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Women’s Tennis

The Middlebury women’s tennis team kicks off its official season this Saturday with a doubleheader, facing Brandeis at 8 a.m., followed by Wellesley at 2 p.m. After a winter of training spent confined to the Bubble, the recent advent of spring weather has the team excited to return to the Proctor courts once again.

The team heads into the spring, packed with 17 regular season matches, with a roster that includes only three upperclassmen: Whitney Hanson ’11, and co-captains Annie Weinberg ’10 and Jamie Harr ’10. Under their leadership, the squad, which boasts two of the strongest recruiting classes in recent years, has been honed into a highly competitive NESCAC team.

Tori Aiello ’12, standout rookie of the 2008-2009 season, returns to reassert her dominance in an increasingly competitive Panther squad that features five talented first-year players. Brittany Faber ’13, a Minnesota native, has proven herself a force to be reckoned with after an impressive showing in the fall.

At the end of the spring season last year, the Panthers were ranked third in the Northeast among D-III schools as reported by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, surpassed only by NESCAC rivals Williams and Amherst. After a spring break training trip, the squad kicks off NESCAC play on April 10 with a conference doubleheader against Wesleyan and Trinity. Schedule difficulty increases throughout the season, reaching its zenith just before the NESCAC tournament begins, facing Amherst, Williams, and Tufts (ranked one-two-three at the end of the fall season) in the final two weeks leading up to postseason play.

With the addition of several talented first-years, the Panthers are hoping to build on the successes of the past and assert themselves as a dominant figures in the NESCAC. With such a packed schedule, they will definitely have ample opportunity to prove their worth.

—Alyssa O’Gallagher, Sports Editor

Track and Field

With a strong pool of returning athletes and a talented first-year class, the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams are preparing for a successful season this spring.

The women’s team hopes to top its 2009 season, which culminated in an impressive second-place finish in the NESCAC Championship with four athletes qualifying for the NCAA Championship, and three school records and one NESCAC record smashed. All four of last year’s NCAA athletes—Kaitlynn Saldanha ’11 (800m), Alice Wisener ’11 (400m hurdles), Margo Cramer ’12 (1500m), and Rebecca Fanning ’12 (800m)—are returning to build on last year’s success.

Other returning veterans include All-American Alexandra Kreig ’10 and All-NESCAC athletes Grace Close ’11 (4×400m relay), Laura Dalton ’10 (4×400m relay), Nicole Dvorak ’11 (pole vault), Katy Magill ’11 (4×400m relay) and Mia Martinez ’12 (110m hurdles). Leading the Middlebury women this year will be tri-captains Dalton, Anjuli Demers ’10 and Annie Sullivan ’10.

On the men’s side, the Panthers are looking to improve on their sixth-place finish in last year’s NESCAC championship. Returning 2009 All-NESCAC performers include Addison Godine ’11 (4×400m relay), Ethan Mann ’12 (4×400m relay), Michael Schmidt ’12 (1000m), Connor Wood’11 (4×400m relay), and Micah Wood ’10 (400m dash, 4×400m relay). The Middlebury men will be led by tri-captains Victor Guevara ’10, Michael Waters ’10, and Micah Wood ’10.

“Outlook is good,” says Schmidt, who is confident in the abilities of both teams. “Both the men and women had one of the most successful indoor seasons ever. We also have some runners doing outdoor who didn’t do indoor or were injured, so with them back in the mix we should be even stronger. We’re set to improve in every event and hopefully compete very well at NESCACs.”

The Panthers will travel to San Diego, Calif., over spring break to compete in two invitational meets before returning to the east coast to start their official season on April 3.

—Dana Callahan, Staff Writer

Baseball

The Middlebury College baseball team will take to the diamond for the first time this season on Saturday, looking to reverse a trend of consecutive losing seasons since winning the NESCAC title in 2006.

“Last year’s team was really kind of underachieving,” said pitcher Dirk Van Duym ’12. “If we all play up to our capabilities this year, we should be in a position to be very competitive and successful.”

Last year’s team finished 14-16 overall and 3-9 in NESCAC play, hitting a scintillating .326 but also giving up a team ERA of 6.75.

“Pitching has been a major focus for us in the preseason,” said Van Duym. “We weren’t very good in that area last year and really feel as though we can make big improvements there.”

The pitching rotation this year will be anchored by players from all classes, with Matt Lowes ’10, Nick Angstman ’11, Will Baine ’12 and John Wiet ’13 looking to make contributions as starters. Baine will also see time at shortstop in the place of injured tri-captain Danny Seymour ’10, who could miss up to half of the season with a facial injury. The other captains of this year’s team are outfielder Erich Enns ’10 and third baseman Donny McKillop ’11, who hit .439 and .435 last year, respectively. The team is also looking for contributions from the 12 new first-years added to the roster this year. Tom Driscoll ’13 and Joe Conway ’13.5 could start right away, and with Seymour out the starting nine could feature only one senior player in the field — Enns.

“It’s a young team,” said Van Duym, “but we have enough talent to be competitive right away.” The Panthers open play against Trinity before making the annual trip to Arizona over spring break, where they will play nine games in seven days, including a key three-game series with Williams. The most important thing is to improve our record in NESCAC play,” concluded Van Duym, “and hopefully be in a position to make the playoffs at the end of the season.”

—Dillon Hupp, Staff Writer

Softball

The Middlebury varsity softball team has “high hopes for this season,” looking to improve on its record of 17-15 from one year ago, according to co-captain Kristin Maletsky ’10. Thanks to a tough preseason training regimen, the Panthers have positioned themselves for vast improvement in the upcoming 2010 campaign. With the loss of only two seniors to graduation, including standout third baseman Amelia Magistrali ’09, Middlebury seems poised to perform at a high level.

“Of all my years as part of Middlebury softball, I strongly believe this is the year where we’re most ready and able to accomplish our goals,” said co-captain Sophie Dorot ’10, who plays catcher for the Panthers. The team worked on improving its offense this preseason, an area of concern last year. “We are hoping,” said Maletsky, “that with stronger hitting and a solid defense, we will be more successful than we were last year and win many more games.”

For Megan Margel ’11, who plays first base and earned second-team all-NESCAC honors for 2009, offense has rarely been an issue in the past. Unlike last year, however, this Panthers squad features five first-years and one rookie sophomore “who are all excellent players and will certainly add a lot to the team,” added Maletsky. Unfortunately for both Maletsky and the Panthers, however, the senior outfielder will be out for the season due to shoulder surgery.

Middlebury will begin the season over spring break in Florida against Bates College on March 20. Over the break, Middlebury has 12 games in six days before returning to Vermont, where the first home game of the season will take place on April 9 against Hamilton College.

“The trip will be a great opportunity to see where [the Panthers] stack up against the league overall,” said Head

Coach Kelly Bevere ’99, who has been with the team for four years. If all goes as advertised, the 2010 Middlebury softball team should prove a threat to its opponents behind greatly improved hitting and solid leadership.

—Addison DiSesa

Women’s Lacrosse

The Middlebury women’s lacrosse team will look to finish what it started last season. The Panthers fell just short with a loss to Hamilton in the NCAA regional final. The Panthers ended the season with an overall record of 11-6.

It looks to be a promising year for the team; despite graduating six talented players, Middlebury’s offense will remain largely in tact. Last year’s leading goal-scorer Chase Delano ’11 will combine with offensive threats Dana Heritage ’10 and Sally Ryan ’11 to lead Middlebury’s attack. Heritage ’10 is one of three captains this year, along with Catherine Gotwald ’10 and Carrie Sparkes ’10, who will anchor Middlebury’s defense.

The team is young this year so the first-years and sophomores will need to step into bigger roles. Liz Garry ’12 had a strong rookie season last year on attack and she will be joined by first-year Ellen Halle ’13 and Margaret Souther ’13 on offense. First-years Dani DeMarco ’13 and Michaela Colbert ’13 are also looking strong in the midfield.

“We’re a fairly young team this year, but our rookie class is strong and they will be able to step into important roles on the field from the get-go,” said Delano.

Sophomore Lily Nguyen ’12 will step into net for the Panthers, as goalie Blair Bowie ’09 graduated last year. Bowie was a second-team All-NESCAC and first-team All-Region selection in her senior season.

“Although we graduated one of the best goalies in the NESCAC last year, Lily has really stepped up her game and we feel very confident with her in the net,” added Delano.

Middlebury will play its first game of the season against Bates at home on Saturday, March 13, at 12 p.m.

— Julia Ireland, Staff Writer

Men’s Rugby

On a cold, windy Saturday afternoon on the sidelines of Youngman field, the men of the Middlebury rugby team are tackling, passing, and scrumming their hearts out in preparation for their spring season.

Led by two of the youngest captains the Middlebury College Rugby Club (MCRC) has ever seen, Rowan Hall Kelner ’12 and Brian Sirkia ’12.5, the Panthers are excited to begin their march toward the Division II National Championship, an honor they have claimed in two out of the past four seasons. The team is especially anxious to return to action after its loss to fellow UVM at the end of the fall season.

“Were ready to make up for that heartbreaker” said Geoff Kalan ’12.5, the most improved player from the fall season.

“We lost a few guys from last year’s squad but gained some new, motivated players as well.”

“I’m excited to join a winning tradition. It’s a hard sport to learn, but I’m going to help out where I can” said Kyle Courtney ’12, one of the fresh faces joining the Panthers for the spring season. “I hope the team can repeat its success from last year,” Courtney added, speaking of the 27-11 victory over Wisconsin that gave the MCRC it’s second national championship.

The Panthers look poised and ready for the battles to come.

Middlebury kicks off its spring season with a friendly game against Boston University on March 20.

— Andrew Silver, Staff Writer

Men’s Lacrosse

The Panthers, coming off of a trip to the NCAA Final Four last spring, have high expectations for the 2010 season. Last year the men’s lacrosse team fell to rival Wesleyan in the NESCAC semis before surging into a strong NCAA tournament run that nevertheless “left a bitter taste in [their] mouths,” according to co-captain Jeff Begin ’10. Despite losing a strong class of graduating seniors, including starting goalie Pete Britt ’09 and three-time All-American Mike Stone ’09, the team expects to take a strong step forward this season.

