The Bowdoin Orient

In the wake of a controversial sermon and the suspension of funding from the Office of Multicultural Student Programs, Bowdoin Christian Fellowship (BCF) will not seek further financial support from the College, according to BCF advisor Rob Gregory. The decision to withdraw funds followed a September 18 sermon that prompted two students to walk out of the service in response to what they considered homophobic remarks. Without College funding to pay for speakers' honoraria, BCF's visiting speakers will appear at chapel services on a volunteer basis.

The Office of Safety and Security released the 2010 Annual Report on Campus Crime, Fires, Alcohol and Illegal Drugs in an email to the Bowdoin community on Monday. Changes in the numbers between 2009 and 2010 did not illustrate any conclusive themes. The annual report is federally mandated by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998.

The job market in academia is notoriously cut-throat. Colleges vie for the best professors to teach students and draw research grants, while newly-minted Ph.D.s must fight tooth-and-nail for visiting professorships, let alone tenure-track positions. So when it comes to the benefits packages offered by schools, professors are not usually in a position of leverage.

Members of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) convened Wednesday for their first meeting of the year, where they discussed Judicial Board (J-Board) policy and renewed funding for several annual BSG initiatives. J-Board Chair RJ Shea '12 and Laura Lee, the assistant dean of student affairs, discussed the most recent annual J-Board report.

The Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC) will propose a number of changes to club funding guidelines to Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) on November 1.

The College's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions dropped 16 percent between fiscal year (FY) 2008 and FY 2011, according to reports released today. The reports—an annual update on GHG emissions and the first of what will be biennial updates to the 2009 Climate Neutrality Implementation Plan—were accompanied by a statement from President Barry Mills encouraging the campus to help the College achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2020.

A study that will examine intellectual diversity at Bowdoin began three weeks ago under the direction of the National Association of Scholars (NAS). Funded by Thomas Klingenstein, the study is the latest demonstration of the investment manager's personal interest in Bowdoin's academic climate.

The Judicial Board (J-Board) recently released its 2010-2011 annual report in an email to students, faculty and staff.

Yesterday, Bowdoin students emerged en masse sporting yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase, "Respect. All sexualities. All genders." The second-annual "Yellow Shirt Day" is organized by the Bowdoin Queer Straight Alliance (BQSA) in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) community at the College.

This week marked the midpoint of the semester, and students are sleeplessly wandering the campus. Yes, the usual procrastination is partly to blame. But the main reason is that every class seems to have a midterm scheduled or a paper due.

In 1973, Maine held its first election that permitted same-day registration. For the first time in the state's history, citizens were able to make their way over to the polling booth, register, and then vote—all in one fell swoop.

There has been a good bit of coverage in the Orient about the decision to redirect the funding for Sunday evening chapel services. I thought it best to directly address this issue as this is an important matter for our community.

While some people think that Bowdoin is a rather left-leaning institution, compared to many schools the community here is actually extremely accepting of varied points of view.

To the Editors: If Mr. Cespedes is incapable of discussing a sensitive topic without using hateful and hurtful speech, perhaps he should stay in college until he learns how to do it ("Forbidding hate speech contradicts need for open discourse," October 14).

It's been five weeks since Occupy Wall Street began in Zuccotti Park, Manhattan, and to many, it's still largely unclear what exactly the protesters hope to achieve. Talk of disenfranchisement, social inequality, and "the 99 percent" abounds, but it's impossible to know whether it will all lead to institutional change.

Thomas Klingenstein has fixated his attention on Bowdoin's internal academic affairs once again, this time by funding a study through the National Association of Scholars (NAS) that will examine whether the College's lack of intellectual diversity affects the quality of its curriculum. Although Peter Wood, the director of the study, says it will be objective, it is difficult to believe this claim, given that the study is funded by a man who has repeatedly criticized the dearth of conservative viewpoints among the faculty.

I took no pleasure in watching her take that first bite. The rhythmic movements of her cheek muscles served to disguise the pain and anguish behind her gray-blue eyes. She knew what she was doing, I suppose.

Although it's over six months away, Ivies is already generating buzz on campus. The Entertainment Board's (E-Board), recent survey—which received over 1,000 student responses—posed questions to determine what kind of concert Bowdoin students want for their Ivies Weekend.

Perhaps the most desired ethnic food amongst Bowdoin students is Mexican cuisine. Whether its Chipotle burritos or guacamole from El Camino, Mexican food is like the hot new Rihanna song.

As students complete their course registration forms, any number of forces shape their decisions about which classes to enroll in.

It was approximately 2:45 p.m. on Saturday when Marvin Tarbox Jr., a 59-year-old Shriner from Hancock, flipped his go-cart off a mobile ramp during the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest Parade. The ramp, attached to the roof of a 1990 GMC Suburban, failed, causing Mr. Tarbox to flip end over end and his bare head to strike the pavement.

Up until now, Beirut has always held a special place in my heart. Their first two albums rank among my favorites of the past decade. Their French- and Balkan-inspired sound distinguishes them from many others in the contemporary alternative music scene today. I listened to their songs countless times in my high school days. On numerous occasions, I've spent hours online downloading any unreleased demos I could find, some of which are now amongst my favorite Beirut tracks.

"Stars," a Bulgarian film set during the Holocaust, will be shown following a panel discussion with three German scholars Monday,. Despite being heavily censored in Bulgaria, the film won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959.

The Departments of Music, Film Studies, and Theatre and Dance will be sponsoring the documentary, "In Good Time: The Piano Jazz of Marian McPartland," next Tuesday.

­Baila! A splash of infectious rhythm will be spicing up the Bowdoin music community when the Cimarrón Project, an Afro-Cuban all-star group specializing in rumba, danzón, and cha-cha, hits the scene today and tomorrow.

For a long time now, it has been notoriously difficult to break into the world of film and television. Although internships are a common avenue to entry-level positions in a variety of different fields, internships in the film industry have recently become a necessity for those hoping to pursue a career in film.

Strong performances by both the men and women's ultimate Frisbee teams at the Red Tide Clambake last weekend point to an exciting, competitive season for Bowdoin ultimate.

The National Hockey League has come a long way since the 2005 lockout, and while there's still some work to be done—most notably with regard to concussion prevention—there is little denying the fact that hockey is in a great position these days. The reason for this is two-fold:

The women's volleyball team extended its win streak to 17 with a pair of conference victories last weekend. The 25th-ranked Polar Bears are now 18-1 and stand undefeated in the NESCAC, holding first place in the conference with a record of 8-0.

For the second year in a row, Coby Horowitz '14 took home the gold in the Maine State Championship. The men's cross country team traveled to Gray, Maine, last weekend to run the 8K race on a hilly and muddy course. After winning the previous six titles, Bowdoin scored 43 points to finish second behind Bates' 23 points in the 12-team field.

The sailing team more than held its own in two events this past weekend. At the Great Herring Pond Open, the coed team came in seventh out of 17 teams with a total score of 121 points.