Residential and Extracurricular Life

The material on this page is from the 1996-97 catalog and may be out of date. Please check the current year's catalog for current information.

Residential Life
On-campus residence is an integral part of college life. College houses and dormitories offer opportunities for shared learning, for lively dialogue, and for the nurturing of friendships.

The College expects Bates students to be responsible individuals who respect the rights of others and who may be trusted to regulate their lives with minimal interference and according to their own moral convictions. The College encourages students to decide what style of dormitory life suits them best and, whenever possible, it accommodates that decision.

Student Responsibilities. The educational goals of the College include the strengthening of social and moral maturity. For this reason, all Bates College students are held personally responsible for their conduct at all times. Any student who becomes disorderly, is involved in any disturbance, interferes with the rights of others, damages property, brings the name of the College into disrepute, or is individually or as a member of a group involved in unacceptable social behavior on or off campus shall be subject to disciplinary action at the discretion of the College Committee on Student Conduct.

This expectation for responsible behavior stems from the presumption that membership in the community is based on a voluntary act of acceptance by both the student and the College. This mutually voluntary relationship may be terminated by the student at any time without the assignment of specific reason. Conversely, this relationship may be severed either by the President and Trustees, without the assignment of specific reason, or by the procedures of the Committee on Academic Standing or the Committee on Student Conduct. Neither the College nor any of its administrative or teaching officers shall be under any liability whatsoever for such withdrawal of privileges.

The Student Handbook. The Handbook contains information concerning the details of registration; the policies relating to class absences and excuses; the basis of deficiency reports, grades, and semester reports; specific rules governing conduct; and other detailed regulations. Attendance at Bates signifies willingness to accept the provisions for the organization of academic, residential, and extracurricular life set forth in the Handbook.

Religion. The College has no formal religious affiliations. The important role of Protestant religious convictions in the College's history continues to be honored through regular worship opportunities in the Chapel. There are also on-campus Roman Catholic Masses, Quaker meetings, and Jewish observances. The worship services offered by the churches and synagogues of Lewiston and Auburn are always open to Bates students. The Jewish Cultural Community, Catholic Student Community, Bates Christian Fellowship, Bates Community Gospel Ensemble, and other student fellowships provide a variety of activities for interested students, as does the Chaplain's Inter-Faith Council. The College Chaplain coordinates campus religious activities and can assist personal observances. The College also welcomes part-time Roman Catholic and Jewish chaplains and other religious professionals by special arrangement, who provide personal counsel and religious encouragement for all who seek it.

The Multicultural Center. The Multicultural Center celebrates and promotes the diverse cultural experiences of members of the Bates community. The Center acts as a catalyst on campus by initiating discussions about race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and gender. A resource room in the Center houses books, journals, and videos. Events, workshops, and exhibits generated by both the Center and its affiliated student organizations explore the diversity of intellectual, social, cultural, political, and spiritual backgrounds.

Health Services. The College Health Center, which includes inpatient facilities, is staffed twenty-four hours a day by registered nurses. Physicians and nurse practitioners hold regular office hours, and a physician is on call at all times. The Health Center also offers basic gynecological services, psychological assessment, intermediate-term counseling, and group counseling. In addition, the Center sponsors a number of preventive health programs each year for groups and individuals.

The Annual Charge includes basic health care, certain medications, counseling sessions, and a basic academic-year insurance plan. This plan pays the first $200 of an accident or sickness. After that amount, an additional $800 in benefits payable at 80 percent for sickness and 100 percent for accidents is provided, in coordination with other insurance, as secondary provider. For an additional fee, students may elect to extend this accident and sickness coverage throughout summer vacation, and they may add a Major Medical insurance program.

In Lewiston the Central Maine Medical Center and St. Mary's General Hospital, two of the best equipped and staffed medical institutions in Maine, are at the service of the students. Both hospitals are only a few blocks from campus. Through the Health Center students may arrange for referral to psychiatrists and a variety of other specialists who practice in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Extracurricular Activities
Because Bates is a residential college, extracurricular life is centered on campus, growing out of the many interests of the students. The Extracurricular Activities and Residential Life Committee, a combined student-faculty committee, is charged with overseeing extracurricular life on campus. Organizations and activities are designed for all and open to all; there are no fraternities, sororities, or exclusive institutions.

The Volunteer Office places interested students in rewarding service projects and internships in the Lewiston-Auburn community. The volunteer coordinator oversees the Community Volunteer Internship Program, which provides students with opportunities for public service and career- and self-exploration. Bates students volunteer through numerous student-run programs in local service agencies, businesses, and government offices.

The Arts Society fosters a range of interests including architecture, sculpture, painting, music, crafts, and photography. It also sponsors day trips to Boston and Portland to provide access to the theaters, concerts, and art exhibitions of these cultural centers.

The Chase Hall Committee has primary responsibility for social affairs and activities at Chase Hall, the student center. This committee sponsors popular concerts, coffeehouses, dances, Fall Weekend, the Winter Carnival, and other all-campus events.

Widely known throughout the English-speaking world for its debating program, Bates was the first college to begin international debate (with Oxford in 1921). Since then debaters have taken part in over one hundred international meetings, including a 1988 visit to Scotland and England for intercollegiate debates, and a 1995 visit to Japan for debates at Japanese universities. The Brooks Quimby Debate Council sponsors campus debates with visiting teams and enters Bates debaters in frequent tournaments from Maine to California. In 1993 Bates hosted the North American Parliamentary Debate Championships.

