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News

lecture

Dr. Carissa Veliz lectures on the ethics of data sharing, cites privacy concerns through history

On Monday, the Department of Philosophy hosted Dr. Carissa Veliz, associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute of Ethics in AI and a fellow at Hertford College at the University of Oxford. Her talk, titled “Why Privacy is Power,” used a mix of historical and modern examples to discuss the dangers of personal data collection and exploitation.

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Administration

Dean’s Office restructuring aims to better meet student needs for long-term academic support

Over the summer, the Office of the Dean of Students underwent a structural change following an examination of its interactions with students. In the new structure, there is a new assistant dean for case management, and conduct issues are handled primarily by the director of community standards, rather than being distributed between class deans as they were previously.

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diversity

GHC inspires underrepresented genders in tech

From September 20 to 23, faculty and students from Bowdoin Women in Computer Science (BWiCS) attended the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) in Orlando, Fla.. GHC is an annual conference celebrating women and non-binary individuals in technology with a specific focus on early career support and exploration for college students from around the world.

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Brunswick

Community panel confronts public mural art and Indigenous representation in Brunswick history

On Wednesday evening at the Curtis Memorial Library, the Midcoast Indigenous Awareness Group (MIAG) hosted a panel discussion entitled “Many Voices: Who Gets to Tell the Story?” The panelists discussed the often erased history of the Wabanaki people and how to acknowledge their continued role in the Brunswick community.

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BSG

BSG unveils plans for the year ahead

Editor’s note 10/03/2022 at 2:42 p.m. EDT: A previous version of this article mistakenly reported that Gharib included prescription drugs as a potential offering through Health Services. The article has been updated to reflect that this was not the case. 

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News in Brief

Little Dog Coffee Shop workers form a union

Amid a change in ownership and organization, a group claiming to represent the workers of Little Dog Coffee Shop in Brunswick is rallying for unionization. In an open letter posted to Instagram, the group addressed owner Larry Flaherty directly and detailed their reasons for forming a union.

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Rachel Lord Center hosts first “Belong at Bowdoin” workshop

The Rachel Lord Center for Religious and Spiritual Life hosted its first installment of the “Belong at Bowdoin” workshop series on Wednesday. Led by Director of the Rachel Lord Center for Religious and Spiritual Life Oliver Goodrich, the series intends to help Bowdoin students build new relationships and nurture established ones.

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Covid policy marks endemic approach to pandemic

Four weeks into the semester, campus is adjusting to an endemic approach to Covid-19. In a shift from the last two years, the College now has a decentralized model in which there is no longer one point person for Covid-related information, but instead a task force of several individuals throughout the College.

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History Department hosts discussion on abortion rights

The history department hosted an event entitled “How did we get here? Historians on Roe v. Wade” last night. The event, which was widely attended by students, filling Adams 208, consisted of a panel of five professors: Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History Department David Hecht, Professor of History Patrick Rael, Associate Professor of History Meghan Roberts, Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies Rachel Sturman and Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies Sakura Christmas.

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lecture

Dr. Bettina Love delivers lecture on abolitionist, restorative teaching

Last night, Dr. Bettina Love, the William F. Russel Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, gave the education department’s annual Brodie Family Lecture. Her talk, entitled “We Gon’ Be Alright, But That Ain’t Right: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Education Freedom,” focused on committing to educational freedom by taking an abolitionist approach to education, moving beyond reform to create an educational system that allows all students to thrive.

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BSG

Pres. Gharib ’23 outlines new plans for upcoming year

The Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) has major plans for this semester, as it works to focus on student priorities and rebuild the sense of community on campus after more than two years of pandemic-related restrictions. BSG President Susu Gharib ’23 said that she hopes her administration can create a more welcoming and inclusive campus culture this year.

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Community host program holds indoor reception

On Monday, the Office of Student Activities hosted an initial meet-up event for first years and their host families who have been matched through the Community Host Program. The event, which took place in the Lamarche Gallery in Smith Union, marks the first time since 2019 that the initial reception for the program has taken place indoors.

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Little Dog Coffee Shop changes ownership

Little Dog Coffee Shop, an integral part of Maine Street’s restaurant and café circuit, was acquired by new owners Larry and Diana Flaherty in July 2022. The Flahertys are the proprietors of the Metropolitan Coffee Houses (“the Met”) of North Conway, N.H., Settlers Green, N.H.

