The whoopie pies from the Italian Bakery are to die for. They once served them at commons (our dining hall), and the school went insane. Best whoopie pie I’ve ever had for sure.
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The Bates community experienced a truly tragic case earlier in the millennium, which may remain within institutional memory.
This incident happened nearly 20 years ago. I just asked my D if she has ever heard about it. She hasn’t. Not sure what purpose is served digging up a 20 year old tragedy.
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Institutional memory may be transferred indirectly, and differs from the specific awareness of any particular student.
I didn’t “dig up” the case; I was familiar with it through general reading and personal discussion with someone from the area. I hesitated in introducing it, but ultimately felt it to be of more relevance than some other aspects of Lewiston under discussion.
I don’t agree that a 20 year old tragedy is more relevant to a current Bates student than what a current student in the year 2021 has discussed in this thread.
To return to the misconception of Lewiston, it’s worth noting that Bates students spend the majority of time there. They aren’t trying to escape all the time. I think the OP wants people to understand that students don’t just exist in Lewiston; they like being there and they don’t remain on campus 24/7.
Here’s a paraphrased conversation about Lewiston from a Bates 2020 grad, whom I know well😊: “Lewiston has a bad rep because a some people don’t want to be around those less well off. People say it’s dirty and dangerous. It isn’t. It’s just not wealthy. It’s definitely becoming revitalized. It’s affordable. It’s walkable. But it’s not a college town. It’s a normal town, but it’s more interesting than a lot of other towns in Maine. Maybe it’s not prettier than other places in Maine. That didn’t matter to me.”
Is that accurate, @fluffypandas0101 ?
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Yes, it is definitely accurate! So many people say horrible things about Lewiston, but it’s not until students are exposed to the community that they can appreciate the town. The town is great and has a lot to offer that a lot of people won’t take.
I agree that it is not a “college” town, but to be fair, the phrase “college town” is pretty subjective. Lewiston is not perfect, but if it was, it would be so incredibly boring and most likely preppy. A lot of Batesies come from a privileged background and don’t know anything but wealth. Lewiston introduces a perspective that a lot of students take advantage of; which I believe makes Bates so great. Students are willing to look at life in a new way and learn so much from it. Batesies don’t just learn in the classroom!!
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With respect to Lewiston’s relatively recent trajectory, this article notes a “crime rate cut in half”:
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Referring to outdated news articles seems to highlight the OP’s unstated point: elitism will continue to play into people’s perceptions of Lewiston and other less than glamorous college towns. Emphasizing negative news stories, despite Bates’ high retention rate and the personal first hand accounts in this post of those who know Lewiston well, reinforces an ugly misconception: poor towns are no good.
Meanwhile, here is a fun page with a lot of Lewiston history, including photos of Lewiston postcards and obscure news stories. Lewiston, Maine, USA History, Photos, Stories, News, Genealogy, Postcards | GREENERPASTURE
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I agree with @Lindagaf ! There are always things that you can find about a town that is not pleasant. But documenting it and only looking at it from a certain perspective just adds to the narrative that Lewiston is a bad place.
Highly encourage everyone/anyone to explore the link @Lindagaf just posted above! Very very interesting and you can see what Bates looked like in the past.
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Is it fair to criticize “referring to outdated news articles”–one of which is not yet 9 years old & the other a 15 year old article based on a 19 year old tragedy–only to attempt to further one’s agenda by using historical events from the late 1700s to 1936 ?
Young adults & parents dealing with college choice are entitled to know the reality of the surrounding city.
School pride is understandable. But, for a family making a large investment of time & money and for the student investing four precious impressionable growth years, the current reality regarding the local environment is important. This is especially true when speaking of a small, fairly isolated LAC.
If a primary goal in selecting a college is based on fit, then the current reality is a pertinent factor–especially so when dealing with safety issues.
A 9 year old news article is current reality? And it is completely unfair to imply at all that Bates is unsafe.
My daughter spent four precious impressionable years at Bates and we knew what we were investing in. We did our research. It was money well spent. If anyone is interested, they can read about the current state of that investment here: How Bates prepared my student for her future - #3 by Lindagaf
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In addition to the highly effective 9 year old article, there are many much more current comments by Bates students that can be found on sites like Reddit, Unigo, Niche, and in the Fiske Guide To Colleges 2020.
Such an important decision for students & their families should be founded on informed decisions.
P.S. Sites like UNIGO, Niche, and Reddit provide a variety of viewpoints and experiences–some good, some bad, some positive, some negative, and a lot in-between. But, these varying viewpoints & experiences allow interested students & families to be aware of relevant issues which enabes interested parties to ask the right questions.
