The Bowdoin Orient

Recreational drug use among Bowdoin students tends to increase as graduation approaches, with current juniors and seniors reporting significantly higher incidences of drug use than they did in the fall of 2010, according to Orient surveys from 2010 and 2013. 

The survey results showed that the number of seniors who have smoked marijuana at least once at Bowdoin increased to 60 percent up from 46 percent during the fall semester of their sophomore year. 

Seventy-three percent of respondents from the Class of 2014 have smoked marijuana at least once, a large increase from 32 percent in their first semester at the College in 2010.

The College is working with the Brunswick Town Council, Planning Board and town residents to negotiate the zoning of the former Stevens Retirement Home on Harpswell Road for use as a dormitory next year. Situated directly across from the Brunswick Variety and Deli, the building would be used in its present layout after some cosmetic renovations. Twenty-five to thirty students would live in doubles and singles in the converted dorm.

On February 8, the Board of Trustees voted to advance four Bowdoin faculty members to the rank of tenured professor, effective July 1. The four appointees are Sarah Conly of the philosophy department, Mark Foster of the English department, Doris Santoro of the education department and Jill Smith of the German department. 

Forty-eight percent of Bowdoin’s faculty is tenured. These individuals have been promoted from “assistant professor”—the title that comes precedes tenure—to “associate professor,” or have attained full professorships.  

Every member of the philosophy, German and education departments is tenured now that Professors Conly, Smith and Santoro have received the promotion.  

Bowdoin students bundled up for the biggest snowstorm of the school year last weekend, as Winter Storm Nemo dumped more than two feet of snow on Maine and much of the Northeast. Portland recorded a total snowfall of 31.9 inches, an all-time record. The heavy snowfall and gusting winds prompted many departments on campus to take additional precautions. Director of Facilities Operations and Maintenance Ted Stam said that keeping roads and paths clear was the biggest challenge facing his department.

See also, counterpoint by Miles Pope '09: Endowment must be used for education, not politicization.

Two weeks ago Bowdoin’s administration publicly expressed its views on divesting the endowment from fossil fuels in a statement to the Orient. President Barry Mills and Senior Vice President for Investments Paula Volent argued that although only 1.4 percent of the endowment was invested in the top 200 fossil fuel firms, divestment would have cost the school $100 million dollars. 

These numbers are alarming, yet it is strange that the administration provided a figure for estimated losses from divestment without publicly releasing a study to back up its numbers. Students should not take the administration’s numbers at face value and should continue to advocate for more information on the feasibility of divestment. 

See also, counterpoint by Ben Richmond '13: Administration should be more transparent on divestment issue.

While Scott Budde (“Administration’s ‘misinformed’ response to divestment raises more questions than it answers”) is surely correct that fossil fuel companies help cause serious environmental problems, this is not reason enough for Bowdoin to divest from them. 

Bowdoin does more “good” by maximizing the resources it has: by promoting top-rate scholarships (including environmental) and educating undergraduates, than it would by diminishing its endowment—no matter how well-intentioned the causes may be. As President Barry Mills said, Bowdoin “is not a political action committee.” 

The Hawthorne-Longfellow Library houses over one million books and reading materials that students can check out, but the most precious items—such as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s medal of honor, James Bowdoin’s library, and a handprint from Abraham Lincoln—lie behind two glass doors on the third floor. 

The George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, supervised by Director Richard Lindemann, protects Bowdoin’s historical treasures.

Lindemann found his passion as a graduate student in the history program at the University of Virginia, where he trained as a medievalist. Despite his taste for this that epoch, he turned his attention to library work.

When winter settles in the Maine woods, most people scurry indoors to take comfort in a modern marvel called the thermostat. Yet for a select group of students, the arrival of winter means it is time to throw off cushy comforts and boldly go where few have willingly gone before—the wilderness.

At least that’s where you’ll find the men and women of the Bowdoin Outing Club’s Advanced Winter Leadership Seminar (AWLS).

The Outing Club also offers a popular Leadership Training (LT) course, where selected students learn how to organize and lead outdoor expeditions safely. Although seemingly similar, Assistant Directors of the Outing Club Rebecca Austin and Devin Farkas explained that AWLS is different in two critical ways.

