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Registration bumps some from first-choice courses
In past semesters, most classes with fewer than five enrolled students have been canceled for not having met minimum enrollment requirements. However, instead of canceling low enrollment courses this year, the College has aimed to fill those courses during Phase I by pulling students out of their first-choice courses?even if those classes are not yet full?and placing them in their low-enrollment, second-choice courses. According to Dean of Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd, some 20 students were affected by this minimum enrollment policy during this week's course registration process.
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Good cop, good cop
How Director of Security Randy Nichols went from new sheriff in town to campus icon in three short years
Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols was fielding students' questions about Ivies Weekend on Monday night when he was interrupted by an off-topic inquiry asking whether he'd like to be the Outing Club's guest of honor on an upcoming whitewater rafting trip.
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Flesh-eating zombies attack student body in senior's film
The scene is a familiar one. A student arrives at Watson Fitness Center to find that the weight room has been closed due to an infectious outbreak. After the area has been quarantined, it is reopened to a wary public. As a student sits down on a newly disinfected weight bench, he discovers a trace of slime on the machine, and proceeds to culture it in the Petri dish that he carries on his person at all times, only to discover that it's a strain of a zombie virus that's simultaneously wrecking havoc on the rest of campus.
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Bowdoin Brief: USM bans Tillotson after a series of strange incidents
Erik Tillotson, a former Brunswick resident currently banned from all Bowdoin property, was barred from the University of Southern Maine on March 7 after odd and alarming behavior.
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Informal Arabic class aims to fill course gap
Bowdoin's Arabic teacher spends two hours a week teaching the alphabet, pronunciation, and simple word combinations to a class of some 15 students on Friday afternoons. Although he often stays after class to help beginners with questions, he does not get paid overtime?in fact, he does not get paid for teaching at all. That's because Bowdoin's Arabic teacher is a student.
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Bearing all
The Orient undresses nudity at Bowdoin, from parties and art studios to the banks of Simpson's point.
One senior thinks he has a unique perspective on women at Bowdoin. Given the fact that he has stripped for over 100 of them, his suspicions are probably right.
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Bowdoin Brief: Security, IT offer to install anti-theft tracking plates on laptops free of charge
Only one laptop has been stolen on campus so far this year, but for Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols, that's one too many. Nichols and his department have teamed up with Information Technology (IT) this semester to install anti-theft security plates on student, faculty, and staff laptops free of charge.
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Security phone lines fail during weather emergency
Students and staff attempting to call Security from a cell phone on Wednesday night were unable to reach the officers on duty due to a flaw in the College's new hi-tech phone system. Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols said he was not aware if Security missed any emergency calls during the three-hour period when the department's external lines were down.
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Eleven may face piracy suits
Illegally downloading Britney Spears's new single may cost some students more than ridicule this semester?$750, to be exact. Eleven members of the Bowdoin community were served with pre-litigation letters earlier this month for infringing on the rights of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) by illegally uploading or downloading music files over online peer-to-peer (p2p) networks.
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Early Admissions: Peers? policy changes may affect Bowdoin
When Harvard and Princeton decided to eliminate their early admission programs starting this fall and accept all members of the Class of 2012 through a single process with a January 1, 2008 deadline, Bowdoin admissions wondered what kind of ripple effect the move would have in Brunswick. Not much, administrators have since discovered. But they predict that Bowdoin will feel the repercussions of Princeton and Harvard's decision during the regular admissions process.
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Dining employee fired for stealing
A Dining Service employee was fired earlier this week for allegedly stealing a student's leather messenger bag from a coat rack in the Moulton Union entrance. The bag, which initially went missing on October 25, was recovered last Friday after Security reviewed video evidence from a nearby surveillance camera, according to Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols.
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Students critique inmates' writing
After Michel Bamani '08 finishes proofreading a fellow student's assignment, he sticks it in an envelope and mails it off. While other student tutors and writing assistants at Bowdoin meet to discuss changes with their tutees in person, Bamani relies on the postal service to relay his comments because his tutees aren't on campus. They're in jail.