“The team is very balanced and deep at all positions and playing confidently,” said co-captain Pete Smith ’10. The returning players provide a large measure of leadership and talent to the squad, and both captains expressed excitement about the strong class of first-years entering the mix. Smith especially noted the potential of first-year Johnny Duvnjak ’13 to contribute defensively and that of Brian Foster ’13 to control the midfield. Bregin, meanwhile, prophesied standout seasons for attackman Jack Balaban ’12 and preseason All-American Matt Rayner ’12.

Currently ranked eighth nationally in D-III, the team is approaching the upcoming season with ambition and anticipation. “The team is psyched,” said Smith, and determined to exceed the accomplishments of last year’s squad. The Panthers already compete at the highest levels of Division III and among one of the most competitive conferences in the nation; the emerging men’s lacrosse dynasty, however, wants more, and is in hot pursuit of another NCAA championship. The team has not captured an NCAA title since 2002, and in the opinion of the captains, it’s about time that changed.

“We believe we are just as strong, if not stronger, than years past,” said Bregin. As it is still early on in the season, the team has a lot of work to do, but seems to possess the determination and strong work ethic to accomplish its goals.

“Our team’s approach is a ‘make every day count’ mentality,” said Smith. “We don’t look too far ahead, but I think we will find success in taking each day and game one at a time.” The Panthers will be taking their first step on the path to NCAA glory in this Saturday’s season-opener at Bates.

— Katie Siegner, Sports Editor

Golf

Middlebury enters the second half of its season with high expectations. The winner in two of the last three NESCAC tournaments, Middlebury once again qualified for the championship, which will be held at Williams College this spring. The Panthers are led into spring competition by the stellar play of first-year Andrew Emerson ’13. Emerson, a first-team All-NESCAC choice this fall, finished tied for third in the qualifier at Williams.

Emerson also received Rookie of the Year honors for his play in the tournament. Jimmy Levins ’11, who helped lead the squad to the NESCAC crown last spring, returns as well to defend the team’s championship. Levins posted a 149 at qualifiers, finishing one stroke behind Emerson.

In order to repeat its success from last year, however, Middlebury will need to continue to see big performances out of the rest of the team as well.

“It’s definitely a team effort,” said Brian Cady ’11, who helped Middlebury to victory with a crucial performance in last year’s tournament. “You need to have depth to win at this level.”

“Every year the players are getting better,” added Levins, one of eight returning varsity players, “so the expectation is that you have to be improving yourself every day in practice.”

The team will kick off its season with a trip to North Carolina over spring break in order to prepare for the upcoming season. They plan to play one of the best courses in the country at Pinehurst. Tackling courses of that difficulty will surely help the Panthers hone their skills for the pressures of NESCAC competition.

—Robbie Redmond, Staff Writer

Men’s Tennis

Back on the courts this weekend, the Middlebury men’s tennis team commences its spring season sizzling with confidence. By all accounts, the Panthers are ready to take New England and the nation by storm.

“This is the strongest team we have had in my four years,” noted returning tri-captain Andrew Thomson ’10. “Coach [Dave] Schwarz has not been shy at defining our ultimate goal this season: to win an NCAA national championship.”

The Panthers return all of their players from last year, including Thomson, fellow tri-captains Andrew Lee ’10 and Conrad Olson ’10, and seniors Peter Odell ’10, Eliot Jia ’10, and Chris Mason ’10. Last fall, Thomson and Lee paired up to capture the ITA Small College New England regional and national doubles championships. Andrew Peters ’11 is also back as last fall’s national runner-up in singles play.

Middlebury also boasts an extensive and balanced roster, from its many returning stars to five promising first-years who have been working hard to earn some reps on the court. Alec Parower ’13 is one good example; “he has been training especially hard and is capable of making a big contribution for us this year,” remarked Odell. It is still unclear who will emerge as the team’s number one player, as they all have been playing at such a high level which, notes Lee, “is one heckuva problem to have!”

The Panthers have been in the gym every day and are eager to showcase their strength.

“For me, March 13 is like Christmas come early,” says an excited Thomson. “It has been apparent by our fall results and off-season work ethic that we have just gotten better since last year. A triple header [versus NYU, Connecticut College and Brandeis] to get us started. I love tennis and I cannot wait to compete with our group this year.”

—Will Silton, Staff Writer

The Panthers fell to Gordon in NCAA play. / Andrew Podrygula

A.J. Gordon founded Gordon College in 1889 as a Catholic school “to prepare the people of God to do the work of God in bold and creative ways.” On Friday, however, either the school basketball team was not as prepared as Mr. Gordon intended his students to be, or getting out of Pepin Gymnasium with a win just wasn’t in the ultimate plan. The Fighting Scots (which is somewhat of an enigma to begin with, seeing that the Catholic god does not support fighting, nor was he Scottish), appeared overmatched early, but closed the half on an 11-2 run to go into the locker room down only three.

After Middlebury was able to extend its lead to 16 following the break, Gordon surprisingly refused to give up and battled back to keep the game to within single digits for much of the second half, but witnessing their efforts was reminiscent of watching 67-year-old Dick Bavetta trying to chase down a backpedaling, although overweight, Charles Barkley. Bavetta blew out his knee in the endeavor.

Eventually, behind a team-high 17 from Nolan Thompson ’13, a double-double from captain Tim Edwards ’9.5, and a school-record 13 blocks from Andrew Locke ’11, the Panthers disposed of the Fighting Scots 64-57. With the performance, Locke bested the former school record held by none other than Andrew Locke ’11, and helped force Gordon to shoot with Stevie Wonder-type precision in the second half; the team connected on only 21.4 percent of its attempts from the field.

The next test for the Panthers was the Rhode Island College Anchormen, who were coming off a first-round win against Rutgers-Newark. Middlebury began the game uncharacteristically cold, missing on all nine of its attempts in the first six minutes of play. Down 11-1 before they made their first field goal, the Panthers immediately found themselves in an uphill battle. The Rhode Island lead grew to as large as 18 in the second half, but was cut to just six with seven minutes to play. The Anchormen remained tough down the stretch, however, and came away with a 75-59 win.

Ryan Sharry ’12 led Middlebury with 25 points and 14 boards. With the victory, Rhode Island earned a trip to Williams College next weekend, and although the loss was difficult for the Panthers, any amount of time that you do not have to spend in Williamstown, Mass., is bound to make one’s life that much less depressing.

Following the season, both Tim Edwards and Ryan Sharry were designated as Second Team All-NESCAC performers, and for the second year in a row, Edwards was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. He will graduate as Middlebury College’s all-time leader in steals. The 25 wins recorded by the Panthers this season was the most in school history, and the graduating seniors — Edwards, Kevin Kelleher ’10 and Bill Greven ’10 will finish their careers with 79 wins, a NESCAC Championship, and two NCAA tournament appearances, figures that are unmatched by any other group in school history. The loss of these seniors will certainly be felt by next year’s team, but the Panthers will also be returning six of their seven players who recorded starts this season. Good reason to believe, according to junior Ashton Coughlin ’11, “We won’t end next year on a loss.”

Heidi Woodworth ’11 opened the scoring for Middlebury, tallying the Panthers’ first and only goal a mere three minutes into the game, with an assist from Ashley Bairos ’10 and Anna McNally ’11. The Panthers only slightly outshot the Bantams, though captain Lani Wright ’10 blocked two particularly difficult shots from the Trinity players, setting the tone for her outstanding performance throughout the game.

The second period once again saw heated action on both sides of the ice, both teams giving it their all. The commentator for the live Internet broadcast of the game noted that neither team was prepared to go home without a fight, not knowing at the time how true these words would ring. After a few close calls, Trinity’s Britney McKenna managed to tie up the game at 12:31 as she knocked the puck past Wright to put Bowdoin on the board.

Pushing hard to take back the lead, Middlebury’s skaters kept up the aggressive plays, once again holding the shot advantage over the Bantams and providing goaltender Isabel Iwachiw with plenty of action. Nevertheless, for the next 70 minutes of play the two squads remained locked in a stalemate.

One overtime period after another went by scoreless. With both sides refusing to let up and go home empty-handed, the game looked as though it might last forever. For the seniors on the ice, most of whom have been playing hockey since they could barely walk, this game had the potential to be the last of their careers, and these women were determined to make it count.

By the fourth overtime period, when the skaters had played well past their last ounce of energy and were running on pure adrenaline, Payson Sword managed to sneak a shot past Wright and end the game.

“After 6 1/2 periods you knew the ending wasn’t going to be pretty, and the final goal showed that,” said assistant captain Marjie Billings ’10.

While the Panthers numbly skated off the ice in disbelief, the Bantams collapsed onto one another, celebrating what would be their first appearance in the NESCAC title game.

“We went in to the game aiming to play the best game yet, and hoping for another week but that wasn’t the case,” Billings added. “Lani played the most unbelievable game I have seen her play in all my four years.”

Indeed, Wright made 54 beautiful saves in the game, refusing to let Trinity infiltrate her territory and fending off some of the most aggressive shots the Panthers had encountered all season.

“Although losing the game was incredibly disappointing, we left everything on the ice,” said assistant captain Heather McCormack. “No one gave up — we worked as hard as we could until the minute the game ended.”

“We fought hard for [the equivalent of] two full hockey games, which will be an experience we will all remember,” added Woodworth.

Though their season is now over, the Panthers have provided their fans with a truly exciting winter, displaying talent and grit that impressed everyone who witnessed them play.

“This year was one of the most fun seasons in terms of team chemistry,” said Billings, reflecting on the past months. “The [first-years] were a huge part of that this year and they made an unbelievable impact. On top of that, I am leaving this team having made some of the best friends ever, which just goes to show you what Middlebury teams are all about. That can’t be measured from a winning or losing season.”

The team ends it season with a record of 16-7-3, marking the first time in nine years that the Panthers will not participate in the NCAA playoffs. This statistic does not reflect a diminshed level of talent and commitment on the part of the Middlebury women, however. Rather, it represents the dramatic increase in the number of phenomenal players recruited to D-III teams, particularly in the NESCAC conference. Almost every program in the NESCAC has grown into a formidable opponent, and Middlebury no longer stands alone at the top. Nevertheless, such competition can only make the Panthers better.

Middlebury will lose four seniors this year, as Ashley Bairos ’10, Wright, Billings and McCormack will be graduating in May.

Despite the fact that Middlebury beat Bowdoin 5-2 during the regular season, the Polar Bears had still earned the first seed in NESCAC tournament play.

Furthermore, the Panthers’ domination in the NESCAC has been challenged of late; the past two years, Middlebury failed to win NESCAC championships and consequently did not receive a bid into the NCAA playoffs.

