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Nina McKay

Number of articles: 75

First Article: September 15, 2017

Latest Article: May 14, 2021

Coronavirus

Shift in off-campus study policy now allows more students to go abroad for the fall

Students who were set to study abroad in the fall of 2021 have had a tumultuous few weeks. Following the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) decision to merge its travel advisories with those set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these students were notified during the first round of course registration that, if they were traveling to a country that the DOS had just categorized as Level 4, they were strongly encouraged to withdraw from their prospective study abroad status with Bowdoin and register for courses.

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Anti-Racism

Community gathers for vigil recognizing anti-API racism and violence

On Monday evening, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, hundreds of students, faculty and staff gathered on the quad in front of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. On the Museum steps stood leaders of the Asian Students Alliance (ASA), other students who identify as Asian and Pacific Islander (API), faculty and staff affiliated with the Office of Inclusion and Diversity and individuals and groups of allies, including the Native American Student Association (NASA) and the Black Student Union (BSU).

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Students relocated after fire at Brunswick Inn; none injured

Editor’s note 04/05/2021 at 3:31 p.m.: This article has been updated to incorporate additional details about the events surrounding the fire.  Jacob Trachtenberg ’24 was eating lunch early in the afternoon of Monday, March 29, at the Brunswick Inn, where he and a handful of other first-year students are living this semester, when a fire broke out upstairs.

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News in Brief

College to facilitate access to Pfizer vaccines for students living in Maine

Editor’s Note on Friday, April 2, at 12:02 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect additional information released to the student body about the College’s vaccination partnership with Mid Coast Hospital.  The College will work with Mid Coast Hospital to provide Pfizer vaccinations to all Bowdoin students after vaccine eligibility is extended to all Maine residents over the age of 16 on April 7, COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen announced in an email to students on Thursday afternoon.

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Coronavirus

COVID-19 comparison: Bowdoin sees fewest cases among NESCAC peers

With the week of February 21 coming to a close, all 11 NESCAC schools have now welcomed students back to their campuses for the start of the spring semester. While Colby brought students back to start their January term on January 8, most NESCAC schools made significant adjustments to their academic calendar in order to delay the start of their spring semester until early or mid February.

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DiversityEdu deadline passes with 80 percent completion rate

On Monday, all currently enrolled Bowdoin students were required to have completed an hour-long online course on diversity, equity and inclusion, titled “Personal Skills for a Diverse Campus.” The course, as well as additional versions that faculty and staff were required to complete by the same date, was created through a partnership between the College and education consulting firm DiversityEdu.

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COVID-19

Two Dining Services employees test positive for COVID-19

A second Dining Services employee tested positive for COVID-19 this week, Mike Ranen, COVID-19 resource coordinator, announced in an email to all students and employees on Thursday afternoon. Both employees work in Thorne Hall. Two additional employees were identified through contact tracing as having been in close contact with the second individual who tested positive.

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Campus

On-campus students depart early as COVID-19 cases rise at the College and in Maine

As COVID-19 cases surge nation-wide, the Bowdoin community has not been immune. Confronting rising cases of the virus on campus, the administration and on-campus students are evaluating steps forward as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. In a Microsoft Teams interview with the Orient, COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen said that he was not surprised about the recent positive cases on campus.

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Coronavirus

Spring athletic competition remains “highly unlikely”

Bowdoin’s spring athletic teams will likely not compete during the spring semester, Ashmead White Director of Athletics Tim Ryan announced in an email to all student athletes on Thursday. Fall and winter teams will also not compete during the spring semester, with the possible exception of Nordic Skiing, given that it involves exclusively outdoor competition.

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Black Lives Matter

Understanding the election through the 1619 Project

On Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the results of the U.S. presidential election were announced by major news outlets , four history professors—Geoffrey Canada Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History Brian Purnell, Professor of History Dallas Denery, Associate Professor of History Meghan Roberts and Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies Matthew Klingle—gathered for the fourth panel in the department’s fall semester programming on the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project, titled “The 1619 Project and Making Sense of the 2020 Election.” The panel began with a discussion about the legacy of Black women in American politics, with Roberts quoting from Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University Martha Jones’s 2020 book, “Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All.” Roberts noted that Stacey Abrams has devoted herself to political organizing in Georgia since her loss in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial race.

