Middlebury Headlines » 2008 » March

Seven-game sweep: Middlebury quidditch squad takes its act on the road | The Boston Globe

tetchell — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:20:00 +0000

Seven-game sweep: Middlebury quidditch squad takes its act on the road The Boston Globe: “Players wearing purple and navy blue capes hopped on brooms and rushed out of tents to a cheering crowd of students and family members, even little kids dressed in wizards hats, who held up signs reading ‘Chasers, Beaters, and Seekers’ and ‘Remember Cedric Diggory.’ They were all here yesterday, on the freshman quad at Amherst College, to watch the campus’s first game of Quidditch, a sport made famous at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

ALSO: The Early Show, from CBS News, caught up with the Middlebury squad during two of its stops, at Amherst and Princeton, and aired reports on the trip on Friday, March 28.
Watch the videos here:

Quidditch for Muggles, featuring sports anchor Greg Gumbel
How to Play Quidditch, featuring reporter Dave Price

350.org: A new initiative to stop global warming | Burlington Free Press

tetchell — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:17:00 +0000

350.org: new initiative to stop global warming Burlington Free Press: “Bill McKibben and recent graduates of Middlebury College have started a grassroots initiative aimed at stopping global warming, 350.org (www.350.org). The group, international in scope, intends to make 350 a commonplace number whose significance is known to people around the world. The initiative will serve as an online center and clearinghouse of ideas concerned with reducing the current level of atmospheric carbon dioxide (about 385 ppm) to an acceptable one: 350 or below.”

Colleges are adopting greener policies and carbon neutral goals. Three of the greenest colleges campuses. | USA WEEKEND Magazine

tetchell — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:23:00 +0000

Colleges are adopting greener policies and carbon neutral goals. Three of the greenest colleges campuses. USA WEEKEND Magazine: “Younger generations hold the future of the Earth in their hands, so it’s no wonder that many colleges are adopting greener policies. In fact, 492 university presidents and chancellors signed on to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, in which they pledge to ‘exercise leadership in their communities … by providing the knowledge and the educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality.’

“According to a recent list, here are some of the greenest:

“Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. The school plans to be carbon neutral by 2016. How will it achieve this? With a proposed biomass plant (to be powered by wood chips) and energy-efficient lighting. Students were the driving force behind the commitment.”

Quidditch sweeps into Princeton – The Daily Princetonian

tetchell — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:32:00 +0000

Quidditch sweeps into Princeton – The Daily Princetonian: “After reading J.K. Rowling’s acclaimed “Harry Potter” series, countless children dreamed of playing every wizard’s favorite game, Quidditch. Unfortunately, these dreams were summarily crushed by a number of factors, most importantly the law of gravity. Perhaps motivated by a desire to do the impossible, or just experiencing a momentary bout of nostalgia, a group of Middlebury College students found a way to bring Quidditch to the Muggle world in fall 2005.”

Commentary Series (VPR): Middlebury’s Jay Parini on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war

tetchell — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:50:00 +0000

Commentary Series (VPR): Fifth Anniversary: “ANNOUNCER: On this Fifth Anniversary of the War in Iraq, commentator, poet and teacher Jay Parini reflects on this particular war – and war in general.

“JAY PARINI: Decades ago, as a student during the height of the conflict in Vietnam, I was reading Homer’s great epic of war, The Iliad. The death of Hector in defense of Troy struck me as one of the most moving things I had ever read. To this day, I remember weeping over the pages of Homer, and wondering that humanity could be so cruel and stupid. Was there really any point to war? Did anybody ever really ‘win’ a war, in that the cycle of violence seems only to pass on to the next generation, and there is never relief from the bloodshed and misery.”

Lawsuit Takes Aim at Wheaton College’s Billing Practices for Study Abroad – New York Times

tetchell — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:44:00 +0000

Lawsuit Takes Aim at Wheaton College’s Billing Practices for Study Abroad – New York Times: “NORTON, Mass. — A month after graduating from Wheaton College, Jennifer Bombasaro-Brady was back on campus urging the student government to ask the state attorney general to investigate the college’s billing practices for students studying abroad. . . .

“A college’s fixed costs do not go down when students leave for a semester, and some institutions have many empty beds during the spring semester, the most popular study-abroad time. A few colleges, including Middlebury, admit first-year students midyear to help fill those beds. But Middlebury does not charge full tuition for those who leave campus.

” “We have parents pay the study-abroad programs directly, so they pay the cost of the program they choose,’ said Jeffrey Cason, Middlebury’s dean of international programs.”

Math Suggests College Frenzy Will Soon Ease – New York Times

tetchell — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:43:00 +0000

Math Suggests College Frenzy Will Soon Ease – New York Times: “High school seniors nationwide are anxiously awaiting the verdicts from the colleges of their choice later this month. But though it may not be of much solace to them, in just a few years the admissions frenzy is likely to ease. It’s simply a matter of demographics. . . .

“It’s kind of a demographic perfect storm in some ways,” said Robert S. Clagett, dean of admissions at Middlebury College. “Because where the increases are going to come are in states where the college-going rate is lower and where those who do go to college primarily stay in the state.”

FOXNews.com – Investigators in Vermont Conduct Air Search for Missing Middlebury College Student

tetchell — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:21:00 +0000

FOXNews.com – Investigators in Vermont Conduct Air Search for Missing Middlebury College Student: “Police were conducting an air search by helicopter Tuesday for evidence in the disappearance of a Middlebury College freshman who has been missing for more than a month.”

7online.com: A ‘posse’ to help kids succeed 3/14/08

tetchell — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:06:00 +0000

7online.com: A ‘posse’ to help kids succeed 3/14/08: “Some students are gaining valuable lessons before they head to college this fall. They’re learning how to adjust and are given a ‘posse’ of friends to lean on. And it seems to work. The program’s members have a high graduation rate.

“The Posse Foundation was created in 1989, and the name has lot to do with what students experience, since groups of them go to college as a team.

“One ‘Posse’ is bound for Middlebury College in Vermont, which is one of more than two dozen colleges or universities offering scholarships to Posse scholars.”

VIDEO LINK AVAILABLE

Art and the College Administrator: Inside Higher Ed

tetchell — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Art and the College Administrator: Inside Higher Ed: “Even a few days later, Branda Miller’s voice rises with anger as she recalls what happened in her course Wednesday at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An artist-in-residence — whose presence had been approved through all official channels — was in the middle of a discussion with her students when three administrators arrived, told her they needed to take the artist with them at once, escorted him to another classroom, and refused to let Miller enter or to offer any explanation to her or her students. Shortly after the disruption of her class, RPI ordered the exhibit set up by the artist — a video game based in part on an Al Qaeda video game involving attempts to kill President Bush — shut down pending a review.

“The furor at RPI is one of several recent incidents involving controversial art in the higher education setting. In all of the cases, issues of safety or security or politics are raised by those questioning or limiting art — while others are in turn raising concerns about academic and artistic freedom.

“At Middlebury College last week, some students are angry over the removal of a a student’s staged art photograph showing another student with a toy gun in his mouth. “