Tuesday (April 16) at 4:30 in the Robert A. Jones Conference Room
Come and enjoy a thesis reading of poems revolving around art vandalism–from the beheading of The Little Mermaid statue in 1964 to the botched “Ecce Mono” fresco restoration in August 2012! A slideshow of the damaged artwork will accompany the performance.
SPRING 2013 RETURN OF UNSOLD TEXTBOOKS
This week, March 18 – 22, the College Book Store will be returning all unsold used textbooks.
We need to begin the process of returning unsold textbooks to suppliers. Please purchase or rent any books you need for the remainder of the Spring 2013 term before they become unavailable.
If circumstances compel you to delay a purchase or rental further, please let the Book Store staff know so we can attempt to accommodate your needs.
Next week, March 25 – 29 (Spring Break ), we will begin to return new textbooks for classes which use only one main text.
Shortly after Spring Break we will start returning all remaining new textbooks.
SPRING 2013 RETURN OF UNSOLD TEXTBOOKS
The College Book Store needs to begin the process of returning unsold textbooks to suppliers. Please purchase or rent any books you need for the remainder of the Spring 2013 term before they become unavailable.
If circumstances compel you to delay a purchase or rental further, please let the Book Store staff know so we can attempt to accommodate your needs.
During the week March 18 – 22 we will be returning all unsold used textbooks.
The following week, March 25 – 29 (Spring Break ) we will begin to return new textbooks for classes which use only one main text.
Shortly after Spring Break we will start returning all remaining new textbooks.
SUBMIT! SUBMIT! SUBMIT!
Blackbird invites you to submit poetry, short-stories, creative nonfiction, or hybrid writing creations for our Spring issue.
The Deadline is March 13th!
go/blackbird for more details.
Join us in celebrating the diversity of a Middlebury education. The Spring Student Symposium will begin in the Mahaney Center for the Arts on Thursday night, April 18, with a keynote speech by Cassidy Freeman ’05 and student presentations. It will continue all day Friday, April 19th, with activities in McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Johnson and MCA.
We invite students from all four years and in all departments and programs to participate in this event. If you have done research in a class, independently, or at an internship; or would like to read, screen, or perform a creative work; if you have a project to present in a poster or oral format, please apply to present your academic work. The deadline is March 5th.
More information and the application are available on the Undergraduate Research Office website at http://go.middlebury.edu/sym
“Refresh Your Mind: Guided and Drop-In Meditation, Dec. 10-15”
Stressing about finals? Mitchell Greene Lounge in McCullough will be open and set up for meditation from 6 AM to 11 PM during finals week. Simple printed meditation instructions are available, so drop in anytime.
Guided meditations will also be offered at 9:00 AM, 12:30 PM, 4:30 PM, and 8:00 PM each day. These will be twenty minutes long and will be facilitated by faculty members Rebecca Gould, John Huddleston, Chris Shaw, John Spackman, and Catharine Wright, as well as experienced student facilitators Adeline Cleveland and Blake Harper, and Parton Counseling staff.
Meditation teaches relaxation and concentration: so come, take a break, and refresh your mind! Sponsored by Parton Counseling.
M Gallery is pleased to present “Interwoven: Images of Rehwa” a photo-documentary exhibition by Middlebury senior, Esme Lutz. In documenting the work of the Rehwa Society, Emse Lutz has created a body of visually appealing images with which to further awareness of Rehwa and draw attention to organizations that preserve cultural traditions while supporting underprivileged demographics.
Dates: 11.16.2012 – 12.2.2012
Opening: 11.16.2012 | 7-9pm
http://themgallery.org/page2/page7/index.html
Contact Cha Tori for more information
Based on the tradition of NPR’s The Moth and The Middlebury Moth, The Larva is the newest MiddCORE workshop that provides training in storytelling.
We provide a smaller crowd and expect shorter stories – and include a renowned speaker and surprise community guest
THURSDAY, NOV 15 | 7–9pm | PALMER HOUSE
THURSDAY, DEC 6 | 7–9pm | PALMER HOUSE
Participants are limited. To register, e-mail: MiddCORE@middlebury.edu
Please join us for the following lecture:
Terrorism Financing: How Does It Work and How Can We Stop It?
