Graduation Day
For the second consecutive year,
a Middlebury commencement featured heavy, gray skies; a raw, bracing wind; and a bone-chilling rain that seemed to fall harder as the ceremony neared the one-hour mark. The weather, in fact, served as a marked contrast to that crisp, bright, sunny, autumnal day in September 2001, when the Class of 2005—just a few days into college life—watched in horror as the towers fell, the Pentagon burned, and the nation wept.
"You began your college careers with a massive change in America," the 2005 commencement speaker intoned, as the rain pelted the robed graduates and ponchoed guests. "We don't even understand yet all the changes that it's going to bring about, but ultimately we're going to be stronger as a result of it, and we're going to be stronger because we've educated young people like you to understand that the world is complex and difficult, but if you can apply a reason and sense of rationality to it, it's going to be a much, much better place."
The speaker was Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, who, of course, had an intimate understanding of 9/11. His selection as the commencement speaker was a recognition of the centrality of the September attacks to the collegiate experience of the Class of 2005, yet not everyone was happy with the choice. Rumors spread of an organized protest on the day of commencement—a possibility Giuliani humorously addressed at the beginning of his speech: "I understand that there may be some protests," he said. "I can't help it. I'm a Yankees fan."
In the end, what protest there was was small and respectful—a handful of students and faculty placed red handkerchiefs over their mouths when Giuliani began to speak. And when the former mayor concluded his talk with humility and optimism, he received a standing ovation.
After that, the Class of 2005 heard their names called, as one by one, they crossed the stage to receive their diplomas. Though cold and wet, they remained buoyant, their collective mood a far cry from the shared feelings of fear and despair on that warm, sunny September day nearly four years ago.
Text of the speeches can be found at www.middleburymagazine.org
Commencement Facts
6,500 -Number of chairs set up on the commencement site by the College's facilities management office
9 -Number of tents set up on the commencement site by the Vermont Tent Company
21 -Approximate number of balloons released by graduates in memory of lost faculty members Bob Churchill and Eve Adler
57 -Number of flags flown along the roofline of Voter Hall during commencement. Each flag represented the home country of at least one of the international graduates
9,100 -Approximate number of miles between Middlebury and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hometown of Jasmin Johnson '05
1 -Number of graduates from Bosnia-Herzegovina
1 -Number of graduates from Middlebury, Vermont
What I've Learned
A few weeks before graduation, a group of seniors gathered over pizza to rehash their four years at Middlebury and share their acquired wisdom with Middlebury Magazine. A sampling of what they've learned:
* Socrates was right: An unexamined life is not worth living. The ancients were very similar to us in so many ways, especially their philosophy of examining life.
Andre Estanislao
Manila, Philippines
* You find out who your friends really are after freshman-year room draw.
Adam King
Dover, Massachusetts
* Everybody knows everything about everyone.
Dev Talvadkar
Washington, D.C.
* Isolation is relative . . . it's really just a state of mind.
Melanie Endo
Montclair, New Jersey
* Balance is essential.
Catherine Foster
Westport, Connecticut
* The randomness of the freshman questionnaire is a great thing.
Patrick Zomer
Grand Rapids, Michigan
* It's healthy to stretch your comfort zone.
Michael Murray
Larchmont, New York
* I'm a completely different person than I was as a freshman. I know how to work hard, how to be selfless, how to value the work of other people.
Els Van Woert
Shelburne, Vermont
* Being a geography major has taught me that there isn't one way to look at any given issue.
Maija Cheung
Lawrence, Kansas
* People interact differently here than back home.
Simon Behan
Dublin, Ireland
* I'm not afraid to stand up to people now.
Lindsey Whitton
Wilton, Connecticut
* Walk at a pace that we can perceive. Andrea Olson taught me that.
Tyne Pike-Sprenger
Wilmington, Vermont
Far from Elementary
From 1998 until 2004, 18 Middlebury students had received prestigious Watson fellowships, providing one-year grants for independent study and travel outside the United States. This spring, Erwin Konesni '05 and Stephanie Morales '05 became numbers 19 and 20. In joining the illustrious group, Konesni will journey to the Netherlands, Germany, Ghana, Tanzania, Vietnam, Switzerland, and Mongolia, while Morales will visit Spain, Argentina, and Venezuela.
Konesni, an environmental studies and music major, will undertake a project titled "Haul Away, Joe: Exploring Musical Labor of the Land and Sea"; Morales, a women's and gender studies major, will research "An Intergenerational Redefinition of Leadership through Film."
Now What?
With the conclusion of their undergraduate careers, members of the Class of 2005 stand at the cusp of the "real world." What does the immediate future hold? According to a survey conducted by the Career Services Office:
35 percent of the 335 survey respondents (47 percent of the senior class) report that they
have accepted job offers.
