The U.S. MAIL 1st CLASS Postage PAID Bowdoin Orient Bowdoin College BRUNSWICK, MAINE BOWDOINORIENT.COM THE NATION’S OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY PUBLISHED COLLEGE WEEKLY VOLUME 144, NUMBER 14 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 TALKING ABOUT TALKING College creates Leap of Faith housing for upperclassmen BY RACHAEL ALLEN ORIENT STAFF T e College is launching a new housing opportunity for upperclass- men called Leap of Faith that imitates the f rst year housing experience. Start- ing this spring, the Of ce of Residential Life will pair students who opt into the program with roommates who share similar interests and habits using a questionnaire comparable to the one distributed to f rst years before they ar- rive at Bowdoin. “[You’re] leaving your housing as- signment in the hands of the ResLife of ce, which is where it was when you applied and arrived here as a f rst year,” KATE FEATHERSTON, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT said Associate Director of Housing Op- Esther Nunoo ‘17 recites a slam poem she wrote, entitled “Talking About Talking”, at the Black History Month Art Show in David Saul Smith Union on Tuesday evening. The event kicked off a month of programming put on by the African erations Lisa Rendall. “[T is housing American Society ans the Student Activities Offi ce for Black History Month. For more inofrmation, please see the article on page 8. option is] being willing to take that leap of faith, as we call it, to try something new with your housing.” Dean of Student Af airs Tim Foster From ‘Uncle Bowdoin to host fi rst ever CBB Hackathon said he has been interested in devel- oping a program like this ever since BY MARINA AFFO signed up to participate, 40 of whom are also work independently to develop he f rst heard a group of upperclass- Tom’ to ‘Serial’: ORIENT STAFF Bowdoin students. their ideas. men students say their core group of “Hackathons are about getting these Students will have 36 hours to design friends are the people they met dur- Bowdoin will host the f rst ever Col- people together and hoping something a product, help bring a product design ing their f rst six months of college. by-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Hackathon, cool comes of it,” said ITAC President to life or market a product. T e prod- “I sort of test drove the idea with Jill Abramson which will run today through Sunday. Ruben Martinez ’15. uct does not have to be technologically groups of f rst years and sophomores T e event, put on by the Bowdoin’s In- T e event will take place in David based, it must simply be an idea that is that I’ve been having lunch with,” formation Technology Advisory Coun- Saul Smith Union, beginning at 9 p.m. brought to life within the time limit. At said Foster. “You think of your three on journalism cil (ITAC), aims to bring student entre- tonight and lasting 36 hours. Students the end of the Hackathon, seven win- closest friends…inevitability the re- preneurs together so they can develop who wish to participate may either ar- ners across dif erent categories will be sponse almost always includes peo- BY HARRY DIPRINZIO their ideas. So far, 70 students from over rive with a team or be matched with a selected by a panel of judges. Categories ple from my f rst year f oor or even ORIENT STAFF 10 institutions across the east coast have group of people at the event. T ey may Please see HACKATHON, page 4 Please see HOUSING, page 4 Jill Abramson, former executive editor of T e New York Times, de- livered a talk on Wednesday night that ran the gamut from discus- John Fish ’82 works to bring 2024 Olympics to Boston sions of journalism’s transition to a digital landscape to commentary BY GARRETT CASEY is itself productive. He realized on her role as a female executive. ORIENT STAFF the sifnificance of such a debate Abramson’s lecture also touched on wjen the idea of a Boston Olympic gender and racial diversity in the The United States Olympic Games was first brought to him a newsroom and her recent ouster Committee (USOC) selected Bos- few years ago. from T e Times, where she served ton to compete globally to host the “At that point in time I was as the f rst female executive editor. 