Bowdoin College
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Arctic and Art museums receive over $230,000
to expand online access to archived collections
by Kate Lusignan
Orient Staff
The Bowdoin College
Museum of Art and the
Peary-MacMillan Arctic
Museum were awarded a
$239,344 federal grant from
The Institute of Museum and
Borders and walls:
Masha Gessen talks
Jewish experience
by Nina McKay
Orient Staff
On Thursday night, Masha
Gessen, a renowned Russian
Jewish journalist, delivered this
year’s Harry Spindel Memorial
Lecture to a full and engaged
audience in Kresge Auditorium.
The lecture, titled “Jews and
Borders,” delved into the idea
of migration and dispersion as
central tenets of Jewish identity,
while also drawing attention to
common experiences amongst
different ethnic minorities. Ges-
sen, as a Jew who has experi-
enced displacement, articulated a
feeling of responsibility to stand
up for other ethnic, cultural and
religious minorities being con-
strained by borders today.
“There is a common experi-
ence of being Jewish,” Gessen
said. “It’s not the religion, it’s
not any of our languages, it’s not
the way we look, it’s not unique
to Jews. The experience of any
diasporic people, of displaced
people, is that leaving is always
an option. You’re never exactly
where you belong if you’re in a
diaspora.”
Gessen discussed the expe-
rience of being in a diaspora in
tandem with the idea of Jewish
nationalism, a concept that has
changed throughout history.
Gessen opened the lecture with
a quote from Simon Dubnow, a
Russian Jewish author, in which
he defines Jewish nationalism as
an intrinsically peaceful move-
ment that does not necessitate
Jews leaving the nation-states
within which they already reside.
“Jewish nationalism in es-
sence has nothing in common
with any tendency toward
violence,” Gessen read. “It is
concerned with only one thing:
protecting its national individ-
uality … [it] is an outstanding
example of a collective individ-
uality which protects its own
from attacks against the outside
but never … [attacks] … on its
own.”
From this starting point, Ges-
N SLEEP TIGHT
Jake Maus ’22 creates a new mattress
business for students. Page 4.
1st CLASS
U.S. MAIL
Friday, September 20, 2019 Volume 149, Number 3 bowdoinorient.com
Library Services (IMLS) last $249,000 to support the project. and newly-renovated storage the objects will be stored. Arctic Museum, Bowdoin
week. The IMLS award de- In hopes of making the facility in Brunswick. Both museums worked this Library and Art Museum to
scription says the museums collections more available, According to Susan Kaplan, summer to prepare for the share objects from each col-
will use the funds to “improve the Arctic Museum and the director of the Peary-MacMil- move. lection with classes.
both physical and digital ac- Art Museum plan to upload lan Arctic Museum and Arctic Anne Goodyear, co-direc- “All of a sudden, we will
cess to the collections of its complete catalogues to a pub- Studies Center, the College tor of the Bowdoin College have a common space that
two museums.” lic database and will move has already renovated a build- Museum of Art, believes the enables us [to] easily make
The College matched the portions of each collection to ing in “one of the industrial building—only 10 minutes
federal fund with an additional a shared, climate-controlled parks in Brunswick” where from campus—will allow the Please see MUSEUM, page 3
sen wove a personal story about
being a Jewish refugee into a
discussion of contemporary ex-
amples of borders and walls in
the United States and Israel.
It was Gessen’s personal ex-
perience with migration and
reporting on current events
involving ethnic minorities
that interested members of the
committee tasked with inviting
a speaker, including Associate
Professor of Russian Alyssa
Gillespie.
“[Migration] is both a spe-
cifically Jewish experience and
topic with a lot of specificity and
Jewish history and Jewish expe-
rience, but it also really does link
in with these issues of migration ANN BASU, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
that are of concern worldwide LET’S CELEBRATE!: (TOP) Jada
right now,” said Gillespie. Scotland ’23 and Kenya Mathieu
Gessen who is currently the ’23 laugh together as they wait
John J. McCloy ’16 Professor for tacos from the Taco the Town
of American Institutions and truck during the Latinx Heritage
International Diplomacy at Am-
Month and Beyond kick-off event
at 30 College Street. (BOTTOM)
herst College and a staff writer at
Director of Religious and Spiritual
The New Yorker, was born in the Life Eduardo Pazos is all smiles
Soviet Union. As a child in the during the event. The Latin
USSR, Gessen conceived of Ju- American Student Organization
daism as something negative—it (LASO), the Latin American
was the reason Gessen was bul- studies department, the Student
lied at school. Center for Multicultural Life
“I thought that’s what being and the Charles Weston Pickard
Jewish meant,” said Gessen. “We Lecture Fund worked together to
didn’t have a language, we didn’t fund this year’s programming.
have a culture in particular …
but [we were] easily identified
and [had] this sense of being
different.”
However, due to the activism
Latinx Heritage Month celebrations commence
of the American Movement for Student Organization (LASO), designed to appeal to a broad goal that Ramirez expressed for
Soviet Jewry, Gessen’s family by Lucie Nolden expressed enthusiasm about the range of students. this month’s events: shedding
Orient Staff
and other Soviet Jews had the success of the kickoff event. In addition to the kickoff light on Central American im-
opportunity to do the one thing Last Friday, Taco the Town “[It’s] basically our way of event, several speakers will be migrants and their experiences.
that no other group, including arrived at 30 College Street to welcoming students, staff and all coming to Bowdoin, including Additionally, Lorena Wolffer,
other persecuted ethnic mi- kick off Latinx Heritage Month members of the Bowdoin com- Patti Vasquez, renowned author an artist and cultural activist
norities in the Soviet Union, and Beyond. Students, faculty, munity into the Latinx Heritage and comedian who had hosted from Mexico City, will give a
received permission to do: leave.staff and even President Clayton Month celebration,” Ramirez a talk show in Chicago for the talk about the stories of those
Gessen left the Soviet Union for Rose joined the festivities. Al- said. “We had a pretty strong past five years. who have been traditionally
the United States at 14, in 1981,though campus programming showing. People like free food.” Another speaker will be excluded from narratives of
and remained in the country for the month has been signifi- Organized through a partner- Kelsey Freeman ’16 who is re- Mexican heritage, focusing
until returning after the fall ofcantly reduced since last year, ship between the Student Center turning to campus to share her specifically on women. She will
the Berlin Wall in 1991. Gessen this event marked the first of for Multicultural Life, the Latin work with immigrants. After also make an appearance in an
remained in Russia until around five programs scheduled for this American Studies Department, interviewing Central American advanced seminar taught by
six years ago, when it became tooyear’s Latinx Heritage Month LASO and the Charles Weston immigrants over a nine-month Visiting Assistant Professor of
dangerous for outspoken critics and Beyond. Pickard Lecture Fund, the period, she is writing a book Latin America Studies, Irina
Angel Ramirez ’20, the pres- events incorporate a wide vari- about her research and migrants’
Please see GESSEN, page 3 ident of the Latin American ety of thematic elements and are stories. Freeman’s talk reflects a Please see LATINX, page 4
F OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS A AN UNCOVERED HISTORY S MAYHEM IN PORTLAND O A MORAL RECKONING
Maine Street staple showcases renovations, The Arctic Museum honors a legendary Women’s professional football team gains Visiting professor investigates the Board
new decor and night programs. Page 5. North Pole trailblazer. Page 7. traction in its fifth season. Page 9. of Trustees’ practices. Page 10.
2 Friday, September 20, 2019

2 PAGE TWO
SECURITY REPORT
9/12 to 9/19 STUDENT SPEAK:
Is there a food you eat weirdly?
Thursday, September 12 • Brunswick police pulled over a student’s
• A student was taken to Mid Coast Hospital for vehicle in the Farley parking lot for a vehi-
evaluation of worsening concussion symptoms. cle defect and suspicion of drunk driving.
Neither the driver nor the passenger was Franny Weed ’21
charged.
Friday, September 13
• An officer conducted a wellness check on an
• Excessive shower steam caused a smoke
alarm at Brunswick Apartments.
“Goldfish. I bite half the tail, then the
intoxicated student at Osher Hall.
• A student took responsibility for urinating in
other half of the tail, then the bod.”
a Chamberlain Hall hallway while intoxicated. Monday, September 16
• Obscene graffiti was spray painted at the • An unregistered event was dispersed on
Farley tennis courts. the tenth floor of Coles Tower.
• A staff member reported an inappropriate • There were reports that a student was
remark uttered by an occupant of a truck assaulted and fondled by a person visiting
parked at the Watson Arena. campus.
• An officer escorted an ill student from • Excessive kitchen steam activated a fire
Searles Science Building to the health center. alarm at Moulton Hall. Stephen Boe ’22
• Brunswick Rescue transported an ill • A student in Coleman Hall was cited for
employee from Thorne Hall to Mid Coast
Hospital.
possession of a handle of vodka.
• Fire drills were conducted at campus “I eat corn specifically four bites at a
• A gathering with alco-
hol and a drinking
residence halls.
time.”
game was dispersed
in Hyde Hall. Tuesday, September 17
• Students and a • Students reported the
staff member odor of marijuana on the
reported that fourth floor of Chamber-
a man was on lain Hall.
campus making • An unauthorized man
inquires about entered College offices Eleanor Paasche ’20
two students. located a 16 Station Avenue.
Security investigat- The man was directed to leave “I eat oranges by their individual little
ed and determined the premises.
the man’s identity. The • Fire drills were conducted at cells. I take the membrane off of a
situation was resolved. campus residence halls.
section and then crumble the little bits
Saturday, September 14 Wednesday, September 18 into my hand. ”
• An officer checked on the • Burnt food triggered a smoke
well-being of an intoxicat- alarm at Mayflower Apartments.
ed student at Thorne Hall. • A student reported three loud
• An intoxicated minor SYDNEY REAPER bangs coming from a vehicle on
student at West Hall was Harpswell Road. The noise was Daniel Strodel ’20
transported to Mid Coast attributed to a vehicle backfiring.
Hospital. “Edamame beans? I eat them whole.”
• A student using the crosswalk on Maine
Street in front of Howell House was nearly Thursday, September 19
struck by a speeding vehicle. A security • A fire alarm at Park Row Apartment 2 was
officer on patrol witnessed the incident. caused by a sprinkler system malfunction.
COMPILED BY THE OFFICE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY COMPILED BY HAVANA CASO-DOSEMBET

