The Bowdoin Orient

Tim Foster, dean of student affairs, announced that Office of the Dean of Student Affairs will be consolidating two part-time positions into one full-time position, which will be known Associate Director of First-Year Programs via campus-wide email on Sunday. Foster also announced the departure of Dean Laura Lee, within the email.

Foster announced these changes after Margaret Hazlett, senior associate dean, decided to leave Bowdoin to become Dean of the College at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “Whenever you have someone who’s been in a senior position such as Margaret’s, for as long as she has, it’s a good chance to step back and say ‘How do we want to best organize ourselves to best meet the needs of students, faculty and staff going forward?’” said Foster.

The new associate director position will take on a series of new responsibilities. He or she will oversee international students, accommodations for students with disabilities, and the Host Family Programs.

On Wednesday, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) convened for its final meeting of the 2012-2013 academic year.

BSG passed two motions brought by the Student Affairs Committee. The first was a funding proposal of $150 for refreshments for this Friday’s “Uncommon Hour.” The event will feature Stephen Naculich, professor of physics, giving a talk entitled “Finding the God Particle.” Vice President for Student Affairs Allen Wong ’14 was happy to announce that this was the first “hard scientist” to give an Uncommon Hour talk. 

The second proposal was the authorization of $750 of BSG funds to sponsor the first “Bowdoin Wellness Day,” on the Friday of reading period. According to the written proposal presented by Wong and BSG Programming Chair Bernie Clevens ’15, the purpose of Wellness Day is to “provide students with an opportunity to release stress” during finals week. The event will feature yoga classes and massages funded by BSG, as well as outdoor activities such as a slip-and-slide on the Quad. 

On Sunday at around 12:30 a.m, a student at a registered event in the basement of Baxter House broke a sprinkler pipe on the ceiling, which set off the fire alarm and flooded the room with about five inches of water. 

“I saw someone jump up, and as soon as they made contact with the pipe, it snapped,” said Matt Friedland ’15. “There was a big hissing sound, and people were screaming because [the pipes] sprayed on them. Everyone freaked out and went upstairs.”

Assistant Director of Residential Life Chris Rossi and multiple Baxter House residents have confirmed that the responsible party has come forward; however, no name has been released.  

The College lost a valuable faculty member when Visiting Assistant Professor Leslie Shaw died unexpectedly on August 29 following complications from surgery. Shaw, who taught anthropology at the College since 1998, “set a high bar for service, excellence and collegiality,” wrote Dean for Academic Affairs Christle Collins Judd in an email to the Orient. In addition to her teaching and research, Shaw served as the adviser to the Native American Students Association at Bowdoin.

The men’s rugby team was required to forfeit two matches after the Office of Student Affairs found the team had violated Bowdoin’s alcohol and hazing policies on September 15, the night of the annual Epicuria party at Ladd House. The Office of Residential Life placed Ladd House on social probation until November 1, and both the president and vice president of the house stepped down from their positions. Four underage students were transported to Parkview Adventist Medical Center for over-consumption of alcohol on the night of the event.

The Bowdoin Daily Sun reported a 2.6 percent return on the endowment for fiscal year 2012, with the endowment standing at $904.2 million as of October 12. Despite a projected return of 7 percent, the endowment performed well in comparison to peer institutions.

The results of the latest installment of the Orient’s semi-annual approval ratings survey overwhelmingly suggest that Bowdoin students are disillusioned with the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. Many students responded to the Orient expressing discontent with the deans’ handling of recent hazing incidents, and were generally dissatisfied with the administration’s lack of transparency.

Dean Tim Foster’s recent email to students outlining staffing changes within the Office of Student Affairs is demonstrative of the ambiguity that often accompanies administration communiqués to the student body. A similar lack of clarity has defined the administration’s response to multiple hazing incidents this year, leading many students to regard the deans as foes rather than friends. Despite continued discontent with the current policy, exactly what constitutes hazing remains uncertain, and there is no sign the administration plans to change its procedure any time soon. Many students are unsure about what falls under the College’s expansive definition of hazing. It is understandable that the administration does not want to report the details of hazing incidents, but leaving the student body in the dark as to what actually constitutes hazing only hinders efforts to prevent future occurrences. There have been many programs geared toward educating club and sports team leaders on hazing over the past few years, and perhaps the situation would be improved if that information were made widely available to all students—not just those in charge of student organizations.

Student reactions to this year’s hazing incidents underline the fact that the deans’ judgments often seem like they come out of left field. Their decisions reflect a disregard for the norms of our campus, given that the broad definition of hazing encompasses activities that are considered both ordinary and safe. The dominant opinion among students is that the deans are far removed from student life. Periodic appeals to connect with students do not do enough to engender a sense that the deans are on our side. While some students will certainly get to know administrators, for most, the deans appear to be little more than talking heads who sign campus-wide emails.

