Jared Golden ’11 and Ben Cline ’94 actually have a lot in common. As undergraduates, both felt a bit different from their peers — Golden was older and a Marine veteran, while Cline was a conservative from the South.

Both majored in politics (Golden also majored in history), and both worked on Capitol Hill before being elected to the legislatures of their home states.

Now, they’re both first-term Congressmen from largely rural districts, Golden representing Maine’s sprawling 2nd District, the largest east of the Mississippi River, and Cline serving Virginia’s 6th District, in the northwest part of that state.

For all that’s similar about the pair, one key difference — Golden being a Democrat, and Cline a Republican — made their Reunion appearance in June a must-see.

+The nine �ֲ���ý alumni who've served in Congress

In a Pettengill Hall classroom packed with Reunion attendees, the pair covered a range of topics — at times sounding almost confessional in their frustration with the hyperpartisanship in Washington.

Interviewed by professors John Baughman (politics) and Stephanie Kelley-Romano (rhetoric, film, and screen studies), the two talked about their �ֲ���ý pasts, about what it was like arriving in Washington during a government shutdown, and how the alignment of powerful — and surprising — forces tends to stymie bipartisanship.

On their first days in Congress — during a government shutdown

When Golden and Cline were sworn in in early January, the federal government was in the middle of a five-week partial government shutdown. There was barely time to get acclimated to the offices and technology, Cline said. “We were voting on day one.”

At left and right, moderators Stephanie Kelley-Romano and John Baughman prepare for their discussion with newly elected Congressmen Ben Cline ’94 of Virginia and Jared Golden ’11 of Maine (second from left and right) on June 8 at Reunion. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The 116th Congress includes a number of charismatic, media-savvy freshman members comfortable in the national spotlight, and both Golden and Cline frequently referenced Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., during their discussion, with Golden distancing himself from her style of legislating.

“There’s room in every caucus for all kinds, and you need a little bit of every type of leader,” he explained. “Mine is, I think, a more quiet, dogged focus on issues and work, and then getting to the district and traveling around and meeting people face-to-face and making sure they feel a strong connection to their representative.”

Golden and his staff decided, instead of jumping straight into high-profile issues, to hang back and wait for his committee assignments — but he hit a wrinkle there.

“I think I bring an enlisted perspective into that committee room.”

He had promised during his campaign that he would not vote for Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as speaker of the House, saying Congress needed a new generation of leaders. He, along with 14 other members, followed through on their promises, but Pelosi was reelected speaker anyway.

“I’m not gonna lie,” Golden said. Voting against the speaker “doesn’t make it easy to get your top committee assignments.”

One of Golden’s two committee assignments is the Committee on Armed Services, whose 62 members include 20 military veterans. Twelve of those served combat tours, but only Golden served in the enlisted ranks.

“I think I bring an enlisted perspective into that committee room,” he said. “There’s a lot of officers sitting in that room. It’s a different, boots-on-the-ground perspective on Afghanistan and Iraq or other things.”

He’s also on the Committee on Small Business, chairing that committee’s contracting and infrastructure subcommittee.

“That committee’s been a real blessing,” he said. “It’s interesting, and in my experience, the one you might not enjoy as much turns out to be really deeply engaging.”

A lawyer, Cline landed among many other lawyers on the Judiciary Committee, an assignment he credits to the Congressman succeeded in Virginia’s 6th District, Bob Goodlatte ’74, who was the committee’s chair.

He also joined the Committee on Education and Labor where, as the representative of a district dotted with four-year colleges, he works on the higher education subcommittee.

On election night in Virginia, Ben Cline ’94 hugs Bob Goodlatte ’74 before giving his acceptance speech in Roanoke. (Heather Rousseau / copyright The Roanoke Times, reproduced by permission)

Soon after arriving in Washington, Cline drew media attention for a reason he didn’t expect. New members of Congress join a lottery to pick their offices, and Cline got first pick among the 80 new representatives — and was promptly inundated with calls from news outlets asking him about his new office. “Just to show you how the priorities of D.C. are messed up,” he lamented.