Eight things found under the Park Row Apartments

by Lily Randall, Ian Ward and Andrew Bastone
Orient Staff
In case you didn’t have enough things to worry about with the back-
to-school bustle, rumors have surfaced that asbestos was found under
the new Park Row Apartments. To reassure the campus community,
we went to the scene of the crime ourselves to see if the legend was
true. While we didn’t find any asbestos, we did find a few other things:
1. Randy Nichol’s Top Secret Security Bunker. We’re not saying
that if a nuclear apocolpyse hits Bowdoin this is where we’d want
to be, but this is where we’d want to be. We were sworn to secrecy
regarding its contents, so we’re sorry to report that you’ll simply have
to see this one for yourself. Hint: the password is “daddy.”
2. Hillary Clinton’s emails. Also, Bill’s nudes. I’m not sure how these
ended up in Brunswick, Maine, but here we are. We ended up just re-
burying them. Seemed like what the Clintons wanted all along.
3. Clayton Rose’s sense of humor. We’d heard about this before,
but we just thought it was a Bowdoin conspiracy theory. We stand
corrected, folks. It exists! The president has been contacted and will
receive it within the coming days.
4. Candles confiscated during the Great Candle Crusade of 2019.
Pour one out for these fallen soldiers, as this was a sight for sore eyes.
Among the pile of candles we spotted an incense burner as well, to which
we’d like to say: we see you, bro.
5. Jojo Siwa. This one was weird. We called her mom.
6. Jimmy Hoffa’s dead body. Consider the case closed on this murder
mystery, I guess. Word on the street is that he will be returning to the Park
Row basement this weekend as the new frontman for 2020, “Weekend at
Bernie’s” style.
7. Dean Tim Foster’s living body. Early retirement my ass: Foster
still lurks in the pits of Park Row. Rumor has it he’s the one who stole
the portrait of Ernst Helmreich last week. Dean Lohmann is getting
nervous, accoring to an anonymous source (it was Dean Odejimi!).
8. Livable wages for housekeepers. We all knew Bowdoin’s refusal
to provide its workers with fair wages seemed off, so we were just
delighted to find that the wages had simply been misdirected on their
way to housekeeping’s budget. The funds are now being returned to
their rightful recipients.
Friday, September 20, 2019
GESSEN
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
of Russian President Vladimir
Putin, such as Gessen, to remain
in the country.
“I didn’t want to leave; I have
a strong sense of home,” Gessen
said. “My home is [in Russia],
… but I can’t go back.”
Gillespie sees this attach-
ment to Russia within the con-
text of political oppression as a
core theme of Gessen’s books.
Gillespie views Gessen’s writ-
ten work as both an honest
investigation into the horrors
that take place under authori-
tarianism and as a celebration
of the resilience of Russian
people and Russian culture.
“I don’t want the story about
Russia to always be a nega-
tive story, because that’s what
we always hear in our media
now,” Gillespie said. “There’s
this incredible culture there of
people, of courageous intellec-
tuals and artists and activists
who are fearless in the face of
authoritarianism and are will-
ing to fight the good fight, and
Gessen’s books profile those
people.”
Gessen’s most recent book,
“The Future is History: How Total-
itarianism Reclaimed Russia,” won
the National Book Award in 2017.
Toward the end of the talk,
Gessen discussed the role of
Jewish people in advocating for
the rights of minorities who are
currently being marginalized,
focusing specifically on the
debate over whether to use the
term “concentration camps” to
describe centers in which the
United States government is
holding asylum seekers from
Central America and the “Nev-
er Again Is Now” movement
led by young Jewish Americans
to call attention to those exact
detention centers.
“Jewish groups, including
the [United States] Holocaust
[Memorial] Museum, spoke
out against using the term ‘con-
centration camp’ because they
see it as belonging to a moment
in history that is unique in its
cruelty and unique in its car-
nage, and that using the term
again lessens the understand-
ing of that cruelty,” Gessen
said. “I think it’s the opposite;
MUSEUM
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
objects available from each
of the collections in a single
secured space at one time,”
Goodyear said.
“We really understand this
larger project as being an es-
sential piece of the foundation
that makes original objects
available to members of this
community and the public at
large for the sake of developing
new knowledge,” she added.
Since the Museum of Art
last underwent major renova-
tions and expansion in 2007,
its collection has expanded
from 14,000 works to near-
ly 25,000. The growth has
prompted the Museum to store
works in Massachusetts as well
as its on-campus facilities.
Located just hundreds of feet
away from the Museum of Art,
the Arctic Museum also ex-
pressed storage concerns to the
College which resulted in arti-
facts being stored at five separate
on- and off-campus locations.
In light of these concerns,
both museums, with the help
College Houses partake in dialogue on class
by Diego Lasarte
Orient Staff
For eight weekends this fall,
College House residents will
gather in their respective chap-
ter rooms and embark on an
hour-long discussion about the
implications of class at Bowdoin.
Students will share stories, ask
questions and reckon with the
issues of class on campus.
Last spring, during the Col-
lege’s first Intergroup Dialogue
on class, Sam Brill-Weill ’20
came up with the idea for a series
to discuss class on campus. The
seven-week long program titled
“Real Talks on Class” was orga-
nized by the Office of Inclusion
and Diversity and facilitated by
Kate Stern, associate dean of stu-
dents for inclusion and diversity,
and Sarah Seames, the director
I think that when the phrase
‘never again’ was first uttered,
it meant that … the thing that
had happened in the Holocaust,
was imaginable, was possible.
If it was possible once, it was
possible again. That is why you
needed to say never again.”
Gessen discussed other mat-
ters of Jewish responsibility, too,
including describing a fraught
personal relationship with the
state of Israel due to its treat-
ment of Palestinians. Gessen
ultimately voiced a desire to
abolish national borders entire-
ly, explaining that, as Gessen ex-
perienced in the Soviet Union,
borders always seek to either
keep a group of people in or
keep a group of people out.
After the talk, Associate Pro-
fessor of History Page Herrlinger
addressed Gessen’s application of
Jewish experiences with borders
to other contemporary political
contexts.
“It was both a very Jewish talk
as it should’ve been,” Herrlinger
said. “But it was also a very uni-
versal talk … there’s a particular
Jewish history around the notion
of borders, obviously, but it is so
applicable in so many different
contexts today.”
of Allison Crosscup, director
of corporate and foundation
relations, drafted a grant re-
quest to the IMLS that would
store art and artifacts locally.
“Unifying the collection
under one roof with ideal
climate control conditions, is
going to save the institution
money and it’s going to save
us a lot of time,” Kaplan said.
The College had already
committed to moving the mu-
seums’ collection before the
grant was announced.
“Had we not been success-
ful with this grant, we would
have made the $240,000
match go as far as it could,”
Goodyear said. “But it would
have definitely have slowed
down our ability to move our
objects there [and] it would
have slowed down our ability
to enhance archival records.”
The museums will use a
portion of the grant money to
supplement staff salaries. The
Arctic Museum plans to hire
a full-time curatorial collec-
tions management assistant
for two years. Other staffing
needs will be discussed at a
NEWS
of the Joseph McKeen Center
for the Common Good. Students
were asked to think critically
about class structures in the U.S.
and at Bowdoin, and they were
also encouraged to share their
own experiences.
Brill-Weill found himself in-
spired by Intergroup Dialogue
and how it demonstrated the
many misunderstandings about
class at Bowdoin, but he felt it
needed a wider reach.
“I left realizing the [Intergroup
Dialogue] inherently reaches the
people who want to be a part
of the conversation already, so I
reached out to Kate [Stern] af-
terwards to find a way where the
same conversations could happen
other places on campus.”
The first discussion in the
series took place last weekend
at Quinby House. Resident PC
Bowdoin donates ‘discovery classroom’ to
elementary school opening in Brunswick
by Emily Cohen
Orient Staff
This summer, Bowdoin an-
nounced that it would donate
$450,000 to build a “discovery
classroom” at Kate Furbish El-
ementary School, which is set
to open in 2020. A plan for the
classroom was reviewed and ap-
proved in last week’s meeting of
the Brunswick Planning Board.
The 1,000-square-foot class-
room—featuring sinks, tables
and storage space for hands-on
learning in science, art and oth-
er subject areas—was initially
proposed in plans for the school
but was cut from the budget,
which ultimately amounted to
just under $20.3 million. Sarah
Singer, a member of the Bruns-
wick School Board and the new
school’s building committee,
approached Bowdoin President
Clayton Rose to ask if the Col-
lege would consider making a
donation to construct the class-
later meeting involving the
College and both museums.
The grant will also cover
moving costs such as trans-
porting objects currently
housed out-of-state back to
Brunswick. In addition, the
funds will help pay for sup-
plies needed to preserve art,
such as acid-free boxes and
painting racks.
The IMLS awarded 112
grants ranging from $7,300 to
$250,000. Of those, 19 federal
grants went to colleges and
universities, but only one oth-
er NESCAC institution—Am-
herst College—received fund-
ing. Bowdoin, however was
not the only Maine institution
to receive the grant. Coastal
Maine Botanical Gardens in
Boothbay and the William A.
Farnsworth Library and Art
Museum in Rockland also re-
ceived funding.
“We anticipate over the
next academic year to be
completing this move and
beginning the cataloging, the
digitization and the creation
of metadata,” Co-Director of
the Bowdoin College Museum
Riaño ’22 said that she felt the
talks were productive and gave
her a new lens through which to
see the College.
“I think it gave me an idea of
things, feelings or experiences in
my life that I really never even
thought of as an indicator of my
class,” she said.
Katja Grumman ’20, who is
moderating a number of the dis-
cussions, expressed excitement
about the rest of the fall, and the
amount of progress that they
were able to make in one hour.
“The way we thought about
[the discussion] is that we are
trying to plant a seed,” she said.
“We know it’s not possible to
make leaps and bounds in one
60-minute discussion, but we are
trying to give people the tools
to have further discussions and
make class a less scary topic to
room, and Rose was supportive.
“The request from the Fur-
bish school resonated with us.
We do recognize our civic re-
sponsibility and the importance
of being an engaged neighbor
and member of the communi-
ty,” said Senior Vice President
for Finance and Administration
and Treasurer of the College
Matt Orlando. “The strength
of the public school system in
Brunswick is vitally important
… to making Brunswick an at-
tractive place for people to live
and raise a family.”
The last time the College
made a one-time donation to a
town project was in 2010, when
the College donated $400,000
to construct a storm drain on
Maine Street, said Orlando.
The College also announced
in May that it would increase its
voluntary annual contribution
to Brunswick by $150,000, to be
given every year for five years,
starting in FY 2018-2019.
MINDY LEDER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
OVERFLOW: The Bowdoin College
Museum of Art and the Peary-
MacMillan Arctic Museum were faced
with the challenge of storing massive
collections in cramped storage spaces
until a federal grant. The grant, from
the Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS), amounts to roughly
$240,000 and will allow the College
to open a new storage space in
Brunswick.
of Art, Frank Goodyear, said.
The grant funding begins
October 1 and the museums’
moving process will begin
shortly thereafter.
talk about.”
With help from Stern and Di-
rector of Religious and Spiritual
Life Eduardo Pazos, the discus-
sions have followed a similar
model to last year’s “Real Talks
on Race.” However, Stern point-
ed out that there is a distinction
between the two topics.
“There is an invisibility that
comes with class, unlike with
race,” Stern said.
Grumman agreed with Stern
that class is hard to recognize at
Bowdoin, as the uniformity of
dorms and dining plans causes
students to differentiate them-
selves in unorthodox ways.
“Smaller markers become more
prominent, like labels people wear
or how people are decorating their
dorms … buying furniture … go-
ing into town to eat once or twice a
week,” Grumman said.
Because Bowdoin is a
non-profit organization and
is exempt from paying tax on
most of its property, the College
chooses to give an annual “gift in
kind” to Brunswick.
In total, Bowdoin’s property
is valued at $174 million, ap-
proximately $4 million of which
is still taxable. The College paid
over $72,000 in taxes last year.
In the fall of 2017, several
residents of Brunswick penned
op-eds and letters to the editor
to local newspapers calling on
the College to increase its pay-
ments to the town. In FY 2017-
2018, Bowdoin paid $206,497 in
property taxes and $172,200 as a
gift in kind.
In FY 2018-2019, Bowdoin’s