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Students launch email campaign following THRIVE students not receiving new laptops

Following news that THRIVE students who had already received College-issued laptops were not being included in the Digital Excellence Commitment (DExC), students and administrators addressed their dissatisfaction with the decision through an email campaign. THRIVE students were informed that those who had previously received MacBooks from Bowdoin would not receive new ones through the DExC program this year with the rest of the student body.

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Economics and Government professors attack partisan animosity in Strengthening Democracy Challenge

In early August, Associate Professor of Economics Daniel Stone, Professor of Government Michael Franz and Senior Interactive Developer David Francis won the Strengthening Democracy Challenge. The challenge, presented by political sociologists at Stanford University, invited academics and other professionals to submit intervention models for bolstering democratic practices in political discourse.

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Blackboard

Canvas replaces Blackboard as College’s learning management system

This summer, the College began a year-long learning management system transition from Blackboard to Canvas. The transition comes after a years-long process of evaluating and comparing various interfaces for college use. Product piloting of both Canvas and Blackboard began during the 2018-2019 school year, with the College ultimately deciding to pursue a three-year contract with Blackboard.

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News in Brief

College adopts “endemic” approach to Covid-19, provides air purifiers to students

This week, students returned to a campus with significantly reduced pandemic-related protocols. Under the new guidelines, the College neither requires masks on campus nor mandates PCR testing. As the College moves to an endemic approach to Covid-19, management of positive cases and questions about the virus are being integrated into the returning pre-pandemic structures of Bowdoin.

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News in Brief

Search Committee publishes presidential position specification

Last Friday, the Presidential Search Committee published a position specification document for Bowdoin’s 16th president. In an email to the campus community, committee co-chairs Sydney Asbury ’03 and Bertrand Garcia-Moreno ’81 P’17 wrote that the committee has met with faculty, staff, students, parents, trustees and alumni since its formation in May, and the document it has produced will introduce both the College and the position of president to prospective candidates.

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Schiller Center

Schiller Center dedicated

On Thursday, the Schiller Coastal Studies Center (SCSC) was officially dedicated fifteen months after construction was completed. The Board of Trustees attended the ceremony and reception as part of its first in-person meeting in over two years.

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lecture

Lecture discusses trigger warnings on college campuses

Editor’s note 05/18/2022 at 12:28 p.m. EDT: A previous version of this article included the lecturer’s photograph and name in its headline. The article has been updated to remove both inclusions at the lecturer’s request. Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College Rebecca Herzig addressed the increasing conversation about and presence of trigger warnings in higher educational spaces in a lecture on Monday in the Moulton Union Main Lounge.

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SWAG

SWAG hosts discussion to process leaked Roe v. Wade draft

In response to recent news about the potential reversal of Roe v. Wade, the Sexuality, Women and Gender (SWAG) center hosted a discussion entitled “Processing the Leaked Roe v. Wade Draft.” The discussion hosted at 24 College served as a space for students to find community, share their thoughts on the leaked draft and become energized for more advocacy work.

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Faculty

Faculty gather to discuss Rose’s departure, new policies

Bowdoin faculty convened on Monday to discuss additions to half-credit course options, recommendations for pre-major advising and policy changes in Academic Affairs. Associate Professor of English Emma Maggie Solberg moderated the meeting in Daggett Lounge. After approving the minutes from the previous meeting, President Clayton Rose addressed the faculty for the first time since announcing his June 2023 departure from the College.

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Faculty

College alters policy on shared faculty appointments

In a memorandum to the faculty dated April 21, Senior Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Jennifer Scanlon announced that her office had revised the College’s Shared Appointments policy. The policy had previously allowed candidates for tenure-line positions to request that they share the position with another applicant, typically their spouse or partner.

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Administration

Student survey captures anger with administration, hopes for change

In the final weeks of the semester, the Orient conducted its annual Bowdoin Orient Student Survey (BOSS). Approximately 20 percent of the student body, 353 students, responded to the survey. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in e.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r

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Key-stitches: Benjamin Felser ’22 uses poetry to inspire environmental change

On Thursday evening, students and faculty gathered in the Roux Center for the Environment for “Key-Stitches: Symbiographies for a Distressed Earth,” Benjamin Felser’s ’22 presentation of their year-long independent study project. Felser, a biology major concentrating in ecology and evolutionary biology who has a passion for literary arts, performed readings of four original poems exploring nature’s complex symbiotic networks, their origins and their vulnerability in a changing environmental landscape.

