It was autumn until suddenly it wasn’t, when winter reared its head for a moment or two in November.

But as much as we love the change of seasons, we’re more than just the weather. Therefore, we offer to you the usual but hard-to-believe-all-that-happens-here selection of moments.

Thanks for taking the time to look and appreciate This Month at Bates.

On the Steps of Hathorn

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

On the Hathorn Hall steps in October, Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read and his students discuss two movies by the award-winning Franco-Algerian filmmaker Lyes Salem. Read’s course “Le Maghreb: Vue de l’Enfance” explores the experience of childhood within the Maghreb through memoirs, historical accounts, novels, films, and short stories.


We Did It

Theophil Syslo/Bates College

Sarah Bussell ’23 of Mohegan Lake, N.Y., beats the Amherst goalie to tie the game at 2, en route to a 3-2 Bates victory. The Bobcats finished the season with a 6-4 NESCAC record.


Foliage Swept

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Colorful leaves bring something extra to the table on the Den patio, where on some late-October days it was warm enough to dine outside.


‘Love/Sick’

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

In a vignette called “Uh-Oh” during the mainstage production of Love/Sick, Sarah (Emily Diaz ’23 of Corona, N.Y.) provokes a response from husband Bill (Rishi Madnani ’23 of Langhorne, Pa.). In a sense, John Cariani’s play “is about disposability in relationships,” says director Martin Andrucki, Dana Professor of Theater.  “Everything is always on the verge of coming apart and ending.”


Campus Colors

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Chloe Warshaw ’23 of Westwood, Mass., and Ilana Rosker ’23 of Lexington, Mass., enjoy a chance encounter on the Historic Quad before parting ways for their afternoon classes.


Still Here

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

A few lights keep shining in Lane and Pettengill halls as the sun sets behind Hathorn Hall.


Fall Foliage

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

On a Sunday morning, overcast skies enhance the saturation of fall foliage.


The Next Generation

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Men’s hockey club members Michael Hartnett ’20 (left) of St. Paul, Minn., and Sam Gutch ’22 of Brunswick, Maine, cheer the stickhandling of young D.J. Thibodeau. The Thibodeau family and many others turned out on Nov. 2 for the ’Cats Carnival celebration, sponsored by Bates Athletics and held before the football team hosted its first-ever night game, vs. Bowdoin.


All Tied Up

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

During a practice session for their College Fed Challenge trip to Boston, James MacDonald ’20 of Quincy, Mass., gets his tie straightened by teammates in a Pettigrew Hall classroom. For the course “Central Banking and the College Fed Challenge,” taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics Michael Osei, the Bates team traveled in early November to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where they presented an analysis of the economy — prepared by the entire economics class — to a panel of judges. 


At Long Last

Brewster Burns for Bates College

Brewster Burns for Bates College

The Bates team sings “The Fight Song” after trouncing rival Bowdoin 30-5 at Garcelon Field in the first-ever night football game at Garcelon Field, on Nov. 2.


‘Chasing Portraits’

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Assistant Professor of Spanish Stephanie Pridgeon (right) welcomes author and filmmaker Elizabeth Rynecki ’91 for a post-screening discussion of Rynecki’s film, Chasing Portraits, a documentary of her quest to find the lost art of her great-grandfather, killed during the Holocaust. Rynecki returned to campus to participate in the 2019 Bates Film Festival.


Walking the Walk

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Beneath bending birches turning from green to yellow along Alumni Walk, students head to Commons for lunch.


Through the Looking Glass

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Myriad reflections double the color in this view from inside Commons looking out toward Chase Hall, with windows providing a bonus reflection of Garcelon Field, in the opposite direction.


Free Press

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

In November, about 100 students took part in the afternoon-long “Free Press Bates,” an annual social-justice printmaking event sponsored by the Office of the Multifaith Chaplain and held in the Benjamin Mays Center.


Her First Snow

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

“It’s magical,” says Khushi Choudhary ’23 of Kolkata, India, who pauses on the Historic Quad during the season’s first snow to experience her first snowflakes.


Creative Commons

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

At Commons at dinnertime, every table seems to be having a lively conversation. 


Justice for All

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Before an evening talk, Leigh Ingalls Saufley, chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, dined in Commons with Bates students interested in the law, including Max Gardner ’20 of New York City (front left). Gardner was struck by Saufley’s observation that, although Maine has one of the lowest U.S. incarceration rates, many who are sent to prison would be better-served by restorative justice or mental-health treatment. Gardner says he’s now “even more excited to pursue law as a means to do the most good.” In her talk, sponsored by the Harward Center, Saufley discussed the challenges of assuring stability of access to justice in a rapidly changing world. 


Marcy Plavin Modern

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Dance major Sarah Wood ’21 of North Bennington, Vt., performs in “Tremolo,” choreographed by Alexandra James, during a Schaeffer Theatre dress rehearsal for the Marcy Plavin Fall Dance Concert 2019.


Remembrance and Resilience

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

“Resilience means honoring the happiness that is part of trans life,” says Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Ian Khara Ellasante during a discussion held to recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance and Resilience, the annual commemoration of people lost to transphobic violence.


Another Opening, Another Win

Theophil Syslo/Bates College

Theophil Syslo/Bates College

Jesper Phillips ’22 of Moss, Norway, swept his opponent at the No. 2 position as both the men’s and women’s squash teams defeated Vassar 9-0 in the Bobcats’ home openers.


Discovery Day

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College

At nearby Geiger Elementary School, Kate Peters ’23 of Nobleboro, Maine, and a fifth-grader scrutinize a brittle star, closely related to a starfish, as Ellen Alcorn, assistant director of community-engaged learning at Bates, looks on. The Geiger students learned about marine life from Peters and other students in a lab-based marine biology course taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Katie Dobkowski.