NOTES FROM THE DESK

Author: Andrea M. LaRocca

If you want to change Middlebury, now is the time. For the first time in over a decade, every aspect of Middlebury and its future is being rethought and revamped - and we can all have a say in it. The Planning Steering Committee released its report in the beginning of January, and, though I know it's not optimal J-Term reading material, if you care about Midd, then you should take a look at the report. Even if you just page through it in the bathroom.

Last week, the Planning Committee hosted three open meetings for faculty, staff and students to share their opinions and concerns about the report. I attended the Tuesday afternoon meeting and was the only student there, besides the two students who served on the committee. Where were all the other student voices to be heard?

It's not that I didn't have anything better to do on a Tuesday afternoon in J-Term. And honestly, as a supersenior who's graduating in a week, it's not that I have a vested interest in the immediate future of Middlebury. But as a student here, there are things in the report about which I thought the Committee needed to know the student opinion. Read the report. There's some big stuff in there on which I'm sure a lot of us have big opinions. The report recommends increasing socio-economic diversity within the student body, reducing the number of Feb admissions by nearly half, consolidating the distribution requirements and possibly adding a language requirement, eliminating triple majors and reducing the number of double majors, and revising the way that athletics are treated at Middlebury, both on the campus and in the admissions process. And those are just a few of the recommendations - there are 82 altogether. Eighty-two ways Midd will be different.

The report addresses everything from the student body to the graduate programs to the infrastructure of the College, and I encourage you all to take a look and have a say. You can email your thoughts to deanofplanning@middlebury.edu. You can really be the one that makes Midd better.

- Andrea M. LaRocca

Associate Editor