2024 Olympic Games on January thinking was this real or not real, Abramson opened the lecture by 8, accepting a proposal put for- and the more I got into it the more detailing her concerns about the ward by dozens of local business- I realized that there was a lot of state of the freedom of the press in men and politicians. John Fish ’82, opportunity, even just at the con- the United States. Abramson ref- chairman and CEO of Suffolk Con- versation level—whether or not erenced the recent increase in the struction, is chair of Boston 2024, we were going to host the Olym- prosecution of whistleblowers for the group working to bring the pics,” he said. “Having the con- criminal leaks of classif ed informa- Olympics to Boston. versation about the potential, it tion. T e Obama administration has T e announcement has provoked created a lot of the opportunity to COURTESY OF BOSTON 2024 EXECUTIVE BID COMMITTEE prosecuted more people under the a great deal of debate. Although the think about where we want to be BOSTON 2024: John Fish ‘82 chairs Boston 2024, the group working to bring the Olympics to Boston. Espionage Act than all other admin- bid has the backing of dozens of in, say, 2030.” istrations combined. powerful political leaders, including Hosting the Olympics would re- Above is an artist’s rendering of the planned Olympic Boulevard. Abramson took a stance of soli- Mayor Marty Walsh and Governor quire major upgrades to Boston’s darity with recent government whis- Charlie Baker, a group called No transportation infrastructure and to connect the harbor, the South Rail all the way down to Fall River tleblowers, supporting their ef orts Boston Olympics has begun orga- the development of a multi-billion End and South Boston. Fish said and beyond?” he said. “You think to uphold democratic ideals. nizing against the proposal, and the dollar Olympic Village. Several he is glad that all of these ideas are about those conversations—that has While Abramson acknowledged community is weary of using public op-ed writers, recently published part of the Olympic conversation. noting to do with the Olympics. But the illegality of certain types of re- funds to f nance the Olympics. in The Boston Globe, are excited “How do we think about upgrad- what it all has to do with is where we porting, she referenced prior suc- In a phone call with the Ori- about these possible upgrades, ing the rail system to Worcester? want to be in the future.” cesses of risky investigative jour- ent, Fish said that debate over the dreaming of a transit ring around How do we think about high-speed Fish has recused his construction future of the region, and how the the edges of the city or the potential rail to Springf eld? How do we think Please see ABRAMSON, page 3 Olympics might fit into that future, of the proposed Olympic Boulevard about expediting the South Coast Please see OLYMPICS, page 3 ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT: GOOD IDEAS FEATURES: MIND THE GAP SPORTS: CADY TAKES THE HELM OPINION: Harry DiPrinzio ‘18 on spending time working in restaurants EDITORIAL: Addressing comments. A group of students performed Yesterday the College named Erin Cady in New York and Paris during his gap year. staged readings of six short named the volleyball team’s fourth coach in Page 14. plays written in response to the the program’s 29-year history . death of Trayvon Martin. KICKING THE CAN: David Steury ’15 on the anti-vaccination movement. Page 8. Page 6. Page 10. Page 14. 2 news the bowdoin orient friday, february 6, 2015 WHERE DOES ALL THE SNOW GO, ANYWAY? T e shrill beeping of pickup trucks backing up has been heard frequently across campus in the past week. Since Winter Storm Juno struck Bruns- wick last Tuesday, plows and front- end loaders have been busy trucking away heaps of snow from Bowdoin grounds. According to Associate Di- rector of Grounds and Landscape Planning Phil Labbe, over 3,410 cu- bic yards of snow have been removed from campus so far—and that’s only a third of what the College plans to remove. T e snow removed thus far is enough to cover the entire f oorspace of Druckenmiller Hall with 14.27 inches of snow, or the surface area of the Watson Arena with 15.05 inches of snow. Tractors are of en seen dumping snow into pickup trucks by Hyde Hall, but rarely—if ever—do students ZACH ALBERT, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT see where the mini-mountains are MAN-MADE MOUNTAINS: Recent storms have left campus buried by feet of snow, and groundskeepers have worked tirelessly to clear paths. The excess snow is taken behind the men’s soccer fi eld to melt. eventually taken. T e answer is less mystical than expected. “We have a location that’s just past ANNUAL HARD ALCOHOL-RELATED TRANSPORTS AT BOWDOIN the men’s soccer f eld that’s called the sod farm,” said Labbe. “T at’s where it gets trucked to.” And that is where the snow will stay until the last clumps melt in the early summer months.