“CBS This Morning wanted to follow me around,” Cline said. “I said, ‘Can I go on CBS This Morning? Because I’d like to talk about my priorities for legislation.’ ‘No, we just want to follow you around and see what room you pick.’ That was my moment of fame.”

Cline didn’t go on This Morning, and he said the national media requests have largely subsided. “I’ve been on a very quiet committee assignment of Judiciary ever since,” he joked.

On listening to people

What most people don’t realize, Cline said, is how much of a House member’s attention and resources are devoted to issues back home in the district.

“They see us in Washington, but they don’t see that half of our budget is constituent services, running the offices. Half my staff is in the district helping folks who have problems with Social Security benefits or veterans benefits, solving problems with passports and things like that.”

Golden and Cline or their staffs spend three or four days out of most weeks in the district, hearing their constituents’ opinions.

“I have 19 counties and cities in my district, and so I’m trying to have a town hall in each one of them,” Cline said. “That’s where the rubber meets the road, when people can actually talk to their representative. You’re just being available. That’s what’s going to restore faith in the system.”

A squad leader in the Marines, Golden said that leading a Congressional staff was very different. “I hired good, smart people who challenge me and try and push back and make sure I’m making the right decisions and be thoughtful about it. That’s a learning experience for me, too.”

Jared Golden ’11 offers his Maine constituents multiple ways to give him feedback, including taking hikes with him. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Golden said he might hold a town hall now and again, but finds that the format favors loud and politically extreme views. (Maine’s two U.S. senators, independent Angus King and Republican Susan Collins, also tend to eschew the town hall format.)

Golden also has roundtables and coffee hours, appears at public events, and even tells his constituents to take a hike.

“We say, ‘Come meet us at the head of the trail, and walk through the woods with your Congressman for an hour.’ We’ll get three or four people; but maybe some people need it that low-key.”

On partisanship

Cline, a former member of the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates, had to get used to being in the minority in “one of the most partisan environments imaginable,” he said — and during a shutdown, to boot. “We’re trying, but it’s like starting from 20 yards behind.”

In Virginia, Cline said, it was much easier to work across the aisle.

“In Richmond, all of us sit in the House together on the floor at the same time, and there’s one room in the back called the Members’ Lounge, and that’s where the food is. In line, it’s Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican. When we sit down, we’re all sitting together in the back sharing stories.”

On Capitol Hill, Cline has found that there’s a partisan slant to everything from orientation, which is largely separate for Republicans and Democrats, to doorways.

“The caucuses don’t even enter rooms through the same doors. The Republicans go through one door, the Democrats go in another door. Every committee has separate lounges, a lounge for Republicans and a lounge for Democrats.”

“We are starting from a place of stark division and for those of us who want to make changes, the institution’s very resistant to change,” Cline added. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to make it happen.”

Darnell Morrow ’14 (left) greets Ben Cline ’94 (right) prior to the Reunion discussion on June 8. Both graduates of Washington and Lee Law School, the pair had met once before, when on opposite sides of a legal case. (Jay Burns/�ֲ���ý College)

Cline said he sometimes plays “Democrat roulette,” saying hello to various Democratic members of Congress and seeing who is responsive and who is not. Golden joined the For Country Caucus, a group of military veterans from both parties who are committed to bipartisanship.

“It’s really a commitment to forge relationships and try and put yourself in the mindset of, what’s the best step for the collective country?” Golden said.

“Forget talking about Middle East peace. Here in our country, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

One audience member in the Keck Classroom called the separate doors “heartbreaking,” and asked the Congressmen if there was any hope for bipartisan cooperation. Neither were optimistic.

