On Tuesday, registration opened on CampusGroups for students to have group meals with President Safa Zaki. Nine dates with 13 spots in each time slot were offered, and students jumped at the chance to take advantage of a meal with the new president.
Campus culture is always evolving, but there are few instances when the change is as abrupt as the Covid-19 shutdown. As the College enters its second year with no Covid testing protocols or restrictions ingrained into campus life, student and staff leadership reflect on the state of student extracurricular engagement.
The plants on the Roux Center for the Environment’s roof happily soaked in Monday’s rain a little more than students did, but the latter, who gathered to celebrate the roof’s opening to the campus community, were excited regardless.
Dr. David Badre, a professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University—and whose name is pronounced “better”—delivered a talk entitled “How Our Brains Get Things Done” last night. The lecture shares a name with his 2020 book, which a book club of around 30 students, led by Stephanie Dailey ’23, recently read.
The Bowdoin Labor Alliance (BLA) and Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) convened on Wednesday night to discuss the BLA’s latest campaign to confront under- and uncompensated labor on campus.
Over leftover pizza from the earlier presidential debate, BLA members Rachel Klein ’24 and Ahmad Abdulwadood ’24 gave an overview of the group’s achievements and aspirations and fielded questions from BSG members, often referencing their recent op-ed and petition, which has received around 320 signatures.
The baseball team (12–6; 2–1 NESCAC) climbed to second place in the NESCAC East Division last weekend by going 2–1 in its three-game series against Trinity College (14–7; 3–3 NESCAC). The Polar Bears won their first two games both by a score of 2–1 and fell to Trinity 2–5 in its last matchup.
The Helmreichs, the Baxters and now Bowdoin College are just three of the many past owners of 6 Boody Street, President-elect Safa Zaki’s future home. The December 2022 purchase of the 1927 structure marks the next chapter in a history intertwined with Bowdoin’s.
Loraine Hansberry’s 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun” follows the Younger family as it confronts obstacles both within and outside of its home. The Department of Theater and Dance has recreated the Younger’s South Chicago home on the stage of Wish Theater.
Coke or Pepsi? Bowdoin has taken its side in the age-old debate, signing a contract with PepsiCo in October 2022. The decision has only recently made waves, as changes in beverage availability became apparent in the dining halls and C-Store starting this semester.
Sharing personal narratives of their ventures into and passions for the environment, Kellie Navarro ’23, Ebe Figueroa ’24 and Sejal Prachand ’24 captivated students on Thursday night in Lamarche Gallery. Orchestrated by Navarro as part of a three-part environmental storytelling series, the event intended to elevate the voices of students of color, who are often underrepresented in conversations of the outdoors.
On Halloween Monday, leaflets containing two “spooky stories” cropped up in campus spaces. The Foundationalist, a Bowdoin-founded intercollegiate literary journal, selected and distributed these zines as part of their first annual “Spooky Flash Fiction Contest.”
“We imagined it [as a] fun [opportunity], to write a story anonymously and then hear someone talking about that thing that you wrote on the other side of the Thorne Dining Hall table,” Foundationalist editorial board member Jack Wellschlagler ’23 said.
Editor’s note 10/21/2022 at 3:16 p.m. EDT: A previous version of this article mistakenly reported that Planned Parenthood’s Topsham location performs abortion services. The article has been updated to reflect that the clinic offers abortion pills.
Author, educator, classicist and tattooer Phuc Tran visited Bowdoin on Thursday as part of the Alpha Delta Phi Society’s Visiting Writers Series. After briefly overviewing his adult life and work, he read passages from his 2021 memoir “Sigh, Gone,” followed by a question-and-answer session.
When explaining her current art style, Katherine Page ’23 described it as “preschool-classroom-esque,” a modest label for work characterized by joyful explosions of color and themes that draw upon scientific discovery, music and social commentary.
For Page, the process is just as exuberating as the final product.
Members of the Bowdoin and Brunswick communities gathered in Kresge Auditorium on Tuesday afternoon for “Emergency of Emergencies: The Aesthetics and Politics of Climate Justice.” The talk was given by TJ Demos, a professor of art history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Little Dog Coffee Shop, an integral part of Maine Street’s restaurant and café circuit, was acquired by new owners Larry and Diana Flaherty in July 2022. The Flahertys are the proprietors of the Metropolitan Coffee Houses (“the Met”) of North Conway, N.H., Settlers Green, N.H.
William Farley Fieldhouse was repurposed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as students received their new College-provided MacBooks, iPads and Apple Pencils and set them up with the help of Bowdoin Information Technology (IT) department staff.
This day was years in the making.
Last Saturday, the Africa Alliance Fashion Show made its comeback to campus in its first show since the pandemic’s onset. Representing a wide range of African nations, members of the club provided and modeled traditional clothing that represented their respective home countries.
Bobby Murray ’23, accompanied by a robust group of student musicians and videographers, debuted a live rendition of his album “Planet 2” in Studzinski Recital Hall on Sunday. The original recording of “Planet 2,” which Murray had never before performed live, included all the instrumental and vocal parts that appeared on stage.
The Office of Gender Violence Prevention and Education (OGVPE) facilitated student participation in the Clothesline Project these past two weeks as part of its Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming. The Clothesline Project, founded in 1990, is a nationwide awareness-raising movement in which participants represent their experience with gender violence on a t-shirt.
On Friday, April 1, around 600 students in their evening best walked down the steps of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) to experience its content in a night intended just for them.
“It feels like a really special occasion where you have a sense of community and of campus coming together to enjoy a moment of celebration,” Post-Baccalaureate Curatorial Assistant Sabrina Lin ’21 said.
Last Friday, rapper IDK headlined the Spring Concert in Morrell Gymnasium with a raucous reception from students. The two winners of the previous week’s Battle of the Bands contest, screamo band Moosecat and Irish band BEYONCE, opened the show.
When I tell people at Bowdoin that I’m from Tampa, Fla., the three most common responses are: “Do you like football?” “My grandparents live in Sarasota” and “Oh wow … how do you like that?”
The first always has something to do with Tom Brady, the second with Florida’s large population of the elderly (even though Sarasota is very cool), but the third could go many ways.
On Wednesday night, Arthur Brooks spoke on “Life Lessons from Covid-19” to members of the Bowdoin and local communities.
After making friendly small talk with President Clayton Rose as everyone got seated, Brooks told the audience about his first connection to Bowdoin—the 1986 Chamber Music Festival at which he played and taught.
The spring round of a cappella auditions concluded with an unexpectedly-high turnout. Auditions began Monday evening, and the final step of the decision-making process took place Wednesday evening.
While all a cappella groups held auditions in the fall 2021 semester, not all choose to do so in the spring.
Native American Students’ Association (NASA) welcomed artist, activist and model Geo Soctomah Neptune to campus in conjunction with the opening of the Wabanaki basket-making exhibit at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA).
Shandiin Largo ’23, a NASA leader and student curator, sees the exhibit as a display of Native American voices on campus, with special consideration to the historical relationship between Native people and museums.
As fall semester classes come to a close, the development of the Omicron COVID-19 variant and accompanying potential of international border closure is complicating international students’ travel plans of going home for winter break. Depending on their home countries’ ever-shifting COVID-19 restrictions and regulations, students have been forced to make difficult travel decisions for winter break.
In a slow start to its 2021-2022 season, the men’s hockey team currently has a 0-3-1 overall record (0-1-0 NESCAC), recording losses to Williams, the University of New England (UNE) and Babson College.
However, the Polar Bears have been defeated by solid teams.
On November 6, the football team narrowly missed out on a victory over Bates in its last home game and second-to-last game of the season. Playing under the lights in the third night game in the history of Whittier Field, the Polar Bears fell short by a score of 25-24.
To help with the increase in programming and demand this semester, the Bowdoin Outing Club (BOC) recently hired Eric Giuang ’18 as an assistant director. The position had been vacant since the summer of 2020, and the BOC began its official search for a new assistant director at the beginning of this fall semester.
Katie Semro ’03 has always enjoyed interdisciplinary work, and her creation of a series of audio art projects is an extension of this passion.. Her most recent project, a podcast called “Mother Mine,” is a collection of stories about mothers from all over the world, as told by their children.
Civil Rights Activist and educator DeRay Mckesson ’07 joined Bowdoin students, alumni and families Tuesday evening via Zoom to speak on his experiences as an activist in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and as Director of the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Policing.
Despite the obstacles of running a radio station amid pandemic restrictions, WBOR, Bowdoin’s radio station, has found inventive ways to keep the College community connected to music.
When Bowdoin transitioned to remote learning in the spring 2020 semester, the radio station’s setup did not function anymore.
While Bowdoin jazz ensembles might not be able to perform synchronously, the dedication of Anthony Gabory, visiting lecturer in the department of music and leader of the ensembles, has provided musicians with another way of staying connected.
The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum started planning its move to a virtual format as soon as Bowdoin closed its doors in the spring. Genny LeMoine, the curator and registrar of the Arctic Museum, is leading its virtual programming focused on goals of greater at-home accessibility and a stronger online presence.