P.P.S. And, one has to ask why the OP started this thread titled “The Horrible Misperception About Lewiston” if there is no truth to the disturbing negatives often repeated about Lewiston, Maine. Apparently many think that there are legitimate concerns about attending college in such a location.
Such a location? Poor, you mean. Not dangerous.
I think OP started the thread because the OP really likes his college and his town. I don’t think there is a sneaky ulterior motive. He said he is happy to answer any questions. I am pretty sure he didn’t expect there would be people trying portray Lewiston as a dangerous place. Let’s be sure we make a distinction between poor and dangerous, please.
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Poor and dangerous–although both are relative terms.
Not sure why OP started this thread; that is why I asked “What misperceptions?”
P.S. The importance of this thread is that it will prompt students & families interested in Bates College to investigate the town/city of Lewiston, Maine through a variety of sources.
P.P.S. Because you mentioned Niche as a more reliable source than Unigo, and because you raise the issue of safety, I went to the Niche website review of Bates College.
Niche gives Bates College a very poor rating of “C+” for safety.
Niche gives Bates College an even worse rating for location = “C”.
Living in a town two over from Lewiston, I can assure you it’s much safer than many, many other college towns in the US. I would not hesitate to send my kids to Bates. I know quite a few kids from Maine who attended the school and had a wonderful experience. I’ve been on campus when my son ran races there while in high school, too.
Any source that would give Bates a “C” for location doesn’t hold much water, in my opinion. Isn’t it better to rely on accounts from people who know the school and area?
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Yes, it is better to rely on accounts from people who know the school and the area. But it is even better to rely on the accounts of many rather than one or two anecdotes.
Unfortunately, those accounts are what raise concerns about Lewiston.
The “C” rating for Lewiston is the same rating given for Poughkeepsie, New York which is the location of Vassar College.
The Hartford, Conn. location of Trinity College also earns a “C” rating.
South Bend, Indiana, home of the University of Notre Dame, also received a grade of “C” for location, but an impressive grade of “A-” for safety.
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Yes, I started this thread to highlight that Lewiston is not a dangerous city. The misconceptions are the exact things that you continue to focus on, instead of focusing on the positive aspects, that myself and other users have shared. Sure, you can look at letter grades on other sites, but I am sharing an elaborate perspective as a student who has been told how awful Lewiston is. Every town is not gonna have a perfect record; highlighting the bad instead of focusing on the good results in “the horrible misconception.” I don’t understand what your goal is by acknowledging the malicious one-liner comments and completely ignoring the paragraphs written on here. But, Lewiston is not for everyone, so it’s understandable if you’re more comfortable with a Brunswick type town.
Also, I would say that Bates isn’t the most isolated LAC. Freeport and Portland are very close. Look at colleges like, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, and Hamilton. They are definitely more isolated that Bates and are still highly regarded colleges (as they should be)!
Last thing, this isn’t about school pride. I wrote that Bates and Lewiston are completely different worlds, and that’s why I really love it here! Living in Lewiston is a great investment for my future because I get to see a new perspective that I may have never seen if I went to a town like Brunswick.
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I have to agree that one incident 20 years ago shouldn’t factor into the decision. A UNC student was kidnapped near campus, robbed and murdered 20 years ago yet I never hear lack of safety as a concern about UNC.
Here is a partial list of attacks on college campus through 2019. Of the violent incidents listed for the most recent decade, the cities include Salt Lake City, Austin TX, Columbus OH, Ithaca, Merced CA, West Lafayette IN, Flagstaff, August GA, and Terre Haute IN. My point is isolated incidents of violence occur can everywhere sooner or later. Unless one can point to a persistent string of violent incidents on a single campus and/or a systemic problem with administration, it is illogical to mention “lack of safety” as a concern.
EDIT: Also, the recent hunt for a MIT grad student as a murder suspect does not indicate MIT’s campus is full of violent people. I doubt anyone would ever argue that. Why the disparagement against some cities/universities and not others?
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My posts are short because I try to get to the point in an efficient manner.
With respect to Lewiston, your thread is raising awareness of issues worthy of investigation by prospective students and their families. In short, this thread should help to educate potential consumers.
But no one is trying to limit concerns about location & safety to one incident that occurred almost 20 years ago.
The concerns & criticisms are current on many websites. And another compelling piece referenced in an above post concerning a pastor/minister living in Lewiston is almost 9 years old. (See post #46 above by @merc81 titled “Crime rate in Lewiston drops and residents feel less safe”.
The Niche reviews are current as are those on Reddit & on Unigo (some references indicate date on this otherwise undated site).