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College operations were disrupted last week as campus authorities enforced a lockout in response to last Wednesday’s mass shootings in Lewiston. While the College canceled classes and most of its operations last Thursday and Friday along with some Family Weekend programming on Saturday, several departments continued to operate while the suspect was still at large.
Campus has been feeling electric lately—Bowdoin Facilities Management is aiming to switch entirely to electric vehicles and equipment by 2028. Facilities started this initiative two years ago as a part of Bowdoin’s broader Climate Action Plan for the campus to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2042, and it has made significant strides towards this goal since then.
Extreme cold temperatures last weekend were not only record-breaking, but also pipe-breaking, as flooding in Coles Tower, Memorial Hall and Hawthorne-Longfellow (H-L) Library forced evacuations and damaged building infrastructure. Just after 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, a burst pipe on the second floor of Coles Tower created a ruckus and set off the fire alarm in the building.
Extreme temperature lows this weekend require students and facilities to prepare for potential plumbing and heating breakdowns. With an expected low of -17 degrees on Friday night and winds up to 20 mph, students are being advised to stay in place, avoid spending time outside and ensure that all windows and doors are properly closed.
On Friday, several buildings on campus lost power when a storm caused a tree branch to fall across two live wires on Federal Street. Buildings situated around the Main Quad, which include most academic buildings and first-year dorms, were hit hardest.
Moulton Hall resumed service on Tuesday for dinner, ending a 13-day power outage associated with a faulty main breaker. The outage halted the dining hall’s operations, leaving Thorne Hall as the only dining option leading up to fall break.
Over spring break, facilities on campus underwent several notable upgrades, the most prominent of which were the introduction of OneCard-restricted access to Hubbard Hall and new signage in and on the exterior of the connecting Sargent Gymnasium and David Saul Smith Union.
A College employee who works in Rhodes Hall tested positive for COVID-19 in Wednesday’s testing, COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen announced in a community-wide email Thursday afternoon. According to Ranen, this case is the second positive reported in Rhodes Hall in seven days.
On Wednesday the College announced that the new building that will house the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum will be named the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies in honor of trustee emeritus John A Gibbons Jr.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought intercollegiate athletics to a grinding stop, the College’s move to “Yellow” status has allow students to use athletic facilities starting last Monday. In an email sent to the Bowdoin community on February 17 by Ashmead White Director of Athletics Tim Ryan, wrote students could use the Buck Center for Health and Fitness, Greason Pool and Lubin Squash Courts as long as the campus stays in “Yellow” status.
Last Saturday, water from a burst pipe in Moulton Union damaged walls, ceiling tiles and furniture in one room on the first floor of the building and also caused a leak in the dining hall located in the basement.
Beginning at 5 a.m. on the Sunday after students finish their exams, Bowdoin’s housekeeping staff will work for 10 straight days, many of them for 10 hours, readying the school for graduation and reunion in the following weeks.
The College knows that members of Bowdoin’s house- and groundskeeping staff regularly struggle to make ends meet, as we reported this week in the Orient. In addition, the Orient has learned that workers in dining make similarly low wages.
A formal groundbreaking ceremony for the Roux Center for the Environment—a new environmental studies building to be located on the corner of College Street and Harpswell Road—will take place on May 12. The project remains on track to open in the fall of 2018.
