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<p>No one forces students to ski down the mountain, and in fact many do not. It’s a fun tradition that the students themselves started, not the administration. And basing your impression of a college’s intellectual atmosphere on a single mid-level course is ludicrous. The environmental studies major at Middlebury was the first of its kind in the US, and is well respected in academia. Bill Mckibben, one of the great environmentalists of our time, has said that he’s lectured at nearly every top liberal arts college in the country, and he has yet to find a school that can match Middlebury’s ES program.</p>
<p>More on Bill Mckibben: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_McKibben[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_McKibben</a></p>