The Choate News 012916 (Vol. CIX, No. 9) by Sabrina Xie

The ChoaTe News

Choate Rosemary Hall 333 Christian Street Wallingford, CT

Fr iday, Jan uary 29 , 20 16

Vol. CIX · No. IX

thenews.choate.edu

SMASS RENAMED SPECTRUM TO FOSTER INCLUSIVENESS By Alyssa Shin ’18 Staff Reporter One of Choate’s largest activist clubs, SMASS (Sexual Minorities and Straight Supporters), has recently changed its name to SPECTRUM. The club says that “SMASS” did not adequately represent the members and aims of the group. According to the club, SPECTRUM was chosen to highlight and support the range of sexual orientation. The new name is not an acronym. As SPECTRUM co-president Eli Bickford ’16 explained, “First, we wanted to be more inclusive of gender as well as sexuality. The second thing is that we didn’t like the term ‘straight supporters.’ We want straight people there, but it isn’t a big enough deal to have it included in our name. Another thing is that we didn’t like the word ‘minority.’ We like the term ‘marginalized groups’ better. We decided early on in the fall that we wanted to scrap the name SMASS. But we couldn’t decide on an acronym. In the end we chose the name SPECTRUM, which isn’t an acronym.” According to SPECTRUM’s co-president Martha Zhang ’16, junior officer Danielle Young ’17 pointed out that the club name “SMASS” seemed outdated. But for members of SMASS the renaming process was by no means simple. The SMASS cabinet first sent out surveys to club members to gather ideas

for a new name. After that, a long process of reviewing, discussing, and voting occurred to select the most fitting name for the club. According to Zhang, “It took us so long to agree on a name because we were trying to find a name that was all-inclusive, unique, interesting, but also catchy so people would say it. A name has to be unique but also recognizable, so people understand what it’s for, or else it’s not going to be effective as a name. SPECTRUM is fun, nice, and inclusive to gender and obviously sexuality. The new name doesn’t specifically target certain groups of people, kind of like what SMASS did by stating ‘sexual minorities and straight supporters.’ I think this is a good thing.” Other options that club members suggested include SQUAD (Students Queer United And Diverse), SAAQI (Students Advocating and Affirming Queer Identities), and GSA (Gender Sexuality Affinity). According to cabinet member Elli Sandberg ’16, “We felt that some of the other name options were either difficult to pronounce or unclear in what they were saying. Some of the names didn’t seem like they achieved our goal, which is inclusiveness.” “Not only is SPECTRUM an inclusive name, but it is simple and refined as well. I feel that SPECTRUM is a name that truly represents that sexuality and gender are not See SMASS, Page 5

Photo by Arianna Gonzalez-Wagner/The Choate News

This past Tuesday, January 26, Brown University Professor Dr. Tricia Rose spoke to Choate students and faculty on the pervasiveness of structural racism and the validity of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Tricia rose educaTes choaTe on racism By Truelian Lee ’17 Copy Editor A swarm of eager students surrounded Dr. Tricia Rose after she walked off the Paul Mellon Arts Center stage when she concluded her lecture in an all-school special program this Tuesday, January 26. Dr. Rose’s lecture, titled “Making Black Lives Matter,” connected the discussion provoked by the Black Lives Matter movement to structural racism in American society. As Dr. Rose emphasized at the beginning of her lecture, “I really, genuinely think that young people are the answer. I’m at the age when I know a lot, but I don’t have the vision that young people can have.” She concluded, “I want to

share my knowledge in hopes that it will inspire new ways of thinking.” Kevin Shen ’17 was undoubtedly inspired by Dr. Rose’s talk. “This program was a lot more than what I expected. At first, I held a grudge. I thought, ‘Oh, another special program about a similar topic,’ but after hearing her intellectual explanation of racism, I can understand why it’s important. This special program really encouraged me to get involved in social activism. Dr. Rose made me believe I could change things.” Students particularly enjoyed Dr. Rose’s explanations and analogies illustrating the nature of structural racism in America. Ian Wolterstorff ’17 remarked, “This special pro-

gram was very insightful, especially Dr. Rose’s point about this huge lie that society tells itself about the elimination of racism, and I never thought about it in that way before. I think she told the closest depiction of reality I’ve heard of so far.” Dr. Rose hoped that students valued her lecture. She remarked, “You don’t just change minds, you have to work on people’s hearts, and that’s why I go to places and speak.” Dr. Rose is currently a Professor of Africana Studies and the Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University. Dr. Rose received a BA in Sociology from Yale University and a

Ph.D. in American Studies from Brown University. She is a well-known scholar of twentieth century African-African culture, politics, social history, gender, and sexuality. Her book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, published in 1994, created the field of hip-hop studies and won an American Book Award. Dr. Rose recalled one experience during college that fundamentally shaped her view on race. “I was taking a sociology course at Yale, and I suddenly realized that all these issues about race I thought were personal were actually social and structural. I remember having this See Rose, Page 5

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, REDEFINING CHOATE By Grayce Gibbs ’18 Staff Reporter

Photo by Arianna Gonzalez-Wagner/The Choate News

Changes to Student Council Election Student Council members gather in order to review the Student Council Constitution. The recent decision to extend voting for Student Council President and Vice President to underformers is a major amendment to the Council’s Constitution. See Pages 4 and 5.

OPINION: CAMPUS

OPINION: NATION/WORLD

Hakeem Angulu ’16 discusses PAGE 2 MLK’s legacy.

The G.O.P. Primaries has been marred by inter-party conflict. Now the Democrats too are being struck by tension...

Beyond His Dream

Dem’s Crack

New Composting Contract

Learn why plant-based plastic utensils are no longer compostable at Choate.

PAGE 3

FEATURES Photo courtesy of Biography.com

Menstruation Nation

Esul Burton ’16 argues that Choate should provide free feminine hygiene products to PAGE 2 Choate students.

Q&A with Mr. Jim Davidson

It doesn’t get more “JD” than philosophy, trivia, and a justification for puns. PAGE 6

PAGE 6

ARTS & LEISURE

Larisa Owusu ’17

Owusu’s slam poetry stuns PAGE 7 student body.