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Election

Election Week programming seeks to support students

Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Janet Lohmann shared the College’s 2020 Election Week events page in an email to all students on Tuesday. The programming, which includes professor-led conversations, yoga and meditation sessions, shuttles to the polls and watch parties on Election Day, post-election drop-in hours and the final installment of the history department’s “1619 Project,” includes 14 events—some in-person and some virtual—between October 27 and November 6.

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Elections 2020

Campaigns and elections class anticipates Election Day

For most Bowdoin students and faculty, the past week has been a time for brief conversations and announcements about how class structures and schedules may be impacted by the results—or lack thereof—of next week’s elections. But for Professor of Government Michael Franz and the 75 students in the two sections of his Campaigns and Elections class, next week will provide the culmination of two months of analyzing political data and studying election history.

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College Houses

Housing lottery and College Houses undergo changes for the spring semester

On Tuesday, Lisa Rendall, director of residential and housing operations, sent an email to students with information about the Spring Housing Lottery, which, for the first time in Bowdoin’s history, will be conducted entirely online. The College had been planning to conduct the housing lottery online in April, before it was announced that most upperclass students would reside off-campus for the fall 2020 semester.

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Library

Library offers online access to Press Herald

All Bowdoin students, faculty and staff now have institutional access to the Portland Press Herald through the Bowdoin library website. Marjorie Hassen, director of the College library, explained that there have been several requests in recent years from students and faculty for Bowdoin to establish institutional access to the Press Herald, but the paper has not had a model that would allow for institutional access until this fall.

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Elections 2020

Bowdoin Democrats make their case to Mainers ahead of elections

While the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will certainly make this election unlike any other, the Bowdoin Democrats (Bowdoin Dems) are still offering interested students multiple opportunities each week to participate in Democratic organizing. Between thrice-weekly phone banks, twice-weekly group walks to the polls in Brunswick and in-person canvassing, Bowdoin Dems’ eight-person officer team has created ways for students, both remote and on-campus, to get involved as Election Day quickly approaches.

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Campus

On-campus event brings together first-gen students

On Saturday, the Student Center for Multicultural Life hosted a retreat for first-generation (first-gen) first-year students living on campus. The event, which lasted the better part of the day, took place in Farley Field House, where the 26 first-year participants, six first-generation upperclassmen discussion leaders and staff and faculty who participated in a panel and delivered presentations were able to safely gather while maintaining social distance.

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COVID-19

Students face uncertainty about required departure plans

All students living on campus are required to disclose their departure plans to the administration by October 2, Dean of Students Kristina Bethea Odejimi announced in an email to these students on September 17. The announcement has heightened feelings of anxiety and uncertainty among students for whom returning home is not a possibility and who are still unsure whether they will have an opportunity to apply to stay on campus during the winter holidays or the spring semester.

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COVID-19

Emergency funding available to students for fall semester

Dean of Students Kristina Bethea Odejimi reminded students about the College’s supplemental and emergency funding program in an email sent on Monday. The funding, which is available to students through the Office of the Dean of Students and does not have to be repaid, comes from donations from alumni, parents and friends of the College.

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COVID-19

Campus gathering prompts investigation and raises concerns about student behavior

During their first full weekend on campus, many first years and their Residential Life (ResLife) advisors found ways to connect and build community that complied with the College’s Residential Community Agreement. However, in an email to the campus community on Sunday, Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Janet Lohmann explained that some students had engaged in behavior that violated current College protocols.

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Coronavirus

First-year athletes adjust to new athletic experiences

This fall, the first-year athlete experience will look a little different than it typically does. Instead of splitting their first couple of weeks on campus between practices with their new team and in-person orientation programming, first-year athletes will, along with most of their classmates, adjust to a life on campus that includes regular COVID-19 testing and social distancing.

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Douglas appointed associate vice president for inclusion and diversity

Benje Douglas, director of Title IX and compliance, took on an expanded role on July 1 as the associate vice president for inclusion and diversity as well as the director of Title IX. Michael Reed, senior vice president for inclusion and diversity, and Janet Lohmann, dean of student affairs, announced Douglas’ new role in an email to the College community on June 26.

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Alumni

Annual Giving Report shows decline in alumni donations

The College received $34.9 million in donations during the 2018-2019 year, a $700,000 decrease from the $35.6 million received in 2017-2018, according to the Annual Giving Report. The report, prepared by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, also shows alumni and friends, faculty and staff gave less this year than last.