Golden recalled listening to a podcast featuring a marriage counselor who also worked on Middle East peace efforts. The counselor said that cooperation is very difficult if people don’t trust either the process of negotiation or negotiators themselves.

“I really thought about our politics these days,” Golden said. “Forget talking about Middle East peace. Here in our country, with our politics, both sides don’t trust one another. The general public doesn’t trust the process. We’re in a lot of trouble.”

Improving relations between the two major parties in Congress won’t be easy, say Jared Golden ’11 (left) and Ben Cline ’94. “Trying to get a seedling to sprout in that rubble is challenging,” said Cline. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Cline said the Judiciary Committee, which is conducting some of the highest-profile hearings on the Hill in connection with the Mueller Report, is a microcosm of the hyperpartisanship sweeping Congress. “We were talking past each other and making points and then going back to our offices,” he said.

He said he’s trying to get all the freshman members together for lunch once a week, but the work is frustrating.

“It’s building those relationships from the ground up,” he said. “Right now we just have dust. We just have rubble. Trying to get a seedling to sprout in that rubble is challenging.”

On their �ֲ���ý experiences

Cline grew up in Lexington, Va., the son of a Washington and Lee economics professor. He had the liberal arts ethos in mind when he arrived at �ֲ���ý, and he said he got what he wanted.

On a largely liberal campus, the more-conservative Cline was “confronted on day one,” he said. But he learned to debate his beliefs in Commons, where anything and everything was up for grabs.

“Everything was on the table,” he said. “If you had something to say, say it.”

In 1992, Cline’s mother sent him a newspaper clipping — Bob Goodlatte ’74 had won that year’s House seat in his home district. Two years later, Goodlatte returned to campus for his 20th Reunion, and Cline made a point of joining the student �ֲ���ýStar team for the Class of 1974.

“Everything was on the table” at �ֲ���ý, said Ben Cline ’94. “If you had something to say, say it.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The �ֲ���ýStars were encouraged to write notes of introduction to the returning alumni. “Mine said, ‘I’m Ben Cline, I’m from Lexington, Virginia, I’m majoring in political science, and I really want to work on Capitol Hill.’”

And during the weekend, he got to meet the new Congressman and his wife, Maryellen Flaherty Goodlatte ’74.

“Sure enough, after he and Maryellen got back to Washington, there was a resume waiting for him. It was at that point that the very first staffer, an entry-level correspondent who wrote the mail, had decided to leave. I got called in for an interview.”

Cline worked for Goodlatte for eight years, becoming chief of staff. After his time in Goodlatte’s office, Cline earned a law degree and served eight terms in the Virginia House of Delegates. When Goodlatte decided to retire in 2018 after 26 years in Congress, Cline won his seat.

“My �ֲ���ý network was one guy,” Cline said, “but it was a very critical guy.”

In July 1999, Ben Cline ’94 (left) confers with Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74 in Goodlatte’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Cline was Goodlatte’s legislative director at the time. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Born in Lewiston and raised in nearby Leeds, Golden served two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to Maine. By the mid-2000s, he was working a few jobs to make ends meet, including one at George’s Pizza in Auburn, a favorite Friday night pizza takeout spot for Bill Hiss ’66, a longtime �ֲ���ý dean of admission.

The two met one night, and Hiss encouraged Golden, who had briefly attended the University of Maine at Farmington, to return to college, at �ֲ���ý.

“I’m like, ‘You’re out of your mind, buddy,’” Golden said in recalling Hiss’ suggestion, eliciting a big laugh from the Reunion audience. But, he said, “�ֲ���ý didn’t laugh.”

“It’s a real lesson that nothing is really impossible. If you want to try something and work hard enough for it, and people will give you a chance and opportunities, you grab onto it, and you can do it.”

As a parent takes a photo, Jared Golden ’11 poses with a Reunion-goer’s son following the discussion. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Golden ticked off the ways he was a non-traditional student: He was in his mid-20s and “could also qualify as a townie and the only veteran on campus — so being a little different and facing some resistance in the classroom, but also bringing some,” he said.

