After reviewing faculty input on various aspects of the University, President Michael Roth has outlined five broad initiatives forming a list of the University’s priorities: strengthening the undergraduate experience, internationalization, the “creative campus,” College of the Environment and civic engagement.
A major funding cut has closed the books on the Health Professions Partnership Initiative (HPPI), an 11-year old program specifically focused on recruitment and aid for low-income, first-generation and minority students with an interest in the health professions.
Changes are coming to Late Night and Summerfields after spring break, although rumors of Late Night relocating to Summerfields are premature.
Last Thursday evening, former University Professor of Dance Cheryl Cutler instructed a group at the Bessie Schönberg dance studio to pay attention to the “headlights in their hips.” The goal was to cultivate the skill of creative listening, defined as paying total attention to self, other and environment with a mindset focused completely on the present. Cutler, who in 1976 founded the Dance Department at the University, then requested participants to dance with each other in non-choreographed duets in front of other group members.
Just days after returning home to Kenya from the university for winter break, William Ndugire ’10 and Sam Maritim ’10 watched as a corrupted election process pushed their nation into political instability and ethnic violence.
Belgium is cold. This is the first thought that occurs to me after I cross the English Channel. Not that the wine and the beer and the chocolate—which I ate with two friends in quaint holes-in-the-wall that shame all the shops in England—was the best I have ever had and the best I ever will have, perhaps, in all of my travels in Europe.
If you tune in to WESU on Wednesday afternoons, you are liable to hear a friendly male voice say, “Tired of your friends calling you a health nut? Make some new ones.”
Imagination allows us to transcend our realities. It enables us to explore even the most familiar places because we can find new significance. We delve into the past and present in order to see memories, desires, dreams, volitions, loves and fears on varying philosophical levels. “A Journey Around My Room” is a compilation of this search—an expedition into the mind of writer Xavier de Maistre.
Question: Do you think that there is evidence in the “Harry Potter” series that suggests that Albus Dumbledore is gay? Do you think that J.K. Rowling’s divulgence of this information will affect how readers view the series and Dumbledore as a character?
Culled from 47 faculty and administration proposals, the five initiatives recently presented by President Michael Roth offer a wide swath of ideas on academic, extracurricular, and admissions changes within the University. We applaud Roth for drawing upon the faculty’s experience and insight when attempting to determine new policy. While recognizing that many of these initiatives remain in the planning stages, however, we cannot help but temper praise with frustration over each of the initiative’s often amorphous and ill-defined nature.
For the last few years, the issue of rising costs of college has been receiving more and more press, and for good reason. America is approaching a crisis in higher education costs, and unless something is done about it, a college education will become less and less accessible, while a college degree is becoming increasingly important in the job market.
So, we’ve all been hearing a lot about this “climate change” thing lately. The planet is going to spontaneously combust like hairspray to a flame any day now. Not to mention the penguins. My God, the penguins. In fact, “going green” is pretty sexy right now. You should be on the look out for lines like, “Hey earth mama, wanna go upstairs and talk about alternative energy sources?” In fact, I tried it at Senior Cocktails. Like 50 times. Then I think I had a special moment with a rent-a-cop from Cromwell, but that’s another story. Enough about me. Let’s get back to my obnoxious opinions about other people.
I can hardly begin to express how disappointed I am about the cancellation of plans for a Wesleyan museum (“Art sits in vault after Museum scrapped,” Feb. 29, vol. CXLIII, no. 33). Wesleyan is incredibly lucky to have remarkable collections of prints, photographs, rare books, instruments, East Asian art, and archaeological objects, all of which go largely unseen. As an art history student, I have been lucky enough to have contact with the collections at the Davison Art Center and the Center for East Asian Studies, but this contact has also made me acutely aware of how desperately Wesleyan needs a space in which to display, work with, and store our collections.
I read Emily Greenhouse’s article about teaching European children about the Holocaust in this Friday’s Argus (“Emdashes: Teach your children well,” Feb. 29, vol. CXLIII, no. 33) with great interest and found it quite thought provoking. Unfortunately, I was appalled to come to the end of the piece and find the sentence “For all of the mistakes that the Germans have made in the past, the comic book might be a better, more responsibly accessible teaching method than that suggested by Sarkozy.”
The mounting sentiment to save Shanklin Laboratory (“‘Shanklinistas’ unite: Students question building’s demolishment,” Feb. 22, vol. CXLIII, no. 31) is right on target. The architects were America’s most famous firm ever, McKim, Mead & White. Among other notable monuments, they were the architects of New York’s Pennsylvania Station, finished in 1910 and regarded as one of the greatest architectural achievements of all time.
Dear Mr. Xernon, Forgive me, is ‘Mister’ the right salutation to use with an extraterrestrial? I’m afraid it’s merely my Earth-centric view talking. At any rate, I wish to thank you for taking such an interest in Earth’s affairs that you thought to warn us of your interstellar empire’s plans. Apparently, your planet has a great deal of respect for free enterprise, and I sympathize completely with that view. Therefore, I hope I shall be the first to say that I bear your weapons producers no ill will for the incipient siege of Earth, though I do have to say that your government functions nothing like that which we know on Earth.
