october 25, 2012 | Vol. 113 no. 6 | middleburycampus.com Crime stats expose Email sparks controversy By Bronwyn Oatley faculty members, as well as a se- lection of local media outlets re- TIMELINE OF alcohol citation swell On Oct. 19 the College charged ceived an email from a Gmail ac- EVENTS count associated with the sender By Emilie Munson The Middlebury College Annu- College Handbook policies, re- FRIDAY, OCT. 12 - al Security and Crime Report does lated to their involvement in the On Oct. 1, Public Safety re- tions,” with the subject line “Mid- Original Press Release co-authorship of a mock press leased the Middlebury College dlebury College Divests from War on campus; however, statistics release that was sent to hundreds Annual Security and Crime Re- provided by Facilities Services of students, faculty and staff and a Welcoming Committee” port. This report, emailed to all The mock release stated that suggest that student vandalism number of local media outlets on students in compliance with the “Tim Schornak” of the “Dalai FRIDAY, OCT. 12 Oct. 12. is on the rise. In the 2006-2007 MiddBlog post reports Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Cam- The students, Molly Stuart was to be contacted for further de- pus Security Policy and Campus ’15.5, Jay Saper ’13, Jenny Marks press release of “dubious worth of student damage was ac- - Crime Statistics Act, was a com- origins” crued whereas in the 2010-2011 pilation of statistics about crime and Amitai Ben-Abba ’15.5, have school year, students caused committee. A telephone number at the College in the year 2011 indicated that they will choose was also provided where the of- as compared to the two previous to defend themselves against the SATURDAY, OCT. 13 representing the highest gross- years. charges at an open Judicial Board ing student vandalism year in the When called, the number led to an Middlebury Director of According to the report, in range provided. Furthermore, the Public Affairs Sarah Ray - in recent memory. indicating a non-working number. statistics indicated that last year, The hearing is slated to occur calls email “fraudulent” crease in the number of referrals Throughout the evening, com- Atwater perpetrated the most at 3 p.m. on Nov. 1 at a yet to be for disciplinary action for liquor munity members reacted to the on MiddBlog determined location, and will be law violations in comparison to news — many erroneously believ- and seniors in Atwater were overseen by the Community Ju- SUNDAY, OCT. 14 2010 and 2009. Furthermore, in ing that the communiqué was an found responsible for damage in dicial Board (CJB), comprised 2011, incidents of burglary and re- - Tim Spears calls Press most instances. of trained students, faculty and ferrals for disciplinary action for bury’s actual “College Communi- staff, as is outlined by the College Release a “hoax” liquor law violations occurred on statistics may not accurately re- Handbook policies. TUESDAY, OCT. 16 If the students are convicted, - - Finally, no hate crimes were re- the CJB will decide upon individ- Students “come clean” ism because they are based on the dent for Academic Affairs Timo- ported in 2011 unlike in previous ual sanctions for the group mem- in distributed letter money spent on student vandal- thy Spears sent an email to all stu- years. These statistics, however, bers. Possible repercussions for ism in a given year. dents, staff and faculty explaining only represent reported incidents. nonacademic violations to College WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17 - that the “message was a hoax, Handbook policy, as are alleged “Welcoming Committee” and that neither the email nor the Burchard attributes some of the in this case, range from verbal or as many incidents of vandalism or press release it contained came meets with Deans of changes in the crime statistics to written reprimands to expulsion damage, but it might just be that from Middlebury College or its College and Students new policy and institutions. from the College. there were one or two huge ticket “The increase in alcohol ci- The charges issued to the stu- THURSDAY, OCT. 18 items that created a bloom in the dents relate to alleged violations tations along with other issues posted a “coming clean” letter at - of Middlebury’s Community Stan- resulted in the Task Force on Al- various locations across the cam- on hoax email dards policy and alleged breaches pus and online at go/compassion, related to needless vandalism are to the Responsible Use of Com- THURSDAY, OCT. 18 said Burchard. “It’s very possible identifying themselves by name of great concern to the commons puting and Network Services and Seven Days and that the decrease from one to and class year as the co-authors of deans and the administration. Facilities