By 2020, Bowdoin may have achieved carbon neutrality on campus, constructed a new social sciences building at the site of the former Dayton Arena, developed land acquired from the Brunswick Naval Air Station (NASB), and initiated a new capital campaign. While administrators are optimistic about plans and changes to come, they emphasized that in many respects, concrete plans for the future remain uncertain.

The start of the decade found the College in a strong financial position, the Orient reported in November of 2000, with an improved bond rating to borrow money with greater ease and nine consecutive years of balanced budgets. The College was not immune, however, to the economic hardships that followed September 11, 2001, which included a depressed stock market and widespread economic slowdown. Then-Treasurer of the College Kent Chabotar told the Orient that the College had been preparing for times of economic uncertainty for about two years. "We're not battening down the hatches or heading for the basement. We're just being prudent," he said in a September 2001 article.

This week, we have compiled the most important stories from the decade pertaining to issues in Brunswick and Maine. We have pulled a selection of actual headlines from past issues, and condensed and synthesized stories relevant to each headline in order to showcase some of the most significant moments and enduring issues covered by the Orient.

This week, we have compiled a selection headlines and stories related to speakers, performers, and lecturers of significance that have visited the College over the past decade.

As part of a nationwide pledge signed by Mills to eventually eliminate the College's carbon emissions, a College committee began meeting in the fall of 2007 to determine how the campus could achieve carbon neutrality, the Orient reported. The committee, which consisted of the faculty, staff and one student on the College's Environmental Action Committee, was charged with establishing a process for fulfilling the pledge's five steps, as designated by the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Record-breaking numbers of applicants over the years went hand-in-hand with increased competition among applicants. In April of 2007, then-Dean of Admissions Shain said the acceptance rate for the Class of 2011, which stood at 18.5 percent overall with only 16 percent admitted in the regular round, was "brutal." In addition to a 10-percent increase in the number of applicants for 2011, the College admitted fewer students in order to keep the size of the first year class small, and to leave space for applicants on the wait list, according to Shain.

The College announced in April 2007 that a Center for the Common Good was scheduled to open by the fall of 2008, and would serve as a central campus resource for supporting, teaching, and researching activities "grounded in community engagement and public service," the Orient reported.

Following months of debate, the faculty voted 45 to 29 to add pluses and minuses to Bowdoin's grading system, beginning in the 2002-2003 academic year. According to a January 25, 2002 Orient article, changes to the system of grading had not occurred since 1954, when Bowdoin adopted a plus/minus system in place of an "ABCDF" system. In 1967, Bowdoin revised the system again, and instituted a grading scale with the distinctions of High Honors, Honors, Pass, or Fail.

Over the decade, Bowdoin students, staff and faculty have committed a significant amount of time and resources to expanding the diversity—based on race, sexuality, gender and economic status—of the campus community.

Since March of 1997, when the Board of Trustees approved recommendations of the Trustee Commission on Residential Life to phase out fraternities at Bowdoin in favor of the more "inclusive" College Houses, the College House System has steadily evolved and matured. In an Orient article from October of 2007, a decade after the College House System replaced fraternities, students and administrators commented on the role of houses at Bowdoin.

Bowdoin's dining earned top marks in 2005 and 2006, holding the No. 1 spot on the Princeton Review list of "Best Campus Food" for two years in a row. In 2008, when dining held the No. 2 spot in the rankings, Director of the Dining Service Mary Lou Kennedy said, "We are proud to have been in the top 10 list in Princeton Review and recognized for excellence for many years...Our primary goal has always been to be No. 1 in the eyes of Bowdoin students."

The Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) as it is known today has not always been officially named or structured as such. In the 1999-2000 academic year, the existing Executive Board (known as E9) ratified a constitution to create a second governing body, known as the Student Assembly (SA). According to an April 2002 Orient article, the SA from 2000 comprised elected class representatives, vice-presidents of the College Houses, a representative from the Inter-House Council, and the Student Activities Fares Committee chair.

At the start of the decade, a controversial report called into question the role of athletics at New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools, finding that athletes received an advantage in admissions over non-athletes despite lower test scores, and tended to rank in the bottom portions of their class.

Having established that there is a serious deficiency in meaningful discourse among students at Bowdoin, I set out to solve the problem. The answer can be summed up with two words: "bath" and "house." I am proposing that the old pool building next to Smith Union be turned into a Greek-style bathhouse equipped with saunas, hot tubs, and possibly tanning booths.

After significant debate, the faculty voted at Monday's faculty meeting to pass the Recording Committee's Thanksgiving break proposal. Beginning in the fall, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will be added to the vacation. Scheduling alternatives to compensate for the extra day will be further explored.

Despite bouts of economic instability and setbacks, it would seem that College officials accurately predicted the future in a February 2004 Orient article that reported that "By 2010, new buildings are expected to include the currently-in-construction Kanbar Hall, two residence halls, a new hockey arena, and a new bookstore. Officials also hope for renovation of the first-year dormitories, a new concert hall in Curtis Pool, a renovated Walker Art Building, and improvements to Hawthorne-Longfellow Library." As the Orient looks back at the College's significant building projects of the decade, it becomes clear that the majority of construction plans for the campus were realized.

The first half of the decade was buzzing with illegal Internet activity at the College, as Bowdoin students discovered—and were disciplined for—music piracy. Over the years, illegal file sharing on the Internet has caused problems for the College, Information Technology and students alike.

The decade has seen two directors of Safety and Security: in January of 2000, Director of Security Scott Kipp resigned and Bob Graves served as interim director. In 2005, Randy Nichols joined the College as the new, and current, head of Safety and Security after spending 27 and a half years with the Maine State Police. A November 11, 2005, Orient article reported that Nichols' list of important issues at Bowdoin included "lighting, pedestrian safety, personal safety, and alcohol abuse."

September 15, 2000 When the Orient reported that Dr. Jeff Benson would step into the position of director of health services at Dudley Coe Health Center in 2000, a companion story stated that Benson's predecessor, nurse practitioner Robin Beltramini, had been told she had to resign after 14 years at the College. According to the Orient article, Beltramini was only told that the decision had nothing to do with patient care.

Now in his ninth year leading the College, President Barry Mills remains modest about the growing list of changes, expansions and projects taken on under his supervision. While he said he recognizes the "pretty important role" he's played in imagining and implementing projects, he noted that "the College, in so many ways, isn't about the president."

In the tumultuous hours following Al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001, the College's Disaster Response team was immediately activated, Residential Life identified students with ties to New York, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh, allowing proctors and RAs to track students down, and administrators and students convened in Morrell Gym, as President Barry Mills spoke, beginning his term as president in the midst of crisis.

This week, we have pulled a selection of actual headlines quotations from articles published in the Orient within the last decade. We have selected miscellaneous stories that might otherwise go undiscovered in the archives. While not as pertinent to the College's history as those selected for the larger section, they still reflect a piece—however small—of the College's past.