The Bowdoin Orient
Volume CXXXII, Number 1
September 8, 2000
News ... Features ... Opinion ... A&E ... Sports
This past Thursday, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen was awarded the Bowdoin
Prize, Bowdoin’s highest honor. Though Secretary Cohen spends the majority
of his time dealing with issues of international concern, in his acceptance
speech, Secretary Cohen spoke not of his days in the Pentagon, but rather, of
his days at Bowdoin.
The Bowdoin Prize, awarded once every five years, is bestowed upon “the
graduate or former member of the College or member of its faculty at the time
of the award, who shall have made during the period the most distinctive contribution
in any field of human endeavor.”
Past recipients include former Senator George Mitchell ‘54 and Olympic
gold medallist Joan Benoit Samuelson ’79. Secretary Cohen entered Bowdoin
in 1958, coming from Bangor Maine, where his family owned and operated a bakery.
During his first year at Bowdoin, Secretary Cohen excelled on the basketball
court.
His athletic success would continue throughout his collegiate career, culminating
in his participation on the New England Hall of Fame team. During his acceptance
speech, Secretary Cohen acknowledged that, upon entering Bowdoin, he was a “jock”
in every sense of the word.
While he found athletic success rather easily, Secretary Cohen initially struggled
to develop the intellectual fervor that he began to cultivate when confronted
by former English Professor Gleason who insisted that Secretary Cohen, like
the rest of his class, write a sonnet.
As Secretary Cohen told the crowd this past Thursday evening, at the time, he
contested Gleason’s request, claiming, “Real men don’t write
poetry.” In fact, up until that point, Secretary Cohen admitted he had
yet to even open a book of poetry. However, under the guidance of Gleason, Secretary
Cohen came to value the influence of poetry and literature, and as he stated,
learned how to “open up my mind.”
Since writing that initial sonnet during his first year at Bowdoin, Secretary
Cohen has authored or co-authored nine books, including works of fiction, poetry
and writing of a political nature. Secretary Cohen’s interest in language
expanded during his time at Bowdoin, where he completed a Latin major, receiving
High Honors.
After leaving Bowdoin, he earned his L.L.B at Boston University Law School and
returned to Bangor to practice. He was elected to public office in 1969, when
he was awarded a seat on the Bangor City Council. Two years later, he was elected
the Mayor of Bangor. When he decided to run in his first Congressional campaign,
inspired by the idea of a Bowdoin student, he set out to march 600 miles across
his congressional district in Maine.
His physical labor paid off when he was elected to his first of three terms
in the House of Representatives. During his tenure, he served on the Judiciary
Committee. Though a young Congressman, he soon gained national attention when
he broke with party lines and voted against Nixon in the Watergate hearings.
In taking such a bold stance in the hearings, he was nationally recognized as
an independent thinker in a highly partisan Congress. This past Thursday, Secretary
Cohen commented on the importance of independent thinking when he addressed
students in the crowd, urging them to “always listen to your conscience
and not to the crowd.”
After three terms in the House of Representatives, Secretary Cohen entered the
Senate in 1979, where he served on the Armed Services Committee and became a
leader in issues of defense and national security. Secretary Cohen left the
Senate after serving three terms, disappointed in the partisan nature of Congress.
Upon his departure, President Clinton asked him to serve as his Secretary of
Defense.
In accepting the Bowdoin Prize, Secretary Cohen recounted his initial feelings
of shock when he received the phone call from President Clinton. “Why me?”
Secretary Cohen wondered.
President Clinton, like Secretary Cohen, wanted to transcend party lines, especially
in the area of national security. By appointing a Republican Secretary of Defense
to a Democratic administration, President Clinton was able to show that there
are no party lines in issues of national security.
In talking with Secretary Cohen, he cited his four years as Secretary of Defense
as his most rewarding and purposeful experience in public service.
However, in recounting the most important four years in his academic development,
he described his years at Bowdoin. He credits Bowdoin with opening his mind
and influencing the spirit and philosophy that has shaped his life.
When U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings were released
last week, Bowdoin had climbed from ninth place to sixth under the category
of national liberal arts colleges. The excitement of the jump, however, was
dampened by the fact that the sixth place position was shared with Carleton,
Haverford, and Middlebury.