payment in property tax de-
creased from the previous year
because the College applied to
exempt Brunswick Apartments
from the tax rolls, which was pre-
viously not tax-exempt because a
tenant unconnected to the Col-
3
Stern added that one hour can
only do so much.
“It’s the beginning of a conver-
sation. It’s a place to self-reflect,
to talk with other people and to
hear from other people in a way
that is doable in an hour.”
Stern extended an invitation
for those who wanted to contin-
ue this conversation to enroll in
the Intergroup Dialogue on class
this coming spring.
Pazos agreed that the work to
bridge class differences doesn’t
end here.
“We want to make sure the
expectations are set up correct-
ly. This doesn’t fix anything,
this doesn’t change the balances
in any way, it is just the start of
a conversation that hopefully
houses and different classes on
campus are starting to engage
in,” he said.
lege resided there and paid rent.
The difference in tax revenue,
said Orlando, was made up in the
gift in kind last fiscal year, which
totaled $311,800.
With the additional $150,000,
the College’s payment to the
town last fiscal year was over
$534,000.
The additional funds are
restricted to paying for capital
expenditures that the town bud-
get could not cover, including
sidewalk and road repair and
purchasing police cars.
Orlando denied that the in-
creased annual contribution was
in response to the op-eds and
letters to the editor.
“We ignore that noise,” he said.
According to Orlando, nei-
ther the donation for the discov-
ery classroom nor the increased
annual contribution were re-
lated to the College’s plans for
construction, which must be
approved by the Town Planning
Board.
4 NEWS
UPGRADE ME: Polar Rentals is a new business on campus that rents mattress toppers to covert the standard twin XL bed into a full bed without replacing the frame. The company’s partner, Roomie Rentals, is popular at other colleges.
Sophomore creates business to enlarge beds
by Halina Bennet
Staff Writer
From top-ranked dining
services to state-of-the-art
dorm rooms, Bowdoin is
known for leading in stu-
dent comfort. However, after
sleeping on a twin XL bed in a
first-year brick, Jake Maus ’22
became inspired by restless
nights. Maus’ solution? Give
students access to larger mat-
tresses without swapping out
bed frames.
Maus’ company, Polar
Rentals, teamed up with
Roomie Rentals, a company
Bowdoin celebrates 232nd anniversary of the Constitution’s signing
by Robert Shepard
Staff Writer
The Bowdoin College Li-
brary and Department of
Government and Legal Studies
teamed up this month to cel-
ebrate the 232nd anniversary
of the signing of the United
States Constitution. A series
of events around campus will
mark the day and focus on the
nation’s founding document.
The programming is cen-
tered on Constitution and
Citizenship Day, which is ob-
served every September 17,
the date the Constitution was
signed in 1787. According to
the Library of Congress, the
holiday commemorates Amer-
ica’s founding document and
“recognize[s] all who, by com-
ing of age or by naturalization,
have become citizens.”
The librarians at Haw-
thorne-Longfellow (H-L)
Library set up an interactive
display in the entrance for the
month of September to solicit
students’ responses to a series
LATINX
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Popescu, who was an integral
part in getting Wolffer to come
speak on campus.
“A lot of her work focuses on
women and how they’re some-
times not as much the focus in
the conversation of Latinos and
Latinas, so that’s pretty exciting,”
Ramirez said.
According to Ramirez, a lot
of the upcoming programming
that makes mattress exten-
sions, to make student life—
and sleep—better at Bowdoin.
“The one [way] Bowdoin
has been lacking is that they
provide a mediocre twin-sized
mattress for everyone,” Maus
said. “And I think, since they
are so big on quality of stu-
dent life, it has the potential
to be successful.”
In June, Maus worked to
bring this concept to Bowdoin.
He reached out to Roomie Rent-
als’ founder Brett Harrison on
LinkedIn to bring the infrastruc-
ture to campus. By July, Polar
Rentals was open for business.
of questions about the Con-
stitution and its amendments.
Pocket Constitutions are also
available for students to pick
up.
On September 27, the De-
partment of Government and
Legal Studies will host a fac-
ulty panel entitled “Does the
Constitution Need Fixing?” to
discuss the history of consti-
tutional amendments and the
possibility of future additions.
This is the second year that
the library and government
department have teamed
up for Constitution-themed
programming. Last year, the
library’s display prompted
students to consider what the
Constitution meant to them,
and the panel featured profes-
sors responding to students’
queries about the meaning and
interpretation of the document
today.
The programming in H-L
is meant to engage library-go-
ers by providing them with an
opportunity to think about
something they otherwise
was organized by Benjamin
Harris, director of the student
center for multicultural life, di-
versity and inclusion in student
affairs, with special guidance
from the Latin American Stud-
ies Department.
In addition, visiting Lecturer
in Spanish and Romance Lan-
guages and Literature Barbara
Sawhill helped bring speaker
Daniel Alarcón. The LASO
board also provided guidance
in selecting the speakers to cam-
“We rent out full XL mat-
tress toppers to students, and
they can convert their original
size mattress that Bowdoin
provides into a full size bed.
And pretty much the mattress
topper just goes right on top
of the original mattress,” said
Maus.
“We’ve sold between eight
and 12,” Maus said. “Our tar-
get this year was just around
there—eight to 12.”
Roomie Rentals has worked
with students across the na-
tion to create companies at
schools including Bates, Wes-
leyan and Yale. Taking into
might not encounter in their
daily lives, explained Barabara
Levergood, the library’s data
services librarian.
“It’s a way of getting stu-
dents to think about what may
be lacking in the Constitu-
tion,” Levergood explained.
“Is the Constitution perfect?
Even when it was written it
wasn’t perfect, because right
off the bat we have the Bill of
Rights.”
Andrew Rudalevige, chair
of the government depart-
ment and Thomas Brackett
Reed professor of govern-
ment, will speak on the panel.
“Certainly the framers of
the Constitution didn’t think
they had struck off a perfect
document. They expected
there to be change and debate
or deliberation over time,” said
Rudalevige. “It [is] also a good
chance to reflect on whether
we think that the current U.S.
government, at all levels, is
doing the job that we would
like [it] to do. And if it’s not,
then we as citizens do have the
pus.
“We wanted to get [a lot of]
feedback from LASO members,”
Ramirez said. “We had a couple
of members from the LASO
emailing list give us some direc-
tion in terms of what it is they
want to see.”
The programming organizers
have also been working to set up
an informal conversation with
Alarcón before his lecture, an
opportunity which would allow
students and other interested
account the history of Roomie
programs at other schools,
Maus believes that Polar Rent-
als will flourish.
“During Bates’ first year
I think they [rented] eight
to 12. And [the] second year
they were at 30 to 50. I think
they had 100 this year,” Maus
said. “Typically, if it follows
the same sort of trend, we’ll
be doing well in the next few
years. But it’s just a matter of
getting the word out.”
Maus reports positive re-
views of the service as well as
personal satisfaction with his
own full XL.
READ ME: Pocket Constitutions are available for students to pick up from Hawthorne-Longfellow Library.
chance to change that process
by voting for one thing, which
many, many students do not
do.”
Aside from pocket Consti-
tutions, both Rudalevige and
participants to further engage
with Alarcón’s work. In his talk,
Alarcón will speak about music,
print and other mediums as ve-
hicles for sharing Latinx stories.
“I really hope there’s a lot
of community interest,” said
Ramirez. “I’m pretty excited to
have the opportunity to talk to
him in an informal setting and
talk a little bit about the work
that he does.”
Editor’s Note: Angel Ramirez
is a photographer for the Orient. ALL SMILES: Lily Poppen ’22 takes in the scene at 30 College.
Friday, September 20, 2019
COURTESY OF JAKE MAUS
“It’s really nice, really com-
fortable,” he said.
As explained on Room-
ie’s website, it is cheaper and
more sustainable to rent a
mattress than to purchase a
new one in addition to a bed
frame. In the foreseeable fu-
ture, Maus thinks Polar Rent-
als will continue to grow at
Bowdoin—allowing students
to benefit from a good night’s
sleep without a high price.
Mattresses and frames cost
$250 per semester, or $349 for ISABEL ALEXANDER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
a full year, and are available THE BOSS: Jake Maus ’22 was
to rent online at www. motivated to create Polar Rentals
polarrentals.com. after a year of fitful sleep.
CAROLINE FLAHARTY, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
Levergood want students to register to vote,” she said.
take one thing away from the The “Does the Constitution
programming: Need Fixing?” panel will be held
“I would like all [students] on Friday, September 27 from 3
to vote,” Rudalevige said. p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Shannon
Levergood concurred: “Go Room in Hubbard Hall.
ANN BASU, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
Friday, September 20, 2019
F FEATURES
NEW TRICKS: The Little Dog Coffee Shop on Maine Street underwent renovations this summer to create a new atmosphere with a familiar feel. New programming includes open mics and other community events to encourage community engagement.
Little Dog, big changes: Brunswick staple gets a makeover
by Emily Staten
Orient Staff
Many Bowdoin students
flock to The Little Dog Coffee
Shop, a Brunswick fixture lo-
cated on Maine Street, but as
students return to campus for
a new year, they will return
to a new version of The Little
Dog, complete with changes in
decor, an expanded menu and
extended hours on Thursdays
and Fridays for “Lit Nights”
and live music.
Caroline and Mason Pal-
matier have owned the shop
since January 2019 and worked
with local construction com-
pany Senecal Construction on
renovations in late May and
early June. Although the new
owners want to maintain the
community of the old Little
Dog, they are also making the
shop their own, starting with
its interior design.
Forking Around: Campus coffee comparison Why, then, did I and so
by Will Donaldson
Features Contributor
I’ve always held that the
coffee from Bowdoin’s Cafe
is superior to the brew in the
dining halls. Even though both
locations carry the same types
of coffee made by the same
company, the Seacoast Coffee
Company, I thought I could
taste a difference.
To test this, I arranged a blind
taste test in Moulton Hall. Into
one mug I poured the Cafe’s
Italian roast and into the other,
Moulton’s version of the same
thing. The results were shock-
ing. Student after student found
the two impossible to tell apart.
Thinking it was a fluke, I asked
one of my subjects to give me
the test, and predictably, I could
not tell the difference either.
“[The Palmatiers wanted] a
fresh morning feel with the col-
or scheme, and I think they’re
hoping to bring in some kind
of a warm yellow tone at some
point,” said Meaghan Gonsior,
a manager at the shop. “Over-
all I think the vision for the
renovation, as well as for long-
term, is to create a place … that
everyone feels welcome—an
inclusive space where you can
have a business meeting or …
parents can have a playdate.”
The renovations bring a new
feel to the space and are still a
work in progress, added Jess
Czarnecki, a barista and baker
at The Little Dog.
“It’s definitely very fresh
looking,” Czarnecki said. “I
think a lot of people had the
concern that there wouldn’t
be a lot of homey-ness once it
happened … but I feel like a
lot of places you just have to
grow into … I feel like things
many others perceive a differ-
ence in taste when we knew
where the coffee came from?
Two answers: aesthetics and
price.
Aesthetics: In the Cafe, you
press the steaming coffee out
of a carafe into a clean paper
cup. The setting is calm and
you don’t need to watch your
elbows as you put on a lid
or stir in milk and sugar. In
the dining hall, by contrast,
you flip a switch and watch
the coffee spill down a dirty
glass tube into an undersized
greyish mug. The area is more
cramped, and you may need to
wait your turn. The experience
of getting coffee from the Cafe
is vastly superior, and this ex-
perience might trickle into how
I and others perceive the coffee
will come together in time
[since] we’ve only been reno-
vated since the beginning of
the summer.”
In addition to the new look,
the new owners are also ex-
tending hours on Thursdays
and Fridays to allow for open
mic nights and live music.
“From the beginning, when
we talked about events, we
wanted to bring in community
as much as possible by hav-
ing groups like [The Bowdoin
Quill] or community colleges
host open mics,” Gonsior said.
“We felt like it would empower
people in the community by
giving them space and a mi-
crophone.”
Additionally, Czarnecki
helped organize and host a
Pride-themed open mic night
August 29 and plans to host
another on October 31.
“I think there’s definitely a
push and an urge in Brunswick
to taste.
Price: The coffee in the
Cafe has a fixed price
which you pay by hand-
ing over cash or swiping
a card. The exchange you
make, money for coffee,
is extremely clear. When
you go to the dining hall, by
contrast, you pay by swiping
in. You are effectively buying a
