The biannual Bowdoin Orient Student Survey is back with findings on student opinions about College events and issues. Through an anonymous survey, 335 students shared their views on the Ad Hoc Committee on Investments and Responsibility, political leanings after the 2024 election, academic rigor, artificial intelligence usage, general approval ratings across College and Brunswick entities and, most importantly, the best bathrooms on campus.

Current Events

On September 5, Safa Zaki announced the creation of the ad hoc committee in response to the passage of the SJP-initiated Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum last spring. Respondents were torn on opinions about the committee as a response to the referendum.

Roughly 24 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the creation of the committee, while 32 percent were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. This left 44 percent neutral on the committee.

Several students expressed dissatisfaction with the establishment of the ad hoc committee, citing different reasons.

“I have no reason to believe that the committee has any intention of creating the change called for in the referendum and have felt no need to buy into it,” a student from the Class of 2025 wrote.

“The committee is a clever tool to stall any momentum for the end goal we voted for,” another student from the Class of 2025 wrote.

However, other students said they were relatively satisfied with the current structure.

“Nothing [Zaki] was going to implement was going to make everyone happy. The ad hoc committee as it currently exists seems to approach the referendum judiciously and is a framework that can now be used for an indefinite future,” a student from the Class of 2025 wrote.

Engagement with the committee from the student body seemed relatively limited. Only 9 percent of respondents said they had attended a listening session.

In the wake of the 2024 election, there have been some marginal shifts in political opinion on campus. Overall, students averaged 28.26 on the scale, with 0 representing the furthest left and 100 the furthest right when asked about their political leaning.

In the Orient’s First-Year Student Survey at the beginning of this semester, the Class of 2028 averaged a 30 on the political leaning scale. Now, after over three months at Bowdoin, the first-year class scored an average of just below 32 on the scale, representing a shift to the right of 2 points in their political leaning score.

Students who did not believe Donald Trump would win November’s presidential election had an average political leaning score of 25.6—further to the left than those who believed Trump would win, who had an average score of just above 33.

Academics

The Orient examined academic rigor, as well as the usage of artificial intelligence, in this survey.

More than half of the respondents, 57 percent, believed that their academic rigor had increased since last year.

This version of the survey is the third to ask about artificial intelligence tools. From the first time this question was asked in the survey in December 2023, respondents who replied that they used AI have been steadily increasing. However, the increase between this survey and the last survey in May 2024 has been dramatic: 70 percent responded that they had used artificial intelligence in some way, compared to last spring’s 37 percent.

The purpose for which students used artificial intelligence varied, though roughly 85 percent expressed that they had used it for academic purposes. Fifty-four percent of respondents also indicated that they used AI for creative purposes and 32 percent for professional purposes as well. Other usages of AI included personal use, with students explaining that they used AI “for fun.”

An overwhelming 97 percent of students who used AI relied on ChatGPT. Other preferred providers included Gemini and Copilot. Students used a variety of other providers, such as Claude, Apple Intelligence, Otter.ai, Perplexity, Grammarly and Adobe AI.

Students responded that they used artificial intelligence across various types of classes, with the humanities being the most prominent at 64 percent. AI use was also noted in the quantitative, natural and social sciences, at 44 percent, 36 percent and 30 percent, respectively. A small number of students also reported using AI for their language classes at 13 percent.

Regarding professors’ stances on using AI in classrooms, a majority of students, 70 percent, responded that they had at least one professor who allowed the use of AI. However, around 19 percent of students reported being unclear regarding their professors’ policies on AI in the classroom.

Approval Ratings

Once again, we asked respondents to rate their approval of different College and Brunswick entities. The Dining service remains the department on campus with the highest approval at 94 percent, a two percent drop from last semester.

The most disapproved entity in town was the Brunswick Police Department, with 30 percent of respondents strongly disapproving or disapproving of their work. This was a 15 percent increase in disapproval compared to last semester. This dramatic difference could be attributed to the alcohol compliance checks at Bolos, which resulted in multiple student citations in May 2024.

President Safa Zaki received 71 percent approval, a similar number to the past values early in her presidency. In spring 2024, she achieved 81 percent approval, and in fall 2023, 76 percent approval. Most of this decline in approval went to an increase in neutral opinions; however, seven percent of respondents disapprove or strongly disapprove of Zaki, an increase from the two percent disapproval she received in spring 2024.

The Bowdoin Student Government saw an increase in approval with 56 percent of respondents, compared to 48 percent in the spring of 2024. However, BSG saw a marginally higher percentage in the fall of 2023 with 53 percent approval. In the 2022–2023 surveys, BSG had a 29 percent approval in the spring and a 42 percent approval in the fall, showing a trend of higher rates in the fall. Additionally, BSG President Eisa Rafat ’25 has a 48 percent approval rate, a similar rate to Paul Wang ’24 in the spring of 2024, who had 51 percent approval.