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Bowdoin Brief: peta2 nominates Bowdoin for vegan and vegetarian food
Bowdoin students say that the Dining Service's Honolulu Tofu is good, but is it good enough to win Bowdoin a slot among America's most vegan- and vegetarian-friendly colleges? Maybe so, according to peta2, a student-specific branch of the world's largest animal rights group, PETA.
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College solicits input on advising
Although an outside reaccreditation team deemed Bowdoin's academic advising program in need of serious improvement last fall, the preliminary results from a survey of the first-year class may suggest otherwise. "I don't think the results support that advising is entirely broken," said Dean of First Year Students Mary Pat McMahon, who released raw numbers to the Orient on Thursday afternoon.
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Remodeled Walker Art Building rivals 'any major metropolitan art museum'
Although all major construction on the Walker Art Building has been completed since May, no one has yet to walk through the doors of the transparent glass pavilion that will now serve as the main entrance to the building, save for a handful of workmen. Tonight, that will all change. After a champagne toast on the Quad, 400 distinguished guests and friends of the College will be the first to officially enter the modern glass structure and descend the two converging steel stairways into the underground galleries below.
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Pushing the envelope
What is your boxmate's blue slip really for?
What's one surefire way to reveal that you're hiding an illegal pet lizard in your dorm room? Order boxes of live silk worms to your Smith Union mail box, of course.
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Bowdoin Brief: Library extends weekday hours at student request
In response to student requests for extended library hours, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library will now remain open until 1:30 a.m. on Sunday through Wednesday nights instead of closing at 1 a.m.
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Contracted physicians replace full-time M.D.
When Dr. Jeff Benson suddenly left his post as college physician and director of Dudley Coe Health Center last January, the College scrambled to bring in outside physicians to fill Benson's vacancy. After a summer of searching, the administration has decided to make the switch from a full-time doctor to contracted physicians a permanent one.
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Construction nears end for Walker Art Building
Although members of the Class of 2007 will walk across the completed steps of the art museum at Commencement, they will not see art back on the walls until their first Homecoming Weekend as alumni.
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? Other renovations, construction to continue over summer -
Renovations, construction to continue over summer
Construction on the Bowdoin College Museum of Art might be winding down, but for Director of Capital Projects Don Borkowski, a day's work is never done. With the art museum nearing completion, four out of six first-year bricks finished, and Studzinksi Hall holding its inaugural concert this weekend, the College is starting to prepare for its next big projects.
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Bowdoin Brief: Students encouraged to donate useful items
When students begin to pack up their dorm rooms for the summer, some may find furniture, school supplies, and un-opened toiletries and food that they simply cannot fit in the car to bring home.
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Yaffe bid falls flat at polls
Ian Yaffe '09 will not be running for Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) president this year, all but guaranteeing that Dustin Brooks '08 will become the student body's next president.
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Error opens BSG treasurer election
Due to an oversight, all students are now eligible to run for the position of BSG treasurer in this spring's election cycle. Juniors Clark Gascoigne, John Masland, and Nicole Willey have all submitted petitions to run for the position.
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Yaffe to petition for BSG eligibility
When Ian Yaffe '09 submitted his petition for candidacy as president of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) on Thursday, he assumed that it would be denied. It was. "My candidacy is against the constitution," Yaffe said in an interview with the Orient.
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No birth control solution in sight
After the College abruptly lost its contract with contraceptive manufacturer Organon in early February, college officials scrambled to find a solution that would allow them to continue distributing birth control to women on campus at low costs. However, both routes pursued by the College?buying in bulk with peer schools and purchasing generic versions of the previously available contraceptives?have been largely abandoned by the health center.
