A College employee tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen announced in an email to the community this afternoon. The employee is on campus infrequently and was found to have been in close contact with one other employee, who is now quarantining at home.
In an email to the campus on Thursday afternoon, President Clayton Rose announced the launch of a semester-long lecture series titled “After the Insurrection: Conversations on Democracy.”The series includes six events featuring speakers who are experts on voting and extremism, including Senator Susan Collins (R-ME).
Over the weekend, the College welcomed back 1013 on-campus students and 64 students who are living off campus but have on-campus privileges. This meant the launch of Bowdoin’s second semester of coronavirus (COVID-19) testing protocols—this time with a significantly greater volume of tests to process each week.
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.
The majority of courses will continue to be taught remotely for the spring semester, but students in residence will have limited opportunities for in-person learning, according to an email sent to students from the Registrar Martina Duncan on Monday.
On Monday night, Representative Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) spoke to members of the Bowdoin community over Zoom on a range of issues, including the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the recent presidential election and climate change. Haaland was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, and, as a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, was one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress.
In an email sent to students on Thursday morning, Dean of Students Kristina Bethea Odejimi shared an update on the College’s spring residential plan for on-campus students.
Odejimi laid out the various options, or “tracks,” available to students this spring.
Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) has hosted events for No Hate November every year since 2012, ranging from discussion groups and panels to keynote speeches delivered by public figures such as civil rights activist DeRay McKesson ’07 and actor Patrick Dempsey H’13.
Students taking personal leaves of absence (PLOA) for the 2020-2021 academic year may have to contend with a variety of policies regarding which College resources are available to them during their leave, according to the College’s Spring 2021 FAQ page updated Thursday.
A College employee tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, according to an email sent to all staff and students from COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen on Tuesday evening. The employee has not been on campus since October 28 and received their positive result from outside the College’s testing program.
According to a survey conducted by the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) sent out on October 28, 83 percent of upper-class students report that they have either more work than usual or substantially more work than usual during this online semester than in a typical, in-person semester.
A faculty member who is infrequently on campus and teaching completely remotely tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to an email sent Thursday morning to the Bowdoin community from COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen. The individual is the first faculty member and the second College employee to test positive since the beginning of the semester.
Five days before what is likely to be the most contentious national election in recent history and as more than 345,000 Mainers have already cast their ballots, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and Democratic candidate for U.S.
A student living off campus in Brunswick tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday, Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Janet Lohmann said during a town hall with off-campus students on Sunday.
“We became aware of this on Friday because the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] (CDC) contacted us,” said Lohmann.
Last Friday, local candidates for the Maine State Senate, Maine State House and Brunswick Town Council congregated on a Zoom screen to share their campaign platforms and address questions posed by Bowdoin students. The forum, sponsored by Bowdoin Votes, Bowdoin Democrats, Bowdoin Republicans and the Government and Legal Studies Department, was moderated by McKeen Center Associate Director for Service and Leadership Andrew Lardie and Bowdoin Votes fellow Wilder Short ’22.
As students tune into Zoom lectures from across the globe, the Division of Student Affairs is launching an initiative to connect with students who are studying remotely. The Remote Connections Team, consisting of five staff members from the Division, is planning to reach out individually to every off-campus student this semester.
Effective Wednesday, October 7, students living on campus who miss a total of three COVID-19 tests will be asked to leave campus, according to an email from COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen sent to on-campus students today.
COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen announced that a member of the Bowdoin staff has tested positive for COVID-19 in an email sent to the College community on Thursday night,. The staff member is the first employee to test positive since the beginning of the fall semester.
The Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC) recently announced it will have a $165,000 budget for the fall semester. This total includes approximately $65,000 for operating budget clubs such as Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), The Bowdoin Orient and College Houses.
President Clayton Rose laid out the College’s updated spring semester schedule in an email sent to the campus community on Wednesday. Classes are expected to start on February 8—two weeks later than originally planned—and most will continue to be taught online.
