Jay Burns
Recently retired as editor of Bates Magazine, Jay now occasionally contributes stories to the magazine as well as Bates News.
Stories by Jay Burns
From Bates History: Martin Luther’s stained glass, water-shooting derrick
Friday, September 22, 2023 1:01 pm
Here are a few items from the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library and elsewhere on campus, and our thoughts about what they are and mean.
11 new CatFacts: the 2023 Bates football edition
Friday, September 15, 2023 1:12 pm
This edition of CatFacts gives a nod to the gridiron, as Bates football opens its season tonight vs. Wesleyan University, in a game that was moved from Saturday due to impending effects of Hurricane Lee.
Holding open the Bates door, one rock, paver, or person at a time
Friday, September 8, 2023 11:13 am
Students are the front-line welcomers and baggage handlers on Opening Day, and they figure out creative ways to keep the Bates doors open for a steady flow of new students.
‘They’re problem solvers’: Facts, figures, talents, and tidbits about the Class of 2027
Friday, September 1, 2023 12:37 pm
The newest Bates class, 509 students strong, is filled with examples of engagement and action. "They’re problem solvers,” says Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Leigh Weisenburger. Sometimes quite literally.
Bates responds to Supreme Court ruling in LGBTQ+ case
Friday, June 30, 2023 6:01 pm
"We express our serious concern about today’s Supreme Court decision in 303 Creative, LLC v. Elenis and to offer support to our LGBTQ+ community in light of this ruling," wrote President Clayton Spencer and President-elect Garry W. Jenkins on June 30.
‘Pretty cool’: Proud and grateful for her time at Bates, President Spencer offers final remarks
Thursday, June 29, 2023 7:17 pm
“I am proud and grateful to be associated with this fabulous college that you guys are lucky enough to claim as your own,” Spencer said in her final remarks as president, shared with alumni at Reunion.
Newly named Gillespie Hall honors John Gillespie’s ‘love and ambition for Bates’
Thursday, June 29, 2023 1:48 pm
The residence hall located at 280 College St. has been named in honor of John Gillespie ’80, whose engagement with the college spans more than four decades and two generations, including 20 years on the Board of Trustees and four years as chair.
This ‘beautiful, dreamlike’ cloud photo by a Bates professor is Best in Show
Thursday, June 29, 2023 9:20 am
The clouds above Maine on April 23 suggested a psychedelic landscape painting — Salvador Dali meets John Constable? — and created a photographic moment for Associate Professor of Biology Andrew Mountcastle
‘Be better. Do better. Be an arc in the bigger circle,’ graduates told at Bates College Commencement
Sunday, May 28, 2023 12:41 pm
The 157th Bates Commencement saw degrees conferred on 439 Bates seniors and an address by author and scholar J. Drew Lanham — a self-described "bird-loving Black kid" from South Carolina — who spoke about freedom and Benjamin Mays, and called on the graduates "to be better, to do better" and "to be an arc in the bigger circle" that gives power to our freedom.
An honors thesis creates a French connection between Martha Coleman ’23 and shuttle driver Herb Saucier
Friday, May 19, 2023 1:57 pm
Herb Saucier was flabbergasted. Invited to attend a senior’s thesis-binding ceremony on the porch of Coram Library, he suddenly found himself at the center of attention.