Tattoos and Pain

Tattoos transform pain to PAGE 7 beauty.

Last month, Choate officially opened an Office of Institutional Research and hired Mr. Corey Wrinn, an administrator at Iona College in New York, to lead the new department. Institutional research (IR) is the process of analyzing internal company data to help make a wide variety of decisions, such as those regarding admissions, financial aid, and enrollment management. Many colleges and universities have IR departments, but not many high schools. Joining Phillips Academy, which appointed a Director of IR in 2013, Choate is now one of the first secondary schools with an IR department. The focus on institutional research is part of Choate’s

Strategic Plan, which was forThe department is in its mally adopted in June 2013. beginning stages, but, accordOne of the four outlined pri- ing to Mr. Wrinn, “It’s very orities in the plan concerns exciting. We’re going to build enrollment and student out- it from the ground up.” Since comes, which means Choate arriving at Choate, Mr. Wrinn aims to not only enroll excep- has met with the different tional students but also pro- departments that he plans to vide them with resources to work with, including the Athhelp them succeed at Choate letic Department, the Health and beyond. To do so, Choate Center, and the College Counbelieves it needs to analyze the seling Office. data it has on students. In the past, departments Associate Headmaster have collected data on their Ms. Kathleen Wallace was in own, but, with the help of Mr. charge of creating the IR posi- Wrinn, Choate will now be tion, drafting the job descrip- able look at the wider set of tion, and leading the search facts and figures and better for the first IR director. Even- understand the data’s signifitually, she found Mr. Wrinn, cance. Ms. Wallace said, “We who has served as Associate are collecting all this data, and Director of Institutional Effec- we thought that creating an tiveness and Planning at Iona institutional research position College, as well as the Assis- would allow us to figure out tant Director of Institutional what the data means. We can Research for Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. See IR Department, Page 4

SPORTS

What’s Inside

What is the color of Choate PAGE 8 gold?

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50 Shades of Gold

The Freshman Phenomenon

Kobe Tray ’19 breaks diving PAGE 8 record.

Now in its 109th year, The Choate News, Choate Rosemary Hall’s official student newspaper, is written, edited and designed by students to cover events at the school and to offer a forum for opinions of significant interest to the community. The Choate News is published weekly on most Fridays while school is in session.

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The ChoaTe News

Friday, JaNuary 29, 2016

Today

HisTory: Edgar allan PoE’s “THE ravEn”

OpiniOns: nATiOn/WORLD | 3

PublisHEd (1845)

first step to combat isis: make a plan By Imad Rizvi ’18 Staff Writer

aris. San Bernardino. Ouagadougou. Jakarta. The list of ISIS-inspired attacks continues to grow. How can a group have influence that spreads like wild fire across the globe? The development of the Islamic State under current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alarming for both its Middle Eastern neighbors and the rest of the world. ISIS currently boasts thousands of soldiers and control over large portions of territory in Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State has been able to thrive because of instability and a power vacuum in Iraq after the American invasion and in Syria with the civil war unfolding during the A r a b

Spring. In order to limit the power of ISIS, stable governments that would be able to crush the terrorist group must be supported in both Iraq and Syria. However, differing opinions on the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Alawite (Shia) leader, hampers the creation of stable government. During the civil war, he mistreated his people through actions including torture and barrel bombing of civilians. Currently, the two major countries supporting the Assad regime are Russia and Iran, while the Obama administration has stood firm on its position that Assad must go. As a compromise, the administration may pushAssad out of power because of the atrocities committed on Syrians, but one of the deputies

from his party may be put in power to prevent further instability and repetition of mistakes from the American invasion of Iraq. In 2003, America entered Iraq to topple the prevailing regime under false pretenses that Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction and had been cooperating with al-Qaeda. After removing Saddam from power, the U.S. disbanded the Baath party, whose members made up a majority of the government, while also disbanding the military and police forces. In the vacuum that followed, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would found al-Qaeda in Iraq, which formed the basis for ISIS. The attacks led by al-Zarqawi’s originally small group could not be put down initially by U.S. led coalition forces, and soon terrorist attacks in Iraq became widespread. Recruitment in al-Qaeda in Iraq soared as former Iraqi military leaders and Baathist politicians who had served for years were left without a job or pension and saw no future

in sight. As dissatisfaction toward the American occupation grew, al-Qaeda in Iraq thrived, and its influence was great; by threatening any Sunni from joining the government, they were able to prevent the growth of a stable and inclusive government in the country. While the threat of this group was eventually mitigated after the death of al-Zarqawi, years later, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would announce the new caliphate and emergence of ISIS from remnants of the former group that had spread into the chaos of Syria. To prevent a repeat of the mistakes made in Iraq’s transition from one man authoritarian rule to democracy, the current Syrian government structure must remain the same to ensure that more disorder will not erupt, allowing ISIS to expand their influence in the power vacuum. An Arab coalition, with U.S. support, is vital to stabilize the governments in Iraq and Syria and allow their respective armies to deal with ISIS. However, with growing sectarian divisions in the region, especially between rival countries Iran and Saudi Arabia, a solution, at least in the short term, seems improbable. Through diplomacy, the United States must convince these countries to cooperate because the issue of the Islamic State’s power must take precedence. Strategies expressed by politicians like Republican presidential hopefuls, such as Senator Ted Cruz to “carpet

bomb” ISIS territory or Donald Trump to “bomb the hell out of ISIS,” will kill many civilians and fail to eliminate ISIS. The driving power behind the Islamic State is an idea, supported by anti-Western sentiment and frustration with life in the Middle East. Bombing would not destroy an idea, and would lead to more alienation. To solve the problem, Arabs must introduce new policies to restructure their societies through more inclusiveness toward women and minorities, promotion of freedom of expression, and the consideration of criticism. They must reform their economies to provide opportunities for all and not just the well connected. Together, these solutions will help end justification for a war against the West. While those leading the “holy wars” will continue to fight, support will be severely reduced if standards of living improve for the average Syrian or Iraqi. The growth of ISIS is the most significant foreign policy issue of our time. The solution can only be brought through global cooperation to fight the threat. The complete bombing of civilian cities would be both ineffective and immoral, but through the strengthening of governments, improvement of the lifestyle of the people, and the development of new economic and social opportunities in the region, the Islamic State’s fire will be extinguished. Imad Rizvi is a fourth former from Glastonbury, CT. He may be reached at irizvi18@choate.edu.

