Volume CXXXIII, Number 9 November 9, 2001 f

Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

To the Bowdoin Community:

On October 19, four Bowdoin students headed to Washington, D.C. for Econference 2001, a national conference on social and environmental activism.
One of the take-homes for us was national energy policy-and particularly, the fate and state of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Last week, along with pages of your supporting signatures, we sent a version of the following letter to the governing bodies of Maine:

"We, the undersigned members of the Bowdoin College Community, are deeply and profoundly concerned about Climate Change. We want to see a national energy policy that aims at the reduction of carbon dioxide and other green house gasses….Please support the development and consumption of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic and wind rather than continue subsidies to fossil fuel production and distribution. Please also support increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and eliminate the loophole that allows Sport Utility Vehicles and other light trucks to use more gasoline than cars. Please support public transportation initiatives. Lastly, please oppose the opening of new oil drilling or coal mining sites across the nation, especially those in ecologically sensitive areas, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve."

The implications of oil exploration and drilling are profound. The native Gwichin people have made it crystal clear they oppose drilling. These natives (whose name actually means "Caribou people") have lived peacefully for 20,000 years on the northern Alaskan plain, and depend entirely on the fall caribou migration for food as well as cultural sustenance. They are the voice of a minority people who will most adversely and most certainly be affected by drilling.
Urge your senators to block any legislation that calls for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

For information on where you Senators stand on a specific bill, go to:
www.environet.org, www.usgs.gov, thomas.loc.gov

Compiled by the Sierra Student Coalition

Heather _____________

Tighter security needed at the library

To the Bowdoin Community:

Representative of how sheltered my life is, I witnessed my first crime tonight. My friend's laptop was stolen from his library carrel, and I was the only witness. Around 8:00 two teenagers passed me in the library, greeted me, and passed around the corner. They were tense, and upon their overly friendly greeting, I knew that something was wrong. After they passed, I quickly followed. I saw one sit at a carrel, which I found out later was my friend's. He was playing with something as the other stood guard. I immediately ran downstairs and reported the behavior to a member of the library list. He was asked if I wanted him to go up to kick them out. I replied that would be great, but by the time he went upstairs, the two guys and the laptop were gone. A half hour later, my friend ran past me frantically asking if I had seen his laptop.

Later that evening, I talked with the library employee. He admitted that he thought I was a bit paranoid at first and did not understand my concern. He also admitted that he did not know what to do. As a senior, I have seen many library goods disappear. Carrels are a student's personal space, and a simple bathroom trip always leaves a laptop exposed.

There needs to be a review of security efforts in the library. Library employees should have a procedure when someone is suspected or attempting to steal from the library. This is not a new issue and should have been reviewed and prepared for ages ago. Perhaps the sixth webcam should be placed at the entrance of the library and not at the drink line of Thorne hall.

Tiffany Mok '02

Alums ask for end to fraternity slander

To the editor:

We, the undersigned alumni of the Bowdoin chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi Society, were extremely disappointed to read the following statement in the Winter 2001 edition of the alumni magazine:

"Mills pledged Alpha Delta Phi during his first weekend on campus. Being the studious sort, he never lived at the house...."

In our experience as members of the Alpha Delta Phi who lived in the house and as recognized scholars in the Bowdoin community and beyond, it was quite possible to be both studious and to live at the house. In fact, some of us found it easier to accomplish our studies in front of a crackling fire in a communal living room than it was in the clamorous, unpredictable setting of a dormitory.

While perpetuating negative stereotypes about fraternities was no doubt a valuable tactic in garnering support for their abolition, the war is now over. For good or bad, Bowdoin has succeeded in eliminating Greek-letter fraternities, sororities, and societies. It is time to stop vilifying the organizations that formed the backbone of Bowdoin's social system for over 150 years. It is time to stop vilifying the people-all of them Bowdoin alumni-who joined these organizations and found them a valuable and integral part of the Bowdoin experience.

The anti-fraternity offensive is over, and Bowdoin has won; it is now appropriate for Bowdoin to be magnanimous in victory, remembering that the people on the other side are Bowdoin alumni just as much as those who never set foot in a fraternity house. Such continued anti-fraternity spin is unseemly.

The Bowdoin chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi is proud to count among its members three of Bowdoin's distinguished presidents: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Roger Howell, and now Barry Mills. It is doubtful that in Chamberlain or Howell's day it would have seemed important to offer ironic commentary in a Bowdoin publication on the nature or tenure of their fraternity membership.

It is most unfortunate that Bowdoin, which purports to educate its students in the liberal arts, should present such a one-sided view, biased in favor of its interests, without even acknowledging the existence of another point of view. This sort of bias has no place in a community which claims to be intellectually honest.

