The old college try

Editorial: In loco parentis

The results of the latest installment of the Orient’s semi-annual approval ratings survey overwhelmingly suggest that Bowdoin students are disillusioned with the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. Many students responded to the Orient expressing discontent with the deans’ handling of recent hazing incidents, and were generally dissatisfied with the administration’s lack of transparency.
Dean Tim Foster’s recent email to students outlining staffing changes within the Office of Student Affairs is demonstrative of the ambiguity that often accompanies administration communiqués to the student body. A similar lack of clarity has defined the administration’s response to multiple hazing incidents this year, leading many students to regard the deans as foes rather than friends. Despite continued discontent with the current policy, exactly what constitutes hazing remains uncertain, and there is no sign the administration plans to change its procedure any time soon. Many students are unsure about what falls under the College’s expansive definition of hazing. It is understandable that the administration does not want to report the details of hazing incidents, but leaving the student body in the dark as to what actually constitutes hazing only hinders efforts to prevent future occurrences. There have been many programs geared toward educating club and sports team leaders on hazing over the past few years, and perhaps the situation would be improved if that information were made widely available to all students—not just those in charge of student organizations.
Student reactions to this year’s hazing incidents underline the fact that the deans’ judgments often seem like they come out of left field. Their decisions reflect a disregard for the norms of our campus, given that the broad definition of hazing encompasses activities that are considered both ordinary and safe. The dominant opinion among students is that the deans are far removed from student life. Periodic appeals to connect with students do not do enough to engender a sense that the deans are on our side. While some students will certainly get to know administrators, for most, the deans appear to be little more than talking heads who sign campus-wide emails.

Editorial: Take care

In March of 2005, a string of drunken physical confrontations in the vicinity of a villain-themed Ladd House party resulted in streaks of blood on a wall, smashed windows and the hospitalizations of multiple injured students. That Saturday night stands out as an anomaly at Bowdoin, where the consequences of excessive drinking often tend to be more embarrassing than violent.
This semester, we are off to a good start. For the first time in several years, you’ll find no reports of alcohol-related transports in our first Security report. To put that in perspective, 11 Colby students have already been hospitalized for high blood alcohol content since the start of the year; seven of them were first years.
The first weekend of campus-wide College House parties is upon us. Whether you’ve never had a sip of alcohol or you’ve been going hard on Saturday nights for years, remember that this is an early Bowdoin weekend. You do not need to come out with your bacchanalian guns blazing. No one will turn you away from Quinby or Ladd if you aren’t sufficiently intoxicated.

Editorial

This piece represents the opinion of The Bowdoin Orient editorial board.

September 9, 2013

You are on the brink of a host of new experiences: from watching the sun rise on the Quad as you slink home from an essay-writing marathon to dancing on tables in Ladd House. We know the academics and the extracurriculars at Bowdoin will challenge you and define much of your next four years here. But throughout all of this, you will be flanked by 498 other members of the Class of 2017. And, during any given year, you’ll be surrounded by 1300-odd students in different class years. We’re not sure if we believe the mythical statistic that 40 percent of Polar Bears marry another Polar Bear, but we have no doubt that many of the still-strange faces around you will become wonderful friends for years to come.

First Year Orientation is designed to ease the transition from life as you knew it to the brave new world of college. And these first few weeks require you to be just that: brave. Do not immediately cut yourself off from social opportunities by constantly Skyping, texting or Facebook messaging your friends from home. Some of you have not had to make new friends in a while and are loathe to put yourself out there—but isolating yourself on the internet is not going to help.

There is no way you will meet each and every one of your classmates during the five days that Orientation lasts. You will likely find comfort hanging out with your Orientation trip group, the people who live on your floor, and the teammates you meet right off the bat. But everyone comes to Bowdoin from different backgrounds and experiences and you will do yourself a disservice if you don’t branch out from those early clusters. You’ll be much happier moving through Bowdoin if you keep your mind open to new friends everywhere from your Econ 101 review session to the Thorne salad bar to the beer line at Helmreich House.

We know this is easier said than done. Finding a group of friends isn’t difficult—as you’ll soon find, if you haven’t already, it requires pretty minimal effort. The much harder thing is to continue making friends once you feel established here. During Orientation, it’s common to interpret “staying open to new people” as something being asked of you, rather than advice being given to you. But Bowdoin is small and by senior year, it can feel really small. Be selfish and keep making friends. If you join an extracurricular next week and then never go back after this Thanksgiving break, that’s fine, but you won’t regret meeting the people you did during your time there.

In his commencement address at Syracuse University this past spring, author George Saunders said that the most important thing students can do as they go out into the world is to “err in the direction of kindness.” He observed that as humans grow older, they grow kinder, and he urged his audience to speed this process up. Here at Bowdoin, we’ve found that as we grow older, we’ve grown more accepting of the discomfort of small-stage social interactions. We learn to appreciate the awkwardness of the Bowdoin hello, the unease of sitting across from a two-time hookup in a six-person class, the leap of faith in branching out from your roommates to eat dinner with a friend you met on a rafting trip. Everyone you now meet on campus—either on the dance floor or in the elevator—you will meet again. Cultivate open-mindedness, forgive first impressions, and relish that which is not immediately comfortable. Staying open to friendships may not be one of Bowdoin’s distribution requirements, but you’ll give yourself a lot of credit if you continue to make new friends through senior year.

This editorial represents the majority view of The Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Claire Aasen, Erica Berry, Nora Biette-Timmons, Marisa McGarry, Sam Miller, Sam Weyrauch and Kate Witteman.

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