Weekend Notes: Bowdoin, The Ostrich

Bowdoin: “Gee Officer Krupke, we’re down on our knees, ‘cause no one wants a fella with a social disease”

Keeping up with things at our local elite institution of higher education, we came across this uplifting article:

Upswing in STI cases prompts more students to seek testing
A greater number of students have been getting tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) at the Health Center in recent weeks. The influx of students occurred in the wake of an email sent out by Whitney Hogan, coordinator of health education, on March 7. The email reported an uptick in STIs on campus, including chlamydia, syphilis, herpes, and gonorrhea.
……
"We want to use educational means such as making posters or creating a Facebook page to continue spreading the message."

We’re particularly amused, of course, by the image of ‘spreading’ in this context. We advise readers and non-readers alike to take appropriate precautions in any campus encounters. And remind all that when you ‘hook up,’ you just might ‘catch’ something.

Then there’s this one:

Faculty salaries increase for 2nd year, ranked 11th of liberal arts colleges
Bowdoin full professors are paid, on average, $130,000 annually. This is up from $127,600 last year. According to the report, the average salaries for associate professors rose from $89,600 last year to $91,900, and assistant professors experienced the largest average increase from $70,600 to $74,000.

We’re not sure where these figures place the good Professors in the income percentile scale here in Maine, but we’re looking into it. We wouldn’t be surprised if many are in the dreaded ‘1%,’ but we’ll know soon. We assure you that top administrators at the college most certainly are.

Which leads us to wonder why the socially conscious student body hasn’t erected an “Occupy Bowdoin” camp, right in the middle of the campus quad, to protest the great economic divide? Have they no self-awareness, no appreciation for social and economic justice?

Hell, they could even have a special STI treatment tent.

Gee, Officer Krupke, what are we to think?

The Ostrich: paying their fair share?

We’ve been reporting on the property tax delinquencies of our local newspaper for some time, dating back well before The Forecaster made it a news item. It was discussed at a Town Council meeting in March, as we recall, and the Town Manager stated that the publisher had promised to report their ‘progress’ on the 15th of each month ‘toward paying their balance in full in June.’

We’ve inquired as to the receipt of those reports, of which two should have been delivered by now.

So far, no response.

Inquiring minds want to know why. We think.

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