Campus Visitors at Amherst and Bowdoin
On Oct. 3, Amherst College welcomed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg onto campus for a conversation with the College’s President, Biddy Martin. Almost 2,000 students, faculty members, and members of the media attended the event. Justice Ginsburg spoke about her education at Cornell, landmark Supreme Court cases she’s been a part of, and her overall experiences as a woman in a male-dominated field over the past sixty years. Ginsburg spoke about the important work that had been done to advance issues of gender equality like Roe v. Wade in 1973 — a case before her tenure as a Supreme Court Justice but nevertheless one that had a significant impact on her career. Ginsburg also noted her own experiences with gender discrimination in employment, especially early on in her career as a lawyer, and described her own work advocating for women’s rights through cases like the United States v. Virginia, which struck down a previous male-only admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute. Lastly, Ginsburg concluded the conversation with a nod to the future, noting her hopes for a more delineated statement of equal rights for women in the Constitution.
On Oct. 29, one week before this year’s Election Day, journalist Elaine Weiss visited Bowdoin College to discuss the women’s suffrage movement and its lasting legacy on the process and importance of voting. As part of Bowdoin’s efforts to increase and promote voting and civic engagement, two organizations on campus, Bowdoin Votes and the Sexuality, Women and Gender Center, as well as the Gender and Women’s Studies Department, brought Weiss to campus for a discussion and class meetings. Her book, The Woman’s Hour, is assigned reading for several Gender and Women’s Studies classes. Weiss discussed how voting, the most fundamental right of a democracy, calls into question exactly who gets to participate and have a voice in a society. During book signings after talking with Bowdoin students and professors, Weiss stated, “After what all these women went through, I am making a big pitch: You have to vote!”
Academic Awards at Middlebury and Williams
Out of twenty-five authors that are up for various awards from the National Book Foundation in different departments of literature, ten are connected to Middlebury College in some way. These authors, many of whom were or are currently fellows or faculty members at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, have distinguished themselves in various categories of writing, including nonfiction, poetry, and fiction works. Jennifer Grotz, director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, stated, “We are immensely proud and pleased that the National Book Foundation has recognized the talent of all these individuals.” The 2019 National Book Awards are set to take place on Nov. 20 in New York.
Additionally, Williams College senior, Summiya Najam, has just been named a Rhodes Scholar in Pakistan for the year 2020. She is now Williams’ 40th Rhodes Scholar since the program began in 1902.