After graduation, Golden worked in Collins’ Senate office before returning to Maine in 2013. He served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives and was elected assistant majority leader in his second term. In 2015, he married Isobel Moiles ’11.

In terms of his political perspectives, the lessons he learned as a Marine and as a �ֲ���ý graduate sometimes intertwine. One result, he said, is being able to see different sides of an issue and a propensity to challenge conventional thinking.

On election night in November, Jared Golden ’11, joined by Isobel Moiles Golden ’11, greet supporters at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

When a Reunion audience member asked whether the U.S. government should intervene in Venezuela, Golden pointed out that Congress didn’t have much power to initiate or stop armed conflict these days. Even so, his experience tended to prevent a yes-no answer.

“It gets real complex, real fast,” he said. “When I talk about my feelings on Afghanistan, I can go, ‘Geez, what are we doing over there? We’re not really helping. We’re wasting so many resources and blood and lives of both countries.’”

But then, “I go and talk to Mustafa.”

As a student, Golden became good friends with Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’12, a student from Kabul, Afghanistan, who had received support to study in the U.S. from the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation, founded by Sally and Don Goodrich, whose son Peter ’89 died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

For a 2010 �ֲ���ý Magazine story, Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’12 and Jared Golden ’11 posed together in a Pettengill history classroom. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Golden and Basij-Rasikh both thought deeply about the state of education in Afghanistan, and Golden returned to teach there one summer.

So when Golden thinks about his friend from Kabul, “it gets real hard to say we should just walk away and not engage in that type of [military] activity. A lot of questions, and the answers, are tough to come up with.”

On Capitol Hill, “�ֲ���ý has put me into a mindset which is probably infuriating at times to some of my colleagues,” Golden told his fellow alumni at Reunion.

“I will challenge conventional thinking as much within my own party and caucus as I would across the aisle in challenging the Republicans.”

Toward the end of his talk in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, just before the floor was opened to audience questions, former U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74 encouraged �ֲ���ý students to be politically engaged: to work on campaigns and to “ask tough questions — like some of you are going to get to do in a minute.”

Goodlatte, a Republican who represented Virginia’s 6th Congressional District for 26 years before retiring in 2019, came to campus May 7 at the invitation of the student College Republicans club.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

In his long tenure in the House, Goodlatte was well-known for his work on technology, intellectual property, and copyright issues. A leading conservative voice on immigration reform in recent years, he chaired the powerful House Judiciary Committee from 2013 to 2019.

The Olin talk was in an interview format, as Goodlatte took questions from College Republicans co-presidents Frank Fusco ’19 of Cheshire, Conn., and Charles Harker ’19 of Janesville, Wis.

The pair’s questions ranged widely, touching on everything from what was important to students during Goodlatte’s time at �ֲ���ý (the Vietnam War and pushing the college to allow coed dorms, he said) to the nature of political polarization and bipartisanship today.

Former U.S. Rep. Goodlatte ’74 responds to questions from College Republicans co-presidents Charles Harker ’19 (left) of Janesville, Wis., and Frank Fusco ’19 of Cheshire, Conn. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Regarding the latter, Goodlatte pointed to the bipartisan First Step act. Signed by President Trump in December, the law shortens sentences and expands job training for some prisoners.

Goodlatte called the strong bipartisan support for the bill an example for other efforts. “When you finally get something and it resonates with both conservative think tanks and outside organizations and progressive think tanks and outside organizations, then everybody wants to jump on board,” he said.

Bipartisan deliberation, Goodlatte pointed out several times, is vitally important but more difficult these days due to social media and an ever-faster news cycle.

“It makes it harder to be the kind of deliberative body the House and Senate need to be,” he said. “The more you talk about an issue before you vote on it, the more people can get riled up and into camps.”