According to the admissions department, the school’s position at sixth
place is good news. Vice President for Admissions & Student Aid Richard
Steele said that U.S. News’s college ranking is a way of reaching students
who might not otherwise have heard of Bowdoin.
International students in particular may look to the rankings as a source of
information on American colleges and universities. To students in developing
countries with no access to college counseling, resources of this kind can be
influential in the process of selecting a school.
But even students within the United States pay attention to the rankings, Steele
said. “The public is starved for objective information about [college]
quality.”
The objectiveness of U.S. News’s system has recently come under fire, however.
Twenty-five percent of a school’s rank is based on the fairly subjective
category of reputation, as determined by a survey of academic officials from
similar institutions.
The latest issue of the Washington Monthly discusses a report on the college
rankings by the National Opinion Research Council, commissioned by U.S. News
in 1997. The report, published in full on the Washington Monthly web site, claims
that “… the weights used to combine various measures into an overall
rating lacks any defensible empirical or theoretical basis.”
But regardless of the accuracy of the ratings, the popularity of U.S. News’s
college issue means that schools must at the very least remain conscious of
their standing in the rankings.
When asked whether the rankings have affected admissions policy at Bowdoin,
Steele said, “I think we have bent over backwards to make sure that basic
educational policy is not shaped artificially by the results of a survey that
we know is imperfect.”
Despite improvements over the past year to the student-faculty ratio, Bowdoin
did particularly poorly in the area of faculty resources, dropping seven places.
The low score of 57 stood out among Bowdoin’s otherwise high rankings.
U.S. News determines the faculty resources rank according to the variables of
class size, average professor salary, student faculty ratio, and percentage
of faculty that work full time.
According to Dean for Academic Affairs Craig McEwen, what hurt Bowdoin was the
average salary statistic, which accounts for 35% of the faculty resources score.
The College has had a growth in the number of professors during the past ten
years, and “because we have proportionally more new faculty at the assistant
professor level, our average salary is lower,” McEwen explained, calling
U.S. News’s methods “misleading and not very representative.”
In addition to its overall rank, Bowdoin appeared in separate sections ranking
the liberal arts colleges with the highest graduation rates and greatest selectivity,
coming in fifth and seventh place respectively.
Bowdoin College is suing Gary A. Plante, the College’s former controller,
for embezzling $50,545.59 from the school. According to the civil lawsuit, Plante
opened a Bowdoin bank account at Maine Bank & Trust and transferred funds
from it into another account. The suit was filed on July 3 in Cumberland County
Superior Court.
“Although the account was authorized to be opened,” writes Gerry Boothby,
associate treasurer of the College, in an affidavit filed with the lawsuit,
“Gary opened the account and used a signature stamp of Kent Chabotar as
treasurer without Bowdoin’s authorization and set up the account so that
only one signature was required for all transactions when, in general, Bowdoin’s
bank accounts require two signatures for transactions…over $5,000.”
Plante had Maine Bank & Trust issue three treasurer’s checks to Polar
Bear Investments and subsequently deposited the checks into a bank account at
People’s Heritage Bank. He ultimately withdrew the funds and used them
in part to make a down payment on a home in Lewiston.
Plante also used a credit card issued jointly in his name and Bowdoin’s
for personal benefit. Though he was authorized to use the card for legitimate
purchases or expenses on behalf of the College, Plante purchased furniture on
the card for $1,698.92 from a company called Lizell and had it delivered to
his home this spring.
He also charged $449.46 in personal expenses to Bowdoin while on a trip to Las
Vegas in March of 2000 and the $150 registration fee for his girlfriend at the
annual meeting of the Eastern Association of College and University Business
Officers in Montreal, Canada in August of 1999.
Plante, who was promoted to the position of controller in March of 1999, declined
to comment on the situation.
According to Boothby, however, “Gary admitted to embezzling monies from
Bowdoin…Gary told me that he had enormous pressure from a lot of sources
and that he had not been thinking clearly. He also told me that he was so ashamed,
that he did not know what to say, that he felt terrible, that he would cooperate
fully and that he would get the money back to Bowdoin.”
The College is demanding that Plante pay restitution, along with other damages,
such as costs and attorney’s fees.
