November 20, 2014 | Vol. 113 no. 10 | middleburycampus.com Laurie Patton Named 17th President By Joe Flaherty many different constituencies with- and Conor Grant in the broader Middlebury commu- Dr. Laurie L. Patton was named nity in the selection process. Middlebury College’s 17th presi- According to Dragone, the com- mittee, which was comprised of president in its 214-year history, “members of the faculty of both at an announcement ceremony in Monterey and Middlebury, staff Mead Chapel on Nov. 18. Patton, from both Monterey and Middle- who is currently dean of the Trin- bury, alumni, Trustees and stu- ity College of Arts and Sciences at dents,” made it a priority to rep- Duke University and the Robert F. resent stakeholders without direct Durden Professor of Religion, ad- representation in the process such dressed the Middlebury commu- as residents of the town of Middle- - bury, parents and students. ing after opening remarks from The lengthy selection process President of the College Ronald D. was designed to ensure that the Liebowitz, Chair of the Board of president-elect would be a perfect Trustees Marna Whittington and Chair of the Presidential Search committee and the Board of Trust- Committee Allan Dragone Jr. ’78. ees played an active role in ensur- Faculty, alumni, Trustees and ing the strength of the applicant students packed Mead Chapel to pool. witness the announcement of the “We talked to leaders in higher education across the country who remarks to the Middlebury com- were the rising stars,” Whittington munity. After brief introductions to said. “And we went out and recruit- the proceedings by Liebowitz and ed some of them to our pool, so we Whittington, Dragone discussed SEE PRESIDENT, PAGE 3 the selection process at length, MIchael O’Hara emphasizing the importance of the SEE EDITORIAL, PAGE 7 SEE SPREAD, PAGES 12 & 13 time explaining the value of a liberal arts education. She will be the College’s 17th President. College Discusses Midd Ranked Highly for Rigor By Ethan Brady tors” is weighted 20 percent—a derstand that.” Campus Microgrid Middlebury was ranked 7th combination of Niche surveys “Comparatively speaking, overall in The Daily Beast’s list on schools with the smartest this is an academically demand- By Christian Jambora teaching a Winter Term course professors and class size data ing place,” said Professor Dry, analyzing the feasibility of Col- of the “25 Most Rigorous Col- Students, staff and commu- provided by National Center for who has taught at Yeshiva Col- lege microgrid from a financial, leges,” ahead of Harvard, Yale, nity members gathered in the Education Statistics. lege and Harvard in the past. regulatory and logistical stand- and Stanford. Middlebury is the Robert A. Jones conference Middlebury’s workload man- He noted the heavy empha- point. highest-ranked NESCAC school room on Nov. 12 to discuss the on the list; Amherst is the only ageability score, according to sis on acceptance rate in The feasibility of creating a “mi- As a part of his independent other to make the list, at spot The Daily Beast’s formula, is Daily Beast’s formula. Selectiv- crogrid” on Middlebury Col- study, Baker has been speaking 14. the fourth lowest on the list—a ity, he said, translates gener- lege’s campus. with microgrid experts and re- According to The Daily lower score indicates a less man- ally into an overall measure of A microgrid is a smaller, searching the implementation Beast’s website, the ranking is ageable workload. Only Wake the student body’s intelligence more localized version of a larg- of microgrids on college cam- determined by the quality both Forest, Davidson, Swarthmore and achievement. At the same er power grid that brings dis- puses across the country that of the student body and of their and Columbia sported lower time, he stressed that even at tributed energy resources (e.g. are similar in size to Middle- bury. Baker formed the idea for instructors. Each college’s ac- workload manageability scores Columbia, ranked first overall, wind, solar, natural gas) closer than Middlebury. the most intelligent students do to where energy is being used. a microgrid while attending the ceptance rate, as reported by the Middlebury School of the En- National Center for Education Professor of Political Science not necessarily have the most In this case, the larger power Murray Dry wasn’t surprised by rigorous workload. “At top uni- grid in the area is operated by vironment during its inaugural Statistics, is weighted 50 per- Middlebury’s high overall rank- versities—even here, I guess—if Green Mountain Power (GMP), run last summer. cent. Student surveys provided ing. “This is a school where most a student want to coast, it’s a which currently supplies ap- Baker said, “As a part of the by Niche regarding workload faculty expect the students to matter of what courses he or she proximately 80 percent of the