On Nov. 26, several papers picked up an Associated Press story that mentioned that Middlebury receives a portion of the royalties--21 percent--every time the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is played on the radio, in movies or on television. This gift is thanks to a generous alumnus who attended the college for one year and then went on to graduate from St. Lawrence, another institution that benefited from his generosity. The article states, "The song's lyricist, J. Kimball 'Kim' Gannon, stipulated in his will that 30 percent of the royalties from his songs go to his alma mater (Class of '24) upon the death of his wife, according to officials at St. Lawrence. His wife died in 2000." In Newsday, the article was titled "Christmas standard benefits university." The article also appeared in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel and the Hampshire Gazette (Mass.), and was aired as a news story on Canadian radio station CJAD AM.
John McCardell's announcement that he will step down as president of the College in June 2004 was the subject of an Associated Press story that was picked up by The Times Argus (Barre/Montpelier, Vt.) on November 19. The text of the article is on the paper's Web site http://timesargus.nybor.com/Local/Story/74801.html.
The Middlebury College Portuguese School is the subject of an Associated Press article that will appear July 2nd in the papers that decide to pick it up. The text of the article is here on the Web site Boston.com.
On May 19, Middlebury College was mentioned in an Associated Press story about a group of 13 Middlebury students who are taking a cross-country trip on a school bus from May 19-June 11, which they bought and converted from a vehicle that uses diesel fuel to one that's powered by vegetable oil. The story about the Bio Bus was picked up by local and national media, including The Burlington Free Press, The Rutland Herald, Vermont Public Radio, WPTZ-TV (NBC), NECN (New England Cable News Network), 1010 WINS (New York City radio station), Roanoke Times (Va.), Yahoo.com, CNN.com and the Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada).