The Community Council met twice in late March to address the end of the year agenda.
On March 16, Community Council hosted two presenters form Weybridge house: Gabriel Antonucci ’17 and Laura Xiao ’17 for the purpose of clarifying Weybridge house’s mission.
Weybridge house’s original mission was related to environmental studies and has over time become more food and sustainability focused. The house looks to “promote living sustainably and show that it is possible to live on a local diet…it is not a privileged idea…you can feed people (both) locally and affordably,” said Xiao.
Students living at the house eat about 50 percent of their meals on the house budget, according to Xiao. Weybridge houses 18 students who work to promote local food by buying from select local farmers. With both a residential life budget and a budget as a student organization, Weybridge hosts small dinners for about 25 people every Mon. and Wed., as well as a Sat. brunch that are all open to the Middlebury community. The house also hosts a yearly event titled “Feast” that feeds about 300 people.
On Mar. 30, Community Council discussed a proposal recently passed by the SGA Senate to extend Thanksgiving break to include the Mon. and Tues. of Thanksgiving week. SGA President Taylor Custer ’15 presented statistics from a recent student survey in which 60 percent of the student body responded.
According to Custer, of the students that responded, 33.5 percent skipped 1 or more classes in anticipation of the break and 78 percent wished the break were the whole week. The proposal passed the council with nine supporting, three opposed and one obstaining.
Community Council Co-Chair Ben Bogin ’15 then presented an idea to create a Middlebury Art Market or a like-minded system in which student artists could sell or rent their artwork to other students for their dorm rooms. Along with this, he proposed the idea of allowing dorm rooms to be painted different colors, potentially being a way to “increase student ownership of spaces,” said Bogin. “Maybe if people had more real artwork in their rooms they would be more responsible…it could decrease dorm damage.”
On April 6, Community Council member Anna Jacobsen ’16 brought forth a new proposition, proposing that the college integrate a policy that replaces some student fines and fees for infractions with community service. The purpose being both that fines and fees are harder for some people to pay, and for those who it does not pose any hardship it may not deter them from committing another infraction.
Jacobsen proposed that it begin as a “pilot project” starting with fire violations where instead of paying 300 dollars a student would work at the dining hall for a given amount of time equal to the monetary worth. Council member Emma Bliska ’18 asked if the proposal allowed for students to choose between paying a fine or community service. “I think that one of the purposes of it being work is that all students are punished equally,” responded Jacobsen. “There are lots of other ways to go about this other than fines… loss of privileges would be impactful…such as you can’t live in a suit, can’t run for office in a club, or loose your room draw,” said Associate Dean of Students for Residential Life & Student Life Policy Doug Adams.
Community Council Co-Chair and Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott took a moment to talk about Middlebury’s recent loss of Nathan Alexander last Thursday. “This is a really hard moment for a small community like us,” Smith Abbott said. Responding to a recent petition signed by students asking for a response from Middlebury’s staff and faculty, Abbott said that the administration “of course cares deeply about what’s happening…but we cannot inform the community until the family is informed.” Jacobsen said that “the recent tragedy has made talking about mental health on this campus a priority for me.”
The Council also discussed the potential of placing surveillance cameras at various points around campus. About $1200 worth of student’s belongings were stolen over the course of 3 months such as backpacks that are lined up outside of dining halls. If the cameras were to be established, they would not be monitored but used only if there is a need such as in the case of a reported theft. Some students were concerned with the precedent this would set. “What point have we come to as a community that we need surveillance? Is that really the route we want to take to address theft,” said Community Council member Ilana Gratch ’16.5.“Middlebury is a unique place that does not have surveillance…We have a very open community and with an open community, there is a vast amount of responsibility that people don’t always take…(we could) take advantage of technology to make us a little safer,” said Adams.
