Editorials A joint challenge issued to students, administration

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A joint challenge issued to students, administration



On a sunny afternoon during finals week last May, Middlebury College students crowded into McCullough Social Space to hear College President Ronald D. Liebowitz address the mounting unrest on campus in response to the O'Neil Walker lawsuit and to explain a series of highly publicized and mostly unpopular decisions on the part of the administration. Passions arose and tempers flared. Liebowitz was put on the defensive and cornered, but even the President acknowledged that he preferred the onslaught to student apathy.

During the meeting, Liebowitz announced that the Board of Trustees had voted not to change the College's non-discrimination policy. He cited continuity of policy with the other NESCAC schools and the educational value of the current policy, which gives discriminating employers the right to recruit on campus after holding an open meeting with the College community.

Considering that the Community Council and the Faculty Council had decisively voted for the change, the administration owes the community a more in-depth explanation, and the students should continue to care enough to demand such accountability.

A proposed acquisition of the Monterey Institute in California was also discouraged by all three major decision-making bodies: the Faculty Council, Community Council and Student Government Association. A compromise decision, calling for an affiliation between Middlebury and Monterey that did not hold the College accountable for the Institute's debts, was agreed upon and announced over the summer.

These recent episodes show that the voices of the College community are becoming increasingly ignored in the administration's final decisions.

Not only must there be open lines of communication among students, faculty, staff and administration, but the College community also deserves affirmation that its opinions are being acted upon. Liebowitz has promised to be more available to students this year and to continue meeting with them over lunch. These intentions are promising, but the test will be if, midway through the semester, the community honestly feels more engaged in the College's decisions. Students should consider this a challenge for Liebowitz this year, and should voice their concern if the President does not satisfy our expectations. Administrators, always bear in mind that you run the College for its constituents, and you must keep all of them satisfied.



The Walker case: Get the facts straight first



Middlebury students should be concerned about racial tensions on campus, and the fact that so many students rallied around O'Neil Walker last spring when he faced suspension and subsequently filed suit against the College on the basis of racial discrimination is laudable. But students also have a responsibility to get all the facts before jumping on the protest bandwagon - court records for the case are available to the public.

Students should also have confidence in the College's judicial process. They should be aware that the College's judicial process is the ruling authority of handbook policy, and subsequent decisions do not reflect the College's opinions on race matters or other contentious issues.Members of the College community should therefore have confidence in their ruling body.

The Village Voice publication should repent for practicing irresponsible journalism in the form of Aina Hunter's biased and one-sided "Busted for blackness at Middlebury" article last June.