The men took to the ice with a vengeance on Saturday afternoon as they contested Trinity in the semifinal match. They skated to a 4-2 win over Trinity. The men started strong and were up 4-0 by the end of the second period.

Two of the four goals were scored on power play opportunities, and four different players scored, showing the depth of the Panther offense. Ken Suchoski ’11 started the scoring on the power play, assisted by Townsend and tri-captain Bryan Curran ’11.

Middlebury picked up the intensity in the second period, with goals by all-NESCAC forward Martin Drolet ’12 and Mathieu Dubuc ’13. Fantastic defense during a five-on-three situation during the second period kept the Panthers up by three.

Late in the period, the Panthers had a five-on-three opportunity of their own, and the Bantams witnessed tri-captain John Sullivan ’10 score his first goal of the game.

The Bantams had a plethora of opportunities to score late in the game, including a two-man advantage and an open-net situation in the closing minutes of the game, but failed to find the net.

John Yanchek ’12 was strong between the pipes for Middlebury, making 26 saves. Eleven of these saves came in the first period, preventing Trinity from getting an early lead, which the Panthers have sometimes found difficult to rebound from. This victory earned Middlebury a spot in the NESCAC finals the following day, where they would face Bowdoin.

The return to the NESCAC finals meant a lot to all of the players, but it was especially significant for returning players who had watched their team fall in the finals for two straight years after nearly a decade of NESCAC dominance.

For all the seniors on the team, Sunday marked their last chance to play in a NESCAC final. The pressure was on, and in front of 2,300 fans in Bowdoin’s Watson Arena and many more watching online, the men took to the ice.

“The atmosphere at Bowdoin was unreal,” commented Chris Brown ’13. “I think our whole team really fed off of being the away team in such a packed house. The [Middlebury] fans who made the trek to support us really made it special, too.”

The Panthers started the game strong, seeing two goals in the first period from Dubuc, who has proven himself to be a prolific scorer. The first of these two goals came after a Bowdoin penalty, when Dubuc scored off of a picture-perfect feed from Charlie Strauss ’12. Dubuc again found net off of a Nick Resor ’12 feed during a five-on-three power play later in the period.

“Bowdoin is one of the most physical teams we play, and we took advantage of the power plays to score two goals,” said Chris Steele .’13

Bowdoin gained some momentum in the second period as Polar Bear Ryan Blossom scored on a breakaway. During the second period, the teams traded five-on-three power play opportunities, but neither could find the back of the net.

The first part of the third period saw frantic play with lots of hustle, but neither team capitalized on any scoring opportunity until Bowdoin tied the game with 9:23 to play.

The excitement mounted as the seconds ticked away and the game looked like it would surely go into an overtime period. As the clock passed two minutes, the puck was on the Panthers’ defensive end and they were fiercely fighting off Bowdoin’s offense.

“The leadership on the team really helped us get through the game, keeping us aggressive even after Bowdoin tied it,” said Eric Zagorski ’13.

When play was tipped into the neutral zone, Townsend seized the opportunity to run away with the puck. After getting a feed from AJ Meyer ’10, Townsend emerged with it, skated into the Bowdoin zone and shot from the right circle. His shot hit the top left corner of the goal, putting Middlebury up 3-2 with 1:42 on the clock. Watson Arena went silent.

The Polar Bears pulled their goalie at 1:34, but couldn’t score the tying goal, giving the Panthers their first NESCAC championship since 2007. For his effort in the game, Townsend was named NESCAC Player of the Week, culminating a fantastic four years of Middlebury hockey.

“Every single person came out and played three periods of good hockey, right down to the last minute when [Townsend] blocked a shot and cleared out of our zone to seal the win,” said Brown. “We’ll have to come ready to do the same on Saturday.”

By winning the tournament, the men earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The first round, hosted by Middlebury in Kenyon Arena this Saturday, pits the Panthers against Plattsburgh, which will not be an easy matchup. Plattsburgh and Middlebury have split games this year.

Coming off of a loss in the SUNYAC conference championship, the Plattsburgh team will be hungry to prove itself to the Panthers, who emerged victorious in their last meeting in January. As of March 8, the Panthers are ranked fourth on the USCHO poll, with Plattsburgh sitting just behind them in fifth. With their first NCAA tournament appearance in the past three years, the Panthers are looking to reassert their dominance not only in the NESCAC, but also in all of Division III hockey.

We do not presume to propose a plan for how best to go about this ambitious action, but rather support more open and creative thinking on the topic — the ultimate goal being an MLDA that is pragmatic, safe and enforceable. The status quo is extraordinarily hard to enforce on college campuses, and statistics imply that the amount of dangerous binge drinking has skyrocketed in recent years.  This was a fact confirmed by the two alcohol experts that kick-started the debate that has been raging, and the fervor caused by last weekend’s visit of the Addison County liquor investigator demonstrates the difficulty college campuses face in enforcing MLDA-21. Simply lowering the drinking age to counteract these developments, however, has its own perils, particularly because expanding access to a substance in an effort to curb its use is a dubious proposition at best.

Instead of black and white propositions, we support further discussion that targets a solution that passes both the statistical and common sense tests. In his Notes from the Desk, Ian Trombulak ’12 proposes one such interesting idea, but the discussion should not stop there. Different ideas for alcohol education, different degrees of a “drinking license,” different ages at which you can legally consume vs. legally buy alcohol — all of these should be placed on a table and be subject to the scrutiny of experts, parents, legislators and kids.

In recent years, Middlebury has made headlines for being the home base of President Emeritus John McCardell’s Choose Responsibility platform. While we hesitate to endorse his plan completely, we believe that his approach to the MLDA is correct, and support the idea behind his actions. Underage drinking is always a difficult topic, and on our pedestrian-dominated campus it is far too easy to marginalize the effects alcohol can have on a young brain when coupled with an automobile, but a logical debate on the benefits of lowering the MLDA can only lead to a new and improved status quo.

Agreement ends here, however. Searles chooses to explain this phenomenon by indicting American culture, observing that “adolescents are exposed to a stupefying amount of advertising extolling the virtues of drinking.” First, 18-20 year-olds are not, by any reasonable legal definition, ‘adolescents’ ­— a fact that American law recognizes with relative ease when enlisting soldiers to fight in its wars. Second, as much as I appreciate Searles’ misplaced paternalism, I cannot abide by his ridiculous implication that 18-year-olds are any more ‘stupefied’ by invasive advertising than 21-year-olds or, for that matter, 25-year-olds.

No one is suggesting, as Searles insinuates, that a blind reduction of the drinking age will automatically “result in a new, mature and responsible 18-year-old who will be sipping a vintage wine with meals.” I am equally certain, however, that legal age 21 does nothing in the way of achieving Searles’ wine-sipping ideal — an ideal that exists, and indeed thrives, in Europe (which, by the way, has firmly embraced lower drinking ages). In comparison, legal age 21 has only driven drinking underground, forcing ‘pre-gamers’ to consume as much as they can, as fast as they can, out of the public eye and in the shadows of their dormitories, unmonitored and unchecked by bartenders and their more experienced peers.

This highly destructive pattern is taking its toll on our nation’s youth through ever-increasing rates of binge drinking. According to a recent study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, college students experienced a whopping 10-percent increase in the rate of binge drinking between 1993 and 2001 alone, a development that corresponded with an increase in injuries, assaults and treatment for alcohol overdose.

Vermont is bearing the brunt of the casualties. Survey data published in 2007 indicates that Vermont ranks second highest in the nation in rates of alcohol use and binge drinking among 12-20 year-olds. In the face of this crisis, the Vermont health establishment remains firmly entrenched, preferring to defend the status quo rather than acting in the interests of its youth.

Only last week, new research was published by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America stating that the number of teens that have used alcohol has grown by 11 percent over the past year; this coming right on the heels of Dr. Searles’ bizarre “None. Zero. Nada.” declaration regarding data testifying to the failures of legal age 21.

It is truly unfortunate that, with a health crisis upon us, Vermont’s own Department of Health has chosen willful ignorance over the substantive innovations proposed by organizations such as John McCardell’s Choose Responsibility. Public officials are paid to lead; sadly, as demonstrated by Dr. Searles’ letter, the establishment would prefer to mislead.

What adds insult to injury is when young people settle for this — when they decide, “something is better than nothing.” Idealism is the resource of which we face the greatest deficit today. We cannot abandon it.

Which is why last week’s local news column (“The Pragmatist,” March 4)in favor of replacing Vermont Yankee with a new nuclear power plant is disheartening. Because nuclear power is just another stopgap solution. Engaging in energy intensive uranium mining (which is a finite resource), navigating arduous regulatory processes, bypassing technological bottlenecks and paying the tens of billions of dollars required for construction are not economically justifiable or sustainable possibilities.

The past year has shown us that the impending “nuclear renaissance” is a fallacy. A nuclear power bid was killed in Ontario, after total cost was estimated at $26 billion. A plant in Finland was only halfway through construction when the government declared it had already run $4 billion over budget. Turkey offered its ratepayers nuclear power at a staggering cost of $0.21 per kilowatt hour (twice what we pay today). The cost of storing waste in Nevada jumped 38 percent to $96 billion. Vermont Yankee itself announced two years ago that it was going to offer one third of the energy at two times the price if its post-2012 permit were to be issued, while estimates have found that the most recent $8 billion in nuclear power tax credits will create a grand total of 800 permanent jobs ($10 million per job?).

We have to believe that we can do better. A day will come where we have no choice but to use the sun and the wind, so we have to believe in the power of American ingenuity to overcome technological, infrastructural and economic barriers to clean energy today. We have to remember that time during WWII, when within nine months of going to battle, the entire capacity of the nation’s prolific automobile industry was converted to join the war effort. We have to believe again that this country (and specifically, this state) is capable of achieving unbelievable things and that we can push for more than a transition solution.

So do not short-change the fact that the price of wind, solar, biomass and energy efficiency has been proven to fall dramatically with rapid deployment. Do not doubt our capacity to implement new innovative policies like feed-in tariffs and utility decoupling to help weatherize every home in Vermont and incentivize rooftop solar in the immediate future. Do not sacrifice the green jobs or the greater connectedness that could be brought about if communities were empowered to produce their energy locally, or the willingness of Vermonters to use less electricity in the name of a greater good.

Choose nuclear power if you want to, but don’t feel like you have to. We are capable of so much more.

