The Bowdoin Orient

In his first semester at Bowdoin in 1990, President Robert Edwards wrote a memorandum to the school's financial planning committee detailing the status of budget. "Very simply, Bowdoin is spending at a higher level than its revenues will support," he wrote. As a result, Edwards, his administrative team and the College's overseers undertook the process of balancing the budget.

Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), in conjunction with the Dean's office and Dudley Coe Health Center, has decided to conduct a second poll to measure student opinion about the health care provided on campus. BSG President Sophia Seifert '09 and Vice President of Student Affairs Carly Berman '11 conducted the original survey, composed of questions compiled by the BSG Assembly.

Returning to a topic of concern for many Bowdoin students, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) members discussed fielding a new Health Center survey in conjunction with the College administration on Wednesday. Members were presented with a draft survey compiled by Director of Health Services Sandra Hayes and Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs Margaret Hazlett.

President Barry Mills announced on Monday a new committee that will look into the College's finances and make cost-cutting recommendations for next year's operating budget. The announcement, first made by Mills at Monday's faculty meeting, was sent via e-mail on Tuesday afternoon to all students, employees and Trustees of the College.

With Phase II of spring course registration ending Thursday, students have finalized their schedules for next semester. However, some students have expressed confusion about why certain courses do not count toward the distribution requirements that they might expect them to.

Armed with sleeping bags and course catalogues, about 25 students spent the night in Moulton Union on Monday to get the choice spots in line for Tuesday's 7:30 a.m. Phase II registration. "There were about 25 students who brought blankets and pillows and slept here so they'd be first in line for Phase II," said Registrar Christine Cote.

Whether you're a girl or guy, gay or straight, we all know how it feels to?you know?like someone.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute may have done research that suggests that there is absolutely nothing wrong with bottled water ("Crowley provides smart counterpoint to bottled water issue," December 5). This institute also still denies that climate change is caused by anthropogenic factors, a ridiculous assertion.

I appreciate Steve Robinson's ability to put his aside his partisan distaste for Barack Obama last week ("Obama's cabinet selections more moderate than anticipated," December 5). However, I assure him that us "Obamanites" are not "pulling our hair out".

Kudos to the Orient for continuing to publish Steve Robinson's work. His pieces offer much more than timely and thought provoking analyses. They are the voice of Bowdoin conservatives, who are routinely ridiculed, mocked and marginalized on our campus.

Under the current system of distribution requirements, implemented in 2006, already busy professors must take on an additional burden: submitting an online form if they want their course to be considered for a distribution requirement. Applying for such approval takes time and energy?professors told the Orient that the process is "lengthy" and "more complicated than one would expect." This system has been problematic not only for professors, but for students as well.

This just in: We are in a recession. Shocking, I know, but the government says it is official now and this announcement has coincided with the equally startling revelation that Obama is a closet conservative. By concealing his true political orientation Obama was able to infiltrate the Democratic Party and earn the support of powerful leftists.

Recently, some Bowdoin Republicans have asked for "intelligent criticism" in the national political debate. I couldn't agree more. So why not start with some intelligent criticism of the Republicans?

The sweeping snowstorm that clogged airport schedules and kept college students across the nation waiting for release until the wee hours of the morning made a fitting inauguration for the terrifying pre-finals weeks at Bowdoin.

In the November 21 issue of the Orient, the Bowdoin community was asked to respond to the question, "Moulton or Thorne?" The following replies were submitted.

Steve Robinson's op-ed ("Republicans need to be resilient," November 21), presented the recent election of Barack Obama in an unfair manner. Robinson talked of "hero-worship," implying that Obama was elected because "the average voter's political knowledge is little more than the regurgitation of 30-second ads." For Robinson to suggest that the election of Obama was the result of distorted reason is narrow-minded and unmerited.

In addition to performing music, Kinsey also wrote for the Quill while at Bowdoin. One of his pieces, entitled "Scientific Love," expresses Kinsey's view that love is above science and cannot be measured. "It is enough that we never do approach love in mathematical terms!" he wrote. "My essay needs not be an essay, for ages have already written all concerning love. My essay on scientific love is unscientific as it needs must be, you see, when love has no science!"

It's almost that time of year again?no, not the holiday season. When sophomores return back to campus from winter break, they will receive cards in their mailboxes instructing them on the major declaration process. Some will pursue double majors, others will elect to complete an interdisciplinary concentration and others will be devising their own path of study.

Despite the fact that most of us have less than 12 days left on campus, i.e., less than 12 days to get all of our work done, confirm travel plans, pack up our stuff and say goodbye to friends, I thought it might be cute, in the spirit of the holidays, to give some suggestions for end of semester sex relations?that is, if you can even find the time to hook-up in this maelstrom of papers and exams.

For more than two years, Bowdoin alumna Meredith Segal '08 has worked alongside President-elect Barack Obama to inspire millions of Americans to believe that yes, they can.

Out there in the world, the economic crisis looms bleaker every day. Both Wall Street and Maine Street are feeling the effects of our Titanic-esque economy. Even Bowdoin is beginning to bend under the pressure: our foundation of a fitness center is suddenly short on funds and athletic teams can't have overnight stays anymore. There's one thing that hasn't changed, however: condoms are still free.