sustainability practicum course, manageability are weighted do some work. If students don’t chooses.” College’s electrical demand. we were put into groups of four 30 percent. Lastly, the amount do the work, they’re not going Dry insisted that the best The creation of a microgrid and matched with Director of of time students are likely to to pass. But most students un- way to compare the rigor of would allow the College’s elec- Sustainability Jack Byrne. Our spend with the “best instruc- trical system to better withstand task was to assess climate vul- SEE RIGOR, PAGE 3 extreme climate events. For ex- nerability for Middlebury Col- ample, if a storm were to cause lege, and the vulnerability my a large-scale power outage, then group identified was extended the College would be able to dis- power outages due to extreme connect from the main grid op- weather.” TOP 25 MOST RIGOROUS COLLEGES erated by GMP and continue to Baker stated that a microgrid operate with the electrical gen- will give more resiliency to in- #1. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY #14. Amherst College frastructure at the College, most eration available on campus. #2. COOPER UNION #15. Davidson college Panelist speakers included significantly through the ability Michael Hightower from San- to go into “Island Mode,” where #3. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO #16. stanford university dia National Laboratories, Jito the microgrid can fully power #4. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE #17. vanderbilt university Coleman from Green Toolbox the College if the main grid op- Consulting and Josh Caston- erated by GMP goes down. #5. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF #18. washington and lee university guay from GMP. The three Princeton University and TECHNOLOGY #19. carnegie mellon university shared their experiences work- Wesleyan University are cur- #6. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY #20. university of pennsylvania ing with microgrids and dis- rently among the rising number cussed successful implementa- of schools that have successfully #7. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE #21. northwestern university tion strategies. created their own microgrids. #8. HARVEY MUDD COLLGE #22. wake forest university Princeton’s microgrid gained “Microgrids are the future of #9. HARVARD UNIVERSITY #23. colgate university energy distribution — they’re recognition two years ago when cheaper, better for renew- it successfully went into Island #10. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE #24. johns hopkins university ables, more local and more re- Mode and kept power running #11. CORNELL UNIVERSITY #25. claremont mckenna college silient,” said Isaac Baker ’14.5, to the school through Hurricane #12. YALE UNIVERSITY List retrieved from: The Daily Beast.com who helped organize the panel Sandy. with Director of Sustainabil- “Once you have a microgrid, #13. DUKE UNIVERSITY ity Jack Byrne. Baker will be SEE MICROGRID, PAGE 3 GREEN MOUNTAIN PROFILE ON PAM A SMALL, GOOD POWER UPGRADE BERENBAUM THING DAMS PAGE 14 PAGES 17 PAGE 5 inside 2NEWS | November 20, 2014 College Weighs Microgrid Options Community CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 another benefit is that you’re you’re able Council to act as a point of aid for the college and the surrounding community during di- saster scenarios,” Baker said. Baker added that both schools he has By Emma Dunlap been focusing his research on — Princ- eton and Wesleyan — have seen signifi- cant savings since” implementing a mi- crogrid Community Council had several guest stu- He said, “The way it works economi- dents attend the meeting on November 10, cally is that [the microgrid] operates in 2014 that offered new perspectives on student parallel with the larger power grid, so at social life at Middlebury. The council dis- any moment we can take power from the cussed current issues surrounding social life at grid or sell some of it back. This means Middlebury as well as how the council can cre- we wouldn’t have to invest as much in ate a forum to continue discussing possible so- storing our electricity.” lutions to making Middlebury more inclusive. Additionally, the microgrid fits in After the meeting held by President Li- with the College’s goal toward achieving ebowitz to discuss social life on Sunday, Nov. carbon neutrality. 2, the council is looking at hosting another “Our goal is to figure out how and if meeting and possibly regularly scheduled fo- we can make the College more climate rums to continue the discussion. Guest stu- resilient while achieving other essen- dent Jeremy Stratton-Smith ’17 stated he be- tial institutional goals,” Baker said. lieved there were numerous attendees at the “We probably won’t go forward with the meeting held on Nov. 2 who had not encoun- Alex Cort tered many of the issues with social life