Have you ever seen a Chevron advertisement bragging about the company’s new investments in clean energy? How about a commercial claiming that BP is involved in coastal land conservation? Many large corporations have started Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts in order to improve their image in the eyes of consumers. But critics claim CSR efforts are misleading because they prioritize corporate image over addressing the root causes of social or environmental issues. 

Bowdoin appears to have adopted a public relations model similar to CSR when it comes to promoting its own commitment to the environment. The College works hard to cultivate a sustainable image, but falls short of making the large investments and institutional commitments necessary to address the root causes of climate change. 

Simply put, CSR helps a business look good in the eyes of consumers, usually at a low cost. Over the past decade, especially, businesses have been increasingly willing to donate substantial sums to foundations, start their own charities or even let their employees take time off to work with non-profit organizations. 

After the final issue of the Orient is published every year, the staff comes together during reading period to put together the Occident, a once-a-year joke issue that takes on a variety of groups and people across the campus. Each year, the Occident receives a range of responses—some people love it and find it hilarious, and some find it offensive and mean-spirited.

If done well, the Occident can be both funny and have a positive influence on campus. Humor is an honorable goal in its own right, but beyond that, satire can be a powerful way to highlight flaws in the College’s policies.

One example of a very good piece from the 2012 issue is the article “Phase II to be modeled on ‘Hunger Games.’” The topic was funny, the writer used satire to emphasize a real campus problem, and the jokes were creative and punchy.  

At long last, the Senate has begun to show a sliver of sense on certain taxation issues. A comprehensive online sales tax scheme, known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, has passed a series of test votes in the Senate with as many as 75 in favor—including many Republicans who signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. The legislation, which gives states a mechanism for collecting sales taxes on online purchases, is expected to pass the Senate with overwhelming approval on May 6. Perhaps the only negative aspect of this news is that it took so long to arrive.Critics of the bill come from two ends. There are the rabid anti-taxers such as Norquist, who believe that any tax increase is a bad tax increase. To be clear, the claim that this is an expansion of the sales tax is debatable at best and a lie at worst.  

Taxpayers are already required to report their online purchases and pay the corresponding sales tax. Clearly, no one does it; currently there’s no enforcement mechanism, and not even the most faithful taxpayer saves receipts from a year of online purchases in order to pay a little bit more when tax day rolls around. All the bill does is give states the authority to collect a sales tax from online purchases made by its citizens. It also requires states to provide free software to businesses that automatically calculates and collects sales tax.

It is also seen as a cash grab by poor state governments—which it is. Many of those lobbying for the bill represent state and local governments. They need revenue, and tax-free online sales cut down on revenue that they should lawfully receive. By giving states the power to enforce sales taxes on online purchases, revenues will increase without putting much more burden on the consumer and without any de jure increase in taxes.

The objectivity and effectiveness of The Bowdoin Project produced by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) should be determined by assessing the methods by which the authors arrived at their conclusions. Such a determination has not yet been made by most commentators. 

Yet, an analysis of these methods reveals the severe limitations of the report. Peter Wood and Michael Toscano, the authors of the report, only relied on internal documents and make no in-depth inquiry of current educational content to determine what Bowdoin teaches. These major weaknesses neutralize the report’s usefulness.

The most serious weakness is revealed in a preliminary document, not included in the final report, which explains that the authors’ information is based entirely on internal Bowdoin documents. While Wood and Toscano reviewed a substantial amount of printed material and produced a total of over 400 pages, they did not broadly review course syllabi, reading lists and assignments. They made comments about first-year seminars without an in-depth understanding of the options. 

I was pleased to read Professor Patrick Rael’s article in the Orient responding to “What Does Bowdoin Teach?” Professor Rael and I disagree about many things but I welcome his comments as at least an effort to reckon with some of the substance of our critique of liberal arts education at Bowdoin.  

As to the disagreement: Rael draws a colorful picture of what the National Association of Scholars (NAS) report “presupposes,” and then spends his time knocking the stuffing out of the presuppositions. 

If I were to declare that the Bowdoin history department presupposes the existence of unicorns, I could with similar enthusiasm debunk the history department. But the history department doesn’t presuppose unicorns, and the NAS doesn’t presuppose, as Rael would have it, a time “when scholarship was both apolitical and non-ideological.” Nor do we call for a form of history that ignores black people, Native Americans and women. Nor we do believe history should exclude “the marginalized.” Unicorns, unicorns. Rael has offered a whole herd of unicorns. 