Cyclists pedal hard at Middlebury Fitness. The gym is one of 37 participating fitness centers that worked toward the American Cancer Society’s goal of $350,000 for all of New-England. //Kylie Atwood

“Cancer is extremely hard,” said Maribeth Gero. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

Maribeth Gero joined activists of the same mindset at the Spin for Hope fundraiser on March 7.

The American Cancer Society organized Spin for Hope, which was held at Middlebury Fitness. The Middlebury gym was one of 37 fitness centers across New England hosting the cycling event, which lasted for three hours.

Begun in 2005 with six clubs participating, Spin for Hope exceeded its initial goal, raising $115,000 in its first year. Five years later, the number of clubs has grown to 37. Last year the event raised $350,000.

As of press time, Sunday’s participants have managed to raise $251,175.78 of their $385,000 goal. Individuals and team members were expected to raise $100 each to spin for an hour, in addition to the $25 registration fee.

At Middlebury Fitness, the 12 participants, who were all female, took turns on the spinning machines. Most of them cycled for all three hours. Instructors Janet Morrison, Kathy Reynolds and Laurie Lowy guided the participants through the three -hour ride. The challenge was both physically and mentally demanding, and the women encouraged each other with stories of loved ones who had cancer. They also played uplifting songs, such as “I Run For Hope” by Melissa Etheridge, who had breast cancer.

“This song is inspiring,” Lowy said. “Just change ‘run’ to spin; to spin for hope.”

Maribeth Gero, who is the massage therapist at Middlebury Fitness, cycled all three hours to support Jessica, who also participated. The mother-daughter duo raised over $200 together.

“I am proud of her,” said Maribeth Gero, referring to her daughter. “I know [Jessica] needs to forget, but she also needs to remember.”
Having supported her daughter through the disease, Maribeth understands the importance of creating awareness. She hopes that fundraisers like Spin for Hope will allow for better technology to fight cancer.

3/4 – Health Commissioner Wendy Davis announced that almost one-third of Vermonters have been vaccinated against the 2009 H1N1 influenza. He celebrated this report as a great achievement but also cautioned Vermonters that they should still take measures to ward off sickness. During the outbreak of H1N1, 149 Vermonters were hospitalized and three died.

3/3 – Trout fishing will begin on Saturday, April 10 this year. Vermont’s 2010 stocking schedule will soon be available. Anglers can go to http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com and click “Fishing” to see an interactive map of where different species of fish will be stocked.

Most of the current uproar stems from an article published in The Campus’ Feb. 11 issue, titled “Scholars debate U.S. drinking age.” The article reported on the lecture, “From Global to Local: Understanding the Success of the 21-Year-Old Minimum Legal Drinking Age,” a statistics-laden address delivered by two experts on the issue, who, based on the title, helped everyone understand (what they perceived to be) the success of the 21-year-old minimum legal drinking age.

In addition to sparing my readers any rehashing of the details (because the only thing less interesting to most students than this week’s Campus news is last week’s Campus news), I’ll spare everyone my critical response to the lecture, as Nick Alexander ’10 has already ably refuted many of the arguments in his Feb. 18 op-ed.

Instead, I’d like to stab at the heart of the issue, the woman who brought the lecture to campus –— and who seems to be waging a not-so-clandestine war on drinking at Middlebury — Jyoti Daniere. Many of you may know Jyoti as the woman behind “Let’s Talk About Sex” Month and all other activities intended to jump-start our libidos, as well as the woman responsible for clogging up our inboxes with the latest dispatch from the Office for Health and Wellness Education (sorry, Midd-kids, but with the combination of sex and spam, it looks like it is in fact Jyoti Daniere who “gets in box like Gmail” …). However, few of you may realize that in contrast to her pro-sex message, Daniere is notoriously conservative in regards to collegiate drinking culture.

To me, these disparate views on two related issues seem the mark of a hypocrite. For only a hypocrite could be quoted in the same paper (Feb. 11) as advocating for more balance and less stress for students, saying, “Priorities should be established, thereby balancing the pressure to achieve and excel with the necessity of joy in one’s life,” while then (in another article) stating, “there is ample research showing that the more a student drinks, the lower his or her GPA … a fact that may be of interest to all our hardworking students,” thereby bringing the discussion back from joy to GPA. Further, her “Campus Character” profile in the aforementioned issue makes for wonderfully entertaining reading, with additional quotes that make Daniere appear as out of touch with the general student zeitgeist as does her choice of e-mail fonts.

Daniere has made her name (and what a difficult one it is) as an advocate for increased dating and healthier sex lives on campus, a goal with which I take no issue. However, what I do have trouble understanding is her vendetta against collegiate drinking in all its forms; one would assume that a person so progressive in her attitudes toward sex might be similarly inclined to reconsider our notions about alcohol. Instead, Daniere seems to see drinking as at the very bottom of what ails our dating culture (or supposed lack thereof). And while it may play a part, I think that encouraging more freedom on the one hand while restricting the other seems a woefully unbalanced policy. Much of the real reason for our campus’ primitive attitudes toward sexuality and dating stems from our society’s puritanical and undeveloped attitudes towards sex; might our problems with drinking stem from a similar attitude? I’m for increased freedom in both venues, be it the bedroom or the bar-room. Instead of demanding “balance” only to stipulate which kinds of balance are acceptable, perhaps we should all relax, unwind and just do what feels good.

Of course, we can file this all away with the other “Great Ideas Mike Has For Making His Middlebury Life Better,” along with no non-athletes in the dining hall after 6:30, rebreading the chicken parm in Proctor and eliminating the Office for Health and Wellness Education.

“Where do I belong?” is half forgettable copy-paste about bros and hos and hikers, and half valuable taxonomy. For example, the distinction between Bros and Jocks is often overlooked (“Yo, there’s so much you don’t understand about me”), as is The Invisible Student. The Ross Diner is a new classic. The rest is dubious. In pursuing universal appeal, Tess & Co. assumed nothing would make more sense than to go for the really big stereotypes, when in fact, we’re all sick of them ­— not because they aren’t true, but because you have to change the joke if you want its subject to remain funny. Otherwise, it sounds like this knee-slapper from 1900 BC: “How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish.” That’ll keep you going through the show.

On one point, I agree with — there is no pain you are receding, a distant ship, smok — “I believe in a place where I have a slight chance to surmount the confines of my upbringing.” Yes, Mackenzie, that means inventing new stereotypes. James, earmuffs! Here’s my list:

The One. There are many: the kilt, the bathrobe, the head gear that has no human name, the head gear that has a name: tacky, the Michael Jackson pants. There are also many failed aspirants: the pea coat (everybody got one), the beret (your friends abandoned you), the naked (plastic leather seats, wiggle-wiggle).

The Classmate Who Works at Ross. You do a quadruple-take and reach your hand across the pizza counter for tactile proof —“You’re one of them now?” “Dude, I work here every Wednesday,” a voice comes haunting back. You walk away, hand on your forehead — when I was a child, I had a fever.

People who answer the phone, “What’s up, face?”

The Singer. Imagine silence. Dim lighting. The rustle of “The Communist Manifesto” — don’t wrangle with us so long as you apply to our intended abolition of bourgeois property, the standard of your bourgeois notions of freedo — WOAH-WOOAH-AAAAAAAH-OOOOOOOOOOH YOUR BODEEEEEAH — you grab the nearest brick and run to your window only to realize he’s on the other end of the quad.

The Different-Colored Dwarves. Is anyone else noticing them?

The Balls, for that’s what it takes to whip out a case of Mike’s Hard Lemonade in Proctor, and The Corollary to The Balls: four glasses of milk, a tub of just salad leaves, a baroquely fashioned panini.

The Foreigners. A graduating Mongol says to a graduating Afghan: “I promise we’ll keep in touch.” The graduating Afghan replies: “Yeah right, once you go home, you’ll have a son and a horse and no time to write.” — you are only coming through in waves — “I look to a newspaper, and particularly the one which represents my college, my colleagues and my home, to aim for some higher understanding” — just nod if you can hear me, and look no further.

Giving the lecture was George Dennis O’Brien, former president of Bucknell University and the University of Rochester, and former Dean of Students at Middlebury. At the onset of the lecture, O’Brien noted that the focus of his discussion would be Plato’s ancient notion that a change in music denotes a profound change in the world’s culture. Given Nirvana’s groundbreaking success establishing alternative rock at the forefront of popular music, O’Brien aimed to take on the band’s wealth of cultural import in an academic setting.

While the focus was on Nirvana, O’Brien spent the better part of the lecture providing a lineage of American popular music. From Frank Sinatra’s crooning to Elvis’s swooning and on to Pink Floyd’s anti-establishment mantras, O’Brien attempted to place Nirvana in its oft-disputed place on the popular music spectrum. With a Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Chicago, O’Brien also examined Nirvana’s “songs of chaos” in the context of the philosophy of art. In O’Brien’s opinion, the band’s popular and philosophical place in history represents an open attack on articulation and is a “breakdown of the spoken word.”

This breakdown provided the initial intrigue for O’Brien’s study, and appropriate song clips were played during the lecture to provide lyrical evidence. One example of the “breakdown of the word” was the arbitrary snarls of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain in “Smells Like Teen Sprit” (“A mulatto an albino/A mosquito my libido”).

O’Brien also considers the phenomenon of Nirvana to be closely related to his lifelong involvement in education. He recalled his days at Middlebury.

“I remember being a dean when Pink Floyd came out saying, “We don’t need no education” [in the song “Another Brick in the Wall”]. I felt that was a strong attack on the educational system. That was when I really started to pay attention to recent music, which eventually brought me to Nirvana.”

As a former educator in elite colleges and universities, O’Brien recalled feeling that many of the students he dealt with were not fulfilling their huge potential. O’Brien sees Nirvana’s tragic frontman Cobain as an example of young artists, and youth in general, who do not fit into the mold of systems such as higher education.

“I asked myself, why do these bright kids not perform?” O’Brien said. “Like [Cobain], I think that their personalities are not made to fit the rigid structure of society.”

O’Brien’s interpretations of grunge rock presented many important questions on the subject of recent popular music and its place in academia. At what point does a pop cultural phenomenon become ripe for academic scrutiny? When do the angst-ridden anthems of our youth and Nirvana’s convention-threatening attacks become fodder for critical interpretations or philosophical consideration? Next month marks the 16th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death and the subsequent end of Nirvana, and academic contextualization seemed strained, if not impossible.