There is no such thing as a typical day for Jennifer Edwards: her job at Bowdoin as the curator of visual arts is one-of-a-kind.

Edwards’ love of art was developed right here at Bowdoin, where she graduated with a major in visual arts and a minor in art history in 1989. Being an art major was a clear decision for Edwards.

“Choosing visual arts as a major seemed natural given that art had always being part of my life and that I learned best visually,” she wrote in an email to the Orient. 

Some things are hard to find these days. Because I am not a farmer, nor pretend to be a farmer, nor own anything close to almanac, I am not talking about things that are hard to find in the winter season—like blueberries that taste like anything.  

Despite my aversion to agriculture (which is really just a dislike of dirt), I must admit that a winter tomato is pathetic on the palate. 

By “these days” I rather mean “the modern day.” 

Yesterday marked the application deadline to study abroad. All sophomores who desire to leave Brunswick and venture into the “real” world next year have made the formal commitment to do so. 

This also means that those people—a reported 50 percent of the Class of 2015—have already declared their majors and minors.

The planning this entails has made my fellow classmates and I conceptualize the rest of our Bowdoin careers on a detailed level. When I come back, will I have enough Government credits for a major? Should I major in Biology and try to minor in English? Musings like this have been commonplace among my peers over the past few weeks.

Since arriving in India, I’ve done a terrible job following current news events. I’d like to think it’s because I’m too busy or trying to conserve my limited 3G internet access, but neither is true. I actually like the feeling of getting away from news; it’s nice to escape and really be present here.

But this became impossible after Friday, February 1, when the news broke that a fraternity at Duke University hosted an Asian-themed party, sending out email invitations with insensitive and demeaning language. Later images showed partygoers dressed in costumes that promoted Asian stereotypes.

The 17 other students on my Duke-sponsored study abroad program got word of the party soon after it happened. They vented their frustrations, and one girl even drafted a letter to Duke’s student newspaper, the Chronicle. Two days later, I opened my Facebook and noticed a Yahoo News story about the event featured on my news feed. Shocked that the party was making national headlines, I asked my parents if they’d heard anything about it; turns out they’d just watched a segment about the scandal on the “Today Show” that morning.

By 1940, Life Magazine took notice of the growing Bowdoin tradition and published a three-page pictorial on the 1939 festivities. Life wrote, “But they knew that all the Northeast offered no gayer, jollier college parties than the annual winter house parties at Bowdoin.”

Conversations that are usually kept under wraps were professed to a full house as 36 Bowdoin women clad in red and black filed onto the stage for Bowdoin’s 16th annual rendition of the Vagina Monologues at Kresge Auditorium. 

Sponsored by V-Day, a global organization that works to end violence against women throughout the world, the Monologues broach largely undiscussed topics about the female body and sexuality in an accessible and often lighthearted way. 

The show began with cast members reading quotes taken anonymously from female Bowdoin students.

Next week the College will launch its annual Marvin Bileck Printmaking Project under the direction of Coastal Studies Artist-in-Residence Barbara Putnam and master printer Peter Pettengill. 

The Marvin Bileck Printmaking Project was established by artist Emily Nelligan in memory of her late husband. The project brings one printmaker from out of state each year to work with a local Maine artist in Bowdoin classrooms. This gives students the opportunity to watch professionals at work, as well as to practice pulling some prints themselves. 

As the guest of honor this year, Pettengill has worked with numerous well-known artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Walton Ford, Neil Welliver and Gideon Bok. 

Now here’s a hard one. Though, as I kept having to remind myself while wading through this album’s murky depths, if it had been easy, Thom Yorke—notably of Radiohead—wouldn’t have made it.

The record in question is “AMOK,” the debut record of Atoms for Peace, one of those supergroups that refuses to call itself a supergroup. The band takes its name both from a 1953 speech by President Eisenhower and a song title on Yorke’s 2006 album, “The Eraser.” The musicians that comprise the band were even commissioned to play Yorke’s solo material live, for which Atoms for Peace were originally billed as “Thom Yorke???” during Coachella in 2010.