Zonker Harris Day and its fall counterpart, Duke Day, are two of the most unique and cherished modern Wesleyan traditions. The recent news of plans by Admissions, ResLife, Michael Roth and apparently the Student Activities and Leadership Development Board (SALD) (under complete manipulation by ResLife) demanding that the name of Zonker Harris Day be changed has come as a complete and disheartening shock. This is a calculated scheme involving various facets of the administration to change the name of the popular WestCo festival.
In perhaps the most religious Western nation, it is not surprising that faith has played an important role in the current presidential election. Social conservatives, many of whom describe themselves as Christian Fundamentalists, have influenced the Republican Party for a few decades, and this election is no different. Not satisfied with John McCain’s more moderate social stances - for example, his opposition to an amendment to ban same-sex marriage - many prominent Christian leaders, including Chris Dobson, have said that they will not support him. This election has also seen the three leading Democratic candidates (including John Edwards) openly discuss on CNN the influence that their faith has had on their lives.
Quotes from Michael Roth: “Zonker Harris day should not be on the calendar next year, and it won’t be,” Roth said. “The institution should make it clear that it’s not supporting things that are stupid.” (“Blunt refusal: Reslife says no to funding Zonker Harris Day,” Feb. 29, vol. CXLIII, no. 33.)
On January 24, 1978, a group of rag-tag college students created the first ever Ampersand. With the initial purpose of providing arts and entertainment news from around campus and beyond (in the dark days before the interweb), the Ampersand did not even attempt to be funny until the mid-1990s. This particular edition was edited by James J. Reap, the author of the article at left, along with Alexandra Peers.
Luke Del Tredici & Aaron Hilliard wrote a pilot for a television show called “The Papdits” with numerous legitimate writers. Although the show never got picked up, Del Tredici did write episodes of “All That” and many Comedy Central telethons.
A man named Alec penned this particular “Mono,” published in the December 13, 1994 edition of the Ampersand.
On October 18, 2002 the Argus published a picture of Miss Moldonado struggling with a slow internet connection.
We have been around for thirty years, so naturally we’ve had many Wespeaks written in response to our articles.
Joel Gershon relates all the e-mail experiences he has ever had in this February 1, 1994 article of the Ampersand. It is not particularly funny, but why the hell is his address @wesleyan.eagle.edu?
On December 13, 1994 the most famous Ampersand editor of all-time, Carter L. Bays, wrote his final piece for the Ampersand. Bays would later write for such programs as “American Dad,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and create “How I Met Your Mother.”
The men’s ice hockey team fell to top-seeded Colby College 4-1 in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs, bringing its season to an end. The loss marked Wesleyan’s third consecutive first-round exit, falling 7-0 to Middlebury in 2006 and 2-0 to Amherst in 2007.
The women’s basketball season ended for Wesleyan on Saturday with a semifinals exit against Tufts in the NESCAC tournament. Having already lost handily to Tufts at home in regular season play, the Cardinals knew that they would have their hands full with the Jumbos. However, Wesleyan was full of confidence from coming off of two consecutive important victories over rival Williams as it headed into the second round of the NESCACs.
Seeing Arkansas make last year’s NCAA tournament, while Air Force and Drexel got nothing, was bad enough. I never thought I’d see a series of decisions that bad again—at least from anyone not named Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Inc. Turns out I was wrong. Quite wrong.
Finishing up last year with an overall 8-6 record and 5-4 in the NESCAC, the women’s lacrosse team looks to start the 2008 season strong with nine returning players, including goalie Rachel Stemerman ’09, who largely contributed to the success in 2007.
After finishing the fall season with a 3-2 record, good for the highest win total in the NESCAC, the men’s tennis team is poised to erase memories of last year’s 7-10 season and make some serious noise in the NESCAC. The team’s fortunes rest in large part on the shoulders of Matt O’Connell ’09, who went 12-3 last season and established himself as one of the best players in the conference.
The women’s tennis team is set for a strong spring a year removed from barely missing the NESCAC tournament, thanks in part to a roster stocked with eight returnees. Among them is Casey Simchik ’10, who finished 9-3 last year, tying her for second on the team in wins and giving her the fewest losses among players with at least five matches. Though she primarily played at the sixth spot, Simchik also moved up to number five and number four, winning all three of her matches in those positions.
The women’s crew team has been on the water for more than a month and will look to improve upon their short fall season, which was highlighted by middle-of-the-pack finish at the Head of the Charles regatta.
This sophomore splashed onto the scene last year, setting the Wesleyan school record for distance in javelin throw. Moody threw 185-9 in the Trinity Invitational Tournament on March 31 of last year. He would break his own record just weeks later, when he threw 187-11 on April 14, 2007 at the Elmer Swanson Invitational.
Wesleyan had a fantastic showing at the NESCAC Championships in Middlebury this past weekend, coming in sixth out of the 11 competing teams and setting two team records in the process. The Cardinals placed nine individuals in top eight finishes, and exceeded its own lofty expectations.