Chris Kirby, Adult Services and Technology Manager for the College, commented on the apparent contrast.
“I came away from the talk wondering whether the critical academic tools at O’Brien’s disposal could shed further light on Nirvana’s art,” said Kirby. “Articulate academic discourse applied to a form of expression that is primarily inarticulate and nonconceptual seems to have its limitations.”

In many ways, disparities such as these proved to be the underlying theme of the evening. Rolling Stone puts Nirvana at number seven on its “Greatest Songs of All Time” list, though the Ilsley Library Community Room smelled nothing like teen spirit. Instead, O’Brien spoke to a room of older Vermonters whose familiarity with Nirvana was apparently limited. As O’Brien ran through a brief history of American popular music, references to now-obscure musicians were met with looks of pleasured recognition from most of the crowd, and perplexity from the younger attendees. Due to technical restrictions, low-fidelity song samples were played via cassette tape over an antique boombox in an unintended tribute to the pre-digital musical environment in which Nirvana flourished.

If anything, O’Brien’s lecture was a tribute to Nirvana’s success in its attempt to rattle the stale conventions of popular music and our culture at large. While younger audience members may have found the academic context troubling, Kirby acknowledged the immediately redemptive qualities of the lecture.

“A younger audience already familiar with Nirvana might find the talk less edifying,” said Kirby. “But I felt that the main strength of the talk was in providing a context, one of many possible contexts, for Nirvana for an audience with no previous exposure to the music.”

Kayli, a familiar presence at the gallery, lounges among artistic look-alikes.

The gallery is sustained by the Bristol Friends of the Arts — a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to providing opportunities for community members to engage in and appreciate artistic endeavors in the Bristol Area. In addition, featured artists play a role in sustaining the gallery as many decide to work volunteer shifts to fulfill the cooperative aspect of being members.

“Most of our ‘staff’ are exhibiting artists who have signed up to work shifts in the Gallery as part of their contract,” said Carolyn Kay Ashby ’94, the gallery manager.

Ashby worked several years at Frog Hollow Gallery upon graduating from Middlebury with a degree in Russian. Although she left Vermont to pursue other endeavors, she came back to Addison County to work at Art on Main as the gallery manager. Ashby works along side her fifteen-and-a-half-year-old dog named Kayli who greeted me during my visit to the gallery.

“Kayli has been with me the whole way, and she very much enjoys her ‘job’ at the gallery,” said Ashby.

The artistic ingenuity of the local community becomes highly evident at Art on Main. Visitors can browse through the vast selection of artwork, which varies from more typical renderings of the iconic Vermont landscape to interpretive wood carvings and glasswork. The light and airy atmosphere of the gallery is often accompanied by the music of local artists and it is a relaxing place to browse even if your college budget doesn’t allow room for you to purchase original artwork.

One of my favorite local artists was Barbara Ekedahl from Lincoln, Vt., who has been focusing on the Japanese woodprint form “Moku Hanga.” Ekedahl has an interesting series of works in which she prints historical maps of Vermont on a block of wood as a backdrop, then overlays it with a hand-printed silhouette image.

The woodwork of New Haven-based Keith Hall was some of the most ingenious work featured at the gallery. Hall created a series of walking sticks that had the heads of a duck, clown and giraffe carved into the handles.

The next few months will be a busy time at Art on Main as gallery events. From March 1 to 27, the gallery is featuring the Emerging Artists Exhibit, which shows artwork produced by students at Mount Abraham Union High School. The students’ works were carefully selected by their teachers for the quality of the art and their potential to become future artists. Although the works are not for sale, the beautiful pottery, collages and paintings are definitely worth checking out.

Additionally, the gallery is preparing for the Third Annual Community Art Show, which will take place from April to mid-May. The basis of this event is to provide amateur artists a free venue to display and sell their works. Inspiring artists of all ages are encouraged to submit their favorite pieces to the gallery starting March 20 with the hope of being featured in the show. This community outreach event has been highly successful because it allows amateur artists to showcase their talent to the public and have to opportunity to make a profit from it.

“For community-based shows, all profits go directly to the artists,” said Ashby. “It’s a part of the not-for-profit community mission at the gallery”.

This emphasis on garnering a community-based appreciation for the arts is evident by various other events held at Art on Main throughout the year.

An open studio workshop will take place in late May with artist demonstrations, followed by a series of featured artists exhibits with receptions throughout the latter half of 2010.

You don’t have to be an art virtuoso to appreciate the locally crafted pieces featured at Art in Main. Stop by, take a gander at the work and don’t forget to pet Kayli — the gallery’s canine mascot — before you leave.

Holly Stark, work-study coordinator at Mary Johnson Children’s Center, returned to her Vermont roots after teaching around the globe. //Saila Huusko, Photo Editor

Stark grew up in Westford, Vt., “a small farm town,” and she went to Essex High School, which Stark described as “one of Vermont’s bigger high schools.” After graduating, Stark, who did gymnastics, track, cross-country and soccer as a high-school student, hopped on her bicycle and rode across the country. She first went down to North Carolina, and then she made her way to Washington State, traveling back and forth between the two places for a few years and taking some time to explore the world before settling down for college.

“Nowadays there’s some of that stigma surrounding those that take some time off between high school and college,” she added. “I started college four years after high school.”

After receiving her undergraduate degree in French from the University of Utah, Stark spent time in both Vermont and Colorado working as a bike tour leader. She went on to receive her graduate degree from the Monterey Institute back before it was affiliated with the College, intending to teach either French or English as a Second Language, but she was not finished roaming the globe.

“I taught at a lot of colleges,” Stark said, including the University of Denver; Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland; the University of Pittsburgh; and even Yale. “That’s my big résumé-builder,” Stark said, laughing.

So what finally brought Stark back to Middlebury and Vermont?

“In the Asian economic crisis, a lot of ESL teachers got laid off and I was among them,” Stark said. “My husband was working for a dot-com and when that bubble burst, he got a job at Midd.”

Her husband, Bryan Carson, is now the Electronic Services Librarian at the College, while Stark started working for Mary Johnson Children’s Center, which her now eight-year-old son, Max, attended six years ago. With Stark and her husband finding job stability, Middlebury became their new home.

Stark’s job includes interviewing and hiring work-study students from the College as well as substitute teachers.

“I also do a lot of communicating between the office and the teachers,” she said. Her job also includes “a lot of clerical and administrative stuff” such as answering telephones, organizing paperwork, and managing the long wait-list for children to get into Mary Johnson.

Working at Mary Johnson, which accepts children from 18 months to five years old, has given Stark a lot of experience with local families from all parts of the socioeconomic spectrum here in Middlebury

“We have children of professors and children of parents with other professional jobs,” Stark said. “But about 50 percent of our children here receive subsidies from the state. There is definitely a difference.”

Stark attributed some of the broad range in income levels to the College’s presence, a factor which contributes diversity and opportunities to the town.

“I’ve lived in lots of different cities and so I really appreciate being in a small town — and yet having the addition of the College really enriches a small town experience,” Stark said. “There are really different elements here that you normally wouldn’t get in a small town.”
After living and teaching in so many different places, Stark has finally come home to stay, where Middlebury represents a compromise between the urban aspects of a place like Pittsburgh and the farm-town-feel of a place like Westford, Vt.

“I spent most of my adult life elsewhere — most of it in the United States, but some time in Europe as well,” Stark said. “And coming back, it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is really a good spot.’ So you grow to appreciate that. Spending a lot of time away makes you appreciate Vermont more. I no longer feel that ‘Oh, I gotta get out of here’ feeling.”

“I really enjoy living in Middlebury,” Stark said. “It’s a great place to raise a child.”

March 11, 8 – 9 p.m.

The Sound Investment Jazz Ensemble, the College’s big band, is sure to get your feet tapping at the Town Hall Theater. Grab a partner (or just your dancing shoes) and step out to a night on the town. Tickets are $10, $6 for students with ID, and they are available at the THT box office, http://www.townhalltheater.org, (802)382-9222 or at the door.

Zumba lessons

March 12, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Get into the groove at the Municipal Gym and burn some calories in this fusion of Latin and international music that creates a dynamic, exciting and effective fitness system. Lindsey Hescock will lead the free lesson presented by ACT Teens. Please call (802)388-3910 for more information.

Bill Burden benefit recital

March 13, 8 – 9 p.m.

International opera star Bill Burden ’86 will perform at the Town Hall Theater accompanied by Emory Fanning. Tickets are $40, $30 for students, and all proceeds will go towards the Opera Company of Middlebury. Tickets are available at http://www.townhalltheater.org, (802)382-9222, the THT box office or at the door.

Making a living in organic farming

March 14, 2 – 3 p.m.

Richard Wiswall, author of “The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops and the Staff — And Making a Profit,” will give a presentation at the Ilsley Public Library on building a profitable organic farm for area farmers and any other interested parties. Please call (802)388-4095 for more information.

“Iguana Cup Challenge”

March 14, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Bring your skis out to the Snow Bowl one last time for this family-friendly event for skiers, snowboarders and telemark skiers alike. Teams and individual racers will compete for the whimsical Iguana Cup and all proceeds will benefit the Quarry Hill School in Middlebury. Sign up at http://www.quarryhillschool.org/iguana.php or (802)388-7297.

“Creative Repurposing” workshop

March 16, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Learn to reuse materials that might otherwise be thrown away at this informal workshop at the Bixby Memorial Library in Vergennes. Bring in milk jugs, egg cartons, plastic shopping bags, old CDs or anything you think could be turned into something useful again. Pre-register at (802)877-6392.

And it’s not just Michael Moore running around with an empty sack, pestering the old white boys at Goldman Sachs either. On the other side of the spectrum, Republicans are winning elections on the premise that they are “small government,” riding the tide of Wall Street v. Main Street sentiment falsely peddled out to a frustrated electorate, tossed around as pawns in a game of consolidating private wealth. As if any politician was for small government (do I hear private military contracting, anyone?).

However, under our current growth-driven economic system, it’s necessary for institutions to invest capital in order to support those industries that construct the fabric of our material lives. Moreover, in a globalizing society, commerce and trade are becoming even more important, as the means of production become more geographically diffuse (regardless of the condensation in ownership).
But industry, as we are all well aware, looks mostly at short term profits and ignores externalities — environmental and social costs not directly borne by the producer or consumer. Cheap goods from Wal-Mart rely on cutthroat competition, leading to the promotion of unsafe sweatshop labor and unparalleled pollution. Private transportation and energy inefficiencies are pumping CO2 into the atmosphere on a massive scale, causing global climate change and ground level ozone pollution, etc. Coal companies are blowing up mountains, the global fisheries stock is drying up and industrial farming is ruining our water supply (think swine flu, MRSA and E. coli are bad?). It’s almost too much to handle. Meanwhile, these costs are invisible to the accounting sheets of industry. Managers pursue record rates of return on investments, increasing the bottom line to the applause of the short-term profit seeking shareholders.

