The Bowdoin Orient

By 2009, students may be able to visit a nurse, an acupuncturist, and an athletic trainer all in the same building. The College has merged plans for a new fitness center, a health center renovation, and a wellness center proposed by the Counseling Service into a single project.

Bowdoin's outdated phones face last call this semester.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.

Approximately 20 students and several College officials met Tuesday to discuss safety and inclusiveness on campus in a BSG-sponsored town meeting. For some, however, the meeting raised more questions than it answered.

Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) cut straight to business at its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, addressing the issue of academic advising left from last year's agenda, while also discussing current issues and outlining goals for the year.

If cases of mononucleosis are any measure, Bowdoin students appear to be getting along quite intimately well this year. In the four weeks since the start of the semester, five students have already been diagnosed with what is commonly known as the "kissing disease."

Devoted attendees of Jack Magee's Pub & Grill are wondering what has made the pub so popular this year. Since the pub opened for Thursday night entertainment on September 6, the establishment has drawn unprecedented crowds and long lines. As reads a poster in Appleton Hall, "Everyone who's anyone is at the pub on Thursday nights."

As a number of students have latched on to presidential campaigns, a notable Bowdoin alumnus has leaped into the fray as well. Larry Lindsey '76, an economist who has served as an advisor to Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, has signed on to former Sen. Fred Thompson's campaign as a senior economic advisor. In a campaign press release, Thompson praised Lindsey for playing "a critical role in cutting taxes for hard-working Americans."

On Thursday, some students wore green and black to show support for the "Jena Six" in Louisiana, a group of six black students who alleged unjust treatment by the courts because of their race. This reminder gives us pause to consider how exclusion still affects us today?even at Bowdoin.
Earlier this week, the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) held a school-wide discussion to address problems of exclusion and safety in the Bowdoin community. Following a number of incidents in recent months that left students feeling unsafe and unwelcome, BSG decided it was time to do something.

For the past couple of weeks, there's been a small influx in my inbox. Not the bulk e-mails selling low mortgage rates, or ads for Viagra with the subject heading, "See What Tiffany Really Wants." These are friendly e-mails from familiar faces.

While many question the value of victory in Iraq, most critics worry primarily that the war is not winnable. America's experience with insurgencies suggests otherwise. American history teaches us important lessons on the elements of success and failure in guerilla conflicts. If we apply these to Iraq, we may be able to help it become a stable country with a functional and effective government.

On my second day of substitute teaching, I was given the responsibility of monitoring about 200 students in Rundlett Middle School's second cafeteria, alone. Middle school lunch duty is arguably the worst job substitute teachers receive. A fight only exacerbated the situation.

President Bush saved the planet. Bitter environmentalists, still upset over the President's first year in office, may disagree, but the President has been instrumental in creating a global consensus on climate change. The cornerstone of his effort is the ongoing occupation of Iraq, which has contributed to the incredible rise in gas prices and provided the political impetus for real action against global warming.

Not to detract at all from the marvelous Class of 2011 that has just arrived on campus, but for the record there was an earlier era when the Admissions Office also functioned more as a Rejections Office, with the same advantages and difficulties that Bill Shain pointed out in the excellent article in last week's Orient. The 370 members of the Class of 1976 were chosen from an applicant pool of 3425, of whom 634 were admitted, for an acceptance rate of 18.5 percent, and the class of 1977 might have been even more highly selective.

I read the article by Sarah Pritzker in last week's Orient. I am hoping some of this impassioned group from Bowdoin has been up to Greenville to interview local Greenville residents and local Greenville leaders. If not I trust they will soon, maybe before they solicit opposition based on just the Natural Resources Council of Maine's view so they can give a more rounded outlook. Also note that the NRCM is supporting the Squaw Mountain development that has been a benefit that Plum Creek has touted since it started.

I read, with much interest, your story regarding Adams Hall, specifically its original function as site of the Maine School of Medicine. As you indicate, the article is the first in a series in which you will debunk various Bowdoin myths. The one in question here: ghosts, apparently those whose bodies were dissected back in the day by Bowdoin students, although perhaps the latter subsequently joined with their former cadavers to form a "proud company" to better haunt the hoary halls of Adams.