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Lending a hand: Students spring into service
Some 70 students forewent beach parties, European adventures, and the chance to catch up on sleep for the opportunity to make their mark on communities in need around the world. These are the stories of their Alternative Spring Breaks.
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Student trapeze artist flies solo in England
When most children threaten to run off and join the circus, their parents don't take them seriously. But when Lizzie Hedrick '08 decided to take a year off from Bowdoin and enroll in a full-time circus school in Bristol, England, her parents couldn't have been more pleased.
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College seeks birth control solution
Since the College lost its contract with contraceptive manufacturer Organon last week due to the rising cost of prescription medications, college administrators and the staff of Dudley Coe Health Center have been working to get birth control back on the shelves. "Students' health and well-being is first and foremost," said Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs Margaret Hazlett.
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DEVELOPING STORY: Contraceptive contract dropped
Dudley Coe Health Center will no longer dispense birth control pills or NuvaRings (vaginal contraceptive rings) to students due to an abrupt loss of contract with manufacturer Organon, according to this morning's student digest.
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Obituary: Activist alum dies in crash
When Hanley Denning '92 arrived in Guatemala in 1997 looking to learn the language, she did not expect to find her life's calling?especially not in an open-air garbage dump in the slums of Guatemala City.
But after a friend brought her to the dump to show her the dozens of families scavenging newly deposited trash for items to eat and sell, Denning knew that she had found a place where she was truly needed. Within the week, she sold her computer and her car for money to rent a room in a run-down church and began what would become her life's work.
Denning was killed in a car crash en route to Antigua, Guatemala, on January 18. She was the founder of Safe Passage, an organization that provides local children the hope and support they need to continue their educations and keep them from growing up to comb the dump for food and clothing, as their parents now do.
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Year in Review: 2005-2006: loss and perseverance
Please join the Orient in remembering the most significant stories of Bowdoin's 204th academic year.
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Father's history sparks scholarship for Wells
"It's never a dull moment when you're in a continent as vast as Latin America with so many countries, so many things happening. In the last 30 years, so much has happened?all of the revolutions, all of the military regimes, U.S. foreign policy?it's never the same, and that's what makes it wonderful?that you can track these changes over time and see how the country is evolving," Professor of History Allen Wells said.
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Bradley to step down, take talents abroad
Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley spent the second week of Spring Break in Paris, where he and his family selected the school that his daughters will attend in the fall. Bradley, his wife Elizabeth, and his daughters, Anna and Laura, will be moving to France this summer when Bradley joins the Aga Khan Development Network, a career move that requires he step down as dean of student affairs at the end of the academic year.
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Rushdie advocates freedom of speech
Despite concerns that tickets for controversial author Salman Rushdie's Common Hour lecture would be difficult to come by after selling out only two hours after becoming available, all who showed up at Pickard Theater last Friday were able to see Rushdie's lecture live, though not necessarily in person.
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Nancy Riley's research explores myths of gender in China
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Nancy Riley has been to China so many times, she has lost count. The Orient sat down with Riley to find out more about her upcoming adventures, her research on gender and family, and her personal take on China Rose.
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Abroad apps sway towards spring
The Class of 2008 has just submitted its study abroad applications, and with 50 more students requesting permission to study away in the upcoming spring than in the fall, the Off-Campus Study (OCS) Office is scrambling to persuade applicants to change their minds and even out the numbers.
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Board to vote on tenure candidates
The Board of Trustees will meet this weekend in order to consider recommendations for tenure and to review the preliminary budget, upon which board members will vote in May. The College's newly revised intellectual property policy and the naming of one of the new first-year dorms are not on the agenda, according to Secretary of the College Richard Mersereau.
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Students work to aid devastated Gulf Coast
Bowdoin accepts visiting professor, aids students in Gulf Coast projects
When Sarah Landrum '09 returned to her hometown of New Orleans over winter break for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, she was shocked to see parts of her city still in complete devastation. "Houses were toppled over in the street, and there were roofs with nothing under them at all. There were piles of debris everywhere and no signs of cleaning up or rebuilding," Landrum said of the areas around where the levees broke. "People kept telling me that I was looking at the city much improved from before, but that was hard to believe," she said.