Prior to the talk, a few dozen students and faculty held a demonstration, arriving at Olin with signs pointing out Goodlatte’s stances on immigration and other issues. Many of them stayed for the talk, and some asked questions during the audience Q&A.

Prior to the May 7 talk by former U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74, students and faculty opposing Goodlatte’s immigration policies gather in protest in the Olin Arts Center foyer. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

As Goodlatte had anticipated, most of the questions were pointedly delivered from the other side of the political spectrum. One student asked why, in 2018, Goodlatte had stalled a bill, passed by the Senate, that sought to combat violence against Native American women. The bill as it was took funding away from other areas of law enforcement, Goodlatte said.

“It caught everyone by surprise that it went through the Senate as rapidly as it did,” he said. “Just because it did doesn’t mean it’s not deserving of closer scrutiny.”

Another asked Goodlatte why, in 2017, he supported efforts by the House Republican Conference to curtail the power of a newly established Office of Congressional Ethics. (The proposal was later withdrawn).

Following the Q&A portion of Goodlatte’s appearance, students line up to ask questions of the former congressman. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Goodlatte said the office, which investigates ethical misconduct of House members, was overzealous and threatened members’ right to due process.

“It’s not right or fair for somebody to be accused of something and go through that kind of mistreatment under a system where there are massive leaks of charges against people,” he said.

During the Fusco and Harker Q&A, Goodlatte talked about his first political activities at �ֲ���ý, leading the College Republicans while majoring in politics. Professor Emeritus of Politics Douglas Hodgkin was his thesis adviser.

“I think in a lot of ways my experience at �ֲ���ý was an opportunity to engage with people who had different ideas than you do, and to get involved,” he said.

Goodlatte and a student pose for a photo after his talk in Olin Arts Center. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

With encouragement from then-Dean of the College Jim Carignan ’61, Goodlatte and his wife, Maryellen Goodlatte ’74, both went to Washington and Lee School of Law, which is in the 6th District. They liked the area and stayed, Goodlatte working as an aide to Virginia Rep. M. Caldwell Butler, who represented the district from 1972 to 1983.

By 1992, Goodlatte was well-known in the district. He ran and won the seat with 60 percent of the vote, and never received less than 62 percent of the vote in his 12 subsequent re-elections.

When he decided to retire last year, voters elected as his successor Republican Ben Cline ’94, who was a Goodlatte aide for eight years after graduation.

Jared Golden ’11, Ben Cline ’94, and Bob Goodlatte ’74

Two alumni take their seats in Congress, and a third retires

Three �ֲ���ý alumni — Bob Goodlatte ’74, Ben Cline ’94, and Jared Golden ’11 — were part of the comings and goings in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 3 as newly elected congressional representatives took their seats and others left office.

Amy Friedenberger of The Roanoke Times wrote a long profile of Goodlatte, a Republican who represented Virginia’s 6th Congressional District for 26 years before retiring this year.

In July 1999, Ben Cline ’94 (left) confers with Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74, R-Va., in Goodlatte’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Goodlatte’s legislative director at the time, Cline now has succeeded Goodlatte as Virginia’s 6th District representative. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“There’s plenty of good work that has been done, and I’ve been honored to be a part of it, and there’s plenty of good work that can still be done,” Goodlatte said as he prepared to leave his digs (with a view of the Capitol) in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Friedenberger also covered the swearing-in of Goodlatte’s successor, Republican Ben Cline ’94. Cline spoke of working with Democrats to reopen the government.

“I do believe we can chart a new course working together on issues where we have common ground,” he said.

Meanwhile, Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal covered Golden’s arrival at the U.S. capital, noting that the 2nd District Democrat’s first days on the job were marked by a vote for Speaker of the House (for Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois); “House”-warming gifts from two fellow Maine lawmakers, independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree; and a near-car crash on the way from the airport.