Sound like a bad Bernie Madoff-esque screenplay? If only that were the case — rather, it’s the story of our very own Middlebury College and the rest of our peer “growth-olympian” institutions. This Ponzi scheme is broader only in the sense that we’re borrowing profits from natural resources and sinks, societies and cultures — setting up to watch the problems mount and collapse over civil society in the near-future. It looks like sour grapes have been sitting in clear sight for a while now. And the speculative economic bubbles will leave more than a couple hundred New Yorkers without a 401(k).

Middlebury revels in its image as a school that projects social responsibility, internationalism and sustainability. Subsequently, you may think that with an institutional endowment of $740 million, the community would have some clue as to what companies this collective legacy of ours is funding. We don’t. The College Sustainability Report Card gives us a “D” for endowment transparency, and we lack accountability for any so-called “investment priorities.” Something needs to be done.

We pretend to actively address the problem by consolidating our investments under a single management group, Investure LLC, which features pretty pictures of rolling hills and smiling people on its Web site. The Board of Trustees repeatedly ignores the cries from student groups, the Faculty Council and our beloved scholar-in-residence, Bill McKibben. As an educational institution with a motto that reads “Knowledge and Virtue,” Middlebury cannot help but look like a complete and utter hypocrite unless it addresses the need for Socially Responsible Investing through our endowment.

To me, this gets at the heart of the problem. Our $740 million legacy is silent as to where its priorities lay but represents the future of a school running its mouth at every opportunity it gets. Sustainability this, global responsibility that. Diversity. Social work. Environmental justice. Clap it up, friends, we’ve got one hell of an image to be thankful for. We claim to embrace global challenges, training students and thinkers who will go off into the world and make it a better place. Yet our legacy, as embodied by our current investment strategy, is paradoxically at odds with our institutional message. I’m sorry, but while I may have chosen a liberal arts college for an interdisciplinary education, I do not need a duplicitous lesson in morality.

Worse yet, our endowment is, in effect, subsidizing the very powerful inequities that we simultaneously send our students out to defeat. Not only are we saying one thing and doing another, we are saying one thing and doing many things to ensure we’ll never be able to stop saying it. As a college with a conscience, we are literally firing guns at a reflection of ourselves that we don’t like, and accordingly training students in making sure nobody steps barefoot on the shattered glass. It’s a terrible contradiction to be getting for the hefty $50,000-a-year price tag I’m paying.

Of course, there was no mention of an SRI Sustainability Fund in the president’s Trustees update e-mail, and instead merely the laughable suggestion by Frederick Fritz ’68, the chair of the Trustees, that something with any transparency or autonomy had been created. The Campus’s characterization of whatever decision the board made as a new opportunity for students “to evaluate whether or not certain companies the College invests in live up to Middlebury’s sustainability standards, something they were able to do only minimally in previous years” is patently untrue and misleading. Furthermore, contrary to some reports, the recommendation by the ACSRI that one percent of the endowment be moved into a separate fund was outright rejected, and any move made will be a fraction of that number, remaining within Investure’s Global Equity Fund.

But hey, what can you expect when the money’s on the line, right? And just for the record, I’ve been sincerely trying to (but just can’t) see how $200 million disappearing virtually overnight can be conceived as a viable investment strategy. If you’d like to let me know, I live in Hepburn 110, and would be delighted to have the conversation.

Most of the debate over MLDA thus far has been frustratingly black and white: either we give people the right to drink the day they turn 18 or the day they turn 21. At either age, it’s unreasonable for us to expect a new drinker to learn how to use this potentially dangerous and harmful drug overnight. Consider a similar example:

When I was 16, I got my driver’s license. And it wasn’t because the state of Vermont decided that, on the day I turned 16, I was suddenly ready to operate a vehicle on my own. It was because, over a span of two years, I took a driver’s ed course in my high school, logged 40 daytime and night-time practice hours with my parents and passed multiple examinations, both written and practical, that indicated to the state that I was ready to graduate from a learner’s permit to an operator’s license. My path was regimented, regulated and graduated to allow for maximum learning opportunities.

We need to treat alcohol consumption as we treat learning to drive: as a calculated, graduated learning process. Here’s what I propose:
When you turn 17, you can enroll in an alcohol education class, and upon completion of this course, you will receive your junior drinker’s license. With this license, you can legally consume alcohol in your home, but you can’t purchase it yourself and are held to a maximum BAC of 0.00 behind the wheel. The purpose of this is to allow parents to teach their kids, before they leave for college, what it looks and feels like to drink alcohol in moderate and responsible quantities. It would not open the floodgates to underage binge drinking because you wouldn’t have 17-year-olds buying handles of vodka for 14-year-olds — just the former enjoying beer or wine with their families over dinner.

When you turn 18, you graduate to the next license. On this level, you can drink outside of your home but can’t be in public with a BAC over .1. There is still no tolerance on the roads, and you still can’t purchase alcohol from a store. At 19, the BAC limit goes away — by this age, you should know your limit and crossing it should be a conscious decision. At 20, you earn the right to buy alcohol. At 21, we have a generation of people who have been gradually taught how to consume alcohol safely and responsibly.

I can’t point to any peer-reviewed studies that tell me this method would work. Unfortunately, there are limits to what science can tell us — I’d be surprised to find an Institutional Review Board in America that would approve a study involving giving alcohol to underage kids. It’s just not a feasible option and not a valid argument against MLDA-18.

I do agree with Dr. Searles in his assertion that our nation is captivated with the concept of alcohol. Interestingly, it has two faces, and which face you see depends on your age — it’s either the devil’s nectar and a punishable offense, or the essential component of any good social gathering. It’s truly an insane contrast, and my point is that the line we use to distinguish between these faces is arbitrary. By lowering the MLDA, of course “hazardous drinking” will not “somehow, by some unspecified mechanism, turn into responsible drinking,” but the reverse is also true — three extra years of alcohol abstinence does not turn someone into a responsible drinker. It’s a learning process, and we need to treat it that way.

Which is why I was upset to read Dr. Searles’ assertion that “education on this issue is ineffective.” I hope this isn’t a call to abandon attempts to educate our kids about drinking, simply because it has been “ineffective” thus far. I’m insulted by the notion that my peers and I are somehow inadequate learners — after all the work we’ve done in the name of academia, we deserve more credit than that. We’re all capable learners and have utilized this capability to its fullest on our path to and through Middlebury. This suggests to me that it’s not the learners who are the problem, but the material and the methods. You can’t teach me the logic behind MLDA-21 because there isn’t any. When I turned 18, I gained the right to vote, fight in a war, own a gun and skydive, and asking me to “learn” that I’m not mature enough to drink yet is asking me to abandon logic and fall in step. Sorry, I can’t get behind that.

I could, however, get behind a logical system of education through experience — something a bit more fitting for the reality we live in.

Tom Petty ’09 edges by a Bobcat defender in the Panthers’ home opener./Brooke Beatte

Coming into Saturday’s home opener, the men’s lacrosse team had an all-time record of 21-0 against Bates. Couple that with preseason rankings of #3 and #4 from InsideLacrosse and LaxPower, respectively, and it seemed a given that the Panthers would crush the Bobcats. But thinking back to the NESCAC Championship streak that ended for the Panthers last year, Charlie Schopp ’10 was quick to point out that “ranking doesn’t matter, its what you prove on the field.”

While the men lost several key players from last year’s team, the silver lining in these losses is that these holes opened the door for the stockpile of young talent recruited under third-year coach Dave Campbell. David Hild ’11 replaced Jim Cabrera ’08 as the physical presence at attack while first-year players Briggs Davis ’12, Matt Rayner ’12 and Henry Clark ’12 saw time at long pole.

The first half showed that while Middlebury has the talent, youth has a downside when it comes to the value of experience. Bates jumped on the young defense early, scoring five goals in the first quarter, but captain Mike Stone ’09 kept the pace with his first quarter hat trick. The guys chalked their struggles up to “working out the kinks.” Schopp sighted a “lack of communication in the first half, so the slide package was a little off.”

The second quarter proved more cohesive, but was still replete with early season screw-ups. Without Bambrick and Guay, slides seemed a step late and without enough body, but the offense settled into a better rhythm and the Panthers matched four Bobcat goals to keep the game within two at the half.

After regrouping over halftime, Middlebury came out looking like a team that should be in the running for a national championship later this spring. Three of last year’s top four scorers — Stone, Tom Petty ’09, and Matt Ferrer ’09 — sparked a four-goal third quarter, while captain Pete Britt ’09 stopped three shots, shutting out Bates for the quarter. Hild helped the Panthers parlay that successful third quarter into a seven-to-one run, scoring three straight Middlebury goals. The sophomore’s performance shows what can happen when you “work your butt off in the offseason,” said Schopp. Hild worked hard to develop his shot, but most importantly, “he has stepped up to be a big contributor to the team so far this season.”

While a 16-13 victory over Bates is not much to brag about, it is a building block for the rest of the season. Spectators have become accustomed to perfection after years of Panther dominance, but the rest of the NESCAC schools are catching up. In providing the team with an opportunity to test out some of its young talent, this victory was very important for the team.

The bottom line: a win is a win.

Middlebury advanced to the title game for the 10th straight year by jumping out to an early lead on Friday, going up 1-0 after the first period. A lackluster second period, however, threatened to let the Ephs back into the game. While Williams only pushed across one goal in the frame, the Panthers were lucky not to find themselves down going into the third. For this they can thank goaltender Doug Raeder ’09.

“[Williams] totally dominated us in the second period,” said coach Bill Beaney, “and if it wasn’t for Doug we would have been down by three or four goals.”

Middlebury made the most of its second life, scoring three third period goals to create the final margin. Waiting for the Panthers in the title game on Saturday were the Amherst Lord Jeffs, 3-0 victors over the defending NESCAC champion Trinity in their semifinal. Right from the start the Lord Jeffs controlled the pace of play, grabbing an early lead they would never relinquish.

“The better team won,” said Beaney. “They were much more solid across the board, they won all the little battles and, quite honestly, from player 1 to player 18 they are a better team than we are.”