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Dudley Coe seeks renovated facility
As student presciption use rises, health center looks to increase patient flow efficiency
A 1920s facility, Dudley Coe is finding it difficult to keep up with the growing needs of the student body in its current location. With more Bowdoin students on prescription medications than ever before, according to College Physician and Director of Health Services Jeff Benson, and the health center diagnosing and treating increasingly more serious conditions, Benson is pleading for a renovated college health center?one that is, at the very least, handicap accessible.
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Sophomores arrested on trespassing charge
For the first time since 2000, the one-time Kappa Sig fraternity house has seen some action. Louis-David Lord '08 and Jacob Murray '08 broke into the empty College building, now known as Lancaster House, on November 9 in the early hours of the morning. "[The break-in] was discovered by the Security officer on patrol," Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols said. "As with any situation where there's an apparent crime in progress in a building, our officer called the police. It was the right thing to do," he said.
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Schuberth retracts criticism of Cornell du Houx's service
Leaders of College Democrats not satisfied with apology
After publicly questioning the ?logic and motivation? of U.S. Marine and Maine College Democrats President Alex Cornell du Houx '06 for his military service, Secretary of the College Republican National Committee Dan Schuberth '06 has issued an apology.
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Schuberth questions Cornell du Houx?s motives
Campus responds to criticism of student Marine?s impending deployment
As Maine College Democrats President Alex Cornell du Houx '06, a vocal opponent of the War in Iraq, prepares for his upcoming active duty with the U.S. Marines in Iraq, members of the Bowdoin community are responding to the news of his deployment with shock, gratitude, and in some cases, criticism.
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Students walk to support cause
Baxter House and friends throughout the Bowdoin community raised $2,688 for the American Cancer Society by joining 19 other teams in the tenth annual "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk throughout residential Brunswick. Bowdoin's team, which consisted of 27 members, walked the three-mile course in pouring rain on Sunday to raise awareness about breast cancer research, detection, and treatment.
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Dems draw crowd with Franken
After playing host to the first two conventions of the Maine Chapter of the College Democrats of America, the Bowdoin College Democrats have decided not to hold the annual convention on campus next year. "Having the convention at Bowdoin the first two years helped solidify our presence around the state," Bowdoin Democrats Co-President Frank Chi '07 said.
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Yellow-clad protesters unite for rights
Lydia Hawkins '07 was half focused on an interview, half focused on the enormous stream of yellow shirts entering the Visual Arts Center. "I only printed 100 flyers. I thought that would be enough!" she yelled to a friend.
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IT releases Bowdoin dining widget online
Widgets, mini-applications that exist exclusively in Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger," can be downloaded from apple.com to personalize a user's Dashboard. Although Dashboard comes with 12 default widgets, users now have over 1,300 interest-specific widgets to choose from online. Among these is the recent invention of John Hall '08?a widget that displays Bowdoin's dining service menus.
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Tuition and fees increase to $41,660
The cost of a Bowdoin education has once again reached an all-time high, with the 2005-2006 comprehensive fee surpassing the $40,000 mark for the first time. Total tuition and fees now amount to $41,660, marking a 4.99 percent increase over the course of one year. "Forty-thousand dollars is seen as a benchmark," said Director of Student Aid Stephen Joyce. "I think there will become a point where cost is a major factor, but I don't know if $40,000 is that point."
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BSG enters semester with high aspirations
Mckesson and executive team prepare for elections, plan improvements
Executive members of the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) are kick-starting their year by implanting a four-tier plan to improve student life and renewing their pledge for enhanced communication between officers and the student body.