whole meal and a place to sit.
The fact that you are paying for
the coffee at all is obscured. In
fact, getting coffee in Thorne
or Moulton feels free—you
can have as much as you want
once you’re inside. According
to a report from The Telegraph,
wine tastes better if we believe
it is more expensive. Perhaps
Bowdoin students, including
myself, systematically overrate
the Cafe’s coffee precisely be-
in general for there to be more
inclusive queer things for peo-
ple, so I’m glad that I can be a
part of that,” Czarnecki said.
In addition to “Lit Nights”
on Thursdays, live music pro-
gramming on Friday nights
“The vision for the renovation,
as well as for the long term,
is to create a place ... that
everyone feels welcome—an
inclusive space.”
–Meaghan Gonsior, The Little Dog manager
features a mix of talented musi-
cians from the Brunswick com-
munity and from Bowdoin,
too. One of these musicians is
Ariana Smith ’21, who played a
set of her original music at The
Little Dog over the summer.
“It was really cool because
it was a paid gig, but also it
cause we have to pay for it.
All of this leads me to a
few suggestions for Bowdoin
Dining Services and Bowdoin
students. To Dining Services:
the time has come to get rid
of Jamaican Me Crazy! and
the other flavored options. Re-
moving these disgusting and
unpopular varieties would pro-
vide students with better access
to and greater enjoyment of
was just really good exposure
and practice for me to start
sharing some of my original
music and some of my original
songs,” Smith said. “It was also
really cool because … we kind
of view people in downtown
Brunswick as fixtures of the
downtown scene, but people
would … come in and see what
was going on. It was pretty gen-
uine and really cool.”
Smith also emphasized
the value of connecting with
off-campus spaces as a Bowdo-
in student.
your excellent unflavored
coffee. It would also
make room for differ-
ent beverage options
and cut down on dan-
gerous spills and burns.
To students: if you are a regu-
lar dining hall user, consider
bringing a travel mug to fill up
while you’re there. Don’t have
5
KATIE BACALL, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
“I think that oftentimes we
get caught up in this Bowdo-
in bubble,” Smith said. “But
I think having a relationship
with Little Dog or having a re-
lationship with a place outside
of Bowdoin keeps you ground-
ed and reminds students that
Bowdoin is a wonderful chap-
ter in our full lives and not nec-
essarily our entire life.”
Gonsior hoped that The
Little Dog could serve as a
location for this kind of con-
nection, both for Bowdoin stu-
dents and the larger Brunswick
community.
“I think the original owner
has created a place that is a
hub of the community,” Gon-
sior said. “We would just like
to build off that and grow to
where we are helping Bruns-
wick thrive and helping to
create connections within the
community and between com-
munities.”
N
LA
CAP
RA
SA
one? Your author has recently
observed dozens of them avail-
able for free near the Thorne
dish bussing area.
6 FEATURES
STEPPING INTO
PLAIN SIGHT
My freshman fall, I was still
reeling from two breakups I’d
gone through my last year of
high school. One was with a
friend, and one was with a boy-
friend. At 17 years old, the loss of
those relationships wreaked total
havoc on my sense of self. It was
my first encounter with grief and
rage, and it lasted longer than I’d
like to admit.
Among the many things to
come out of that encounter, and
the love I received from friends
and family as I trudged through
it, was some clarity as I entered
Bowdoin about who I was and
what I cared about. I felt lucky
to start college like that, but it
was short lived. As we all do in
our first (and second, and third
and fourth) years here, I lost that
clarity quickly, and over and over
again.
This reckoning was an un-
pleasant one that first semester.
Then some time that November,
I came across Brené Brown’s
TED Talk, “The Power of Vul-
nerability.” A now-famous social
worker with her own Netflix
special, Brown has done a lot of
research on vulnerability, and
it distills down to this one idea:
USING AMERICA’S
PASTIME TO FIND
INNER PEACE
I am a profoundly uncom-
fortable person. I don’t make
people feel uncomfortable,
and I often feel emotionally
comfortable, but I struggle to
be physically comfortable—es-
pecially when seated. I squirm,
tap my foot, adjust and re-ad-
just my seat. Some people can
plop themselves down any-
where and stay that way for
hours. I hold a burning envy
for the horizontally inclined.
It comes with some irony
that my mantra for this se-
mester is to embrace comfort.
Sure, it’s healthy to push your
own boundaries—getting out
of one’s comfort zone, active-
ly seeking “type II fun”—but
after 19 years of existence,
there’s nothing I want more
than to be at rest and at peace.
I want comfort.
Busyness is a defining fea-
ture of mine. I enjoy relaxation,
but I have internalized the no-
tion that relaxation needs to be
bookended by activity. I have
realized that relaxation with
the intention of finishing tasks
afterward isn’t actually relax-
ing. I think back to my mantra:
embrace comfort. Embracing
comfort means embracing
TALK
TO US.
you can’t experience love and
connection without risk and fail-
ure. It was simple and inspiring
to my first-year self in the throes
of heartbreak, and I promised to
embrace my pain and shame in
exchange for intimacy and a bet-
ter understanding of who I was.
It was lofty; it’s proved im-
mensely easier said than done.
But it was also thrillingly tan-
gible. Within days of watching
Brown’s talk, I called up my old
high school friend-turned-foe,
and divulged to her my apol-
ogies and confessions, and my
accusations. It went horribly, and
we still don’t talk—but I’m glad
we’re no longer friends because
of what was said, rather than
what wasn’t.
I did break the promise to
myself and would keep breaking
it. I’ve found this especially easy
to do at Bowdoin, where our
failures are hyper-visible and
never anonymous, where we are
intensely critical of one another,
mostly because of how much we
can see. Had I been a braver per-
son, I would have let myself be
more visible at Bowdoin—with-
in my relationships and beyond
them. I would have majored in
art, despite feeling like I wasn’t
creative or talented enough. I
would have told people I loved
relaxation. It took me 19
years to realize I need to
be intentional about hav-
ing time to rest rather than
treating rest as a means of
filling time.
So, as a part of my multi-
step program to becoming
a less anxious and more
peaceful human (thorough-
ly assisted by therapy and
prescribed medication),
I have made an effort to
immerse myself in the rit-
uals and activities that have
brought me comfort in the
past. Thus, I have re-discov-
ered a common therapeutic
exercise that has been uti-
lized by depressed people
throughout the Americas and
parts of East Asia—watching
baseball.
From 2008 to 2011, I
watched enough baseball to
last a lifetime. I am a New
York Yankees fan, through
thick and thin. During the
2009 season—the one where
they ended up winning the
World Series—I watched every
single game. My bedtime was
9:30 p.m., so my parents would
drag me away from the televi-
sion around the sixth or sev-
enth inning, and I’d finish the
game by listening on my clock
radio. I’d cry when they lost.
I started watching baseball
Submit a Talk of the Quad to orient@bowdoin.edu. Published every other week.
Talk of the Quad
them earlier than I did, even
though I knew they didn’t love
me back. I would have been loud
and expressive and inarticulate
about my feelings. I would have
had fights that needed to be
had. I would have tried out for
improv in spite of my belief that
my humor is solely incidental. I
would not have held back sobs
in Moulton Light Room as of-
ten as I did. Yes, I would have
cried openly at 11:30 a.m. on a
Wednesday while sitting square-
ly at the back, center table, facing
outward.
At the beginning of sopho-
more year, while moving into
our room together, my room-
mate, Callye, tacked a list of her
year-long goals to the wall by
her bed and said, “Please don’t
make fun of me.” One of her
tasks was to start an all-female
comedy troupe. Nine months
later, she and the rest of Purity
Pact hosted their first show in
front of a packed Kresge Audi-
torium, and have done so every
semester since. I watched Callye
confront deep mortification and
fear about her comedy as she
placed herself time and time
again under the Bowdoin mi-
croscope—but she kept writing
and kept performing. Of course,
it changed her life. But that’s the
again at the beginning of this
summer. Without delving into
too much detail, I was a bit
of an emotional wreck at this
point in my life. I quit my job
and got dumped within the
span of roughly two weeks. Al-
kind of vulnerability which can
change a place, too.
I’ve watched so many people
at Bowdoin shrink and limit and
stifle themselves so as to avoid
not just failure, but the micro-
scope. Myself included. More
recently, though, I have realized
that while scrutiny is out of my
control, I can, at least, let myself
fail. Not only can I choose to do
so, but it will also deepen my
friendships and understanding
of myself, like it did four years
ago. That this is as tangible now
as it was then; it can even still be
thrilling.
Someone pointed out to me
that vertigo is the fear of falling,
not the fall itself. I know that the
few moments in the past four
years in which I forewent vertigo
and entered unchartered waters
were my best—when I was most
grateful for my friends, when I
saw myself most clearly, when
I finally knew what I wanted. I
also know that being suspended,
pre-fall, in indecision, was gen-
erally excruciating. I regret the
extent to which vertigo ruled my
life here. Mostly, though, I regret
not having more compassion
and respect for those who made
choices with no certainty that
the microscope would be kind
to them.
SARA CAPLAN
though the afore-
mentioned relationship was
salvaged, the pain of a break
up with someone I love so
intensely lingered. Watching
baseball became an outlet of
self-care.
Friday, September 20 2019
Mentors and leaders at
Bowdoin speak often of
embracing “everything the
College has to offer,” but speak
little of the collective fear of
visibility which holds many of
us back from doing exactly
that. I wish they were more
explicit about the fact that to
make the most of our time
here is to be in constant bat-
tle with this fear—and about
what the battle will look like.
The lack of an agenda,
a vision, a checklist,
has been agonizing.
But now, in my
last semester, I’m
making my own.
My offer of
the College
would start
here: among
nature and the
art that we “count
an intimate friend”
must be disappoint-
ment, sadness, embar-
rassment and heartbreak.
And to “lose your-
self in generous
enthusiasms” is
to step into plain
sight, for everyone
to see. SARA CAPL
AN
Lucia Ryan is a mem-
ber of the Class of 2019.
I understand the criticism that’s stressing me out. I go
many people hold against into shutdown mode and ob-
baseball: it’s slow and boring, sess about whatever problem
most of the time the players on is on my mind until it has been
the field just stand there and dealt with. Scheduling time
many of the fans are preten- out of my day to sit down, drop
tious nerds who are way too what I’m doing for at least an
uptight about statistics. These hour and watch baseball is my
feelings are valid! Nobody on way of putting an emphasis on
Earth should give a shit about relaxation. I turn notifications
on-base plus slugging (OPS), off on my phone, close what-
but for me, the comfort I find ever browser my readings are
through watching baseball is in and fade into a deep focus
unrivaled. on the game. For a brief period
This season is a particularly of time—162 (or more!) days
excellent time to be a Yankees out of the year—I find myself
fan. The Yankees aren’t just an at peace.
incredible team, but a team The end goal of embracing
that has overcome incredible what brings me momentary
adversity. The 2019 Yankees escapism is to foster comfort
have sent more players to the within myself. After immers-
Injured List (IL) than any team ing myself in a game, whether
in Major League Baseball his- the Yankees win or lose, I am
tory—a record 29 players. In more grounded and tranquil.
the same year, they are in a I’ve been able to greatly appre-
neck-and-neck competition ciate these feelings recently,
with the Minnesota Twins which reflects onto my mood
to set the record for most and outlook on life. It’s vital
home runs hit in a single sea- for me to recognize the power
son. They lead the American that weekly therapy has on my
League East and look more gratitude toward feelings of
than capable of winning the comfort. But if anyone’s ask-
World Series. ing, a helpful method of seek-
The ritual of watching base- ing inner comfort is watching
ball is one of finding comfort Gleyber Torres murder a 95
through escapism. An issue mph fastball and watching it
I’ve faced my whole life is sail high into the Bronx night.
my inability to shift my focus Sebastian de Lasa is a mem-
when I’m fixated on something ber of the Class of 2022.
Friday, September 20, 2019
A ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The next big sing: a cappella’s whirlwind recruitment week
by Brianna Cunliffe
Orient Staff
With pews so full that stu-
dents spilled over onto the
floor, the current members of
Bowdoin’s a cappella groups
performed their best, hoping
to attract their futures.
Supporters, friends and a
cappella hopefuls packed into
the Bowdoin Chapel last Fri-
day night for the annual re-
cruitment concert, where each
of Bowdoin’s six groups per-
formed two songs.
This concert and Dorm
Sings—the annual conver-
gence of all six groups on the