Illustration by Anika Zetterberg/The Choate News

R EPUBLICAN T ENSIONS SPREAD TO THE DEMOCR ATS

By Jack Bergantino ’18 Writer

he tension between members of the Republican party, particularly those running for president, has made headlines for the past several months. Yet, as the 2016 presidential election comes upon us, Republicans are no longer alone in their internal disputes; the Democrats have joined them. The two Democratic candidates leading in the polls, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, are causing a divide among members and supporters of the party alike. Once confident with her leading position, Clinton has become increasingly on the offense following Sanders’ surge in the polls. Her leverage in New Hampshire and Iowa are decreasing with some sources

suggesting that Sanders is now on top. In response to his rise, Clinton accused Sanders of ambiguity on certain issues, such as foreign policy, and she has denounced his stance as a self-proclaimed democratic socialist. She stated, “Theory isn’t enough. A president has to deal in reality.” This is, of course, an attempt to discredit her opponent. Clinton argued that Sanders’s plans for healthcare reform would send the country backward, and, as she has done all along, she advocated for strengthening the Affordable Care Act. Clinton has also accused Sanders of being too soft on gun control. Her attacks on Sanders are becoming not only more frequent, but potentially more harmful. She has tried to condemn Sanders as weak on several crucial issues that

Democrats, in particular, have proved passionate on. Furthermore, most establishment Democrats believe that she is the sole candidate who can defeat a Republican. Clinton is favored by Wall Street as well, where she is recognized as the “lesser of two evils.” While donations from such entities have been crucial to her campaign, they have also provided Sanders with a topic to exploit.

Her attacks on Sanders are becoming not only more frequent, but potentially more harmful.

A pivotal foundation in Sanders’s campaign is his ability to rally many small contributions. He has attacked Clinton for her close ties to Wall Street and corporate America. Moreover, Clinton’s image as an untrustworthy politician has further damaged her appeal to middle and working class individuals. For instance, the e-mail scandal, which Sanders refuses to directly accuse Clinton of, has still, nonetheless, acted against her. Clinton’s general inconsistency on issues like immigration and foreign policy have strengthened the case against her. Sanders has been enjoying the effects of that and has, so far, proven the impossible—that it doesn’t take big money to lead a campaign. Clinton and Sanders have their respective sup-

Polls and data courtesy of Mr. Dellorco and Mr. Nowak; graphics by Sabrina Xie and Nikhil Davar

port groups. The former is backed by more traditional means, through wealthy donors and establishment Democrats, while the latter is building his momentum through more progressive channels, which is in line with the Democratic party’s core interests—a void typical of the Republican Party. Now, Democrats are experiencing a gap of their own. The next nominee, whomever he or she may be, will define the face of the party and establish whether the party is actually representative of the wants of the people or corporate America. Jack Bergantino is a fourth former from Cromwell, CT. He may be reached at jbergantino18@choate.edu.

FOREIGN DESK Saudi Cleric Forbids Chess for Muslims A high-ranking Saudi cleric issued a fatwa against the game of chess. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz AlSheikh justified his pronouncement by claiming that chess is the “work of Satan.” He compared chess to gambling, forbidden by Islam, because the game makes “rich men poor and poor men rich.” A fatwa is not law, but a religious decree meant to be guidance for Muslims. North Korea Detains American College Student North Korea announced that it was holding Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was touring Pyongnang, North Korea, with a Chinese travel group called Young Pioneer Tours, on charges of trying to “destroy the country’s unity.” Warmbier was arrested in early January for executing a “hostile act against the DPRK” and attempting to “bring down the foundation of its single minded unity.” The U.S. does not maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea, and is working with Sweden to negotiate Warmbier’s release. North Korea has been known to hold foreigners as a way to influence its political adversaries. Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Prefers Prison to Uncertain Freedom Mohammed Ali Abdullah Bwazir, a citizen of Yemen who has been held for nearly 14 years in the U.S. prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, decided that, though he was scheduled for released, he would prefer to remain in locked up rather than relocate to an unspecified country. Bwazir claimed that an uncertain freedom scared him more than the prison he’d become accustomed to. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay within one year of his inauguration, but 91 prisoners remain on the island. Shrenik Agrawal may be reached at sagrawal17@choate.edu.

The ChoaTe News

2 |OPINIONs: CAMPUs

Friday, JaNuary 29, 2016

The ChoaTe News THE WHITE WASHIN G OF MLK SinCE 1907

109th Editorial Board Eduard Muñoz-Suñé ’16

VOL. CIX NO. IX

Editor-in-ChiEf

Graphics Ariel Zhang ’18 copy Lucas Ferrer ’17 Varshini Kumar ’17 Truelian Lee ’17 Katherine Li ’17

news Stephanie Chan ’16 Saloni Jaiswal ’16 opinions Michelle Bolt ’16 Ryan Musto ’16 arts Alexandra Brunjes ’16

online Alan Luo ’18

Features Liv Elmore ’16

photoGraphy Arianna GonzalezWagner ’16

Hakeem Angulu ’16 Dagny Belak ’16

Shrenik Agrawal ’17 Camila Borjesson ’17 Emilia Furlo ’17 Rachel Hird ’17 Jun Jang ’17 Gabby LaTorre ’17 Catherine Moore ’17

sports Jack Tenney ’16

SENIOR REPORTERS

social Media Bryce Wachtell ’17 layout Nikhil Davar ’18 Sabrina Xie ’17 Rachel Hird ’17 circulation Nathan Chang ’17 Veronica Song ’17 advisers Mr. Austin Davis Mr. Mike Peed

Esul Burton ’16 Hannah Lemmons ’16

Victoria Li ’16 Julie Tamura ’16

STAFF Jack O’Donnell ’17 Nicole Sellew ’17 Namsai Sethpornpong ’17 Jessica Shi ’17 Kristen Altman’18 Haley Chang ’18 Riley Choi ’18

Eben Cook ’18 Jackson Elkins ’18 Sophie Hare ’18 Imad Rizvi ’18 Alyssa Shin ’18 Nicole Yao ’18

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Interested students should attend an assignment meeting, held on most Mondays, at 6:45 PM, in the Lanphier i.d. Lab. To submit a letter to the editor or opinion piece, please email us at thechoatenews@choate.edu. Opinion pieces represent the opinions of their respective authors and do not necessarily ref lect the views of the editorial board. Unsigned masthead editorials represent the view of the majority of the members of the editorial board of The Choate News.