Jared Golden ’11 greets his supporters at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston on Nov. 6. On his right is his wife Isobel Golden ’11. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

“He said he’s going to play his part in a team effort to address issues ranging from health care to campaign finance reform,” Collins wrote.

• Read: “’,” The Roanoke Times, Dec. 22, 2019
• Read: “,” The Roanoke Times, Jan. 3, 2019
• Read: ��“,” Sun Journal, Jan. 3, 2019

Lucy Brennan ’14

Town seeks to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — York Weekly

The Bangor Daily News reported that the town of York, Maine, now knows it’s mostly on track to eliminate municipal greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to research conducted by AmeriCorps volunteer Lucy Brennan ’14.

Brennan, who is also the sustainability program coordinator for the city of South Portland, started out by organizing data from York’s municipal power bills. Overall, her research has shown that emissions from heating fuel, electricity, and streetlights have all gone down in recent years, but the town’s vehicle fleet remains a significant source of emissions.

The fire department has done a particularly good job — thanks in part to a solar array on its rooftop — with reducing emissions, Brennan told reporter Deborah McDermott. “There’s a really exciting story to tell here,” she said.

• Read the story: “,” York Weekly, Jan. 8, 2019

Richard A. Johnson ’78

Black Sox scandal: SF native Thom Ross paints fresh perspective of 1919 team — San Francisco Chronicle

For a review of a new art exhibit on the infamous “Black Sox” scandal of the 1919 World Series, San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Shea spoke with Richard Johnson ’78, curator of the Sports Museum in Boston and a friend of the artist, Thom Ross.

“He gets into a subject and researches it assiduously and has a real attraction to the quintessential American stories that almost morphed into fables,” Johnson told Shea. “The Black Sox seem to fit into that mold.”

• Read the story: “,” San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 2019

Chuck Radis ’75

Peaks Island doctor brings practice to pages in new book — The Forecaster

David Harry of The Forecaster talked to Chuck Radis ’75, an osteopath who practiced on the islands of Casco Bay for more than 30 years and has now written a book about his experiences.

Radis worked out of the Peaks Island Health Center, often reaching patients by police boat. He hopes the book will “provide historical background for some people who looked at the islands as upscale and homogeneous,” Radis told Harry.

Radis, who now practices rheumatology in Portland and has founded a nonprofit that works in a refugee camp in Uganda, still lives on Peaks Island.

• Read the story: “,” The Forecaster, Dec. 31, 2018

Tom Lopez ’69

After 41 seasons — and 303 wins — Tom Lopez retires as Lincoln-Sudbury football coach — The Boston Globe

After 40 years, 303 career wins, and three Massachusetts high school football Super Bowl titles, Tom Lopez ’69 is retiring as head football coach at Lincoln-Sudbury High School.

Showing that he still has football moves, head coach Tom Lopez ’69 dodges players trying to dump water on him after his 300th career victory on Oct. 19, 2018. (MetroWest Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/John Walker]

Lopez started as an assistant coach at the school in 1971 and became head coach in 1978.

“I told the kids, to coach 48 years at one place, I’ve had the best job in America,” Lopez told Boston Globe reporter Brendan Hall. “I’m leaving with a lot of smiles on my face. It’s a great place to coach, a great school, great kids.”

Lopez, who won his 300th game last October, was an outstanding end for �ֲ���ý football as a student.

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 2019
• Related: “,” The Milford Daily News, Dec. 30, 2019

Kelli Armstrong ’86

Salve Regina names Boston College administrator as next president — The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe and other media outlets reported that Kelli Armstrong ’86 will become president of Salve Regina University in 2019.

Armstrong, currently vice president for planning and assessment at Boston College, will be the first lay president of Salve Regina, which is affiliated with the Religious Sisters of Mercy.

The university has “created a wonderful educational environment that is unique in its preparation of students for lifelong learning with a moral compass,” Armstrong said in a statement. “Salve Regina has a bright, exciting future, and I look forward to working with the entire University community to advance its mission.”