This naming makes sense: “AMOK” sounds like a vanity project of Yorke, his ethereal whisper the cohesive element to the album’s otherwise frenetic electronic jumble. Normally, vanity projects represent the worst work of an artist looking for vindication outside a certain genre. In the hands of anyone but music’s greatest living crotchety-bastard legend, “AMOK” would be an album of pathetic excess. Instead, we get an impenetrable piece filled with jumbled beeps on a time signature even Battles would have a hard time keeping up with. My first bit of advice: listen to this with headphones in. The second bit: don’t expect a Radiohead album.

Since stumbling upon her calling, Audrey Blood ’13, visual arts major and music minor, has fallen head over heels for the visual arts.

Until taking her first visual arts course at Bowdoin, Blood had not even considered taking up art. 

“In high school I wanted to pursue music,” she said. “I always thought that I would go into the performing arts.”

While my fellow socialites trudged through the snow to the Cold War Party to get out their historico-political ya-ya’s for the year, I decided to top off a Winter Weekend full of sleigh rides and s’mores with a movie about one family’s harrowing saga of near-death trauma and third-world hospital nightmares. Why not?

Just watching the trailer for “The Impossible” gave me a lump in my throat, so I had an inkling that I might be in for an emotional evening. I came prepared with tissues in hand and the proverbial waterproof mascara.

In my case, the waterworks kicked in after the 19-minute mark. And, unlike your average tear-jerker which allows for the occasional break to catch your breath, “The Impossible” was an emotional sprint all the way through.

Long, aesthetically jarring scenes, unconventional plot lines, and abrupt endings are what really distinguish French cinema from its less daring American counterpart.

This week, a survey of French cinema rolled through the Bowdoin campus with the Tournées Festival.

The festival, a program of FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), is overseen by the Cultural Services at the French Embassy that provides access to French language films to colleges and universities throughout the country. 

The women’s swimming and diving team came in seventh in the NESCAC championships this past weekend, smashing several school records in the process. 

With a final point total of 1972.5, Amherst won its first ever NESACAC women’s swimming championship, defeating long-time rival Williams. Finishing seventh, the Polar Bears had a final point total of 707.

 Though not triumphant, the team ended its 2012-2013 season on a high note, breaking several long-standing school records and posting many season best times.Katherine Foley ’13 had the best individual performances of the weekend for the team, coming in second overall in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:21.04 and fourth in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time 17:25.69. Both times broke school records, with Foley beating her own time of 10:33 in the 1000-yard freestyle and breaking a record in the 1650 that had stood since 1995. To round it out, Foley broke her own record that she set last year in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:01.27.