halls and common rooms of
the first-year bricks—make up
Bowdoin a cappella’s annual
search for new members.
Monday and Tuesday are
jam-packed with auditions
coordinated by the A Cappella
Council. Many students try out
for all groups they’re eligible
for; others set their sights on
one favorite.
But all auditionees face the
same harrowing experience of
singing for a panel of older stu-
dents without any instruments
to hide behind. To offset the
intimidation factor, leaders try
to make students as welcome as
possible.
“It’s inherently really scary,”
said Ayana Harscoet ’21, a
member of Miscellania.
At the end of two days of au-
ditions and callbacks, there is
still more to come. Every year,
according to A Cappella Coun-
Arctic Museum honors African-American explorer
by Elizabeth Flanagan
Staff Writer
In 1909, Robert Peary, Class
of 1877, led his famous expedi-
tion to the North Pole. But many
do not realize that it was, in
fact, an African-American man,
Peary’s companion Matthew Al-
exander Henson, and not Peary
himself, who first stood on the
pole. Peary’s name would be
quickly remembered and Hen-
son’s subsequently forgotten un-
til Henson’s death in 1955, when
historians finally acknowledged
him for his contributions to this
remarkable feat.
Until December 31, the
Peary-MacMillan Arctic Muse-
um will be honoring Henson’s
life in the exhibition, “Matthew
Alexander Henson: First Af-
rican-American at the North
Pole,” which is on display in the
Hubbard Hall lobby adjacent to
the museum.
“We want to remind people
that … Peary had this amazing
right-hand man who was an
African-American at a time
when African-Americans were
really denied a lot of opportu-
nities,” said Genevieve LeM-
oine, the museum’s curator.
The exhibition coincides
with the 50th anniversary of
the founding of Bowdoin’s Afri-
cana studies program, the Afri-
cil Co-President Brendan Pul-
sifer ’20, around a dozen stu-
dents are contested—meaning
they’ve gotten into more than
one group and must choose
which membership offer to
accept.
What happens next is called
the draft. Contested students
receive a phone call with the
news and are given 10 minutes
to decide between groups.
Pulsifer explains that it is a
way of making sure students
can make the choice for them-
selves.
“It sounds more intense than
it is,” Pulsifer said. “We make
sure it’s very fair, so there’s no
extra wooing.”
A cappella groups are small
enough that a single year can
radically change a group’s com-
position—Miscellania and the
Meddiebempsters each lost
four singers at the end of last
year. With groups of around
a dozen singers, that turnover
comprises a quarter of their
membership. For the Longfel-
lows, that number was almost
half—with five graduates and
two juniors studying abroad,
last year’s total of 15 singers
was reduced to eight current
members.
The urgency this brought
to their recruiting efforts isn’t
necessarily a negative, says Ben
Zevallos ’21, musical director
for the Longfellows.
“It’s a motivational tool to
get us where we need to be,”
he said. “The more we lose,
the more effort we’re putting
can-American Society (Af-Am)
and the John Brown Russwurm
African-American Center. A
college-wide celebration of the
anniversary will begin on No-
vember 8 and will include three
days of lectures, symposia, art
exhibitions, conversation, live
music and parties.
“We wanted to mark the
50th anniversary of the Af-
ro-American Center. And so
[the College] asked us if we
wanted to be part of [the cel-
ebration], and of course we
did,” said LeMoine. “[Hen-
son] is our shining example
of the many wonderful Af-
rican-American people in
American history that have
been neglected.”
“I think that our goal in
putting up this exhibit is to
bring more attention to his
accomplishments because
I think in many circles he
is still an overlooked, very,
very accomplished man,” said
Susan Kaplan, director of
the Peary-MacMillan Arctic
Museum and Arctic Studies
Center. “It certainly doesn’t
address the history of the Af-
Am here at Bowdoin, but it is
another example of African
Americans in history who past
scholarship has not always
acknowledged and treated
fairly.”
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: The Meddibempsters, one of Bowdoin’s six a cappella groups, performed in a first-year dorm last week. Each a cappella group
undergoes a yearly recruitment process which includes performances in the first-year bricks and the annual recruitment concert.
in to recruit new members and
the harder we want to work to
sound good.”
Balance is essential. Each
voice matters. Recruitment is a
challenge, more of an art than
a science. This is because of the
emphasis on student leadership
that sets a cappella apart from
other performance opportuni-
ties at Bowdoin.
Groups arrange their own
music, run their own rehearsals
and shape their own cultural
space and dynamic—a flexi-
bility that allows individuals to
stand out, whether as soloists,
arrangers, beatboxers or espe-
LeMoine built the exhibit
from the pre-existing materi-
al in its permanent collection
about Henson. The prized piece
of this collection is footage
from Henson’s interview with a
United Press journalist in 1951,
when he was 85 years old.
The museum is very proud
of this footage, since there are
very few recordings of Hen-
son.
“We had an intern who
searched high and low in 2007
to 2008 to find any examples
of Henson on film, and it took
her a long time, but she did
eventually track that piece
down,” said Kaplan.
Crucial to understanding
the relationship between Peary
and Henson, and specifically
Henson’s many contributions
to their expeditions, is a quote
from Peary included in the ex-
hibit: “I can’t get along without
Henson.”
Henson was responsible for
building all of the sleds used by
Peary’s exploration party. One
of them, named the Hubbard
Sled, is on display as part of the
exhibit. Henson was also the
only member of the party who
became fluent in Inuktun, the
Inughuit language spoken in
northwestern Greenland, and
he became beloved by the Inu-
ghuit community, which nick-
cially friendly recruiters.
Despite the difficulty of con-
tinuity when individual per-
sonalities are so pronounced,
there are some through lines
that hold year after year. For
Harscoet, Miscellania is all
about sisterhood.
“We all have each other’s
backs in a way that is beyond
just being a musical group,”
Harscoet said. “Even if people
come and go, that still holds us
together.”
Groups differ in vibe, both
musically and interpersonal-
ly, and ranging from casual to
classical, color-coordinated to
AN UNTOLD HISTORY: Matthew Alexander Henson, the African-American explorer who traversed the Arctic along-
side Robert Peary, is being recognized by the Arctic Museum in conjunction with Af-Am’s 50th anniversary this year.
named him “Kind Matthew.” In
fact, Henson married an Inuit
woman whom he met through
his travels, and together they
had a son.
LeMoine researched Hen-
son’s life while doing field work
in Greenland.
“There [are] not people still
alive who remember him, but
they have heard stories about
him because he has family
there,” said LeMoine. “They had
a great deal of respect for him,
and they had a really loving re-
lationship [with him].”
Before his death, Henson
was awarded honorary de-
grees by Howard University
and Morgan College, and the
eclectic. Likewise, diversity var-
ies—each group has an array of
ages, races, class years and gen-
der identities. This year, accord-
ing to Pulsifer, audition sheets
are overwhelmingly female.
“I think a cappella can be and
has been a very white New En-
gland-y thing,” said Harscoet.
She added, however, that
Miscellania auditions are an
opportunity to pursue greater
diversity, both in race and in
background.
“It’s not just raw musical tal-
ent,” she added.
Though the goal is to achieve
the best sound possible, leaders
Chicago Geographical Society
awarded him the same medals
and honors it had given to oth-
er members of the expedition
years earlier. Henson was also
honored by President Dwight
Eisenhower at the White House
in 1955. In 2000, the National
Geographic Society posthu-
mously awarded Henson the
Hubbard Medal, which was
originally created for Peary.
The presence of this exhibit
in correlation with the celebra-
tion of Af-Am’s 50th anniver-
sary reflects upon and is an at-
tempt to change the narratives
around Arctic exploration and
even the arts at Bowdoin.
LeMoine said that she
7
REUBEN SCHAFIR, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
look beyond vocal ability. Zeval-
los hones in on what he thinks is
most essential: character.
“We want this idea of team-
work and integrity and trust,”
he said. “Although it’s difficult to
gauge in such a short period of
time, that’s definitely something
that we’re looking for. And we
try to exude that same level of
warmth.”
Pulsifer echoed this sentiment,
stressing the importance of mak-
ing rehearsal time cohesive and
enjoyable when bringing in new
members.
“It’s not just your voice,” he
says. “It’s you.”
MINDY LEDER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
hopes the exhibit will contrib-
ute to a broader discussion
about the way the story of the
Arctic is told.
“We’re very much dedicated
to broadening the narrative,”
said LeMoine. “In academia
generally there’s a great move-
ment towards broadening these
pictures and moving away from
just this hero worship, [and]
this exhibit is sort of part of that
whole agenda.”
“I think it’s worth all of our
time to pay more attention and
give him the due that he didn’t
really get while he was alive,”
said LeMoine.
Cole van Miltenburg con-
tributed to this report.
8 Friday, September 20, 2019
SSPORTS
HIGHLIGHT A loss, but a step forward for Bowdoin football
REEL
OFFENSE IS THE
BEST DEFENSE:
The field hockey team
cruised to a dominant
victory at the University
of Southern Maine on
Tuesday. The entire
Bowdoin defense put up
a career day, not allowing
a single shot over all four
quarters. Emma Stevens
’20 tallied her fifth goal
in five games, bringing
her to an early tie for the
lead atop the NESCAC
scoring charts. The Polar
Bears will host Wesleyan
on Saturday, looking to
build on their 4-1 overall
record.
DOWN, BUT NOT
OUT: The men’s golf
team recovered from a
disappointing Saturday
performance to storm
back and eke out a
two-stroke team victory
over Husson University.
After falling to a 13-point
deficit against the Eagles
after the first round of
play, the Polar Bears
returned to the course
with renewed vigor on
Sunday and clawed
themselves back to
victory. Matt McCarthy
’21 won the individual title
by one stroke, shooting
a 76.
SLIPPING
THROUGH THEIR
FINGERS:
The men’s soccer
team earned their first
NESCAC points in
Lewiston with a 1-1 draw
against Bates. In a tightly
contested game, the
Polar Bears went up 1-0
with an early goal from
Julian Juantorena ’23.
Bowdoin maintained
the advantage until
the last minute of play,
when a Bates equalizer
denied them all three
points. The Polar Bears
will be seeking their first
NESCAC victory at
home against Wesleyan
this Saturday.
TRAMPS LIKE US...:
The women’s and men’s
cross country teams
open their respective
seasons at the Bowdoin
Invitational this Saturday.
Expectations are high
for both teams after
impressive performances
at NCAA Regionals last
November; the women’s
team finished ninth
while the men’s team
took seventh in the New
England pool. All eyes
will be on both teams
as they seek to start out
strong on their home
course.
COMPILED BY DYLAN SLOAN
More Than a
Game
by Ian Ward
Bowdoin football’s sea-
son-opening loss to Hamilton was
a game of almosts. The offense al-
most clicked. The defense almost
kept the game within reach. The
Polar Bears almost came out on
top.
But almost is still almost, and
the Polar Bears still fell, 37-24, in
their first game under the direc-
tion of head coach BJ Hammer
and his staff.
Hammer’s presence was nev-
ertheless evident. After trailing
by 11 points at the half, Bowdoin
took the lead with eight minutes
to play in the fourth quarter on a
two-yard touchdown run by Nate
Richam-Odoi ’20. As a point of
comparison, the Polar Bears led in
the fourth quarter only once last
season, in the team’s sole victory
over Bates.
That wasn’t the only improve-
ment. In 2018, Bowdoin lost to
Hamilton 62-27 and surrendered
505 yards of offense. This time
around, Bowdoin narrowed the
gap and allowed only 403 yards.
Offensively, they put points on the
board in every quarter. The num-
ber of times that happened last
year? Zero.
Tactical errors can be fixed in a
week, but lackadaisical effort can-
not. Of Bowdoin’s major mistakes,
most were of the fixable variety,
said Hammer.
“I was pleased with the way
we played, hard, with effort—we
fought. We’re gonna clean a lot up,
but those are first game things,”
said Hammer. “It’s just cleaning up
our run fits on [defense]. You can’t
drop balls on offense, you can’t
have bad snaps on special teams,
but those are little things that can
easily be picked up.”
Bowdoin’s strategy had few sur-
prises. The first seven consecutive
touches of the game belonged to
Richam-Odoi, who finished the
game with 21 carries worth 61
yards.
Bo Millet ’21 looked like his
usual dominant self, hauling in six
Bridging the gap between athletes and administrators
by Anthony Yanez
Orient Staff
Although Bowdoin athletics
is most visible on game day, the
department stretches well beyond
the courts and fields. With a stu-
dent-athlete advisory committee
and a faculty representative to
the NCAA, the department is
incorporating voices outside the
administration.
One way that the voices of stu-
dent-athletes are represented in
athletics is through the Bowdoin
Student Athlete Advisory Com-
mittee (BSAAC), comprised of
students from every varsity and
club sports team. Four from this
group are elected leaders each
spring. Though women’s basket-