For some reason, the weather has been pretty good since returning from break. Having come back to a snowy, watery, slushy campus in the past, I expect the worst of Maine weather. Recently, however, I have been pleasantly surprised by temperatures reaching well into the 40s. So much for Bowdoin and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Season. But the weather forecast seems to think that this shift toward uncomfortable will occur sometime in the next few days, and what that forecast means besides the crippling realization that warmth will not come back until May (and the ensuing Seasonal Affective Disorder), is that wardrobes will shift from light summer/autumn clothes to heavier winter clothing.

Bowdoin offers its students many holiday traditions including the Junior/Senior Ball, the final a cappella concert, and countless holiday parties, but what many students may not know is that the College also offers a traditional Festival of Lessons and Carols service for students, staff, and community members. The service, unlike some other Bowdoin traditions, has an easily traceable history, with roots in Anglican Church traditions of the 1800s.

'Tis the season for festive sweaters, twinkling lights, hot drinks and the inevitable and sometimes painful Christmas carols. It's the season for mistletoe and stocking stuffers, latkes and sleigh rides, and if you're on the brink of a secret Santa exchange or have time for shopping between finals and roasting chestnuts, here are a few holiday suggestions.

"What have I been up to?" Associate Professor of English Peter Coviello smiled as he repeated the question. "Well, like all faculty members on leave, I've been drinking wine in exotic cities and dancing in night clubs across Europe," he joked. "No, no. Well, I have been away." While away from Bowdoin, Coviello traveled throughout Europe to Naples, Berlin, Sussex, Madrid, Paris and London. He plotted his travels to accommodate several academic talks at European universities and also budgeted some time with his family in Naples.

Three Bowdoin graduates flew to Ghana last summer to film "Under the Mango Tree," a documentary about the life and activities of the Maine-Ghana Youth Network (MGYN). Steven Bartus '08 (editor), Anna Karass '08 (writer), and Aisha Woodward '08 (editor and writer) received the Davis Project for Peace Grant to undertake the project, which lasted three weeks. Woodward first volunteered for the MGYN when she studied abroad the spring of her junior year in Ghana. The same spring, the MGYN visited Bowdoin, and Karass met two of its leaders: Co-Director and Co-Founder Mollishmael Kwame Gabah and President Erin Rhoda.

Are pictures really worth a thousand words? In the Becker Gallery at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, where professors curate shows in conjunction with their classes to expand on certain issues, the answer is yes. Currently in the Becker Gallery is the exhibit "Hogarth's Women: Virtue and Vice in Eighteenth Century England," a show curated by Associate Professor of English Ann Kibbie in conjunction with her class, "Women and the 18th Century Novel." With the help of Bowdoin's Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow, Diana Tuite, Kibbie selected prints of the major 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. Hogarth, a painter, printmaker, satirist and social critic, created many series of prints that questioned and explored issues of modern morality.

The high-flying men's hockey team was brought down to Earth following a weekend of difficult away games. The Polar Bears defeated Castleton Friday night 5-3 before slipping Saturday in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in a 6-4 loss against Skidmore, their first loss of the season. The Bears were quick to establish a first period lead against Castleton as Brunswick native Kit Smith '11 notched the game's first goal at 12:35.

Defense is the name of the game for the women's basketball team. Bowdoin's suffocating defense led to a nine-point road win over Colby-Sawyer on Thursday. The Polar Bears shut down the Chargers with a whopping 17 steals and five blocks in the 54-45 win. Senior tri-captain Maria Noucas scored a season-high 16 points and junior forward Leah Rubega had 10 points and 10 rebounds in her third straight double-double.

Despite scientific claims to the contrary, it seems Polar Bears can thrive in warm waters. At least that's what the Bowdoin swim teams showed last weekend during their successful meet in Cambridge, Mass. Amid steep competition from six other teams (NYU, MIT, Colby, Brandeis, Tufts and Wheaton) the Bowdoin's male and female delegations managed to make their collective roar heard.

The Bowdoin Women's Ice Hockey Team suffered a tough loss last Saturday, falling short 4-2 to the Colby Mules in Waterville. Colby senior Becky Julian got the ball rolling for the Mules when she scored her first of three goals within the first minute of the game. Bowdoin's Lindsay McNamara '09 responded six minutes later, scoring the first goal for the Bears on an assist from Alexandra Chlebeck '12.

The men's and women's squash teams endured a tough couple of days last weekend as they faced two of the top-ranked teams in the nation. On Saturday, both teams made the drive down to Williamstown, Mass., to take on Williams and Princeton. The men and women both entered the weekend with a 1-1 record, with both teams defeating Connecticut College but falling to Dartmouth in matches before Thanksgiving.

They've loitered in the league's basement for almost a decade, cycled through coaches like pairs of socks, and have left a pungent, decrepit smell wherever they've played. Littered with semi-high-profiled names with semi-tractor-trailer-sized waists, contracts and execrable attitudes, not only were the New York Knickerbockers going nowhere fast, but they were regressing. After finishing 23-59 last season for the second time in three years, few basketball fans had any doubts about where the team, led by the Voldemort of the NBA?then head coach and President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas and owner James Dolan?ranked in the field of 30.

Successfully defending its title in double overtime, the Bowdoin Field Hockey Team became the fourth team in DIII history to win back-to-back national championships. The Polar Bears collided with Ursinus College on November 22 and then stepped up against Tufts University on November 23 on their path to victory. The Polar Bears' opponent in the NCAA championship game was a familiar one, facing Tufts for the third time this season.