In the fall of 2020, the college enrolled 2,773 undergraduates from all 50 states and 74 countries and offers 45 majors in the arts and humanities as well as joint engineering programs.

Chief among its founders were Seth Storrs and Gamaliel Painter, the former credited with the idea for a college[9] and the latter as its greatest early benefactor.

Alexander Twilight, class of 1823, was the first black graduate of any college or university in the United States; he also became the first African American elected to public office, joining the Vermont House of Representatives in 1836.

[12] As valedictorian of the class of 1899, Mary Annette Anderson became the first African-American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

York and Sawyer designed the Egbert Starr Library (1900), a Beaux-Arts edifice later expanded and renamed the Axinn Center, and Warner Hall (1901).

[8] In 1914 and subsequent decades, Middlebury College offered courses in eugenics in fields such as pedagogy, biology, and sociology.

Middlebury College abolished fraternities in the early 1990s, but the organization continued on campus in the less ritualized form of a social house.

[20] Middlebury President Paul Dwight Moody began the American tradition of a National Christmas Tree in 1923 when the college donated a 48-foot balsam fir for use at the White House.

[21] The tree was illuminated when Vermont native Calvin Coolidge flipped an electric switch in the first year of his presidency.

In 1978, the Bread Loaf School of English expanded to include a campus at Lincoln College, Oxford University.

In 1991, the School expanded to include a campus at St. John's College in New Mexico, and to the University of North Carolina, Asheville, in 2006.

[22] The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad began in 1949 with the school in Paris; they now host students at 38 sites in Argentina, Brazil, China, Cameroon, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Russia, Spain, Uruguay, United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico.

In the summer of 2008, Middlebury and the Monterey Institute of International Studies launched a collaborative program to offer summer language immersion programs in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish to middle and high school students through the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA).

[34] After the protest, Murray's talk was moved to Wilson Hall and published online; however, after the talk there was a violent attack by protesters who attempted to obstruct and damage the vehicle of Bill Burger (the Vice President of communications at Middlebury College), Murray, and Middlebury professor Allison Stanger; Stanger was injured in the attack, requiring her hospitalization with a neck injury and concussion.

[44][45] Middlebury released a statement asserting that such allegations had been investigated that the college had determined that no such racial profiling had taken place.

[47] The most popular undergraduate majors at Middlebury by number of 2021 graduates were:[48] The academic year follows a 4–1–4 schedule of two four-course semesters in the autumn and spring plus what is known as a "Winter Term" session in January.

[52][54][55] The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, operated by Middlebury College in 17 countries across 5 continents, offer overseas academic programs for undergraduates from various U.S. institutions, as well as graduate-level programs for students from Middlebury College's Language Schools and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Located at the Robert A. Jones '59 House, the center combines Middlebury's strengths in political, linguistic, and cultural studies to offer internationally focused symposia, lectures, and presentations.

[61][62] Programs on Creativity and Innovation (PCI)[63] is a series of initiatives designed to encourage Middlebury students to explore ideas in nonacademic settings.

Students accepted to the Feb program use the fall semester, called a "Febmester," to travel, volunteer, enroll at other universities, or work.

This decision set aside one percent of the cost of any renovation or new construction at the college for the purchase, installation, maintenance, and interpretation of works of art publicly displayed on campus.

There are 19 works in Middlebury's campus public art collection, including Frisbee, George Rickey's Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI, Tony Smith's Smog, and a version of Robert Indiana's Love series.

The collection also includes works by Dan Graham, Scott Burton, Jules Olitski, Joseph Beuys, Matt Mullican, Jenny Holzer, Christian Petersen, Buky Schwartz, George Rickey, Clement Meadmore, and Jonathan Borofsky.

The Initiative will seek investments focused on sustainability issues such as clean energy, water, climate science, and green building projects, in an effort to identify businesses positioned to become a part of the worldwide shift to improve energy efficiency, decrease dependence on fossil fuels, and mitigate climate change.

[92][93] The Local Noodle, a satirical student publication founded in 2016, publishes multiple times a semester and maintains a consistent online presence.

[96] Middlebury College is the ranked 5th in the country for the most share (23%) of students coming from the top 1% of family income ($630,000 or more per year).

These orientations involve several days of hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, snowshoeing, and other activities in the wilderness around Middlebury.

[105] Following the New Traditions Contest initiated by President Laurie Patton in the spring of 2018, Middlebury held its first Panther Day on October 20, 2018.

The new tradition was held during Homecoming Weekend and included a parade of student clubs and organizations, in an effort to build school spirit.

A group of student protesters lined the side of the parade route to call attention to the lack of support by the college for survivors of sexual assault.