Now in its 109th year, The Choate News is written, edited, and published to cover events at the school and to offer a forum for opinions of significant interest to the Choate Rosemary Hall community. The Choate News is published weekly on most Fridays while school is in session. The paper’s offices are located in the Library. Members of The Choate News editorial board can be contacted at thechoatenews@choate.edu or by telephone at (203) 697-2070.

By Hakeem Angulu ’16 Senior Writer

he founders of Black Lives Matter resumed their #ReclaimMLK campaign this year. This campaign dedicated three days between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and national Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to acts of civil disobedience in his name, akin to those he led in the Civil Rights Movement. A hashtag associated with this campaign was “#MLKAlsoSaid.” Activists used this hastag to disseminate uncommon statements by Dr. King, like: “The white man does not abide by the law…His police forces are the ultimate mockery of law,” or: “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” Black Lives Matter activists use them to dispel a common criticism of the movement, which is that Dr. King would not have approved of their actions or message. In an interview with The Atlantic, Ava DuVernay, the director of the Oscar-nominated film Selma, said “He’s really been reduced to a catch phrase. Four words: ‘I have a dream.’ And the man was a radical!” Her statement encompasses the main problem with MLK Day, and the legacy of Dr. King: historical revisionism. America has created a sanitized version of Dr. King,

where all he wants is the blissful congregation of little black boys and little white girls. The average American knows that Dr. King had a dream, but they are ignorant of his support of democratic socialism, diplomatic foreign policy, affirmative action and the death of white supremacy. The most prevalent example of the sanitization of Dr. King is how his views on non-violence were skewed to only apply to black militia and angry protesters. We conveniently forget that he deplored war, and more actively fought against America’s involvement in Vietnam than he did against black teenagers throwing stones at police cars. Conservative media outlets cover Black Lives Matter protests to chastise the participants and compare them to this false image of the perfect protester: the whitewashed MLK. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” If we examine the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, we see the vast majority of people being bold and brave, with sit-ins and marches and the shutdown of public transport routes. How is the shutdown of the Bay Bridge different from shutdown of, and march on, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965? Why has America decided to embrace this civil rights

activist? The simple answer is that his impact has been the most evident success of the period. But, what about people like Medgar Evers, who rallied constantly (until his murder by the KKK) for the greater participation of black voters and the boycotting of discriminatory businesses?

America created a sanitized version of Dr. King, in which he only wanted a blissful congregation of black boys and white girls.

Martin Luther King Jr. as the sole savior of minorities in America, let us gain a more substantial knowledge of America’s history. Understand that in a lot of ways, Black Lives Matter is no more radical than the Civil Rights Movement, but is in fact infinitely more accessible. Recognize that the dismantling of the racist institutions that America is based on was more important to Dr. King than “peace and love.” At Choate, we celebrate Diversity Day in honor of Dr. King’s legacy. But do we actually know anything about him beyond his “I Have A Dream Speech?” Do our history classes educate us about his entire purpose and platform, or do they just perpetuate a superficial understanding of what he stood for? Do we know about Rosa Park’s leadership in the NAACP and her dedication to the Civil Rights Movement outside of the Birmingham Bus Boycott? So, next year on MLK day, or next time you are annoyed by protesters disturbing the peace, remember that MLK also said: “Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention. There is no other answer.”

What about Bayard Rustin, who was essentially erased from the Civil Rights Movement because he was gay, but who basically organized the March on Washington? More than a decade before Rosa Parks gave refused to give her seat on a segregated bus, Mr. Rustin did the same. In fact, Mr. Rustin helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition that propelled Dr. King to his position of immense influence. The list of civil rights activists, who are almost as instrumental in the progress the Civil Rights Movement as Dr. King, is very long, but the list society presHakeem Angulu is a sixth ents is one name long. former from Kingston, Before we criticize Black Jamaica. He may be reached Lives Matter, and hail Dr. at hangulu16@choate.edu.

STUDENTS AND A DMINISTRATION MUST COMMUNICATE By Nicole Sellew ’17 Staff Writer

eenagers are generally characterized as rebellious and sullen. We are averse to authority and love breaking rules we feel are unfairly imposed upon us. Accordingly, at Choate, many students harbor a negative attitude towards the administration. However, the case here might be more than typical teenage rebellion. Lately, tension between the student body and the administration at Choate has spiked. Many students have taken to social media to voice their opinions and to make claims about issues they feel the administration has mishandled. Some of these posts have garnered so much attention that it would take hours to scroll through all of the comments. If so many students and alumni have qualms with the administration, communication between the student body and the administration must improve.