David Clodfelter '89, Cum Laude, High honors in history, J.D. (Cincinnati)
Michelle Perkins Dostie '91, Magna cum laude, Honors in Biochemistry, M.D. (Vermont)
David H. Howe '92, Honors in philosophy, George Quimby Award in Theater, Moody Award in Technical Theater, M.A., Ph.D. (Temple)
Peter Kester '87, Magna cum laude, M.S. (Virginia)
Charles H.M. Korn '85, magna cum laude, M.B.A. (Penn)
Ching-Ping Lin '95
Benjamin W. Lund '83, Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), Summa cum laude, J.D. (Harvard)
Theodore A. Lund '85, J.D. (Boston University)
Gregory T. Merklin '84, PBK, Summa cum laude, High Honors in chemistry, M.S. (MIT), Ph.D. (Idaho)
Shallee Page '89, cum laude, Gen. R.H. Dunlap Award, Lucien E. Howe Prize, M.A. (Fairleigh Dickinson), Ph.D. (Cornell)
Ward Reed '87, PBK, Summa cum laude, Honors in biochemistry, M.D. (Boston University), MPH (UNC)
Nessa Burns Reifsnyder '86, Alpha Delta Phi Alumni Association President
Peter C. Reifsnyder '89
Kimberly J. Schneider '00, PBK, Summa cum laude, Honors in mathematics, Edward Sanford Hammond Mathematics Prize, Paul Andrew Walker Prize
Patricia Triplett '00, Magna cum laude, Highest honors in theater/Asian studies, Departmental prizes in theater and dance
Charlton Wilbur '95, Honors in music
Brett Zalkan '87, PBK, High honors in English, Departmental prize for best thesis
Jeffrey B. Zeman '92, Magna cum laude, J.D. (Boston College)

"Vagina facts" meant to empower women

To the Editor,

We, the V-Day Bowdoin College 2002 Committee, are writing to inform the community about the reasoning behind the perhaps shocking or controversial "vagina facts" in Smith Union. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. We are raising money for the Sexual Assault Services of Southern Maine and for the women suffering in Afghanistan.

Additionally, our goal is to raise awareness in the community about these issues and empower the women and girls of Bowdoin and Brunswick through a celebration of their womanhood. The centerpiece of the V-Day movement is a production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," which will be performed in February.

Before the production we are seeking to raise money and awareness through various campus activities, including outreach tables, a coffee house, and informative posters around campus. It has come to our attention that some members of the community have expressed discomfort with the "vagina facts" in the union. Those facts are part of an effort to generate positive energy around this sensitive topic.

V-Day is about stopping violence in creative ways. Empowering women and celebrating their bodies is one of the best methods of preventing violence and supporting its victims.

We hope that women and men will recognize the importance of creating a vocabulary that includes the word vagina, in order to promote discussion pertaining to sexual violence. We respect the discomfort some members of the community may feel, but hope that everyone will allow themselves to be open minded and respectful towards this cause, which deeply effects us all.

If you are interested in being a part of this movement or have questions or concerns please contact Barbara Condliffe at bcondlif@bowdoin.edu.

Sincerely,

Allison Milld '04, Barbara Condliffe '04 & Rebecca Bogdanovitch '04
V-Day Bowdoin College Coordinators

Hate speech best combatted through discussions, not College sanctions

To the Editors:

In his column, "Education not Legislation" (November 6), Todd Buell suggests that the answer to the problems posed by Hate Speech is education in what Aristotle deems "moral virtues or what we call right from wrong". Buell's suggestion, while on face a logical alternative to legislation that impedes free speech, falls victim to the same problem.

He suggests that the problem with hate crime legislation is that the constitution is meant to protect everyone's speech, "even those whose hateful opinions we find rightfully reprehensible," and that hate crime legislation targets opinions that the government disagrees with.

The problem is that his suggestion-education-also targets opinions that go against the norm. Education in the form that he suggests-essentially an education in what the educator believes is right-also silences people's voices.

By educating a community to believe that a certain type of thought is correct, an institution puts its imprimatur on one set of beliefs in a manner not unlike that of a hate crimes statute. An institution such as Bowdoin-engaging in an education campaign against discriminatory expression would silence voices-not educate them.

If teaching the correct way to think or legislating is not the answer, then what is the answer to the problem of offensive speech? I believe the answer lies in discussions on discrimination and bias, which would allow people to voice their opinions, rather than just receiving an official college sanction for sharing a belief that makes people uncomfortable.

Although punishments may solve the problem in the short run by signaling that the college is taking action to remedy the problem, they do little to eradicate the fundamental problem in the long run. Only by airing differences in an open forum can we understand why others think the way they do and help them understand the position we are coming from.

Although replacing education and sanctions with discussions would mean that institutions took no official stance against hate speech, this is not necessarily a bad thing. In his dissent in Abrams v. US, Supreme Court Justice Holmes wrote that "the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas-that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market...."

The Holmesian marketplace of ideas, achieved through discussions, would show people with fringe ideas what the mass accepted without putting an institutional stamp on ideas.

Consider one example from this school year where institutional sanction most likely did hardly anything, and where open forums could have potentially done more. Recently, the student body received a letter from the school stating that there had been two bias-incidents on campus, one directly targeting Jewish students.

As a Jew, I was angry and saddened by the events. Yet a letter from the school saying that Bowdoin does not tolerate this behavior most likely did nothing and certainly did not make me feel more comfortable. Those who committed these speech acts probably knew the institution did not agree with them. What they probably didn't know was why their view was hurtful to me.

If the College held a moderated discussion instead of sending a letter to the student body, students could voice their opinions about how these events affected them, and the dialogue about the event could have deterred a future occurrence. People need to argue and get upset about events in order to come to a common agreement. Only when popular opinion puts pressure on the behavior we seek to eradicate, will an environment exist that is safe and does not hide dangers like skeletons in the closet.

Jessica Zolt-Gilburne '05