ball Head Coach Adrienne Shibles
is the official advisor, the group is
largely student-run.
Shibles says that the work
ONE IF BY AIR: Quarterback Austin McCrum ’21 sets up for a pass on Saturday’s game against Hamilton. McCrum finished with 229 yards on 29 completions.
catches for 70 yards. Aside from
a dropped ball or two, he set the
tenor for Bowdoin’s offense. As for
the dropped balls—as Hammer
said: fixable.
Linebacker Joe Gowetski ’20
showed that, if anything, he’s get-
ting better with age. He led the
defense with nine tackles, two for
losses. Remember those negative
plays that Hammer prioritizes?
Bingo.
The improvements to Bow-
doin’s offense were clear from the
first drive of the game. Starting
out from their own 35 yard line,
the Polar Bears strung together a
13-play, 49-yard drive to set up a
field goal by Michael Chen ’20. It
was as good as anything they pro-
duced last season.
After surrendering two consec-
utive touchdowns to some shoddy
coverage in the secondary, the
offense sputtered to life in the sec-
ond quarter with another 13-play,
57-yard effort that ended with
Brendan Ward ’22 punching the
ball into the endzone to draw the
Polar Bears within four, 14-10.
For much of the first half, Bow-
BSAAC does is three-pronged,
centering on service, school spirit
and student advocacy. BSAAC
runs clinics associated with the
Special Olympics Maine, organiz-
es events like this Sunday’s Robbie
Run and energizes students for the
Dempsey Foundation Dempsey
Challenge among other charitable
and community events.
Student advocacy means ac-
knowledging the unique experienc-
es—and occasional challenges—of
being a student-athlete. Due to class
schedule changes that pushed back
practice times, BSAAC collaborated
with Bowdoin Dining Services and
the athletics department to extend
dining hall hours to 8 p.m. to give
athletes time to get dinner.
Even with such a broad output
of programs, BSAAC remains un-
der the radar.
“The work we do is generally
either within sports teams (particu-
doin’s defense continued its usual
program of perplexity, allowing
the Continentals to match each
of Bowdoin’s scores with one of
its own, and Hamilton led 21-10
heading into the half.
But in the beginning of the
second half, the defense showed
flashes of brilliance, forcing three
consecutive three-and-outs to
start the period. The final effort
nearly culminated in a safety, not
once but twice, thanks to a mon-
ster punt by Chen that plopped
Hamilton on its own one yard line.
The apex of Bowdoin’s effort
came with eight minutes left in
the fourth quarter, with the of-
fense taking over at its own 25
yard line. After making use of
four first downs to move the ball
to the Hamilton 35 and facing a
fourth and six, quarterback Aus-
tin McCrum ’21 connected with
wide receiver Aidan Israelski ’22,
who broke enough tackles to get
to Hamilton’s one yard line. Ri-
cham-Odoi did what he does best:
score. And McCrum somehow
managed, while getting crushed
by a Hamilton linebacker, to fling
larly with leaders of those teams) or
out in the Brunswick community,
so it’s likely that those who aren’t
on teams haven’t interacted with us
that much,” said Allison Rutz ’20, a
member of the varsity softball team
and one of the four leaders of BSA-
AC this year, wrote in an email to the
Orient.
BSAAC is one of many Student
Athlete Advisory Committees
(SAAC) that can be found across
the nation. There is an NCAA
Division III-wide SAAC, as well as
a NESCAC SAAC; both are man-
dated by the NCAA. Two student
athletes from Bowdoin represent
the College at the annual NES-
CAC SAAC meeting.
BSAAC’s includes representa-
tives from club sports teams, which
is not required by the NCAA, but
both Shibles and Rutz agreed that
these teams are important parts of
the campus athletic community.
an improbable underhand flip to
Greg Olson ’21 to complete the
two-point conversion and put
Bowdoin up by three, 24-21.
It was, in the end, too sweet to
last. The defense returned to its
feast of misrule, and Hamilton
running back David Kogan ’20
broke through the Bowdoin line
on the next two drives to extend
Hamilton’s lead to 34-24. After
McCrum got picked off with five
minutes to play—one of his few
mistakes of the day—the folding
chairs began returning to their
carrying cases.
It was sloppy, as first games
often are, and it was dispiriting,
a feeling that Bowdoin football
knows too well. But it was not
more of the same.
Aside from Richam-Odoi and
Millet, two figures shone forth as
beacons of hope. The first was Mc-
Crum, who looked more like the
starting quarterback that Bowdoin
needs. He completed 24 passes on
43 attempts, good for 229 yards
and one touchdown, and he add-
ed one tοuchdown himself on the
ground. Last year, he averaged 156
“Club teams work extremely
hard and have needs and ideas to
contribute, so our perspective [on]
sports on campus just wouldn’t
be as comprehensive or inclusive
without their participation,” said
Rutz.
Faculty members also have a
stake in athletics at the College,
with Bowdoin appointing a faculty
representative to the NCAA each
year. Filling that role this year is
Associate Professor of Classics and
Chair of the Classics Department
Robert Sobak.
Sobak’s role requires him to
travel to NCAA Division III-wide
meetings with faculty represen-
tatives from other schools. On
campus, however, his role is less
defined. He hopes to serve as a
point of reference, specifically for
his faculty colleagues.
“Coaches and faculty are basical-
ly doing the same thing: educating.
ANN BASU, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
yards per game in the air while
posting a number of efforts that
didn’t break into the triple digits.
So 229? That’s improvement.
The second was Chen, who av-
eraged 40 yards across five punts,
including a 54-yarder in the sec-
ond quarter. He drilled his only
field goal attempt from 29 yards
and was otherwise accurate and
collected, even when the ball ap-
peared to be snapped for someone
twice his height.
Things that change always
present themselves more readily
than things that stay the same, and
time will reveal whether the new
or the old will prevail—beginning
on Saturday, when the team takes
on last year’s champion, Trinity
(who dropped their season opener
to Tufts).
In the end, a new coaching staff
means many things: new systems,
new practice routines, new play
calls. But it also means a new
chance to impress.
“I think [the new staff ] just
being around makes us play a lot
harder,” said Richam.
Is harder enough? Almost.
The best coaches are themselves
teachers, and the best faculty mem-
bers act like coaches do, supporting
their students and trying to figure
out what works best for them in the
classroom,” Sobak said. “Ultimately,
we have all the same goals. We just
have different tools. I’d like to get
coaches and faculty talking to each
other and seeing where we can co-
operate and help each other with the
ultimate goal of helping student-ath-
letes achieve success.”
Sobak also works closely with
BSAAC, and he eats lunch with
Director of Athletics Tim Ryan
once every couple of weeks to stay
up to date on the department dis-
cussions.
Beyond athletic competition
lies a dense web of committees
and administration that define
the student athlete experience
and, indirectly, the campus com-
munity at large.
Friday, September 20, 2019
Women’s football attracts growing following in Portland
by Dylan Sloan
Orient Staff
Portland is known for its
hip food scene, proximity to
nature and historical port,
but one of the city’s greatest
hidden gems is a nation-
al-championship caliber pro-
fessional sports team with an
empowering story and a fan
base that’s growing larger ev-
ery year.
The Maine Mayhem is a
professional women’s football
team that plays in the Wom-
en’s Football Alliance (WFA),
a national league with three
divisions and 59 teams. The
WFA plays full-contact foot-
ball and uses a similar set of
rules as the NCAA. Coming
up on their fifth season in the
league and stocked with a ros-
ter full of veteran players, the
Mayhem is poised for a break-
out year.
Following the collapse of
two former women’s football
organizations in Portland, the
Maine Freeze and the Maine
Rebels, a group of players de-
cided to get together in 2016
and form their own franchise.
They chose to run the May-
hem on a board-run rather
than sole proprietary model,
allowing players more control
over the team’s off-field affairs
and allowing the Mayhem to
register as a 501c(3) nonprofit.
The team started strong in
its inaugural season, winning
its first game and eventually
taking home an Affiliate Bowl
Championship. The Affiliate
Bowl is held for small-market
teams or teams in their first
season in the WFA.
Alicia Jeffords is one of
the founding members of the
Mayhem. A WFA All-Amer-
ican last year, Jeffords plays
defensive end and fullback for
the team and has played foot-
ball competitively for 14 years.
STICKIN’ AROUND: Elle Brine ’20 dribbles the ball in the field hockey team’s game against Middlebury on Saturday. The team bounced back from their 2-1 loss on Tuesday, handily defeating University of Southern Maine 3-0.
She is also a mother of three
and works as a school nutri-
tion assistant.
Not all players came to the
team with prior experience,
and because few players have
had football experience be-
fore joining the Mayhem, the
team’s roster is far from uni-
form.
“This is full-contact football,
and these athletes treat it like ...
their profession.”
–Maine Mayhem Head Coach Bryant Oja
“[We have players who are]
literally every age, every shape
and size and [from all] walks
of life. It is so diverse; it is to-
tally wild,” said Jeffords. “Last
year, we had an 18-year-old
high school player and we had
a 56-year-old who has been
playing football for a long time
… and everything in between.”
The Mayhem is a profes-
sional sports team, but it does
not make enough revenue
through ticket sales and spon-
sorships to cover all of its ex-
penses, which include booking
indoor practice spaces in the
winter and arranging travel for
away games.
“Our players ... have dues
that they pay [to be a part
of the team,]” said Jeffords.
“[However,] they’re able to
fundraise the entire amount so
they don’t have to pay out of
pocket, and most of them do
that. We do a couple of come-
dy club fundraisers, silent auc-
tions and fairs [each year]. It’s
a lot of fun, and a lot of players
raise all their fees that way.”
The Mayhem started its
fall recruiting campaign af-
ter hosting their first of four
rounds of tryouts this fall.
Once the new recruits are
added to the returning roster
of about 30 players, preseason
SPORTS
training sessions will begin
before official practices start
up after the new year.
One challenge the Mayhem
faces is that very few players
have any football experience
before they try out for the
team. However, Jeffords sim-
ply views that as part of the
process.
“We target those female
athletes that want to compete
at a very competitive [level],”
said Jeffords. “For the most
part, people—[including]
myself—have had no prior
experience before stepping
on that field during tryouts
…. We teach them everything
they need to know. [We] make
IN THE HUDDLE: Head Coach Bryant Oja leads the Maine Mayhem in a team cheer before a game last spring. The team expects to return close to 30 players this year.
them football players.”
“You just go right to the
bare bones every year,” added
Head Coach Bryant Oja. “You
start from scratch, and you
start building [them] up …
.It’s just tremendous to see an
athlete [who has never played
football before] get out on the
practice field over the course
of those three months and
then [start] playing games.”
Playing for the Mayhem is
a serious commitment. In the
past, the Mayhem has prac-
ticed once a week for three
hours, but this year the team
will add a second three-hour
practice on Wednesdays.
The team’s spring schedule
consists of four away games,
requiring travel around the
northeast, and four home
games hosted at Memorial
Stadium in Portland. Postsea-
son play involves similar trav-
el, and in past years cham-
pionship weekend has been
hosted in Golden, Colorado
and Atlanta, Georgia.
Unsurprisingly, the May-
hem has faced serious chal-
lenges as it seeks to establish
themselves. Jeffords said that
it has been near impossible to
get any media coverage, even
from hyperlocal sources.
“[The struggle is] literal-
ly just getting our name out
there. I need more press …. It’s
so hard to even get our scores
published in the paper,” said
Jeffords. “[Local papers] cover
everything else. They cover
high school and college sports
and everything but us.”
“It’s awesome that it’s kind
of getting off the ground and
people are starting to know
who we are, but there is still a
great population that doesn’t
know we exist,” continued
Jeffords. “And if women don’t
know we even exist, how can
they have the opportunity to
play?”
9
When team members in-
troduce themselves as football
players, they often receive
puzzled looks in return.
“The question is always, ‘Is
it flag football? Is it lingerie
football? Is it this that or the
other thing?’” said Oja. “This
is full-contact football, and
these athletes treat it like ...
their profession.”
Part of this professionalism
means laying groundwork for
young women interested in the
sport. Recent initiatives led by
the Mayhem and the growing
popularity of women’s football
as a whole has led to a rise in
women picking up the sport at
a younger age.
“[The] next generation is
having more opportunities
to play,” said Jeffords. “We
have a developmental pro-
gram where we mentor youth
female football players in the
area .… It inspires us more
than it inspires them.”
COURTESY OF MCKENNEY PHOTOGRAPHY
ANN BASU, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
10 Friday, September 20, 2019