Students have yet to voice their concerns to the administration, and instead confine their criticism to Facebook. This strong aversion to the administration isn’t unique to Choate or boarding schools; recently, many college campuses have shared that sentiment. At Yale, Amherst, and the University of Missouri, many students have protested against diversity-related issues,in some cases, some students have noted a lack of a diverse faculty body. While Choate does not experience this type of tension, there have been other issues that students have with the administration, including strict disciplinary action and a lack of transparency. Many are upset about how Choate’s disciplinary system works, claiming that it is unfair. Despite the fact that drinking alcohol is illegal for those under 21, some students feel that Choate’s policy on drinking warrants too harsh of a

punishment, and that Choate doesn’t give students an adequate opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Other students also take issue with the ways in which medical leave is utilized. Students want their peers to get help with problems, as opposed to being immediately punished. Although some people are satisfied with the way the school enforces policies, the voices of dissent are often louder than those of approval. Additionally, these types of issues affect some people more strongly than others. Just like any other issue—at Choate or otherwise—there are people who feel very strongly and people who don’t care at all. Overall, however, those who are upset tend to be louder. It is hard to discern whether or not any of these complaints are impacting the administration, which lacks transparency. It’s highly unlikely that the faculty or administration has access to students’ Facebook posts and thus, neither the faculty nor the administration a part of the conversation. Furthermore, the administration can argue that there are already policies in place to help people who are struggling. There is crisis intervention and the Assessment Team network of student leaders and counselors who students can go to when they feel that they or their friends are in trouble. Additionally, the rules that are established are clear, and any punishment doled out is a direct result of the infraction that was made. Despite these support systems, many students remain less than thrilled with the administration. Yet, students haven’t voiced their concerns to the administration, instead often restricting their discontentment to Facebook posts the administration will never see. We have yet to have an actual discourse between the students and the administration, and until we do so, and it will not become more transparent, will not reform its policies. Nicole Sellew is a fifth former from Glastonbury, CT. She may be reached at nsellew17@choate.edu.

Anika Zetterberg/The Choate News

It’s tIme to talk about perIods By Esul Burton ’16 Senior Writer

et’s talk about periods because, well, we don’t ever. Even in an environment where we talk about everything—race, sex, sexual assault, religion, politics, and even porn (as discussed at a recent Students Advocating for Gender Equality meeting)—we almost never talk about periods and menstruation publicly. Menstruation is undoubtedly a taboo subject, perhaps the taboo subject. Instagram is known for taking down photos of menstruation blood, and even when periods are discussed, it’s usually in a negative light. Donald Trump notoriously shamed Megyn Kelly for criticizing his misogyny at the first Republican debate by saying she had “blood coming out of her whatever.” Earlier this year, Time magazine published an article declaring that Hillary Clinton was fit to be president, despite her womanhood, because she was past the menstruating age. These shouldn’t be the only times we talk about periods because despite what we’ve been taught, periods are perfectly normal. They don’t possess women every 28 days and turn them into raging, emotional creatures from the depths of hell. I’m writing this op-ed while on my period, and you can’t possibly argue that I’m any less fit to write or any less fit to participate in my classes than I normally am. In fact, you probably didn’t notice a difference. Our silence around periods and menstruation often means that we don’t talk about how women deal with

them either. We don’t talk about tampons and pads or menstruation cups and period- proof underwear, but by not talking about these products, we’re ignoring a larger issue—these necessary products are being treated as if they aren’t necessary. To make things easier, I’ll refer to all menstruation products under the umbrella term “tampon” for the rest of this article.

Tampons are indisputably a hygienic necessity, and as the UN has declared, hygiene is intrinsically related to human rights. Unlike food, water, and other necessary items, the vast majority of U.S. states tax tampons, either under a regular sales tax or a luxury tax. In fact, only five out of fifty states impose no taxes whatsoever on tampons: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Minnesota. To make things worse, Time magazine recently reported that many states that tax tampons often offer tax exemptions for other items, including but not limited to candy, soda, newspapers, and even dry cleaning. It’s difficult to argue that these items are equally or more necessary than tampons. Of course, this doesn’t mean tampons should be 100% free. The way our economy operates means that even other necessary items, like the aforementioned food and water, aren’t completely free. We

have to pay for our meals and for access to clean, drinkable water. However, in the event that we can’t afford to pay for our own food or water, the government still provides subsidies, the most notable example being the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, more popularly known as “food stamps.” As a society, we generally acknowledge that if your economic circumstances prevent you from affording the things that are critical to your survival, you should be allowed assistance of some sort. Currently, there is no such subsidy program for tampons in the United States, despite the fact that women make up just over half of the population and a vast majority of those women regularly experience menstruation. If we go further and consider tampons not only a necessary product, but also a hygienic product, the case for quasi-free tampons—both in the wider public sphere but also at Choate—becomes more interesting. Tampons are indisputably a hygienic necessity, and as the United Nations declared recently, hygiene is intrinsically related to human rights. This shouldn’t be a surprise. In most public and private spaces, you expect hygiene products to be readily available and, more often than not, free. When is the last time you walked into a restroom at Choate and got charged for using toilet paper, soap, paper towels or the hand dryer? Probably never. Imagine if Choate started charging every student a dollar for every square of toilet paper they used. There would be a public outcry. Students would protest, parents would be

phoning the school relentlessly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the New Haven Register ran a story on “Toilet-Paper-Gate.” Yet there is no such outcry about the lack of free tampons in women’s restrooms, despite the fact that they are just as necessary and just as readily used. There may be tampons available in the Health Center, but you certainly don’t need to walk all the way to the health center to get a roll of toilet paper or some Purell. When girls’ periods start during the middle of class, and they don’t have access to tampons or another menstrual product, they may be physically present in class, but they aren’t focused on what they’re supposed to be learning. They feel uncomfortable; they may be in pain; and they’re worried that their periods will leak through their clothes, so calculus may be the last thing on their minds. However, Choate could easily ensure that periods don’t get in the way of female students’ education by providing tampons and other menstrual products in our bathrooms. So, what’s the deal? Shouldn’t it be time that female students at Choate had access to free tampons in our restrooms? Shouldn’t it be time that women everywhere have access to menstruation products, tax-free or subsided? Tampons are necessary, and it’s time to start treating them as such. Esul Burton is a sixth former from Seoul, South Korea. She may be reached at eburton16@choate.edu.

