The Bowdoin Orient

Mariya Ilyas '13 is preaching what she practices. Ilyas was recently awarded funding from the Davis Project for Peace to create a high school journalism program at Al-Imtiaz Academy (AIA) in Abottabad, Pakistan, based on her experience working on newspapers in high school and at Bowdoin. The Davis Project for Peace provides each selected student $10,000 to implement their project ideas to achieve peace throughout the world.

The Longfellows advanced to the semifinals of the International Collegiate Championship of A Cappella (ICCA), the only tournament of its kind, following a strong showing in quarterfinals last Saturday at Brown University. The all-male Bowdoin a cappella group, along with The Dynamics of University of Massachusetts-Amherst, beat out five other ensembles from the northeast.

The star of Bowdoin's newest show could trample you. Masque and Gown, in collaboration with the Department of Theater and Dance, opened its fall show, "Rhinoceros," last night. The most celebrated of French and Romanian dramatist Eugene Ionesco's plays, "Rhinoceros" confronts issues of conformity and identity in the wake of World War II.

Even in Brunswick, Maine, home of courteous drivers and friendly shop owners, kids need to get loud sometimes. Tomorrow night Teratoma, Bowdoin's only metal band, will perform new songs on campus for the first time this year. Newly-formed student band Mango Floss will open the show.

The DaPonte String Quartet will bring its acclaimed sound to Bowdoin on Saturday, performing songs by sibling prodigies Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Bowling and hip-hop may not have much in common, but the two collided last night.

The Milkman's Union, the much-publicized Bowdoin student band, was honored with the opportunity to open for Lady Lamb The Beekeeper at SPACE Gallery in Portland on Wednesday.

Boston-based ensemble Dünya performed a variety of Turkish music in Kanbar Auditorium on Wednesday.

Beloved '80s cover band Racer X, which counts Associate Professor of Music Vineet Shinde and Associate Professor of English Aaron Kitch as members, will light up another Homecoming weekend with a performance on Saturday night in Morrell Gym.

Don't be alarmed by the dramatic music creeping into the Center Gallery at the Bowdoin Museum of Art—that's just part of the new exhibition entitled "Light and Shadow: The Aesthetics of German Expressionism."

Bowdoin's music department kicks off its concert season with a performance by one of its own tomorrow. George Lopez, a renowned pianist who recently joined the applied music faculty, will get a chance to show off his classical piano skills to the community.

Frontier Café, Cinema, and Gallery, in collaboration with Business Council for Peace, a New York City-based non-profit known as Bpeace, is hosting several fundraising events this weekend that are quite fitting for the anniversary of September 11.

Despite expected salary freezes, Bowdoin's faculty and staff have not experienced the layoffs and hiring hiatuses that some institutions have resorted to as a result of the economic downturn.

Starting next year Bowdoin will offer a minor in economics and finance, the result of a unanimous faculty vote on Monday. The proposal, which had been a topic of discussion since Fall 2005 when the economics department first introduced finance courses, arose in response to interest from students, the administration and members of the economics faculty, according to Chair of the Economics Department Deborah DeGraff.

Bowdoin applicants requested more financial assistance during this year's admissions cycle, but the increase was minimal; requests for aid from the admitted Class of 2013 increased only 2 percent from last year. According to Director of Student Aid Steve Joyce, the Student Aid office had anticipated a slight rise in aid requests.

While the number of Bowdoin applicants requesting financial aid this year remained fairly constant, more enrolled students than usual have asked to review their aid packages for the spring semester.

Bowdoin will see the installation of a long-awaited new ID card system this Winter Break. Operations Manager of Residential Life Lisa Rendall announced in an e-mail to the campus last Friday that all faculty, staff and students will receive new, redesigned ID cards and that card readers in 22 buildings will be replaced as part of an effort to move toward one door access system.

The country's downward-spiraling economy will not hinder Bowdoin's commitment to enhancing faculty diversity through new hires. Earlier this year, the Committee on Governance and Faculty Affairs, chaired by Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Scott MacEachern, assembled a working group on Faculty Diversity.

Bowdoin students and faculty predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.

This year, the College has begun work to meet the stipulations of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) which was passed by Congress and signed into law on August 14, 2008. The act, which was five years overdue for reauthorizing the 1965 Higher Education Act, incorporates a variety of seemingly unrelated initiatives all meant to make colleges and universities more affordable and accessible. Ultimately, it seeks to increase the number of college-going Americans.

Students who walk into Bowdoin's Career Planning Center (CPC) this fall will encounter new faces as well as a new model for advising. The driving force behind the CPC's revamped program and staff is the new three-phased advising approach aimed to help students explore, experience, and pursue a goal, whether it be full-time employment, an internship, or graduate school.