O OPINION
Unite at the museum steps
In solidarity with the largest global youth strike in history, Bowdoin Climate Ac-
tion (BCA) organized a climate rally on the museum steps earlier today. While this
Bowdoin’s moral tanglements are
bigger than the Epstein case
once would have been a rare sight on our campus, instances of student activism are
becoming increasingly frequent and visible.
The events of the past year have sparked a hunger for political action on campus,
fueled largely by members of the Class of 2022. From the climate crisis to U.S. Su-
preme Court politics to labor practices on our campus, students have become more
involved in issues that directly affect our local and global communities. What if we demanded that he do so? Finally, let’s take a look at James
In October 2018, several hundred Bowdoin students walked out of class to pro- by Andrew Hamilton A quick glance at BoA’s history finds a Staley himself, who spent over 30
test the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The protest garnered Op-Ed Contributor pattern of fraud, negligence and prof- years at J.P. Morgan Chase, and is now
state-wide news coverage. For many students, the Kavanaugh protest was the first This newspaper recently reported iting from mountaintop removal coal CEO of Barclays, two of the largest
time they had seen an action of such magnitude on campus. on the connection between Bowdoin mining, one of the most destructive and most powerful financial organiza-
“The Brett Kavanaugh walkout was, in my four years, the largest protest Bowdoin trustee James Staley ’87 P’11 and bil- practices in one of the most destructive tions in the world, each trailing a list
has done,” Maxx Byron ’19 told the Orient in January. lionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. industries in the world. This is where of crimes, fraud and acts of destruc-
Students’ passion even led them to take action in our nation’s capital. Eight stu- The reporting makes no conclusions the money comes from. tive greed too long to list here. During
dents (six of whom were members of the Class of 2022) were arrested, some outside about Staley’s possible implication in The chairman of Bowdoin’s Board Staley’s tenure as Chief Executive at
the office of Maine Senator Susan Collins and others outside the Supreme Court, criminal activity, but leaves the reader of Trustees, Robert F. White ’77 P’15, Chase, the bank settled lawsuits or
while protesting Kavanaugh’s nomination. with the clear impression that further spent the 1980s as one of the architects paid fines for market manipulation,
That several hundred students, faculty and staff gathered outside Baxter House investigation is warranted. Such atten- of Bain Capital, a private equity firm non-compliance with banking regu-
last May for the Bowdoin Labor Alliance’s (BLA) “Rally for a Living Wage” was more tion to these crimes of power is alto- notorious for its pioneering use of cor- lations, bribery, fraud, sanctions vio-
evidence of a growing spirit of activism. In a little over a year of activity, BLA and gether appropriate. Yet, the salacious- porate dividends to accumulate mas- lations and, naturally, obstruction of
their supporters’ continual pressure on the College has yielded some concessions, ness of Epstein’s crimes may distract sive profits for itself while processing justice for hindering the investigation
though a living wage is still far from a reality. us from the many well-documented the cash-starved companies under its into some of those crimes. Making
Like unfair labor practices or accused sexual predators on our nation’s highest instances of more quotidian wrongdo- control through the more Byzantine sure that the bank maintained a warm
court, the increasingly urgent question of climate policy has spurred students to ac- ing to which we so easily become ac- corners of the bankruptcy code. This business relationship with a man im-
tion. Bowdoin students, many working with the Sunrise Movement through BCA, customed. Holding ourselves—as in- practice sent hundreds or thousands prisoned for sex trafficking barely
have participated in actions throughout New England. Some members have traveled dividuals and as a community—to the of workers at a time into unemploy- makes the list.
as far as Washington, D.C.. The energy surrounding this movement has been felt highest ethical standards means reck- ment and hollowed out businesses I have mentioned these four people
across the College and for many has become yet another sign of a marked increase in oning with the systemic corruption, once ingrained in their communities, because of the prominence of their
political action on campus. banal evil and unethical practices on while pocketing millions for White positions, but the choice was largely
The Kavanaugh nomination process lasted for only a few weeks, whereas the op- which the comforts and privilege of and others, so they could move on to arbitrary. The Board of Trustees, the
portunity for climate activism will only grow in the years to come. For a school so this extraordinary college prides itself. the next acquisition. This is where the big-name donors, the other pow-
concerned with its environmental image (though still not divested!), it’s only right Here are a few examples of what I am money comes from. erbrokers at this college—many of
that real action should follow. talking about. The vice-chair of the board of them have similar stories. It is easy to
LEED-certified buildings such as the Roux Center for the Environment look President Clayton Rose serves on trustees, Paula Wardynski ‘79, is a demand that someone cut ties with a
good, but hundreds of students rallying on the quad looks better. The Roux Center the board of Bank of America, which senior vice president of Rupert Mur- sex trafficker, but other cases are not
makes Bowdoin News, but climate protests make national news. Whatever Bowdoin profits off the private prison industry doch’s Newscorp, where she manages quite so easy. Using state of the art
students are fighting for, we hope that they will continue to show up. in general and, until recently, the mi- the company’s global assets. It seems lab equipment made possible by the
Walkouts and marches provide easily accessible, low-stakes opportunities for stu- grant detention centers being built at redundant to even begin to describe fruits of currency manipulation, or
dents to engage in the issues that directly affect them. The buy-in is low; the payoff is breakneck speed to keep up with the the destructive practices Wardynski is playing on a sports field underwritten
high. An hour of your morning lends momentum to a vast global movement. booming business of family separation. indirectly complicit in—the dissemi- by a peddler of sub-prime mortgages
To BLA, BCA and all the other organizers on campus: well done. You’ve built a lot Under public pressure, he gave a rou- nation of conspiracy theories, assaults or joining an alumni network full of
of momentum over the past year—don’t lose it. tine disavowal of the practice; he made on journalistic standards, systematic profiteers all feel just fine. But should
Let the museum steps become a center for political action. no mention of repudiating the profits degradation of women and so on. But they?
that have accrued to him under it. Wardynski is specifically implicat- Let’s not let the dramatic revela-
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial ed in behind the scenes work for the tions about Epstein, and the swirl of
board, which is composed of Emily Cohen, Brianna Cunliffe, Roither Gonzales, Murdoch family directly, where rumors that follows them, distract us
Rohini Kurup, Alyce McFadden, Nina McKay, Danielle Quezada, Reuben Schafir she helped in the management from what is hiding in plain sight:
and Jaret Skonieczny. of secret boating and real estate dirty money flows through this col-
holdings which may not meet lege’s hefty coffers, and getting rid of
the legal definition of money it, if we decide we want to, will be no
laundering, but which everyone easy task. This is the hardest kind of
involved worked to keep secret moral reckoning, but in a world of
until the revelation of key doc- profound and unexpected connec-
ESTABLISHED 1871 uments in the Paradise Papers tions, as beneficiaries of institutional
leak. This is where the money power, it is absolutely necessary.
bowdoinorient.com orient@bowdoin.edu 6200 College Station Brunswick, ME 04011 comes from. Andrew Hamilton is a visiting as-
sistant professor in the German de-
The Bowdoin Orient is a student-run weekly publication dedicated to providing news and information partment.
relevant to the Bowdoin community. Editorially independent of the College and its administrators,
the Orient pursues such content freely and thoroughly, following professional journalistic standards in
writing and reporting. The Orient is committed to serving as an open forum for thoughtful and diverse
discussion and debate on issues of interest to the College community.