The ChoaTe News

4 | NEWS

Friday, JaNuary 29, 2016

STUDENT COU NCIL ALLOWS U NDERCLASSMEN TO ELECT SCHOOL PRESIDENT & V ICE PRESIDENT By Lucas Ferrer ’17 and Bryce Wachtell ’17 Copy Editor and Social Media Editor

s Tomi Lawal ’16, President of the Student Body, strode to the lectern to deliver his Convocation address last September, he could feel a buzz filling the humid Winter Ex as students, both new and old, prepared to officially begin the school year. Move-in day chaos had finally settled as students and faculty gazed up from their seats, awaiting the highly anticipated speech. Lawal, who took over the helm of Student Council from Stuart Sommers ’15, spoke of acceptance and change as he referenced ongoing national and international issues, many of which had great meaning to students in the room. He spoke of integrity and inclusion at Choate. He spoke of the importance of empathy and unity among all. He told everyone in the room to remember the motto of the school: Fidelitas et Integritas. Lawal concluded his speech by quoting the author William B. Sprague: “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” Lawal neglected to mention, however, what he would strike this iron with. While Lawal reinforced values of understanding and kindness in the community, he did not address his concrete plans for the Council in the coming year. The student body was left with a hopeful yet ambiguous message of his administration’s agenda. The recent change that has come about in the Council, however, has made clear Lawal’s legacy to the school. His hope of further inclusion and acceptance in the community has come to reality with the Council’s recent alteration its election process.

n January 14, 2016, Student Council reached a unanimous decision to extend suffrage in the election of the Student Body President and Vice President to rising fourth and fifth formers. The decision, which has since been approved by Dean of Students Mr. James Stanley, will take effect in this year’s Student Council elections. According Dr. Lauren Martini, one of the advisers to the Student Council, the idea of broadening voting rights has been floating around in the Council and the school for at least two years. The proposal finally set forth this year after Lawal reached out to Choate’s peer schools in an effort to understand how other election processes work. Lawal commented, “After Deerfield Day, we received a letter from Deerfield’s Student Council Chair, reminding me of something that I have wanted to do for a long time, which was to reach out to other Student Councils and find out how they operate and establish a connection.” Lawal was finally able to form this connection with the peer members of the Eight Schools Association when he reached out to understand more about the election processes at other schools. As a result, Lawal found that, “Generally speaking, our peer schools do more in their elections. This made it pretty easy to have a conversation with Council members, advisers, and the school and say, ‘There is more we can be doing, so let’s try and do it.’” According to members of the administration and Student Council, the current state of the election process for the heads of the student body has been in place for many years, primarily because of tradition. Members of the community have become so accustomed to the old system that only recently did anyone question it. Namsai Sethpornpong ’17, a fifth form representative to the Council, said, “As a freshman, I would hear, after every election, people complaining about why—if the leaders of the Student Body are to represent the whole school—the voting for the two heads of the student body is limited only to rising seniors.” The final consensus on the voting issue was reached only after significant disagreement and debate. Initially, on December 14, when the vote to extend representation was first held, the motion failed, 5-6. Many Council members said that the eventual unanimous decision was reached only after Mr. Stanley voiced his support for the change. The main challenge to the proposal was a concern that rising fourth form students would be less informed than upperclassmen and might select an unqualified candidate. In a back-and-forth debate between representatives, chronicled in Student Council’s minutes, Cecilia Atkins ’16 argued that the voting system should be kept in its original form, as third formers likely are not as well informed. She believed that it would be better to just make an effort to reach out to younger students, rather than let them vote. Said Atkins, “I was somebody who was initially against it because when the issue was first raised, people were wor-

Do you agree or disagree with Student Council’s decision?

Confidence Intervals: 2.49, 5.07, 5.79, 4.31, 4.9 ried that it was just going to be a popularity contest. Some of us thought that students were just going to vote for the names that they recognized or that freshmen wouldn’t know the juniors well enough.” In response, Brendan Ferguson ’16 cited the Student Council Constitution, which states that the Council represents the entire student body and argued that the Council should meet this expectation by allowing all students to vote. As a compromise, fourth form representative Julian Yau ’18 proposed that the voting only be extended to current fourth form students in order to maintain an informed voter base while increasing representation. The motion passed, with six in favor, one against, and four abstaining. When asked, Lawal was unable to explain the notably high number of abstentions. Ferguson, who has been an avid proponent of expanding voting rights to the entire school since he wrote a 2014 opinions piece in The Choate News, stated that the opposition to giving younger forms greater repre-

sentation in elections was mainly found in the fifth form representatives. Ferguson claimed, “The juniors in the initial vote in December were not adamantly against the change, but they were the main opposition to the entire proposal. I honestly don’t remember specifically, but I remember it was pretty much the current junior representatives. There could have been an exception—one might have voted for it.” Ferguson later confirmed that Sethpornpong was the only fifth form representative who initially endorsed the election proposal. Sethpornpong, confirming her support for the proposal, said that when she voted in favor of the proposal, “I wasn’t thinking about running for Student Council at the time, so it really didn’t affect me. I just thought about what was best for the school.” A representative, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about a contentious issue, claimed that the junior representatives who voted against the proposal “kept coming up with reasons not to accept the proposal because they may have felt threatened by the upcoming election.” Fourth-form President Mpilo Norris ’18 disagreed. “While juniors want to continue being a part of the Student Council,” he said, “I don’t think that that is what caused the divide. I think that it was mainly just that some people were legitimately concerned about misinformed voters.” Before the vote for fourth form inclusion passed, however, a proposal by fifth form representative Stephen Ankoue ’17 was brought to a vote. The proposal, if passed, would have prevented the current sixth form representatives from voting on expanding voting rights to under-formers. According to Ferguson, the reasoning behind the proposal was that because the changes in the voting system would not affect the current senior class its representatives should not have a say in the change. Refuting the logic of this proposal, Ferguson asserted, “I argued the opposite, saying that maybe we, the sixth form representatives, should be the only ones who can vote because we don’t have any vested interest in the outcome.” The motion failed in a 3-7 vote, with one representative abstaining. Once Yau’s proposal to extend voting rights to the fourth form passed Student Council, it needed to be cleared by the Dean of Student. A change this significant would involve amending the Student Council Constitution, and any amendment in the Council’s Constitution requires the consent of the Dean of Students. Mr. Stanley initially rejected the proposed change. Mr. Stanley explained, “The proposal was sent to me, and I said that people voting is lovely, but I don’t understand how you can look at the third formers and say, ‘Sorry, guys, you don’t vote.’ The fact that the third formers have been on campus