In a dramatic performance on Saturday, the NESCAC’s eighth-seeded Polar Bears defeated first-seeded Tufts 60-54 in the first round of the NESCAC tournament, improving their record to 14-10 and handing Tufts (23-2) their second loss of the season.It was a historic upset, the first time in NESCAC women’s basketball history that the bottom seed has toppled the top seed.     The Polar Bears have a history of excellence in the NESCAC championships. Never ranked lower than fifth in tournament history, Bowdoin won the first seven NESCAC titles and has made it to the final round nine times in 12 years.Forced to rebuild after the graduation of a large senior class last spring, the young Polar Bears snuck into the tournament by beating Connecticut College in the final game of the season.“No one expected us to make it a close game, let alone win it,” said Captain Kaitlin Donahoe ’13. “All season our coaches have been telling us ‘just get into the playoffs and anything can happen,’ and we made it by the skin of our teeth.”For the first time in program history, the Polar Bears are the underdogs in the NESCAC tournament.“I think the whole school has embraced it,” Donahoe said. “I’ve had more people, who I didn’t even know followed us, come up to me this week and say congratulations. Everyone loves an underdog. It was easy to look at it as a negative thing at first, seeing that we weren’t in the top four where we would have usually been, but now it’s empowering knowing that no one gave us any chance to beat Tufts. It’s bringing us together closer as a team.”After clinching their playoff berth, the team had a week of rest before facing Tufts, the seventh-ranked team in the nation. “We needed to put everything that had happened, good and bad behind us and just consider it a fresh start,” said Head Coach Adrienne Shibles. “If we played to our potential, we had a good chance to win.”“The week going into Tufts, we focused on the belief that we could do it and play execution,” said Donahoe.Though being the eighth seed took some of the pressure off of the Polar Bears, each match from now on feels like a matter of life or death.  “We know if we lose, we’re done,” said Donahoe. “Amherst and Tufts are going to go on to the NCAAs, win or lose. It’s win or go home. It’s fueled us even more to not take a play off, to bring intensity and to talk to every play, to do all the little things that we talk about day in and day out.”Earlier in the season, the Polar Bears were hammered by Tufts 62-44.  The Polar Bears lost their composure against the Jumbo’s intense defense, giving up 20 turnovers. “Tufts is one of the best defensive teams in the nation,” said Shibles. “The first time we played them they got a lot of steals and forced turnovers from doubling us or collapsing on us in the paint.”On Saturday, Shibles said she felt that her team gave up too many turnovers in the first half but was able to tighten up ball control after halftime.           “Their defensive pressure didn’t rattle us this time,” said Shibles. “We talked about being strong with the ball: ‘They’re going to be all over us trying to get their hands on the ball.’”“We were a little fearful the first time we played them since we had never really faced a NESCAC defense,” said Donahoe. “I didn’t see that intimidation or fear from anyone this past weekend.”Bowdoin looked to draw out Tufts’  quickly shifting defense and double team traps in the paint, allowing them to move the ball to the players on the weak side.The Polar Bears shot excellently from the perimeter, sinking 11 of 19 3-pointers, often with the obstruction of a Jumbo defender’s hand. Bowdoin sunk 57.9 percent of its 3-pointers, while Tufts made just 19 percent.  “They were definitely pressure shots,” said Donahoe. “In practice, we picked up the defensive intensity against each other, and I think that has translated really well into games.”Ultimately, the match was an offensive team effort with balanced scoring. Selena Lorrey ’16 led Bowdoin with 11 points off the bench.“It was clear she was really mentally ready to go,” said Shibles. “You could just tell she was really feeling it behind the arc; she has a lot of confidence in her shot.”Tufts scored the bulk of its points from up close.“Their posts are very guard-like—they’re dangerous because they can take you off the dribble and shoot,” said Shibles.At halftime, the Polar Bears led Tufts by six, but there was no celebration or break of focus in the Bowdoin locker room.  “We immediately started talking about things that we could do better,” said Donahoe. “We’ve been in this situation before where we got that complacent feeling. We didn’t want that to happen again since we knew the Tufts coach was going to be in their face. As much as it stunk going through hardships in the regular season, I think we’ve learned from them and they are helping us out now.” The Polar Bears will make their 13th straight appearance in the NESCAC semifinals tomorrow, facing the NESCAC’s No. 2 and nationally sixth-ranked Amherst. The Polar Bears will travel to Amherst, Mass., where the Lady Jeffs hold a 77-game winning streak at home. Bowdoin lost to Amherst 74-58 in the regular season on January 18. The Polar Bears led by six at halftime but fell apart in the second half when the Jeffs amped up their defense. The Polar Bears are more excited to face Amherst coming off the confidence boost from the Tufts-upset, according to Lorrey. Donahoe categorized this week’s practices as “most positive and uplifting.”   “We’re focusing a lot on limiting their second-chance opportunities,” said Donahoe. “They got a lot of offensive rebounds and put-backs, and we bailed them out a lot sending them to the line. After looking at film we saw there were a few sets where they continually scored on us with the exact same play six to eight times. So were focusing on what we need to do to shut down their strengths.”The last time Amherst developed a large home win streak—a 25-game run in 2009—it was the Polar Bears who snapped it. Tomorrow, they hope to do this again. “We feel if we continue to play the way we played this past weekend, we can beat anyone, and it is fun to be the spoiler,” said Shibles. 