While the loss marked the second time in as many years the Panthers have failed to win the NESCAC and qualify for the NCAA tournament, Coach Beaney thinks that apart from Amherst, the quality of play in the conference has actually gone down over the last couple of years.

“I don’t think there are as many top end players,” he says, “and that can be attributed to a lot of things. The last few years there has been such a push for admission to NESCAC schools that the academic requirements have risen to the point where a lot of the NESCAC-caliber athletes haven’t been able to get in.”

According to Beaney, it is the ability to work within this framework that has allowed Amherst to cultivate success over the last couple of years.

“I give them credit,” he said. “They have done a great job recruiting in western Canada, as well as developing the guys they have … the game they played against us was the best game they’ve played all year. If they play that well they can win the national championship.”

Over the course of the season the Panthers at times seemed like a team ready to compete on the national level, but they were constantly plagued by inconsistency. Despite dominating play for large stretches of time, they would take whole periods off, losing loose pucks, not moving their feet and falling victim to the mental lapses that had never reared their ugly head during past Panther seasons.

The loss was especially difficult on the seniors, a group that experienced the high of a national championship its freshman year, and the lows of two consecutive exits from the NESCAC tournament during its final two campaigns.

In particular, the story of Raeder stands out against the backdrop of his class’s four-year career. During his first year he backstopped the Panthers to the NCAA championship, playing lights-out in the Final Four, with Sports Illustrated honoring his performance with a spot in their “Faces in the Crowd” feature.

Over the next two years he split time with Ross Cherry ’08, but expected to take over the reins full-time this season. His early struggles, however, opened the door for John Yanchek ’12 to earn the full-time starting job between the pipes. Despite this, Raeder remained a positive force on the ice and in the locker room, eventually earning the nod for the playoffs.

“One of the highlights of this year’s team was the way Doug reacted to the adversity of not being the consistent starter,” said Beaney. “To see how he handled it in such a mature way was impressive, and when it came his time he played very, very well down the stretch.”

Despite the disappointment of ending the year with a loss, the Panthers look to grow from this experience and come back next season a better team than they were down the homestretch this season.

“I think that potentially we have seven or eight players we can build a foundation off of,” says Beaney, “but those people are going to need to emerge as leaders. When we were having successes we didn’t necessarily have the best players, but we always had the best teammates.”

“There was a really big field,” he said., with “about 30 vaulters in the competition,” he said. “These were some really talented athletes.”

The competition has been getting tighter and tighter since the team season ended in February. Starting with the Division III New Englands, those in the meet qualified individually based on performance during the season, and as each week passed, the standards became higher and higher.

“I was really happy with my jump,” said Dede, who came in 15th with a jump of 14 feet and 5 ¼ inches. “I was also seeded 15th so it was good to see that finish.”

One of the biggest challenges at the meet this weekend was the sheer number of competitors. While track meets always have many different schools and athletes competing, it can become hard to get into a rhythm when there are many athletes in one single event.

“It was a tough meet in the sense that there were so many vaulters in the competition,” he said. “There was way too much time between heights and I had to warm up and cool down between every jump. I was in competition for over three hours so in that aspect it was kind of tiring.”

Kelley Coughlan ’09 and Kaitlynn Saldanha ’11 represented the Panthers on the women’s side, and both had strong performances. “Coming into the meet it was a little intimidating,” said Coughlan. “It was a much bigger meet than I was used to.”

Despite this, Coughlan was able to finish her senior indoor season with a 10th-place finish, jumping 11.08 meters. With the jump, she ranked 33rd in the nation in Division III. “I haven’t been competing well lately and I wanted one last good performance in my last senior indoor meet,” she said. “I was really happy with my jump. It was a great feeling to go out with a strong jump, especially in this sort of competition.”

Saldanha ran the 800-meter, placing 17th with a time of 2:22. Although this was her slowest time, it has nonetheless been a great season for Saldanha. “For me it definitely was a breakthrough season,” she said. “It was the first good season I’ve had at the collegiate level and I’m very excited about it.”

Based on her time at Division III New England’s, Saldanha placed 21st in the country in the 800-meter run, which was good enough to qualify for nationals. This Friday she is running a time trial at the Rose-Hulman Institute in Indiana.

Despite her obvious excitement over heading to nationals, Saldanha is, like everyone else at this point, excited about the outdoor season. “I think we have the potential to be contenders,” Saldanha said. “Outdoor track is faster than indoor.”

Based on high student attendance in the fall and positive feedback from the student body, the Student Government Association has decided to continue and expand Midnight Breakfast. For three nights during spring term finals, students, hungry and tired from studying, will be able to fuel up in the early hours of the morning. This one-night expansion will be funded by the SGA. Each night will cost $4,000.

The SGA also discussed the current state of the fitness center. Molly Dwyer ’10, student co-chair of Community Council, commented on the lack of maintenance of the exercise equipment available in the fitness center and the inconvenient hours of operation. During the week, the gym is open from 6 to 9 a.m., but then closes until noon. Although many faculty members use the gym during the early morning hours, Dwyer believes students would make more use of mid-morning gym time. Improved equipment and increased hours of operation would benefit all members of the College community, from professors to varsity athletes, she believes.

Jess Poracky ’13, a member of the Panthers’ varsity softball team, agrees that the current hours are not conducive to many students’ schedules.

“Many times, I am finished with classes before noon, and it would be so convenient to be able to go to the gym then,” Poracky said. “It would also be extremely helpful for the gym to open earlier on the weekends.”

Although the SGA has not decided what course of action it will take because funding for the gym is part of the tuition-based athletic facilities budget. SGA members agreed to appraise the situation to determine whether they can or should make any financial contributions to improve the situation. The SGA plans to contact Director of Athletics Erin Quinn to determine the next steps to be taken to provide new, functional equipment and more convenient hours of operation.

The body also discussed the SGA’s finances at the meeting. SGA President Mike Panzer ’10 reviewed the funds requested by various SGA Cabinet committees. Although final approval must come from SGA Treasurer Tom Brush ’10, the SGA agreed to the allocation of the funding, which Panzer described as “pre-apportioned budgets [that] will facilitate and expedite work that cabinet committees undertake.” The funds include $500 to the Environmental Committee to continue its efforts to increase environmental consciousness on campus, through table-top ads in the dining halls and through the continuation of campus sustainability tours. Additionally, $1,500 will be allocated to the Diversity Committee to help with the cost of hosting speakers and conducting workshops. The bike club will receive $1,500 as well. The money will come from the student activity fees fund. The Finance Committee also has agreed to pay in full the individual entry and registration fees for members of the cycling and equestrian clubs.

Many students are already close to exceeding their printing quotas early in the semester, prompting frustration./Erika Wade

Even as the newly implemented printing quota system has already reduced the use of printers across campus, students find themselves nearing the end of their free allowance of pages.

By making students pay for additional printing, the College seeks to cut down on waste and trim its budget however. Dean of Library and Information Services (LIS) Mike Roy said the College had planned to eliminate free printing before the financial crisis struck.

“This was something that we had tried to get going but there really wasn’t the political will to do this,” said Roy. “But once the financial crisis began, it became easier politically to just make the argument that we should do this.”

According to Roy, data are being gathered to review the new system at the semester’s end.

“We made our best good-faith effort based on last year’s data to try and come up with what was reasonable, and we’ll look at it again and might need to make some adjustments,” said Roy.

Despite the statistics, students widely disagree with the College forcing them to pay for mandatory readings.

“I print assigned readings, which are a lot because I am a IPE major,” commented Daniel Crepps ’12.

Crepps is one of many students who find that, with more than half of the semester to go, they have gone through more than half of their credit.

“I have $11 left, and I don’t print excessively, but when reading is assigned, I have to print it to avoid staring at a screen for hours on end,” says Crepps.

LIS worked closely with the Faculty LIS Advisory Committee (FLAC) and the Student LIS Advisory Committee (SLAC) to iron out the details of the system, such as how much credit each student should receive, and to try to integrate it into the college community with the greatest ease.

“The system is not going to be perfect the first time around,” said Pathik Root ’12, a member of the SLAC. “Any system has its flaws, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. We had to start somewhere. This is a process. Quotas can definitely change. Nothing is set in stone.”

Students and the SLAC continue to debate the use of e-reserves instead of course packs.

“We didn’t want to revert to course packs just because it would be a step backwards, especially for environmental concerns,” Root argued. “E-reserves gives students the flexibility to pay for a reading if they want to. With e-reserves, the copyright fees are taken up by the school, so students are only paying for the actual paper and ink.”

To help ease the burden on students, a push has also been made to get members of the faculty in tune with the new limitations. Associate Professor of Film & Media Culture and American Studies Jason Mittell is a member of the FLAC and has tried educating faculty on alternative ways of conducting their classes.

“We sent out an all faculty e-mail in January explaining what the policy was, telling the faculty that they should be mindful of the policy and making some suggestions so that they can make active decisions, said Mittell, “I also co-ran a workshop on electronic grading.”

As part of the new system, students receive $25.00 per semester, except for seniors, who are given $50.00. Logs of data from last year showed that seniors printed about twice as much as other students and failed to show any strong trends with respect to printing habits among majors.

“It’s sort of like health care,” said Roy. “We wanted to cover 80 percent of the cost with students covering 20 percent of the cost and if we gave seniors the same quota we would have only covered for them about 40 percent of their cost.”

Different ideas have been considered regarding how to differentiate between majors and classes that require more amounts of reading.

“I think the credits should be allotted per course rather than per student,” suggests Daniel Schiraldi ’13. “I’m sure there are students who leave plenty of credit unused while others are struggling to stay under the limit.”

However, because Banner Web and Papercut, the printing software used by the college, are not in sync, the technology is not available to directly link a student’s academic status to his or her printing.

“We realized that it would be very complicated to differentiate between every major — the technology just wasn’t there,” said Root. “What would you do with first-years who haven’t declared majors? Or people who switch majors mid-semester or someone who just happens to have a lot of political science classes one semester? It’s tricky.”

Courtney Guillory ’11 said she believes the printing limitations are inconsistent with other policies on campus.

“The new printing system would make sense if the College didn’t require us to waste paper in so many other ways,” Guillory said. “All official forms, such as add/drop cards, require paper when that could easily be done over the Internet. The newspaper itself could be considered a waste of paper, but all of these things are considered fine. Then, when I need to print something out for class, I have to pay.”

