COA COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Volume 8 9 Number 2 . Fall 2012 DEMOCRACY Toward an Egalitarian Institution COA The College of the Atlantic Magazine Democracy: Toward an Egalitarian Instituti Letter from the President COA Time Line Delirious & Suite Limpet The latest from Nancy Andrews and Dru Colbert [Earth] to Rio o The Future We Really Want Democracy 10 The Classroom Republic 12 Student Perspectives 16 Human Ecologists Practice Democracy Across the Globe 20 The Work of Ariel Springfield Durrant 06 29 Short Fiction A Man Is Not A Star [Silverado] by Josie Sigler '94 32 Poetry Crow by Abigail Dunn '13 38 Alumni & Community Notes 39 Democracy & Community . Common Root Community Center 48 Piper's Little COA Creature 49 In the complex formed by COA's environmentally sustainable Kathryn W. Davis Student Residence Village, students from thirty-three nations find time to talk, dance, sing, cook and study. COA TRANSPARENCY The College of the Atlantic Magazine ecology rights Volume 8 Number 2 Fall 2012 human Editorial humanity Editor Donna Gold decision-making Editorial Guidance Heather Albert-Knopp '99 John Anderson legalitarianism Sarah Baker justice Rich Borden equality governance Ken Cline Darron Collins '92 Julia DeSantis '12 Sarah Haughn '08 Jennifer Hughes democracy Kate Macko activism Mary Katherine Brien '15 Editorial Consultant Bill Carpenter Michael Griffith '09 Alumni Consultants Jill Barlow-Kelley Dianne Clendaniet What does a college striving toward democracy, toward responsibility, toward Design Art Director Rebecca Hope Woods egalitarianism look like? How does it function? I have a memory from when I first Designer Danielle Meier '08 started at COA; we were working toward our ten-year accreditation from NEASC, COA Administration the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. When the accreditation President Darron Collins '92 team met with the staff, Anna Murphy, former assistant to the president, stood Dean of Admission Sarah Baker Dean of Development Lynn Boulger up and said, "I work here because I have a say in the college, in its governance. Associate Dean or Faculty Ken Cline Administrative Dean Andrew Griffiths I have a stake here." Two, three, maybe more staff members echoed her. The Academic Dean Kenneth Hill NEASC team was impressed that "all constituencies could articulate the core Dean of Student Life Sarah Luke Associate Dean Sean Todd ideas and did so with conviction." Well, of course. That's a given at COA. for Advanced Studies COA Board of Trustees Democracy is time-consuming. It's inefficient. The thing about democracy - and Ronald E. Beard Stephen G. Milliken Leslie C. Brewer Philip S.J. Moriarty certainly about COA - is that everyone, or most everyone, has an image of it. Nikhit D'Sa '06 Phyllis Anina Moriarty The place where we teach or work or study is ours. Each one of us wants to shape William G. Foulke Jr. Hamilton Robinson, Amy Yeager Geier Walter Robinson it in our vision. And so there are many images to debate; many forms to shape. George B.E. Hambleton Nadia Rosenthal Elizabeth D. Hodder Marthann Lauver Samek As John March '76 notes in the lead article by Michael Griffith '09, "sometimes we Philip B. Kunhardt III '77 Henry L.P. Schmelzer William N. Thorndike Jr just want to be a student." Or a worker, or a teacher. Though governance is part Anthony Mazlish Suzanne Folds McCullagh loan Van der Grift of learning and working at COA, we do find ourselves relying on administrators Sarah A. McDaniel '93 Paul'Van.der Grift Linda McGillicuddy Cody van Heerden - some decisions just have to be made, after all. And when we do, the school's Jay McNally 84 balance tips toward more of a hierarchy - until, that is, people realize that Life Trustees Trustee Emeriti they've given up something precious, something that makes COA more than just James M. Gower David Hackett Fischer Samuel M. Hamill>]r Sherry F.Huber a school, more than just a job, but a real calling. And so the balance tips back, John N. Kelly Daniel Pierce Susan Storey Lyman Helen Porter and once again, as Bill Carpenter says and Darron Collins '92 echoes, all of us William Newlin Cathy L.Ramsdell 78 John Reeves John Wilmerding become responsible for administrating COA. Because, thankfully, democracy is Henry D. Sharpe Jr. also fluid. Clyde E. Shorey,Jr This issue offers ruminations on balance. On striving toward a democratic The faculty, students, trustees staff, and institution; on recognizing that we are all responsible for this place we love alumni of College of the Atlantic envision a world where people value creativity so much. And on bringing a belief in this shared accountability into the wider intellectual achievement, and diversity of world. How effectively COA manages to impart democracy in a myriad of ways nature and human cultures. With respect and compassion, individuals construct meaningful perhaps because our students are so involved in governance - is evident in the lives for themselves, gain appreciation of section featuring alumni, all of whom have graduated in the last eight years. the relationships among all forms of life, and safeguard the heritage of future generations COA is published biannually for the College of the Atlantic community. Please send ideas letters, and submissions (short stories, poetry, and revisits to human ecology essays) to: COA Magazine, College of the Atlantic 105 Eden St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609 dgold@coa.edu Donna Gold, COA editor WWW.COA.EDU PRINTED WITH Front cover: Praxinoscopes 1 & 2, by Ariel Springfield Durrant '06. CERTIFIED WIND For more, see page 29. POWER