As reported by Benjamin Geary ‘09:
"Residential side of campus is a mix of traditional dorms, house-style dorms, and old (70’s and earlier) houses, most of which are ‘run’ by various clubs or Greek organizations. There is the gigantic French House, the maze-like Outdoor Environmental Club House, and four Greek houses on College Street—which runs along residential side—alone.
The administration works closely with students to organize lots of “special interest housing,” meaning anything from club-run houses to substance-free housing or entire floors of friends. One of the main draws of club membership is getting nicer, more real-world digs each year. Some dorms are ancient and a bit depressing, while the more recent buildings remind some students of hotels. Special interest houses or dorm sections tend to resemble their club: for instance, Theater of Confusion’s monopoly of Whitney’s third floor has made it a mystery to anyone who comes through, because no one really knows what ToC does. Off campus housing is rare, but there are always one or two places each year where the usual rules don’t apply."
As reported by Benjamin Geary ‘09:
“Beloit College’s presidency is in transition. In early 2008 Beloit’s tenth president, John Burris, accepted a position at a philanthropic fund and resigned his position at Beloit. Dick Niemiec, a former executive at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, was named the interim president for the 08-09 school year. Dick (all faculty and staff at Beloit go by their first name) was a trustee of the college for many years, and graduated from Beloit in 1965 with a degree in mathematics. In Minnesota, he spent a lot of time doing volunteer work in health and education; he is currently the president of the American Red Cross in Minneapolis-St.Paul. Over the last year, a presidential search committee has identified three permanent presidential candidates who will visit the Beloit College campus to speak with faculty, staff and hold student forums.
Dick Niemiec’s presidency has been marked by its one-year limit. Since day one he has been consistently out on the campus, attending student meetings, eating at Commons with students, and generally making himself available. He is popular with students, and, I believe, with the faculty. His popularity, though his own, is also thanks to John Burris, who was, it seemed to me, almost universally disliked (archives of the school newspaper will back me up). I have had dinner with Dick at his house (the president lives on-campus), met with him to discuss the commencement speaker, and brought more than one complaint to him personally. Each time he has been receptive to concerns and suggestions, professional, and once in a while reminded me, “Hey, I was here in the sixties”. But, because he is a temporary figure—and one who has had to deal with the general financial woes at this and many other colleges nationwide—his presence at Beloit seems “short and sweet.” Hopefully, his popularity (post-Burris) as a student-oriented president with a penchant for transparency means something to the search committee, or, better yet, to his successor.”
As reported by Benjamin Geary ‘09:
"Roy Chapman Andrews (1906) - Roy Chapman Andrews is said to be the real life Indiana Jones, or at least the person Indian Jones is based on. A Beloit native, Andrews helped pay for his tuition with taxidermy money he made on the side. He later found his way to New York, the American Museum of Natural History, and then to Asia, where he took a fleet of Dodge trucks into the deserts of what he called “Outer Mongolia” (and what we now call anyplace desolately far away) where he discovered—among other dinosaurs—Protoceratops, Velociraptor, and the first ever dinosaur eggs. Chapman crafted an image of himself as a marksman, fighter, explorer, scientist and adventurer par excellence. He is by far the most notable, most mentioned, and most revered alum of Beloit College.
Janna Knight, ’08 said, “The Roy Chapman Andrews Society honors an explorer/adventurer every year. One year it was the man in charge of the Mars Rover Project. Did you know the rover was only supposed to function for a few weeks, but lasted for months? Or that they built replicas of every obstacle the rover came across in the NASA labs to determine how to deal with them? While I was there, the RCAS also brought in a guy who photographs bugs, frogs, and treetops in the Amazon, also a Beloit grad. Fantastic. By far my favorite speech of the year. Watch for it.”
Farmer John - I don’t know his full name, nor what year he graduated, but I have met the man called Farmer John, who runs Angelic Organics, the largest community supported agriculture (CSA) operation in the nation. He attended Beloit College in the early 60’s, I believe (a ’72 alum I know remembers him as a recent grad), and he inherited a large farm just outside of town near the beginning of his Beloit career. During that era of social experimentation, Farmer John’s off-campus getaway became something of a center for the more eccentric students, as well as for Farmer John’s own soul-searching. How do I know? He made a movie about it, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, which aired recently on PBS. These days he runs an impressive organic CSA that serves the Chicagoland area as well as local Stateline subscribers. Students have frequent opportunities to visit the farm, participate, and even work there.
Stephen Mahle (1967) Steve Mahle is less traditionally famous than some other notable alumni, but, as one of the current executives at Medtronic in Minneapolis (one of the largest health-sciences firms in the world), he is among the most traditionally successful of Beloit’s alumni. Before joining Medtronic, Steve served in the army as a research scientist with NASA in their Manned Spacecraft division. Steve Mahle is also a trustee of Beloit College and the current chair of the presidential search committee. Mr. Mahle has been a serious resource to the growth of Medtronic since he began working there in the 1970’s (go check out their site, I’m not joking), and is currently a member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Besides that, I’ve had dinner with Mr. Mahle, and though intimidating, he’s a very nice and clever man."