On Sunday, the Athletes of Color Coalition (AoCC) released a list of demands for diversity reform in the athletic department. These include mandated race education for teams and an athletics-specific bias reporting process. The AoCC began circulating a petition, which invites community members to express support for these demands.
According to an email from COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen sent to the Bowdoin community on Saturday, a third student on campus has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now in isolation.
Three additional students, identified through contact tracing, will be placed in quarantine for 14 days because they were in close contact with the student.
The first week of the semester saw the rollout of the College’s ambitious testing program for the fall. The plan dictates that students must be tested three times a week—Monday, Wednesday and Friday—for the first two weeks of the semester, and then twice a week—with one group tested on Mondays and Thursdays and the other tested on Tuesdays and Fridays—until campus closes before Thanksgiving break.
Elections for Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) Executive Assembly positions open today, with 16 candidates vying for eight positions. Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), candidates have been campaigning remotely and have turned to social media initiatives in place of posters and in-person debates.
Despite drastic changes to Bowdoin’s academic program since the College’s shift to remote learning, students continue to receive national recognition for their academic work.
Anneka Williams ’21 and Zoe Dietrich ’21 were awarded the Barry M.
Diana Grandas ’20 was in Austria over spring break visiting a friend when she received word that the College would be transitioning to remote learning. Suddenly, she found herself unable to return to campus and had no way to retrieve her belongings.
Last Friday, Bowdoin College Dance Marathon hosted its third annual Dance Marathon to raise money for Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland.
This year’s Dance Marathon had more students registered than ever before and raised a record amount of money, an increase the leaders of the event attributed to improved collaboration with athletic teams and College Houses.
Every Saturday in Thorne Dining Hall, the Bowdoin College Republicans meet for dinner and conversation—with a touch of politics. The club has an email list of 95 people, but attendance is usually limited to the same six or seven people each week, admitted club co-president Theo de Quillacq ’21.
“How many people here think you can buy an election?” asked U.S. Senate candidate Bre Kidman.
Every hand in the room went up.
“How many people think you should buy an election?” asked Kidman.
This time, no one raised a hand.
Saturday, February 1—Rochester, N.H.
The calluses first appeared around day 12 in Sioux City, Iowa, says Penny Mack ’22.
“You knock like two doors, and the calluses are already coming back,” she says, making a fist with her right hand, her knocking hand.
Posters displaying lists of students who have participated in OutPeer or OutAlly training through the Center for Sexuality, Women and Gender (SWAG) have long been a staple in bathroom stalls throughout Bowdoin’s campus. Now, in addition to the existing posters, students will see similar lists with students’ names sorted by sports team.
At first glance, the lower floor of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) looks like any other art exhibition: paintings, drawings, statues and other various forms of artwork are scattered throughout, set against yellow walls and accompanied by plaques detailing each piece’s history and artistry.
“Representation.” “Identity.” “Pride.”
The walls of the Blue Gallery tell a complicated story of solidarity and individuality—photographs of 15 Bowdoin students encircle the room, printed in color and black-and-white, pasted on red backgrounds. Quotes, taken from interviews with the students pictured, are printed in varying styles and colors directly on the photos, highlighting the diversity of individual experiences with Asian and Asian American identities.
Sitting on the floor and squeezing into the back, faculty, staff and students packed Main Lounge in for the panel, “Land and Waters Around Us: A Discussion on Indigenous Land and Acknowledgements.” The event, organized by the Native American Students Association (NASA) as a part of both Native American Heritage Month and No Hate November, discussed the importance and complexity of land acknowledgements.
Fans of “Grey’s Anatomy” have much to look forward to this month—Patrick Dempsey H’13, an actor, activist and philanthropist who frequently speaks about his struggles with dyslexia, will be visiting campus on November 14 as the keynote speaker for the annual No Hate November month.
Sitting in a lounge chair onstage in Kresge Auditorium Monday night with a stack of books on the table next to him, author and activist Kenny Fries took the audience on a global tour of living life with a disability.
The Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) held its first meeting of the year this Wednesday, October 2, and discussed a host of new initiatives, including providing more services to students from low-income backgrounds and creating an ad hoc committee to handle complaints about WiFi problems.