years, provide helpful tips to ensure success:

Even though Paul Adelstein '91 now stars on the Fox series "Prison Break," he still remembers his small victories as a beginning actor.

Led by former Dispatch frontman Chad Urmston, roots-rock and reggae band State Radio will hit Sargent Gym on Saturday at 8 p.m. for a very promising show.

Upon returning from a semester in Athens, Greece, I was confronted with a phenomenon that I wasn't quite ready for. Being old for my grade, turning 21 was nothing new to me. But fall 2005 was when a number of friends arrived at this milestone. To ring in this joyous occasion, said friends decided that an open bar would be the way to celebrate.

After not competing for the past seven weeks, and spending four of those weeks completing an intense training camp, the Bowdoin Swimming and Diving teams returned to action last Saturday with a meet against Trinity and Wesleyan, held at Colby.

Natural light & Natural Ice—$75.00 each per keg I think one of most tragic tendencies of college students nationwide is the degree to which we take for granted the early weeks of each semester. With Winter Break now safely behind us, the freshmen have had sufficient time to catch up with the rest of us in realizing just how miserable midterms and finals can be. But with this newfound knowledge comes newfound responsibility. Now, if you think I'm stressing the importance of hard work now to soften the impending scholarly blows later, you are wholly missing the point and I think it would be better for both of us if you saved copies of this paper for those who deserve it and brushed up on your inorganic chemistry.

Though we may be through with the past, the past isn't through with us. With "Volver," Pedro Almodóvar has returned. In this film, Spain's premier director of films like "All About My Mother" and "Talk to Her" makes a star vehicle for Penélope Cruz. While it may not be the apex of his career, Almodóvar won't disappoint you here. "Volver" literally translates to "return" in Spanish, and this idea haunts the film.

Senior tri-captain Eileen Flaherty scored 13 points against Bates on Tuesday night and became the Polar Bears' new all-time leading scorer. Going into the game, all she needed was seven points to pass previous record-holder Laura Schultz '96, who finished with 1,670 career points. Flaherty now has 1,679 points in her illustrious career and still has three more regular season games left.

The Men's Squash Team played two of its best matches this weekend, upsetting 14th-ranked Tufts 5-4 and 11th-ranked Brown 6-3.

The Bowdoin Women's Track Team beat Colby and Tufts by more than 60 points, and the showing landed the team a second-place finish behind MIT.

The Bowdoin Men's Indoor Track Team placed fourth out of five teams last Saturday, January 27. MIT won the meet, followed by Tufts and Springfield. Colby finished fifth.

"It's not worth playing if you can't win." Such was the famous line that was completed by pee-wee hockey superstar, Gordon Bombay, in "Mighty Ducks," merely seconds before missing his game-winning penalty shot by a quarter of an inch, ultimately costing his team the championship in overtime. I think most professional athletes, this side of Latrell Sprewell, would agree with Bombay's statement, none more so than those playing in their respective title games.

Winter Break offered no rest for the Bowdoin Women's Basketball Team. Instead, the Polar Bears faced some of its most difficult competition to date. The big news from January was the team's home loss to Maine Maritime Academy on January 17, 51-49. That's right, it's no typo?the Bowdoin Women's Basketball Team lost at home.

The Bowdoin Men's Basketball Team went 5-3 over Winter Break, but it dropped three out of four league games to start NESCAC play.