For years there have been efforts to bring the town of Waterville and the students of Colby College closer together. With existing efforts such as Burst the Bubble week, the main problem has been student participation. This year, a brand new event was unveiled to finally burst the well- documented Colby-Waterville bubble.
This month, the College joined 18 liberal arts schools in a mission to ensure the increased availability of comprehensive data to prospective students and the general public. Additionally as a part of this effort, the 18 schools have pledged to no longer use their rank as listed in The College Board, Peterson's, and U.
Every spring since the early 1990s, seniors have gathered on the steps of Miller Library to drink champagne and to celebrate the end of classes. But what was once a tame group toast has, over the years, evolved into something quite different. After the event in 2006 ended in flesh wounds, alcohol-induced hospitalizations and arrests, the tradition cherished by many seniors was in serious jeopardy of being retired.
Starting this year, the Garrison-Foster Health Center is no longer delivering prescriptions to the pharmacy and bringing the medications back for students to retrieve on Mayflower Hill. Students are now required to drop off and pick up their own prescriptions at the pharmacy in town.
Although a few openings remain, appointments have been made to Colby's eleven All College Committees. The Committees will begin setting agendas as they meet for the first time this year in the coming week. These groups, traditionally formal in nature, will begin with discussion-based meetings during which they will begin to sketch a plan for the semester.
On Sept. 18 at 8:00 p.m. in Lovejoy 100, alumnus Dan Seifert '05 discussed his participation in Teach for America, a two-year commitment to teaching in a low-income classroom. America is currently experiencing an academic achievement gap: the graduation rate of low-income students is 50 percent, and of that percentage, only half can perform at an 8th grade level.
Following the departure of former Colby Cares About Kids Director Ru Freeman this summer, the program was without a director for the first few weeks of school. However, the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement, the parent organization of the program, recently announced that Moira Bentzel is the new director.
Up to a 100,000 anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington to protest the Iraq war on Saturday Sept. 15 (Matthew Barakat, Associated Press, Sunday September 16). Over 190 members of the group were arrested as they marched from the White House to the Capitol.
Last Sunday, Waterville residents assembled to hear live jazz, drink fresh coffee and eat organic, local foods during the grand opening of Soups to Nuts Coffee House at 177 Main Street. The newest addition to the slew of shops and cafes in Waterville's center, Soups to Nuts is a coffee shop with a mission.