New ReseaRch DepaRtmeNt heaDeD by wRiNN Continued from Page 1

learn from data to improve.” According to Mr. Wrinn, “A lot of my work so far has been organizing, understanding, and cataloging data. There are a couple projects in the works, and it won’t be long before the department is running at full capacity.” Although it will eventually be applied to all departments, IR brings great promise to the Admissions Office. According to Ms. Wallace, Mr. Wrinn “will be looking at what components of an applicant’s profile correlate the best with his or her success at Choate.” To do this, Mr. Wrinn will analyze more than a decade’s worth of data. The information discovered in that anal-

ysis will help the Admissions team continue to select the best candidates for Choate. Mr. Wrinn hopes to answer questions like, “What do successful students at Choate have in common?” and “What role do prior schools play in preparing for Choate?” Mr. Wrinn is also interested in analyzing the impact Choate has on its students. “I think it’s really important to see the change between when students are entering and when students are leaving and how Choate impacted their lives,” he said. Reflecting on his experience working with post-secondary institutions, Mr. Wrinn said, “The biggest difference between Choate and a college is that the stu-

dents here are changing so much. From when you come in as a third former to when you graduate, you are a completely different person. The individuals are really changing, whereas at a college, the change is less dramatic.” Ms. Wallace also said, “We want to know who the strongest applicants are, but then in the process, we could also learn what it is we can do to help them grow and develop as scholars and as people.” Ms. Wallace added, “We are hopeful that the work Mr. Wrinn does in the office of IR will help us improve what we are doing with our students here.” Photo by Elle Rinaldi/The Choate News

Grayce Gibbs may be reached at ggibbs18@choate.edu.

Choate’s new Director of Institutional Research Mr. Corey Wrinn has been collecting and analyzing data from different academic and nonacademic departments at Choate.

for as long as any new fourth or fifth former is one of many reasons why voting should be expanded to all forms.” Mr. Stanley delivered an ultimatum to the Council, giving them the option of either keeping the status quo or giving both fourth and third formers the right to participate in picking the President and Vice President of the Student Council. On January 14, Student Council unanimously approved Mr. Stanley’s changes to the voting procedures. In order to address the general concern that members of the third and fourth form will be under-informed when electing rising seniors, the Council will implement a panel discussion for Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates. The current sixth form representatives will ask the candidates about their plans if elected. It has been confirmed by the school administration that this panel discussion will take place in the Dining Hall the evening of the Student Council election speeches. Many members of the Council hope that this will provide candidates with a suitable platform to spread their names and ideas to underformers. Some even go further, claiming that this act will open the door to future possibilities of campaigning.

oncern about underformers’ awareness of candidates has reignited debate about campaigning in Student Council elections. Because, as many people on campus believe, school-wide voting will lessen the inf luence of candidates’ reputations on elections, will underformers be able to make informed decisions based on the panel discussion alone? Mr. Stanley said, “It has Should Student long, long been the school’s position: we don’t campaign. Council candidates We want people to be judged be allowed to on the quality of the thoughts that they bring forward. campaign? However, I do think access to more information makes sense, and if Student Council is interested in asking candidates to write platforms that outline who they are, what they stand for, and what they advocate for, maybe that’s useful.” Should use of social Dr. Martini agreed with Mr. Stanley. “I think that media for campaign campaigning will likely repurposes be allowed? main off the table, but the format of this other panel, in addition to the speeches, I think that that is kind of fluid. It’s a first stab to say, ‘Hey, we’ve not done this before, let’s see what happens with this.’ If it’s successful, maybe we’ll tweak it, make it a little better next year, and if it’s a flop, maybe we’ll step back and ask what went well, what went wrong, and do it completely differently.” Ferguson takes a different view. Supporting an effort to boost transparency and ensure every voter is aware of who he or she is supporting, he said, “It is my hope that the town hall forum for candidates availConfidence able now will open doors Interval: 2.49 for future campaigning opportunities.” With the Dean of Students and Student Council still prohibiting any forms of campaigning, except the addition of the candidate panel discussion, no changes to the rules will be made for this election cycle.

ow that the campaigning issue has been temporarily resolved, Student Council is left to grapple with another major concern: transparency. In the fall term, Student Council announced a new initiative that created committees in order to increase efficiency. One of those new committees, the Communication Committee, was tasked with improving the transparency of the Council. The committee, composed of Ferguson, Norris, and Yau, created a page on the Choate Student Portal in order to share meeting notes and allow for students to post their concerns and ideas about the school. While the Council had Have you visited high hopes for the Comthe Student Council munication Committee, the Committee has ultimately transparency page? failed in its original goal of providing an accessible foYes rum for students to learn No about and discuss Student Council. Unaware of page In an attempt to find notes from the Student Council meetings that should have been uploaded to the Student Council portal, The Choate News discovered that the notes had not been updated since October 2015. When prompted with this finding, Ferguson acknowledged the mistake: “The Communications Committee, whose job it is to take care of the website, has not performed to the best of its ability to keep it Confidence Interval: 2.49 updated. I take full responsibility for that.” Lawal agreed, saying that, “We still don’t have the best, or what might be the best, method of communicating effectively with the student body. Our most recent attempt of creating a website and updating it—even though it hasn’t been updated— is probably the best attempt thus far in Council history.” A lack of updates in the Student Council portal isn’t the only problem facing the Communications Committee. Accessibility remains a concern, as students often have trouble finding the portal. The small button to access the Student Council portal is located at the bottom of the main portal in which students can access schedules, forms, and Dining Hall menus. “It’s sort of out of the way in its current placement,” explained Ferguson. “I think it could be a lot more effective if we put it in a place that students don’t have to go out of the way to get to.” According to Dr. Martini, the Communications Committee is currently in talks with Choate’s Communications Department in order to make the portal more visible. This may take weeks, Martini explained, because scheduling meetings and actually changing the location of the button is a long process. Mr. Tyren Bynum, an English teacher and previous adviser to the Student Council, questioned the purpose of Student Council and its transparency efforts: “I think that Student Council does try to be transparent about everything, but ultimately they’re talking about what kind of cereal to put in the Dining Hall. What exactly is there to be transparent about?”

