The Bowdoin Orient

Following a College investigation of alleged research misconduct, a Bowdoin professor now awaits a final decision on the matter from President Barry Mills. Professor of Economics Jonathan Goldstein, a former chair of the economics department and a 29-year tenured veteran of the College, researched in a 2008 paper the effect of athletics on academics at 36 small, liberal arts colleges, including Bowdoin. The paper, which contained results potentially harmful to the reputation of the College, has not been published in a scholarly journal but was posted last August on Goldstein's faculty page of the Bowdoin Web site.

Professor of Economics Jonathan Goldstein's paper, "The Tradeoff Between Extra-Curricular Activities and the Academic Mission of Small Liberal Arts Colleges: Why Some Schools Are Poor Educational Investments," has been the source of an eight-month long dispute between the author and College officials since shortly after it was posted on his faculty Web page last August.

Amid the online-only shift of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a threatened Boston Globe, and the state's own Blethen Maine Newspapers for sale, the news industry today is struggling. With advertising revenues falling for all, print subscriptions down 15 to 20 percent at some Maine dailies in the past eight years, and burdensome debt structures to support, newspapers in Maine are looking, with the rest of the country, for ways to weather the storm.

Starting next year Bowdoin will offer a minor in economics and finance, the result of a unanimous faculty vote on Monday. The proposal, which had been a topic of discussion since Fall 2005 when the economics department first introduced finance courses, arose in response to interest from students, the administration and members of the economics faculty, according to Chair of the Economics Department Deborah DeGraff.

"It's never too soon to start thinking about saving for retirement," proclaimed Michaela Cavallaro last Tuesday to a room full of groaning seniors at the workshop "Beyond Bowdoin: Living on Your Salary and Building Wealth after Graduation."

Bowdoin applicants requested more financial assistance during this year's admissions cycle, but the increase was minimal; requests for aid from the admitted Class of 2013 increased only 2 percent from last year. According to Director of Student Aid Steve Joyce, the Student Aid office had anticipated a slight rise in aid requests.

For the past several months, the College has been forced to make hard decisions about how to reduce spending. While trying to stay as committed as possible to its fundamental principles, the College has made cutbacks that have significantly affected everyone on campus—everyone, that is, except the students.

Bowdoin has failed in its self-proclaimed mission to lessen the impact of climate change through College-wide action. It is not just a failure of results; it has been a failure of vision and a failure of leadership. Our leaders do not understand the nature of the problem; they believe that there is some solution that does not amount to a change in our behaviors.

The Climate Days events of this past week and the "We're committed. Are you?" banners featuring a green "B" in the word Bowdoin are intended to showcase the College's commitment to "educating our community and promoting sustainability on campus." Over the course of the week those students who attended the events learned about important, contemporary, environmental issues like the importance of eating local foods, the environmental work which is happening at the College, the availability of green jobs and...how to tie-dye and make organic granola.

'Going green' has become one of the most popular catch phrases of 21st-century jargon, but what does it really mean? Magazines and newspapers around the country are filled with tons of "easy tips" on how to reduce your carbon footprint and live a more environmentally friendly life. Companies and organizations like Starbucks, Patagonia, Ikea, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo, UPS, and MTV (not to mention our very own Bowdoin College) have already taken steps towards more environmentally friendly practices and have learned that it can save them quite a lot of money. Said the executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, David Yarnold, "going green" "can create competitive advantage" and "strengthen the bottom line."

My beetle study at the Bowdoin Scientific Station this summer required that I set and collect traps on an uninhabited island for a few hours a day. I had never been so utterly alone. After the Kent Island dingy dropped me off and disappeared into the inlet, there was not a vestige of humanity to be seen, heard, or even felt. On some days, when the mist reduced my visibility to a 20-meter radius, I could not even see land from my foggy prison. It's the closest I've ever been to where Shel Silverstein says "the sidewalk ends."

Dear visiting students, Congratulations on your admission to Bowdoin College. The task of the admissions office here is not an easy one—many of the students who apply can handle the course load at the college and would be great contributors to the community, but admissions saw something special in you, and we want you to come here.

To The Editors: Ross Jacobs needs to explain why his harrumphs are things we should care about. In his last column ("Imagining Bowdoin: 'Political kinesiology' can train America back into shape," April 3) he looks at America and sees "a people that once vigorously settled the frontier and defeated great armies now decaying into the fattest civilization in the history of man." Which sure sounds bad. But what, exactly, is the problem? Is obesity making us more susceptible to invasion? Will the Lakota now ransack Pierre?