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BOG celebrates with student-led Arbor Day tree planting

The Bowdoin Office of Sustainability and the Bowdoin Organic Garden (BOG) teamed up to plant two semi-dwarf anjou pear trees in the gardens behind first year dorms Osher and West to celebrate Arbor Day. The tree-planting ceremony, led by Office of Sustainability student-worker Maya Chandar-Kouba ’23, Associate Director of Sustainability Keisha Payson and the BOG Superintendent Lisa Beneman, took place on April 28.

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Digital politics panel focuses on disinformation, polling

In a virtual event on the evening of April 28, Bowdoin Democrats hosted a panel of political scientists and strategists who discussed issues pertaining to the 2022 midterm elections. The topics included campaign finance reform, polling in an increasingly polarized climate and careers in politics.

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Horowitz speaks on experience in Holocaust

To mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, Bowdoin Hillel and the Departments of English and History co-hosted a lecture and discussion with Holocaust survivor Rudolph “Rudy” Horowitz on Thursday, April 28 in Lancaster Lounge. During his lecture, Horowitz, 93, discussed his memoir, “Avoiding the Cracks,” which details his story of survival during World War II and his life after the Holocaust.

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News in Brief

Strong smoke smell reported in Smith Union

This past Monday, numerous students reported the smell of smoke on Coe Quad, inside David Saul Smith Union, in Druckenmiller Hall and in other spaces around campus. While the cause remains unknown, Executive Director of the Office of Safety and Security Randy Nichols speculated the smoke came from intentional fires off campus.

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BSG

BSG to hold executive elections this weekend

Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) is holding its annual executive elections this weekend, including those for president and vice president. A vote on the reformed BSG constitution will be held concurrently. The race for president will be contested by Luke Bartol ’23 and Susu Gharib ’23.

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Professors respond to Covid-19 outbreak on campus

As of April 21, the College reported a total of 191 active Covid-19 cases across campus. In response to this surge, the College reinstated masking protocols in public spaces on campus. Many faculty members also addressed the sudden increase in cases by rearranging their syllabi and holding hybrid classes to support student health and learning.

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Clayton Rose

Faculty, staff reflect on President Rose’s time at the College

After seven years at the College, President Clayton Rose announced he will step down from his position at the end of the next academic year. “For me, the decision was a battle between feeling that this is the right moment, given where the College is [in regards to our] Covid-19 response and the personal joy I get from coming to work everyday,” Rose said.

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Admissions

Class of 2026 welcomed to campus for open house

Despite the recent spike in Covid-19 cases on campus, the Office of Admissions is hosting the first in-person open house for admitted students in two years. The admitted Class of 2026 consists of 843 students who were offered admission from a pool of 9,446 applicants, putting the College’s acceptance rate at 8.9 percent.

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Clayton Rose

President Rose to step down at end of the next academic year

In an email to the campus community Tuesday morning, President Clayton Rose announced he will step down as president of the College at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year. “With Bowdoin stronger than it has ever been in virtually every regard and with the clear prospect of life on campus and elsewhere returning to normal in the months ahead as we learn to live with the ups and downs of the virus, the end of the next academic year will be the right time to welcome a new president to the College,” President Rose wrote.

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Faculty

Faculty meeting discusses institutional learning goals

College faculty gathered once again last Monday, April 4, in Daggett Lounge for its monthly faculty meeting. Since Associate Professor of English Emma Maggie Solberg was absent due to illness and could not moderate as usual, Professor of Physics and Chair of the Committee on Governance and Faculty Affairs (GFA) Mark Battle stepped in to conduct the meeting.

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SWAG celebrates trans visibility with talk from author and activist Alex Myers

On Wednesday afternoon, the Sexuality, Women and Gender Center (SWAG) hosted a talk with author and activist Alex Myers in honor of Trans Day of Visibility, which was March 31. In the garage of 24 College Street, Myers discussed what it means to be seen as a transgender person, LGBTQ+ representation and his experiences teaching students about gender identity during a casual, intimate conversation with students and faculty.

