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Volume CXXXI, Number 22 |
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Vending Misers installed in dorms
To the Editors:
Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with Gary Flood of the Bowdoin College Electric Shop in increasing campus electrical efficiency. We installed Vending Misers that were purchased by Sustainable Bowdoin into four of the first-year dorms: Winthrop, Appleton, Hyde and Coleman.
A Vending Miser should also be installed in Maine by the time this issue is in print.
Vending Misers are simple devices that drastically reduce the amount of energy used by soda vending machines. Each device contains a motion sensor and a temperature gauge, and powers down the vending machine when no one is around. The temperature guage switches the compressor only when the necessary to minimize energy use in keeping the sodas cold.
Here at Bowdoin, electricity usage per student has more than doubled
in the last eighteen years, and saving energy has become a huge priority.
Many other colleges have installed Vending Misers and have reported efficiency
increases of about 50 percent on average.
Vending Misers cost $80 apiece, but should save the college more than
that within a year. Every year after that, the devices earn money while
decreasing our impact on the environment.
Students, Faculty, and staff can help the College save energy without
spending any money themselves. Turning off lights, stereos, and computers
when leaving a room saves a great deal. Avoiding the use of appliances
like refrigerators, hair dryers, and microwaves (and unplugging them when
they are not in use) also saves.
If you would like more information about Sustainable Bowdoin's activities or how you can help Bowdoin save energy, please email Keisha Payson (kpayson) or Noah Long (nlong).
Noah Long '03
It's the liberals that suppress speech
To the Editors:
In last week's Orient, Michael Saur '02 attacked my article ["College
faculty out of touch with U.S.," 5 April 2002], labeling my rhetoric
"Limbaugh-like," and writing that my "McCarthy-like approach
to politics" was "extremely frightening." Saur's distortions
of my article and views are disturbing, and well worth addressing here.
First, Saur questioned the poll I cited by labeling Frank Luntz a "classic
GOP hack." Luntz conducts polls for the Republican Party, a fact
I never denied, but Saur's contention that the survey demonstrated what
Republicans thought they could "sell to the public" is patently
false. The survey was conducted last November, years after Newt Gingrich
and the Contract with America became politically irrelevant. Luntz's survey
of Ivy League professors has nothing to do with some shadowy GOP agenda.
Saur's principal gripe is that I am somehow attempting to silence his
right to dissent. This is curious, considering that dissent was not the
subject of my article. I noted that college leftists seem to delight in
savaging their nation in print and speech, but I never said they shouldn't
have this right.
Indeed, it is the people on Saur's side of the aisle-the liberal college
administrators-who have led the charge to restrict campus free speech.
Speech codes have led to the suppression of any ideas deemed "harassing,"
"inappropriate," or "insensitive" by the politically
correct powers that be.
At Dartmouth, conservative papers were stolen while the administration
looked the other way; at Colby, protesters destroyed an art exhibition
that featured pictures of the Rodney King beating. It is liberals, not
conservatives, who are trying to silence free speech at colleges and universities.
Saur closed out his letter with a venomous, self-righteous rant about
how I "disrespect every soldier or sailor who perished to defend
our freedom" from my "ideological fanaticism." I do no
such thing. In fact, as a liberal, Saur aligns himself with those who
disrespected a whole generation of veterans. The ill-informed communist
dupes of the 1960s antiwar movement set the standard for mistreatment
of our fighting men.
Saur stated that Bowdoin "has made a commendable effort to draw
conservative speakers and lecturers to the college." I agree with
him on this point. In fact, I would urge Saur to listen to the likes of
Bill Kristol and George Will.
As an "old-line labor Democrat," Saur is part of a dying breed. As Tom Wolfe notes, "By the year 2000, the term "working class" had fallen into disuse in the United States.... The average electrician or burglar-alarm repairman lived a life that would have made the Sun King blink." If Saur ever recognizes the futility of his efforts, I'm sure he would be welcomed with open arms by conservatives.
Gil Barndollar '04