Residential Life saw a significant increase in approval with 66 percent approval compared to 51 percent in the spring of 2024. There was a failed unionization of ResLife student staff last spring that may have contributed to this difference.

The Health Center saw a slight decrease to 71 percent approval from 75 percent in the spring 2024 BOSS. With this slight decrease in approval, the amount of disapproval rose from six percent in the spring to eight percent this fall.

“I feel like the health center sometimes does not do a good job of accurately diagnosing things or offering evidence-based solutions. I would not trust someone I make an appointment with at the health center to give me as quality diagnostics and care as I receive at home,” a member of the Class of 2027 said.

The registrar maintained its direct approval with 50 percent of respondents approving, the same as last spring; however, it saw a slight increase in disapproval from 10 percent in the spring to 13 percent this fall. One student in the Class of 2026 expressed strong disapproval because of the upcoming change to course registration.

“It feels completely backwards and against Bowdoin's core messages to implement a highly inequitable system of registration, no matter the benefits (which have not been thoroughly conveyed to students). Both of my advisors shared my opinions, so I know that it is not just a student opinion,” they said.

The Entertainment Board improved from its 17 percent disapproval rating in the spring to only 10 percent this fall, with much of the movement going toward neutrality.

The Orient achieved a 74 percent approval rating this fall compared to 65 percent in the spring and 72 percent last fall. As with BSG, there is a trend of higher fall approval for the Orient and lower spring approval, with fall 2022 being 72 percent approval and spring 2023 being 65 percent approval.

Substances and Parties

This year, the Orient collected data regarding alcohol and nicotine use, as well as satisfaction with Bowdoin parties.

Over 70 percent of survey respondents consume alcohol, with the most consumption in the Class of 2025 at 87 percent of respondents. This consumption tapers off through the Class of 2026, 2027 and 2028, which reported 80 percent, 76 percent and 54 percent alcohol consumption, respectively.

Among respondents who reported consuming alcohol, the most popular was beer/soft alcohol, with 92 percent of respondents. Eighty-eight percent of alcohol-consuming respondents reported drinking liquor/hard alcohol, and 85 percent reported drinking wine/malt beverages.

Broken up by class year, the Class of 2026 consumed the most consistently across all alcohol types, with 95 percent, 96 percent and 93 percent reported consumption of soft alcohol, wine and liquor, respectively.

Only 18 percent of respondents reported using nicotine. Broken up by class year, the highest reported class was the Class of 2025, with 25 percent. The second highest is the Class of 2027 with 22 percent, then the Class of 2026 with 20 percent. There is a steep drop off with the Class of 2028 at eight percent.

Among those who reported using nicotine, 80 percent reported smoking cigarettes. Vapes and dip/pouches were the second most popular types of nicotine, with 32 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

Away from substances, the Bowdoin party scene received middling reviews from most respondents. On a scale from 0 to 10 of satisfaction with the Bowdoin party scene, the average score was 4.79. The Class of 2028 has the highest satisfaction with an average of 5.08.

For those who report drinking alcohol, the average party satisfaction at 4.93 was slightly higher than those who use nicotine at 4.27. For those who don’t drink alcohol, the average satisfaction was 4.43, and for those who don’t use nicotine, the average was 4.81.

“My opinions on college departments that oversee student social life are not great,” a member of the Class of 2026 said when responding about approval ratings. “I do feel like groups like ResLife, Security, the college house system and more put too many constraints on party culture.”

Mentality

Despite the lackluster reaction to the Bowdoin party scene, the vast majority of respondents have found belonging at Bowdoin, with 94 percent of respondents. The Class of 2025 had the highest rate of finding belonging with 96 percent, followed by the Class of 2026 with 94 percent, the Class of 2028 with 93 percent and the Class of 2027 with 92 percent.

Compared to the fall of 2023, the Class of 2025 increased its sense of belonging by two percentage points. The Class of 2026 increased its sense of belonging by nine percentage points, and the Class of 2027 increased by 26 percentage points. This marks a significant increase in the reported sense of belonging among all students.

A majority of respondents do give a damn at 77 percent. This marks a decrease of giving a damn from last semester, which was at 87 percent. It also falls from 85 percent in the fall of 2023. Perhaps nihilism is making a comeback.

Last but not least, the most important data we collected: the best bathroom on campus. The overall winner, excluding “not listed,” was Mills Hall, with 15 percent of respondents. It also was the most popular for the Class of 2026 and Class of 2027, and it was tied for the top in the Class of 2025 with Studzinski Hall. The second, third and fourth were Roux Center, Hubbard stairwell and Studzinski Hall Basement, respectively.

More information about the method of distributing, the Orient’s decision not to weight the poll, the questions asked, the data available to the public, the purpose of the poll, and how to inquire about the data or the Orient’s decisions can be found on this article’s webpage in the Fact Sheet for this poll.

Janet Briggs, Shihab Moral, Claire Shim and Campbell Treschuk contributed to this report.