Emily Cohen Alyce McFadden

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Cole van Miltenburg DO YOU APPROVE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES?
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The material contained herein is the property of The Bowdoin Orient and appears at the sole discretion of the
34% YES
editors. The editors reserve the right to edit all material. Other than in regard to the above editorial, the opinions
expressed in the Orient do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors.
66% NO Based on answers from 109 responses.
Friday, September 20, 2019
Police shootings:
who is at fault?
by Jared Cole
Op-Ed Contributor
On August 3, 2019, a situation
that has become a mainstay of
American culture took place in
Colorado Springs. A police officer
shot a young black male. Nearly
two weeks after the fatal shooting,
the family of the victim forced Col-
orado police to release body cam-
era footage of what happened. The
victim’s name is De’Von Bailey. He
was 19 years old.
The footage shows an officer
calmly asking two young black
males if they can talk for a second.
The officer then states that there’s
been “a report of two people with
similar descriptions possibly hav-
ing a gun.” He then says, “Don’t
reach for your waist. We’re going
to just check and make sure that
you don’t have a weapon, alright?”
Immediately afterwards, Bailey’s
friend looks over to Bailey then
back at the officer, as if he knows
something we don’t. Another offi-
cer can be seen approaching Bailey
from behind to check his waist,
and before he can even check, Bai-
ley takes off running.
As the original officer chases af-
ter Bailey with a gun pointed at his
back, you can hear him tell Bailey
to put his hands up multiple times.
Instead, Bailey can be seen digging
into his pocket as he’s running
away. At no point does he attempt
to put his hands up. The officer
then fires multiple rounds into
Bailey’s back until he falls. After-
wards, the officers cuff him while
he’s bleeding out on the ground
and call for a third officer to bring
over a medical kit. Ultimately, the
officers do in fact find a gun in
Bailey’s shorts. While the officers
are cutting Bailey’s shorts off so
Hating immigrants: America’s self-destructive tradition
by Osa Fasehun
Op-Ed Contributor
I was a sophomore at Bow-
doin when Donald Trump was
gaining momentum in the
presidential election in spite
of his xenophobic rhetoric.
Anxiously dreading a near-fas-
cist regime in the event of a
Trump presidency, I talked
with my mother about getting
reacquainted with Nigeria, my
mother’s native country. The
talk did not go well and after
debating the idea for an hour,
my mother finally admitted,
“We have no place to go! The
Nigeria I knew in childhood
doesn’t exist anymore. I would
be a foreigner in my own coun-
try.” What I initially took for
exasperation in her tone was
actually broken-heartedness.
She had fond childhood mem-
ories of Nigeria as a beautiful
and safe black country, so it
pained her to know that I did
not feel at home in Ameri-
ca—my country—and that she
could not provide me with an
alternative.
Much of my thinking these
days roams to that moment, es-
pecially this summer when my
family received the call that my
aunt had been shot on the road
they can reach the gun, one of the
officers tells Bailey, “Stay with me
brother.”
I’ve identified as black for most
of my life, though now I would ac-
knowledge that I’m mixed race as I
am more Indian than I am black—
something I’ve always known about
myself. In the past, however, I iden-
tified more with my blackness as I
grew up in a white suburban town
in Massachusetts, and everyone
who ever saw me viewed me as
“just black” due to my dark skin and
curly afro. While my mother is just
Indian, my father is mostly black
and native Trinidadian. When my
mother and I first saw the footage
of the shooting, we both asked Bai-
ley the same question through the
TV: “Why are you running away?
If you don’t have anything to hide,
then why are you running away?”
My father, however, who has had
negative experiences with cops in
the past along the lines of racial
profiling, had a different reaction to
the footage.
He simply shook his head in
disdain at the sight of an officer
gunning down a young black male
that was running away from him.
We then proceeded to argue about
whether the officer was right in
his decision and whether Bailey
deserved to die for disobeying the
officer’s orders. After arguing with
him for close to an hour and pon-
dering it afterwards in solitude,
I came to a few conclusions. For
one, Bailey probably would not
have run away if he did not have a
gun. Second, in hindsight, the offi-
cer was right to shoot Bailey. Bailey
did in fact have a gun on him, and
the officer clearly shouted at Bai-
ley to put his hands up as he was
running away, which Bailey did
not do, instead reaching into his
in Nigeria. My Aunty Funke, a
Nigerian native, had recently
returned to Nigeria from the
United States. She was headed
to Lagos with an entourage
when some drivers suddenly
began to barricade the sides of
the street with their vehicles.
Other drivers, more familiar
with what was going on, quick-
ly drove away in time. My aunt
and her entourage did not re-
alize that the barricading was
part of a routine marauding by
armed bandits.
The armed bandits ap-
proached my aunt’s van—ev-
eryone in the car managed to
escape except her—and fired
into the car, striking her. She
eventually succumbed to
blood loss. My aunt had sur-
vived breast cancer twice, was
managing her diabetes well
and had an indomitable will
to live for her children and
grandchildren. Whether it was
the police precluding her from
getting immediate medical
care due to demands for a bribe
or the medical responders not
stopping her bleeding in time,
I could not help but feel that it
was Nigeria that killed her.
But summer continued and
so did the mass shootings in
the United States. Each break-
OPINION
SHONA ORTIZ
pocket as he was running. In this
situation, the officer was probably
thinking that Bailey not only had a
gun, but that he’s trying to get it out
so that he could fire back. The one
problem I do have with the officer
is that he did not wait for Bailey to
pull the gun out of his pocket. In
actuality, the officer had no clear
evidence that Bailey was armed
before he fired. But of course,
when you put all the pieces togeth-
er, it is clear that Bailey likely had
a gun on him. Still, a cop that was
not afraid to lose his life would’ve
waited those few precious seconds,
for Bailey to pull out the gun be-
fore pulling the trigger.
This then leads to my final
ing news segment about a mass
shooting was a trauma trigger
for me. My “Trump Anxiety
Disorder” worsened as I feared
that cousins in Texas or Ohio
were also casualties in the
shooting, before being reas-
sured of their safety. Our com-
mander in chief has spent most
of his presidency spreading
lies about Mexicans and other
non-white immigrants ruining
the country and in turn, em-
powering hatemongers like the
El Paso shooter to act on those
sentiments.
Turning away immigrants is
not in America’s best interest.
Immigrants and children of
immigrants have become high
school valedictorians, Bowdo-
in graduates and among the
highest-performing workers
in the country. I owe my ex-
istence to immigration and so
does America. A xenophobic
America is not rational; it’s an
oxymoron.
From the Japanese-Amer-
ican internment camps to the
congested detention centers
for Latinx migrant children,
the venom towards non-white
immigrants seems to go deep-
er than the venom for Irish or
Italian immigrants not so long
ago. In July, the President told
11
question. Did the officer have to Garner and Michael Brown were prepare officers for these kinds of
kill Bailey for being armed? If foolish for resisting arrest. Did situations where their own lives are
the officer did in fact have a stun they deserve to die for it? No. Were in jeopardy.
gun on him, then he just as easily the officers also foolish for being I don’t blame my father for
could’ve incapacitated Bailey with- unable to arrest them without kill- thinking the way that he does.
out ending his life. However, after ing them? Yes. This problem in my He and I have different experi-
doing more research, I discovered eyes is two-sided. ences and different perceptions.
that according to police protocol, For one, young black men need But I think in order to solve this
stun guns are only supposed to be to be taught not to resist arrest. If epidemic, black people need to
used if the perpetrator is unarmed there’s a racist cop out there that learn to let go of the stigma that
but is resisting arrest. wants to kill black men, then in all cops are trying to kill them. In
Still, my father argues that of- his mind he’s going to be hoping an ideal world, the ideal cop would
ficers should do more to restrain that they either resist arrest or be someone that understands the
themselves from using deadly run away. In the case of De’Von self-sacrifice that comes with the
force, and I find it unreasonable Bailey, I really don’t think those profession. Yet of course, we are all
to disagree with that. At the end cops were racist. However, they human, and fearing for one’s life is
of the day, Bailey was a fool for were certainly afraid to lose their a natural human tendency.
running. Did he deserve to die own lives, and perhaps more in- Jared Cole is a member of the
for that? No, I don’t think so. Eric tense training needs to be done to Class of 2020.
four congresswomen of color
to “go back and help fix the
totally broken and crime-in-
fested places from which they
came,” even though they are
all Americans and all but one
are natural-born citizens. His
comments reveal two tropes
of xenophobia: blaming the
victims and thinking of them
as subhuman. The immigrants
that arrive here are generally
not responsible for the turmoil
they are escaping from. Aside
from corruption, Nigeria
struggles with national insecu-
rity—from armed robbery to
kidnapping for ransom—none
of which was my late aunt’s
fault. Immigration can be a
catch-22 that causes you to feel
like a perpetual alien, forever a
foreigner in both the land you
emigrated from and the one
you sought refuge in.
With her name all over Ni-
gerian news outlets, I wished
my Aunty Funke could have
become a martyr whose death
would transform Nigeria, but
I won’t hold my breath. In the
meantime, I desperately need
America to feel like home for
her children and grandchil-
dren, and for mine.
Osa Fasehun is a member of KODIE GARZA
the Class of 2018.
12 Friday, September 20, 2019

SEPTEMBER
FRIDAY 20
EVENT
Global Climate Strike
Bowdoin Climate Action will lead students in a rally to demand
action and policy to address the climate crisis. Afterward, those
who are able will travel to Portland to join a larger rally.
Museum of Art steps. 10 a.m.

EVENT
Doggies and Donuts
The Student Activities Office will hold an end-of-the-week
celebration with dogs and Frosty’s donuts.
David Saul Smith Union. 7 p.m.

LECTURE
“Smart Woman Securities: Finance and
Investing” Presentation with Jiaqi Duan
Bowdoin Smart Woman Securities founder and current ANN BASU, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT

Harvard Business School student Jiaqi Duan ’17 will give a BURNING VAN: Firefighters from the Brunswick Fire Department extinguish a blaze during a fire demonstration that illustrated fire hazards in
dorm rooms on Wednesday, September 16.
lecture on finance and investment.
Pickering Room, Hubbard Hall. 4:30 p.m.

FILM SCREENING
“Game Night”
The Bowdoin Film Society will screen “Game Night,” directed by
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and starring Rachel
MONDAY 23 WEDNESDAY 25
McAdams and Jason Bateman. The movie follows a group of EVENT EVENT
friends whose game night goes awry when one gets kidnapped. Meditation Party in the Library
Smith Auditorium, Sills Hall. 7 p.m. Bernie Hershberger, Director of Counseling and Wellness The Hawthorne-Longfellow Library will hold an event with
Programs, will lead an afternoon meditation session. dogs, food, activities and prizes.
Room 302, Buck Center for Health and Fitness. 4:30 p.m. Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. 7 p.m.

LECTURE
SATURDAY 21 10,000 Years of Natural Resources
Stewardship by the Penobscot Nation
EVENT
Common Good Day 2019 TUESDAY 24 John Banks, director of natural resources for the Penobscot
Nation, will speak about the Penobscot Nation’s history and
role in caring for the Nation’s territorial land and waters.
Bowdoin students will engage in dozens of community service EVENT
projects across southern Maine, including outdoor cleanup, Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center. 7 p.m.
painting, office support and work with seniors and children.
National Voter Registration Day
Students will have the opportunity to register to vote and EVENT
The Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good will
request absentee ballots all day. Power Yoga
provide free lunch for all volunteers.
David Saul Smith Union and Thorne Hall. 9 a.m. Jessica Coffin will lead an invigorating yoga class.
Farley Field House. 11:30 a.m.
Room 301, Buck Center for Health and Fitness. 4:30 p.m.
EVENT
EVENT
Paint Night in the Pub Alpha Delta Phi Visiting Writers Series:
The Bowdoin Craft Center will host an evening painting An Evening with Authors John Banville
session. The Center will provide painting supplies.
Jack Magee’s Pub and Grill. 7 p.m.
and Richard Ford
President Clayton Rose will introduce esteemed authors
John Banville, the first Irish author to receive the Prince of
THURSDAY 26
Asturias Award for Literature, and Richard Ford, a Pulitzer
LECTURE
Prize-winning author.
“No Option but North: The Migrant
SUNDAY 22 Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center. 7:30 p.m.

FILM SCREENING
World and the Perilous Path to the
Border” with Kelsey Freeman ’16
EVENT “The Farewell” As part of this year’s Latinx Heritage Month celebration,
Greenstock Frontier will be screening “The Farewell,” starring Awkwafina, Fulbright fellow Kelsey Freeman ’16 will discuss her
The Bowdoin Music Collective will hold a campus-wide Tzi Ma and Gil Perez-Abraham. The movie received positive forthcoming book, “No Option but North,” which features
event featuring free pizza, student bands, a cappella groups, reviews, including a 99 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. interviews with Central American migrants about the
eco-friendly clubs and activities. Tickets are available online. tremendous obstacles they encountered to travel north.
Dudley Coe Quad. 2 p.m. Frontier. 3 p.m. Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center. 7 p.m.

27 28 29 30 1 CONVERSATION 2 3 EVENT

“Getting the “Learning

Art Idea” as an Act of
Fugitivity”