To date, he has not made any repayment to Bowdoin. Police are continuing investigation
of the case to determine whether Plante has embezzled any other funds from the
school.
The Administration expects completion of the investigation in October or November.
Candidates for student government positions will be in a state of excitement
throughout the weekend as Bowdoin students hit the polls. In addition to voting
for class officers, students will also be voting to fill a vacant position on
the Student Executive Board (SEB) as well as voting on a constitutional referendum.
As announced by the SEB, from Friday September 8 to Sunday September 10, the
student body of Bowdoin College will vote online (http://vote.bowdoin.edu) for
their class officers, including president, vice president, treasurer, community
service organizer, and class representative in congress.
This election will also coincide with an election for a vacant spot on the SEB
and a vote on a constitutional referendum.
The student government, comprised of the SEB and the Student Congress (formerly
known as the Student Assembly), is in charge of governing and representing the
student body at Bowdoin. This year, after much debate and hard work, the government
has decided to present a referendum to the constitution with the objective of
being “...responsible for presenting student opinion to the administration,
chartering organizations, filling Faculty and Trustee committee student positions,
and supervising class officer elections.”
On September 16, interviews will take place for the remaining eight positions
in the Student Congress. (Students who wish to run for these positions must
submit a letter of intent to the Smith Union information desk on Thursday, September
13.) This late election is a change from the last year’s with an aim to
allow students ample time to consider the commitment of these positions.
Efforts have also been made by the student government to hold open and frequent
dialogue with the entire student body. Most prominent of all was the establishment
of the SEB’s weekly office hours.
Starting this semester, every Tuesday and Wednesday, there will be SEB members
available at the Smith Union Conference Room to answer questions and help solve
problems that their fellow students might have during the week.
The SEB is hopeful that, through this function, students will be better aware
of the SEB’s attempts to act as their voices to the Administration, faculty,
and the Board of Trustees. This is also a response to some recent surveys indicating
that the Student Government is inaccessible.
In conjunction with the office hours, the SEB has also set up a new website
of the student government featuring the names of members as well as updated
news of the student government. This website, www.bowdoin.edu/studorgs/exec,
was created from researching over 20 websites of student governments in universities
and colleges across the United States.
Headlines are updated weekly and interactive options are available, allowing
students to discuss on-campus issues directly with student government members.
The SEB has been working diligently toward its ultimate goal to “better
represent the students’ voices.”
“We want you to have trust in us and feel that we are working for you,”
said Eric Diamon ‘03, co-publicity officer of the SEB. “At the same
time, your feedback is equally important. The executive board encourages all
students to do their part in creating more communication on campus. Please call,
e-mail us or come to meet us at any time.”
On September 18, the Brunswick Town Council will vote on a new parking ordinance
that will forbid parking on certain streets at night.
This new ordinance, if passed, will forbid parking between the hours of 1:00
a.m. and 6:00 a.m. every day at the following locations: the east side of Park
Row, between Bath Road and Longfellow Avenue; the north side of South Street,
between Coffin Street and Maine Street; both sides of Longfellow Avenue, between
Harpswell Road and Maine Street; and the west side of Maine Street, between
Nobel Street and Boody Street.
The Student Executive Board (SEB) has expressed their displeasure at the possible
ordinance.
“The Student Executive Board believes that students should not have limited
access to parking on streets in the overnight hours,” said Jeff Favolise
’01, chair of the SEB. “The surrounding campus roads provide extra
spots, and the ordinance puts even more pressure on an already difficult situation.”
However, Director of Security Bruce Boucher expressed optimism about the ordinance.
“I think the purpose of the ordinance is to prevent the clogging up of
the street by cars that park on those streets for days at a time. By forcing
these cars to move, they allow students, faculty, and staff the ability to park
until 1:00 A.M., when the [Hawthorne-Longfellow] library closes.”
Favolise said he believes that the ordinance “impacts every student. It
is essential that the student body becomes interested in this issue and makes
a strong push to open the roads for parking.” He encourages students to
join the Student Executive Board at the Brunswick Town Council Meeting on September
18 to express their opinions on this issue.