Despite its flaws, the new printing system does come with its benefits. Due to less printing, printers will be more stable and break down much less than in the past.

“One of the hopes I have is that we can get new machines,” said Roy. “The lower volume will make them perform better but also getting a new fleet of printers will help out.”

Another benefit is that students can now send printing jobs to print stations directly from their laptops by typing in “go/papercut” into their browsers and logging in using their Middlebury username and password.

New changes are also on the horizon such as a system of “rollover credit,” a policy suggested by a student that would allow students to accumulate unused printing credit until he or she graduates. Soon, students will also be able to re-route printing jobs from one station to another.

“We wanted to make the changes in a way where there would be trade-offs so that some things would get easier although we had to pay,” said Root.

Any suggestions are welcome and should be submitted to the LIS suggestions page at http://blogs.middlebury.edu/lissuggestions/make-a-suggestion.

Stace Garrick hit a long three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining that sent Middlebury to a heartbreaking 78-76 defeat at the hands of visiting Bridgewater State. The loss puts an end to a historically successful season for the Panthers, who displayed a valiant effort before a capacity crowd in Pepin Gymnasium but nonetheless were unable to garner their first NCAA tournament win.

For much of the game, it appeared as if Middlebury had the upper hand. After trailing briefly in the early going, the backcourt duo of Ben Rudin ’09 and Kyle Dudley ’09 hit back-to-back threes to give the Panthers a 17-9 lead, sending the emotional and crazed student section into a frenzy. This was Middlebury basketball at its best, and the crowd was anticipating nothing less than another victory for the home team.

Although the Panthers were able to expand their lead to nine on three separate occasions in the first half, one never got the sense that they were about to run away with the game. Bridgewater St. was able to use its abundant athleticism and clutch shooting to remain within striking distance.

As the horn expired at the end of the first half, the Bears closed to within four on — perhaps fittingly — a basket by Garrick, which proved to be an ominous foreshadowing of what was to unfold later on.

If there was any question as to whether or not the game would remain tight for the rest of the contest, Bridgewater St. answered it by erasing Middlebury’s advantage and grabbing a 45-44 lead just two minutes into the second half on a bucket by Nicholas Motta.

Middlebury, however, responded with a vengeance, as Dudley and Tim Edwards ’09.5 hit consecutive threes to restore a seven-point advantage for the home team.

The Bears then promptly went on an 8-0 run of their own, giving them a 53-52 lead at the 12:59 mark of the second stanza.

From that point forward, the game remained extremely close, with neither team able to garner a significant advantage. A basket by Rudin gave Middlebury a 68-65 lead with just 3:18 left, and things were looking even better for the Panthers when two of Bridgewater St.’s key players fouled out shortly after.

The Panthers’ lead held at a steady four to six points for the next couple of minutes, but several missed free throws prevented them from expanding their lead further. After Dudley hit one of two from the line to give Middlebury a five-point lead with 37 seconds remaining, Garrick hit the first of his two daggers from behind the arc to pull the Bears to within two points.

The visitors called timeout, and on the ensuing inbounds, Middlebury coughed up the ball under their hoop, allowing the Bears to tie the game on a layup.

Middlebury quickly inbounded the ball again and this time was able to get it in successfully. Edwards saw Jamal Davis ’11 streaking down the court and launched a pass in his direction. Davis deftly eluded a defender and laid the ball in the hoop, once again giving the Panthers a two point lead.

However, Bridgewater St. had one last chance, and the Bears made the most of it. Garrick dribbled down the right side of the court and, with approximately 15 seconds left, launched an off-balanced three that hit nothing but net.

Rudin then dribbled down the court, hoping to add another chapter to Middlebury’s storybook season, but it was not meant to be. His fadeaway jumper from right around the foul line bounced off the front rim, and the Panthers fouled with a second left.

Just 30 seconds before, the crowd noise had been deafening. Now, a stunned silence permeated Pepin Gymnasium.

Nicholas Motta hit one of two free throws for the Bears. Following a timeout, Middlebury had its desperation inbound heave intercepted, ending the game, as well as the Panthers’ season. Meanwhile, Bridgewater St. — along with its small but vocal contingent of fans — celebrated wildly, as the players collapsed in a heap at center court. The Bears advance to play the winner of MIT and Farmingdale St. in the sectional round of the NCAA tournament.

While Bridgewater St. certainly deserves credit for the victory, Middlebury can point to some of its own play down the stretch as responsible for giving the Bears new life, and ultimately, the win.

First, the late turnover on the inbounds pass was a huge momentum shift that enabled the Bears to play the Panthers straight up for the final 30 seconds, instead of having to foul.

Also important was the possession directly following the steal and tying layup, in which the Panthers came right back downcourt to score the go-ahead layup. Middlebury could have opted to hold the ball for a final shot, which would have ensured, at worst, overtime. Instead, the quick possession gave Bridgewater St. the ball back, which allowed Garrick the time he needed to pull his heroics.

But clearly the most significant factor was free-throw shooting: Middlebury missed 15 of 26 freebies on the night, including a handful in the final few minutes. Foul shooting had been the Panthers’ Achilles heel all season, as they ranked just seventh in the NESCAC.

Throughout the season, the team had been able to largely mask their lack of consistency from the charity stripe by stepping up in other facets of the game. Against a team of Bridgewater St.’s caliber, however, Middlebury was unable to overcome a poor performance from the line.

Still, the Panthers end their season with the satisfaction of knowing that they broke new ground with a record number of wins, and most importantly, their first NESCAC championship.

Meanwhile, the s

eniors end their Middlebury basketball careers having established a winning culture for the program and having left behind a solid foundation for all future players who put on a Middlebury Panthers basketball jersey.

That night the Vermont liquor inspector, in conjunction with the Middlebury Police Department and members of the Stop Teen Alcohol Risk Team, broke up a party at Quarry Road where underage drinking was occurring. Sixteen students were cited for underage drinking, while four of the residents of the house were charged with serving alcohol to minors.

Pete Smith ’10, a Quarry Road resident, finds the liquor inspector’s continued presence on campus and methods of prosecution questionable.

“He knew a party was occurring because he went to Middlebury [Discount] Beverage and checked their log book,” Smith explained in an e-mail.

“He saw the name of a student who had taken out kegs. He took the name to Public Safety and looked up the address — again, in compliance with the law and his jurisdiction. He then waited in the driveway for a student to come outside and he ID’d him. I think ultimately he overstepped his authority boundary, and he play[ed] the intimidation card.”

This week, The Campus investigates the rumors and realities surrounding the liquor inspector after he again graced campus during Winter Carnival.

He seems to many to be the amorphous “Big Brother” of the Middlebury social scene, bent on persecuting students for their weekly nights of inebriation.

“He’s a fun ruiner,” joked Alice Ford ’10.

“He ruins fun.”

Jack Maher ’12 wondered about the necessity of the liquor inspector rumored visits.

“I’ve never seen him but he should stop creepin’,” he said.

“The College does enough already to manage the party scene.”

A flurry of rumors surrounded the liquor inspector’s Winter Carnival appearance. Purportedly, minors in the liquor inspector’s employ would arrive at campus parties so that the liquor inspector could then implicate the party hosts for enabling underage drinking.

“I heard he had underage college kids that were going to come into the house and try to drink, then bust whoever’s house it was,” said Courtney Mazzei ’11.

Addison County liquor inspector Michael Davidson denied the action, but allowed that the liquor inspector could always use such tactics in the future.

“That didn’t happen, I can tell you that,” he said.

“Could it? Technically, sure. But did it? No. We use any tactic at our means. We just don’t rule out anything … If they’re not doing anything wrong there’s nothing to worry about.”

Rumors regarding the liquor inspector’s ability to enter and search student rooms have ultimately proven false. For that, the liquor inspector would need a warrant.

“No one’s going and kicking in doors to private rooms,” Davidson said. “When there are civil and criminal offenses taking place, that’s what we prosecute.”

“We have no authority in the dormitory, and if any of our officers went in there they’d be in trouble for doing it,” Vermont Dept of Liquor Control Commissioner Michael Hogan agreed.

“The campus is no different from any other entities in the state of Vermont,” said Davidson. “It’s not a sanctuary.”

The liquor inspector, however, isn’t just a fun-buster — the position’s primary focus lies in regulating licensed establishments that serve alcohol.

“Our main focus is with Title Seven (alcohol beverage statutes) and so we’re worried about institutions on campus that over-serve somebody to the point of intoxication,” Hogan said.

Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah, however, noted that the inspector does have authority to cite students for “internal possession” of alcohol on campus.

“If I see someone going in and it’s obvious they’re young and intoxicated, there are laws that give me the right to identify them,” Davidson said.

The liquor inspector in fact possesses the same powers as the Vermont state police.

“They’re certified law enforcement officials and they can arrest anybody,” said Hogan.

Vermont statuates mandate that if underage drinking is taking place, law enforcement officials must take action. This seems to imply that when Public Safety discriminates in giving citations it is breaking the law. In fact, however, Public Safety is merely acting within its role as a non-law enforcement agency.

“Even though we want to uphold the law, we don’t have the power to enforce the law,” Boudah said.

“Our way of holding people responsible is through our student judicial system,” not legal action.

Despite differing enforcement methods, both Public Safety and the liquor inspector theoretically work towards maintaining a safe environment.

“The colleges in the state do pretty well—they’re aware of the liabilities and they do their best,” said Hogan. “It’s not an easy job, being an administrator.”

It’s hard for both organizations, however, to reduce student drinking, and no one is certain whether the liquor inspector’s presence on campus actually helps.

“I do think they have an effect [on Middlebury students], but I’m not sure if [the liquor inspector] helped” curb binge drinking, Boudah said.

President Emeritus and the College’s resident liquor policy activist John McCardell expressed similar concerns about the effect the inspector’s visits have had on campus safety.

“Has alcohol consumption been reduced? Or is it being forced into more clandestine locations? And if the latter, can we say that enforcement is effective,” McCardell wrote in an e-mail.

Smith even wondered if safety is truly the inspector’s primary concern.

“I think overall he has instilled a sense of fear of throwing large parties,” he said.

“In lengthy conversations I have had with the inspector who oversees Middlebury, not once has the word ‘safety’ been mentioned.”

Inspector Davidson virulently disagrees.

“As a state entity, our primary goal is for public safety,” he said. “What we’re motivated to do by enforcing the regulations is to encourage and support [safe behavior], so that’s our goal.”