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Maine Politics

University of Maine students protest administration’s student job policy

Last Friday, more than 50 students at the University of Maine Orono participated in a sit-in on the second floor of Memorial Union, a central hub of student activity on campus. The students were protesting in response to a three-part series published in the Maine Beacon, which revealed that Director of Government and Community Relations for the University of Maine System Samantha Warren had lobbied the state government to exempt students from a recently passed law granting workers paid time off.

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Students to collect oral histories from Af/Am alumni

This weekend, as alumni from the past five decades gather on campus to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Africana Studies program, the Russwurm African American Center and the African American Society, four students—Aisha Rickford ’20, Nate DeMoranville ’20, Marcus Williams ’21 and Marina Henke ’19—will be seeking to document their stories.

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Housekeeping

A win for Bowdoin’s workers? Campus reacts to wage hike

The College will spend an additional $1.6 million annually to increase wages for benefits-eligible hourly employees beginning July 2022. As President Clayton Rose announced in an email to the campus community on Monday, this will cover both an increase in wages for workers who currently make less than $17 an hour, which will be the College’s new minimum starting wage for hourly benefits-eligible employees, up from the current starting wage of $12.65.

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Stricter penalties announced for candle policy violations

The Bowdoin student body received an email on Thursday afternoon announcing stricter penalties for students who do not comply with the College’s prohibition of candles in all campus housing. Beginning today, consequences for having an open flame in campus housing may include a hearing before the Judicial Board, which may result in suspension or dismissal.

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Borders and walls: Masha Gessen talks Jewish experience

On Thursday night, Masha Gessen, a renowned Russian Jewish journalist, delivered this year’s Harry Spindel Memorial Lecture to a full and engaged audience in Kresge Auditorium. The lecture, titled “Jews and Borders,” delved into the idea of migration and dispersion as central tenets of Jewish identity, while also drawing attention to common experiences amongst different ethnic minorities.

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New exhibit honors 50th anniversary of Africana studies

At 3 p.m. today, students, faculty and staff will gather around five exhibit cases on the second floor gallery of Hawthorne-Longfellow (H-L) Library for the opening of “Tension/Tenacity: Africana Studies at 50,” an exhibition that explores the five-decade history of Bowdoin’s Africana studies program, the John Brown Russwurm African American Center and the Black Student Union (formerly the African American Society).

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News in Brief

Details revealed regarding Harpswell reconstruction

With one construction project complete, the College is moving forward with its plan to revamp housing for upper class students. Construction began in May on the new Harpswell Apartments, which will house 132 students in three buildings of four-, six- and eight- person apartments, and virtual renderings of the apartments are now available online.

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Bowdoin celebrates Tim Foster’s legacy before retirement

Most current Bowdoin students had not yet been born when Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster came to Bowdoin in the fall of 1996. Today from 4:30 to 8 p.m. in Thorne Hall, students, faculty, staff and guests will celebrate the myriad contributions that Foster has made to the Bowdoin community during his 23 years at the College.

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Vigil honors victims of Christchurch massacre

At 9 p.m. on Tuesday evening, 50 candles illuminated the steps of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, each representing a victim of the terror attacks at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15.

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Annual winter flu outbreak sweeps across Bowdoin’s campus

Over the last few weeks, providers at Health Services have treated hundreds of students with flu-like symptoms. This noticeable uptick in flu cases would be unusual at most other points in the academic year, but according to Jeffrey Maher, director of health services, an increase in flu cases immediately after Winter Break is an annual occurrence.

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Concerned students denounce anti-trans graffiti

Update Friday, November 9 at 5:28 p.m.: Today at 4:59 p.m., Michael Reed, senior vice president for diversity and inclusion, sent an email to the Bowdoin community on behalf of the Bias Incident Group (BIG) regarding “an anonymous act of defacement and transphobia” that took place in a women’s restroom in David Saul Smith Union.

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BQSA organizes allyship conversation

On Tuesday evening, the Bowdoin Queer-Straight Alliance (BQSA) led a program in Daggett Lounge called “Allyship, A Campus Discussion.” Falling just two days before Yellow Shirt Day during OUTtober—a series of programming BQSA organizes to promote awareness of and allyship around the experiences of members of the Bowdoin community who identify as LGBTQIA+— this discussion brought a renewed level of thoughtfulness to a campus tradition.