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Dec. 14, 2018
• Related: “,” SALVEToday, Dec. 12, 2018

Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918, and Edmund Muskie ’36

How a �ֲ���ý professor forged Edmund Muskie’s career — Sun Journal

After a �ֲ���ý panel on the legacy of Edmund Muskie ’36, Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal dived into the college’s Edmund S. Muskie Archives to explore the relationship between the statesman and his �ֲ���ý mentor: legendary rhetoric and speech professor Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918.

Rhetoric and speech professor Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918, reads The �ֲ���ý Student in February 1955. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Muskie said in a 1957 speech that Quimby, who debated at �ֲ���ý as a student and returned as a coach and professor for 40 years, helped him transform from a “shy boy” into a confident, articulate speaker able to take on the 20th century’s most pressing challenges.

“Above all, (Quimby) taught us to seek fulfillment for ourselves by developing our capacity to make a contribution to the world about us,” Muskie said. “He inspired us to do so, as he still does, by his own example.”

• Read the story: “,” Sun Journal, Jan. 12, 2019

�ֲ���ý College Museum of Art

Artists interpret human impact on the Earth at �ֲ���ý — Portland Press Herald

Arts reporter Bob Keyes covered the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art exhibit Anthropocenic: Art About the Natural World in the Human Era.

“Watering Hole (Social Species in the Late Anthropocene),” a 2017 oil painting by Laurie Hogin, appears in the Museum of Art exhibition Anthropocenic.

“Some scientists believe we have moved past the Holocene epoch and into a new one known as the Anthropocene, an epoch defined by significant human impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including climate change,” Keyes wrote.

• Read the story: “,” MaineToday, Dec. 24, 2018

When the 116th Congress gathers in January, �ֲ���ý will have one alumnus in the House — and maybe two.

The sure thing is Republican Ben Cline ’94, in the U.S. House.

The unknown outcome is in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, where Democrat Jared Golden ’11 is still waiting to learn the results of his own House bid.

Ben Cline ’94, R-Va., elected to the U.S. House on Tuesday night, hugs outgoing Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74 before giving his acceptance speech in Roanoke. (Heather Rousseau / copyright The Roanoke Times, reproduced by permission)

In Virginia, Cline has the rare honor of succeeding a fellow alumnus, Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74, who has held the 6th District seat since 1992.

A politics and Russian double major at �ֲ���ý who has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2002, Cline was a Goodlatte aide for eight years after graduation, working his way up to legislative director and chief of staff.

In a victory speech, Cline said he would represent each constituent regardless of political leanings while defending Republican values, according to The Roanoke Times.

“Being a part of the checks and balances our founders envisioned is a responsibility I will guard seriously,” he said. “Our values are timeless, and I don’t believe we should start doing wrong just because more people choose not to do right.”

In July 1999, Ben Cline ’94 (left) confers with Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74, R-Va., in Goodlatte’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Cline was Goodlatte’s legislative director at the time. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Goodlatte, who chose not to seek re-election in 2018, told �ֲ���ý News that he is “honored to have represented the 6th District’s constituents for 26 years. I know my fellow Bobcat will be a fine representative for the 6th District starting in January.”

In a nod to his �ֲ���ý education, Goodlatte said that the college’s “mission to develop an informed citizenry by encouraging civic action and assuming responsibility for creating a better world helped prepare me to be a member of Congress.”

Alumni from the 1970s to students of today gathered in Washington, D.C., in June to honor Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74 on his 26 years in Congress. From left, John Richter ’89, Matt Furlow ’14, Goodlatte, Mark Upton ’17, Lisa Barry ’77, Rich Nolan ’90, Don Green ’86, Paul Howard ’97, Ned Moreland ’19, Molly Ryan ’17, Jackson Gray ’19, and Nate Walton ’08.