Moyara de Moraes Ruehsen
Monterey Institute of International Studies
7:30 PM, Thursday, 11/15
Robert A. Jones ’59 House conference room
Moyara de Moraes Ruehsen is Associate Professor at Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is a certified anti-money laundering specialist (CAMS) and regularly consults for the private sector, and US and foreign governments on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AMS/CTF) matters. Her most recent assignment was with the Federation of Iraqi Private Banks in Baghdad. Professor Ruehsen will be talking about how terrorists raise and move their funds, and strategies that policy makers can pursue to go after the money. She will illustrate the problem using several case studies.
Sponsored by Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, International and Global Studies, and C.V. Starr Foundation.
On Friday, October 12, 2012, Middlebury College welcomed His Holiness the Dalai Lama to campus. An announcement was made that in honor of the visit from the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, the College had chosen to demonstrate ethical leadership in divesting its endowment from war and environmental destruction. In reality, the satirical notice about Middlebury’s divestment was written by us, a group of students concerned that the College embraces practices inconsistent with its own proclaimed values. We apologize for creating an excitement that is not yet warranted, and call on the college community to take action.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama told the College, “Education is supposed to reduce the gap between appearance and reality.” Our intent was to bring attention to the unsettling reality that Middlebury has millions of dollars invested in industries of violence, while we appear to stand for universal compassion and peace.
Middlebury College has not received better than a “C” on endowment transparency from the College Sustainability Report Card. While the specific companies in which the endowment is invested have never been disclosed to the student body, Investure—the firm that manages Middlebury’s endowment—confirmed last spring that they do not screen for arms manufacturing, military contractors, or fossil fuel companies. Given that these are among the most profitable industries in existence, it is safe to say that they are included in our portfolio. Our complicity has on-the-ground implications: US-made weapons fueling the drug wars in Mexico, drone attacks killing civilians in Pakistan, and the Keystone XL pipeline threatening communities from Canada to the Gulf. Our choice to value monetary gain over human life epitomizes the declaration of His Holiness that “we have become slaves of money. We put too much emphasis on money, facilities, fame.
In the classrooms, we continue to learn about how to best be global citizens and address the challenges of today, but the chairs in our rooms, the books in our libraries, and the paychecks of our professors are funded by returns from corporations and organizations that are fueling war and environmental degradation. While the benefits reaped from these returns maintain comfort and complacency, the only way to assuage our ethical dissonance is to act now and divest.
There is a long history of academic institutions divesting to demonstrate their values. In the 1980s, for instance, over one hundred and fifty colleges, including Middlebury, divested from South African companies to oppose apartheid. Today, a new call to divest is being heard around the nation: last Saturday, Bill McKibben—founder of 350.org and Middlebury College Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Residence—kicked off the national “Do the Math” campaign, urging universities to divest from fossil fuels. According to the campaign, “It just doesn’t make sense for universities to invest in a system that will leave their students no livable planet to use their degrees on.” We have divested in the past; why doesn’t Middlebury embrace divesting from war and fossil fuels today?
The Dalai Lama stated in his final lecture at the College that “peace will come through our active action.” While our endowment funds the dropping of bombs thousands of miles away, their reverberations echo through the halls of our campus. We have no luxury of delay. We must take responsibility now, and contribute towards making the 21st century, as the Dalai Lama insisted, “the century of peace.”
Vermont media is already stepping up to make the call (Seven Days 10/18/12: “Middlebury College Prank Turns Focus on Endowment,” VT Digger 10/18/12: “Middlebury Students Distribute Fake Press Release Claiming College Divested ‘Industries of Violence’ Investments,” and VPR News 10/18/12: “Hoax Press Release Authors Call for Middlebury Divestment”). Please join us in raising our voices together at go/compassion.
Tim Schornak, Director of the College Office of Communications of the Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee,
AKA: Molly Stuart 15.5, Jay Saper ‘13, Jenny Marks ‘14.5, Sam Koplinka-Loehr ‘13, Amitai Ben-Abba ‘15.5, and a growing contingent.
Please note: Tim Schornak is not affiliated with any formal student organization.
