With a degree of destruction that has been noted nationally, Middlebury students vandalized their school and town as the college prepared for closure.
Sad, and does not reflect well on the students. I imagine this has been happening elsewhere…but this is the first I’ve seen in the news.
Other schools, such as Rice and Smith, created impromptu student-driven graduation ceremonies instead. It really doesn’t reflect well on the students.
Deplorable behavior.
Wow, that’s super disappointing. 
Middlebury also made international news for students helping each other. Many more engaged in this behavior:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/17/mutual-aid-coronavirus-contributing
Middlebury students have been the leaders in this practice, so perhaps that is a better Midd student activity upon which to focus.
@merc81: Thank you for starting this thread.
It is disheartening to read about such improper behavior at Middlebury College.
What has happened to Middlebury ?
When I was young, it was a dream school. Now it appears that some students are protesting & destroying property without reason or justification.
@MWolf : Thank you for posting a positive article which reminds us all that a group of destructive jerks does not, and should not, define an institution.
I do not know that these morons were protesting anything. There was a lot of drunkenness, though, so it was almost certainly a small number of Seniors who were on a drunk rampage, rather than any actual protest. A bunch of spoiled privileged rich kids who though that vandalism was a great way to have some fun.
I expect that it is happening in many more colleges which have a large population of wealthy kids who have had such behavior excused over the years. CU Boulder had some, and I expect that other had some as well. Not every college will report it, though, and even among those which report it will likely not make it beyond local news. It will most likely have happened in the earliest colleges which closed, since, as we progress into the USA outbreak, students are much more likely to be trying to get out as quickly as possible, and not have time for the crazy drunken parties which breed these types of vandalism.
To get a better feel of what it was like at Middlebury, here is a description of the time between the Tuesday on which the students got the info that they needed to move out and the move-out on Saturday:
What information do you have to single out a specific group like this?
Nothing remotely liked this happened at Bowdoin.
It’s terrible behavior for sure. No excuse.
But it was probably the work of a handful of kids. It’s really unfair to pin this on the whole student body.
This is concerning. I wonder how many took part. It doesn’t sound like only one or two could have done that much damage. I’m glad some helped after. These kids are so bratty. They are in one of the best schools in the country and this type of entitled behavior will not help them do well in life. I wonder if the school is giving consequences.
I hope the police are giving consequences, if they know who the perps are.
@Mwfan1921 I totally agree. Nowadays with cameras everywhere, I imagine there is a good chance that someone will be held accountable. I hope so anyway.
Anyone definitively found to have been in any way responsible should have their diploma withheld until the university and town have been made whole threefold.
Reflects badly on the institution, but mostly definitely on the brazen brats who went on an alcohol induced tantrum. Kind of scary that these are the future scions of industry.
I wonder if this is why my son’s university said students would be returning after an extended spring break only to a week or so later announce they were online for the rest of the semester. If they had the vision to handle the semester closure this way, it was brilliant leadership. Control the narrative to control the chaos.
There were already problems with vandalism last fall https://middleburycampus.com/46705/news/students-steal-signs-urinate-in-elevators-and-damage-property/
I’m starting to feel grateful that my daughter was deferred ED.
Campus vandalism apparently has been of sufficient frequency for *VTD/i to refer disconcertingly to the most recent incidents as a “spike.”
Another “spike” was reported in the student newspaper in November: vandalism against trees! This really got my goat. Disgraceful.
https://middleburycampus.com/47552/news/its-a-tough-year-to-be-a-tree-as-vandalism-spikes/
Isn’t Middlebury known for having one of the top environmental science programs in the country? This reeks of hypocrisy and booze - I guess they didn’t read The Lorax as children.