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News in Brief

College appoints new director of institutional equality and compliance

In an email to the campus community, Vice President and Interim Chief Diversity Officer Benje Douglas announced that the College has appointed Kate O’Grady as the College’s first director of institutional equality and compliance. O’Grady, the current associate dean of student affairs and community standards, as well as the deputy Title IX coordinator, will transition to the new role on July 1.

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News in Brief

Board of Trustees elects new chair

Effective July 1, Scott B. Perper ’78 will take over as chair of the Board of Trustees. Perper was elected unanimously during a virtual meeting that took place this February. Perper’s election follows the recommendation of an ad hoc committee composed of six trustees and President Clayton Rose.

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Adriana Corral speaks to community on her art and human rights activism

On Thursday night, faculty and students gathered in Kresge Auditorium for a presentation and round table discussion with visual artist and human rights activist Adriana Corral. Corral specializes in interdisciplinary, research-supported installation art, with a focus on global human rights abuses and uncovering untold historical narratives, especially those revolving around gender violence.

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Hofstra Professor Alvaro Enrigue lectures on the fall of Tenochtitlan

On Thursday, April 7, Alvaro Enrigue, associate professor in Romance Languages and Literatures at Hofstra University in New York, spoke to the College community about the fall of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec empire. The award-winning novelist and academic whose articles have appeared in multiple literary publications and newspapers began his lecture by highlighting the fall of Tetnotitchlan’s importance to the modern world.

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Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Angel Matos unveils new book

On Thursday, April 7, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L Library) hosted the final installment of its book launch and discussion series with Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Angel Matos in the Nixon Lounge. Matos co-edited Media Crossroads: Intersections of Space and Identity in Screen Cultures with Pamela Robertson Wojcik and Paula Massood.

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College reinstates mask requirement following increase in positive cases

In an email to the campus community on Tuesday afternoon, President Clayton Rose announced that the College would strengthen Covid-19 restrictions due to an increase in positive Covid-19 cases earlier this week. This policy reversal comes less than a week after an announcement that loosened the mask mandate and detailed hopes of lifting the mandatory testing requirement prior to the end of the semester.

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La’Shaye Cobley ’12 returns to speak on her career in STEM

On Thursday, Bowdoin launched the “Meet the Bowdoin Women in STEM” series with its inaugural event, an interview with La’Shaye Cobley ’12 conducted by Sara Nelson ’22. Cobley graduated Bowdoin with a Bachelors in Biology and Africana Studies and continued her academic career at the University of Utah (UoU), earning a PhD in Biology.

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College awards 2022 honorary degrees

In celebration of fifty years of women at Bowdoin, the College is awarding its yearly honorary degrees to an all-female group of five honorands. The recipients are Katherine Bradford, Janet Langhart-Cohen, Raquel Jaramillo P’18, Laurie Lachance ’83, P’13 and Joan Benoit Samuelson ’79, P’12.

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News in Brief

College sees uptick in positive Covid cases in March

The College currently has a total of 50 active Covid-19 cases, with 42 from students and eight from employees, according to the Covid-19 dashboard. “Some told us they were positive. Many were actually part of teams that were traveling together over break,” Associate Dean for Academic Administration and Covid-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen said.

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BSG

BSG meeting focuses on Ivies weekend

On Wednesday evening, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) held its weekly meeting with special guests Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Janet Lohmann, Director of Student Activities Nate Hintze, Dean of Students Kristina Bethea Odejimi, Associate Dean of Students Khoa Khuong and Associate Dean for Student Affairs Katie Toro-Ferrari to help answer student questions regarding changes to Ivies.

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Benje Douglas appointed interim CDO

After eight years working with the College’s Title IX office, Benje Douglas is transitioning from his position as the College’s Title IX coordinator to vice president and interim chief diversity officer. Douglas attributed his preparation for his new role to the relationships he built in his time with the College.

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News in Brief

Rapper IDK to headline spring concert this April

Rapper IDK will headline this year’s spring concert, along with a student band opener, according to the Entertainment Board (E-Board). The concert will take place on Friday, April 8. “We wanted to bring [IDK] for the fall concert, but the administration did not allow that, so we moved him to the Spring.

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Ivies

College expected to reshape Ivies weekend

Bowdoin’s annual Ivies party—a tradition spanning nearly 150 years—is anticipated to look dramatically different form this year according to multiple sources present at a planning meeting that took place Thursday with members of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), The Entertainment Board, Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Janet Lohmann and Director of Student Activities Nate Hintze.

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