To the Editors: My hat is off to Josh Weiner '00 ("ResLife 'hypersensitive' about Greek life legacy," April 3). Just when I thought I had lost complete hope in the Orient's endless supply of flavor-of-the-week beers, Mr. Weiner provided me with the best read since "The Diddy Gritty."

To the Editors: In light of the Vagina Monologues and the Speak Out, where I heard story after story about abused, neglected, and ashamed vaginas, Julia Bond's column ("Sex Matters: Celebrating the common denominator of womankind," March 27) was a much needed celebration of vaginas. Given my appreciation of the column, the two letters published last week ("Bond brands herself as an object in 'Sex Matters,"' April 3; "Local mother appalled by 'obscene' sex column," April 3) left me with several questions.

Admissions season is coming to a close. The decisions have been made, and the letters have been sent. At this point, Bowdoin has accepted less than 19 percent of applicants: most have been rejected, and far, far too many have been put on the wait list. When a high school senior learns that she has been put on the wait list, she may assume that she has a chance of gaining acceptance to the College. In fact, there is almost no chance that she will be admitted.

After four years at the College, Organic Garden manager Katherine Creswell is headed off to start her own farm in Oregon. During her tenure at Bowdoin, Creswell has helped the garden grow physically as well as in its importance to the College.

When it comes to talking about sex, people often feel comfortable staying quiet. We accept sex as a taboo subject and keep our own sexual realities and experiences to ourselves. We have questions that we never ask. Though this might have been the norm in American society for some time, our culture is heading in a direction that requires us to reassess our perceptions on how we discuss sex.

Despite only being on campus since September, Associate Director of Safety and Security Carol McAllister has already become an invaluable asset, according to Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols. "She has exceeded my expectations," Nichols said. "She brings something to the table. She helps make the Office of Safety and Security top notch." The position of Associate Director of Safety and Security was created last year. Before then, the department had two assistant directors—one for Operations and the other for Support Services. According to Nichols, when former assistant directors Mike Brown and Louann Dustin-Hunter left last year, the department reevaluated the management structure before posting a position for hire.

After only a few months of working for Bowdoin graduate Richard Pulsifer '62 at his house on Mere Point Road, sophomore McKay Belk knows a whole lot about wooden boat-building. Belk is one of many Bowdoin students going off-campus to find employment, only to return with new skills and unique experiences in the greater community. Belk said he contacted Pulsifer about a job after he heard about the opportunity from Bowdoin seniors Madelyn Sullivan and William Oppenheim, who have been building boats for Pulsifer since the fall of 2007 and 2008, respectively. Once he had gone through an interview and training process in which he learned how to use various tools, Belk took up his role in the boat-building process.

Bowdoin students are a fortunate bunch. We have so many tools for learning and living at our fingertips, it's hard to believe that any one of us could ever complain about our situation here in Brunswick, Maine. One of the only things that I find deserving of serious lament at Bowdoin is time—there's not enough of it. I'm about to graduate in May, so I'm admittedly a little biased on the subject, but if you'll bear with me I think I have a point. The four years that we spend in college can be particularly formative with regard to our sexual identities.

With the opening of Professor of Art Mark Wethli's show "Recent Paintings" at RedFlagg Gallery in New York City, the Bowdoin arts continue to make a scene in the Big Apple. RedFlagg Gallery, the product of Bowdoin professors Wethli and John Bisbee's inspiration and effort, exhibited works from another Bowdoin artist at its inaugural show. In February, work from 2001 alumna Cassie Jones' "Standard Deviations" was the first art to fill the space.

Ralph Alessi and his quintet, "This Against That," will fill Studzinski Recital Hall tonight with the jazz music that has made them some of the preeminent jazz musicians in the Northeast over the past 10 years. Alessi plays the trumpet and is one of the leading jazz trumpeters of his generation. He and the members of "This Against That", who have played together for five years, are all faculty members at the Brooklyn-based School for Improvisational Music (SIM). The quintet consists of Alessi on trumpet, John Hebert on bass, Tony Malaby on saxophone, pianist Andy Milne, and drummer Mark Ferber.