In April 2007, the Orient’s editorial board called upon Bowdoin to “find and hire professors who will be able to give students the instruction in Middle Eastern culture and language that they both want and need.” At the time, only one Bowdoin professor, Shelley Deane, specialized in the Middle East.

The following year, a group of students dissatisfied with the lack of Arabic instruction organized informal Arabic classes taught by fellow student Jamil Wyne ’08.

In 2008, the College responded to the growing demand for Middle Eastern studies classes by hiring Russell Hopley as a lecturer in Arabic and Robert Morrison as a religion professor. According to Professor of Religion Jorunn Buckley, hiring Morrison finally satisfied the religion department’s request for specialists in Islam and Judaism that stretched back two decades.But despite the progress, Bowdoin continues to suffer from a deficiency of classes focusing on the Middle East.

We’re familiar with the concept of the Bowdoin Bubble—Bowdoin isn’t just a school or community, but is its own universe. A closed, contained system, Bowdoin works hard to supply everything we need without us having to step off campus.  We know where to eat, where to sleep and certainly where to drink. Bowdoin is a culture as much as an institution, thick with its own esoteric codes, rituals and customs.  

When we return home, we have to translate our experiences in order to communicate. How many of us have generalized the dreamlike and debauched holiday that is Ivies to a less-enthused “Spring Weekend”? Described our proctors as “half-RA, half-dad”? Called Spring Gala, simply, “Prom at College”? 

Bowdoin is its own world—and part of that is keeping the actual world out. We forget the Bowdoin Bubble also describes the sheltering effects of this campus. The smallest trips down the road merit the excitement of travel—who here as gone to Wild Oats or Little Dog because they “just needed to get away”? It feels like you should need a passport for a trip to Portland.

Fellow first years, I cannot believe how close we are to the end. Although the weather hit 32 degrees earlier this week, spring is supposedly upon us, and summer is scarily close. 

It seems as if only yesterday I was writing about beer, boys and my first college house party—how young and naïve we were back then. Everything was so new and we were curious. Now, we are more comfortable in our surroundings. Bowdoin has become our second home. We are ready to move on to bigger and better things, and we are ready to go out with a bang. Ivies is upon us. 

It seems as if this entire year I have been hearing about how epic Ivies will be. When I asked upperclassmen about their experience from last year, I received answers ranging from “It’s the craziest weekend of the year” to “I really enjoyed the parts I can remember.” Almost every club or sport has been ordering pinnies, T-shirts and tanks in preparation. Students have been anticipating performances for months. They are psyched to see the likes of Hoodie Allen and other musicians I’m pretending that I have heard of before. Some even started celebrating last Thursday because they couldn’t handle the anticipation.

One might say we’re currently in a golden age of the documentary.

Given the rise of independent cinema in the past decade alongside the widespread application of cheap digital technology, it’s become easier than ever before for both professional and amateur filmmakers to create documentaries—the documentary is a form that has actually been helped rather than hindered by the bare-bones approach digital technology offers.

Bowdoin has, just in the past few weeks, brought two phenomenal, widely-acclaimed documentary films, along with their filmmakers and subjects to campus; “The Central Park Five” (Ken Burns) and “How to Survive a Plague” (David France). 

Walking out of “The Place Beyond the Pines” on Saturday evening, I felt dazed—the kind of feeling you get when you first step off a rollercoaster onto solid ground.

Several days later, I still feel adrift when I think about the film. And while this sensation usually makes me want to see a movie again, this one was so intense that it might just be the first Gosling flick that I don’t watch ad infinitum (yes, “Remember the Titans” included).

“The Place Beyond the Pines”—which should really be called “The Place Where Everyone is Covered in Paint Splatters and Has Daddy Issues”—opens with the story of the bulked-and-tatted-up Ryan Gosling as Luke Glanton, the motorcycle-riding stuntman with a heart of gold that Gosling plays best. And did, in “Drive.” Like, a year ago.

“If music be the food of love, play on,” quoth the Bard: “Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Shakespeare never met a Bowdoin College student on the brink of Ivies, did he? Indulging appetite to excess is our job this time of year, and judging by how much brainpower we devote each semester to yearning for these few days, I doubt it ever dies. We’re made of sterner stuff than Duke Orsino.

I’m not at all ashamed to say that the debauched spirit of Ivies has even corrupted the heretofore unblemished hipster cred of yours truly. The ivory tower of the music snob gets lonely, my Buddy Holly glasses have become unwieldy, and my vinyl has stopped playing properly. This week, I will retire my cardigan and take up a pinny. Instead of hipster, I shall Guster.