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Students respond in Katrina?s wake
For the seven Bowdoin students from New Orleans and a dozen others from surrounding areas, the effects of Hurricane Katrina may last a lifetime. Many members of the Bowdoin community, however, are finding themselves feeling helpless and ineffective in the wake of the natural disaster that left New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf Coast in sheer ruin last week.
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Class of 2009 now part of Bowdoin community
After receiving a record number of applications last spring, the College has successfully matriculated the most diverse class in its history, said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Richard Steele.
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Year in Review: 2004-2005: Sox, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll
The Orient remembers a year of partisanship, partings, and passings
This academic year has brought a series of challenges, conflicts, and changes to the Bowdoin College campus. The following is the Orient's compilation of the most significant stories that have affected the Bowdoin community over the last nine months.
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Fund shift attracts Fish
Bear AIDS reduced in size to account for weekend show
As the last of the snow melts on the quad and the birds reluctantly return to Brunswick, students are starting to close their eyes and imagine the infamous and quickly-approaching Ivies weekend. Picture it now'65 degree temperatures, all of your friends together in one place, Nalgene in hand?and a downpour of rain.
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Art gallery erupts with color
Community members flock to campus to make their mark on Bowdoin
The Bowdoin Art Museum has replaced its masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance with an array of multi-colored curlicues, and the Brunswick community couldn't be more excited.
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Candid guide surprises readers
New addition to bookstore offers mix of honesty and brutality in depiction of Bowdoin
A new Bowdoin-specific guidebook released by College Prowler and on display in the college bookstore has been drawing the attention of current and prospective students alike for its enlightening, though potentially controversial, student quotations.
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Break sees campus bustling
Students cut holidays short to get back to business in Brunswick
While the majority of Bowdoin students were still enjoying the comfort of home-cooked meals, their own beds, and more often than not, less frigid temperatures than those which they had left back in Brunswick, a number of students were already back on campus for a variety of purposes.
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Scientists: Polar bears face extinction
While the polar bear may seem livelier than ever at Bowdoin sporting events, the reality is that outside of Brunswick, our fluffy, white mascot is quickly going the way of the dodo bird.
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College considers rink plans
The College has reached the final stages of a contracting with at least one architectural firm for the creation of a new hockey arena.
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Flooding soaks Tower residences
Sophomore Nathan Guttman woke up in his Coles Tower suite Wednesday morning to the sound of roaring steam escaping from the heating pipe in his closet. As he sat up in bed, he noticed a quickly growing puddle of black water seeping under the door from the common room to the bedroom where he and one of his roommates, Phillip Valka '07, had been sleeping.
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D?Angelo remembered for ?boundless enthusiasm?
Facilities director given final farewell in Chapel
"You always knew Dave was coming down the hallway because he was whistling," Lou MacNeill of Facilities Management said as he read aloud a collective list of fond memories at David D'Angelo's memorial service on Monday.
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Sox sweep sets New England ablaze
As Red Sox closer Keith Foulke fielded a grounder from Edgar Renteria and made the final out of the World Series, first-year Caitlin Edwards stared at her television screen in disbelief.
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More student artwork lifted from VAC gallery
Three pieces of student artwork were recently taken from the basement of the Visual Arts Center (VAC), Security reported.
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College?s flu shot supply suspended
Hundreds of individuals who receive the flu vaccine from the Dudley Coe Health Center each year will have to rely on hand-washing and other precautionary measures in order to ward away the virus this year.
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Convention organizers pleased with event
The Inaugural Convention of the Maine Chapter of the College Democrats of America was deemed a success by Bowdoin Democrats and visiting delegates.
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H&L spaces to undergo overhaul
As library renovates, student opinions sought for cozy study spots
The College will begin the second stage of an extensive renovation to the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library in December.
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Online facebook newest Web obsession
Site expected to include 1,000 Bowdoin students
With the help of thefacebook.com, hundreds of Bowdoin students are meeting new friends and reuniting with old ones without even leaving their desks.