Were you aware that Student Council has a transparency page?

Confidence Interval: 2.49

SMASS to SPECTRUM: Change to Embrace Diversity Continued from Page 1

definitive given what the word connotes, that personal identities are on a spectrum, and that not everyone shares the same experience with them,” said club member Chloe Khosrowshahi ’18. The name change does not signify a shift in the club’s mission, members say. Instead, it aims to enhance the club’s core purpose and goals. The transition from SMASS to SPECTRUM also shows that the club wants to emphasize and encourage inclusion of a diverse group of people. This school year is a year of several dynamic changes te Newsfor SPECTRUM. The club also g andplans to revise its constitution. SMASS has hosted a vari-

ety of events in order to raise awareness about the diversity of gender and sexuality, and plans to continue in the future. Last Sunday, January 24, the club co-hosted an excursion to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT for the “Warhol & Mapplethorpe: Guise & Dolls” exhibition alongside Students Advocating Gender Equality. SPECTRUM also plans to host a drag show in February or spring term. SPECTRUM will also host the annual Interschool Student Conference this spring. Zhang said, “Moving forward, we have talked about activism a lot, but I think basic education is a goal we should have set this year. People ask questions a lot

and we don’t intentionally shut these questions down, but people will ask questions such as what pansexual means, what asexual means, and what gender non-binary means. I don’t want these voices to be shut down. I want their questions to be answered. I feel like SPECTRUM should be a place for that, because it hasn’t been in the past. Maybe we’ve moved too quickly and forgotten about the general crowd at Choate. Starting conversations about pronouns and what people identify as, what all of this is, I think it is really good for the future.” Alyssa Shin may be reached at ashin18@choate.edu.

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Were you previously aware that Student Council had changed its election policy?

Number of people by form

The ChoaTe News

Friday, JaNuary 29, 2016

longside fears of a lack of transparency, many students doubt the efficacy of the Council, a sentiment that does not go unnoticed by Lawal. “There is always this stigma that we don’t really get anything done, that we aren’t doing anything,” he said. “The turnover is hard as a student because we are here for, at most, four years. Meanwhile, you have adults who are typically here for some longer span of time. So, ultimately, this is about convincing those people to make a change.” Still, Lawal appeared frustrated that his organization has received criticism over what it has done or not done recently. He remains adamant that Student Council has made progress over the years. Mr. Stanley supported Lawal in the claim that Student Council is reasonably efficient, but he implied that the agendas the Council pushes may hinder its ability to effect real change. “I think in recent years, Student Council has prioritized certain things that are important to the community but that might not shift the school as much as some Councils in the past have.” Over the decades, Student Council has played vital roles in the creation of Crisis Intervention and the Judicial Committee. Ferguson has reservations about Lawal’s claims to Student Council’s effectiveness. When asked about sentiments of Council effectiveness, he said, “Student Council doesn’t have a big enough presence to effectively communicate what it’s doing in its meetings, partly because some of the sentiments have some validity to them. We spend a lot of time in meetings on menial tasks that could just be done with an executive order. If we aren’t doing anything, there should be a negative response at the Council, one that sparks a fire within us and give us initiative to make progress and move forward.” This raises the question: what purpose does Student Council serve if it doesn’t actively seek to solve the most pressing issues on campus? Dr. Martini attributed the Council’s inefficacy to the red tape inherent to any institution as large as Choate. “Student Council is slow in the same way that anything in an institution like this is going to take time,” she said. “Ideas come forward, and it could take a year or two for things to get going.” But the issue of efficiency results, at least partially, from students’ lack of enthusiasm for it, or so she believes. She added, “We get next to no e-mails in our e-mail account, on the discussion board on the portal. I think it’s that people talk about issues a lot but don’t really come forward.” Lawal seemed to echo Dr. Martini’s comments, reluctantly admitting to a lack of tangible solutions to campus problems. He refuted the notion that Student Council isn’t still a necessary and pertinent appendage of the student body. “I know that at a glance it might seem like, ‘Oh my gosh, they aren’t doing anything. What’s the purpose?’ but I think that, yes, we can definitely be doing better. By the end of the term, I think we’ll have a couple pieces that result in more tangible change.” Lucas Ferrer may be reached at lferrer17@choate.edu. Bryce Wachtell may be reached at jwachtell17@choate.edu. Graphics by Nikhil Davar and Sabrina Xie.

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weird feeling of exhilaration. It was as if someone has just speed-assembled a puzzle. And then I realized how horrible it was because I couldn’t fix it.” She added, “It made me think if I could understand race and if it could have such a big impact on me, then it might help other people.” She said that she enjoys visiting other schools and giving talks, and that her nephew, Jason Rose ’16, had encouraged her to visit Choate. Choate officially started planning last spring term for Dr. Rose to speak at a special program, and confirmed all the details over the summer. Dr. Rose’s lecture was part of the Ambassador S. Davis Phillips ’61 International Lecture Series, which occurs biannually. Mr. John Connel-

ly, HPRSS teacher, and Mrs. Lorraine Connelly, Associate Director of Communications, coordinate all the lectures in this series. The goal of the Ambassador S. David Phillips ’61 Lectures is to feature distinguished decision makers from the business, government, education, and arts fields. The last lecture in the series was Cody Harrington’s talk about working at Pixar. Regarding her visit, Dr. Rose said, “I am really im-

pressed with the community. It’s clear that there are a lot of conversations that are needed to happen here. I think a lot of people are hungry for an honest conversation, and I think everyone is ready for it, and if people feel safe and included, they’ll join in. I think that’s both a good thing and a sign that more needs to happen at the same time.” Truelian Lee may be reached at tlee17@choate.edu.