13 percent of the respondents are going to graduate school.
26 percent of the respondents are actively looking for a job.
Education and finance are the top two hiring industries.
To date, Teach for America is the largest employer of '05 Midd grads, with 11 hires.
Lehman Brothers has hired 9 grads.
Middlebury Looks Westward
It lacks the romanticism, perhaps, of Lillian Strobe's train ride through the Champlain Valley in 1915 (a journey that led to the establishment of the Middlebury Language Schools), yet a well-placed phone call in the spring of 2004 may prove to have been just as consequential in Middlebury's rise as a leader in international education.
In late June, the boards of trustees at Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute of International Studies approved a letter of intent to make Monterey an affiliate of Middlebury. The letter—which outlines terms and conditions of the proposed affiliation, including governing changes, investments, and conditions for finalizing the affiliation—is the culmination of seven months of intensive discussion and diligent fact-finding that was sparked by the aforementioned phone call by an MIIS official to a member of the Middlebury board of trustees.
By adding MIIS as an affiliate, Middlebury will embark on a broader phase of international education, while also gaining visibility on the West Coast. MIIS has four graduate-level programs—the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, the Graduate School of International Policy Studies, the Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics, and the Fisher Graduate School of International Business.
"The affiliation between Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute will allow both of our institutions to take a significant step forward in our commitment to leadership in international education," Middlebury president Ronald D. Liebowitz said in announcing the letter of intent. "Never before has there been such a critical need for leaders with language skills and cultural understanding to meet the global challenges of the 21st century. Together, Middlebury and Monterey are powerfully equipped to educate these leaders."
Clara Yu, a former vice president for languages and director of the Language Schools at Middlebury College, will serve as president of the Monterey Institute once the affiliation agreement is approved. Yu will report to Monterey's reconstructed five-member board of trustees, which will be appointed by the Middlebury board.
"Middlebury and Monterey are two premier institutions that take seriously deep cultural understanding and linguistic proficiency as the foundation for international studies, policymaking, and public service," Yu said. "I look forward to working with the faculty, staff, and alumni of the Monterey Institute and with the Monterey community to further our common mission."
On recommending Yu as Monterey president to the Middlebury College board of trustees, Liebowtiz commented: "I believe Clara, with her knowledge of the College, of the foreign language field, her extensive contacts with the 81 leading liberal arts colleges that make up the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education consortium, her contacts with major foundations, and her extensive management skills, is the perfect candidate to lead and develop Monterey's graduate programs in ways that support Middlebury's commitment to international education."
Middlebury has announced that it anticipates making financial resources available to Monterey in the form of gifts received specifically for this affiliation and secured loans, if needed. The College also plans to promote MIIS programs to the faculty, students, and alumni of Middlebury's Language Schools and Schools Abroad. Each institution will continue to present its own degrees. The institutions have agreed to work toward finalizing an affiliation agreement by December 23, 2005.
Summer Reading
Missy Foote
Head women's lacrosse coach
* Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
* Wandering Home, Bill McKibben
* In Praise of Slowness, Carl Honore
* The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
* The Heart Is a Little to the Left, William Sloane Coffin
* Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
* Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
* Spiritually Incorrect: Finding God in All the Wrong Places, Dan Wakefield
Karl Lindholm
Dean of advising and assistant professor of American literature
* Underworld, Don DeLillo
* Leeway Cottage, Beth Gutcheon
* State of Grace: A Memoir of Twilight Time, Robert Timberg
* Satchel Paige's America, William Price Fox
Margaret Nelson
Hepburn Professor of Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies
* Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, Ruth Reichl
* The Closers, Michael Connelly
* Them: A Memoir of Parents, Francine du Plessix Gray
* The Farm in the Green Mountains, Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer,
* Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
* The Position, Meg Wolitzer,
* What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank
* Welfare Brat, Mary Childers
* Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
Matt Longman
Dean of Wonnacott Commons
* Before You Know Kindness, Chris Bohjalian
* Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam
* Where the Sea Used to Be, Rick Bass
* Idiot, Johnny Damon
John Elder
Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies
* The Divine Comedy: Inferno,Dante Alighieri (In two translations by Mark Musa and Charles Singleton)
* The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio, Dante Alighieri (In two translations by Mark Musa and Charles Singleton)
* The Divine Comedy: Paradise, Dante Alighieri (In two translations by Mark Musa and Charles Singleton)
Sound of Music
In April, for the first time in the College's history (as far as anyone can remember), students performed a concert of chamber music for their peers at the President's House.
Performers and their invited guests alike came attired in skirts and sports jackets, but the affair was not entirely formal; the lively pre-concert chatter—centered around the scrumptious high tea set up in the dining room, which included currant scones and cucumber sandwiches, of course—remained grounded in discussions of room draws and weekend plans.
