New SGA committee reviews calendar policy

Author: Adam Dede

On Dec. 3, the newly formed Student Government Association (SGA) subcommittee to revitalize the Winter Carnival met to discuss reclaiming the day off from classes on the Friday prior to Winter Carnival that was moved in the 2008-2009 academic year to accommodate a Spring Student Research Symposium. In an unprecedented show of support, the committee meeting was attended by far more non-SGA members than SGA members, including a large showing from the ski team.

Nick Sohl '10, committee chair and sophomore SGA senator, guided the meeting.

"We need to revitalize the Carnival and bring everyone together," said Sohl, who hopes to make this year's Carnival a triumphant return to the Carnival of years past, proving that Middlebury's 84-year-old celebration of winter is not something to be dispensed with. Sohl also pointed out that in order to win back the day off, the Carnival will have to become more centralized with large activities both on campus and at the Snow Bowl.

The committee's hope is that if this year's Carnival is a success the administration will see its merits and reinstate the Friday off. Many in the administration, including Dean of the College Tim Spears and President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz, have noted that this year's Carnival will have a major influence on future academic calendars, and that a good Carnival this year may be enough to give back the Friday break from classes in years to come. A main problem with the Carnival, Spears argued, is the shift in focus away from the ski races it was initially built around.

Many from the ski team noted, however, that although attendance at the ski races may have dropped slightly in recent years, it is still extremely high. Some even said that if many more spectators came there would be an issue figuring out where to put them.

"The parking lot and the lodge get packed with just racers alone. If we want to make the event big on the hill then we need a tent and a band," said ski team captain Zeke Davisson '08.

"At [the Middlebury College Activities Board] we've been talking about getting a tent up there so that we can have some outdoor events going on," said Atwater Commons tri-chair Caleigh Waldman '10.

Davisson went on to note that beyond anything the first thing needed to make the Carnival a big success at the Bowl is busing.

One suggestion was to have not only busing from campus to the bowl but also busing between the Bread Loaf campus and the downhill races so that spectators would be able to park in either location and view both the Alpine and Nordic competitions.

"We have probably have the most people watching of any ski race in the U.S.," said ski team coach Stever Bartlett.

With the committee in general agreement that festivities at the Bowl are looking promising, the conversation turned to the major issue of on-campus activity, because even if the Bowl is completely packed there will still be at least half the student body left on campus.

According to Sohl, and others in the SGA, there are already a lot of activities that go on all over campus celebrating the season, but none of them are centralized and so they are not seen by the administration.

"It's the only weekday that we get off classes that we have tons of snow on campus," said Greg Bassell '08. "It's a great opportunity to do huge snow-oriented events - snow sculptures, snowball fights, ice sculptures and skiing."

Ideas for central activities included everything from cross-country skiing on campus to broomball and inter-commons snowball fights. The committee also agreed that a big opening event on Thursday night is key. Sohl suggested that fireworks kick off the Carnival, as they used to in the 1980s.

With everyone on board the main impediment to the Carnival may be the Spring Research Symposium, which is slated to take the Carnival's Friday off in coming years. Those attending Monday's meeting understood that gaining support for the Carnival over the symposium would be difficult. Many tried to amend their arguments to support the Carnival rather than oppose the symposium.

According to some students, the problem is not that people consider student research unimportant but that people are bitter over the loss of their day off.

"They decided to use the one day that nobody wanted to lose for the symposium," said Bassell.

Sohl noted that Middlebury has the longest exam period of any school in the NESCAC and that if a day were to be taken away from the end of year exams it could be given to the Winter Carnival.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive," said Josh Chan '08, SGA chief of staff.

In a final note, Bartlett asked that anyone interested in serving on the Winter Carnival committee contact him to help plan this year's festivities.