policy. zero [of hate crimes] is a result of the press release. Assistant Director of Facilities Over the past week, local me- the information and mandatory They co-signed the letter as the reports on the email - dia outlets including Seven Days, training involved with the Anti- - dalism is a concern on campus. Vermont Digger and Vermont SUNDAY, OCT. 21 Harassment Policy.” tee,” a self-described “group of “I do think vandalism is an is- Public Radio have all covered the Burchard also pointed out that students who are concerned that “My Middlebury” action sue when it takes time away from press release incident. crime occurring on public proper- the College embraces practices in front of Proctor the departments that already have ty could be located on the various inconsistent with its own pro- FRIDAY, OCT. 26 a concern about the … care of rou- SEQUENCE OF EVENTS public roads that cross campus. claimed values.” In the letter, the “Welcoming Committee” tine maintenance and operations - Wonnacott Commons Dean - by adding an extra burden to the dowment transparency and urged to host general assembly dents stem from their co-author- work load,” said Ross. the College to divest from arms THURSDAY, NOV. 1 number of students, particularly ship of a self-described “satirical” To reduce crime, Public Safety manufacturers, military contrac- seniors, live off-campus and that press release. Committee to face takes many steps at the begin- tors and fossil fuel companies. this may be a factor in the statis- Over the span of a few hours, Judical Board in tics. hundreds of students, staff and SEE STUDENT, PAGE 4 SEE STUDENTS, PAGE 2 public hearing CHEERS TO ALUMNI WEEKEND FUN. delays concert By Katie Theiss 2]. The FUN. concert that was “Despite our efforts to cir- originally scheduled for Fri- cumvent this scheduling con- day, Nov. 2, has been resched- flict, we were forced to cancel uled until Thursday, Jan. 17. the Nov. 2 show.” The band cannot perform at the After news of the cancella- College in November due to a tion, MCAB worked with FUN.’s scheduling conflict with a Sat- tour management to find an al- ternate date. Middlebury College Activi- “The choices were limited ties Board (MCAB) Concert as FUN.’s tour schedule was Commitee Co-Chairs Molly booked for the remainder of Sprague ’13 and Nick Mallchok the fall, in addition to a Euro- ’15 explained that representa- pean tour in the spring,” wrote tives for FUN. contacted MCAB Sprague and Mallchok. “FUN. just recently to notify them of had only two dates to offer, and the conflict. one of them conflicted with an “MCAB was contacted by the athletic event, leaving Jan. 17 as band the week before fall break our only option.” notifying us that FUN. had been Scheduling concerts re- offered a spot on Saturday Night quires the approval from vari- ous departments across cam- and Mollchok in an email. “Un- pus, which limits the dates the fortunately, the Middlebury MCAB concert committee can Courtesy of luke elder show conflicted with a manda- choose from. Students played corn hole, drank, ate and enjoyed homecoming festivities at the tailgate outside of Ke- “After a lot of work and co- nyon Arena on Saturday, Oct. 20. Plenty of alumni came back for the weekend, and the football team on the Friday before [on Nov. SEE CONCERT, PAGE 3 VERMONT COLLEGE GOES TO PSYCH DEPT. FARMERS FIGHT GREAT LENGTHS FOR BLENDS SOCIAL GENETICALLY THE DALAI LAMA AND NATURAL MODIFIED CORN PAGE 14 SCIENCES PAGE 6 PAGE 17 inside 2NEWS | october 25, 2012 The Campus was granted exclusive interview access to Dalai Lama calls on young His Holiness the Dalai Lama BEYOND on Saturday, Oct. 13th follow- ing his talk. The full transcript THE generation to enact change and audio of the interview gery elicited laughter from the audience, as can be found on the Campus By Bronwyn Oatley and Kathryn website. Here are some of the DeSutter did his decision to wear a Middlebury visor BUBBLE throughout the lecture. highlights: On Friday Oct. 12 and Saturday Oct. On Saturday Oct. 13, the Dalai Lama BY DANNY ZHANG On mindfulness in the College com- 13, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama ad- spoke to the College community on the munity: dressed the College and members of the topic of global ethics. After his opening Middlebury community in two lectures “If one person creates some trouble remarks the Tibetan leader spoke of “one- then the whole community eventu- - in which he discussed themes of morality ness” and the similarities between all peo- ally creates some uneasiness. So there- tween President Bashar al-Assad and rebel in education and the importance of faith, ple before expressing his belief that the lev- fore regarding unity, or harmony or a forces seeking to topple his government peace and cooperation on a global scale.