Several days ago, I took several hours to design, print, and hang various flyers announcing the first meeting Bowdoin College Republicans. To my dismay, but not my surprise, at least four were ripped down in less than 24 hours. Fascinating that at Bowdoin I'm constantly reminded by liberals how tolerant they are of others and their opinions.

President Mills told the Orient he thinks that amid the growing opposition to the U.S. News methodology?which counts schools' reputations among their peers for a quarter of their final score?he and his colleagues wished to end the "notable silence" on the part of schools that are typically ranked in the top 25. These are the schools, after all, that benefit most from the credence many ascribe to the current system. This appears all well and good. But in terms of fomenting positive change, how effective will this gesture be?

What's one surefire way to reveal that you're hiding an illegal pet lizard in your dorm room? Order boxes of live silk worms to your Smith Union mail box, of course.

For many students, the decision to attend Bowdoin is much more than a four-year commitment. Instead, for these students, graduation brings on a new type of commitment to their Bowdoin education as they begin the process of paying off their student loans.

When Muhtasabbib Matin '10 first arrived at Bowdoin from Bangladesh, he did not know any other Muslim students. It was not until Ramadan that he met other students who shared his faith.

It has recently been brought to my attention that sex makes people uncomfortable. That is why I think it's necessary to take a look at the word "hookup."

The creators of two Bowdoin student Web sites, Seth Glickman '10 and William Donahoe '08, seek to reach, entertain, and amuse the campus through their sites, the newborn Movie Moocher and the comparatively veteran Overheard at Bowdoin.

This semester I'm teaching a course called Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies, and one of the first ideas we'll be grappling with involves what might be called the "invention" of homosexuality and its conceptual twin, heterosexuality, a little more than a century ago.

Unconventionality largely defines the music of SYOTOS, New York City's premier Latin jazz group. Its unique sound is a combination of salsa, dissonance, big band-style jazz, and up-tempo Afro-Latin beats.

The 2007 biopic of Edith Piaf, "La Vie en Rose," presents the harrowing life story of the famous French singer who performed from the late 1930s into the early 1960s. While Piaf had a successful career, certain elements of her background?her childhood spent in a brothel, for example?were less than idyllic. This film neatly and dramatically outlines the life and career of Piaf in an evocative, if sometimes fragmented, fashion.

When the leaves start to change and the air gets crisper, college students wistfully look back on the long, lazy summer days when they had all the time in the world to listen to their favorite music or watch their favorite movies over and over again. The days are over when they could spend hours with a stack of music magazines and the New York Times movie reviews, making mental lists of what to download and what to see on a rainy afternoon. When classes begin, the time to figure out what's new and interesting disappears under a pile of papers and books. What is a good music/movie/book lover to do?

Imagine yourself in a typical office, in any city, at any sedentary job, and you will find yourself at the nexus of the action in Joshua Ferris's first novel, "Then We Came To The End."

It is amazing that something so unique and special as beer is in truth made of only a few ingredients.

By welcoming poet and non-fiction writer Sebastian Matthews into its midst this weekend, the Bowdoin Outing Club (BOC) adds a new dimension to the outdoor experiences it typically offers. Matthews will work with the BOC to combine the great outdoors with creative writing through a weekend of hiking, writing, and reading in Maine's western mountains.

Today's Teatime Concert, scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Kanbar Auditorium, Studzinski Recital Hall, will feature Harlequine Quintet. The Teatime Concerts began more than five years ago, and they are so called because they are accompanied by midafternoon refreshments, like those one might enjoy during a traditional English tea hour.

While the rest of us relaxed in the warm summer weather, the Bowdoin Men's Cross-Country Team trained through the season's heat with high expectations for the year ahead.

Coming off of a trip to the National Final Four, the Women's Rugby team is looking to bring what they achieved last year into a new season with fresh faces.

Although the steady rain would be enough to make most college students want to stay in bed all day, the weather could not dissuade the Bowdoin Women's Cross-Country Team.

At the inaugural Polar Bear Round Robin, both the men's and women's tennis teams more than held their own in this home tournament. Both the men and women won more matches than their opponents with the men posting an impressive 23 victories. The women compiled 20 wins.

After winning the final two games of its 2006 campaign, the Bowdoin Football Team hopes to continue its success this season.

After suffering a devestating loss, the men's rugby team will look to put their season back on track this Sunday against a tough University of Maine-Farmington squad.