MiddNews
A monthly update of news and events on the Middlebury campus
Middlebury College Public Affairs, Middlebury, VT 05753
phone: 802-443-5198 fax: 802-443-2110
The weekend of Oct. 9-10 was lively to say the least. In addition to the inaugural festivities to install Ronald D. Liebowitz as Middlebury's 16th president, a full array of homecoming activities, the dedication of the new library, and a major conference on American national security constituted a weekend to remember. Sad news also arrived with word that Chaplain Emeritus Charles P. Scott had died, and a day later, the world learned that 2004 co-commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient Christopher Reeve had succumbed to heart failure.
The inauguration took place on Sunday, under gray autumn skies on the lawn of the new library. Threatening weather notwithstanding, the atmosphere was festive, with colorful leaves fluttering down on the seated onlookers. With faculty, trustees and visiting dignitaries in full academic regalia, the procession stepped off at 11:30 a.m. with Emory Fanning at the organ to accompany the march. Greetings were proffered, remarks delivered, music performed, and an inaugural address given by President Liebowitz. Under a mammoth tent, a sit-down luncheon featuring Alaskan line-caught salmon was served following the ceremony to all who attended.
In his address, President Liebowitz said that Middlebury's history is strongly linked to its physical setting, but that human ingenuity and creativity have been crucial to Middlebury's progress. The charge for the College today, he said, is twofold. "First, preserve those parts of the Middlebury culture that encourage creativity and foster innovation." In addition, he said, the College needs to "commit ourselves to being very clear about what we do here, and why we've been doing it so well for more than two centuries." For more about the inauguration and the speech, see http://www.middlebury.edu/about/president/inauguration/inauguration_2004.htm.
With approximately 70 colorful flags of the countries represented within the College's student body fluttering in the breeze from the roof of the new library, an academic convocation on the library lawn on Oct. 8 served as the official dedication of the new facility. There were remarks by College officials and by Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former president of the New York Public Library and Brown University. Gregorian spoke on the history and significance of libraries and books after receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. The ceremony was followed by a remarkable performance by the Project Bandaloop dance company, whose members performed on the marble façade of the building dangling from ropes rigged from the roof.
A chapel service on Oct. 12 to celebrate the life of Chaplain Emeritus Charles P. Scott was an outpouring of memories and tributes for the much beloved former chaplain. The location was Mead Chapel, the building in which Scott spent so much time during his more than 50-year association with Middlebury College. The pews were filled with members of the Middlebury College community and many others from far and near, all gathered to pay tribute to the man who provided guidance, support and friendship to so many for so long. The College has received numerous comments, thoughts and reminiscences about Chaplain Scott. They are posted as they are received on the Web at https://cat.middlebury.edu/forms/chaplain/charlie.html.
News that actor and activist Christopher Reeve had died saddened many in the Middlebury community. When Reeve and his wife Dana Morosini Reeve '84 spoke to the class of 2004 at commencement in May, he radiated a powerful presence and dynamism despite his serious disability. He told graduates that physical paralysis had taught him that action was critical to successful living, and he encouraged them to live active, involved lives. Read the speech at /about/pubaff_port/general_info/addresses/reeves04.htm.
As of June 30, 2004, the gross value of the Middlebury College endowment was approximately $703 million. The majority of the gross endowment assets, approximately $642 million, is pooled for investment purposes and actively overseen by the investment committee of the board of trustees. Net returns for the actively managed pool ending June 30, 2004, were 22.7 percent for the year---among the highest returns for colleges and universities in the country.
Are the U.S. News college rankings the best way to assess the quality of a college? Maybe not, say authors of a study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study's authors state that highly meritorious students in the aggregate make reliable assessments of college quality and that using the students' actual decisions on where to enroll when accepted at two or more colleges produces a ranking system that is more accurate and less subject to manipulation than other often-consulted ranking systems. The Chronicle of Higher Education noted that the scholars were able to "model thousands of 'head to head' competitions between particular pairs of colleges…and to make inferences about students' overall preferences." Applying highly sophisticated data analysis, the study's authors establish a portrait of high-achieving students' preferences. The study's ranking shows that, among the nation's top colleges and universities including the Ivies, only five national liberal arts colleges ranked higher than Middlebury, which ranked 25th overall. See http://papers.nber.org/papers/W10803.
Consider the pluck of Middlebury student Jeff King '05, a geography major who decided last fall while studying in Nottingham, England, to write a play and submit it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland---a month-long performance series featuring more than 1,000 productions running simultaneously throughout August. King's play, a one-act dark comedy titled "How to Lock Up, Talk Down and Get Things Done," was accepted by the festival.
While King continued his studies in Spain in the spring of 2004, and honed the play, fellow students Courtney Matson '06 and John Stokvis '05 assembled a cast. The seven-person ensemble, comprising four Middlebury students---Stokvis, King, Matson and Elizabeth Somes '06---and two actors and a director from other colleges, dubbed themselves the Loose Elephant Theatre and started rehearsals in July at King's home in New Hampshire.
That was the easy part. The troupe needed money---substantial money: $15,000. They became instant fund raisers, soliciting classmates, Middlebury alumni, family members, businesses in Middlebury and elsewhere, and anyone else who might contribute something to help them pay the expenses they would incur for plane tickets, production expenses, and for living and eating for a month in Edinburgh.
Once in Scotland, the challenge was marketing. With 1,000 productions running every night in competition, average audience size for any one festival performance was a mere four ticket-buyers. To boost attendance for their play, the students spent their days on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, promoting their production, passing out flyers and staging publicity stunts to attract attention. Audiences for King's play averaged 25 people, and one night exceeded 65. The group got back to the States just in time to start fall classes, and with pride in having done something over the summer that took creativity, imagination and hard work.