What’s all the Hubbub? Check out the spread on page 12 to learn about the new dining services at DePauw.
Indiana’s Oldest College Newspaper
SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2013
Campus farm harvests sustainability in a successful first summer
Sophomore Thomas Miller helps tend the campus farm located by Prindle Institute for Ethics. The vegetables will soon be available in the Hub. CLARISSA ZINGRAF / THE DEPAUW By Abbie Bennett news@thedepauw.com
Located just a bike ride away from campus is DePauw’s own farm. Students and Dining Services employees alike have worked all summer to plant, care for organically and begin to harvest a variety of fruits and vegetables.
The harvest this year will include tomatoes, peppers, onions, beets, corn, summer squash, yellow squash, zucchini, collard greens, watermelon, pumpkins and cucumbers. The idea of a campus farm began taking root during the 2011-12 academic year. This summer marked the first time the farm was put to use.
Sophomore Thomas Miller, president of the Environmental Club and a student farm manager, said working at the farm during its first summer taught him to appreciate the challenges and rewards of growing food. “The farm is definitely a large step forward towards sustainability and, as such, it shows that we are serious about becoming carbon neutral,” Miller said. Miller’s learning experience is exactly what Carol Steele, director of sustainability, had in mind when she created the business plan for the farm in 2011. She believes that the campus farm can impact students in ways they might not have imagined. She believes in the calming nature of farming and said it can “free up the mind from worrying over a particular problem while getting the creative juices going.” Steele determined that the farm should start out on one acre at first, even though the university owns seven acres. Miller described the initial one-acre space as, “basically a fence and a field of weeds.” In May, prior to planting, the farm was overgrown with thistles three feet tall that had to be removed. Workers were able to begin planting tomatoes,
Farm | continued on page 2
vol. 162, issuE 1
Administration stands by reaction letter, doubts validity of ranking By Nicole Decriscio news@thedepauw.com
In the wake of unusually high media attention, DePauw University officials defend not only their reaction to The Princeton Review’s “Top Party Schools” ranking but also how they responded. After the initial ranking, Cindy Babington, vice president of student life, and Steve Setchell, vice president of development and alumni engagement, sent out an e-mail to alumni expressing the university’s thoughts on the ranking. In it, they criticized the methodology used by The Princeton Review, a private company that is not linked to Princeton University, and deemed the ranking to be “wholly specious” and a “disservice” to students, alumni and faculty. “Anybody can take that survey, which is one of the key flaws,” said Ken Owen, executive director of media relations. Senior Vice President and Publisher of The Princeton Review, Rob Franek, insists that this is not the case. “We only allow students to use their .edu address,” Franek said. “We also work with a third party clearing house at the end of each of our data collection season, when ends right around the end of February. Then, we will validate that those students are who they say they are using a third party collection service.” The website for the survey notes that a .edu email address is preferred, but it is not required for taking the survey.
Ranking | continued on page 4
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