For the musicians, this was a chance to share movements of Brahms's Clarinet Quintet and Beethoven's "Ghost" Piano Trio, the fruits of their January term chamber music performance class with Su Lian Tan, an associate professor of music. Tan knows chamber music: She not only writes it and coaches it, she plays it (she's an award-winning flutist). Clarinetist Kevin Ng '08 described one of Tan's guiding principles for this intimate genre: "She taught us that in a chamber music ensemble, each player holds a piece of a shared heart. As the music progresses, I give my part to you, and you give it back to me."
It takes skill to reveal that heart, and the players showed plenty of both. Ng, violinists Megan Guiliano '07 and Emily Goldsmith '08, violist Andrew Lindblad '05, and cellist Jonathan Stuart-Moore '05 captured the autumnal tone of Brahms. For the Beethoven piece, Goldsmith did double duty with fellow first-years Erik Lewis (cello) and Hye Min Ryu (piano) striking the first movement's unisons with remarkable energy and precision.
Even at a small college your friends can surprise you, judging from the most-overheard post-concert comment: "Wow! I didn't know you could play like that!"
—Maria Stadtmueller
Since Last Time
Two stories—"To Merge or Not to Merge" and "Ask, Do Tell"—in the spring 2005 issue of Middlebury Magazine received a lot of attention from readers and sparked considerable discussion (see Letters in this issue). Since both stories examined evolving issues, we thought it was necessary to offer an update.
The proposed English-Am Lit merger
With the close of the academic calendar year, the faculty's Educational Affairs Committee was continuing to study the American Literature and English proposal. A vote on the issue will not take place until next academic year.
Employer recruiting
On May 12, President Liebowitz announced his decision that the College's protocols on employer recruiting on campus will remain as they are "for the time being." These protocols permit employers who cannot sign the College's nondiscrimination statement to recruit only on the condition that they hold an open meeting, at which they must provide information on their recruitment practices.
In an e-mail to the College community, Liebowitz wrote, in part: "I recognize the strong arguments for changing our existing protocols in order to deny the use of campus resources to employers who do not follow the College's nondiscrimination policy. However, such changes in protocol are incompatible with federal law, which requires that colleges and universities that receive grants from a number of federal agencies provide military recruiters with access to their campuses 'in a manner that is at least equal in quality and scope' to the access provided other employers.' (Solomon Amendment, 1996) I believe that preventing military organizations from using campus resources and facilities when they recruit works against our mission as an educational institution. I also believe Middlebury's nondiscrimination policy is unquestionably the right policy. Allowing an organization that does not adhere to that policy to come here only if they agree to engage in dialogue and debate helps to dramatize the difference between the policies of that organization and the higher standards we set for ourselves."
Liebowitz added that the administration would review the recruiting protocols on a periodic basis.
News & Notes
Be Cool
This summer, Middlebury College joined the City of Stamford, Connecticut; the Timberland Company; Governor John Baldacci of Maine; and Governor George Pataki of New York as a recipient of the 2005 Climate Champion Award. Clean Air– Cool Planet, the Northeast's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and implementing solutions to global warming, announced the winners at its biennial conference, Global Warming Solutions, in June.
UWC HQ at Midd
The Davis United World Scholars Program—a philanthropic endeavor that provides grants to select American colleges and universities in support of students who have completed pre-university studies at UWC schools—established its headquarters at Middlebury this summer.The program's namesake, Shelby M. C. Davis, has donated $20 million to Middlebury to establish the headquarters and support the financial needs of Middlebury's UWC students, who number approximately 80 this year. Davis has funded the growing program, which supports students from all over the globe, since its inception in 2000.
A Mighty Wind
Wind power is coming to Middlebury. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the College's environmental studies program, Middlebury is installing a wind turbine on the western edge of campus (at the site of the recycling facility on Rt. 125). The turbine will be connected to the College's electrical grid, offsetting the use of electric power from Central Vermont Public Service.
New Dean in Town
Middlebury welcomed a new dean of admissions to campus this summer with the appointment of Robert S. Clagett to the post. Clagett comes to the College from Harvard, where he served as a senior admissions officer and associate director
of financial aid. In his new position, Clagett will be responsible for undergraduate admissions policy and for overseeing the operation of the admissions office.
Shining Star
The Pose Foundation, an organization that identifies and trains student leaders from urban public high schools and then matches them with select colleges, awarded Middlebury President Ronald Liebowitz a Posse Star at a New York City gala in May.
Awarded annually, the Posse Star recognizes an individual who exhibits leadership, makes a significant contribution in the field of education, and positively affects people's lives. Joining Liebowitz as 2005 Posse Star recipients were actress Phylicia Rashad and Shell Gas & Power executive Luciano Batista.