The Film Board, which is made up of student and faculty representatives, sponsors a diversified program in cinematic art for the entire community. The program includes first-run films as well as foreign-film festivals and classics. Their offerings are augmented by film series of a classic nature sponsored by the Renaissance Film Society, another student-faculty group.

The Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual Alliance serves the Bates community by providing a forum for education and discussion of gay and lesbian issues. The members also serve as a support group for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students.

The Womyn's Action Coalition also serves as a support group for people to share ideas concerning women and women's diverse, multiethnic experiences. WAC strives to raise consciousness on campus about women's issues and sexism.

The Women of Color student organization celebrates the rich and diverse experiences of women of color. The group confronts issues of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and other forms of prejudice that affect women of color.

The International Club encourages greater appreciation of the world's cultures, peoples, communities, and nations through films, dinners, and informal gatherings.

The Jewish Cultural Community raises awareness of Jewish cultural and religious issues on campus and provides a support network for the Bates Jewish community.

Amandla! promotes better understanding of the many communities of the African diaspora. The organization sponsors lectures, campus discussions, and performances for the College community.

Sangai-Asia hosts meetings, dinners, exhibits, and lectures which focus on Asian and Asian American identity and cultures.

Solidaridad Latina explores Latina/o history, politics, language, and cultural traditions, and promotes greater awareness of the diverse Latina/o groups in the United States.

The New World Coalition presents activities and programs designed to increase awareness of the politics of international affairs, especially in Third World nations.

The Bates Modern Dance Company gives students, both men and women, the opportunity to dance, exercise, perform, teach, and choreograph. Each year the Company presents several major productions on campus and in Maine communities.

Opportunities for students interested in music are provided by the College Choir, the Chamber Singers, the Orchestra, the Early Music Group, the Woodwind Quintet, the Brass Quintet, the String Quartet, the Stage Band, the African Drum Ensemble, the Wind Ensemble, and other smaller instrumental and vocal ensembles. The College Choir has presented major concerts locally and on tour.

The Outing Club is one of the oldest and most active of such organizations in the country. It sponsors outdoor activities almost every weekend and provides downhill and cross-country skis, snowshoes, toboggans, camping equipment, bicycles, and canoes. Members assume responsibility for maintaining a thirteen-mile section of the Appalachian Trail.

Political clubs and other special-interest organizations also mark the extracurricular life of the College. Many of the academic departments sponsor clubs organized to promote interest in their specific fields, supplementing classroom work through informal and panel discussions, talks by visiting scholars, and films.

The Bates Student, the campus newspaper, is published weekly under the supervision of an independent board of editors and with the assistance of the Office of College Relations. A few salaried positions are available for those who do weekly reporting. Students also publish the Garnet, a literary magazine, Contemporaries, a journal of academic writing on a wide range of student research topics, and the Mirror, a yearbook.

The College radio studios are operated by the student radio organization as a noncommercial FM station, WRBC. It is licensed to the President and Trustees of the College as an educational station.

The program in theater gives students an opportunity to act and do technical work behind the scenes. Associated with the Department of Theater and Rhetoric are the Robinson Players, who also stage plays each year.

The Representative Assembly, the campus student government, is designed to provide a forum for discussion and resolution of problems that are within the jurisdiction of the students.

In addition to the extracurricular activities initiated by student organizations, campus life is enriched by frequent lectures, concerts, and films sponsored by the various academic departments, honor societies, the College Lecture Series, the Concert Series, and the Community Concert Association. The College offers a diverse program of speakers and artists as an integral aspect of the student's liberal education. Each year invited guests present a variety of viewpoints and artistic traditions to faculty and students. Endowed funds help to support some of these events, including the George Colby Chase Lecture, the Rayborn Lindley Zerby Lecture, and the Goldston Event. The Museum of Art offers rotating exhibitions by leading artists and lectures by renowned scholars.

Athletics. The College sponsors a variety of intercollegiate, intramural, and club athletics programs for men and women. All physical education facilities are available for student use as stipulated by the Department of Physical Education.

Men's and women's club sports teams include crew, fencing, ice hockey, rugby, sailing, water polo, and water skiing; volleyball is a men's club sport. Many club teams practice together and often compete as coeducational teams. The majority of Bates students participate in some intramural activity every year, and the program is run primarily by students. Participation, fun, and low-key competition are the features of the intramural sports program; coeducational intramural sports teams play basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball.

Campus athletics facilities are shared among physical education classes, intercollegiate varsity sports, intramurals, club sports, and open recreation. Students enjoy many informal uses of the facilities for individual sports and personal fitness programs.

There are numerous intercollegiate sports for men and women. The opportunities for men include alpine skiing, baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track, lacrosse, Nordic skiing, outdoor track, soccer, swimming and diving, and tennis. The women's intercollegiate teams compete in alpine skiing, basketball, cross country, field hockey, indoor track, lacrosse, Nordic skiing, outdoor track, soccer, squash, swimming and diving, tennis, and volleyball. The College abides by the eligibility rules appropriate to its educational mission. It is a member of state, regional, and national athletic conferences and associations, including NCAA, ECAC, and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), whose members are Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams.