The Bowdoin Orient

The Office of Admissions received 589 applications for the first round of Early Decision, the largest number in the College history. Despite last Tuesday's deadline, this number is not a final count for the total ED I applications that the office will receive. "Some arrive in the mail and some applications come in incomplete, so this is just a preliminary number," explained Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Scott Meiklejohn. "It will probably be another week to ten days before we have our final number."

Michael Toscano, the primary researcher of the Klingenstein-funded study on Bowoin's intellectual diversity, will be on campus until Monday, speaking to professors and students at the College in an effort to answer the essential question of the survey: what does Bowdoin teach? The study was launched by the National Association of Scholars in September at the behest of Thomas Klingenstein, who criticized Bowdoin last year for its lack of intellectual diversity. Klingenstein had a bone to pick with President Barry Mills last year when he claimed that Mills misquoted him in his 2010 Convocation address.

Thirteen Bowdoin students have been transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Center due to over-consumption of alcohol since September. According to Tim Foster, dean of student affairs, this number shows that "we are tracking almost identically to last year," when 12 students had been transported by the third week of November. Yet this year, the numbers rose quickly. In September alone, six first year students were transported to Parkview for alcohol-related reasons. The head proctors of each first year dorm sent an email to the entire class of 2015, in an effort to curb the heavy drinking.

Former Senator George J. Mitchell '54 addressed a sold out Pickard Theater at the launch of the library's George J. Mitchell Oral History Project. The Oral History Project, a three year endeavor, launched on Monday night and can now be viewed online. According to the website, the project has collected approximately 200 transcripts of interviews from Mitchell's friends and family, as well as senators and staff members, public policy officials, foreign policy specialists, and more. Together, the testimonies shed light on Mitchell's life, political career, and numerous accomplishments.

A month after Occupy Bowdoin's posters first appeared, the group will host a "teach-in" on Tuesday, November 29 at 4 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. The event will feature brief addresses by various professors, and a local representative from Occupy Brunswick. A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union may also speak, but has yet to be confirmed. The floor will then be opened to general discussion.

How do you make people care about the choices they make if they cannot see the consequences? How do you rally a student body not known for collective activism around a single cause? The challenges in sparking student commitment to carbon neutrality are colossal; but behavioral changes are part of the College's plan to neutralize its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Every individual on campus must reduce their annual carbon footprint by 500 pounds of CO2, and while this component of the overall reduction may be minimal, it is a critical one, according to Coordinator for a Sustainable Bowdoin Keisha Payson.

Twenty-five Bowdoin athletes and non-athletes have sustained concussions this year, down from 39 in Fall 2010. Despite the decreasing trend, the College has seen an overall increase in reports of the injury in the past years. As concussions have received heightened scrutiny nationally, the College has in turn increased its efforts to both raise awareness of the injury and educate students of its impact.

According to Facilities Management, damage to on-campus housing has decreased by five percent over the past semester in comparison to Fall 2010, though the figure is likely to shift as the year continues. While the complete statistics will not be compiled until the end of the semester, thus far Baxter House has accrued the most abuse, at slightly under $2,000 in damages, and Ladd House is second, with $1,200.

With over 10 representatives absent, a scant Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) assembled on Wednesday to discuss the contentious issue of extending Thanksgiving break by two school days. The increasing geographical diversity of the College—over 59 percent of the Class of 2015 is from outside New England—has prompted concerns regarding students' inability to travel home during the holiday. In the past few years, more and more students have been unable to return home and have been forced to remain on campus during Thanksgiving due to the brevity of the three day break.

Last Saturday, Williams College was confronted with a hate crime when graffiti reading "All N----rs Must Die" was discovered on the wall of a dormitory bathroom. In response to the event, Williams cancelled classes on Monday and a number of campus-wide discussions have occurred since. The episode recalls the bias incident that struck Bowdoin in March, when offensive graffiti was found scrawled on a white board outside a room in Coles Tower.

Two weeks ago, faculty gathered to discuss a proposal recommending a weeklong Thanksgiving break. The new schedule would add two days to the current three-day break in Bowdoin's academic calendar. The proposal calls for the extra class days to be made up by shortening fall break to a single day and by having the first Friday of the semester follow a Monday schedule.

Last week, the Pew Research Center released a new report about the "rising age-gap in economic well-being." Although the Occupy Wall Street movement has called attention to the vast wealth gap between the so-called 99 percent and the 1 percent, Pew decided to take a closer look at trends in the distribution of wealth by age groups.

Though the new layout in Moulton's light room is not without its claustrophobic critics, it has provided an unexpected place for students to engage in unusual mealtime conversations.

On November 8, Maine voters, including many Bowdoin students, chose to reject a blatant affront to democracy: a ballot initiative that aimed to prohibit same-day voter registration.

Dear Candidate, Thank you very much for your 2012 [...] application. [We] were very impressed by your application. However, this season was particularly competitive. Unfortunately, I am unable to offer you [...]."

It seems that every year students grumble about the need for a longer Thanksgiving break, bemoaning the limited rest and relaxation the few days off allow. It appears that the administration has been listening, because a proposal to extend Thanksgiving break to a full week appeared on the agenda at Monday's faculty meeting.