The men’s ice hockey team clinched the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament by winning its final two home games of the regular season this past weekend against Tufts and Connecticut College. Despite its strong finish in Watson Arena, the team floundered at Trinity on Monday night, losing 10-5. Bowdoin kicked off the Winter Weekend schedule against Tufts at home on Friday night. The Polar Bears scored their first goal just 1:19 into the game when Ollie Koo ’14 slammed a loose rebound past the Tufts goaltender. Bowdoin kept up the early pressure and Kyle Lockwood ’14 was able to steal the puck and dish it to senior Rob Tocyzlowski, who put it past the goalie’s left side.Bowdoin pounced at the beginning of the second period as well when captain Dan Weiniger ’13 brought the puck down the center, drew the goalie right and slipped the puck around him to make it 3-0 just 18 seconds into the period.  Towards the end of the period John McGinnis ’15 found Tim Coffey ’15 in front of the net for a power play goal.  Colin Downey ’14 kept the early-period goal streak alive when he put away the puck with some help from McGinnis and Koo.  Bowdoin found a sixth and final goal when McGinnis, with his third assist of the night, fed Connor Quinn ’15 across the crease.“We always stress how important it is to start periods off strong and we got some good breaks against Tufts,” said Weiniger.  “We like to come out flying and set the tone for the period right from the opening drop.”

Steve Messina ’14 was solid in goal for Bowdoin with 27 saves, but Tufts ruined his shutout at 12:37 in the third period after an unlucky rebound. After the 6-1 victory, the Polar Bears faced off against the Connecticut College Camels on Saturday afternoon for their last regular-season home game.  Bowdoin had trouble converting its initial opportunities into goals due to the outstanding play of the Camel’s goaltender. But at the end of the first period, captain Tim McGarry ’13, who had just finished serving a 2-minute penalty, stepped back onto the ice for the conveniently waiting puck. He held off the Conn. defenders until Jay Livermore ’14 arrived.  Livermore drew the defense left and found Lockwood unguarded on the back half of the net.  The teams played to a deadlock until midway through the third period when the Camels went on a power play.  An awkward bounce managed to slip by the pads of Max Fenkell ’15 to even the game 1-1. “We were controlling the play and limiting their chances, but we weren’t getting the sustained pressure that we’re used to so we couldn’t grind down the opposing D down like we usually do,” said McGarry.  “Letting them hang around in a close game gave them confidence down the stretch and led to them scoring a late goal.”The game soon went to overtime, and after a near game-ending shot by McGinnis, the Camels (who needed the win to make the playoffs) pulled their goalie to play with an extra attacker. Bowdoin held off the one-man advantage and was able to blast the puck down towards the empty net.  Players from both sides converged on the puck, but it was Lockwood who finally gained control of the puck at Connecticut’s blue line, spun and sent it straight into the net with 1.8 seconds left to win the game and seal Bowdoin’s No. 1 spot in the playoffs.“We took care of business and we secured the home ice in the league, which I think is wonderful for this team and how hard they work,” said Head Coach Terry Meagher.In a meaningless matchup in terms of championship seeding, the Polar Bears played a rescheduled game against Trinity on Monday night. The Bantams scored the most goals (10) any team has scored against Bowdoin in at least10 seasons, dating as far back as the online records go. “This was the weirdest game in my career here at Bowdoin,” said Weiniger. “We carried the play through the first 12 minutes of the game and they got some early bounces to get ahead. From then on they got in the engine and we couldn’t seem to stop them.”The surprising shootout featured playing time for three different Bowdoin goalkeepers: Fenkell, Messina and Connor Shannon ’13. The Bantams took advantage of power plays throughout the game, converting four of their five man-up situations. They excelled offensively even while six Polar Bears were on the ice, and hammered Fenkell with 27 shots in just over 30 minutes of play, five of which went past him for goals.“The game on Monday was bizarre in so many ways; they capitalized on their opportunities and we ended up chasing. As you continue to chase you take more risks, and next thing you know there’s 15 goals on the board,” said Meagher.  “To be honest, I’m surprised that doesn’t happen more the way that puck fires and goes around the rink.  But the bottom line is that even when we were down a fair amount, we didn’t give up and we kept playing hard.”The Polar Bears, despite having seven power plays of their own, were only able to convert on two. Bowdoin will host a quarterfinal match against Hamilton tomorrow at 1 p.m.“We are focusing on creating a playoff mentality within the team that includes playing a more gritty physical game and trying to generate some ‘ugly’ goals from scrums in front of the net,” said McGarry. “We believe that these are the things that will propel us through the playoffs and will complement our speed and skill game nicely.”Tickets for the men’s and women’s doubleheader are available free for students with a Bowdoin ID and $3 for the public, and can be picked up on the second floor of the Buck Center.