Meanwhile, the Maine contest between Golden, who has served in the Maine House of Representatives since 2014, and incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin ended with each candidate getting around 46 percent of the vote. The Lewiston Sun Journal .”

Because neither candidate earned a majority (two independents took the remaining 8 percent of the vote), the decision will be made by ranked-choice voting, a new system in Maine in which voters . It’s the first time in U.S. history the process will determine the outcome of a congressional race.

As the Sun Journal’s Steve Collins describes the system, “any vote originally cast for [the two independents] will be redistributed to either Golden or Poliquin if the voter picked one of them before the other on the ranked-choice ballot.” The ranked-choice decision .

+The eight �ֲ���ý alumni who've served in Congress

Ben Cline ’94 becomes the eighth �ֲ���ý alumnus to serve in the House of Representatives. He follows:

John P. Swasey, who attended the Maine State Seminary prior to the Civil War, served in Congress from 1908 to 1911.

• , who attended the Maine State Seminary, fought in the Civil War, and then earned a bachelor’s degree at Tufts
• D-Maine, Class of 1881 (transferred to Bowdoin after three years)
• , R-Maine, Class of 1903
• , R-Mass., Class of 1911
• , R-Maine, Class of 1914
• , D-Maine, Class of 1940
• , R-Va., Class of 1974

Edmund Muskie ’36 of Maine is the sole alumnus to serve as a U.S. senator.

 
Golden addressed his supporters hopefully, .

“Every single place I’ve gone, there have been people who are excited for a new generation of leadership right here in Maine and in the United States,” he said.

Golden served in the U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan prior to entering �ֲ���ý, where he majored in history and politics and offered his thoughts on the war and education in Afghanistan.

In 2010, Jared Golden ’11 (right) poses with his friend Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’12 in a Pettengill history classroom for a �ֲ���ý Magazine story about their perspectives on education’s role in rebuilding Afghanistan. Basij-Rasikh came to �ֲ���ý from Kabul; Golden served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday was a big night for other �ֲ���ý alumni who won elected office around the country.

, a history major at �ֲ���ý, won re-election to the Maine Senate from District 21, comprising the city of Lewiston. A Democrat, he is the Senate majority leader.

Maine State Sen. Nate Libby ’07, D-Lewiston, addresses the Maine Democratic State Convention in Lewiston last May. (Courtesy Nate Libby)

A newcomer to politics, Israel Piedra ’12, who majored in politics and music performance at �ֲ���ý and is now a New Hampshire litigator, won a seat in that state’s House of Representatives as a Democrat.

In , Piedra describes himself as the son of public school teachers, noting that “my father is a South American immigrant who met my mother while she was serving in the Peace Corps.”

In Massachusetts, Jeff Roy ’83, a Democrat from Franklin, in the Commonwealth’s House of Representatives. Roy, a sociology major at �ֲ���ý, is a former editor of The �ֲ���ý Student.

Sawin Millett ’59, shown here in 2016 when he was interim town manager in Paris, Maine, is heading back to Augusta as member of the state House of Representatives. (Troy R. Bennett / Bangor Daily News)

And back in Maine, 81-year-old Sawin Millett ’59 of Waterford, , won election to the House of Representatives as a Republican.

A mathematics major at �ֲ���ý, he’s been a dairy and cattle farmer in Waterford in addition to his state government career.

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Goodlatte, a 1974 graduate of �ֲ���ý and a graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, serves on the Judiciary Committee, the Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. On Judiciary, he serves on the Constitution Subcommittee and the Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. On Agriculture, he is the chairman of the Department Operations, Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee and also serves on the Livestock Committee.

Goodlatte serves as assistant whip for Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Tx. He also serves on the Republican Conference Policy Committee.

Elected to the House of Representatives in November 1992, Goodlatte founded his own private law practice in 1979 and was a partner in the law firm of Bird, Kinder and Huffman from 1981 until taking office. He was re-elected to a third term by a two-to-one margin in 1996.