Ostensibly, the Bowdoin campus is sexually liberated. Matters of sex are discussed freely with first years at orientation, conversations and lectures about sex are frequent during the semester, and perhaps most importantly, bowls of condoms sit in the hallways and stairwells of most Bowdoin dormitories.

According to the hazing policy posted on the Bowdoin website, the College defines hazing as any initiation activity that "1) physically or psychologically humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers—regardless of a person's willingness to participate; 2) results in the disruption of the educational process or the impairment of academic performance; or 3) violates College policy or state law."

There is nothing better than soup in the winter. And though it is not quite winter yet, I still like soup in the fall. So this week, I made a fall matzo ball soup. And though it was delicious, it probably would have been better in December.

One hundred and thirty years ago, hazing at Bowdoin might have encompassed fraternal coal-throwing and accidental blindness. The New York Times ran a story entitled "Old-Time Hazing at Bowdoin," on November 28, 1881. The article reads: "The Maine newspapers tell us that a Portland lawyer has brought suit claiming $10,000 from each of seven Sophomores in Bowdoin College for injuries to his Freshman son's eyes by a piece of coal thrown through his window in a hazing scrape. This brings to the mind of a corresponddent (sic) of the Journal the tradition of a notable incident of the same kind in the same college many years ago."

Brought to you by the Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP), "It's a Date!" will set up Bowdoin students on blind dates who will then report the hilarious, unexpected and awkward parts of their rendez-vous.

Good beer doesn't come in cans. I've heard that adage since I came to Bowdoin over three years ago, and until this week, I hadn't had much reason to doubt it.

I think it's time to say a word or two about the restaurant that seems to be the most popular among Bowdoin students.

If you were to hazard a guess, what percentage of all grades distributed at Bowdoin are Bs or As? Or put it this way: Just how prevalent is grade inflation? Well, that depends on when you attended Bowdoin. Twenty years ago, the average GPA at the school was 3.06, around 46 percent of all grades given out were in the B range, and 32 percent were in the A range. A decade later, in the 2001-2002 academic year, the average GPA of the student body was a lusty 3.30, just a hair below a B-plus average. By then, just over 87 percent of grades were either As or Bs. Plus and minus modifiers weren't introduced until 2003, to great student indignation. At the time, students fretted that professors' use of modifiers would result in generally lower marks, but grade inflation plodded on undisturbed by this development. By 2007, 49 percent of all the grades doled out were in the A range, and only 8 percent were a C or lower. Hello, Lake Wobegon!

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" has all of the trappings of a great musical: audience participation, improvisation, and wry jabs at the English language. In their second-ever production, Curtain Callers take on the Tony-winning musical tonight and tomorrow.

Oftentimes, an affinity for video games feels like something to hide. Years of association with pocket protectors and Dorito-dusted fingers have left the medium irreparably stigmatized in the eyes of many. But the truth is, video games have grown up.

This year at Bowdoin, there has been no band that has played with quite as much tenacity—and frequency—as The NARPs.

The WBOR fall concert took a last-minute turn on Friday after the cancellation of its first professional act, Kreayshawn. Earlier Friday evening, the singer tweeted, "As you know I have bronchitis and won't be able to perform for the beautiful young Bowdoin College peoples tonight #sorry."

For six student filmmakers, fulfilling the criteria for the 48-Hour Film Festival required inspiration, improvisation and maybe even a little lens solution.

Film stock is mean. It's an angry, unforgiving, analog medium that requires constant light, attention and pampering or it will ruin you. But this 100-year-old plus format also captures the most aesthetically-pleasing image imaginable when compared to digital, videotape and other motion picture media.

Celebrated for having built his fanbase with social networking sites and music blogs, 19-year-old Mac Miller has been gaining steam as of late and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Though he's been making music since 2007, it wasn't until the 2010 release of "K.I.D.S. (Kickin' Incredibly Dope S--t)" that Mac gained widespread attention.

The volleyball team's historic season ended in a fiercely fought 3-2 loss to UMass-Boston in the second round of the NCAA D-III Tournament last Saturday. The team finished its record-breaking season with a record of 27-3—the most wins in program history—and its first perfect 10-0 record in the NESCAC. To top off this impressive run, 2011 saw the Polar Bears winning their first ever NESCAC Championship, their first D-III entry, and their first D-III Tournament match.

A long trip for the coed sailing team proved to be worthwhile last weekend, as Bowdoin took second at the Atlantic Coast Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. Though the Saturday conditions were mild, the regatta was cut short because of insufficient wind on Sunday. Pete Edmunds '14 and Mae Speight '13 sailed to third place in the A division, while captain Jeff Goodrich '12 sailed with Clare Henry '12 in the B division, which they won with 14 points.

I have never been in a fight, though there are moments I wish otherwise. Whenever I see a boxing match on TV, I make sure to watch it because the entire notion behind the sport seems absurd. Two people enter a ring, each with the foreknowledge that the other is trying to knock him out within five, 10 or 15 rounds. It's ridiculous—but also thrilling.

As a finishing touch to a successful fall season, the men's ultimate Frisbee team, Stoned Clown, placed third at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Fall Classic last Saturday. The event drew teams from D-I and D-III schools including Harvard, Amherst and MIT. The team posted an impressive 5-1 record in pool play, with the lone loss against eventual champion UNH in an 11-9 battle.