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Changes to alcohol policy afford seniors more flexibility

Two revisions to Bowdoin’s Alcohol Policy aim to ensure compliance with state and federal laws while affording more privileges to older students. The two primary changes address event registration and discussions around outdoor events. Before the revisions were made, the policy required all events to be registered with the Office of Residential Life by noon on Thursday, either one or two days before the event would take place.

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Leana Amaez leaves college after eight years

At the end of August, Leana Amaez, former associate dean of students for diversity and inclusion and co-director of the Sexuality, Women and Gender Center (SWAG), left Bowdoin to accept a position as the director of pro bono services at Pine Tree Legal Assistance.

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Academic Affairs

Psych department struggles to meet demand

During Round 1 of course selection for the fall 2018 semester, there were 62 requests for 35 spots in Abnormal Psychology, reflecting a strong student interest in clinical psychology and an under-resourced department, according to Samuel Putnam, professor of psychology and chair of the department.

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Panel outlines student experiences with accomodations, disability

Amid ongoing efforts to improve Bowdoin’s handling of accommodations and disability, students, faculty and staff convened in Lancaster Lounge this week to hear four student panelists speak about their experiences navigating accessibility at Bowdoin, particularly accessibility in academics, and potential steps toward creating a more accessible campus.

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Two Puerto Rican students arrive for ‘guest semester’

This semester, Bowdoin has accepted two students into its guest semester program for students studying in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands seeking to continue their education following disruption by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Veronica Gutierrez Camacho and Leonardo Núñez, both third-year students at the University of Puerto Rico, arrived in Brunswick on January 18 braced for a new educational and physical environment.

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Activism

Mckesson ’07 addresses activism, action

On Tuesday evening, activist, organizer and educator DeRay Mckesson ’07 returned to campus as the keynote speaker for No Hate November. He delivered his address to a packed audience in Morrell Lounge in Smith Union. Mckesson, an active leader in the Black Lives Matter movement, has used social media, especially Twitter, to spread awareness about the movement, its nationwide protests and the systems of oppression that they seek to change.

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Brunswick

Town residents express concern over College’s Pine St. proposal

At a town meeting on the evening of Monday, November 20, Brunswick residents commented on Bowdoin’s proposed plan to discontinue Pine Street in order to build a new athletic facility. If accepted, this plan would mean discontinuing the portion of Pine Street that runs between Bowker Street and Bath Road, adding a perpendicular extension between Pine Street and Bath Road through what is currently a wooded area.

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Events

Government talks bring diversity into politics

Spurred by student and faculty efforts to bring more diverse perspectives to campus, guest speaker Henry Olsen shared a decidedly conservative viewpoint this Tuesday in a talk titled “The Once and Future New Deal Republican: Saving Reagan From Reaganism.” As a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., Olsen focused much of his talk on arguments he advances in his new book, “The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.” He argues that President Reagan’s core principle was human dignity, not human liberty, and that Reaganism is similar to both Roosevelt’s New Deal policies and President Donald Trump’s economic policies.

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Student work on display in 5th annual Fall Art Show

This weekend, families and Bowdoin community members will have the chance to experience Ladd House’s transformation from College House to art gallery. Bowdoin Art Society’s fifth annual Fall Art Show gives students, both inside and outside the visual arts department, the opportunity to put their artwork on display.

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OUTtober

Local Queer/Trans Conference expands sense of community

As part of OUTtober, Bowdoin Queer Straight Alliance (BQSA) sent 13 students to Bates College’s first Maine Youth Summit and Queer/ Trans Conference last Saturday. Open to both college students and community members such as LGBTQIA+ youth, parents and college faculty and staff, the conference allowed Bowdoin students to immerse themselves in a large, diverse group of queer and trans people.

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Student group manages Bowdoin’s social media presence

From sunsets on the Quad to scenic nature adventures and students abroad, Bowdoin’s official Instagram account has become an important element of the college’s communication strategy. Aware of the more than 10,000 students, parents, prospective students and alumni following the account, the Student Digital Media Team (SDMT)—a group of eight students comprised of sophomores, juniors and seniors employed by the Digital and Social Media team—works to make this portrait as genuine and encompassing as possible.

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