Today, I am writing about plates. It seems almost comical that this is the subject of my post, but since pilfered dishes have been a major topic of discussion throughout campus lately, I’d like to bring up an aspect of this issue that has not received much attention. We’ve talked about the extremely high cost [...]
Dear Readers, I asked Natasha Chang to share with us part of her story, and to talk about why she decided to do her work as a faculty member and Commons dean. In this week’s post, Natasha shares her experience about finding a sense of identity and provides a very personal and enlightening viewpoint. As [...]
The recent, very sad events at Rutgers University have lain heavily on my mind—and that of many others within our community. For Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, the world should have been opening up with exciting, new possibilities; yet, soon after beginning college, he ended his own life. He was beaten down by the unthinking cruelty [...]
As the Class of 2014 and I start the school year together, we share a similar sense of excitement and anticipation of what life at Middlebury will be like. We may also share some concerns and questions. And as I step into my new role as the dean of the college, there is one question [...]
The wires have been silent here since the holidays for reasons I will explain in my next post—in the next week or so. But the point of this post is to engage the The Campus‘ ill-informed editorializing on the recent decision not to include the MiddView program in next year’s first-year Orientation. To get a [...]
The Commons system was founded in 1992 for several reasons, but probably the most important reason was the desire to create stronger intellectual communities outside the classroom. Behind the emergence of the Commons was the complicated history of the fraternities, and the belief—held by administrators, trustees, and some faculty—that social life at Middlebury lacked options. This [...]
It is true, as Ryan Kellett recently observed on MiddBlog, that this week marks a 10-year anniversary for the Commons. On October 31, 1998, the Middlebury Board of Trustees approved the development of a residential system based on three cornerstones: 1) continuing residency for all students in a single Commons; 2) proximate housing for a [...]
Ever since Commencement I’ve been meaning to close out the year with some comments about the past eight months at Middlebury and some thoughts about what’s in store for next year. Rather than repeat what I’ve already covered in other posts, I will try to distill these thoughts into an agenda that we are likely [...]
Consider the following account, written by a staff member in Dining Services, which appeared in one of the incident reports that Public Safety filed this weekend: Saturday night in Ross dining hall I witnessed several intoxicated students. I saw one student taking a whole bottle of half and half and asked him why he was [...]
We’ve talked, blogged, and held forums on the 4/2 Commons plan. Here now is an outline for implementing it. This approach, which is an update of the housing scenarios that President Liebowitz and I described this fall (see the postings below and Ron on Middlebury), will guide this year’s room draw. Please leave a comment [...]
