Thank You

Letter to the editor: UMaine divests from coal

To the Editors:
Exciting news! Responding to calls from student activist groups, the University of Maine (UMaine) System Board of Trustees unanimously voted to divest from direct coal holdings on Monday. The University System, which was one of the first to divest from South African apartheid in the 1980s, is now the first land grant system to divest from coal.
The UMaine schools join the growing list of institutions that have committed to some form of divestment, including Hampshire College, Pitzer College and Stanford University. The UMaine board also stated its willingness to consider fully divesting from fossil fuels and announced that UMaine Presque Isle had done so quietly already.
This is very exciting because divestment is a hugely important step toward achieving justice for those harmed by the fossil fuel industry. Pollution from coal companies and fossil fuels disproportionately affects impoverished communities, and climate change will disproportionately harm vulnerable populations across the globe. Thus, divestment in my mind is an environmental justice issue.
I would love to see Bowdoin follow UMaine’s lead and invest in an equitable future. Since they can do it, why can’t we? Let’s be on the forefront of history, Bowdoin, and commit to countering global climate change now.
Meredith Outterson ’17

Letter to the editor: An Indian perspective

To the Editors:
I would like to provide an Indian/redskin perspective and context in the matter of utilizing a fellow human being—an Indian—as a mascot.
First off, the word “redskin” is the white man’s word for a savage toward whom he felt extreme hatred. In addition to his hatred for the savage Indian, he also had extreme fear of the savage Indian—a fear that drove him to genocide.
These were the early so-called pioneer days when “men were men” and when it was not only alright, but a duty, for whites to kill Indians. It started by taking Indian scalps, then ears and then the whole Indian head, all for a bounty.
Whites eventually began to peel the skin from alive or dead Indians, not only for the bounty but also for the pure pleasure of torturing, terrorizing and killing the Indian. This practice of peeling away the skin left an Indian body that seemingly had red skin.
My choice of words like whites, Indians and white man is very deliberate because we have been using those words and labels since our two peoples met in 1492. That has been the nature of our peoples’ relationship. That is what defined our relationship and continues to define our one-sided relationship into the present.
I would like to remind everyone that we are all children of God, and that we are all related and that we must love one another or die.
All my relations,Dan Ennis, O.I.M.Tobique Indian Reserve New Brunswick, Canada

Letter to the editor

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Jean Yarbrough

Contributor

February 6, 2015

Thank you

To the Editors:
On behalf of our family, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Bowdoin College: our president, Barry Mills, and Dean for Academic Affairs, Cristle Collins Judd, my esteemed colleagues, and all of our dedicated staff, who labored so lovingly at my husband’s funeral, interment and reception.
We are especially grateful to Dining Services, who, faced with the challenge of producing the annual Thanksgiving dinner that evening, provided refreshments at the reception following William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Constitutional Law Richard Morgan’s burial.
It has been a painful time for us, and speaking personally, I would like to thank Bowdoin’s administration, Trustees, and my colleagues across campus, but especially in the government department, as well as students past and present for their outpouring of support.
Sincerely,
Jean M. Yarbrough
Gary M. Pendy, Sr., Professor of Social Sciences

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