Many of the current parking problems began last year, when all first years were
required to park in the lot on Stanwood Street due to the construction of Chamberlain
Hall. Originally on loan by the National Guard, the lot was reopened this year
in response to upperclassmen complaints of overcrowded lots and long walks to
their dorms and apartments.
Many first years, though, complained about the new lot’s distance from
campus and its nightly closure, which prevented many from accessing their cars
when they needed to. This, in addition to poor lighting at the lot, resulted
in a general feeling of insecurity among the students. However, new security
measures have been implemented at the Stanwood lot in an effort to improve accessibility
and safety. New light fixtures and an improved shuttle service between the lot
and the campus provide extra security, and a card reader was installed to allow
students full access to their cars anytime with their Bowdoin ID.
Still, these improvements result in mixed feelings about the lot. Daniel Abraham
’04 said that he felt that “The lot is pretty far from campus, but
at least I feel safer with the shuttle service working.”
Jasmine Cronin ’04 said she believed that “the walk is a pain.”
According to the Bowdoin College 2000-2001 Parking and Motor Vehicle Regulations,
all student-owned cars must be registered with Campus Security. A series of
decals is used to show the parking lot designations for each car. All first-year
students are required to show white decals and park in the Stanwood Street lot.
All sophomores and juniors living in dorms are required to show orange decals
and park at the Farley Field House. All seniors are required to show yellow
decals and park on Coffin Street or in front of their apartments. Violations
of these rules will result in the subsequent towing away of the vehicle, as
well as a fine.
Imagine being able to apply for an internship at the National Institute for
Health, sign up for a job interview, and prepare your resume all without leaving
your room.
With a new service implemented by the Career Planning Center (CPC), this is
now possible.
The CPC, in a venture with Experience Inc., has created a program in which students
can receive information on academic opportunities specifically geared toward
their interests. This program is called eRecruiting (also known as eBEAR).
The main purpose of this service is to keep students informed on opportunities
in a manner that is most manageable for them.
“Students’ biorhythms are different than our office hours. When our
office is open isn’t necessarily the most convenient time for students.
The service enables us to help you create your own unique information loop,”
Career Planning Services Director Anne Shields said.
eRecruiting’s primary function is to gather information on what students’
current interests are based on a survey that each student fills out online that
in turn keeps them up-to-date on career-related information that matches their
specific interest(s).
One advantage of this new program is that a student will be able to customize
an account online to meet his or her changing interests. Each student’s
account (which is set up after the completion of the online survey) will have
a password and therefore only that student will be able to retrieve the information
in his or her account.
Because it is so personalized, a student may change his or her interests online
as many times as he or she would like.
After filling out the survey, students can receive information on internships,
summer jobs, full-time employment, mentoring, scholarships, networking, employer
fellowships, and even grad school recruiting.
eRecruiting, while geared toward all Bowdoin students, is especially helpful
to seniors who are searching for post-graduation employment. For example, the
CPC runs on-campus recruiting programs in order to provide a link between students
and employers. Seniors can log onto eRecruiting ahead of time and see which
employers are coming to campus and for what jobs they are hiring.
While recruiting for employment is one of the program’s main functions,
eRecruiting also provides students with the opportunity to upload and prepare
resumes and cover letters. Through the online program, students are able to
gear their resumes toward their specific area of interest by emphasizing achievements
in that area. In addition, students wishing to submit works of art, photographs,
or designs will be able to do so through eRecruiting. The process, once the
information is recorded, is quite manageable.
“After a student completes a resume or cover letter through ‘my documents,’
the information can then be loaded on through a three-step process that takes
about 20 seconds,” Shields said.
Not only is eRecruiting directly beneficial to students, but it also assists
the CPC in determining in which areas of study they need to focus their “job-search”
efforts.
“It allows us to be in sync with the interests by using the information
given in the surveys to plan strategically for our office,” Shields said.
With the simplicity of eRecruiting, there now exists a more efficient way for
students to handle job inquiries and career-related searches. In addition, this
service is multifaceted, allowing students to be more organized and responsible
with their job explorations.
“Because of the [program’s] versatility and wonder of technology,
it doesn’t have to be only recruiting; students have total control over
what they do through eRecruiting,” Shields said.
For more information, visit the CPC’s website at www.bowdoin.edu/dept/CPC/.