Town enacts marijuana moratorium

News in brief: Kristof and Riley to talk free speech

Manhattan Institute fellow and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will speak at an event titled “Up for Discussion: Free Speech and Political Correctness on College Campuses” at 7:30 p.m. on Monday in Pickard Theater. The discussion will be moderated by Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies Connie Chiang.
Registration for the event opened online on November 18 and students obtained tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. A limited number of students also registered to join the speakers for a “dessert reception” in Thorne Hall after the event to debrief the talk and discuss the issues raised. Tickets for both the event and the reception are no longer available.
In a November 2015 column, Kristof addressed the issue of race and free speech on campuses, writing, “What’s unfolding at universities is not just about free expression but also about a safe and nurturing environment.”
Riley expressed dismay last May after he was disinvited to speak at Virginia Tech due to concerns that his “writings on race in The Wall Street Journal would spark protests.”
Both speakers were selected by a working group of students, faculty and staff, chaired by President Clayton Rose. The choice of speakers was influenced by a survey last December gauging student interest for speakers, in which the theme of free speech and political correctness on college campuses garnered the most support.

News in brief: OneCard account glitch temporarily displays spring semester Polar Points

A technical error on December 1 caused students’ Polar Points to reflect the amount of points they have at the beginning of the semester. Students’ balances did not actually change. The issue resulted from the setup of spring meal plans and was fixed by Monday evening. Semester Polar Points are scheduled to reset on December 20.
Polar Points were not removed from students’ OneCards and students were still able to spend their remaining fall Polar Points.
“The issue was only in the web application, not the card system itself,” Assistant Director for OneCard Coordinator Chris Bird wrote in an email to the Orient.
The incident was caused by spring meal plans and Polar Points being loaded onto student accounts in order to produce spring billing information. A setting on the OneCard website failed to notice that spring plans were inactive, resulting in the program showing students their spring account balance instead of their fall ones.
Several students emailed Bird over the weekend with screenshots that demonstrated the problem.
Some students who noticed the error believed that their Polar Points had been reset, but discovered this was not the case.
“I think most people working at places where Polar Points were usable were aware of the issue. When I went to buy something from the [convenience store], they said that Polar Points weren’t reset and that the spring funds weren’t usable yet,” said Amanda Trent ’20.
Staff from the OneCard Office and Bowdoin Information Technology staff fixed the display error.

News in brief

Town enacts marijuana moratorium

December 2, 2016

On November 21, the Brunswick Town Council voted unanimously to immediately begin a 50-day moratorium that prohibits the licensing of marijuana franchises in the town, the Forecaster reported. The council will consider extending the moratorium to 180 days at a hearing scheduled for December 15. Brunswick’s Town Charter prohibits moratoriums of longer than 50 days without a public hearing.

Maine voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use in November by a margin of roughly 4,000 votes. The results of the election were contested and the measure will begin to undergo recount on December 5.

Assuming the results hold, the law still allows local municipalities to restrict or ban marijuana sales. Town Council members argued that a moratorium is necessary while the town decides on regulations.

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