The Bowdoin Orient

The 2009-2010 academic year at Bowdoin, although replete with the usual accolades, affairs and adjustments, will probably best be remembered by some as the year of the alcohol discussion. Following a dramatic increase in alcohol-related transports, the campus has seen an increased police presence and preventative action by security. Yet, even with the new sense of supervision that is pervasive on campus, the students and staff have experienced a full range of activities, as summarized in the following chronology of the Orient's most important stories of the year.

Toasting to the end of classes in countless ways has become a late May ritual for most Bowdoin students. No matter how wild or innovative the festive events of today's students have become, however, the celebrations are most certainly trumped by an unusual 19th century end-of-the-school-year tradition: a funeral.

"Is Bowdoin a place where the possibility of the captain of the hockey team being gay is a big scandalous news story, or is it just a part of what life can be?" asked Branden Asemah '12 in anticipation of today's conference, Anything But Straight in Athletics. The conference will include lectures from photographer Jeff Sheng and ESPN journalist LZ Granderson.

Some seniors are completing their Bowdoin educations by creating original honors projects that help us see the world in new and interesting ways. This is the first installment of the year in a continuing series that highlights these projects.

With events ranging from a soul food dinner to professor discussions to a couture ball, the African American Society at Bowdoin is not holding back in its endeavor to expose all students to the various festivities occurring on campus to celebrate Black History Month. "We are putting on a plethora of events," said Khristianna Jones '10, president of the African American Society at Bowdoin. Traditional events sponsored by the African American Society during the month of February include last week's Soul Food Dinner at Thorne Hall, weekly African American Studies Professor discussions, and the Ebony Ball to be held at the end of the month.

The first iPhone application for Bowdoin students is scheduled for release in just two short weeks, thanks to the efforts of computer science major Ben Johnson '11. Johnson was the recipient of a grant to create a new iPhone application for Bowdoin students over the summer. While many are acclimated with the Bowdoin dining menu widget for Mac computers, there has never been a comparable application for mobile devices.

Imagine being led to the middle of a room, placed in front of a group of your peers, and asked to sing on cue. Intimidated yet? This is what many Bowdoin students have been going through over the past week while auditioning for the few coveted spots on one of the school's six a cappella groups. These groups include two all-male groups, the Meddiebempsters and the Longfellows, two all-female groups, Miscellania and Bellamafia, and two co-ed groups, Ursus Verses and BOKA.