As a relatively vocal community, Bowdoin seems to be uncharacteristically silent around the issues of eating and exercise disorders, but on Tuesday, April 14, "The Thin Line" graces Kresge's stage to address precisely these issues. According to its Web site, "The Thin Line," written by Maine playwright Cathy Plourde and produced by the Portland non-profit organization AddVerb productions, is a short, one-woman play illustrating "one girl's struggle with her eating disorder and the struggles of those close to her in their efforts to understand and to help."

Toni Morrison is the master of coaxing the voices of the past to life. The stories her characters tell are vivid, vital, and often full of sorrow. With her close narration, Morrison couples the reader's journey with the narrator's, the former bleeding in concert with the latter. In Morrison's most recent novel, "A Mercy," she once again excavates the unheard secrets of those kept silent through history.

If social house basements and plates of Super Snack nachos are beginning to get old, students can rest assured that this weekend holds more in store than a typical weekend night. This Friday, the Bowdoin College radio station WBOR will present hip-hop artist Wale (pronounced wah-lay) to the campus. Friday's concert marks the second of two large-scale productions orchestrated by WBOR. The first was the Broken Social Scene concert that lit up Farley Field house this past October. This wealth of music has been incredibly exciting for Bowdoin, according to WBOR concert director Micah McKay '09.

Four Bowdoin students will be honored in a Maine art show opening this weekend. "Next Generation IV," a biennial exhibition showing the work of roughly 20 junior and senior art majors enrolled at Maine colleges, opens at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport this Saturday.

The men's tennis team has been out-hitting its opponents at all positions, beating Bates 9-0 on Thursday night, dismissing Colby with a 9-0 shut-out last Friday, and winning again, 8-1, the following day against Tufts. The win improves the Bears NESCAC record to 5-0, with a 9-2 overall record. Stephen Sullivan lead the way against Bates, winning at the No. 1 singles position, but the whole team had strong performanecs. The win marks the first time the Polar Bears swept the Bobcats 9-0. "Pretty much everyone stepped up in general," Matt Knise '10 said. "We're on a seven-match streak now, so it's awesome going into Middlebury this weekend."

The women's tennis team looked spectacular, shutting out Colby 9-0 on Tuesday night. The Bears were dominant in their singles matches and doubles matches, defeating the Mules in straight sets. Leading the way for the Polar Bears was Emily Lombardi '12 who won her match at No. 1 singles, and teamed with captain Sarah D'Elia '09 to win the No. 1 doubles match.

This past Saturday, at Princeton University, the women's outdoor track team proved that the high level of performance it set in the indoor season won't be dropped in the outdoor season, whatever elements they might face. And they certainly did have elements to take on at Princeton's annual Sam Howell Invitational: the Bears not only raced in brisk, blustery winds, but against a field of the best Division III and Division I competitors.

After spending a cold and stormy winter competing inside field houses, the men's track and field team is excited to get outside and embrace the warm weather. Coming off a terrific winter season in which they captured another state title and finished top-five in New England, the Polar Bears are feeling good about themselves going into the spring. Starting with a meet at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) this Saturday, followed by the Maine State Championship and NESCAC Championship, Bowdoin is entering the most important phase of the season.

Thursday's game at Wellesley saw an all-too-familiar final score for the women's lacrosse team as it lost yet another game by a single goal—its fourth such game this season. The team has now lost three consecutive games to fall to 6-6 on the season (1-5 NESCAC). The game was a back-and-forth affair from the beginning as the teams exchanged leads four times in the first half.

On a breezy weekend, Bowdoin sailing finished sixth in the Ferrarone team race event at Yale and finished eighth in the Central Series at Tufts. After Saturday's round robin, the Polar Bears at Yale qualified to race in the gold fleet on Sunday. The team lost Sunday's races and finished sixth of 10 teams. "We were still in every race and only lost it on the final beat; downwind we were pretty fast and could split around the teams and attack," Coach Frank Pizzo said.

If you think baseball is a boring three-plus-hour game where fat steroid-users parade around with big muscles, big heads, and "bacne," you're right. And you're missing the point. Sure, the games are long and the pants are tight. The muscles may be more artificial than the hot dog meat and the grass not as green as the players' bank accounts. The fans may be more interested in perfecting The Wave and the tickets might cost more than a 50 percent share in GM. But it's baseball, and it's back.