Following two high-profile hazing incidents this academic year and two similar cases last year, the deans have begun to review and revise the College's current hazing rules, due to student disagreement with the enforcement of the policies. In the fall, the men’s rugby team was forced to forfeit two games after four students were transported due to overconsumption of alcohol on the night of the team’s annual Epicuria party. The team was effectively disqualified from postseason play as a result of the forfeitures. This spring, the men’s tennis team, ranked No. 5 nationally in D-III at the time, forefeited four matches and postseason play after the deans determined that a team event involved hazing.

Many students said that the punishments were disproportionate to the teams’ transgressions.

"Some of the teams that have gotten in trouble for hazing have said that they took a lot of precautions to not haze," said a female junior athlete who asked to remain anonymous.

Unlike varsity sports, which receive funding from the Department of Athletics, club teams are funded through Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC), which must divide funds among over 100 student organizations.Men’s rugby and rowing are the only exceptions to this rule and are funded partially by the athletic department, the SAFC, and through other means. 

The SAFC has $680,000 to divide each between the 110 College student organizations, including non-varsity sports such as the ultimate frisbee, volleyball, cycling, alpine skiing, men’s rugby, rowing, and equestrian teams. The SAFC meets every Monday, and is comprised of the treasurers of all four classes, two at-large members, and is chaired by the treasurer of the BSG.

While the hybrid teams like men’s rugby and rowing must submit budgets to the SAFC like other club teams, they have a coach hired by the College and have other expenses taken care of by the athletic department.     

Before this week, most people probably hadn’t heard of Jason Collins. The 7’0,” 260-pound NBA center spent his 12-year career in obscurity, playing for six different teams and never averaging more than six points per game. 

But on Monday, Jason Collins became a household name. He came out as homosexual in a column in Sports Illustrated, becoming the first athlete in a major professional American sport to come out before retiring.  

His story was featured as the halftime special on virtually every game this week. Even President Obama fielded questions about his coming out. 

Starting in the spring of 2014, Bowdoin’s club volleyball team will no longer be co-ed. As a result of the change, current team members Erin McKissick ’16, Sophie Sawyers ’16 and Maggie Seymour ’16 will have to start their own female team next year.  

According to McKissick, the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation (NCVF) has traditionally had separate teams for men and women. 

The New England region is the only one that has allowed co-ed teams. However, Rule 3.1.4 of the NCVF’s Governance Rules states that, “A women’s team roster may not include men and a men’s roster may not include women. No women players are allowed to compete as a player on a men’s team, and no men are allowed to compete as a player on a women’s team.”

Despite splitting a doubleheader against Brandeis last Saturday, the softball team is optimistic about the upcoming NESCAC playoffs this weekend at Tufts.

The Polar Bears won the first game against Brandeis 3-0. Melissa DellaTorre ’14 only gave up one hit on the mound, pitching perfectly for the first three innings.

In the second game, Bowdoin was ahead until three Polar Bear errors contributed to five runs for Brandeis in the third inning. 

The men’s lacrosse team’s season ended last Saturday in a heartbreaking overtime loss to Wesleyan in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. The fifth-seeded Polar Bears concluded their season with a record of 8-7 while the fourth-seeded Cardinals improved to 12-4 and continue on to play top-seeded Middlebury this coming weekend.

In the first quarter, Wesleyan was quick to take a 2-1 lead. The Polar Bears answered forcefully, rallying to end the first half up 6-3 and forcing Wesleyan to change goaltenders. In the third quarter, Wesleyan tied the score by racking up three unanswered goals. 

The Polar Bears regained their footing in the fourth quarter, when Peter Reuter ’16 scored to regain the lead. Minutes later, however, Wesleyan responded with a goal of its own, bringing the score to 7-7 and forcing the game into overtime. The teams traded possession in the first few minutes of overtime before Wesleyan was able to capitalize with 1:21 left, by sinking a hard shot into the back of the net, ending the game 8-7.

The play-off picture for the NESCAC Eastern Conference will come into focus when the baseball team travels to Tufts this weekend for a three-game series. The Polar Bears will determine their destiny with these last conference games.

“If we win at least two games out of the series, then we are in first place in the division and we go into the playoffs as a one seed,” said senior captain Luke Regan. “There are no more conference games—this is the deciding weekend.”

Bowdoin traveled to Williams this past weekend for a non-conference series. On Friday, the Ephs took an early 2-1 lead but the Polar Bears managed to regain control of the game by the fourth inning. The Bowdoin offense went into overdrive, led by Aaron Rosen ’15, who went 3-3 and scored five runs, tying the College’s single-game scoring record. The Polar Bears also found three RBIs each from Regan, Erik Jacobsen ’15 and Sam Canales ’15 in the 13-5 victory.