Editorial

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College mourns losses, looks to new faces


The Mead Chapel bells rang in a new academic year Sunday as Middlebury welcomed 580 first-year faces. Convocation also marked the end of a long summer. The deaths of Nicholas Garza '11, Pavlo Levkiv '11, and Professor David Macey all reached the Middlebury community during what was an uncharacteristically sullen and rainy
Middlebury summer. Garza and Levkiv, both beloved members of the first-year class, died under tragic circumstances. Veteran faculty member David Macey passed unexpectedly after devoting himself to the College and its students for three decades.

Middlebury also begins this year adjusting to the departures of some if its most cherished faculty members. Shirley and Alfredo Ramirez, who had a profound impact on the College through their efforts in promoting diversity and community development, will be taking posts at Lafayette College. Dean of Faculty Development and Research Sunder Ramaswamy will also be leaving Middlebury's Vermont campus to assume a new role as President of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The loss of these important faculty members will undoubtedly leave a void in the Middlebury community, and their work on behalf of our small school will be sorely missed.

As the College looks to new faces for leadership and inspiration, we recognize that some change is healthy and there is an opportunity for rebirth and revitalization. We understand that Ramaswamy's move to Monterey will only strengthen the greater, larger Middlebury community. And we are glad to know that Professor James Ralph '82, a longtime Middlebury faculty member, will be assuming Ramaswamy's former position. We also look forward to the contributions of the class of 2012. Largely born in the 1990s, this class not only makes us feel entirely too old, but also represents a symbolic change-the 90s! We look to them and others at Middlebury to breathe new life into this august institution and make their own profound and lasting contributions to the school.









Liebowitz's Amethyst choice a responsible one


We applaud President Ronald D. Liebowitz's recent decision to join 128 other college presidents and chancellors by signing the Amethyst Initiative. The Amethyst Initiative, launched in July 2008, brings together college administrators in an effort to promote informed and unimpeded debate on the 21 year-old drinking age. Liebowitz's signature demonstrates continuity in Middlebury's support for dialogue on this issue, as Amethyst's founder is College President Emeritus John M. McCardell. Adding Middlebury's name to the list of colleges is a not so tacit assertion that the drinking age is not working-a fact that is increasingly obvious at the College. Furthermore, Liebowitz has helped to promote an important national debate when few of our peer colleges have stepped up. We hope that campus leaders will heed their President's example and begin an earnest and informed dialogue about underage drinking here at Middlebury-pushing students and administrators to craft a policy that balances legal concerns with the realities of a college social environment.