Behind Middlebury College’s Canoe Ban: the Class of 1998.5

In the weeks leading up to their midyear graduation earlier this month, Middlebury College seniors were told they could ski, snowboard or walk down a school-owned mountain in their caps and gowns to celebrate the big day. But under no circumstance could they descend in a canoe, according to a Wall Street Journal article earlier this month on the Vermont school’s annual “Ski-Down” celebration for midyear graduates.  Still, no one was quite sure why, until now.